Trustfall || Sanders Sides Equestrian AU

Chapter 6 - Walls

There were about three things Roman would never admit to anyone, no matter the circumstances. The kind of things he wouldn't even admit to himself, but had this unspoken truth between him and himself that they were true.

The first thing was his unconditional love for tofu (he could never be seen with such quality-lacking serving). The second was the fact he still couldn't fall asleep without murmuring the song his mother had taught him as a kid. And the third - and probably the most scary to have cross his mind - was the fact that the lessons with Virgil were somewhat... enjoyable?

He couldn't tell when exactly the nicknames lost their mocking tint, or when they started making friendly conversation and laughing between themselves during their lessons. He couldn't tell when exactly he'd started smiling when his alarm would go off reminding him to go meet with Virgil for their lesson, or when Virgil's posture gradually turned a bit less gloomy when he approached to remind him of their "Trigger thing".

He couldn't tell why he was a bit disappointed when Virgil started to train with the team and their lessons were replaced by group sessions. He found himself on the verge of asking him whether he wanted to train together just the two of them again, but couldn't find a good enough excuse; Virgil was already improving tremendously with the team.

Perhaps it was just because Roman had enjoyed teaching. Yeah, that must have been it. He couldn't possibly like the gloomy boy's company.

But when it was just the two of them and a silent horse, Roman caught a new side of Virgil he'd never considered before. He was attentive, somewhat humourous, clearly much more intelligent than he tried to show, and he had this spark in his brown eyes whenever he talked about horses.

Maybe that was the reason Roman still appreciated their time together working with Trigger.

Virgil introduced him to groundworking exercises, bonding games and a side to horses he'd been completely blind to. As Roman now approached his horse's stall, there was something greater in the animal's eyes he was sure he'd glossed over in the past. Like he was now somewhat... bigger than the sport. 

Roman opened the stall's door with one strong motion and stepped inside. He'd been here about five times that week already, even though he'd only had one riding lesson so far.

"Alright, Trig, we need to-"

The words caught in his throat when the horse lifted his head from the hay he'd been munching on and turned to him. He flicked his tail and made his way to his rider, sending a bittersweet memory flashing through Roman's head.

Roman's heart thudded like the hooves of a galloping horse when Trigger put his forehead against his rider's chest, allowing him to lift a hand to his head and stroke him.

"You-... you came over. You came over to me, on your own!"

He stifled his own voice down as not to startle Trigger, but his heart continued cheering in his chest as he petted his head and neck and puffed out a soft chuckle.

The sound of footsteps rose outside of the stall, soon to be followed by a voice. "Yo Princy, the others are heading out to the arena now, are you-"

Roman shot out of the stall. Before he could comprehend what he was doing or consider whether it was the best idea, he wrapped his arms around the surprised boy in a tight hug.

"He came over when I entered! Emo, are you getting this??"

He'd never hugged Virgil before, and there were multiple things he noticed at once. His hoodie was much softer than it looked, his heart was racing like a car speeding on the highway, and his hair had the fresh scent of chamomile - most likely his shampoo. Only once they parted had he realised he'd startled the boy so much he didn't even hug him back. Now that the adrenaline had died down by a bit, Roman felt somewhat embarrassed.