Trustfall || Sanders Sides Equestrian AU

Chapter 18 - In This Together

The first thing that Virgil noticed when he arrived at school the following day was that Roman seemed to be in a good mood. He leaned against the school's wall right by the gate and scrolled through his phone, and the position of his eyelids as he looked down revealed the length of his lashes and complimented them in a weird way. Virgil wasn't sure why he noticed that. The next thing he noticed was that he was dressed nicer than the usual; Roman would always put effort into his clothing, but today's outfit somehow managed to outshine the rest.

"I take it you're in a good mood, Princey?" he said as he approached him.

Roman's eyes shot up, and the first look caught Virgil off-guard. His caramel eyes tended to throw him off the first time he saw them each day, so it wasn't new; he had the kind of eyes that you have to get used to all over again each day. Virgil stifled down the arrow that they'd shot through his stomach.

Roman's face lit up with a smile when he recognised him. "And you've reached this conclusion because..?"

"Because you always dress nice when you're in a good mood." Virgil gestured at him vaguely from head to toe.

"Oh, this? I just threw it on."

"Mhm. Sure you did."

And with that they concluded their daily swap of words at the gates before heading in. Walking with Roman was comfortable; he had the kind of size that would intimidate you had he walked past you on the street, but would give you a sense of comforting security when you walked side by side. And today he seemed to be rather smiley, which Virgil definitely did not complain about.

"You took a little longer to get here today," he mentioned to Virgil as they entered the main hallway.

"Oh-.. yeah. I stopped by Daybreak after dropping Em off."

"Gee, at this hour? Why?"

Virgil shrugged into the strap of his bag. "I don't know, I hoped Everest would find it easier to go through the day if she starts it with something familiar. She tends to be really jittery when she wakes up into her daily routine with the herd and the stable hands without anything to give her somewhat of a reset before she goes about her day. I just spent twenty minutes with her until she seemed calm enough and left. I guess as an experiment? I want to see if she's going to behave better later today if I start her day that way."

Roman listened attentively as he spoke, like it was the most fascinating thing he'd ever heard.

"That's... that's pretty cool, Tom Booker," he said once he was done, and his approving smile made something in Virgil's chest relax. He shrugged awkwardly.

"Thanks, I guess. So, uh, who's that Tom Booker guy you always call me?"

"Dude, are you for real? Tom Booker?"

"Uh... doesn't ring a bell."

"From The Horse Whisperer?" His eyes widened at Virgil, and the caramel captured the light from the ceiling. "You're telling me you've never watched The Horse Whisperer?"

"Uh... Not really."

Roman stopped dead in his tracks. "Dude. That's almost as bad as never watching Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron."

Virgil made a note to himself to never mention that he hadn't.

"I don't know, I usually don't watch horse movies. They tend to be painfully inaccurate."

"So what? Those are equestrian community classics! Oh, we're so watching it. Your house tomorrow after practice?"

A nervous clench tightened in Virgil's stomach. "I don't really have a TV."