Dawsons Creek

Jack is entirely thankful for the fact that his mother doesn't make him visit her horse during the week. It gives him a few nice afternoons alone to play his guitar extra loud or jerk off sneak out to hang out with the few friends he does have. Jacks friends aren't exactly the wholesome people his mother wishes they were, but Jack's no cardboard cut-out son either.

Unfortunately, in exchange for being left alone during the week, he is expected to accompany her to the stables every Saturday for the foreseeable future.

It's only the second Saturday and Jack is already planning his own death. It's probably the most boring thing to ever to happen to him.

He can't do much really, there is only one horse and it's not like he wants to actually do anything with her anyway. He's loathe to admit it, but he's a little bit intimidated by just how big 'Honey' is when she's not safely away from him in her little box. He's got no idea why anyone would want to give over control to a very large creature with a mind of it's own – he's seen rodeos on TV and anything that can throw you into the air like that surely can't be safe for children.

Still, he's sitting on a row of benches watching his mother and a group of other beginners walking around in a circle. It feels like they've been circling forever instead of five minutes. There's a middle aged man in the middle on a big black horse, Mr Dawson apparently, calling out overly cheerful advice to sit up straight and keep your heels down and for goodness sake, you're allowed to look happy.

Jack agrees, because some of the women look genuinely terrified which he can't understand because why would you pay money to do something that's going to put an expression on your face like that?

About twenty minutes into what's supposed to be an hour lesson, presumably followed by the rest of the morning and the afternoon watching his mother pat and coo over her new friend, Jack's mind numbingly bored. He's actually been thinking of funeral songs. Beyond the group in the arena, the stables are pretty damn busy. There's people heading out in packs to god knows where, little kids being led around and just general chaos, banging and neighing and a general hum of conversation. And everyone's dressed exactly the same.

He decides to wander. It's not like he's going to get in any trouble around here, beyond the possibility of horse crap on his sneakers. He'll be extra careful. Walking around has got to be more interesting than circle walking, although they have changed directions at least.

He's got no desire to look at the long rows of horses in the barns, or walk very far so he figures the weird big building that apparently an arena but in a shed might be the way to go. Surely whatever's going on in the there has got to be more entertaining than this.

It's empty. Jack's disappointed. There's sunlight coming through the skylight in the roof by the huge ceiling lights are off, and it's kinda dark. There's a bunch of jumps set up in the sand, brightly coloured poles and a particularly novel Ravens themed jump. Jack approves, even if the idea of not only getting on a horse, but leaping over things with it seems mildly insane.

The jumps don't seem small by any measure. Climbing through the panels in the gate, Jack walks across the sand for a closer look. The top pole of the Ravens jump comes to waist height, which doesn't seem completely ridiculous, just a little.

He walks around to a few other jumps, measuring them against his body, the tallest of them brushing the top of his shoulder and Jack isn't a short guy, can't believe that people are willing to risk their lives like this.

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Saturday finds Alex on the edge of the outdoor arena, sandwich in hand. He's Rianless for the foreseeable future, his brother having taken the day off to hang out with his boyfriend, Zack. Zack's a decent guy, Alex has given him the 'hurt him, I hurt you' speech even though the other boy could probably crush him with a single hand, and it's always nice to have a weekend that doesn't involve getting hay in places you'd rather it wasn't.

He doesn't really have anything to do, having ridden Toby earlier that morning to avoid the rush, groomed a couple of lesson horses for a morning class. He'd even managed to find the new girth he was sure he'd put in the tack room, but was actually in his bedroom underneath a pile of clothes, still in it's packaging. How it ended up there is a mystery, because Alex doesn't even remember bringing it into the house. It's probably Rian's fault, getting him distracted.

He spots Honey on the other side of the arena, gets his first glimpse of her new owner for the time being. The womans honest to god grinning, and Alex can't help smiling as well, because happy people make him happy, and happy people make for happy horses.

However, watching his father teaching beginners can only hold his attention for so long and Alex has finished his snack, wedging the cling film into his pockets and hoping he'll remember to get it out before they get put in the wash.

He doesn't really want to do anything, but he doesn't want to be inside either, knows that the minute he sits down to play video games or watch TV or something he'll cast a glance out the window and be unable to resist the call of the wild, as they say.

He figures he'll get a head start on pulling the jumps down in the indoor for that afternoons free jump session, because they're just a tad high for the juniors that tend to appear in droves, eager to prove to their friends that they can jump the highest.

It takes him a while to get there, stopping to chat with a couple of regulars and giving little Kathy Kittredge his opinion on her and Snowflakes matching braids with bright pink ribbons – which are actually really damn good considering she's nine, Alex still can't braid to save his life and he's had enough practice to last a lifetime.

He's thinking about a hundred different things he comes in the back gate, turning towards the light switches before he pauses, because the arena isn't empty.

It's not that the arena is off limits, but generally it's written on the chalkboard out front if someone's got it booked, and people generally turn the lights on, because everyone knows that there's horse eating shadows in the corners.

The person's back is turned to him, leaning against one of the jumps and for a brief moment Alex panics because he can't see a horse and he doesn't cope well with the sight of blood, hopes the person hasn't fallen. But there doesn't appear to be a horse at all.

Alex is puzzled, starts walking out across the sand.

“Hey,” He calls out, voice echoing and the person visibly flinches, spins around and it's a boy, and he looks quite uhm, well. Definitely Alex's type, is his first impression.

“I, uh, I wasn't doing anything!” Is the slightly squeaky response and Alex is confused. Why is there a boy in the middle of the indoor, without a horse and with the tightest black jeans Alex has seen in a while?

He raises an eyebrow. “Were you supposed to be?” He questions, because the guy doesn't exactly look like he's belongs here, and Alex doesn't judge people like that, can't because outside of the stables he's usually in skinny jeans and a band shirt himself, but still. Things seem weird.

“My mom's in a lesson and she made me come and I was bored, that's not a crime is it” The boy replies, suddenly defensive.

Alex can't help but smile, because it's obvious that he's found himself a project. He might, just might have the teeniest, tiniest sadistic streak, he loves non-horsey people. He kind of likes to mess with their minds, and it's probably a horrible personality trait but he can't help it, likes to watch them squirm.

He sticks a hand out, “I'm Alex”

“Jack” The boy says, not taking Alex's offered hand, merely giving him a nod and alright, Alex can deal with that.