Who: Freddie Morgan & Garrett Landry What: Birthday horseback rides Where: Camelot grounds When: Wednesday, November 18th 2015, around sunset Warnings: Pure Arthurian fluff
Normally his birthday was something that Freddie looked forward to, if only because it was a really good excuse for a party. In the past, he and Ellie's birthday had always been a big deal. Birthdays in the Morgan/Evans brood were, generally, no matter their differences they were a close knit family who loved each other, and enjoyed being together for the big moments. Birthdays were big moments, though on a much more morbid note, they were also something of a triumphant stepping stone on the Morgan side of the family. Another birthday, another year without someone trying to kill you and potentially succeeding. That was the sort of thing you always had to worry about as a member of the Morgan family, unfortunately. Freddie never really thought of birthdays like that, but he was aware of the significance. For him, birthdays meant spending it with his twin and celebrating the day that they both came into this world, already attached at the hip (though not literally, they weren’t those kind of twins). This year, that made the whole subject of birthdays a bit of a downer, considering at the moment he and Ellie were still barely speaking to each other.
It had been well over a month since he’d stumbled on Ellie and Dustin’s betrayal, and it felt like the wound was still fresh and open. While he hadn’t spoken a word to Dustin since the incident, he’d only exchanged minimal words with Ellie and in the most distant, impersonal ways possible. It hurt worse than not speaking to Dustin at all, as much as Dustin was his best friend, Ellie was his twin sister. There would never be anyone he was closer to, so purposefully putting distance between them hurt Freddie in a way that he couldn’t properly put into words, except to say that it often felt like one half of him was missing. It was stupid. He knew it. Yes, they had betrayed his trust by sneaking around and lying to him about it, but he should really bite the bullet and forgive them by now, or at least Ellie. It was just that Freddie couldn’t get the image out of his head, or the looks on their faces as they tried to scramble for any excuse that would make sense, when there was no excuse for what they had done. Freddie, like Arthur, had a very hard time forgiving the people closest to him when they disappointed him. It wasn’t always a flaw, sometimes the people closest to Arthur really shouldn’t have been, but it could be a weakness too. Especially when they were people who, logically, Freddie knew still loved and cared about him, just as he did them.
These were the thoughts that were clouding his head on this particular day, the day in question being his and Ellie’s twenty-fifth birthday. As far as birthdays went, that was arguably a bigger one just on its own, but Freddie couldn’t bring himself to really get in the mood for it. He also wasn’t entirely sure what the family had planned, half hoping they'd decided to scrap a celebration altogether since he and Ellie were barely talking. Somehow that didn't seem likely, and Daniel was being particularly secretive about it, which meant it must be some kind of surprise. Freddie wasn’t really in the surprise party kind of mood, though maybe he’d change his mind later when there was cake involved. Right now, what he was in the mood for was a horseback ride, and luckily, it hadn’t taken much convincing on Garrett’s part. Considering he and Dustin were on the rocks and had been for awhile now, Freddie was even more thankful for the other man’s friendship, and grinned over at his riding companion from atop his steed while he pulled lightly on the reigns to urge his horse down to a slower pace as they reached the top of a small slope on the Camelot grounds that looked out over part of the lake. While Freddie had had a few practice rides with Avalanche by now, he still wasn’t quite confident enough on the larger horse to make riding him a habit, so he’d picked another horse for the afternoon, one he was able to ride a lot more smoothly. Thanks to Garrett, Freddie had gotten better at riding horses more smoothly in general. “Not a bad view, if I do say so myself.”