past_regret (past_regret) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-03-21 16:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, athos, d'artagnan |
Who: Athos and D’Artagnan
When: 14th February
Where: Stables
What: Valentine's Day
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Athos had been planning the Valentine’s Day surprise for his husband for a while and now the day was finally here he was somewhat excited. He loved doing things for D’Artagnan especially things which made him smile and he thought this would definitely do that.
“Ready?” he called from the living room, they’d had a lazy breakfast in bed and had just finished dressing to leave. Athos hadn’t yet told D’Artagnan where they were going, though as they got closer to the stables which were their destination he knew D’Art would recognise the place as they’d been riding there a few times.
D’Artagnan hadn’t really been expecting anything. Now that he was married he wasn’t sure what to expect when holidays came around. Did that mean they did things or maybe the opposite now? Or did they just wing it? He had no idea until breakfast showed up and he was pleased. Who knew the breakfast fairy really did exist. He raised an eyebrow at Athos’s unusually sunny disposition and shrugged. “I guess so? Even though I have no idea how to dress or anything for whatever you’re being so mysterious about.” He gave him an amused but slightly exasperated look as he pulled on a jacket.
He’d bought Athos a gift already, given to him during the breakfast. Gifts were a thing he was fairly good at, even though sometimes his husband seemed impossible to shop for-he’d learned over time his various tastes in things. He’d found cheesecake chocolates and a bottle of wine from a local place he thought Athos might like. Red of course, white was for cooking or ignoring. They were both rather French when it came to views of wine so he went with that theme.
He did in fact recognize the barn they’d visited on past occasions and shook his head in amusement “You are still a romantic aren’t you?” Very opposite from the Athos in the dreams on that account.
Wine and chocolates were the perfect way to Athos’ heart, not that D’Artagnan needed it. He already owned Athos’ heart entirely. He was in love with his husband now as he had been when they got married, if not more.
“I’ve not lost that to dream me” Athos admitted, he was rather glad since it helped distinguish him from the sadder more tragic version of himself. Leaning over he pressed a kiss to D’Artagnan’s lips, “I thought spending the day riding would be pretty perfect”
He returned the kiss, “I’m glad. Here I thought it ended at breakfast.” This was a good surprise, and he enjoyed them. It kept him on his feet, and he had all the energy in the world for it today. One lazy day in December seemed to be enough to keep him wired for weeks to come. D’Artagnan was typically the type that needed a variety of things going on to keep his attention. This was perfect. He gave his husband’s hand a squeeze and slid out of the car when it came to a stop.
“I wonder if the same ones we rode last time are still here.” They’d had pretty good luck with those two horses, they were smooth gallopers and D’Artagnan had no intention of going for a walk. “Thought you should know we’re gonna race at some point today.” This change of scenery was exactly what he needed.
They were definitely different people when it came to certain areas. D’Artagnan needed almost constant stimulation to be happy while Athos preferred the laid back approach but they mostly managed to find a happy medium. Athos encouraged varying hobbies to keep his husband occupied and it mostly worked.
“Oh I think they might be” Since Athos had bought them they would always be available but he wasn’t telling D’Artagnan that yet. He’d decided on it after their last talk about riding, they’d been in agreement they had been the best two horses at the stables so Athos had decided to make a gift of them to his husband. “Oh? So you’re prepared to lose I hope?” he grinned as they walked to the reception to book in.
D’Artagnan still attended fencing classes, so they helped with a lot of the energy poor Athos might have had to deal with otherwise, but this change of scenery even compare to that was welcome. Even if when he breathed too deeply the smell of horse wasn’t exactly a nice clean one. He arched an eyebrow at his response. “You won last time ‘cause you play dirty but I didn’t forget that you know.” Looking that good on a horse ought to have been illegal for racing purposes, D’Artagnan planned to play just as badly during this race as the last.
“Better watch yourself husband of mine.” He didn’t even bother to check in, if Athos wanted to he could but he remembered exactly where the two horses were they used before assuming they hadn’t swapped places. The one he favored was a caramel colored mare with a dark maine who knickered at him as he approached, expecting treats.
Hobbies were good for D’Artagnan and Athos would always encourage them. He had to admit he got a little more restless than he ever had before thanks to the dreams, he could just handle it a little better. “Ha. I did not play dirty, you are just too easily distracted” Athos claimed with a grin at his husband.
Deciding to rebel a little Athos changed course and went with D’Art to the stables, the sleek black mare next to the caramel one nodded it’s head but otherwise remained fairly still. Athos appreciated them both which was why he’d purchased them, “You ready for a ride?” he said, running a hand over her neck, “We gotta beat these two again” he added loud enough for D’Art to hear him.
D’Artagnan raised an eyebrow at him as Athos spoke to the horse with a hint of amusement. “Two grumpy people over there haven’t got anything on you.” The horse he stood with was spirited and excitable. Young but not quite a baby. He gave his neck a rub before leading him out of the stall to get all tacked up and ready. D’Artagnan was anxious to do something like this again. It’d been a while.
Athos did the same, thankfully due to their dreams it never took them too long to prepare the horses for riding and they both swung up into their saddles with ease. “Ready?” he asked D’Artagnan looking over at him with a smile.
D’Artagnan had also gained some horse experience. Not only from the dreams but having farm boy blood in them helped even more so he found. There’d been a specific incident with an unruly horse not even the Musketeers could tame that he’d been able. Horses just agreed with him, and he was glad they did. They were wonderful creatures. Part of him wanted to let the horse run right out of their starting gate, but if he did that she’d be winded too soon and he’d never win that way. “Yep.” He let the horse walk out. “My mom called this morning, said she sent us a package. Apparently wine from the village.” It was almost dream like saying stuff like that on those horses considering the place they were. “She said it was a special blend from it this year.”
It wasn’t hard to see that D’Artagnan was definitely the more natural of them when it came to horses, Athos did okay but he wasn’t anywhere near as relaxed as his husband was. Luckily he’d found a horse he got along with and stuck to him whereas D’Artagnan could pick any horse and it would fall for him, not that Athos blamed them of course. “Your mother is smart woman” he said, “She knows us well already, we’ll keep an eye on the post. I’m looking forward to trying it”
“How she’s getting it through to us I have no idea, but apparently she has channels” D’Artagnan shrugged, liquids weren’t meant to be shipped, alcohol equally so but she insisted. Who was he to argue? “Apparently they’re offering her some sort of job too since the economy is different, farmers aren’t living well right now. I don’t really know what it was since I didn’t catch all the words.” He was learning though, his French was improving a bit just by talking and hearing it spoken at him-though he was no expert unless it came to swearing. He’d picked up the curse words pretty quick.
“Don’t question it. The woman has her ways” Athos said, he liked D’Artagnan’s mother, she was a kind but strong woman. “We can call her later if you want, get some more details” Athos seemed to have gotten more of the French through their dreams and didn’t struggle with the language at all. It had definitely been something he appreciated, it seemed they picked up different levels of knowledge. Athos’ turned more to the academic while D’Artagnan gained more physical aspects of their dreams such as the riding.
“I know I know, she said the same thing I think.” From what he could understand anyway. She didn’t call terribly often but enough to where it when she did D’Artagnan was starting to enjoy the phone calls more. They’d started off pretty tense since for years he’d wondered if she’d just abandoned him after his father, but he was starting to understand all the language barriers himself. She couldn’t really have done much living where and how she did. He didn’t know French and she didn’t know English. There were things to be considered, so now he was just getting to know her as a person.”She told you to stop ragging on me about the sugar.” He lied, but it was worth a try. He gave his husband a mock annoyed look as even his horse began to get bored by walking, she kept trying to jerk away to eat at grass along the route instead.
“I think your translation might have slipped love, if anything she would have told me to keep on ragging you” Athos said with a smirk, “You know it’s only because I love you and when you’re on a sugar hangover you turn more grumpy than I am” he added before blowing a kiss to his husband. He was only half joking though, after D’Artagnan ate too much sugar the come down was always painful.
“I think that’s crap.” He gave him a roll of his eyes, but his tone was obviously not all that serious. He shook his head a bit and toyed with the mare's neck as she tugged at the reigns to go a little faster, getting impatient to run. “Easy, not yet.” He nudged her away from the grass with a foot. “I am not.” He made a face at him as they neared the more open space they’d originally intended to let the horses go in. “If we don’t let these horses run I’m pretty sure next they’ll try to eat us.”
“We’ll call her later and see” Athos said with a smirk before laughing at the face and the denial of grumpiness. His own horse snickered a little at the open space, it seemed both of them wanted to be free to run a little. “I think you’re right and we wouldn’t want ‘Eaten by horse’ on our death certificate” he joked.
“No no, that’s okay. You don’t need to go this far to prove me right.” He mused with a raised eyebrow at his husband as he gave the horse a pet on the neck. “That’s my least favorite way to die.” The brunette smirked as he looked over at his husband and then back at the creature he sat on, giving her a nudge with his heels without even word, she responded with a light even canter as he looked back at Athos. “Well, any day now!” He gave him a taunting look of amusement.
Athos laughed giving D’Artagnan a knowing look before nodding, “Mine too” he quipped before his husband and horse moved off. “Suggesting I’m slow?” he asked, nudging his own horse to catch up.
“Well at least up there anyway.” He was in a good mood, the day had been wonderful so far. It seemed to have helped with the little funk he’d been in recently. He’d felt a little anxious and like he just didn’t fit in with orange county recently. His head still thought they belongd in the 17th century, flawed as things were there. “Stating, suggesting-whatever you want to call it.” He smirked as he let Athos get a little closer before allowing the horse to take up a bit more speed.
It was wonderful to see D’Artagnan in such a good mood, he knew his husband sometimes came out of the dreams preferring them and feeling more at home there than here. For some reason Athos never felt that but he tried to comfort and support D’Artagnan as much as he could.
“Oh you just wait until I get hold of you husband dear” he grinned as he tried spurring his horse on to catch up.
It wasn’t so much that he preferred their circumstances but he missed the adventure that came along with it for sure. So doing stuff like this more would definitely help get him out of his funk. “If you can by all means.” He headed up a path that lead to a top of a hill they were riding on that overlooked their stables in an impressive way. He let the horse stop for a moment to look out over it, it almost reminded him of old western movies that were the occasional fun mindless watch on the weekend replay channels. “There’s a guy that lives in that place that reminds me of a cowboy.” He pointed down over at smallish wooden looking house just to the side of the stables.
Well now that they owned the horses they would definitely be able to spend more time doing things like they were today, he had no doubt D’Artagnan would spend more time here even without Athos. “A real life cowboy huh? Think I’ll stick to my real life Musketeer” he grinned as he came to a stop next to his husband. He was looking forward to revealing the picnic he’d planned and telling D’Artagnan what he’d done. Their Valentine’s day was going to be a good one.