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Description

Previously:

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
~Shakespeare
Season: 10
SEPTEMBER IV
In the end, the resolution was severely anticlimactic. The Blood-Horse ran an article one morning with a headline of “VICTORY’S CONNECTIONS DISAPPEAR” with a picture of April holding Master of Victory’s head above a subtitle of “APRIL CARRINGTON MIA; MISSING PERSONS INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY.”
It was the first notice any of the BCC crew had that Snake and Dawson had taken care of April. Or, so they assumed. Overnight, April disappeared. The resulting investigation would has for months, but no one stepped forward to push it further in her support, no one claimed her as their family, and after a while the police would eventually push her case to the side, forever unsolved.
Eddie, Javier, Liam, and Dani all had their theories and wondered every day if she would resurface, but two weeks after the announcement of April’s disappearance, Javier saw Snake hovering along the rail as he breezed Cora in the early morning fog. When Javier pulled Cora up nearby, Snake nodded with a wink and a grin, and Javier knew in that moment that whatever Snake and Dawson had done, they were all safe now.
Again, anticlimactic. But eventually, Eddie stopped looking over his shoulder for a flash of red curls. Eddie and Javier stopped camping out together (much to Javier’s displeasure) and Liam and Dani parted ways. Everything went back to some semblance of normal.
It was in this weird, tentative relaxation that Eddie found Javier leaning against Cora’s stall. The filly was staring back at her jockey, a grumpy look on her face, but she was being fairly well-behaved considering Javier was within biting distance.
“What are you doing here? It’s almost dusk.”
Javier flicked his eyes toward Eddie before looking back at Cora. “Just thinking,” the other man said dodgingly.
“About?”
Javier shrugged.
“Okay, that tells me absolutely nothing.”
A huff of breath told Eddie that Javier still found him at least a little amusing, and Eddie grinned and nudged his friend. “Come on, what’s wrong?”
Javier sighed and turned to face him. “I love you.”
Eddie blinked, startled. “Um, I know?” he said stupidly, turning it into a question out of confusion. “I love you, too?”
But Javier shook his head. “No, idiota, I’m in love with you. Romantically.”
Eddie just… what?
Wait, what?
In Eddie’s silence, Javier shrugged a bit uncomfortably and looked around as if searching for something, anything, to focus on. But of course there was nothing out of the ordinary--Barn 12 was as immaculate as ever--and so he refocused on Cora.
“For how long?” Eddie finally choked out.
Javier shook his head with a tiny laugh. “I have no idea. Forever?”
Holy shit.
Eddie opened his mouth, knowing he needed to say something and still without any response worthy of such a confession, but Javier cut him off with a wave of his hand. “You don’t have to respond,” Javier said easily, as if they were talking about the weather or something. “I just… I’m tired of being silent about it.”
Eddie just swallowed tightly and inched a step closer. ”What… what if I wanted to respond?”
Javier’s expression visibly shuttered closed, cutting off whatever emotions he was feeling. But his eyes swirled with worry and concern and a touch of fear. Eddie reached out, desperate to soothe his best friend. He rested his fingers tentatively on Javier’s chest before flattening his palm over his heart. He could feel the faint beat, fluttering like a hummingbird’s. Javier visibly swallowed.
“I don’t know what to do,” Eddie admitted quietly. “I just… I can’t lose you. Not again.”
Javier had his head tilted up slightly to watch Eddie’s face, the shorter man instinctively opening up his body language even as he breathed quickly in panic.
Eddie leaned forward and kissed him.
He heard a choked off gasp from Javier, then a quiet, almost imperceptible whine. Then, Javier was clutching Eddie’s shirt and their tongues were slipping together and Eddie felt like he was flying.
After a few moments, Javier pulled away and tucked his head, gasping. He looked blissed out but also completely overwhelmed, and Eddie knew the feeling exactly.
“What the hell?” Javier choked out.
“Don’t leave me again,” Eddie responded quickly, grabbing Javier’s hip and holding it tightly as if he could hold the jockey in place.
“What, are you gay now?”
Eddie paused. Was he? He had never been attracted to a man before. Was he actually attracted to Javier?
He flicked his gaze over the shorter man’s form, focusing for the first time on the whippet-like muscles cording across the jockey’s arms and chest.
Okay, yeah, he was attracted. And that kiss…
“I don’t know,” he responded honestly.
Javier ticked his head to the side, more of a canine move than a human one. He stared at Eddie, quickly assessing.
“Well,” he said finally, “what now?”
Eddie just shrugged helplessly.
“Do you want to kiss me again?”
Eddie flicked his gaze down to Javier’s mouth before leaning forward, pulled by some gravitational force that he couldn’t and didn’t want to stop. Javier met him almost halfway.
When they pulled apart again, Javier visibly relaxed. “Okay, well, I can work with that.”
Eddie moved in closer, running his nose against the sharp jut of Javier’s cheekbone, desperate to be close to him now that he was allowed to be.
“Do you want to go to dinner?” Javier asked. Eddie just grinned back at him and nodded.
They turned in tandem to head toward the parking lot and suddenly saw Dani standing in the barn’s doorway, grinning widely.
“Fucking finally!” she shrieked.
***
Snowbird was by far the largest racer in Barn 12’s string now. An odd, unanticipated growth spurt in the summer had pushed her over her projected height and she now towered at an impressive 17.1 hands. Bulle, in comparison, looked like a wee little thing next to her as they trotted side by side after an early morning work.
For the first time in their careers, they were set to run against each other in the Grade I Vosburgh at Belmont. Eight other colts dared to enter against them but no one seemed to care. The media instead focused on pitting the two senior BCC runners together, wondering who would take the six furlongs over the other. Most suspected Bulle would come out on top; he had the best race history, after all. He had been churning out impressive works as of late and had faced the other colts in the lineup many times before. Snowbird was far more unpredictable.
Still, they were both millionaires now and Snowbird, despite her unpredictability, had more graded wins under her belt than Bulle.
It was any man’s guess.
As usual, Snowbird was all fire and brimstone as she pranced into the saddling paddock. Bulle strolled behind her much more quietly, content in the knowledge that Snowbird would attract everyone’s attention and keep it away from him. He accepted Javier onto his back as easily as ever, despite this being their first race together in Bulle’s career, and the speckled white colt practically meandered his way to the gate.
Snowbird had drawn post number two while Bulle was on the far outside in eighth. Ten horses in total rounded out the field and they all broke cleanly at the bell. Both filly and colt were stalkers and, as Javier pulled Bulle sharply inward, settled in third and fourth place side by side to coast through the first half of the race.
As the field moved into the stretch, however, the niceties between barn-mates ended. A street fight suddenly ensued as Dani and Javier hunkered low and urged their respective mounts into neck-breaking speeds. Bulle’s white fur was the most visible to the crowd but Snowbird’s scythe-like head bobbed over Bulle’s ears, the giant filly still visible as they thundered down the stretch toward the wire.
The rest of the field surged around them, three other horses pulling up alongside the two stablemates, but Snowbird wasn’t having it and Bulle wasn’t about to let his companion win without a fight. Slowly, the two pulled away.
The camera flashed with a photo finish.
Dani and Javier pulled their mounts up slowly, all four individuals breathing hard. Snowbird’s soft, pink nostrils were flared wide as she sucked in as much air as she could. Bulle seemed just as winded but walked the track with his chin tucked close to his chest, still ready to fight if Javier would only let him. It was an odd behavior for such a well-mannered colt, but the BCC crew knew just how furiously Bulle would fight for a win. Just because he was more mild-mannered than his giant stablemate didn’t mean he was about to roll over and accept defeat.
They circled the front of the track for what felt like an eternity.
Finally, finally after nearly ten minutes of discussion from the track officials, the race order flashed up on the screen alongside the final picture.
Snowbird had edged out her smaller companion by the tiniest, almost impossible hair’s breadth of a nose.
The filly pranced her way into the winner’s circle for pictures, sweat-drenched but happy. Bulle returned to the barn, defeated but still of mild manner, no worse for wear.
A week later, Blood Diamond sailed to a beautiful and easy three length win the Grade II Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs. Cora did dismally in her MSW on the Pocahontas undercard, placing an unimpressive eighth, but the dark filly was in good health and proper spirits despite the loss. Delta Quadrant also ran that weekend, securing a valiant third place in his allowance run.
And all the while, in Barn 12’s proverbial shadows, a dark and speckled colt was waiting for the first snow.

Y'all. Y'all. I really suck at writing romance. This was like pulling teeth. But huzzah, the boys finally got their shit together!

Also, sorry not sorry for the abrupt solution. I'm over it.

Shown:
Name: Snowbird
Barn name: Birdy, Snow, That F*cker Bit Me
Gender: Filly
Age: 4
Breed: Thoroughbred
Height: 17.1hh
Color: Liver chestnut sabino (will gray out), flaxen carrier
Genotype: ee/aa/Gg/nSb/Ff
Markings: 4 long socks, crooked blaze with chin cap
Build: Large and muscular, built more like a stallion than a filly.
Temperament: Vicious and hard-headed, Snowbird challenges everyone she comes across, person and horse alike. She takes no shit but is sure to give it in spades. She is quite possibly the exact opposite of her older sister. She is unpredictable and unruly and seems to be worsening with age.
Discipline: Flat racing
Bloodlines: Neverland x Abaddon , Azrael

Name: Kanelbulle
Barn name: Bulle, A Cinnamon Roll, Little Bun
Gender: Colt
Age: 4
Breed: Thoroughbred
Height: 15.3hh
Color: Fleabitten rose grey
Genotype: ee/Aa/Gg
Markings: None
Build: Overall well put together, but with a slightly lower, bulkier shoulder than is usually desired. His head is strangely elegant and yet equally as blocky, like his parts were put together just slightly wrong. This, combined with his smaller stature, makes him uniquely adorable and cute.
Temperament: Bulle is sweeter than a bag of sugar. He is a horse that loves to be loved and tries to spread his affection onto everyone he comes across, whether they want it or not. He is a very calm racehorse and doesn't seem to fuss very much like you would expect a stallion to. He has a fierce competitive streak, however, making him the most ideal mount in a race.
Discipline: Flat racing
Bloodlines: Tapit x Devil's Humor, Distorted Humor

Art, Characters, and Story (C) me

Next on:

Description

Previously:

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
~Shakespeare
Season: 10
SEPTEMBER IV
In the end, the resolution was severely anticlimactic. The Blood-Horse ran an article one morning with a headline of “VICTORY’S CONNECTIONS DISAPPEAR” with a picture of April holding Master of Victory’s head above a subtitle of “APRIL CARRINGTON MIA; MISSING PERSONS INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY.”
It was the first notice any of the BCC crew had that Snake and Dawson had taken care of April. Or, so they assumed. Overnight, April disappeared. The resulting investigation would has for months, but no one stepped forward to push it further in her support, no one claimed her as their family, and after a while the police would eventually push her case to the side, forever unsolved.
Eddie, Javier, Liam, and Dani all had their theories and wondered every day if she would resurface, but two weeks after the announcement of April’s disappearance, Javier saw Snake hovering along the rail as he breezed Cora in the early morning fog. When Javier pulled Cora up nearby, Snake nodded with a wink and a grin, and Javier knew in that moment that whatever Snake and Dawson had done, they were all safe now.
Again, anticlimactic. But eventually, Eddie stopped looking over his shoulder for a flash of red curls. Eddie and Javier stopped camping out together (much to Javier’s displeasure) and Liam and Dani parted ways. Everything went back to some semblance of normal.
It was in this weird, tentative relaxation that Eddie found Javier leaning against Cora’s stall. The filly was staring back at her jockey, a grumpy look on her face, but she was being fairly well-behaved considering Javier was within biting distance.
“What are you doing here? It’s almost dusk.”
Javier flicked his eyes toward Eddie before looking back at Cora. “Just thinking,” the other man said dodgingly.
“About?”
Javier shrugged.
“Okay, that tells me absolutely nothing.”
A huff of breath told Eddie that Javier still found him at least a little amusing, and Eddie grinned and nudged his friend. “Come on, what’s wrong?”
Javier sighed and turned to face him. “I love you.”
Eddie blinked, startled. “Um, I know?” he said stupidly, turning it into a question out of confusion. “I love you, too?”
But Javier shook his head. “No, idiota, I’m in love with you. Romantically.”
Eddie just… what?
Wait, what?
In Eddie’s silence, Javier shrugged a bit uncomfortably and looked around as if searching for something, anything, to focus on. But of course there was nothing out of the ordinary--Barn 12 was as immaculate as ever--and so he refocused on Cora.
“For how long?” Eddie finally choked out.
Javier shook his head with a tiny laugh. “I have no idea. Forever?”
Holy shit.
Eddie opened his mouth, knowing he needed to say something and still without any response worthy of such a confession, but Javier cut him off with a wave of his hand. “You don’t have to respond,” Javier said easily, as if they were talking about the weather or something. “I just… I’m tired of being silent about it.”
Eddie just swallowed tightly and inched a step closer. ”What… what if I wanted to respond?”
Javier’s expression visibly shuttered closed, cutting off whatever emotions he was feeling. But his eyes swirled with worry and concern and a touch of fear. Eddie reached out, desperate to soothe his best friend. He rested his fingers tentatively on Javier’s chest before flattening his palm over his heart. He could feel the faint beat, fluttering like a hummingbird’s. Javier visibly swallowed.
“I don’t know what to do,” Eddie admitted quietly. “I just… I can’t lose you. Not again.”
Javier had his head tilted up slightly to watch Eddie’s face, the shorter man instinctively opening up his body language even as he breathed quickly in panic.
Eddie leaned forward and kissed him.
He heard a choked off gasp from Javier, then a quiet, almost imperceptible whine. Then, Javier was clutching Eddie’s shirt and their tongues were slipping together and Eddie felt like he was flying.
After a few moments, Javier pulled away and tucked his head, gasping. He looked blissed out but also completely overwhelmed, and Eddie knew the feeling exactly.
“What the hell?” Javier choked out.
“Don’t leave me again,” Eddie responded quickly, grabbing Javier’s hip and holding it tightly as if he could hold the jockey in place.
“What, are you gay now?”
Eddie paused. Was he? He had never been attracted to a man before. Was he actually attracted to Javier?
He flicked his gaze over the shorter man’s form, focusing for the first time on the whippet-like muscles cording across the jockey’s arms and chest.
Okay, yeah, he was attracted. And that kiss…
“I don’t know,” he responded honestly.
Javier ticked his head to the side, more of a canine move than a human one. He stared at Eddie, quickly assessing.
“Well,” he said finally, “what now?”
Eddie just shrugged helplessly.
“Do you want to kiss me again?”
Eddie flicked his gaze down to Javier’s mouth before leaning forward, pulled by some gravitational force that he couldn’t and didn’t want to stop. Javier met him almost halfway.
When they pulled apart again, Javier visibly relaxed. “Okay, well, I can work with that.”
Eddie moved in closer, running his nose against the sharp jut of Javier’s cheekbone, desperate to be close to him now that he was allowed to be.
“Do you want to go to dinner?” Javier asked. Eddie just grinned back at him and nodded.
They turned in tandem to head toward the parking lot and suddenly saw Dani standing in the barn’s doorway, grinning widely.
“Fucking finally!” she shrieked.
***
Snowbird was by far the largest racer in Barn 12’s string now. An odd, unanticipated growth spurt in the summer had pushed her over her projected height and she now towered at an impressive 17.1 hands. Bulle, in comparison, looked like a wee little thing next to her as they trotted side by side after an early morning work.
For the first time in their careers, they were set to run against each other in the Grade I Vosburgh at Belmont. Eight other colts dared to enter against them but no one seemed to care. The media instead focused on pitting the two senior BCC runners together, wondering who would take the six furlongs over the other. Most suspected Bulle would come out on top; he had the best race history, after all. He had been churning out impressive works as of late and had faced the other colts in the lineup many times before. Snowbird was far more unpredictable.
Still, they were both millionaires now and Snowbird, despite her unpredictability, had more graded wins under her belt than Bulle.
It was any man’s guess.
As usual, Snowbird was all fire and brimstone as she pranced into the saddling paddock. Bulle strolled behind her much more quietly, content in the knowledge that Snowbird would attract everyone’s attention and keep it away from him. He accepted Javier onto his back as easily as ever, despite this being their first race together in Bulle’s career, and the speckled white colt practically meandered his way to the gate.
Snowbird had drawn post number two while Bulle was on the far outside in eighth. Ten horses in total rounded out the field and they all broke cleanly at the bell. Both filly and colt were stalkers and, as Javier pulled Bulle sharply inward, settled in third and fourth place side by side to coast through the first half of the race.
As the field moved into the stretch, however, the niceties between barn-mates ended. A street fight suddenly ensued as Dani and Javier hunkered low and urged their respective mounts into neck-breaking speeds. Bulle’s white fur was the most visible to the crowd but Snowbird’s scythe-like head bobbed over Bulle’s ears, the giant filly still visible as they thundered down the stretch toward the wire.
The rest of the field surged around them, three other horses pulling up alongside the two stablemates, but Snowbird wasn’t having it and Bulle wasn’t about to let his companion win without a fight. Slowly, the two pulled away.
The camera flashed with a photo finish.
Dani and Javier pulled their mounts up slowly, all four individuals breathing hard. Snowbird’s soft, pink nostrils were flared wide as she sucked in as much air as she could. Bulle seemed just as winded but walked the track with his chin tucked close to his chest, still ready to fight if Javier would only let him. It was an odd behavior for such a well-mannered colt, but the BCC crew knew just how furiously Bulle would fight for a win. Just because he was more mild-mannered than his giant stablemate didn’t mean he was about to roll over and accept defeat.
They circled the front of the track for what felt like an eternity.
Finally, finally after nearly ten minutes of discussion from the track officials, the race order flashed up on the screen alongside the final picture.
Snowbird had edged out her smaller companion by the tiniest, almost impossible hair’s breadth of a nose.
The filly pranced her way into the winner’s circle for pictures, sweat-drenched but happy. Bulle returned to the barn, defeated but still of mild manner, no worse for wear.
A week later, Blood Diamond sailed to a beautiful and easy three length win the Grade II Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs. Cora did dismally in her MSW on the Pocahontas undercard, placing an unimpressive eighth, but the dark filly was in good health and proper spirits despite the loss. Delta Quadrant also ran that weekend, securing a valiant third place in his allowance run.
And all the while, in Barn 12’s proverbial shadows, a dark and speckled colt was waiting for the first snow.

Y'all. Y'all. I really suck at writing romance. This was like pulling teeth. But huzzah, the boys finally got their shit together!

Also, sorry not sorry for the abrupt solution. I'm over it.

Shown:
Name: Snowbird
Barn name: Birdy, Snow, That F*cker Bit Me
Gender: Filly
Age: 4
Breed: Thoroughbred
Height: 17.1hh
Color: Liver chestnut sabino (will gray out), flaxen carrier
Genotype: ee/aa/Gg/nSb/Ff
Markings: 4 long socks, crooked blaze with chin cap
Build: Large and muscular, built more like a stallion than a filly.
Temperament: Vicious and hard-headed, Snowbird challenges everyone she comes across, person and horse alike. She takes no shit but is sure to give it in spades. She is quite possibly the exact opposite of her older sister. She is unpredictable and unruly and seems to be worsening with age.
Discipline: Flat racing
Bloodlines: Neverland x Abaddon , Azrael

Name: Kanelbulle
Barn name: Bulle, A Cinnamon Roll, Little Bun
Gender: Colt
Age: 4
Breed: Thoroughbred
Height: 15.3hh
Color: Fleabitten rose grey
Genotype: ee/Aa/Gg
Markings: None
Build: Overall well put together, but with a slightly lower, bulkier shoulder than is usually desired. His head is strangely elegant and yet equally as blocky, like his parts were put together just slightly wrong. This, combined with his smaller stature, makes him uniquely adorable and cute.
Temperament: Bulle is sweeter than a bag of sugar. He is a horse that loves to be loved and tries to spread his affection onto everyone he comes across, whether they want it or not. He is a very calm racehorse and doesn't seem to fuss very much like you would expect a stallion to. He has a fierce competitive streak, however, making him the most ideal mount in a race.
Discipline: Flat racing
Bloodlines: Tapit x Devil's Humor, Distorted Humor

Art, Characters, and Story (C) me

Next on: