The sun was peeking out from behind the clouds as the practise finished and Blaine trotted Toolie over to where Tina was letting Blossom stretch her legs a little. Toolie's bay coat was dark with sweat, even if Blaine had tried to take it easy, but the little mare was very fizzy and would work herself into a bouncy, sweaty, prancing mess no matter what he did. Case and point, he slowed down to what was supposed to be a walk next to Tina and Blossom, but the result was Toolie skipping sideways as she snatched at the bit and wanted to go faster. Shaking his head Blaine got off and lead her, and the pony instantly calmed down.
"Good girl," Blaine said and rubbed Toolie between the ears, something the pony loved.
"She was really good today," Tina commented, as she too got off and walked beside Blaine to keep him company. She bumped shoulders with Blaine and grinned up at him.
It was a well-known fact that Blaine had been struggling getting Toolie under control to the extent that he could ride her in the team. The large, bay pony had arrived at the yard to be one of the owner's son's new polo ponies, but had been deemed too crazy and Sebastian hadn't been able to control her. Blaine had liked the mare from the first time he had seen her thrown Sebastian. He had been able to buy her for almost nothing, which was a good thing since his parents had told him they would not be funding any more ponies until he came to his senses and started doing "proper riding", which meant polo or show jumping, where you needed money to succeed. Toolie wasn't a bad pony, really, she just didn't like heavy handed klutzes like Sebastian, who rode because it was the thing to do when your parents had more money than they knew what to do with.
Blaine on the other hand loved horses, and he had immediately loved Toolie and her fiery nature. His old pony Wizard had been getting too small for him, and Blaine had found a local family with three little girls where Wizard could live the rest of his life at a more leisurely pace. Blaine had spent all autumn and winter getting to know Toolie, and even though he still had not found her off button, he now had breaks that worked without her ejecting the rider as she had done with Sebastian.
Toolie started to rub her sweaty head up Blaine's arm, but he pushed her off, her bride had buckles that scratched your skin pretty badly when she started with her rough treatment. He was just about to complement Tina on how good she had done the water pick up in the Windsor Castle race during practise when a shout could be heard. Swivelling his head, Blaine couldn't find the source of the shouting until Tina's hand suddenly pulled hard on his t-shirt.
"Look," she exclaimed and pointed. On top of the ravine that bordered the practise field to the west Blaine saw a boy cowering almost underneath a rearing horse. Without thinking, he vaulted on to Toolie and took off towards the boy in trouble.
Kurt Hummel had a problem. He had told his agent that he was sick and tired on playing pre-teen boys and had told her to get him something different. Well, this was different.
Kurt had made a career for himself as a child movie star, and even if he was seventeen now, he still had that innocent face that casting directors loved. In his last movie he had played thirteen for Christ sake. He did not look like a thirteen year old anymore, something the woman in the wardrobe department had been muttering about just this morning. Apparently he had hit another growth spurt and the pants they had made for him were now too short and had to be redone. The wardrobe crisis had been facilitated by a change in the shooting schedule so that now Kurt found himself on the edge of a hillside, fake dirt covering his face and trying to stay away from his scene partner, a huge black horse fittingly named Goliath. When he had gone up for this movie he had been asked about his riding experience, and he may have stretched the truth a bit, or maybe a lot. Kurt didn't really have any experience with horses, unless you counted being led around on one at a dude ranch when he was little. He remembered liking the experience, which was one of the reasons he was so keen on doing this movie. The other reason was that he got to play a sixteen year old (wow) and he actually had a romantic interest, which was also new for him.
The movie was a period piece, about a boy who falls in love with a trapeze artist on a travelling circus, and runs away from home to follow her. He manages to get a job taking care of the horses, in the end forming a bond with a freestyle horse that has never accepted a rider on its back, until meeting the boy that is. The whole script was kind of sugary sweet, perfect for the young female audience it was directed towards. Kurt found it kind of cliché and artificial, but hey it was work, and he didn't have to act prepubescent so he was happy. That is until he got a good look at the huge beast he was supposed to act with. The monstrosity had tossed its head and started stepping towards Kurt when the animal handler had tried to "introduce" them, and that was all it took. Kurt was scared, and not just a little bit. It was so bad that now that he had a scene with Goliath his throat dried up and his head felt fuzzy, kind of warm. He could hear his own heartbeat pulsing in his ears and his body felt like it was packed in cotton.
The first couple of takes he had completely frozen up, and had received a tongue lashing from both the director and the handler. The scene was carefully choreographed so that Kurt wouldn't get in harms way, so freezing up really wasn't the best idea. In his last shot, he had managed to cover and shout, but apparently he still looked like he had a stick up his ass according to the director and the whole thing had to be done again.
The crew had started to re-set the scene when there was a shout and two riders burst on to the set from a trail that nobody had thought to block. The first horse went ballistic, Kurt didn't know how else to explain it, when it was suddenly surrounded by crew and lights. The dark brown horse reared up on its hind legs, just like Goliath, but then again not. Again, Kurt was no horse aficionado, but even he could tell the difference between Goliath's slow measured movements and this one's frenzy. The rider clung to the horse and to Kurt's surprise put one arm out in a kind of hugging motion around its neck. The crew had fled away from the unexpected interrupters and Kurt stood up from his chair to have a better look. While he watched the rider seemed to get the horse to stop dancing on its hind legs again, but the animal didn't stand still until the rider suddenly got off. The boy, Kurt had registered that the rider was a boy, but it hadn't really hit home until he saw the flex of muscles and the fluid motion of legs swinging over and meeting the ground. He looked, taking in the extremely tight pants, tighter than he liked to wear his skinny jeans, showing off calves and thighs and an amazing ass. He would have objectified the boy more, but the other rider came between them. That one was a girl, long dark hair in a braid down her back and similar attire. Her horse was smaller though, and the colour of honey with a white tail. It didn't look half as scary as the other one and was standing completely still as the girl looked around, a surprised expression on her face. Her eyes meet Kurt's and suddenly she is beet red and almost falling off the horse.
"OMG! You're Kurt Hummel. You're amazing, I love all your movies…. You're taller than I thought." That last bit comes when she has swung off the horse and is standing in front of him. She smells of horses, and Kurt could have a thing or two to say about the highly unflattering helmet she is wearing, but he won't. First off, he has learned a bit about fan interaction over the years and knows to supress the natural bitchiness he has, and two, and more importantly, the boy has followed her.
"Could I take a picture with you?" she breathes, and manages to extract a phone from somewhere in those extremely tight pants. Blaine will you do it?" Kurt just smiles and nods, he isn't actually capable of speech right now, because the boy, Blaine, unclips his helmet and there are curls. Black curls that are sweaty and stick to his forehead, which is bronzed and adorned with dark, thick eyebrows, gorgeous almost golden eyes and a mouth with pink lips, that look so soft… and he really needs to stop staring right now. The girl has taken off her helmet as well and is ruffling her bangs to make them seem less sweaty when their little photo session is interrupted upon.
"What in all hells is going on here! What are the riders of Genghis Khan doing on my set?" Sue Sylvester, hard ass movie director has arrived and is towering over them. The girl looks like she is going to start crying, but the boy seem very much unimpressed.
"We were having practise," he says, motioning with his hand to the field below the hillside, "and we heard a shout and saw someone that looked to be in trouble, so we rode up here to help. Just a misunderstanding." Sue is mouthing, but no sound is coming out as she looks over the two teenagers.
"Butt-chin!" she yells, "Care to explain to me how two hobbits managed to ride on to my film set?" She seems like she is leaving, but then turns back and bends to be face to face with Blaine.
"You two better be gone when I get back from ripping my location manager a new one." With that she spins and is gone, leaving the three teens staring at each other.
"I'm sorry about her," Kurt apologises, "let's get that photo done so you two can leave before she comes back." The girl moves to stand next to him, unfortunately bringing the horse with her, and although less threatening, Kurt cannot help but jump when it lets out a long snort.
"Did she spook you?" the girl says disbelieving, "she really is the sweetest pony, never done anything to harm anyone. Here you can pat her if you want." Of course she drags the animal closer and Kurt has to swallow, even if it is hilarious in a way since the horse is small, like tiny in fact.
"Her name's Blossom, and I'm Tina," she adds as if her identity isn't as important as the horse's. Kurt tentatively reaches out and strokes the horse's coat, and finds it's actually pleasant, soft and warm. The moment is short lived however, when Blossom shakes her whole body, and he hurriedly takes a few steps back.
"Why are you doing a movie with horses if you're that scared of them?" the boy, Blaine, asks, and Kurt blush in embarrassment by his transparency.
"I wasn't," he says, but it sounds weak, "just kind of got freaked out by Goliath, and then you guys showed up and that one started going crazy." He gestures to Blaine's horse, who is watching the crew as they move around them. The look in the brown horse's eyes far too intelligent for Kurt to feel calm about the closeness.
"Hmf," Blaine mutters, and holds up the phone to signal that he is ready to take the picture. They take a few, and Kurt manages to smile and look relaxed, but he feels awkward in front of the boy.
"Thank you thank you thank you," Tina splutters as she pockets her phone. Kurt just shrugs, he doesn't want them to go, and he wants to impress Blaine.
"Why don't you both come up here tomorrow, without horses, and I'll show you a proper film set?" he suggests, and Tina lights up and nods frantically.
"That'd be amazing," she says.
"Well, you'd better get going, but I'll see you tomorrow?" Kurt says and they both nod as they fasten helmets and get on. Immediately Blaine's horse starts sidestepping and throwing its head in the air, but Kurt can only watch as Blaine sits calmly and gives the bouncing animal a stroke with one hand.
"We should move," he says to Tina, and starts heading for the path where they burst out earlier.
"Is he okay?" Kurt says to Tina, not even sure what he's asking really.
"What? Oh yeah, that's just how she is," Tina says with a grin. "You know the expression 'rearing to go', that's where they got it from." She laughs and hurries after Blaine, but before disappearing from view she turns in the saddle and shouts; "See you tomorrow, Kurt!"
When they reach the field again both Tina and Blaine get off and lead their ponies towards the yard. The walk takes ten minutes, but it is perfect for cooling down ponies and having a chat in private. Tina spends the first five minutes gushing about Kurt and Blaine listens until he feels the need to butt in.
"He's sooo gorgeous, and did you see how blue his eyes are, I love blue eyes, no offense Blaine, and he is so sweet and considerate…."
"Tina!" She stops the flow of words and looks at him.
"I get that you like him and stuff, but your gaydar needs some serious tweaking if you think he'll ever be interested in you." Her shocked look is priceless.
So did you guys like it? Should I write more? I have an idea for this fic (probably a 3 chapter one) if people think it's interesting. I have been scrolling through and s&c and I still haven't found a good horsey klaine fic, so I thought I'd write it myself.
If people need it I can put up a word explanation list with every chapter.
Also, for reference, here is a video that will give you some clue about Mounted Games, the equestrian sport Blaine and Tina do in the fic.
www. Youtube watch?v=-O4VLGH3gNI (remove the spaces and fill in the dot com which for some reason doesn't show up)
Italy under 17 team for European championships 2012. I also have a video of a boy on the Danish team which I kind of modelled Blaine's riding from.
