ride out the storm together
Written for August Fic Challenge 2023, Prompt: Brontide. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!
Thunder rumbles somewhere far off in the distance, the dark clouds slowly rolling in.
Drew watches warily from the windows in his office. Already the rain has started, only just a light drizzle right now, but he knows what the weather reports are saying. Some bad storms are going to hit Pine Hollow tonight.
The place is empty. Deborah and Mrs. Reg have taken off already. No students are left at the stables. Even the hands have gone already. He's the only one left.
And someone has to stay with the horses.
He settles in, working his way through the never-ending piles of paperwork this job leaves him with, sorting out vet bills and boarding invoices and feed orders and payroll and all the other minutiae of running Pine Hollow in his cousins stead. He flicks on the radio to hear the weather report, which remains unchanged. With a heavy sigh and a long night ahead of him, he leaves his work to go grab a cup of coffee from the lounge.
He navigates on autopilot, moving through the stables with a practiced ease – he hasn't been here long, but he knows the place from his childhood, knows it so well again already. He looks in on the horses, all already perfectly settled in their stalls, fed and watered and good to go. They're a little riled up by the storm, but no one overly so. He smiles, sure Red handled everything before he took his leave for the night – no doubt the younger man is off having fun somewhere, probably out somewhere with Scooter and their other friends.
He gives Barq's muzzle an affectionate pat when the horse comes to investigate his presence, but when the gelding is sure he doesn't come bearing snacks, he loses interest in his surprise visitor
He continues on, nudging the door to the lounge open. He jumps in surprise when someone startles upright on the couch, apparently just as alarmed as he had been.
It's Red, who had, apparently, been comfortably sprawled out on the couch with a book in hand.
"I didn't think anyone else was here," Red says.
"I thought you'd already left," Drew answers.
A beat of awkward silence, both of them still recovering from the surprise of not being here alone, after all.
"If you want," Drew starts, eyeing the ever-darkening clouds once more. It's early still in the evening, but nearly as dark as midnight out there - there's probably still time for him to make it home before it gets too bad. "You can get out of here. Only one of us has to stay and I'm sure you have better things to do with your night than stay here."
Red scoffs, holds up his book. "Hardly." He sets it aside, though, some mystery novel, Drew notes, and sits up properly. "Scooter's always dragging me to nights out whenever I'm free, sometimes when I'm not; I kinda like it here when it's empty like this. Quiet."
Drew almost feels bad for interrupting him.
"Not that you're, you know, not quiet," Red adds, "Obviously, since I didn't even know you were here."
"I can go back to my office, if you'd like, and you can pretend you never saw me?"
Red laughs. "No, that's alright. You're way easier to be around than Scooter."
"I'll take it," Drew grins. He is certainly not averse to spending time with the other man. He is the closest friend Drew has found here since his return to Pine Hollow. Aside from Mrs. Reg, Red is the one he relies on most in running this place, stepping up however he can whenever Drew needs help. He'd be lying to himself if he didn't want more than the easy friendship and efficient partnership they've built here together.
The thunder rumbles closer now, and a brilliant flash of lightning suggests the storm has moved in much faster than expected – no one will be leaving now. The wind picks up in strength. The rain falls harder. A horse lets out a displeased whinny from the stalls.
"That's just Prancer," Red tells him, without having to look, "She'll calm down in a few minutes."
Another flash of lightning and they are plunged into complete darkness when the lights all suddenly flicker off. The usual sounds of the world go silent, with the subtle hum of electricity so swiftly cut off. Now, there is only the rain.
"Well," Drew sighs, glancing toward the coffee machine in dismay. "So much for that."
They leave the lounge room behind and Red follows him back up to the office, navigating just as easily in the darkness as he does. Drew digs out some lanterns from the storage closet and spreads them out in the room, the light casting flickering shapes on the walls as the storm roils overhead.
After another quick check of the weather, he flicks the station over to some local channel playing chill music, claims his seat at the desk. Red perches on the desk just beside him, gazing out into the darkness beyond the office windows.
It's nice. It's comfortable. The two of them sharing space as the thunder booms and the lightning flashes.
"So, really," Drew says, leaned back in his chair, spinning in lazy half circles. "You get a rare Friday night off and you stick around here?"
Red shrugs, "JB's with Scooter is only entertaining for so long, you know?"
"Want to go into the city with me next week?" For a second, he wonders if it's a good idea to ask, if it could mess things up, but Red's eyes dart up to meet him and he knows it is not. "See a movie or something?"
"Yeah," he nods. "Sure. I'd like that."
Drew revels in this small victory, already making plans in his head.
"I really don't mind being stuck here," Red says, with a pointed look. "Not with you."
"Oh?"
Red leans down, pauses just that last little bit of space away, just in case he's the one reading this all wrong – giving Drew the chance to move away, but he doesn't. Of course he doesn't. Drew moves in, presses his lips to Red's in an easy sort of kiss.
And Red responds eagerly, the kiss rapidly escalating. Hands fisted in Drew's shirt as he pulls the other man in closer, until he's sitting less on the desk and more on Drew's lap with Drew's fingers creeping under his shirt where his skin is lightning hot.
"Oh," he teases, when they come up for air. "Well, then, I should I say that I'm certainly happy I'm stuck here all night with you, too."
"All night, huh?" Red grins, claiming another enthusiastic kiss.
The thunder rumbles somewhere far off in the distance, the darkening clouds move on.