"You're the best friend that I ever had..."

[texasbadboy]

Who? Garrett Holt and Fin Bennett
What? Reunion
When? Night between heats and final competition
Where? Rodeo

Garrett was nervous as all fuck. He hadn't seen Fin in a long time now... not years, but it felt like that after all that had happened in the in-between time. Garrett had missed his brother from another mother ever since he left, and that heavy weight of guilt deep down in his gut hadn't ever gone away. He needed to see Fin face to face and know without a doubt that his best friend was okay. He was so nervous that he'd actually passed up a cute little cowgirl who'd stopped by and asked if he was looking for a good time while he was making his way over to where he knew Fin's horse was stabled. He'd definitely given her a good look-over, but his mind was on getting to his friend.

He found Michelangelo in his stall, and gave him a big grin. "Hey, Mikey!" he told him, rubbing his soft nose and offering him a carrot that he'd brought just for him. He loved the dapple grey stallion, and he knew that this was the place to be if he wanted to find Fin. He didn't ride again until tomorrow, but he'd be here to check in on his boy just the same.

And just like clockwork, Garrett looked up to see his best friend walking in his direction. "Finnie!" he cried out. "Dude!"

Comments

[truthrunswild]

It had been a big weekend for Fin. He spent most of it either riding in the competition heats or training in the lead-up to it so Michelangelo stayed conditioned. He also had a lot of people to catch up with; family and friends. His mom and Chris, his grandparents, and his posse of closest pals from his old school back home had come to cheer him on. Plus, all the friends he had on the rodeo circuit. Fin had been Barrel Racing for as long as he could remember, but this would be his last year competing because it was primarily a youth or women's event. Guys usually progressed to Bronc Riding or Steer Roping; neither Fin wanted to do. His mom was too scared he would badly injure himself with Bronc Riding, and it did have a high injury rate. Besides, now Fin was dating Shannon, he would never put Shannon through that much stress considering how his injury happened. He didn't want to do Steer Roping either, because he was a true animal lover, and he didn't like the idea of roping real animals. He had always been a bit of a mixed bag guy. His mom said he was 'unique'. It couldn't be a more accurate description. Either way, it would be great if he could secure a win and go on to take the National title in his final year.

There were so many people around that Fin hadn't even realised Garrett was there. He had also been spending a lot of time with Shannon, introducing him to basically everyone there that mattered, because he wanted to show him off. Fin was so proud of his boyfriend, and he was smitten with him. It made his heart soar that he could introduce him to the people back home. It had gone well, too. Really well. Fin was over the moon that everyone seemed to like Shannon. It had been a successful weekend.

But it had been a big weekend for Shannon. With the flight, being there to cheer Fin on in all his rides, meeting everyone, eating out with his dad, Walker, and Reecy. By the end of that day, Shannon had what Fin had come to call 'Pain Face'. If he was in pain, he went pale and looked exhausted. They went back to the hotel, took a long shower together, and Fin told Shannon to get an early night. Shannon took his strong pain meds and crashed out after Fin told him he would be back in a little while after he bedded Michelangelo down for the night, ready for the big day tomorrow. He stopped short, eyes widening. "... Garrett? What are you doing here?" He hadn't seen his friend since that awful party that night, or heard from him. He thought Garrett just thought he was a dumbfuck for the drug thing, like a few others did.

[texasbadboy]

It was sort of surreal seeing Fin again, but an instant feeling of relief flooded over Garrett when he saw that the other boy looked to be largely in one piece, safe and sound, if a bit tired, and himself, totally focused on getting to Michelangelo and making sure he was okay and ready to go for his ride the next day. But he heard the other boy's voice saying his name, and his eyes lit up. "Dude!" he called out, actually focusing on not actually crying here, because it felt like such a real possibility. Instead, he held his arms out and wrapped them around Fin in a big hug. "I saw on Facebook that you were gonna be here, so I had to come out and see you. It's been too long, and I figured you probably thought I was a dickhead and didn't want to be your friend anymore. That's not true at all, buddy. I'm sorry it's been so long. I just... I wanted to see you and talk to you in person, and you were gone so fast that I couldn't." He shook his head, still hugging his best friend tight.

It was only a moment before he released him with a firm slap on the back, and stepped back to look at him. "There was so much goin' on, I figured I'd wait until stuff slowed down, and I knew this would be your most laid back night." Garrett was all too familiar with rodeos... at least with how Fin navigated them. Whether he rode or not, he spent time with Michelangelo every night that he was at an event. Fin had a huge heart, especially for animals, and he wouldn't ever let Michelangelo think that he was being left alone. "It's been a while, buddy. I've missed you like hell. How's New York? Is your dad treating you good?"

[truthrunswild]

Fin was quiet at first, trying to figure out if Garrett was saying he saw that he was coming to the competition on Fin's Facebook, or maybe the page for the competition. Which was entirely possible, because the competitor lists had been up there for awhile. If it was the former, that meant Garrett had been seeing his posts, but hadn't said anything to them. There was this little inner tackle going on in his head, but ultimately, he didn't question it either way. He just shrugged after the hug that was a bit awkward, but that was understandable considering it had been some time since they last saw each other. "You wouldn't be the only one who didn't want to be my friend anymore," he said, and he was actually able to say that without much care now. Before, it had bothered him, and it hurt. He had a new life now. New friends, and Shannon. Things were different. He didn't need people from back home judging him from afar. That was their problem if they didn't want to believe the truth.

He went over to Michelangelo. "Hey, buddy. You getting a rest? Big day tomorrow," he said with an affectionate smile, rubbing his boy's neck and giving him a snuggle. The horse's mane was braided especially for the competition, thanks to his mom. She knew Fin always made sure Michelangelo was immaculate for the competitions, whether it was equestrian or this. He just hadn't had the time to do it himself. He gave Garrett a smirk. "Slow down? You know things never slow down for me. I had plans tonight, but something else was more important so I thought I'd hang out here for awhile. New York's... a city. A whole lotta city. Too much city sometimes. Dad's great. Now. At first, things were weird. I didn't know him. Didn't think he wanted me. I was real angry... about a lotta things, really."

[texasbadboy]

"A lot of people are judgmental dickheads," Garrett replied with a shake of his head. "People go through shit. Doesn't make them bad people, and I know you. You're not some drug addicted scum. You're probably the total opposite of that in every conceivable way. If anyone thinks that about you, it's because they don't know a fucking thing about you, and they don't deserve to, either." Garrett was usually pretty laid back and very rarely got himself fired up about things, but when it came to his friend being treated well and people making assumptions that weren't true, he'd get fired up in a minute. "I'm just really glad you got to come back for this, because we need to talk. There's... there's something that I kinda need to talk to you about, and I couldn't just call you up about it. I needed to talk to you in person."

He watched as Fin snuggled his horse, and had to smile. Some things never changed, and that was comforting in and of itself. He loved Fin like a brother, and knowing that he was still himself was a feeling that he was grateful for. "Did you have plans with your boyfriend?" he asked softly. "I was hoping I might get to meet him, too. Shit, I sound like a fucking Facebook creep. I wasn't really sure how you'd do in the city. Even Dallas is a lot of city for you. I'm glad that you and your dad get along well, though. I remember when you were so sure that he didn't want you or anything to do with you. When they said you had to go live with him, I was so pissed off that I wanted to fight. I didn't know why they'd send you to someone who didn't want to be your dad or care for you. I guess we were wrong, huh?"

[truthrunswild]

Fin met Garrett's gaze with a faint smile. "Just a pain in the ass kid you didn't want to bother with once I was gone?" he queried, because he did want to understand. That was who he was. He tried not to judge what he didn't understand. He wanted to get something before he judged it. Maybe that was why he connected so easily to Shannon. He never took anything at face value. "I wouldn't have missed this. It's my last year, so I want to do the best I can to see it out. Got a new girl back in New York now. Gypsy. She's a gorgeous Palomino, so I can still compete in Equestrian back there. I'm on a circuit with school, and getting ready for competitions with the main comp. There's been a lot going on. Life's been nuts, in some good ways, and some really shit ways."

He nodded as he fed his horse a couple of sugar cubes, still gently stroking his neck. "We had dinner plans. But he has a chronic pain condition, so he wasn't feeling the best after a few big days on the go. He's crashed for the night, but that's okay. We play shit by ear all the time. We've got to." He was watching Garrett closely then. "So, you have been seeing me on Facebook, but didn't keep in touch? Why didn't you? I mean, I'm a Facebook addict. That's no secret. I Had to do a lot of talking to Dad to get where he was coming from, and I guess he had to do a lot of listening to me on all the shit he missed. They didn't send me to someone who didn't want me. They sent me somewhere I could be removed from the drug problem to have the best chance to rehabilitate from it. Only problem was I don't have a drug problem. I ain't ever had a drug problem. But going there... it was awful. It felt awful for a long time."

[texasbadboy]

The guilt just got stronger as he realized how he'd made Fin feel with all of this. What kind of friend just ditched his best friend after he was sent to the other side of the country to live in a world that was completely unlike his own? A terrible friend, that was what kind. And Garrett was a terrible friend. That was all he could keep telling himself. Then again, being a terrible friend had started when he hadn't told the truth about what had happened that night at the party. He knew where the drugs came from, and he knew that Fin hadn't asked for them. He could've spoken up then and there to help his friend out, but he'd chosen not to out of fear. "No. Not at all. Dude, I missed you like hell." He meant that more than he knew how to say. The five hour drive from Dallas had never seemed that long when he knew that his best friend was waiting on the other end of it, but New York wasn't something that could happen. "Dude, you gotta show me pictures of Gypsy. What's she like? Personality and all? It definitely sounds like shit's been crazy, but I would imagine it would have to be with a change like that. Is your new school okay? What's been going on?"

Garrett tilted his head thoughtfully. "A chronic pain condition? You mean like fibromyalgia or something? That sucks, dude. Do you think I might still get to meet him?" He sighed, realizing that he had so much explaining to do, or he was just going to look like that much more of an asshole. "Because I felt really guilty about you getting sent away. I was... I was blaming myself for you getting carted off to New York and almost getting thrown into juvie. I'm glad that it worked out with your dad being cool and wanting to be around you and all. I never thought you had a drug problem, though. I know you better than that, man. And I..." He paused stroking Michelangelo's nose. "I know where the drugs came from."

[truthrunswild]

Fin didn't think Garrett was a terrible friend. When he first had to leave for New York, he was collectively angry at everyone. The only person who was really singled out was his dad, and that was because he was so confronted with finally meeting him. It was an overwhelming explosion of feelings he had never felt before. He took his phone out and brought up the album with pictures of Gypsy in there, including a load of selfies with her, and a few selfies with him and Shannon with Gypsy. She was one horse Shannon would go near if Fin was there because he trusted Fin's handling of her. "She's a real momma horse. She was rearing a colt, and we took her just as they were moving him on so I think I kinda just took his place. She's a sweet girl. Real affectionate, but rides like the wind. She's a champion jumper, so we got it made. My dad got her for me when he saw I wasn't coping so well away from animals. School's... it's okay now. Got bullied real bad. Like, they did bad shit to me. It sucked."

He shook his head. "No, something called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. It's pain that flares up in his lower back, hips and legs. Sometimes his neck. If it gets real bad, he throws up. I've been learning how to give him massages that help soothe it a little. Then he has to take more strong pain meds that knock him out. You can meet him. He's been meeting all my family and friends from back home. Pretty sure he ain't remembering all their names." Fin had a lot of friends on the rodeo circuit, and his group of friends from back home that he grew up with had come too. There were probably a good 8 or 9 of them. They had all joked that they only came to scope Shannon out because they thought Fin would never date and want to marry a horse instead. The mateship mocking was strong. He was looking at Garrett silently now, assessing the words he was saying. "No, I didn't. I was sick, and the drugs made me worse. How do you know where they came from?"

[texasbadboy]

Garrett's eyes watched as Fin brought up the photos of his horse, and his eyes lit up. He'd always loved horses, and Fin's girl was beautiful. The angles of the selfies were strange, and Garrett tilted his head. "Are you guys sitting down in this picture," he asked, tilting the phone to try and figure out what they were doing. "She's gorgeous, dude. I can see how you fell in love with her right up. So she's basically adopted you as her baby? And you're out there without your mom, so I guess maybe you needed her to fill in a little, too?" He smiled. It was just calming to know that Fin was being loved by such a beautiful animal. "So she's got the skills and talent, but also got the personality to go with it? That's pretty spectacular, dude. Your dad must really care about you a lot and want to see you happy. I'm glad stuff's going better at your school. What did they do to you? I'm gonna have to come to New York and kick their asses. Then again... I'm kind of thinking of coming to New York anyway."

"You're really looking after him, huh?" he asked gently. "Do they know why he has that pain? That must really suck for him. You, too, really. Not ever knowing if he's gonna be in pain from one day to the next. And I know you. I know how much you hate to see anyone hurting. I'd really like to get that chance to meet him, though. He sounds like a good guy, but you know we have to vet him. And I personally never thought you'd be looking to marry a horse. A dude hung like one, sure, but not a horse itself." It took a long moment for Garrett to be ready to answer that question, but he breathed deeply and looked at his best friend. "I... I know where they came from 'cuz they came from me," he confessed, looking down at his feet and not being able to look back up at his friend. "I sold them to the kid that gave them to you, but I didn't want anyone to give them to you. I was trying to make some extra money to send home to Mom, and I just... I fucked up."

[truthrunswild]

It only clicked then that Garrett didn't know Shannon was disabled. Which is about the moment Fin realised it wouldn't be obvious on his Facebook pages because there was no big deal made about it. Shannon was Fin's boyfriend, they were Facebook official and all. But Shannon had his profile locked up, so even if Garrett Facebook stalked, he wouldn't see any of Shannon's stuff. The photos Fin has posted of Shannon, there was no obvious evidence of a wheelchair. He nodded. "Yeah, we're sitting. I'm sitting on his lap. Shannon's disabled. He's in a wheelchair," he explained. At least then Garrett wouldn't get a shock. A shock Shannon might see if he wasn't forewarned. "She's an amazing girl. She makes me smile and she grounded me again when everything was going awful for me. It was one big shitstorm when I got there. Then I met Shannon, and he... I don't know. Gave me everything I didn't realise I desperately needed. Dad does care. A lot. He just didn't know how to put it in action at first. Last he ever saw me, I was in diapers. They pants'ed me in front of the entire gym class, boxers and all. They'd be harassing me and saying awful things. Then they put this shit in my water that made me puke over and over, I ended up in hospital because they thought something was really wrong with me. Then as if that wasn't enough, they did it with laxatives too. You can imagine how that turned out," he mumbled. He gave a shake of his head and busied himself getting Michelangelo's blanket from where it was hanging in the back of the stall. He was still embarrassed as all fuck with what happened.

"Yeah, they know why. He was thrown from a spooked colt on his family's farm and broke his back. He could've died, but he didn't. He was in a coma and they thought he was either quadriplegic or paraplegic. He was paralysed for awhile, but then they did some massive surgery on his back and he got the feeling back. But his spine at his lower back is full of pins and plates. He's not paralysed but his back was damaged so badly, he can't stand or walk. He can move in and out of the chair and he's pretty self-sufficient. He can move his feet, but he can't really move his legs much. Because the injury was so bad, he still has pain issues. Mostly he's good, just some days are real bad for him. But it's okay, because he's taken just as much care of me when I've been sick. It's not all one-sided. No. No, I don't want anyone vetting him. No one needs to vet anything. He's judged enough." He was brushing Michelangelo down now, but his last words were firm. He didn't want any of his friends interrogating Shannon about his intentions. Shannon didn't have to prove himself to anyone. He stopped the brushing abruptly though and he looked over Michelangelo's nose at Garrett. "You brought the drugs to the party? They were your drugs?"

[texasbadboy]

"Oh," Garrett said, not wanting to come off like it bothered him that Shannon was disabled. It didn't. Like, at all. He just felt weird for not having noticed in any of the photos from Fin's Facebook. "Dude, what's it like having sex with someone in a wheelchair? I'm not asking that to be a dick... I just... I know you weren't a virgin before you left here, but I wanna understand your relationship now. I mean, this ain't like your friends you ended up just sleeping with because you were horny. You two look real happy together, Finnie." He smiled as Fin talked about Gypsy and how much he loved her. She sounded like a fantastic horse, and any horse was a horse that deserved love and affection in Fin's book. And Gypsy clearly gave it right back to him. She was beautiful. "He sounds amazing, dude. And so does your girl. She's stunning, buddy. I'm glad your dad turned out to not be a dicksplash, though. Because I've seen pictures of him, too, and that dude's huge. I wasn't sure how I was gonna kick his ass if I needed to." Garrett flushed with anger at the explanation of what the other kids had done to Fin. "Fuck, dude. I wish I'd been there with you. Those fuck faces never would've gotten away with fucking with you. I would've pounded them all into the pavement after school. Did they get suspended?"

The older boy took a deep breath and held it before letting it out in a long exhale. "Shit, dude. That's... that's fucking terrible. Thank fuck he even made it. Those must have been some pretty fucking fantastic doctors to be able to help him like they did. I ain't gonna judge him, Finnie. I swear. Least of all for bein' disabled. If he looks after you and cares about you, that's all I need to know... I mean, that and I'd like to get to know him myself, but if he makes you happy, dude, I'm nobody to question it. It ain't exactly like I've got much of a love life goin' on to speak of anyway. Sex life, sure, but not love." He nodded slowly, the shame plain to see on his face. "Yeah. I did. And I should've spoken right up when it happened, but I was scared... I didn't know what to do. I should've told, dude. I'm so sorry."

[truthrunswild]

Fin stopped where he was buckling Michelangelo's blanket and gave Garrett one hell of a side-eye look. "Magical Inspector Gadget dick. it grows about ten foot and slides right in my ass," he offered, smirking. He hadn't been that much not a virgin when he left Arkansas. It had only been a couple of months before he left that he lost his virginity, so he was hardly a residence manslut. There had been a thing with Skylar and Cooper when he got there, when they thought Fin easily pulled with a guy in a diner. It had been a bit of a hook-up, but it was only a blow job and Fin never called him back. It had been more being annoyed at everything that caused him to do it, just trying to find people who had similar interests to him. This guy worked with animals, Fin thought that was cool. Then there had been Noah. That had been something different, for different reasons. Still more searching. Fin hadn't been overly sexually active, but enough to know what he liked, and enough to guide Shannon with sex. They were learning a lot off each other too. "How do you think we do it? And no, they got arrested. Dad knows this scary-assed Irish cop that looks like he's in the Irish Mafia but he's high up in the ranks. Covered in tats, looks like he'll beat the shit out of you if you breath wrong. They all got expelled and the ring leader got arrested for assault."

"He's sensitive about stuff. Not to the point he wants folk walking on eggshells around him, but you don't just suddenly wake up okay after going through that stuff and knowing you're different to everyone all of a sudden. I get it, I know the whole pissing contest where people want to threaten to beat the shit out of my boyfriend if he treats me wrong. But seriously, y'all can keep in it your fucking pants and not flop it around to show anyone who's boss. Shannon's boss. Shannon's my boyfriend, and if anyone wants to get up in his grill threatening him not to hurt me, I'll bitch them the fuck out, and then some. I don't need anyone fighting my battles, I make the choice who I love and how I let them treat me." He was a bit on edge here because it was a hard blow to take hearing Garrett was the one who brought the drugs to the party. "Why the hell that party, though? I told you, leave me outta that stuff you do. That's not me, it's you. You do your shit, I do mine. That got me sent away. Everyone thought I was a druggie."