Aqua Equus

An Arrow to the Heart

"You had different names in Greece?" Arrow asked.

"We had different names when we came to Venice." I muttered. "My mother thought we'd fit in better if we had the Italian versions of our names." It was a whole part of me that had been almost forgotten, until that girl had mentioned Luca.

"Then what's your name?" Arrow asked gently.

Names had power, but I told him regardless. "Lavrentios." I muttered.

"Cute." Arrow smiled. "It's okay, Renzo. We just won't mention Luca, or your last name. We'll get through this, it's not like you speak much to the others anyway, so you can probably ignore her."

I nodded. "Take me riding?" I whispered.

"Thought you'd never ask." Arrow smiled, pulling his t-shirt off. "Hey, Ren?" He paused.

"Yeah?"

"Stop watching me." He grinned.

"Whatever." I laughed, heading out to get his tack.

Slightly worried, I headed him towards the beach. The likelihood of him forgetting himself was high, and I knew I could die. But at least I'd die at his hand, which I wouldn't mind.
Arrow would never drag me down, and whilst Arroyo might, I trusted him enough to at least find out.
He walked calmly across the beach, leaving hoof prints in the sand.
Careful to always turn him away from the sea, I started to get him to trot a figure of eight shape, before pushing him into a canter, and then we were galloping across the beach, kicking up sand behind us as we went, a thin layer of seafoam forming on his withers as we raced under the hot sun.
I slowed him to a trot after a while, turning him back towards the farm.

"Was I any good?" He asked, pulling on his t-shirt in an empty stall.

"Always are." I laughed, kissing him.
He slung an arm around my shoulders, and we walked towards the farmhouse to have lunch. He no longer had to frogmarch me into the kitchen, but he would still quite often physically ensure that I couldn't avoid walking into the house with him. He thought I hadn't noticed, but I had. But I didn't flinch away from his touch like I once would have. I leant into him, and he hugged me slightly as we walked, talking and laughing our way into the farmhouse.
Once our feet crossed the threshold, we automatically separated. We didn't exactly hide our relationship, but I wasn't confident enough to flaunt it. And after Cesca had turned Dani down, it seemed almost mean to start. I personally didn't care how my relationship made Dani feel, but Arrow was too nice to do anything to hurt anyone.
Alessa and Kore were sat at the table, eating, and I groaned quietly.

"You're staying and helping me." Arrow hissed in my ear as I started to head towards the stairs.
We started to make our own lunch, working quickly so that we could go and eat upstairs or in the yard or basically anywhere where Kore wasn't.

"Lavrentios?" She spoke up as I took our food out from under the grill. I almost dropped the grill pan, almost giving myself away by turning round. But I didn't, pretending that she hadn't spoken.
Arrow took a plate in either hand, and we rushed up to my room.

"Fuck that." I muttered, sitting down on my bed. "Fuck all of this. Fuck everything."

Arrow smiled suggestively. "You do that." He smirked, kissing me.
I kissed him back, our lunches forgotten. Finally, after hours, the desires created by that day's underlying jokes were fulfilled.
We were only halfway through the day, but I wanted to pretend like it had only just started. I wanted to go back in time, stay those few more minutes in bed with Arrow. Maybe that way Kore wouldn't have come to the farm, apparently reminding me of Luca with every breath she took. Maybe if I'd stayed in bed I wouldn't have had to wait half a day to forget the pain that was building in my heart.
Pain that Arrow could evidently feel radiating off me. Pain that disappeared when I touched him. When he touched me. I never wanted to break our contact, but all good things come to an end.
"I know you're hurting." He whispered quietly. "I can tell you're slightly angry-" he smirked. "But you're so amazing when you're like that."