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“Are you ever gonna tell me where we’re goin’, or am I s’posed to guess?”
“Jesse, do you not know what a surprise is? Have some patience,” Gabe said, laughing. It was their one year anniversary, and Gabe was taking them somewhere special, a place near and dear to his heart. A place he was sure Jesse would love, if he stopped being so grumpy.
They just had to get there first.
Jesse was a lot of things, but patient was not one of them. They’d been in this car for what felt like a million years, in his estimation. (It had only been 45 minutes, but that was semantics.) Gabe had gotten him up at the asscrack of dawn to drive out to god knows where. They hadn’t eaten, and Jesse’s ass hurt. The car was too rough to fall asleep in, and Gabe was blasting music loudly. Not to mention he didn’t particularly care for surprises.
“You are gonna love this place,” he said, smiling fondly over at his grumpy boyfriend. “I spent all my summers there as a kid. I thought it closed years ago.”
“Are you takin’ me to a summer camp?” he asked incredulously.
“Maybe. I think you’ll like it. Where’s my dear ray of sunshine?”
Jesse scowled at him. “Maybe if you’d let me sleep last night—“
“Oh hush. We’re here.” They pulled into a drive seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There were horses grazing in a field just off the road, and some sort of lodge ahead, miles away from civilization. It was a rarity anymore, very farm-like.
“Welcome to Camp Starwoods,” Gabe said, beaming. “They got all the cowboy stuff you love, Jesse. Campfires, sleeping under the stars, ghost stories, and most importantly, horses.” He pointed out the field to Jesse. “And it’s just the two of us, since school’s in session.”
Jesse’s mood shifted. “You took me all the way out here just so I could be a real cowboy? Aww, Gabe…”
“I know, Jess. I hope you like it.” They pulled off to the side of the road in front of the lodge and climbed out of the car. Jesse ran up to the fence and held his hand out to an uninterested horse, who sniffed at it and wandered off further into the field.
“You can ride them later, if you like. We gotta go check in,” Gabe said, taking Jesse’s hand. They walked into the building, Jesse taking everything in.
“They got a whole day planned out for us. Horse riding, archery, campfire stories, sleeping outside… I really hope you like it.”
“How much is this costin’ us, Gabe?”
“Nothin’. They owed me a favor. Let’s just enjoy ourselves a couple of days, alright? Don’t worry about work and all that.”
Jesse pulled him into a kiss. “Thank you, darlin’… Means a lot that you’d think of this for me.”
Gabe gave him a soft smile. “I love you, Jesse McCree.”
“I love you too, Gabriel Reyes.”
The day was full of laughter and happiness. Jesse went on his very first horse riding lesson, riding around the field at little more than a slow trot. He fed the horse some sugar cubes and became intimately familiar with a horse’s tongue when it searched his pockets for more sugar.
Jesse decided he was done with horses after that.
“C’mon, babe, you didn’t want a horse fondlin’ you?” Gabe laughed.
“I’m good,” he said, shaking his head.
That evening, after their guides had gone to bed. Jesse sat with Gabe by the fire, the sky sparkling with more stars Jesse had seen in years. He rested his head against Gabe’s chest, Gabe’s arm around his shoulders.
“It’s beautiful, ain’t it?” Jesse asked.
“It’s almost as beautiful as you.”
Jesse blushed, pushing at Gabe’s side playfully. “Shut up, mushy bastard.”
“It’s true. I love you so much. That’s why I wanted to share this with you.”
Jesse kissed him softly. “I love you too, Gabe. Happy anniversary.”