@sharp-teeth-and-wide-grins asked: five times touched: ( five times the receiver touched the sender (platonically or romantically or otherwise!) ) ( For Sean & Mary-Beth maybe? Platonic of course
’ 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝚃𝙸𝙼𝙴𝚂 ’ 𝙳𝚁𝙰𝙱𝙱𝙻𝙴 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙼𝙿𝚃𝚂. | selectively accepting.
ONE. What’s Love Got to Do with It?
It was really none of her business, Mary-Beth knew that, but she still couldn’t help the way her eyes glanced up, over her book, watching the scene play out before her, just a few feet away. The interactions between couples—or those who had feelings for each other, at the very least—would never not fascinate her. She blamed her hopeless romantic nature.
“Aw, c’mon!” Sean called out to Karen, boisterously, reaching to grab her hand and pull her back to him. “Ya know ya’d miss me if I was gone!”
“I would do no such thing!” Karen vehemently denied, struggling against him as he pulled her in close enough to tightly wrap an arm around her waist. “Now, get off of me, ya moron!”
“Oh, sure ya would! Ain’t no denyin’ that!” Sean insisted with a laugh, leaning in to try to kiss her cheek.
Before he could, however, Karen had wriggled free of his grasp, shoving him off of her and glaring over at him. “Go on somewhere and leave me alone, wouldja?!”
Despite being rejected, Sean just laughed and bellowed after her as she walked away, “Ya know ya love me, Karen! Ya know ya do!”
Mary-Beth had never been in love, herself, but she imagined it must have been complicated.
Sean and Karen sure had a weird way of expressing their fondness for one another—one minute sharing a moment of intimacy, and the next, yelling in each other’s faces. Sean always seemed to play it off as Karen just trying to play hard to get, but Karen always got so worked up and seemed so serious whenever she’d tell him off. It was very confusing.
Mary-Beth watched as Sean scuffed his boot against the ground, the book she’d been reading forgotten. Underneath the shit-eating grin that adorned his lips, he’d almost look a bit dejected if Mary-Beth didn’t know any better.
Mary-Beth set her book down and rose to her feet, making her way over to Sean, and fought back a giggle upon noticing him start when he’d finally noticed her approaching.
“Oh, don’t mind Karen,” she said softly, in lieu of greeting, hand lifting up to give his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I’m sure she likes you just fine.”
—
TWO. Safe Return.
Mary-Beth had just finished her stew, forcing it down with the lack of seasonings. She didn’t have the heart to tell Pearson that a little rosemary and oregano went a long way. The thought to ask Arthur if he could maybe bring her some herbs back from one of his trips was interrupted by the exuberant exclamations of people returning to camp.
Mary-Beth looked up from setting her plate into the washtub behind Pearson’s wagon, eyes settling on Javier, and just behind him—
“Sean!” Mary-Beth called out, a smile tugging at her lips as she rushed over, crowding around the two men along with other members of camp.
She stood back, letting Dutch and Hosea get their words of greeting out, watching as they ushered Sean back into camp.
Before she could move to follow, Arthur riding up behind her caught her attention and she turned to greet him. “Arthur! Sean’s back!”
“Yeah, I know,” Arthur sighed, earning pursed lips and a raised eyebrow from Mary-Beth. “There goes our peace and quiet.”
“Oh, Arthur, please,” Mary-Beth lightly chided, though she lacked the actual bite to her tone as she usually did when it came to talking to the older man.
Dismissing herself, she turned back towards the camp, listening to Sean as he stood on a crate giving a lively speech.
By the time she’d made it close enough, Sean had finished speaking and hopped down from the crate. She took that as her opportunity to approach him.
“Welcome back, Sean!” she said, offering him a warm smile to which he returned.
“Thanks, Mary-Beth!” he replied, tensing up a bit as she moved forward to pull him into a light hug, before bringing up a hand to lightly pat her on the back in return.
—
THREE. Teasing.
Maybe Mary-Beth was too much of a sensitive woman—too naïve for her own good—but seeing the O’Driscoll that had been captured and kept prisoner begging for food or water pulled at her heartstrings.
“Miss,” he called, gaining her attention. He looked pitiful as all get out. “Miss, please. Do you think you could get me some water?”
Mary-Beth felt bad for him. She’d already seen Karen and Sadie teasing and belittling him. Hell, she’d even seen Jack throwing rocks at him before Abigail got on him about it and made him stop. Even if the guy was an O’Driscoll, there was no sense in letting him thirst to death.
“Oh, alright, here,” Mary-Beth said after a moment of hesitation. Taking a quick look around, she made sure that no one was watching before she scooped up a cup of water from one of the troughs, bringing it over to him and holding it to his lips to let him drink.
“Thank you, Miss,” the O’Driscoll said afterwards. “Thank you.”
Mary-Beth nodded before discarding the cup and scurrying away.
“Aha, I saw that, Miss Mary-Beth!”
She jumped in her skin, turning around to see Sean standing there, grinning knowingly at her.
“I dunno what you’re talking about,” she lied, crossing her arms over her chest and sending him a warning look. Sean wasn’t deterred.
“Oh, right so ya didn’t just give that O’Driscoll some water, ay?”
Mary-Beth instinctively reached over to smack him on the shoulder. “Hey, not so loud, wouldja?!”
Sean let out a tumultuous laugh as he recoiled from her smack. “Alright, alright! Just didn’t know you were so soft!”
Mary-Beth sighed, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at him.
“I ain’t soft,” she denied with a huff. “Just ain’t no sense in lettin’ the man die of dehydration is all.”
“Right, right, whatever you say…” Sean had his fun, deciding not to push any further, lest she actually try to hurt him.
Rather than buy into his teasing any longer, Mary-Beth turned on heel and stalked away, just hoping he’d keep what he’d seen to himself.
—
FOUR. Gunshots Blazing.
Mary-Beth had hoped that the stagecoach robbery would go smoothly this time. Last time they’d only barely gotten out of it alive by the skin of their teeth. If it hadn’t been for Arthur’s help, she didn’t know what would’ve happened. She very well may have wound up with a bullet in the head.
Arthur wasn’t with them this time though—It was just her and Sean. He’d assured her that it would be an easy score this time, despite the two going along with the same schtick as before.
Only this time, it had gone much, much worse.
The men were much better armed and didn’t fall for her ‘Lost Maiden’ act quite as easily as the last fellers had. In fact, these men didn’t fall for it at all. A gun had been drawn on her immediately, and if Sean hadn’t managed to get in a good headshot when he did, she would’ve been a goner.
After ducking for cover, she pulled her own pistol out from its holder, firing off a few shots. She landed them, even took down a few men, but there were still too many of them for her and Sean to feasibly be able to take down on their own.
So, once she saw an opening, she ran for it, and once she got close enough to Sean, she reached forward to snatch up his hand and pull him along with her.
“C’mon!” she yelled. “We gotta make a run for it! There’s too many of them!”
Once again, the two found themselves just narrowly escaping death. Mary-Beth didn’t know how they managed it.
—
FIVE. Quite the scuffle.
It wasn’t unheard of for the men of camp to get drunk and have pissing contests—always having to show each other who was bigger and badder and stronger. It was ridiculous.
So, of course, it also involved Sean.
He’d gotten mouthy with Bill, and had in the past since Bill usually said something ignorant and Sean wouldn’t be able to resist making a smartass comment in return. However, every other time, the men had been sober and both had enough sense to know not to throw punches.
The drink didn’t make common sense such a possible thing—at least not that Mary-Beth had ever seen.
Bill had been yammering on about one racist thing or another, to which Mary-Beth had simply rolled her eyes at, unable to do much else. Sean, however, took it upon himself to call the miserable old drunk out.
“Oh, shut your mouth, wouldja?” There was no hiding the distaste in his tone, even with the slight slur to his words.
“What did you just say?” Bill sneered, words possibly even more slurred than Sean’s. He’d heard what Sean had said, and Sean knew it, but he decided to repeat himself for Bill, anyway.
“I said: ‘Shut up, wouldja?’”
The fact that Sean hadn’t scurried off with his tail between his legs, the fact that he was seeming to challenge Bill, only pissed the drunkard off even more.
“You little pissant!” Bill bellowed through the slur in his tone. “C’mere!”
Before Sean even had a chance to react, Bill rose from his spot around the campfire and lurched at him, rearing back his fist and punching Sean square in the cheek. He was knocked clear off the log he’d been sitting on, and didn’t get up right away.
“How about you shut up, huh?!” Bill scoffed before stalking away to go brood at one of the tables instead.
Once Bill had stormed off, Mary-Beth rushed to Sean’s side, crouching down and looking him over as he finally attempted to sit up.
“Oh my god,” Mary-Beth gasped as she reached for him to help him up. “Sean, are you okay?”
“I’m alright, I’m alright,” Sean groaned, trying to wave her off, but Mary-Beth persisted and he didn’t have it in him to stop her.
“C’mon, lemme take a look at you.” Once she got him on his feet, Mary-Beth put one of his arms over her shoulder, holding onto it with her hand, and wrapped her free arm around his waist to keep him steady as they moved.
“I’m fine, Mary-Beth,” Sean slurred, insistently, but she only shook her head in response.
“Well, even if you are, I should still look at you just to make sure.” She sat him down on a barrel near one of the tables, on the opposite side of camp from Bill, before pulling up her own chair to sit in front of him. “Put off goin’ to sleep for a while, too. You might have a concussion.”
Utterly exhausted, and head hurting something fierce, Sean decided not to try and stop her.
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