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writingsbyzuzu · 4 months

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Don’t Get the Blues

Sheriff!Ted Nivison x Gunslinger!Outlaw!Reader

(Just a quick note before we begin, this chapter isn’t very you and Ted focused, this is an exposition chapter of sorts to set up what is going to happen in later parts. It focuses on Ted and it focuses on you still, just not the two of you together. Sorry if this one is short, I did rush a little to get this one out for y’all to read. the next one will be better and longer, trust)

one - endless song

“Doll, are you sure about this?” Schlatt raises an eyebrow at you, finger pointed down on the table. “Once we do this, there is no damn return. We sink into the abyss, together, the lot of us.”

You suck in a breath, your lips pursing. “Yes, Jay, I’m sure. We have to do this. We just have to be smart about it.” You instinctively adjust the gun positioned at your waistline. Schlatt shakes his head.

Around the table sits Ludwig, Charlie, Hasan, and Kurtis. This is your home, shared between the six of you. Sure, there are eyebrows raised at the thought of a young lady sharing her home with five eligible young men. But not many. No one really batted many eyes at what six poor orphans did, considering not many cared about what those who lived on the outskirts of Red Oakland did. But at this moment, those six orphans planned on robbing a rich man. Well, five of them, that is.

Hasan lets out a groan. “For the love of God, we have been at discussion for an hour. Schlatt, you know as well as I do that they are starving out there, and we cannot sit by and do nothing. We simply do not get enough money from the shows to cover what the outskirters need. And those people out there, out in town, they have the coins we don’t and they do nothing. We’re going.”

The other men nod their heads. Schlatt thought for a moment, thinking of the sick children, of the starving in the camps a hundred feet from the cabin where they sit. “You’re right. I just do not-”, he sighed for a moment, making eye contact with you. “I don’t want you to do this just to spite Theodore.”

✩⭑✩

“But I cannot, I cannot go on simply watching you from afar like we are children again. I love you. Please. Please.” Ted looks at you, manic, his chest heaving, feeling like the world had suddenly been deprived of oxygen. His hand is outstretched. “T, I am going to ask you this once before I respond. Is it true you’re going to be sheriff?” you whispered, your eyes watering.

“Mr. Nivison? Look at him. Theodore! Are you listening?”

He snaps out of it, pushing the conversation to the back of his mind. It wasn’t important anymore. The governor stood in front of him, chuckling. “Son, you were lost in thought there. I was worried I had chosen the wrong young man for sheriff for a moment.”

Ted shakes his head. “No sir, I’m the right man for this job, I promise. Just had the briefest of distractions. Won’t happen again.” The governor lets out a hearty laugh, clapping Ted on his back. “I hope not, Theodore, you were highly recommended for this. Welcome to your first day, son.” The governor motions to someone to open the door of the jail. They do, and a young man in spectacles with a mustache enters. “Theodore Nivison, meet your new deputy and right hand man, Edward Burback. We moved him here from the rising Los Angeles. A bit larger than Red Oakland, which means this will be a cakewalk for him.”

Eddy sticks a hand out, and Ted shakes it. “I go by Eddy.” “Ted.” The governor gives a satisfied nod, patting them both on the back. “Well gentlemen, welcome to your new post. I’m sure we’ll be very satisfied with the two of you at the helm of the law,” the governor says, getting ready to take his exit. A man runs in, half dressed. The three men turn, looks of bewilderment crossing their faces. Ted stands up, rushing to help steady the stumbling man-Mr. Barker, the owner of the largest general store in Red Oakland. The man, panicked, takes a large, heaving breath, the sweat streaming down his face. “I’ve just been robbed.”

The governor gives one last abrupt nod. “Well gentlemen, I’ll leave you two to it.” He leaves, getting in his carriage.

✩⭑✩

“So describe what happened to me one more time, Mr. Barker,” Ted sighs, pushing his glasses up. “It’s as I told you boy, this young lady, she was on the side of the road injured, covered in mud, and as I got out of my carriage to assist her, these two young men held us at gunpoint, their faces were covered by their bandanas, they took the coins from my carriage, another comes out of the bushes to steal my clothes, threw me into my carriage, and then dragged the poor miss off, kicking and screaming. They took the poor girl, you must find her.” Theodore nods. “And you said it happened 3, 4 miles from town?” Eddy asks, scribbling things down in his notebook. Mr. Barker groans. “As I said before, yes.” Eddy continues to write, before closing his notebook and tucking it into his coat pocket. “Ted, we should go to the outskirts and ask questions, look around.”

Ted turns his head to Eddy, looking down for a moment, before stating “If we must, Deputy Burback.”

✩⭑✩

You rip the wig off your head, before bending down to the water bucket and scrubbing your face as clean of mud as you could, scooping up water to rinse your face. The boys move around you, tucking their bandanas into their pockets and cleaning their hands. The five of you enter the house, where Charlie sits. He looks at the five of you. “How did it go?”

“25 dollars. How much can that get us?” Hasan drops the bag onto the table, looking at Charlie expectantly. Charlie runs the numbers in his head. He was the “doctor” for the outskirters, often having to tend to the sick and weary of the camps, doing it for free. Even looked after animals too. The five of you just had to buy the medicine yourselves, unfortunately. “I could get quite a lot of bandages. Maybe a few vials of morphine, if we don’t need to spend it on anything else.” You shake your head. “There’ll be other carriages,” you mumble, pushing the bag to Charlie. “You just buy what you need and do not worry about it. Focus on the people outside who need us.”

Schlatt groans. “As much as I think Mr. Barker deserved to get robbed, and the other fancy, money grubbing fucks deserve it, maybe we should count our blessings and stick to one and dones. Hasan is building his reputation as a sharpshooter. We could travel. Do shows. Get the money honestly. We don’t need Theodore on our backs, sniffing us out.”

“We don’t do enough shows for that, Jay. We don’t make enough farming. We can’t afford more cattle. The people need us,” you grit your teeth. “But Theodore-“ You dismiss Schlatt with a wave.

“Ted-Theodore, isn’t important. He’s one of them. He turned his back on us. Fuck him. We are outskirters. We were raised by these people, damn it. And we are going to do right by them.”

✩⭑✩

“They aren’t going to talk to us, you know. The outskirters. They don’t trust us. Call us the townies.” Ted turns to Eddy, as their horses trot side by side. “You say that like you know from experience. Thought this was your first day.”

“I grew up there. Leonard Preacher Orphanage. I got adopted, age 15, by a townie banker. A lot of people live on the outskirts, and can't afford to go anywhere else. A lot of orphans ended up staying after…the orphanage burnt down.”

Eddy looks around at the makeshift shelters, the torn tents, the worn down cabins. He felt guilt. “And they don’t like us?” “Think we are the ones keeping them that way. They can’t afford to do anything and spend their lives in poverty, and they think we only uphold the law to those with the money... We’ll start with Charles Dalgleish. He’s the closest thing they have to a doctor from my understanding. Maybe he treated one of our gunslingers this morning or overheard something, he’s almost always home.” Ted slowed the horse in front of your cabin. His heart was thrumming in his chest so loud, he worried Eddy could somehow hear, his pulse so apparent to him in that moment. He was lying if he didn’t purposely choose your cabin first in the hopes you would be home, and in fear that perhaps, you were the young lady dragged away. He wasn’t even aware of standing there, frozen in time, until Eddy reached over him to knock.

Charlie calles out, “You can come right in.”

The men enter, and Charlie is bandaging a little boy’s elbow, wrapping it carefully in cloth before ushering him down from his perch on the table. He looks up, a bit surprised to see Ted and Eddy standing there. “Sheriff Nivison. And I’m sorry, you must be…?”

“Deputy Burback. You can call me Eddy, if you’d like.” Eddy extends his hand. Charlie shakes it, before bending down to address the young boy. “Next time, be more gentle, alright? Now go back to your teacher.” He shoos the boy out the door, shutting it gently.

It becomes apparent to Ted in the ten years since he was adopted that he never had stepped foot in this cabin. It was small, with two cots, two makeshift beds on the floor, and a wood stove. There was another room, where he imagined the last two beds were. He looks around at the log cabin, and imagines how life would have been. Sharing a home with the men he once considered brothers. Sharing a home, of course, with you. Maybe you would have married him then.

His thoughts are once again interrupted by the third time that day, with Charlie clearing his throat. “How can I help you gentlemen?” he asks, packing away his medical supplies in a makeshift cabinet. “Well Charles, Mr. Baker, the one who owns the large General on Main, he was robbed about two miles from here.”

“Robbed? Really?” Charlie tsks, scooping some water to rinse and scrub his hands. “We wanted to see if you know anything. Heard anything. Maybe someone came in injured, Mr. Baker managed to hit the foot of one of the assailants,” Eddy chimes in.

“No, no one other than that little boy has been by. I’ve been home all day.” Charlie smiles at the two of them. “And what about the others?” Ted asks. “How many people live here?” Eddy asks.

“Five men, myself included. I was here, sorting my things. Hasan and Schlatt have been in the back, practicing a sharpshooter act. Hasan is making a name for himself, earning some money at shows. Kurtis and Ludwig are tending to the garden. And the lady, she teaches. She’s been with the outskirt children all day. I believe the littles are learning their letters today.”

Eddy’s eyes furrow in surprise. “A lady, she lives here? With all five of you? Unmarried?” Charlie nods, “She sleeps in the room next to us, shares the bed with Hasan. We cannot afford separate beds. We cannot afford to live alone.” He then turns to look Ted in the eyes. “She'll, of course, marry one of the five of us one day, when she’s ready. It’s always been the six of us.”

Ted felt sick. He nodded at Charlie. “Thank you Charles. Perhaps we shall check with the others.” He and Eddy exit the cabin, and he shakes his head. “We should ask around different homes. Perhaps they will know something,” Ted says, as he walks past the side of the cabin, looking out beyond their gardens, peering out at the rows of shelters, tents, and cabins. And then…there you were. You were sitting in the clearing, surrounded by the children. And for the first time that day, he smiled. Ted saw you, and he smiled.

#ted nivison x reader #charlie slimesicle x reader #jschlatt x you #jschlatt x reader #hasanabi x reader #hasan piker x reader #if you push me hard enough i can make it into a love triangle i am easily convinced #yeah she shares a bed with hasan…in like a platonic way I promise #i am sorry #I’ll try to do better #I threw some angst in for good measure #don’t get the blues

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