#rdrfanfic

[neon-junkie]

Mi Querido

Summary:  Whilst dating John, you finally realize who in the camp is in love with you, and decide to make those feelings mutual.

Pairing: Javier Escuella X GN!Reader

Word Count: 3522

Rating: SFW Tags: Friends to lovers, First kiss, Fluff, Slow burn, Guitar playing, Boat ride, Breakup, Angst.

Notes: This was meant to be a short drabble, maybe a few hundred words, but I got hella carried away lmao. Requests always open!

You and John had been dating for a few weeks now. It was quite sudden, though you always had a soft spot for the young cowboy, you never expected the feelings to be mutual. John was a sweetheart; loving, caring, soft. His confession of feelings towards you stumbled out of his mouth one day when the two of you were on a mission together. Maybe he was nervous? Maybe it was a genuine accident? Who knows. It led to the two of you coming back from the mission hand in hand with a nice wad of cash.

Everybody in the camp was so supportive. Abigail didn't seem to care.

You got along with pretty much everyone, hating Micah just like the rest of the clique. You had done your fair share of robberies with Arthur, hunting trips with Charles, drinking with Sean, fishing with Javier. You felt like you fit in well here, and it appears the gang felt mutual.

One of your closest companions was Javier. You wouldn't say you had a best friend, but Javier was one of few that you found yourself hanging out with the most. You tried to love all your friends equal, but it appeared that no matter what, you'd end up besides Javier as you sat by the campfire, or pitching your tent next to his. Maybe he gave you some form of comfort or protection?

Javier had been distant lately.

You had asked to go fishing with him, he quickly revealed he had made plans. It felt like an excuse.

You sat next to him at dinner one night, he quickly excused himself saying he was going for a piss, then never came back.

You asked him for a game of five finger fillet. For the first-ever time, he declined, saying his hands already ached.

You sat with John and a group of others at the table, playing a game of Poker. You weren't great but meh, who cares, you didn't bet much on it. John couldn't help but keep jokingly peek at your cards, making you giggle and hide them each time. Bill kept complaining you two were cheating and working together, so on the next game you and John sat closer and had a hand together. Bill couldn't complain if you shared your cards.

You could see Javier in the distance, sat around the campfire with few others, playing to himself and keeping his input to their conversation a minimum. Your eyes flicked over him and were met as he flicked his eyes over at you from under his hat.

You both looked away.

This happened a few times throughout the night.

You could feel Javier watching you. You could feel him strumming louder every time you and John spoke. Louder as you laughed. Louder as you both flirted.

Javier was drowning you out. You didn't understand why.

You lay awake that night, huddled up to John in his cot. His cheek rested against your forehead, lightly snoring, arms around you.

You thought of Javier.

You thought about the first time he took you fishing. How he helped you as you struggled to reel in your first catch, standing behind you and reaching round to place his hands on top of yours. You remembered the rough skin of his palms sliding over the back of your hand, his breath on the back of your neck, his chest pressed against your back. It was a big catch, Javier was thrilled for you. He congratulated you and looked at you with happy, puppy-like eyes.

You thought about the time you were ill for a week, bed-bound, unable to walk on your own. Javier had stuck by your side the most, but not to the point where it was clingy. He brought you food as often as he could, most of it from his own private stash as Pearsons cooking would only make you sicker. You thought about how he held a cold wet towel over your forehead often, how he stroked your hair to comfort you as you fell asleep, how he held you tightly and calmed you after you broke down, worried that you'd never get better.

You thought about the many times you wandered around the camp at night, unable to sleep. But the one time that struck you the most was when Javier had caught you awake. He had cooed you over to him and told you to get comfortable on his roll mat, picking up his guitar as you lay down. Javier strummed lightly. You watched him through half-lidded eyes, the campfire in the distance outlining him like a halo, his long black hair resting lightly over his face as his back half-faced you. You woke during the night to find him next to you, his blanket draped over you as he lay on his front beside you, arm lightly around your waist.

You had felt something then. You had felt something as you shuffled closer to him, pulling the blanket over him also. You had felt something as he instinctively rolled onto his side and pulled you into him, his thumb stroking over yours as you fell back asleep.

Back then you just thought it was a platonic feeling. You were glad you could snuggle up to your friends. Your interpretations of your own feelings were wrong.

You had felt something different when you woke the next morning to find him gone. Bill had questioned why you were sleeping on Javier's roll mat. You had shrugged him off and went back to your own tent.

Somehow, you had finally realized what these feelings were.

You got up from Johns cot, quietly making your way around the camp in the dead of night. Javier was nearby, on guard duty. He looked over his shoulder to see you coming his way, and quickly turned back, almost as if he pretended to not notice you approaching.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" You asked as you stood beside him, turned to face him. He kept facing forward.

"I haven't," Javier replied coldly.

"You haven't properly spoken to me in weeks!" You scolded.

"And it's taken you this long to notice? Not a day? Not even a few days?" Javier said as he turned to face you, holding the shotgun down beside him in one hand. Javier huffed as he looked away from you, facing forward, the shadow of his hat covering half of his angered expression.

There was a moment of silence.

"I know why you're mad," You said to him. Javier didn't reply.

"I never realized before that you were into me."

"How? Everbody could see it."

"I guess I just saw your gestures as being friendly. It only came to mind now. I feel ashamed that it took me this long to realize," you said as you looked down.

"Why does it matter now? You have John," Javier said as he waved his hand, shrugging you off.

You wanted to say more to him.

You didn't know what to say.

You left him to it.

The next few days you spent mostly alone, taking long walks, reading a book, going hunting, but never fishing, as that just reminded you of Javier. Lovely Javier. With his tanned skin and dark mustache that never met in the middle. With his long hair that he always tied back in a cute little ponytail. With his large rough hands that you now realized were always aching to be touching your skin.

Javier clogged up your thoughts.

Javier was the reason you failed to launch your bow at this deer you were hunting. The deer ran away.

More days passed. John was asking you on the daily if you were okay, kissing your temple, holding your hands in his. He loved physical affection, especially with you, but noticed you were sympathetically giving it back, rather than giving it back because you loved him. Your two-way relationship was turning into a one-way street.

You noticed John sat with Javier one night, talking to him quietly. Javier seemed to be acting himself, though slightly distant. You saw John talking for a while, he looked like he was stumbling on his words. Javier had shrugged back at him. John looked annoyed. You overheard Javier apologize to John and say he wasn't sure how to help him, then excuse himself from the table. As Javier was walking off, John raised his voice and asked if there was anyone in this camp who didn't seem distant and down. He huffed.

The day you broke up with John was not a nice one. It was dark and gloomy out, the sun seemed to never rise that day. You'd never apologized so much to someone in your life, saying how the problem was you, not him. John didn't seem surprised by the breakup, mentioning how you'd been so off with him lately. He couldn't be mad at you, and just wished you the best for your happiness. He asked if you two could still be friends, you smiled sweetly and said "always," before kissing him on the forehead one last time.

A few nights later, you sat at the campfire by yourself. Yet again you were up, unable to sleep. Charles had checked on you as he went onto his watch, giving you a hug and reminding you that he's always there for you. Charles was so sweet. You were glad you'd met him. A little while later you heard someone walking back into camp, it was Javier.

"Why are you awake?" He asked you as he approached you.

"Can't sleep," you replied.

"Mi querido, you can never seem to sleep."

You hadn't heard him call you that in so long. My dear, his dear. You had missed his company over the weeks, realizing how much you had isolated yourself.

"(Y/N)?" he asked. You clicked out of your train of thought, realizing you hadn't replied to Javier.

"Yeah?" You asked.

Javier paused for a while.

"You broke up with Marston," he said in a half statement, half questioning way.

"I did."

"Why?" He asks.

"I.. I don't know. I didn't feel right- I don't feel right," you said, correcting yourself.

"It is hard to love someone when your head isn't clear," Javier said, from experience. You hummed in agreement. The two of you paused in silence again.

"I will leave you to it. Goodnight," Javier said, then left. You wanted to turn around and call for him to come back, call for him to sit beside you so you could lay your head on his shoulder and entwine his fingers in yours. Your throat got stuck, unable to call out for him. Was it the fear of rejection? Who knows.

You woke the next day, still not used to being in your own bed. Your tent flaps were closed, keeping the rays of sunlight and the harsh morning cold out. Most of the company had small open tents, ones you thought could barely be called a tent. You had cashed out on a much nicer one, giving you both warmth and privacy. Slightly disorientated, you got up and reached over to your bedside table (which was just an empty crate) to have a sip of water. You felt your hand grab something silky and soft instead. You looked over to see a flower there, freshly picked, bright and loving.

Javier.

You had placed the flower into a spare cup of water and kept it beside your bed. Javier hadn't spoken to you much, only passing comments when you were in a group of people. He and you had had no alone time, and no chances to be alone together either.

But the flowers continued to come. Every morning one was added to your cup at your bedside. Always the first thing to brighten your day.

The cup began to fill quickly and one morning you woke to see it had been replaced with an actual vase, along with another fresh flower.

You had tried to stay up a few times in hope to catch Javier sneaking into your tent. Maybe you'd confront him. Maybe you'd pretend to be asleep. Maybe you'd ask him to stay by your side, hopefully forever. Though every time you'd always ended up falling asleep. For once you were able to sleep at night as if waking up to these flowers was motivation for you to get some rest.

The girls had once commented on how you always had a lovely bunch of flowers by your bed, seeing as you left your tent flaps open during the day. They asked who was picking them for you. You shrugged, pretending not to know. Karen bet it was John trying to win you back, Tilly half agreed, the other half thinking John had moved on by now.

A part of you then realized it could be John. There was nothing to say who it was. There was nothing to say it was Javier. For all you know, Javier could have also moved on by now and destroyed any hope he had in being with you.

You went to bed that night unsettled.

The next day you woke to a sight. It was as if the person who was leaving these flowers had heard yours and the girls's conversation the day before.

There was flowers everywhere.

Everywhere.

Your usual bunch sat on your bedside table, fuller than ever. But there were also flowers dotted around your tent. Bunches placed over the crates and chests where you store your clothes, petals scattered over the floor, the stems of some had been placed through the loops in your tent flaps, not that you ever did them up anyway, or at least you hadn't since they started leaving flowers every night. Your tent was covered. They were all different closers, shapes, and sizes. Whoever left them had clearly spent a long time collecting them, let alone placing them around your tent.

You were glad you didn't have hay fever.

You went to put your usual attire on when you saw a box on top of your clothes crate. You brushed the flowers off and opened it, looking inside to see clothing. By the shoulders, you pulled it out the box, presenting it in front of you. You eyed up the most gorgeous, and expensive (dress/shirt) you had ever seen. The fabrics pattern was of course, floral. You didn't hesitate to put it on and put extra effort into your appearance today. You felt special, you felt loved.

As you left your tent, the first thing you noticed was that the flowers didn't end there. There was a soft scatter of petals outside your door. A trail. You looked up to see where the trail leads off to - off into the woods. That was when you noticed the amount of eyes on you. Half the camp was eyeing you up, smiling.

The gang was a hard bunch of outlaws, but they seemed to be soft today. As if the loving gesture had an effect on everyone.

"You won't need your horse, it doesn't go too far," you heard Arthur call out to you. You nodded and began following it.

Arthur was right. It was a small walk, that leads you through a path in the woods, then broke off to head towards the beach. As the trail began to come to an end, you could faintly hear the soft strumming of a guitar.

Javier.

Without noticing you picked up the pace, coming out of the forest and into contact with the beach.

There he was.

Leaning back against a boulder for support, Javier was looking down at his guitar whilst he played. He looked smart; hair in its usual ponytail but clean for once, clean white shirt on, polished shoes, smart black trousers, and a waistcoat with a matching floral pattern to the outfit he had left out for you. There were flowers threaded into the head of his guitar.

"You came," he said as he looked up. It made you feel like he wasn't expecting you'd come, that he wasn't expecting you to still have feelings for him, if he even knew you had any to begin with.

"Of course," was all you could respond. You wanted to tell him to love him. You wanted to tell him you're sorry. You wanted to run over and kiss him. You froze in the moment.

"Join me?" Javier asked as he paused his playing to point over to the rowing boat pushed on the shore of the beach. You never even noticed it was there, too starstruck from the look of Javier.

You nodded, making your way over. You instinctively began pushing the rowboat offshore. Javier tutted you, ordering you to get in as he placed his guitar in there. How Javier managed to get the two of you offshore without getting any of his clothes wet was beyond you.

But here you were, looking over the landscape as Javier rowed.

"You're quiet. Something wrong, mi querido?" he asked.

"I was just admiring the view," you said as you smiled at him.

"Me too," he replied. You were the view. The only time he had taken his eyes off you was to check where he was rowing you out to. "You want to play whilst I row?" Javier asks you, eyeing at his guitar.

"Sure," you said as you picked his guitar up.

Javier had taught you a few things here and there. He was always very excited whenever you asked for a lesson off him. Never hesitating on sitting close to you, moving his fingers on top of yours to help you press the chords, moving his hands along yours, adjusting your arms. Javier teaching you anything was just an excuse for him to get close to you, because he could simply say he's just trying to help.

You were a bit wobbly but managed to strum out a simple melody he had taught you.

"Sorry I'm rusty," you said as you played.

Javier stopped rowing and shuffled to sit beside you.

"May I?" He asked, reaching his arms out slightly to assist you. This was the first time he had ever asked.

"You don't have to ask," you smiled. Javier smiled back and reached around you, placing his hands on top of yours, helping you play. You could feel his chest against your shoulder blade, his breath lightly on your ear, his rough palms cupping over the back of your hands.

You moved the guitar slightly so it sat more in the middle of you two, and took the opportunity to rest your head on his shoulder.

For the first-ever time, you felt him tense up at your touch.

His chest quickly softened out, and you felt his cheek rest on the top of your head.

The two of you synced up and played a simple melody. It felt magical. Unreal.

"I'm glad I finally know who the flower culprit is," you said as you continued your playing.

"Did you know it was me?" Javier asked.

"I didn't know it was you, but I always hoped it was."

Javier stopped playing, you did too.

"(Y/N)," he said as he took his guitar from you and rested it up against the side of the boat. He turned to face you.

"Did you break off with Marston for me?" Javier asked.

"Well, uhm," You paused.

"No, you don't have to answer that. I.. uh.. Well, I just want to know that one thing. It is behind me. I was an idiota for taking my anger out. I should have been happy for you, supported you. It was selfish to put my feelings first, above you, above John."

He paused.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted."

You took Javier's hand in yours and smiled at him.

"John is behind us now. I only hope to look forward to a future with you," you say to him.

You had never seen Javier blush until now.

"And I'm sorry for not realizing my feelings until later. I had always found comfort with you, but I never realized what I was feeling was love. I was so blind and so stupid," you continued.

"Mi querido, it's behind us now," Javier said as his spare hand came up to brush along your hairline and rest on your cheek.

"Be mine?"

You wasted no time in accepting his question by leaning forward to finally meet your lips with his. He kissed back, obviously. His hand running from your cheek, down your hair, to rest on your jawline. You felt like you could hear cheering in the distance. Maybe the gang was watching. Maybe it was inner you applauding you on.

You could feel Javier smile against your lips and he continued to kiss you. His hand lightly squeezed at yours, and you couldn't help but smile back against him.

The two of you slowly pulled away, resting foreheads against each other, eyes both shut.

"I love you, Javier," you said.

"I love you too, mi querido," he replied.

[redcrownroses]

Capable: Arthur Morgan x F!Reader

Summary: You come up with a good robbery job, except there’s one small problem. Arthur won’t let you do it. You decide to disobey and do it either way but things don't turn out the way you expected them to. FLUFF.

Warnings: Injury, blood, mentions of sex

A/N: This is my first contribution to the fandom! I enjoy writing and I’m always nervous when putting my content out there. But anyways! I love Arthur so much!! I had this idea yesterday and decided to try my hand at it. So far I liked how it turned out. It gets pretty fluffy and sweet towards the end. Hope you guys like it, some feedback would also be greatly appreciated :)

                                        —🌹—

“No it’s far too dangerous for ya to go alone.” Arthur warned as he stared at a map in front of him. You were standing to his side, both hands resting flat on the round wooden table.

“I just think that if I were to go around 2 am it wouldn’t be much of a problem. There's only two guards at that time trust me I know what I’m doin’.” Your eyes bore into him though he kept his gaze fixated on the map.  

“No.” Arthur said firmly. “Besides Javier and I are already plannin’ a robbery so please Y/N just drop it. I have work to do right now.” He heaved a sigh and ran a hand down his face, eyes flickering towards the small lapping waves of the lake. Approaching footsteps made you both turn your heads towards the source. “Ah Javier you’re back.” Arthur didn’t spare you a glance which only caused you to roll your eyes and stomp away. “What’s up with her?” Javier arched a brow and Arthur shook his head. “Ah ya know how she is. Stubborn as always.” Arthur dismissed the subject with a curt wave of his hand and the two men began planning out their robbery.

You huffed as you stormed into your tent. You’ve been planning this out for a while now and it irked you to a great extent that Arthur immediately dismissed it. You know how to defend yourself and you’ve proven time and again that you were a very capable woman. 

Arthur knew that as well. He was just being cautious though. Too cautious this time around. Ever since the both of you started being sweet on one another right after the Blackwater mess you couldn’t help but notice how extra protective he became of you. It was endearing at first, you could admit, but as time passed by it began to bother you. Can’t really blame the man though, he finally found something good and real after everything he’s been through. Losing you would be beyond cruel.

As you sat down on your bedroll and began cleaning your twin pistols you thought about asking Dutch’s opinion on the matter but if he were to find out that Arthur rejected your idea, well, it was more than likely that Dutch would side with his right-hand man. And worse, give that job to someone else. You couldn’t let that happen. This was your goddamn job.

It was then that you decided to go through with it with or without Arthur’s consent. 

Like it’s been noted before, you are more than capable of taking care of yourself and pulling through with a job. You gathered all the necessary belongings you were to bring on your trip and took a peek through the flaps of your tent. You watched as the two men conversed by the round table, Arthur’s back facing you. The golden rays of the setting sun reflected on Arthur’s light brown locks, causing a halo like aura to appear around it. He looked like an angel but sometimes he was a demon. Right now he was definitely the latter. 

You sighed and looked away. As much as it hurt to disobey like this you just knew that this take would be worth it. The more money, the sooner you can all finally get away from this outlaw life. All you needed was to get your hands on that state bond that was worth some thousand dollars. You were fortunate to have come across a drunken man working as a guard at the place you were gonna rob at the saloon not too long ago.

Draping your satchel over your shoulder, you took one last peek from your tent flaps before proceeding to fix your button up shirt and try to appear nonchalant. You stepped outside and headed towards Pearson’s post where he was happily singing one of his many sailor songs as he chopped away for tonight’s dinner. 

“Hey Pearson I’m going into town for a while. Gonna order me a hot bath, gather some new supplies, and snoop around if anyone asks. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.” He nodded with a quick wave of his hand and you made your way towards your horse, Mabel, and hopped on.

                                        —🌹—

The ride to Cornwall Kerosene & Tar went just as expected. You arrived within the time period you had predicted and you hardly came across other lone riders on the way. You climbed off of Mabel, patting her and feeding her a sugar cube. “Good girl,” you smiled up at her and continued petting on her muzzle before moving towards the saddlebag and fishing out some canned beans and meat. You were starving and you still had about two hours until you went into action.

You kicked some dirt onto the campfire and climbed onto Mabel. You checked the time, a half hour left until 2. Perfect. You tugged at the reins and guided your horse towards your destination. 

It took about five minutes to finally get there and you immediately fished out your binoculars from your satchel and surveyed the area. Just how you expected it. Two guards at the front entrance, one making their way towards the back area. 

You hitched Mabel onto a nearby tree and began trekking towards the private property. Once you were closer you took cover behind a large wooden crate.

Just then a guard began rounding the corner and you silently peeked from behind the crate, thankful that there wasn’t good lighting in that area. He quickly scanned the vicinity before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up. 

You weren’t sure how long he was gonna stay there and began formulating some plan to get past him when all of a sudden you heard the other guard calling for him, apparently he ran out of cigarettes of his own. Guess you just got lucky there. You couldn’t help but feel a bit cocky about that as you stood up and slinked towards the door. 

Upon approaching the upstairs office, you quietly began searching the place for the piece of paper. You searched and searched but you still found nothing. So much for luck. You heaved a soft sigh as you brushed back some flyaways from your forehead. Your eyes landed on a pretty painting hanging on the wall on your right. You knitted your brows together as a thought came across your mind and you stepped towards it. 

You brought your hands up and lifted the painting, you didn’t expect it to be quite heavy and almost dropped it. Breathing heavily, heart pumping quickly, you set it down on the floor carefully before looking back up at the safe box. You grinned. Now to get it open. As you worked your way through it you didn’t hear one of the guards coming upstairs until it was too late. 

“Hey! Stop right there!” You whipped around, eyes wide as dinner plates as the guard pointed his repeater at you. You immediately raised your hands up in surrender. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” 

You were fast as you dodged behind the desk and the guard began to open fire, alerting the other one downstairs. There were some more gunshots and you managed to distribute some of your own. The guard ducked and backed out of the room to take some cover behind the adjacent wall. You took this opportunity to fire a few rounds at the wall and when your heard a yell you knew you hit your target. You then bolted towards the window and opened it. Turning sideways, you swiftly swung a leg out but before you could climb out completely the other guard came into view and fired at you. 

You let out a yelp as you climbed completely out the window, stumbling as you tried to steady yourself. The searing pain now coursed through the right side of your waist. You brought a hand over it and felt your blood immediately soaking your hand. This was bad. Your heard one of the guards yelling and boots stalking towards the window. Without a moment's hesitation you fired a couple of rounds towards the window as you backed up, eyes roaming around you wildly.

 You weren’t sure how you were gonna get down. That is until you heard a couple of gunshots coming from inside the building. Your features pulled back in bewilderment as you backed up against the wall behind you for support. When the gunfire ceased and the only sound heard was those of the insects, you finally allowed yourself to slide down the wall and onto the wooden planks of the roof beneath you.

“Y/N?” The familiar voice filled your ears, and although it was rough and filled with concerned you couldn’t help but smile faintly. “A-Arthur,” you managed to utter weakly. You felt yourself lose strength as the moments passed by. You heard heavy footsteps as they neared the window. Finally you heard him again, this time calling your name firmly as he climbed out the window. You could barely muster enough strength to lift your head up towards him. You felt heavy and you fought hard to keep your eyelids open. 

“Arthur,” you whispered softly, half lidded eyes flickering towards him as he hastily knelt down in front of you. “I—” 

He cut you off softly. “Shhh.” 

He immediately removed your hand from your wound and examined it. It was a good thing that the roof area there was well lit by one of the light posts. 

Arthur emitted a soft sigh of relief as he met your eyes again. “It’s only a graze but you’re bleeding so much. Needa apply some pressure on it.” He spoke softly.

He hurriedly dug through his satchel and took out his bandana before unfolding it to the cleaner area. Despite your hazy state you still noticed that Arthur’s hands were slightly trembling. 

“Here.” He placed it on your side with applied pressure and you let out a whimper as you shut your eyes tightly and gritted your teeth. “You’re gonna be okay, darlin’. You could get through this you’re strong.” He reassured you softly (and at the same time he was also reassuring himself). It helped you calm down a substantial amount. 

A small smile stretched across your pale lips. “I know.” That was the last thing you managed to say before everything went black.

                                       —🌹—

Everything and everywhere ached. You slowly opened your eyes and saw him staring down at you, a sturdy hand entwined with yours. He smiled affectionately and brought your hand up to plant a soft kiss at the back, his other hand caressing your thigh that was covered with a blanket. 

“Ya gave me quite a scare back there, darlin’.” It was almost a whisper and you noticed the slight tremor in his voice. His ocean colored eyes were filled with relief but there was also sorrow. It broke your heart witnessing that. 

“I’m sorry,” you croaked. Arthur shook his head. “You’re safe now.” It was then that your eyes traveled around the room you were in, confusion setting in. Arthur couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at how adorable you looked at that moment. 

“We’re at the doctor's in Valentine. Wasn’t sure if ya were gonna make the ride here but you were a trooper.”

You tried to sit up but immediately felt pain surging through the right side of your waist. It spread like wildfire across your abdomen. “Don’t.” Arthur warned as he gently placed a flat hand on your stomach. “You’re not gonna be moving for a while.” You frowned momentarily and inspected your patched up wound before looking back at him. 

“How—How did you know?” Arthur smoothed out the white sheets over your body before his gaze settled onto you. 

“I saw you ride out and when Pearson told me you were goin’ into town I knew immediately that was a lie, otherwise you wouldn’t be traveling the opposite direction.” He looked down as he caressed your hand in his. 

“So you knew then.” It was a statement rather than a question and Arthur simply nodded. 

“I dropped everythin’ and immediately rode out. Had a bad feelin’.” You swallowed thickly and felt a pang of guilt. You should have listened to him. Never again would you let your pride get in the way like this. 

“I almost had it,” you spoke quietly. “I swear I did. I just don’t know what happened, why the guard decided to check upstairs at that time. But none of that matters anymore, I guess. I was bein’ foolish. Prideful. And I should’ve listened to you. I guess what I was trying to do was prove myself.” You looked away. “In a way I deserved that.” You felt tears coating your eyes, threatening to cascade at any given movement. Arthur’s hold on your hand tightened.

“No you didn’t, darlin��. You almost died out there—I almost lost ya. I was so scared. And yeah you were acting like a fool goin’ behind my back but never say you deserve something like that ya hear? And darlin’,” his voice grew softer. “I know that you are capable. I’ve seen you fight. You have it in you. Don’t ever think that I’m doubtin’ you because I’m not and I sure as hell never will.”

 A single tear rolled down the side of your cheek and Arthur was swift in wiping it away with his thumb, coaxing you to turn and face him afterwards. 

“But that wasn’t the only reason ya know,” you uttered softly. He nodded and caressed your jaw. 

“I promise ya that we’re gonna get out of this. We’ll find some more money somewhere else and then we can finally build our lives together the way we’ve been wanting to.” 

You couldn’t hold it back anymore. Upon hearing those words the tears began flowing. “Out west?” He nodded, lips curving into a loving smile and you returned the gestured as you sniffled. “Living in a ranch?” 

He chuckled softly. “Yeah, we’ll own a nice lil ranch. And best of all we’ll be married.” 

You giggled softly before speaking again. “And have some mini Arthurs running’ ‘round the house.” He leaned forward slowly, gazing affectionately at you with a smile still gracing his features. 

“And mini Y/Ns too, playin’ everywhere.” His lips met yours tenderly, fingers grazing your jaw before moving up to cup your cheek. You reveled in the moment as he lavished you with sweet, tender kisses. If it were physically possible you would melt right there and then in his strong hold. 

You raked your fingers through his hair and down his neck as the kiss gradually deepened. After a few more moments you pulled back, your breathing labored along with Arthur’s from the activity. “It’s too bad I won’t be able to move or do anything for a while,” you teased and bit your lip as your gaze fell onto his torso, your hands caressing his chest and feeling the muscles underneath his flannel shirt. 

“You teasing me, woman?” Arthur’s voice rumbled deeply, the vibrations could be felt on your palms. 

“I suppose we’ll have to wait until I’m fully healed.” 

Arthur shook his head though there was a smirk that formed on his lips. He leaned down once again, lips hovering over yours and barely brushing up against them in a tantalizing manner. 

“We’ll find a way...” his voice dropped dangerously low and like a switch it instantly fueled your core. His lips finally met yours in a fervent yet gentle manner. It was endearing how he could be so gentle. 

This big scary outlaw was the softest and purest man you’d ever met. Truly, he possessed a heart of gold. And he was yours and you were his. You felt like the luckiest woman on earth. As the both of you continued your sweet romantic endeavor, for a moment you thought that maybe you did die back there and this was the afterlife.