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The market of Saint Denis was as busy as ever. Arthur wondered how so many people fitted into the narrow streets that make up the market. He grunts and glares at the people passing by, it was maybe the third time someone had stepped on his foot. But it was good that the place was so crowded. No one would notice the small group of four standing near the stalls watching the entrance of the pawn shop.Thanks to Hosea, they had found out that beneath the pawn shop there was an underground business that made lots of money and they usually moved it out by the end of the week.It was split up. Usually three or four people would walk out with maybe five hundred dollars each and then take different routes until they reached their destination. The plan was simple, wait for them to start coming out and send a gang member to follow them until they could discreetly dispose of them and take the money. The many alleyways of Saint Denis were perfect for the task, the only bad thing about it was having to wait for who knows how long until they came out.Sean had even started wandering off into the stalls when he started to get bored until Hosea told him to get back and stay alert. Arthur on the other hand fought boredom by smoking cigarettes and watching people walk by, trying to guess what they would buy.“Are you sure they’re coming at all, old man?” Micah annoyingly asks Hosea. “They are, we just have to wait.” “They probably even left already.” Micah mumbles and Hosea fights the urge to roll his eyes.“Isn’t there a back door or something? Maybe they could leave through there.” Sean suggests while eating candy from a small bag. When the hell did he buy that?Hosea sighs and rubs his eyes. This is what he gets for bringing children to a job. “If we check around the building will you both stop complaining?”“Sounds better than standing here for another forty minutes.” Micah gets up from where he was sitting and takes the lead.“Come on Arthur.” Hosea calls him and Arthur takes one last drag off his cigarette before dropping it and stepping on it. If he could be honest he was also starting to have some doubts but he would never say them out loud, especially when it was Hosea who was behind the whole plan.“Aha! See? There’s a back door.” Sean points when they move around the building.“That looks closed to me.” Arthur says.“Let’s go take a look, Morgan you go first.” Micah gives Arthur a slight push and he turns around to tell him to fuck off but as he looks back at the back door something catches his eye.It’s just a simple thin man in an overall. He looks dirty and sick, just how Arthur remembers him. He has a little smile on his face and seeing it makes Arthur feel like he wants to turn around and leave.“Well? What the fuck are you waiting for? Move!” Micah pushes Arthur again but he doesn’t react. He seems frozen. “Arthur?” He hears Hosea’s voice first but it starts to sound muffled, then he can’t hear him at all. His eyes are glued on the man a few steps away and his throat feels like it’s gonna shut and his entire body starts sweating. “Come on! We don’t have time for this!”“Micah shut up! Arthur, what’s wrong?”There’s no way he is moving a step closer. Fuck the backdoor and fuck this entire plan, he doesn’t want to go near him.“Hey man, I think the employes are starting to come out. We should go after them.” He hears Sean’s voice in the distance. Arthur realizes he’s so close to tears but he doesn’t want to cry in front of the others. He’s also terrified that the man will notice him. The more Hosea and Sean ask what’s wrong with him the more people start to look at them, and Arthur has to run before he causes a scene. He runs as fast as he can, ignoring the others calling his name. He bumps into so many people on his way out but he doesn’t care to look back. The crowd also makes it difficult for Hosea and Sean to catch up with him and Arthur loses them in mere seconds. He finally looks behind his back when he’s far away from the market, he doesn’t see Hosea or the man, but he keeps running until he reaches an empty alley. He presses his back against the wall and slides to the floor and brings his knees close. Now that he’s finally alone he breaks down sobbing. Seeing his rapist again brings back all the memories, and he can see everything happening again, even his body starts to hurt somehow, like it’s going through the whole experience once more.He starts to fear that maybe he’s still unconscious on that guy’s floor. Still getting raped. He curls into a ball and cries his heart out, hating himself for being so weak, for being so trusting. What if that man found him here alone and did it again? It doesn't make sense that he was in that market in the first place, as Arthur had killed him about a month ago. But he can't stop to analyze the situation, he's scared, embarrassed and disgusted with himself.He had been doing somewhat fine despite the fact that he couldn't talk to anyone about it. He suffered through it alone. There was no point in telling anyone in the gang, they would only laugh at him. Like Bill did. He couldn't sleep after Bill made a joke about it, he was certain he was going to tell everyone. It made him feel so fucking ashamed, like he was a joke.In all that time he spent repressing his feelings he considered killing himself so many times and no one knows how close he came to ending his life in many of those attempts. And right now it's starting to seem like a good idea again. He just wants to die so that he doesn't get raped again.He can't go back with the gang, they won't stop asking questions until they get something out of him. So he pulls out his gun. It's loaded, as expected, and he starts to lift it with a shaky hand when he hears a familiar voice.“Arthur?”Albert Mason looks at him with a concerned look on his face and as soon as he sees the gun in Arthur's hand and where he is moving it to, he immediately approaches him.Albert is the last person Arthur would want to find out about his secret. He doesn't want to deal with his questions, so he lifts his other hand to stop him from coming closer.“Stay away!” But Albert doesn't listen to him and he runs towards him just in time to push the gun so that it points to the ground. Arthur doesn't fire it, he just sobs into Albert's shoulder. Albert takes the gun out of his hand and puts it in his bag before Arthur can do anything else.“Leave me alone.” Arthur sobs and tries to push him away with almost no force at all.“It's ok, Arthur. Everything is going to be ok.”“No it won't. I need to die...please just let me do it.” Albert hugs him tighter and ignores the pain in his heart Arthur's words cause. “You don't need to die. Listen to me, everything will be ok.”It feels like hours pass until Arthur stops sobbing or asking for his gun, Albert doesn't let go of him the entire time, or stop telling him he'll be ok. Once he has calmed down a little Albert lets go of him and sits next to him. Arthur fears he’ll start asking questions, but to Arthur's surprise, Albert doesn't pry. He just sits there quietly and rubs Arthur's back.“How about we go watch a movie?” Albert suddenly asks while Arthur dries the last of his tears. Arthur sniffles and nods, he likes the idea of sitting in a dark room where no one can see how miserable he looks.Albert helps Arthur to his feet and they walk to the tent where Albert buys tickets for a comedy movie, hoping it’ll cheer Arthur up a little. They take a seat near the back and Albert rubs Arthur’s knee. It's just an innocent touch meant to comfort him, but Arthur tenses. He hates being touched anywhere on his legs or near his crotch, but he can't do or say anything about it. Albert is so nice to him and he would never do something like that to him, Arthur would hate to make him feel bad for simply touching his knee. Still, it makes him incredibly uncomfortable. He watches the movie in tense silence, not being able to think of anything else. Albert eventually takes his hand off, making Arthur sigh in relief. He hates himself for reacting like that to a simple touch and he wonders if he’ll ever be able to be casually touched like that again without feeling repulsed or threatened. He barely registers when the movie ends.“Have you had breakfast yet?” Albert asks him once they're outside the tent.Arthur shakes his head so Albert guides him to a restaurant. Albert doesn't comment on the way Arthur seems so lost in his thoughts.
Arthur likes Albert but he keeps thinking that he's ruined for him. Who would want someone used like him? Someone they couldn't even touch without making him almost cry. "Everything ok?" Albert asks him.Arthur nods, despite his emotions."Ok, but if you wanna talk, I'm right here."Arthur nods again and sighs.“You must think I’ve gone mad.”“I don’t, I’m just very worried about you. It hurts me to see you like this, Arthur.”Arthur doesn't know what to say to that."Does your family know you're here?" Albert asks when Arthur stays silent.“They know I’m in the city. Probably” “Would you rather go be with them?”“Not at all.” Albert sighs.Soon, a waitress comes to take their orders. Arthur orders eggs and hashbrowns, while Albert orders pancakes. “So did you come here on your own?” He asks Arthur.“No… we were supposed to do a job here… but… I… I left”"Why's that?"Arthur scowls. "Let’s just say I’m tryna avoid someone, and leave it at that.""Stalker?""Something like that."Albert wrinkles his nose. "I know what that's like."“You do?” Arthur’s eyes go wide, and he fears something similar might’ve happened to Albert.“A guy at the gallery I worked at was very friendly at first, but then it escalated to the point where he would follow me after work and wait outside my house.”Arthur shudders. "Did he...?""No. My dad shot him twice in the crotch. He left me alone after that."Arthur looks down. He wishes his dad would have been there too to shoot his rapist. Hell, he could have done it himself, had he not been so weak and stupid."What's wrong?" Albert asks.Arthur mentally curses. "Nothing.""You look even sadder all of a sudden.”“‘S just how I look.”“I’d like to believe you, Arthur” Albert says sadly, suddenly remembering Arthur’s gun is in his bag, and what Arthur had planned to do with it."What do you mean?"Albert takes a moment to think about his next words "I know you're feeling... down today, and I just don't want you getting hurt."Arthur stays silent. He doesn’t want to promise anything, as the idea is still lingering in the back of his mind. Maybe not around Albert. He saw the worry in his eyes when Arthur had his gun in his hand, he doesn’t think he could go through with it with him watching."Look, Arthur, I care about you, even if you don't know that. I don't want you dying on me" Albert holds his hand out.Arthur hesitantly takes Alberts hand. “I’m sorry.” He says in a small voice.“It’s not your fault, you’re going through a tough time. I promise it’s not permanent.”“It sure feels like it is.”"I've been there. Believe me when I say that it does get better. You'll be happy again, and everything will be absolutely wonderful. But you have to be there for it."Arthur nods and retrieves his hand. Somehow he feels a little bit better, this is the most he had talked to anyone about his feelings in so long. He likes how Albert doesn’t seem to judge him or simply tell him to stop crying and ‘’man-up”.Maybe he could tell him about...maybe he’d understand.Arthur hardly notices when the waitress sets their food down in front of them. He only notices when Albert pokes his arm. Arthur lets go of Alberts hand and grabs a fork, mouth suddenly dry. He eats slowly, not really feeling hungry after the morning he had. He plays with his food for a while before he speaks again.“Albert?”“Yes?”“Do you think people can come back to life?” He asks quietly as he stabs a hashbrown with his fork."Uh, no? Why do you ask?""Nevermind." Arthur eats the hashbrown."Is something bothering you?"“I just...was wondering...you know how there’s something strange about these swamps? The night folk and all that.”“Uh...I’m afraid I don’t understand.”“Nevermind. It’s stupid.”"No no no, tell me."Arthur sighs. “In my time here I have run into the ‘night folk’, weird people that attack everyone they see out in the swamps at night, I have seen pentagrams in abandoned sheds, crying women dressed in white…”“Ok so...there seems to be some sort of dark magic or ghosts out there.” Albert takes a sip of his coffee. “But I don’t know… I still would find it hard to believe people come back to life. Why did you ask?”“I saw someone...” Arthur tenses. “Someone I killed.”"Are you sure?""Yes. I'll never forget his fucking face.""No, are you sure you killed him?""His head got eaten by a crocodile, so I’m gonna say yes.""I'll... I’ll take your word for it. Where did you see him?""In the market.""Really?”“I know he was there...he was just standing there watching the people...like nothing happened.”Albert hesitates, trying to think of the best way to ask. “Is he...” He starts softly. “Is he the person you’re trying to avoid?”"Yeah."Albert softly gasps. "You... you can spend the night at my place if you want."“Thanks...”“But don’t worry, I’m sure he’s not real, you must be stressed or something.”Arthur slams his fork down "I know he's real! I know I fucking saw him!"Albert holds his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright, I believe you!"Arthur grumbles something under his breath and picks his fork back up.“I’m sorry, Arthur. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I don’t believe you”Arthur looks away with a frown. “I need to make sure he dies.”“You want to go look for him?”“You don’t understand, Albert! He could do the same to someone else!”“Do what?”Arthur freezes. He didn't mean to let anything about THAT slip."Look, Arthur, as confident as I am in your ability to get things done, I don’t think it's safe for you to go looking for him. Let's just finish our meal, then I can take you home. Or let you stay at my apartment. Whichever you feel is best."Arthur’s heart is racing at having almost confessed. He just nods and refuses to look at him in the eyes. Still, as awkward as he feels now, he would feel worse around his family.“Can I stay with you?” He asks shyly.“Of course.”"Alright. Gonna have to find my family first, though. I, uh, left in a hurry.""I'll help you look for them. What do they look like?"Arthur describes Hosea, Sean, and Micah. Soon after, they finish their meal they go back to where Arthur and the others were before he ran away. Arthur keeps looking behind his shoulder the whole time like he fears the man is there somewhere. He tells Albert he’ll ask around in a nearby saloon while Albert asks around the market. Then, they split up. Albert keeps standing on his toes due to his height, but he eventually finds an old man that fits one of Arthur's descriptions. The man watches the people around the market like he is too looking for someone."Hello, are you Mr Matthews?" Albert asks."Yep, that’s me." The man's hand hovers over his gun. Albert doesn’t notice.“Oh, that’s great news, I’m with Arthur. He’s looking for you.”“Arthur? Where is he?” The old man asks a bit too desperately.“At the saloon. Come on, I’ll take you there.” Albert leads the old man to the saloon. They immediately find Arthur and go over to him."Hey." Arthur says."Where were you? You had us all worried sick!"“I know, I’m sorry...” Albert moves to the bar to give them some privacy.“Why did you run away?”“I- can we talk about this later?”The old man sighs and rubs his face. “Fine, let’s go.” “Wait, Hosea!” Arthur walks after him, and Albert follows them outside."What?""I... I’m staying at Albert's place tonight. Can you let the others know?"A hint of a smile appears on Hosea's face. "I see how it is. Sure, I’ll tell them."“Thanks.”“But we still need to talk, ok?” Arthur frowns and looks away “Ok.”“I’ll see you back at camp, son.” Hosea pats his shoulder and walks away.Albert walks up to Arthurs side. "So, anything else you want to do?""Nah." Arthur shakes his head."Then I shall take you to my place. It's not far from here. Follow me."
Arthur walks next to Albert and he continues looking around just in case. He instinctively reaches for his gun to feel a bit more secure, but finds it missing from its holster. Did he leave it in that alley after Albert stopped him from killing himself?“Shit, my gun!”"I have your gun." Albert brings up.Arthur stops. "Let me see it!"Albert carefully pulls it out, mindful of how it's probably loaded.“Jesus, why did you put it in there? You could have shot yourself!” Arthur checks it, and just as Albert had feared, it is loaded.“Well I’m sorry I was more worried about you at the time.” Albert folds his arms and frowns."Next time, check if it's loaded. I don't want to come across your dead body any time soon." Arthur says as he holsters his gun. He takes one more look at Albert, and his expression softens. He also feels guilty for talking to him like that. “I’m sorry, I worry.” He lowers his voice to be more gentle.Albert sighs and stops frowning. He can’t really be angry at Arthur. “Well, at least now you know how I feel. Come now, Arthur. I’m sure you could use a warm bath to make you feel better.”"You don't have to, I-""No no no, a friend in need is a friend indeed."Arthur starts grinning. "Friend?"“Of course, I’m a bit offended that you have to ask.” He chuckles.
Arthur follows him through another alley right next to a liquor shop. At the end of it is a small garden with lots of plants, then they go up the stairs of a small building, and Albert stops at the first door to their left. Arthur can’t help but think that the place seems really nice and peaceful."Must be nice living ‘ere with all these plants.""Technically, it’s illegal to grow them, but the landlords don't care." Albert holds the door open for Arthur.“Thanks” Arthur walks in and looks around at the living room. Albert has a bunch of photography material laying around almost everywhere, which Albert immediately tries to move and put in order, but apart from that it’s really pretty."Nice pictures you got." Arthur says, looking over some pictures of women in tuxedos."Thanks! I try to capture the beauty in all my subjects." Albert puts a large camera away "Pride myself on it, in fact." He pushes some old test photographs into a broom closet. “I’m still working on getting your picture printed.” He adds with a smile as he finishes clearing out most the couch.“My picture? Why do you want that?” Arthur picks up a few pictures Albert dropped and puts them on a table.“Well, you’re part of the wildlife collection of course. I wouldn’t have finished it without you.”Arthur blushes. "You don't need to do that, no one wants to see my ugly mug.""I do."“Well, you’ll have a hard time trying to ‘capture my beauty.’” “Oh stop it!”Arthur smiles just a little and Albert smiles back.“I’ll go get the tub ready, please make yourself at home.”Arthur sits down on the couch. "Thank you... for everything.""It's no problem." Albert leaves.Arthur takes the chance to look around some more. there's hundreds of photos on the walls. he wonders how albert manages to travel w all these photos.He looks through the kitchen area and everything seems much more in order than the rest of the living room. He’s still looking at the many photos on the walls when he hears a meow.“Hey kitty.” He turns to find a chubby grey cat staring at him. The cat rubs up against his leg, and Arthur bends down to pet it. "What's your name, huh?"Just then, Albert comes in. "Oh! I see you've met one of the neighborhood cats. I feed them a lot, so they come here often."“Yeah! I can see that.” Arthur chuckles. “Think this one might need to exercise more thanks to you.”“Well I can’t help it, they just show up with their cute little faces and I just give them as much food as they want.” "They like to cuddle often?""Oh they love to, especially this one in particular. She likes to sleep on top of my chest, but she doesn't understand that she's too big to be doing that, so I often dream that I’m suffocating."“Heh, she seems really nice, what’s her name?”“I call her Ravioli.”“Are you planning on suffocating Albert in his sleep, Ravioli?”The cat meows.“Well, I’d be worried if I were you.” Arthur jokes.Albert laughs. "I bet she's planning on killing me so that she and her friends can eat me, isn't that right?" He bends down to pet Ravioli, who purrs in approval."A diabolical mastermind.""A fiend and a villain." Albert picks her up and sits on the couch with her on his lap. Arthur sits next to him and watches the cat with a little smile as she purrs and closes her eyes.“That man we met at the market, is he your father?” Albert asks."Yep.""Huh. If I had known that, I would’ve spent a bit more time talking to him.""No no, it's ok. I think he approves of you.""Oh, good." Albert smiles. "Also… I think I saw him smile when you told him you were staying here. What was that about?"Arthur shrugs. "Beats me. He's a funny man at times."They talk for a bit more until Albert goes to check if the tub and comes back with a towel and clean clothes for Arthur."Here you go, they should fit you well. Maybe a bit big." He chuckles as he pats his belly."Ah, bet you have a cute belly." Arthur takes the stuff.Albert blushes a little. "It's... not that cute..."“I would disagree.” He smiles and walks past him to get in the bathroom.“Call me if you need anything!” Albert calls from the living room."I will!" Arthur goes into the bathroom and locks the door behind him, then strips down and settles into the tub. It's the perfect temperature, just how Arthur likes it. He takes a rag and begins to scrub his arm clean. Once he’s done washing himself he stays in the tub for a while, thinking about what happened. He could have died had it not been for Albert. He still feels pretty shitty about himself, but the kindness Albert’s shown him today makes him feel a little glad he showed up in time. Plus, he's starting to think that maybe Albert has a point about things getting better. This current moment is certainly better than earlier, when he felt so fucking filthy he wanted to die, not to mention he was so embarrassed by his memories. In that moment, it had felt as if everyone could see what had happened to him simply by looking at him. It made Arthur want to run away, and so that's what he did. And if Albert hadn’t stopped him, he would've killed himself, and he wouldn't have gotten to have this nice bath. Maybe Arthur could live for these moments.But it still scares him to think that man is alive and somewhere out there. He shakes his head and decides not to think about it for now, he’ll deal with him later. For now he feels comfort from Albert’s scent on his clothes. When he's done getting dressed, he leaves the room and goes back to Albert. The shirt keeps slipping down one shoulder, but it'll do for now."I’m done." He says as he steps into the living room. He sees Albert cuddling with a mountain of cats and smiles.“Hi, I- uh… can’t move.”“I see Ravioli got to work early on suffocating you, even brought some friends.”“She’s a cat on a mission.” Albert chuckles, and many of the kitties meow in protest to him moving.Arthur sits next to him. Some of the cats immediately get to work suffocating him."Well, now they’re getting me too.""They're little opportunists."They both laugh as they pet the kitties.“By the way, Albert...”“Yes, Arthur?”“I don’t think I’ve thanked you yet… for everything you’ve done. It means a lot to me. I really needed a friend.” Albert smiles "Well, it's the least I can do after you've saved my hiney a million times.""Anyone would save such a charming photographer with a big heart.""Stoooop, you're making me blush."They spend their evening talking and laughing. Albert makes them tea and they sit out in the balcony. Albert reads a book while Arthur writes in his journal."What would you like to have for dinner, Arthur?” Albert says after a long pause. “I'm not the best cook, but I can make a decent meal, or we can just go to the Italian restaurant just across the street.""No no no, you've already done so much for me, I can't make you cook.""No no no, you're my guest, it's only natural I cook for you.""No no no, you don't have to."They go on like this for a while."Ugh, you know what? We'll both cook. Happy?" Arthur says."Well that should be fun." Albert smiles and stands up. "Come on, I have a cookbook. We can pick something from there."Arthur reads the title, “Southern Home Cooking.” "Huh. You into southern cooking?""Yep! My mom’s from Florida!""Huh. My old man tells me that place is horrible."“It's not so bad, once you get used to the humidity.""If it's any worse than here, I don't think I'd survive more than a day." "It's not so bad!" They look through the pages. Arthur’s a bit conscious about how close they are, but it doesn't bother him, it just makes him nervous. In a good way."That recipe sounds good." Arthur points to one."Huh, I think I have enough to make it" Albert props the book up on a stand, then grabs the ingredients and sets them on the counter.Albert gives the directions to Arthur on what to do as he reads the recipe and Arthur does his best, although he is a bit distracted by how cute Albert looks in his apron. When they put the finishing touches on their food, Albert looks so happy and adorable that Arthur wants to scoop him up and kiss him on the nose. Instead, he high fives him, and their hands linger for just a bit too long. They both notice and blush but don't say anything about it."Want to eat here or the balcony?" Albert asks awkwardly."Here is good." They set up the table and Albert leaves for a moment and brings a bottle of wine. He pours a glass for Arthur, then for himself."You serve all your guests wine?""No, I just figured to save this wine for later when I bought it, and I figured now's as good a time as any to break it open." Albert puts some food on his plate. "Besides, I'll be leaving in two weeks, if all goes according to plan, and I can't take it with me"Arthur is a little sad, hearing about Albert’s plans. He has no idea if he’ll ever see him again after that, considering the gang will probably move far away.“You finished your work here?”“All thanks to you” Albert smiles. “I’ll be displaying the pictures in a gallery show before I leave. Maybe you’d like to come?”"I'd love to " Arthur says before even processing what Albert said."Great! I'll try to see you there if I can."“So, where are you going?” Arthur grows more sad with each passing minute. He is alive just because of Albert. What else is going to make him stay alive once he leaves?“Back to New York, I have another show scheduled there. They’ll use my pictures for a campaign to preserve wildlife!”"Really? Who’s gonna use them?" Arthur feigns excitement, even though he feels anything but.Albert tells him all about the organization using his pictures. "...And if nothing else, they'll preserve my pictures for future generations!"“That’s great.”“I know, right? At least I achieved that after almost being eaten by all those animals.”“What about your apartment? What will you do with it?”“Oh, I already found someone to rent it to. Charles Chatenay or something like that, French painter. He’s ok with the cats, so at least Ravioli and her friends will still have company.” He smiles as he watches a few cats walk under the table.A tabby crawls onto his lap and meows insistently."No, Annie, you can’t have any food." Albert tells her.Annie meows louder."It’s vegetarian. You won’t like it."Annie dives towards Albert’s food. Albert catches her in midair and drops her onto the ground."Sorry if they bother you. They don't seem to understand that not all food is for them."“They don’t bother me.” Arthur says, moving his food around with his fork with a distant look in his eyes.“Something else is?”“Huh?” Arthur blinks and looks at him.“What’s wrong?”"Nothing." Arthur lies, petting a particularly cuddly cat. "I'm happy for you, I really am.""I was talking about you, not me."Arthur sighs. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?"“I suppose not, but you don’t have to. What is it?”“I...I’ll miss you” He looks at the cat he’s petting instead of Albert. “But don’t worry about me, I’m genuinely happy for you, even if it sucks that I won’t see you as much” Arthur finishes that sentence with ‘ever again’ in his head."Don't worry, we can write to each other. And, if things go well, I might be able to come back here!""Yeah, but..." Arthur sighs again "I’ll miss you."Albert looks sad too for a moment. He also will miss Arthur, he likes this cowboy more than he wants to admit, and after what happened that morning, he is honestly a bit scared of leaving him behind. “As much as I’d like you to come back, why would you anyway? New York seems way better, there’s nothing good here.”Albert hesitates for a moment but he answers in a quiet voice “There’s you.”Arthur jolts up and looks at him with wide eyes. "M-me?""Yes, you.""But... why me? I’m just some guy."“You’re more than that, Arthur.” He smiles softly at him. “And it’s honestly a tragedy that you can’t see that.”“You can’t be serious.” Arthur looks at him confused. It just makes no sense that Albert might like him back."I am. I mean every word I say when I say that you're an extraordinary man. You're brave, patient, always helping those in need..." Albert tenderly reaches towards Arthur's hand, stopping just short of touching him. "Anyone would admire a man with those traits."
Arthur looks at Albert’s hand and he wants to hold it so badly, but he still feels somehow like he doesn’t deserve someone like Albert. Plus, he remembers he is disgusting, and a mess, and he irrationally fears that just by touching him he’ll ruin Albert too.“Arthur?” Albert calls his name with a bit of worry.“You don’t know me that well Al, I’m not good enough. I’m nothing.”"You may think that, but you're anything but. You're the man that always gives beggars money, always pets the dogs and cats you encounter, always helps children in need even at the risk of your own life. And..." Albert pauses to swallow. "You're my friend. I care about you. Deeply."Arthur has to look away when his eyes begin to fill with tears. “I care about you too...love you even...” He says it before he can stop himself, and he just keeps talking, all his repressed feelings pouring out at once. “But I have nothing good to offer you Albert, I’m just some common thief, a murderer and I’m ruined. I’m ruined for you and for anybody else.”“What do you mean?” Albert wants to hold his hand but he fears he’ll scare him off."I..." Arthur looks away, and suddenly finds a picture of a random building absolutely fascinating. "I'm damaged goods.""Arthur, look at me."Arthur swallows the lump in his throat and tears his gaze away from the picture and forces it towards Albert."I couldn't care less about your sex life, or whatever makes you think you’re deficient. You're you, and that's enough for me."Arthur feels more tears fill his eyes and his throat closing in, as if saying it out loud might take the pressure of it and let him breath, but at the same time, admitting it might kill him too. Again, he says it before he can stop himself.“I was raped.”Albert’s eyes widen slightly as he leans a bit backwards. "You..."Arthur nods. "Man I killed was my rapist.""Arthur, I... I don’t know what to say...""Don't have to. I understand." Arthur stands up and pushes his chair in. "I'll go back home now. Thanks for everything." "Wait!" Albert grabs his hand. "You don't have to go!"Arthur doesn’t say anything, he just stands there looking away as his tears finally fall from his eyes“Please stay, I- we can- I don’t know just… please stay. Please. You don’t have to deal with this alone.”Arthur’s lip trembles. His feet feel as though they've turned to cinderblocks, and his knees wobble as though he's never walked in his entire life. But somehow, he finds the strength to shuffle his feet so that he's facing Albert."Ok." A squeaky voice harsly whispers, almost to the point of unrecognizability.Albert slowly moves closer to give arthur time to push him away if he doesn’t want him to touch him, but thankfully, Arthur even moves first to hug Albert. He holds him so tight Albert feels like he might pass out but he hugs him back just as tightly to let him know he’s there for him. Arthur can’t hold it in anymore and he starts crying into the crook of Albert’s neck."Shhh, everythings gonna be ok, just let it all out." Albert whispers as he rubs Arthur’s back."I- he- fuck, I can't...""It’s ok, you don't have to talk about it. Not if you don't want to."“I was- so- so fucking stupid.” “No you weren’t, this is not your fault.”“I just… walked into his house like an idiot.” “Arthur it’s ok, you couldn’t have known” Albert moves slowly, guiding them towards the couch. Arthur lays down on his lap, crying into his shirt as Albert holds him and gently brushes the hair out of his face."I could have- could have shot him, if I wasn’t so damn weak..." Arthur starts to hiccup."Arthur, you're the strongest person I know. You're far from weak.""Then explain to me how the fuck I got knocked out!" Arthur suddenly shouts. After a moment he takes a deep breath. "Sorry, you didn't deserve that."“It’s ok, I understand you’re upset. I’m so sorry that happened to you.”“I hadn’t told anyone until now...”“Not even your family?”“One of my ‘brothers’ might have found out, but he only made a joke about it so no, I decided not to tell anyone.”"Oh god, I'm so sorry about that.”"Don't be. He's an asshole anyway.""Still. You don't deserve to have people joke about something so... horrific.”“It just made me feel like I was a joke. Like it didn’t matter at all.” Arthur presses his face into Albert’s shirt to avoid looking at him.“Fuck. It does matter Arthur, it matters a lot. You don’t deserve to be treated like a joke.” “And on top of all that, the fucker might still be alive.”"Hey, next time you go out, I could come with you. It might be good to have an extra set of eyes out.""Thanks, but you can't shoot to save your life. I'll only be putting you in danger."“I can still throw a rock at him or something.” Albert says confidently, with his chest slightly puffed. Arthur snorts and smiles for a second “I love you too Arthur, and I don’t anyone to hurt you ever again.”Arthur frowns and tries to hold back more tears. "I... I don't want you getting hurt either. And I'm not willing to risk you getting raped too. You don't deserve that."“See? That’s what I was saying before, you’re just so damn caring about others, even when you’re at risk.”“But I’m still disgusting.”Albert sighs "No you're not. What other people do to you doesn't make you disgusting, or filthy, or damaged goods, or a monster. especially when it's not your fault.""But-""No buts. Say it w me, 'it was not my fault.'"“It was obviously a trap and I walked in-““Still not your fault. Say it.”Arthur sighs and takes a deep breath. "It was not my fault.""Good. Now say it again.""It was not my fault.""Again.""It was not my fault.""There you go." Albert tightens the hug "That wasn't so hard, was it?"“Didn’t really feel like it fixed anything, to be honest.”“It’s not supposed to ‘fix’ you. It’s just something important you need to realize. I’ll be damned if I let you go another minute blaming yourself for your own rape.”Arthur silently adjusts his position so that he and albert are touching more."The only person to blame is the rapist, and I don't want you believing otherwise." Albert continues. As he says this, some cats make their way into the living room and climb onto their laps.
Ravioli in particular climbs Arthur’s arms and sits on his shoulder. She starts to purr and rub her face on his making him smile a little. “See? Even Ravioli here has your back.”"Or maybe she's trying to kill me" Arthur jokes."Maybe. Maybe she's trying to bargain for treats.""I don't have any." Arthur begins to laugh.“Looking at her figure I think it’s for the best.”Ravioli meows at him.“That’s a very rude thing to say to a lady, Albert” Arthur chuckles and rubs his eyes. They sting from how much he has been crying today, and he feels even more tired than usual."What can I say? I was never good with the ladies.""Prefer the guys, huh?""I like both, to be honest." Albert starts petting the cats."Huh. Me too." Arthur yawns and rubs his eyes again “I’m sorry that I ruined our love confession with this, by the way.”“Oh don’t even start. You didn’t ruin anything, and this is important too. But I think you’re tired from all this, so how about I prepare the bed for you?”“You’re not coming?”“Only if you want me to” ."You're... willing to share a bed with me?""Of course I am.""Are-are you sure?""Yes. Even if I didn't love you, I'd be happy to share my bed with you.""But im-""No no no, don't start again. You'd make an excellent choice in a bed partner, platonically or romantically."Arthur gets off his lap and Albert offers his hand to him, he finally holds it and Albert smiles at him and guides him to his bedroom. He stands there as Albert looks for an extra pillow and blanket and places them on his bed, which seems big enough to fit them both perfectly. Then, Albert turns around and starts to get ready for bed. "Which side would you like?""Left.""Ok, I'll join you in a minute."Arthur sits on the bed and takes off his shoes while Albert changes into something more comfortable, he offers some pajamas to Arthur but he says he’s ok like that. As Arthur lays down he watches as Albert pulls down his shirt over his soft belly, he just seems so perfect
then, Albert gets into bed and pulls the covers over them both. "Comfy?""Mhm." Arthur smiles. His eyes begin to flutter shut."Goodnight." Albert scoots into Arthur and hugs him."Goodnight." And just like that, Arthur falls asleep.Arthur sleeps peacefully for the most part, having Albert’s arms around him help him a lot to feel secure but there’s nothing he can do about his mind when it starts to replay images of the man. Arthur begins mumbling and shifting a little but a few minutes later he starts whining and trying to push Albert away. He starts to sweat again, and he thrashes around to combat the shadows plaguing his mind."Arthur? Everything alright?""Please, stop!" Arthur whimpers.Albert sits up and tries to shake him awake, but Arthur just gets more frightened when he touches him. “It’s ok, it’s me, Albert.”“Please please please, I’ll give you my money. All of it. Just stop!”"Arthur, it's just a dream." alberts voice shakes."I swear I won't tell anyone, just pull out, please!"Albert doesn’t know what else to do, so he hugs Arthur and tries to tell him he’s ok. Arthur tries to push him away with less effort each time, like he’s tired.“Why are you doing this?....I hate you so much...” Arthur sobs. “Please stop it hurts so bad....”“Arthur, please wake up, it’s just a bad dream, it’s not real!”Arthur’s sobs slowly die down. “Fuck… why…?” He shivers and pulls his knees to his chest.Albert’s heart breaks at that. “Hey, it’s ok, everything’s going to be fine. It’s just a bad dream. He can’t hurt you.” “Albert?”“Shh, it’s ok Arthur, I’m here” he caresses his cheek Arthur sobs again and moves closer, so Albert immediately wraps him with his arms. “It’s ok”“I… fuck.” Arthur chokes back a sob. “Why’d he have to do that?”“I don’t know.” Albert answers quite honestly.“I fucking hate that man.” Arthur hides his face in Albert’s neck. “I wish he’d stay dead.”“I know, I wish he did too.”“I’m going to find him and kill him as many times as is necessary!”“Arthur-““I don’t want to be scared of seeing him again every time I go out!”“Arthur, listen to me. You’ll only risk getting hurt, or arrested, or even raped again.”“Then what am I supposed to do? I don’t want him going around raping people.”“Maybe you could… talk about how you feel. If you want to, of course.” Albert suggests, smoothing out Arthur’s hair.“And how’s that supposed to stop him from hurting others?”“At least it will help you to stop hurting so much.”“I want him gone… I have to do it Albert.”“What do you want to do?”“At least check his house, see if he’s still there, I don’t know”“I’ll go with you.” Albert says before he realizes it.“No, I can’t endanger you.”“Then at least take someone you trust with you. I don’t want you getting hurt all over again.”“Hm, maybe I’ll do that. Bring some fire whisky, too…” Arthur mutters.“Hey, Arthur?”“Yeah?” Arthur pulls back a little to look at Albert.“If you do see your rapist, could you punch him in the face for me?”Arthur laughs. “Oh, I’ll do more than just punch him.”“Good. Now... do you still want to talk about it?”“What am i supposed to talk about?”“Whatever you want to get out of your chest, only if you want to.”“I... I hate how scared I feel... all the time. I wasn’t like this before. The only way i thought someone could hurt me was with a gun but it was ok because i could fight back. Now i feel completely helpless and scared.”“Maybe you could take steps to protect yourself, like, uh,” Albert draws a blank on what Arthur can do. “You could… travel in a group! You’ll be less likely to be taken by surprise!”“Huh. Maybe I should.” Arthur lays his head on the pillow. “What else?”“Uh, you could make yourself more intimidating? I don’t know, I’m not exactly a night owl. I can’t come up with many ideas this late at night.”“Neither am I, for that matter.”“Let’s try to go back to sleep and come up with more ideas in the morning”“Mhm” Arthur cuddles closer to Albert but he has a slight frown on his face. He doesn’t think he’ll be able to sleep but he won’t keep Albert up so he closes his eyes and pretends to sleep.“Night.” Albert risks pressing a light kiss to Arthur’s cheek.Arthur smiles in response. “Night.” He takes Albert’s hand and holds it.Albert closes his eyes, and in a few minutes, his breathing slows down. However, Arthur’s breathing stays the same all night long. It refuses to change pace, even as the first rays of sunlight peek through the curtains. He sits up and rubs his eyes, then looks over to Albert, who’s sound asleep and drooling on the pillow.He smiles a little as he watches him, he likes Albert so much and he still can't believe he likes him too. Or maybe he did, until he told him about what happened. He could have changed his mind, and Arthur wouldn't blame him if he did. He rubs his face and yawns again. It was a pretty awful night for him and he can't help but wonder what sort of things he said in his sleep. Albert must've definitely heard them. He feels another wave of embarrassment and he considers writing him a note and silently leaving. He did only invite him to spend the night anyway.But then Albert snorts and hugs Arthur a little tighter, and Arthur discards that thought. Being cuddled with like a teddy bear is… nice. Arthur can’t remember a time when he was held like this in someone’s sleep. Not even Mary, or any other of his partners for that matter, ever held him like this. Arthur lays back down and wraps an arm around Albert. Albert stirs at the movement, and he blearily opens his eyes.“Mornin.’” Arthur greets him.“Morning.” Albert smiles and touches Arthur's cheek “How did you sleep?”“Fine” He lies, and puts his hand over Albert’s. All this affection feels so good.“You didn't sleep, did you?” Albert says. Arthur looks down. “You could have told me, I would have stayed up with you” “That was the point of pretending to sleep, Al. You need to rest too”“I would've helped you fall asleep, you know.” Albert puts his head on Arthur’s strong shoulder. “Or at the very least, help you take a nap.”Arthur can’t help but smile at him. “You’re a good man, Albert.”“I try my best.” Albert squeezes his hand, then gets up. “I’ll make breakfast, you stay here and take a nap.” He starts changing out of his pajamas and slips into casual clothes.“I can help you” Arthur offers, already feeling guilty for making Albert do so many things for him.“No no, I want you to rest. You might fall asleep while cooking if you help me like that” He jokes and leaves the room.Arthur stares at the ceiling for a bit, trying to clear out any thoughts in his head and then he closes his eyes, but he can't fall asleep. He turns to the bedside table where he left his bag and he pulls out his journal. Drawing always helps him relax, so maybe this time it will help too. He begins sketching Albert's room, getting all the details he can. When he's done drawing that, he tries to remember what Albert looked like sleeping next to him. He even includes a little stain of drool on his pillow and he smiles when his sketch turns out just the way he wanted. As he continues adding more details he feels his eyes close, and before he knows it, he is asleep with his journal laying on his stomach and his pencil still in his hand. -----Albert nudges the door open with his hip and steps into the bedroom. He smiles at the sight of Arthur sleeping with his journal, then puts the plates of bacon and eggs down on the nightstand, takes Arthur’s journal and pencil, and puts them with the rest of his stuff.“Wake up, Arthur.” Albert nudges Arthur awake.“Mm.” Arthur pouts and rubs his eyes. “What day is it?”“Saturday.” Albert sits down next to him. “I made breakfast.”“Smells good.” Arthur mumbles and sits up.“Did you rest well this time?”“I think, I didn't dream of anything thankfully. Thanks for making me breakfast by the way ” “No problem.” He impulsively kisses Arthur's forehead and he blushes a little when he realizes what he did.“Uhm…” Arthur blushes too and he doesn't know what to say. “So...after last night we uh…”“We confessed we like each other.” Albert smiles. “But don't get stressed out about it, we can go slow. We don't have to become a couple right away or anything.” “But can we...kiss?” Arthur's cheeks go red.Albert’s face turns the color of a tomato. “I, uh, sure! We can do that! Whenever you want!” He looks down and giggles.“Can I… kiss you? Now?” Arthur fiddles with his sleeve.“YEEEEES!” Albert suddenly shouts. He clear his throat afterwards. “I mean, yes. Yes we can.”Arthur smiles and cups Albert’s cheek, then leans in and captures Albert’s lips with his own. Albert’s lips are impossibly soft, and somehow taste of watermelon and cherries. After a moment, Albert embraces Arthur and strokes his hair with one hand. The kiss lasts for an eternity, and yet it feels as though it happened in only milliseconds. When they break apart, they’re both panting and flushed like they just ran a marathon.“Chapstick?” Arthur asks, dragging his thumb over Albert’s lips.“Yep.” Albert smiles giddily. “Old family recipe.”Arthur smiles and he can't help but to kiss him again. Albert smiles into the kiss and puts his hand behind Arthur's neck to pull him closer. A few moments later they pull away and Albert kisses Arthur's cheek one more time.“We should eat now, before it gets cold.” He chuckles and reaches for the plates on the nightstand. “If this turns out half as good as dinner did last night, I might just have to marry you.” Arthur jokes as Albert hands him his plate. Arthur takes the fork and eats some eggs. “Mmmmm, you’re an amazing cook.”“Thank you.” If Albert weren’t already blushing, he would turn completely red. “But I doubt they’re good enough to marry me for…”“Oh really? I bet you have a whole line of people waiting to propose to you because of your cooking.”“Flatterer.” Albert grins.“So uh...what are you doing today?” Arthur asks after taking a sip of coffee.“I’ll be taking some of the pictures I already printed to the gallery I told you about, for the show. And packing too, I only have two weeks to put all this stuff away…” He looks around like he regrets hoarding so many things.“Right…” The smile slowly disappears from Arthur's face.“Anyway, how about you?” Albert asks. He crunches on some bacon.“Uh, I don’t know, reckon I’ll go back home, make sure my family knows I’m not dead. Then… I don’t know. I’ll probably go fishin’ with my nephew or something.”“You have a nephew?”“Yup. His name’s Jack. He likes to cause trouble when his poor mom’s not looking.” Arthur chuckles at the memory of a particularly hilarious prank on Micah.“Hopefully that doesn’t carry over into adulthood.” Albert smiles as he scoots a lil closer. “Who else is in your family?”“Well...there's Hosea, the man you met yesterday...and uh…” Arthur is not sure if he should continue, there's no way he can mention Dutch Van der Linde to Albert considering he is one of the most wanted men in the country. He knows Albert wouldn't tell the law one of his gang members is in Saint Denis but also what would he think if he knew he was basically his father? “It's just me and dad, my brother who sometimes shows up, his wife and son, the other brother that’s an asshole, and a bunch of other random people that live with us.” He ends up saying.“Huh. I have a small family too. There’s my mom and dad, my grandpa, and that’s it. Any other relatives are either dead, or deadbeats.”“Dang. So you’re an only child?”“Yes. Tell me, what’s it like having a sibling?”“Uh, me and my brothers were adopted, so I didn’t get a brother until later in life, but having one involves a surprising amount of violence.” Arthur explains. “For example, just the other day I got into a fist fight with one of them over something I don’t even remember. All I remember was that it was ridiculous.”Albert gasps. “Why?!”“I dunno, but apparently that’s a universal thing among siblings. Another thing about them is that we ride or die together, too. They’ll help you hide a body whenever you need to. But at the same time, they’ll probably punch you in the face for inconveniencing them. There’s no in-between.”“Sounds fun and terrifying”“It is.” Arthur chuckles“Huh… if you say they would even help you hide a body… why haven't you told them to help you with… the man?”Arthur stares at his coffee for a moment. “No. I can't tell them. They're good people, but they wouldn't understand. I don't want them to know anything about it.”“Why wouldn’t they understand?”“Well, one of them’s a fucking idiot, and the other, well, I told you about the joke he made.”“But you can take the other one with you! You don’t have to tell him what that man did to you.”“But he’s probably gonna question it, and frankly, I don’t wanna have to deal with any questions.” Arthur downs the last of his coffee.“I see. What about your dad?”“Maybe he would help me but again… he would ask questions, more than anyone else, especially after the way I ran away yesterday. Everyone will want to know why I did that”“Ok I understand, just promise me you won't go alone. You can find someone else.”“Maybe I will be ok this time, I know what he's capable of…” “I’m going to stop you right there. It’s too risky to go alone. At the very least, bring one person with you.” Albert instructs Arthur.“You’re determined to make sure I don’t get hurt again, aren’t you?” Arthur smiles slightly.“Of course I am. I wouldn’t wish that fate upon anyone, much less someone I have feelings for.” Albert takes Arthur’s hand.“Thanks.” Arthur squeezes Albert’s hand. “You’re too kind for your own good.”“Better to be too kind than too cruel, I always say.”Arthur smiles at him, ignoring the way his mind tells him he is the complete opposite of Albert and therefore unworthy of his love. He wishes he wasn't so much trouble, maybe that way he would have a chance of keeping a guy like him.“Are you done with that?” Albert asks, pointing to his almost empty plate.“Uh, yeah.” He passes his plate to albert and stands up “I’ll help you wash them.”“No no, leave them.” Arthur pouts, and it's so cute Albert can't fight a smile. “Alright then, if you want to do something, feed the cats for me. Their bowls are downstairs in the garden, the food is on the kitchen counter.”Arthur stretches, then walks over to the kitchen. He almost trips over a cat on the way, who meowed in indignation before going back to licking itself. When Arthur reaches the kitchen, he sees Ravioli and Annie playing with a piece of string.“Hey, kitties.” Arthur greets them before grabbing the bag of cat food. A horde of cats come running into the kitchen, and they all scream and paw at Arthur. “Whoa, easy, don’t wanna kick you.” Arthur carefully walks through the ocean of fur, trying not to hurt any of the cats. However, they crowd around him so thickly that he can’t go through them anymore.A melodious laugh makes Arthur look up. Albert is standing by the sink, about to wash the plates. “I’m surprised they aren’t trying to climb you yet.”“Climb me?”As if on cue, a brave cat decides to climb the mountain that is Arthur in order to get to the food. Albert laughs again and picks up a feather and bell on a string, then waves it around. The cats start focusing on the shiny toy instead, leaving Arthur free to walk around.“Thanks.”“No problem. Careful with the stairs, this won't distract them for long.” Arthur decides to hurry up and get to the garden before the kitties come running after him. He finds the six bowls around the tree in the center of the garden and fills them. Soon after he hears meows and they cats come running for their food. He pets a few of them before going back inside and leaving the bag of food where he found it.“Thank you, Arthur.” Albert smiles while drying a plate.“Yeah. Uh...I should probably go now.”Albert frowns. “Take care, now.” He reaches over and kisses Arthur on the cheek. “Don’t confront him alone.”“I won’t. Bye.” Arthur steps away. He grabs his stuff, then he walks out of Albert’s apartment, glancing behind him every so often.It doesn’t take long for Arthur to find his horse. He mounts it and lets the horse steer itself to camp. While it gallops, Arthur takes the time to think about Albert and their budding relationship. He knows damn well that Albert will leave, and whatever they have between them will probably die, but that doesn’t stop Arthur’s heart from yearning for something more. His heart wants to stay with Albert forever and ever, damn the consequences.He wants him to stay so badly but It seems he will have so many more opportunities in a big city like New York. Plus the way he talked about his work, how excited he seemed about his projects it made Arthur realize he could never ask him to stay with him.Just two weeks.Two weeks and then who knows when they’ll see each other again. “Well there you are.” Micah’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts when he arrives to their camp. “Had fun fucking your boyfriend while the rest of us worked?”“Leave me alone.” Arthur walks right past him with the intention of going to his tent but he grabs his arm.“Why did you run away Morgan? Suddenly realized you hadn't had a dick in your ass in a long time and needed to find your boyfriend?” Micah barely has time to finish his sentence before Arthur's fist meets his face, and then Arthur throws himself on top of him.“I’M SO FUCKING SICK OF YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!!!!” Arthur wraps his hands around Micah’s throat and squeezes so hard Micah’s eyes bulge. “YOU DO NOTHING BUT STINK UP THIS ENTIRE GODDAMN CAMP WITH YOUR DIARRHEA BIGOTRY!!!!!”Javier and Lenny are the first to arrive at the scene, and boy do they get happy once they realize what’s going on. They start cheering Arthur on and even offer to help.Arthur doesn't stop until Micah’s face is bloody and swollen. Bill and Sean have to drag him away before he kills Micah, all because of Dutch’s orders, who is yelling and asking what the hell is going on.Bill holds Arthur in place, being such a big guy it's very difficult for Arthur to break free especially after spending so much energy beating the shit out of Micah so he just stands there panting and glaring at him.“Arthur, what are you doing?” Dutch touches his son’s cheek and looks at him worried. It's been years since he has seen such a murderous look on his face. Arthur just glares and slaps his hand away. He struggles hard enough to break free from Bill’s hold, but Bill immediately puts himself between Arthur and Micah again.“Arthur?” Hosea carefully approaches Arthur, but Arthur turns around and begins to walk in his horse’s direction.“Arthur, what the fuck happened?” Dutch starts following Arthur. “Arthur!”“I need to be alone for a while.” Arthur gets on his horse and turns it around.“Arthur!” Hosea calls out to him, but Arthur makes his horse gallop away.Arthur rides through the forest, down in the direction of Rhodes. He needs to blow off some steam, and there’s a certain faction of racists in white that are perfect for the job. Some familiar white robes come into view, and Arthur pulls out his revolver and shoots all of them without an ounce of remorse. Then, he rides off as quickly as he came.He rides until he finds the small pond Javier took him fishing to and he leaves his horse tied up to a tree as he approaches the water. He’s still panting and high on adrenaline as he sits on dirt. He moves his hand and it stings, his knuckles are bloody. He dips it in the water and washes the blood off. Then, he collects some water and splashes it on his face. He takes a deep breath and looks at his reflection. The rippling in the water distorts his appearance, making him look like some other man. Arthur leans back and brushes his hair out of his face, then he takes out his fishing pole and starts fishing. While he waits for a bite, he takes several deep breaths and imagines the various ways he’s going to kill Micah. So far, he’s leaning in favor of making a swarm of rats eat his belly.Maybe if he hadn't punched Micah he could have asked him to help him take out his rapist. That way if something happened it wouldn't be a great loss. On the other hand he would probably tie Arthur up and sell him to the man.He shakes his head, he is so tired of thinking of him. And now he has to think of Micah too. All he wanted was to lay down in his tent for a while and forget about everything that happened that morning. Now everyone probably thinks he has gone completely insane. First running away and now almost killing another gang member.Around the time Arthur starts getting a bite, he hears a horse trotting nearby. He ignores it and starts reeling in his fish. Then, he sees someone to his left cast a line out.“Did you kill those klan members?” Hosea asks as though he was discussing the weather.“Yep.”“Good. A few less scumbags in this world.” Hosea coughs.“Were you following me?”“Not exactly.” Hosea scratches the back of his head. “I was tracking you down. Me and your father are worried sick about you.”“I’m fine.” He answers with a frown.“That’s not what I saw back there. Or yesterday.”“I’ve calmed down, i’m not going to kill Micah. Not unless he acts like an idiot again. Why is he still with us anyway?”Hosea sighs and shrugs. “You’ll have to ask your father about that. Now, please don’t try to avoid the subject. What’s wrong?”“Nothing.” Arthur’s mouth pinches into a thin line.“Don’t lie to me, son. Something’s clearly eating at you.” Hosea wraps an arm around Arthur. “I just want to help.”Arthur’s eyes turn downcast as he finally reels in his fish, a small trout. “Nothing.”Hosea sighs. “You’ll never make it as a con man at that rate. Please, just tell me what’s wrong.”Arthur’s lip and hands quiver as he unhooks the fish and puts it in his bag. He doesn’t want to look at Hosea, because if he does, he’s going to tell him everything, and then Hosea won’t want anything to do with him anymore. After all, he was too weak to fend off one man. Why would Hosea want to associate with someone like Arthur?“Arthur, are you crying?”Arthur immediately wipes his face with his hand and turns his face.“No, I’m- it’s sweat.” He mentally curses himself for being such an idiot.“Arthur it’s ok-““I’m not crying!” “Is this about your friend Albert? Did something happen?”“No! Nothing happened. Please just- just leave me alone” Arthur covers his face when he can’t hold back his tears anymore. He brings his knees close and he cries quietly. He feels something wrap around his body, and it takes him a moment to realize that something is Hosea.“It’s ok, you can tell me. I’m your father, I won’t judge.” Hoses pats Arthur’s arm and kisses the top of his head.Arthur chokes on a sob. “I… I was in the swamp, and there was this man…”Hosea hugs Arthur a little tighter. He frowns as he listens to Arthur recount what happened.“He invited me in his- his house, and like a goddamn idiot, I just walked in there…” Arthur’s whole body shivers uncontrollably. “And then he… he…” Arthur breaks down sobbing into Hosea’s shoulder.Hosea is already imagining the worst possible scenario. He really doesn’t want to find out something awful like that happened to his son but unfortunately all signs point to that. So he kisses the top of his head and tells him it’s ok.“He?” Hosea asks to help him finish.“He… fuck… he… knocked me out. I’m sure you can imagine the rest.” Arthur shudders and hugs Hosea tight.Hosea just sits there with wide eyes. His son was…His son was…“Is he still alive?” Hosea presses. He needs to know how to handle the situation. When Arthur doesn’t respond, Hosea repeats himself.“I FUCKING KILLED HIM!!! BUT HE CAME BACK!!! HE FUCKING CAME BACK!!!” Arthur screams at the top of his lungs.“What- what do you mean?”“I SAW HIM IN TOWN!!! HE WAS JUST… WATCHING EVERYONE!” Arthur starts sobbing anew. “He… I fucking panicked… ran away. Albert found me.”Hosea nods. Now everything makes sense, Arthur looked terrified back at the market and Hosea had no idea what made him look like that. But now that he knows what happened, he wishes he could turn back time and ask Arthur to point him out so he can strangle him.“You can’t tell anyone...please. You can’t. Not even dad.” Arthur mumbles.“It’s-““Please promise me, Hosea!”“I…” Hosea mulls it over for a second. “I promise.”“Thanks.” Arthur wipes his nose on his sleeve.“Does anyone else know?”“Bill… he found out. Joked about it.”“I’ll fucking kill that bastard.” Hosea mutters. “Anyone else?”“Albert. I told him about it.”“How did he treat you?”“He… he was nice.”“Good. He seems like a good man.” Hosea says. “I’m glad you have a friend like him.”“He’s leaving for New York in two weeks.”“Oh… well, maybe you can write to each other?”“Yeah.” Arthur laughs sadly “That’s what he said too. But I don’t think it will be enough… I like him… a lot.”“Does he know?”Arthur smiles a little and sniffles. “He does now. Last night, we talked about a lot of things, including what happened to me… and, well, we confessed some other things too.” Arthur smiles again at the memory “We kissed.”“Oh, I’m so happy for you!” Hosea smiles. “I want to meet Albert right away!”“You did.”“Yeah, but we didn’t really talk, so I wouldn’t say that’s meeting him.” Hosea explains. “But anyway, we should introduce him to your father!”“Wait wait wait, Dutch is one of the most wanted men in the country!” “Oh yeah…” Hosea’s disappointment is almost tangible. “Well, maybe someday.”“Maybe.” Arthur lays his head on Hosea’s shoulder.“Is it ok if I tell your father about this?”“Yeah, just not everything else…”“I know, I know.”Arthur stays silent for a few minutes, occasionally wiping his face with his sleeve. The next time he talks his voice sounds very quiet.“Albert saved my life.”“How so?”“I…” Arthur feels another lump in his throat but he forces himself to say it. In the last few hours he has come to realize that as hard as admitting something ugly is he somehow feels a bit better afterwards, knowing that it’s just one less secret to hide. “I was going to kill myself yesterday. Albert stopped me.”Hosea blinks several times in a row. “You were going to…?”Arthur nods. “Yeah.”Hosea is quiet for a long time. Arthur starts to fear that Hosea will finally reject him, but in the very next moment Hosea wraps him in a bone-crushing hug.“Arthur. Promise me you’ll never kill yourself, no matter what.” Hosea’s voice is shaky, the most unsteady Arthur’s ever heard it get in his life. “Because I swear, if Dutch and I have to bury our own child, it will kill us both.”Arthur’s eyes fill with tears and he hugs Hosea tightly. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I was so desperate. I didn’t know what else to do.” “Promise me, Arthur.” “I promise. I’m so sorry.”“I love you, son. So much.”“I love you too.”They hold each other in silence for a while and when they finally pull away Arthur can see the trails of tears on Hosea’s eyes. He quickly wipes them off and smiles at Arthur so he doesn’t worry.“Now I definitely want to meet Albert.”“I’ll tell him that, next time I see him.”“You better see him soon, then, because I don’t want to wait months in order to meet the man that saved your life.”Arthur smiles. “Hope he doesn’t forget about little old me up in the big city.”“I’ll personally make sure he doesn’t.” Hosea pats Arthur’s shoulder. “Anyway, you must be starving by now. Didn’t you catch a fish earlier?”Arthur pulls the now-dead fish out of his bag. Hosea takes it and lays it down on a dirty cloth.“How about you keep fishing, see if any fish are left to bite. I’ll cook you up a nice meal. Maybe I’ll roast a veggie or two for you.”Arthur smiles. “I probably scared all the fish off at this point.”“No harm in trying.” Hosea says as he starts a fire.Arthur puts more bait on the fishing hook and throws it back into the water. He catches something after a while and Hosea cooks them for him while Arthur draws some more in his journal. Hosea can’t stop glancing at him every now and then. What would a world without his boy be like? He doesn’t even want to imagine it.“So, whatcha drawin’?” Hosea asks to fill the silence.“Fish.” Arthur answers.“Like the ones you caught?”“Yep.”“Hope they turn out pretty.”“Thanks.”Hosea puts the fish on a plate. “They’re done, I think.”Arthur crawls over and stabs the bigger fish with his knife, then starts eating. Hosea starts eating as well. By the time they’re done, the sun is high in the sky.“Well, looks like high noon. You wanna go back to camp?” Hosea suggests. “...Will Dutch be mad at me?”“To some extent, yeah. But I think he’s gonna be more relieved that you’re ok. After all, you basically came in, beat Micah, and immediately fucked off.”Arthur scoffs. “Micah deserved every hit.”“I don’t doubt it, how’s your hand by the way?”“It hurts.”“Let’s go back, i’ll put a bandage on it and give you some painkillers.”Arthur sighs and nods. He’s really not looking forward to going back and dealing with the mess he left but he can’t just run away again and hide in Albert’s apartment, as much as he would like to do just that. Hosea helps him up, then they put out the fire and get back on their horses.“Did I ever tell you about how me and Dutch first confessed our love?” Hosea asks as the horses start walking.“Yeah, a million times.” Arthur groans.“You’re gonna hear it another time. Anyway, we were robbing a bank, just the two of us cuz we were young and stupid, and while we were in the middle of stuffing our bags full of gold, money, jewels, you name it, the law starts coming in. And as you know, when the law gets involved-”“Daaaad, I already know how it goes. You get into a shootout, pa gets shot, you think he’s gonna die, then you kiss and miraculously escape with the money.”Hosea laughs. “That’s the power of homosexuality for you!”“Why haven’t you used the power of homosexuality to get us out of the swamps then?”“It doesn’t work as fine when there’s people like Micah around.” Hosea jokes and Arthur laughs.—-A while later they make it to camp and Hosea offers to brush and feed the horses while Arthur goes to talk with Dutch, he did because he realized right away that Arthur wanted to do it avoid going with him. What was he even supposed to say? Apologize for punching Micah? That piece of shit had it coming for a long time. He walks slowly to Dutch’s tent, and when Dutch looks up from his book, Arthur can't help but look away. He doesn’t even know why he’s so nervous about facing his father.“Arthur!” Dutch slams his book shut, throws it on the table, and hugs Arthur. “I was worried sick about you! First you run off yesterday, then there was that whole Micah fiasco, and then you stay out for hours! Where is your father?”“Tending the horses.” Arthur mumbles.“He’s in camp? Good.” Dutch lets go of Arthur. “So, uh, what happened earlier?” Dutch takes a seat and gestures for Arthur to do the same.Arthur sits down across from him, looking anywhere but at Dutch. “It was the last straw.”“What was?”“Micah was being a bigoted piece of shit again.”“What did he say?”“It doesn’t matter he was being an asshole.”Dutch sighs. “Arthur i’m worried about you, the way you looked while punching him. That’s not you. There was so much rage in you, rage I thought you had learned to control.”“There’s only so much I can do when Micah opens his mouth.”“I’m not saying you can’t defend yourself just… maybe don’t go so far next time?” “He keeps being a bigoted piece of shit! And towards members of our own gang, no less!”“You don’t need to beat him half to death, ok? That’s all I ask.”Arthur sighs. “Fiiiine. But if he says something homophobic again, I’ll pummel him to a pulp.”“Again?” Dutch raises an eyebrow.“He was being homophobic earlier.”“Really?” Dutch frowns. “I need to have a talk with him later…”“Can I go now?”“Sure. Could you send your father my way?”“Sure.” Arthur gets up and walks to the hitching posts where he finds Hosea braiding Silver Dollar’s mane. “Hey, how did it go?”“Fine.” Arthur says with an sort of angry tone and Hosea winces. “That bad?”“No it’s just… ugh, doesn’t matter. He wants to see you.”“Alright, do you mind finishing this for me?” He points to the horse’s mane.Arthur picks up where Hosea left off. It’s nice, calming work, and it helps to ease the tension in Arthur’s mind. Before long, he’s all done, and he pats the horse on the neck.“There. Now you’re gonna look nice and pretty.” Arthur says to Silver Dollar.“She looks like a showhorse, now.”Arthur turns around to find Kieran carrying a hay bale. He sets it down in front of his own horse, then gets a brush and starts brushing out Silver Dollar’s coat.“Didn’t see you there.” Arthur says, still petting Silver Dollar.“Are you ok, Mr Morgan?”“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?”“That was quite a beatdown you gave Mr Bell.” “He deserved it.”“Yeah…” Kieran looks around and lowers his voice a little. “I don’t like him either.”“No one does, except maybe for Dutch.” Arthur frowns.“Mr Bell says such awful things. I think he just wants to rile up the entire camp.”“Why do you say that?”“Well, I don’t know, maybe he just thinks it’s funny.” Kieran switches to the other side of the horse. “I’ve known plenty of men that were like that.”“They never grew up, did they?” Arthur chuckles. “It’s a miracle they ever manage to find wives.”“Yeah, i’ll never understand it either. Anyway, it’s good to have you back. We were all worried.”Arthur blinks in surprise and smiles a little.“Thanks, Kieran”“I’ll stop bothering you now. Bye.” Kieran smiles and moves onto the next horse.“You know,” Arthur calls out. “You ain’t so bad. For an O’Driscoll.”Kieran says nothing. Arthur takes the hint and goes back to his own tent. He changes out of Albert’s clothes, making a mental note to return them later, and slips into his own clothes. It feels good to wear fresh, clean clothes, and Arthur makes sure to savor the feeling. Then, he steps out and follows the sound of guitar music to the main campfire, where Javier and Lenny are sitting.“Hey!” Javier smiles and stops strumming once he sees Arthur. “Just the man I wanted to see!”Arthur sits down next to Javier. “Somethin’ you want?”Lenny pulls out a bottle of whisky and pops the cork off. “Have a drink with us!”“What for?”“To celebrate you punching Micah in the face, of course!” Javier says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.Arthur can’t help but chuckle. Well that certainly seems like something worth celebrating. He extends his hand and Lenny passes him the bottle.“Where is the fucker, anyway?” He takes a swig and winces at the way it burns his throat.“After they patched him up he fucked off, haven’t seen him since. Hopefully he won’t come back.”“Nah, he probably went to get drunk and he’ll come back later to annoy the shit out of us.” Lenny drinks after Arthur gives him the bottle back. Then he passes it to Javier. “How are you, by the way? Sean told us you left them in Saint Denis?” Javier asks.“Better, now that I’ve introduced Micah’s face to my fist.”Javier laughs. “May it turn into a long, long relationship.” He takes a swig, then passes it to Arthur.“Fuck, did you see the look on his face when you punched him?!” Lenny bursts out laughing. “Oh! You’d think it was his first time getting punched!”Arthur laughs. “Well, think it was the first time he’s ever experienced the consequences of his actions.” He drinks, then passes the bottle to Lenny.They joke some more about the fight and Micah’s face until Hosea interrupts them.“Arthur, I should take a look at your hand.”“Oh, right.” Arthur says staring at his knuckles, they seem even more swollen now. “I’ll see you guys later, thanks for the drink.”“Don’t mention it, cuídate.” Javier waves at him.Arthur follows Hosea to the medicine cart and sits on a chair while Hosea looks for the stuff he’ll need.“I’m glad to see you’re in a better mood.” “Nothing like a bunch of friends and some good whisky to cheer you up.”Hosea gets the stuff out, then sits down with Arthur and starts patching him up. “Y’know, this reminds me of your younger days.”“When I tried to fight everyone and everything?”Hosea laughs. “Yep. Looking back on it, it was fucking hilarious how you tried to fight everything.”“Probably gave you and pa a few heart attacks.”“Pfft. A few?” Hosea chuckles. “Try having three a week. And those are when you were calm.”“Sorry, wish I could have been better.”“Oh Arthur we love you just the way you are. Though maybe we prefer it when you don’t try to kill people for bumping into you.”“That was only once, and the guy was an ass about it.”“Alright then, I just don’t want you to go around killing for no reason until there’s a price too high on your head. Because then, everyone will come looking for you.”Arthur contemplates Hosea’s words in silence as he finishes bandaging his hand. He is very grateful for Hosea, he cares about him so much even when Arthur brings so much trouble.“Well, that should do it.” Hosea puts the stuff away and pulls out a small bottle. “Drink this for the pain.”“Thanks. Uh, Hosea?”“Yes?”“I just remembered I probably owe you an apology about yesterday, I know I ruined the plan and made us lose a lot of money but I promise i’ll find a way to make it up to you.”“Not the end of the world.” Hosea verbally shrugs. “Besides, I managed to lift some valuables from a rich couple. Hopefully, they’ll offset the loss.”“What’d you get?”“Eh, just some gaudy golden crap. Never been much for rich people jewelry.”“Can I see?”“Sure.” Hosea pulls the jewelry out of his pocket. The way it all shines makes Arthur’s eyes grow wide.“How much do you think this’ll get us?”“I don’t know, appraising things was never my strong suit.” Hosea puts the jewelry away.“You should keep the money to yourself, you work harder than anyone else. Let the rest of us put money in the box. Specially Bill, I never see him put in anything.”“Oh he does. It’s just that he only brings crap. He donated a pen the other day.”Arthur snorts. “Very helpful, that.”“Quite. Why, I believe Tilly asked for a pen the other day. Now she’ll never need to ask again.”“What a pressing issue.” Arthur jokes.“But seriously, Bill and Micah don’t do shit. Even Uncle manages to find some booze to donate.” Hosea points out.“Maybe Uncle is the only thing standing between us and disaster. Maybe he’s the only thing keeping the apocalypse from happening.”“That's...an interesting theory, son.” Hosea raises an eyebrow and chuckles.----Arthur spends the rest of his day doing chores around camp, he still feels guilty about the failed mission and he wants to work as hard as he can to make it up to the others. Micah does show up later that day and he is as drunk as Lenny predicted. Thankfully he only glares at Arthur and walks directly to his bedroll and goes to sleep. Arthur goes hunting for a while despite feeling physically and emotionally exhausted but he manages to bring back a deer and two ducks, which makes Mr Pearson very happy. He washes Albert's clothes despite Tilly offering to do it for him and at the end of the day Arthur crawls into his bed and sighs.He’s gonna have to find a way to properly thank Albert for everything he’s done. Maybe Arthur should buy him a gift or something. It’s the least he can do for him. And on top of that, he’s going to need to return his clothes.“Maybe I should give him some flowers…” Arthur mutters.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was a pleasant surprise to see the chocolates that had been left on his door. Albert immediately picked them up and brought them inside, along with his freshly-developed pictures. He excitedly clears off his table, sets the pictures down, and opens the note attached to the chocolates.
Dear Albert,

I got you this to thank you for all you’ve done for me. I know it’s not much, but I thought you’d be the kind of guy to go crazy over chocolate. You know, when I first met you, I didn’t think we’d get to this point. I assumed I’d get the bag for you, then never see you again. I’m glad I was wrong, though. I kept stumbling across you, and I just… fell for you. I don’t know what it is, but something about you made me want to see you again and again. But I’m running out of space, so I’ll just wrap this up real quick. I hope the chocolate made you smile, and that your gallery does well.

Love Yours Love, Tacitus Kilgore
P.S. If you ever write to me, make it out to that name. Don’t ask why.
Albert’s smile only grows bigger as he rereads the letter. He tucks its words into his heart before shutting it and opening the chocolate box. He takes a chocolate and eats it, before a cat crawls into his lap.“No, Snowball, this isn’t for you.”The cat meows and tries to snatch it out of Albert’s hand with its little fluffy paw.“You’re not going to like them.”Snowball meows more insistently and Albert rolls his eyes and decides to let him sniff it at least. Snowball makes a disgusted face and jumps out of Albert’s lap a second after, leaving Albert chuckling. -----Arthur had been working hard at camp, still trying to make up for running away during the pawn shop plan despite Hosea telling him it was ok, Dutch, as usual, just kept giving him jobs to take care of, and in a way he was grateful for the distraction, though he wished he could have some free time soon to visit Albert again. He hadn’t seen him in three whole days, and he knew every second counted when the man was getting ready to leave.Finally the next day he had finished all the chores at camp and helped Dutch with enough things that the man ran out of tasks to give to Arthur. He had also made some money during the previous day, enough to buy Albert a nice gift. He supposed the chocolates would have made him happy, but he wanted something more lasting, something he could maybe take with him to New York? He just had to figure out what.“What to get, what to get…” Arthur mutters as he paces around his tent. “Hm, maybe I should ask Dad or Pa.”With that, Arthur walks out of his tent and straight to Dutch’s and Hosea’s tent. Dutch is there, reading a philosophy book in his favorite chair.“Hey, pa?”Dutch doesn’t look up from his book. “I’m still out of chores to give ya.”“No, I wanted your advice on somethin.’”This time, Dutch looks at Arthur. “What about?”“I’m sure Dad already told you about… uhm… a certain man I’m…” Arthur’s cheeks turn red, and Dutch chuckles. “Oh Arthur, you haven’t changed a bit. You haven’t even said his name and you’re already turning into a tomato. Just like with that kid, what was his name? Jimmy?”“Billy.” Arthur clears his throat. “Well, the point is, I want to give Albert a gift and I have no idea what to get him.”“Hmm, you must really like this Albert guy if you’re willing to ask me, giving me such an opportunity to tease you about him.” “Are you going to help me or not?” Arthur asks impatiently with a frown and even redder cheeks.“Alright, alright, I’ll help you out.” Dutch marks his page, then puts his book down. “He’s that photographer bloke, right?”“Yep. He photographs animals. Loves them.” Arthur sits down with Dutch.“Hm, you should probably start from there. Buy him a nice camera lens or somethin.’”“But he’s gonna be travelling soon.” Arthur mentions sadly.“Hm.” Dutch purses his lips. “How about somethin’ small? Like, uh, a brooch or somethin.’”“Of course you suggest that.” Arthur rolls his eyes.“What? They look good!” He pretends to be offended “They do.” Arthur admits “It’s a good idea, thanks.”“Any time, son. Now go win this man’s heart.”Arthur walks out of the tent and he bumps into someone, he is about to apologize when he realizes it's Micah.“Watch where you’re going, Morgan.” Micah snarls at him.“Fuck you, Micah.” Arthur doesn’t even stop to talk to him, he doesn’t have time for this. He has more important things to do, like get Albert a gift, and spend as much time with him as he can.Arthur mounts his horse and leaves for Saint Denis. On the way there he tries to remember where the jewelry stores are located in the city and also wonders if he will find a brooch in the shape of an animal, but also what animal? Albert seems to like them all, even ugly murderous alligators. Well, if he can like Arthur, he supposes liking alligators isn’t so different. He slows down once he reaches the city and goes to the local stables. He leaves his horse there, then he goes off deeper into the city. After briefly talking to a woman for directions, he goes off to the jewelry store.“Hm, what metal would Albert like?” Arthur ponders out loud as the jewelry store comes into view. He goes inside and peers through the display cases.“Welcome!” A store clerk greets him. “What can I get you?”“Got any brooches? Preferably with animals on ‘em?”“Ah, yes, sure! Follow me.” The clerk goes to the other side of the store and points to a small display case. “Here is our selection, we also do custom engravings. Let me know if you have any questions.”“Thanks.” Arthur looks at the brooches on display. They all look pretty to him, there’s one with a deer, an eagle, a horse, a dove and a cat. He likes the ones he sees here so he doubts he’ll check in another store, unless these cost more than what he has. He thinks Albert would be happy with any of them, though maybe he should put some thought into his decision. He scratches his chin and thinks. Albert is basically a cat lady (gentleman?), maybe the cat brooch would be perfect for him. But also he was very excited about photographing eagles and also the wild horses. “Do you need help sir?”“Uh, I’m trying to choose one.”The clerk looks over the brooches. “Are you getting this for yourself?”“No no, it’s gonna be a gift.” The tips of Arthur’s ears turn slightly pink.“I see! What’s their favorite animal?”“Dunno. He loves all animals, even alligators.”“Hm, then what color are his eyes?”“B-brown.” Now Arthur’s cheeks turn a shade of pink.“In that case, I believe you should pick a gold brooch, so that it compliments his eyes.”“Huh...which one will that be?”“These two.” The clerk points to the brooches. “Oh and this one, I personally like this one the best, it's simple, yet very beautiful, and it has a poetic meaning. These animals usually represent hope, peace.Hope. That’s something Albert definitely gave Arthur, especially after what he did for him that day. “I think I’ll take it then, how much is it?”“Seven dollars.”Arthur digs into his wallet and pulls out some crumpled one dollar bills. He hands it to the clerk, who counts them, then puts them in the cash register and pulls out the brooch. Then, he puts it in a nice, small box.“Would you like me to put a bow on it? It’s free.”“Sure.” Surely Albert would like the bow. Bows are pretty.“One second.” The clerk cuts some ribbon, ties it around the box, and ties it in a knot. “Here you go, sir.” He hands the box to Arthur.“Thanks. See ya around.” And with that, Arthur leaves, box in hand.Arthur puts the small box in his bag carefully, trying not to ruin the pretty bow. He has a little smile on his face, and he just can’t wait to give Albert his gift. He makes his way to his apartment, but he decides to stop to get him some flowers, too. He takes a while deciding what flowers to get him, but he decides to buy a bouquet of roses. Can’t go wrong with roses, or so Arthur tells himself as his palms grow sweaty.Come to think of it, Albert mentioned a gallery… Maybe Albert’s photographs are there. Maybe Arthur could stop by and see for himself. At the very least, he’d get to see some nice art. Making up his mind, he walks down the street until he finds the venue. Surprisingly enough, they really are holding Albert’s gallery here, and on top of that, it’s opening day.He walks into the building feeling a little bit out of place. All the glances he gets make him feel awkward , so he tries to convince himself that it’s because of the bouquet of roses and not that they secretly know what happened to him. He still has that feeling whenever people stare at him.“Arthur? Oh Arthur you made it!” Albert’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts and it’s such a wonderful sound to Arthur. “I was worried you’d miss it since I didn’t get to tell you the date or anything about it. How did you know it’d be today?”“I didn’t, I was lucky I guess.” Albert’s eyes move to the bouquet of roses and Arthur blushes and remembers he’s supposed to give them to him. “Oh uh...t-these are for you.” Albert’s smile makes Arthur weak in the knees, and he offers him the flowers with shaky hands. “They’re lovely! Thank you, this is so nice of you. Also thank you for the chocolates and that note, you’re very sweet.” “I’m glad you liked them.” Arthur can’t help a shaky grin. “Oh! Also got ya this.” Arthur pulls out the box. “Here ya go.”“Another gift? You’re going to spoil me at this rate!”“Hey, you spoiled me the other day, so…”“Nonsense! That was just me being kind!” Albert sets the box down on a table and carefully unties the ribbon. Then, he opens it, and sees a gold brooch with a dove integrated in the design. “Oooohhh! This is beautiful!”“Ya think so?” Arthur’s practically bouncing with excitement.“Of course! Let me just…” Albert pins the brooch to his vest. “There we go! How do I look?”“Perfect.” Arthur smiles and he wants to kiss him so badly but he suddenly feels too shy with all the other people around. Lucky for him Albert is so happy he doesn't overthink it and just pulls Arthur close for a kiss before he can even react. “So...I’m guessing you liked it?” Arthur chuckles after they pull away.“I love it.” Arthur is so glad to hear those words, he is silently hoping at least the brooch will make Albert remember him. A few years from now maybe when Albert is married with a few kids, he’ll find the small brooch in a jewelry box and remember the cowboy that fell in love with him. “I’m glad.”Albert gives him a small smooch at the corner of his lips. “How about I show you all of my photographs? There’s one in particular I want you to see.”“Sure.” Arthur pulls away, and Albert takes his hand and tugs him towards the pictures. They’re mostly pictures Arthur helped Albert take, though there’s several that Arthur doesn’t recognize. Albert must have been busy. Then, Albert shows him a picture that’s different from the others. There’s nothing extraordinary about it, really, but it draws Arthur’s attention all the same.“When’d you take this one?” Arthur asks.“Uh, a short while before the wolf incident.” Albert tells him. “I happened across this about an hour before the wolves attacked me, and I loved it so much I simply had to preserve it.”The picture in question depicts a wounded sparrow, with bloodied wings and bald spots all over its body, with feathers scattered about. It looks as though it’s at death’s door.“Did the bird make it?”“Yes, I managed to get back to the city after the whole wolf fiasco and get it to a vet. It was released back into the wild yesterday.”“What happened to it, anyway?” Arthur asks.“I’m not sure, it was like that when I found it. Could have been even one of the same wolves that wanted to attack me.”“I doubt there would have been much left of it if that had been the case. It’s a really impressive picture anyway, you should be proud.”Albert smiles. “Thank you. Are you busy today?”“Not really.”“Want to go for a walk with me later? Maybe after the show?”“Of course. Where d’you wanna go?” Arthur adjusts his hold on Albert’s hand.“I was thinking another walk in the wilderness- in one of the safer locations, of course. How does that sound?”“Sounds better than staying in the city.” Arthur squeezes Albert’s hand.“So it’s a date.” Albert smiles.“Yep.” Arthur blushes for what feels like the millionth time today. Is there something wrong with his face?Albert kisses Arthur’s cheek. “Wanna see the rest of the collection?”“Of course.” Albert gives Arthur a small tour through the gallery, showing him his pictures and some of the other photographers’ works. The venue also works as a small café and Arthur sits at a table with his journal while Albert goes back to talk to the new visitors about his pictures. Albert's passion about his work fills Arthur with so much joy, he can barely concentrate on what he's drawing when Albert is standing there smiling and excitedly explaining the characteristics of the animal displayed on the photograph. He must be including the story about how many times Arthur saved him while taking those pictures because he points at him several times and Arthur just shyly waves at the people.He’d be lying if he said it didn’t make color rise to his cheeks. He knows damn well he’s no hero, his own past proves it, but… it sure feels nice to be seen as one. He smiles when Albert finally comes back and sits with him.“Apparently, some ladies are taken with you.” Albert tells him.“Well, you can tell ‘em I’m taken with a certain cute photographer.” Arthur shuts his journal and puts it away.This time, it’s Albert who blushes. “Oh god…” He has to cover his face. Arthur chuckles. “You are even cuter like this.” “Please stop.” Albert says, wishing the red color in his cheeks would go away. “How about we go for that walk now?”“Sure. You don't mind riding with me?”“Not at all.” They leave the venue and walk to the stable and once they get Arthur’s horse, Horsea, out, Arthur mounts it first and offers his hand to help Albert up. Albert sits behind him without trouble and wraps his arms around Arthur's waist. It's obviously something Arthur expected him to do but it still gives a weird feeling, kind of like when Al put his hand on his knee. “Don't you think?” Albert asks and absentmindedly squeezes him a bit tighter.“Uh...sorry, what?” “I was saying that even though living in a city has its perks, it will never be as good as living in a small town or even just a cabin.”“Oh. Uh, yeah. Though I’ve only lived in camps, a cabin must be nice.” “It is, although it’s a lot of work.” Albert idly rubs Arthur’s tummy. “I remember when I was little, I had to run around and carry bundles of sticks bigger than me. It was hard work for a four year old.”Arthur stiffens at the belly rubs. He grips the reins so hard his knuckles turn white, and he clenches his jaw. Hard. “Bet it was.”“It was, but all in all, if I had the chance, I’d live in a cabin again. Something about being surrounded by nature is… comforting.”“It’s a lot better than living in the city, that’s for sure.” Arthur grits out.“Arthur, are you alright?” Albert asks him. “You seem awfully tense all of a sudden.”“I’m fine.” Arthur forces himself to sound as relaxed as he can. “So, you plannin’ on buyin’ a cabin sometime in the future?” He tries to continue their conversation despite the pressure in his abdomen starting to bring back awful memories of a man whispering “don't fight it” over his shoulder.“I… I hope to, but with how much money I make, I don’t think I’ll be able to afford one anytime soon.” Albert frowns and stops rubbing Arthur’s tummy.The tension immediately leaves Arthur’s body. Most of it. “Could always just use a tent. Sure, it’s not as comfy, but it’s shelter.”“A tent isn’t a permanent home.”“I spose that’s true, least for normal folk. I’ve been livin’ in tents on and off since I was a teen.”“Really? But don't you ever want to settle down somewhere and have a place to call your own?”“Yeah. Just don't have much of a choice.” Arthur glares at a man passing by who stares at them. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn't-.”“It's ok. I’ve gotten used to it, don't know if I could adapt to living in a house anyway.” “Hm well, I still hope one day you get to have a nice warm home.” Albert smiles and gives Arthur's leg a few pats.“Albert-” Arthur blurts out, almost demanding him to stop. “What?”“Don’t… don’t touch my legs. Please.” Arthur grumbles.“Oh, sorry.” Albert moves his hand to Arthur’s waist. “Better?”“Yeah.” Arthur says as he slows the horse down. “We should be gettin’ there soon.”“Where exactly are we going?”“Ringneck creek. Heard there’s lots a good fishin’ there.”“It seems like a relaxing place.” Albert remarks.“It is.” Arthur looks back at Albert with a smile. “Think you’ll like it.”They arrive a few minutes later and Arthur walks his horse to one of the many trees near the small river and dismounts, helping Albert down and then hitching his horse. “This is even better than I imagined.” Albert smiles and wanders off a little. “Ooh, I wish I had brought my camera.”“Hm...might not be as fancy as yours, but I have one if you want to use it.”“Really?!”“Yeah it's in my bag, hold on.”“I didn't think you were interested in photography too.”“Well I seldom use it, I prefer taking pictures of my family and friends. Oh, and my horses.” He pulls out the small camera out and hands it to Albert.Albert visibly shakes with excitement as he takes the camera and points it at the river. He steadies himself, takes a picture, then hands it back to Arthur. “Oh, I can’t wait to see how it’ll turn out!”“Neither can I.” Arthur puts the camera away with a big smile.“I bet it will look magnificent! I’m so glad you brought me here!”“Yeah, it’ll probably turn out pretty. But it’ll be nothing compared to you.”Albert sputters and blushes at the compliment. “I- why- you- you’re more handsome!”“I disagree but thanks anyway.” Arthur walks next to him and Albert holds his hand.“One day i’ll make you accept my compliments.”“I said ‘thanks’.”“I want you to believe them too.” Albert pouts and Arthur chuckles. They walk slowly through the trees, enjoying the sound of the birds and the water running, it’s such a peaceful moment and they don’t want it to end. “How have you been feeling lately?” Albert asks softly and a bit more serious.“Good.” Arthur says automatically.Albert frowns. He starts holding Arthur’s upper arm with both hands as the terrain becomes uneven. “Have you seen... that man?”Arthur shakes his head. “Nope.”“Good, good. So, uh, how have these past few days been treating you?”“Eh. Could be better. I’ve mostly been doin’ chores to make up for how I screwed up on the job.”“Oh right, what was the job anyway?”Arthur tries to look for an excuse to not say he and his friends were going to steal a lot of money.“Uh...we were going to transport some packages from the market to Rhodes.” “Oh. Was your dad angry about it?” “No, he was just confused and worried about why I left like that.”“Does he know?...”“Yeah.” Arthur looks down “I told him when I went home the next day. He was very understanding…”“Well, I’m glad you have such a loving father. I can’t say the same for all fathers.” Albert leans into Arthur. “Though I wish I could.”Arthur pauses to give Albert a smooch. “What’s yours like, anyway?”“He, um, he’s very quick to anger. Always getting into bar fights. But he’d never lay a hand on those he loves, oh no. In fact, one time he broke a man’s nose because he said my mom was ugly.”Arthur chuckles. “Should I be worried if I go to meet him?”“Nope! Not as long as you remain respectful, and you don’t hurt me in any way.”“Seems the bar’s a little low.” Arthur remarks.“He’s very open-minded, him and my mom. That, and they’re hoping I get married soon.” “Really? Why’s that?”Albert shrugs “I don’t know, I’d say they want me to give them grandchildren soon but they are often trying to set me up on dates with men too.”“Oh.” Arthur feels a little bit jealous about that. “Have you gone on any dates recently?”“Oh, you’re jealous, Mr Morgan.” Albert laughs.“I’m not, just asking.” Arthur pouts.“I went on a few ones before coming here, some were fine, I guess, but I never heard from them again.”“What a bunch of idiots, they don’t know what they’re missing.” Arthur remarks. Albert smiles and kisses his cheek for that. “How about our date, how do you think it's going so far?”“Splendid. Not only did I experience an amazing view, I did so with a devilishly handsome man.” “Stop it, I’m not that handsome.” Arthur looks away.“The ladies at the exhibit thought otherwise.” Albert points out, one hand leaving Arthur’s arm to hold his hand.Arthur can’t help a small smile. He squeezes Albert’s hand and guides him into a clearing. He takes off his jacket, then sets it down on the grass and sits on it. Albert joins him, giving him a respectable amount of space.“Is it alright if our legs touch?” Albert asks.“Yes, just...your hands…”“I’ll keep them to myself, don’t worry.”“I’m sorry.” Arthur says embarrassed.“No no no it’s perfectly fine, I just want to make sure I don’t make you uncomfortable like before. I’m sorry about that.”“No don’t apologize, it’s me who’s being too sensitive…” “There’s nothing wrong about having boundaries, Arthur. And I perfectly understand why you have them.”Arthur wraps an arm around Albert’s shoulders. “Thanks.”“Don’t mention it. Really.” Albert rests his head on Arthur’s shoulder. “It’s just common courtesy.”“You’re one of a kind, Albert. Don’t ever change.” Arthur kisses Albert’s hair. He can smell the citrus shampoo that Albert must use to wash his hair, and it smells like heaven.“Please, like I said, it’s just plain decency.” Albert looks up into Arthur’s eyes, and Arthur gazes back into his. For a moment, the whole world stops, and all that exists is each other.Albert cups Arthur’s cheek. As they close their eyes, one of them, neither can tell who, leans forward and softly presses their lips to the other’s. They both part their lips ever so slightly, and they pull each other closer. Before they know it, Arthur is sitting in Albert’s lap, with his hands loosely guiding Albert’s head while Albert holds Arthur’s waist.Arthur makes a little sound and Albert gets the hint so he takes his hands off and wraps his arms around his neck instead and Arthur puts his hands on Albert's waist.. Now that he’s more comfortable, Arthur smiles into the kiss and enjoys the taste of his lips.“This is definitely the best date I’ve had.” Albert says with a dumb grin after a small break to catch their breaths. “Me too.”“I bet you must have gone to a lot of dates, who wouldn’t want to go out with such a handsome and charming cowboy?” Albert comments as he tucks a few strands of hair behind Arthur's ear.Arthur chuckles and shakes his head. “Haven’t been on a date in years.”Albert’s eyebrows rise so high it’d be comical. “Years?”“Yup. Not as charmin’ as ya think.”“That isn’t true.” Albert pouts adorably. “You saved my life, you got me flowers, chocolates, and a brooch, and you showed me a place straight out of a storybook. If that’s not charming, well, I’ll certainly need a dictionary.”“Thought everyone was supposed to get their partners flowers and chocolate?”“Well, yes, but it’s still quite charming.” Albert kisses his cheek. “Makes one’s heart flutter, and all that.”Arthur shrugs. “I just think you deserve all of it. You’re just so good and kind to me, it makes me want to do all kinds of romantic gestures I didn’t even know I was capable of.”“Then I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next.” Albert jokes. “I’m just kidding you know? You don’t have to get me any more gifts. Just maybe a few more visits if you have time.” “I know, I’ll try to see you as much as I can before you…” Arthur grows sad when he remembers he only has a few more days with Albert.“Why are you making that face? I told you I could come back.” Albert makes him lift his head and smiles at him.. “Yeah, but… after you leave, I dunno when I’ll see you again.” Arthur’s eyes turn downcast.“Arthur, I promise I’ll come back at some point. I don’t know when, but I’ll be back.”Arthur chews on his lip. “Gonna… gonna miss you when you leave.”“So will I, Arthur.” Albert kisses Arthur’s cheek. “So will I.”Arthur dips his head until he’s hiding his face in Albert’s shoulder. Albert hugs him tight and murmurs sweet nothings into Arthur’s ear. They spend hours like that, holding and kissing each other until their hearts are close to bursting. Their eyelids begin to grow heavy, and Albert’s head begins to droop.“We should probably get you home.” Arthur brings up after noticing how low the sun’s gotten.“Mm?” Albert opens his eyes and looks around. “Oh my, when did it get so late? Yes let's go back now, I have to admit i’ve been a bit worried ever since you told me about the ‘Night Folk’ ““Yeah they're scary but don't worry, I would never let them touch you and there’s still a bit of light, if we hurry up we might make it before it gets dark.”“Let’s go then.” Albert gets up a bit too quickly and Arthur finds it adorable.Arthur gets his jacket and they go back to where they left the horse, they lose no more time and begin making their way back to Saint Denis.“So, tell me about your father.” Albert says to fill the silence.“Well, he’s, uh, charismatic. He adopted me when I was fourteen, I think. Doesn’t take shit from no one.” Arthur spurrs his horse onward. “He’s also a people person. He could hang out at a party for hours and not get tired.”“He must be a demigod if he can do that.”Arthur chuckles. “Never understood how he could do it.”“It must be nothing short of a miraculous power.”In a few minutes they begin to approach the swamps Arthur has learned to hate so much in the past few months, but he forces himself not to show how nervous they make him, he's supposed to protect Albert and there's no doubt he would do it even with his life, but he still doesn't want him to feel unsafe because of Arthur's nervousness. What he doesn't know is that Albert hasn't noticed at all because he has been closing his eyes quite a few times, Arthur only notices when Albert's head bumps into his shoulder and he doesn't move.“Al? Albert?” When he gets no answer he shakes his shoulder a bit “Hey.” “Mmm...what?” “You ok back there?” “Yeah...sorry, I’m just tired. I stayed up until late last night taking care of last minute preparations for the gallery event.” He yawns and rests his head on Arthur’s shoulder again.“Ok, just hold on tight, alright? I don't want you to fall off the horse. We’ll be in the city soon.”“Mmhmm…” Albert hugs Arthur a bit tighter.Arthur adjusts the way he’s sitting and grits his teeth as he gallops through the swamp. Normally he wouldn’t want to tire out his horse if he didn’t need to, but he has precious cargo. He doesn’t want to risk running into the Night Folk, or god forbid…Arthur’s blood runs cold when he spots him. The man in overalls. Arthur’s rapist. He has his back turned towards Arthur, but Arthur knows it’s only a matter of time until he notices Arthur’s and Albert’s presence. Arthur spurs his horse to go as fast as it can, holding onto Albert’s sleeve for dear life.“Whoa-oa whoa!” Albert jokes awake. “Arrrr-thuuuur?”“We need to get out of here!” Arthur grits out and Albert properly opens his eyes and looks around in fear of seeing any of the weird things Arthur told him about but he only sees a man on the side of the road ahead of them.“The night folk?” He asks scared.“No, it’s- let’s just get out of here. And don’t look at him!” Arthur points at the man in overalls who is closer every second. “Look at who?”“Nevermind! Just don’t look!”Albert closes his eyes and hides his face in Arthur’s shoulder, or at least tries to, with how he’s bouncing in the saddle. Arthur doesn’t look anywhere but straight ahead as he passes his rapist. He barely even registers what he sees. All he cares about is getting Albert to safety.It seems like an eternity passes before they get out of the swamps. When Arthur is sure he’s lost the rapist, he lets his horse slow down, and he lets go of Albert.“What was that about?” Albert asks.“It was my rapist.” Arthur pants, it wasn’t him running, but he sure feels like he just ran a marathon. “He was there.” “Oh Arthur… I’m sorry…”“I’m fine.” “It’s ok, we’re far away from him-““I said I'm fine!” Albert goes quiet and Arthur rubs his face, hating the way there’s tears already in his eyes but he wipes them away before they can fall. He takes a few deep breaths before he speaks again. “I’m sorry. Let’s just get you home ok?”“Ok…” Albert rests his chin on Arthur’s shoulder.Arthur takes a few deep, practised breaths as he guides his horse towards the city. His heart pounds fit to burst as he rubs the back of Albert’s hand with his thumb. Albert kisses the shell of his ear, and something inside Arthur melts into the kiss.“Thanks.” Arthur says, trying not to betray the parts of him that relaxed at the mere touch.“Don’t mention it. Really.”Soon, they come upon the city. As Arthur walks up to the city limits, he turns around to face Albert. “Want me to walk ya home?”“Sure.” Arthur holds out his hand and Albert takes it and gives it a light squeeze. They walk in silence and Arthur takes the time to calm down completely, it’s easier this time and maybe it’s because Albert is holding his hand or maybe because he got away from his rapist quicker than the last time. He also thinks about the way he yelled at Albert and he feels awful about it but he glances at the photographer and there doesn’t seem to be any trace of anger or sadness in his face, he just looks tired and he yawns a lot. Arthur is so glad he got him out of there fast, he doesn’t even want to think of all the things that could’ve gone wrong. Before he realizes they are at the bottom of the stairs of Albert’s apartment. “I’m sorry if the question annoys you but how are you feeling?” Albert asks softly.“Better.” Arthur kisses his cheek. “What about you?”“I’m tired.” Albert rubs his eye.“Did you like the date?”“Yes.” Albert smiles at the memory. Then, he kisses Arthur. “I hope to take you out on one soon.”“Already lookin’ forward to it.” Arthur hugs Albert one last time. “Take care of yourself, now. And don’t let the cats kill ya.”Albert laughs. “Good night, Arthur.”“Night.” Arthur watches Albert go up the stairs, then he leaves, gets on his horse, and starts going back to camp.Once he exits the city he stares at the path ahead of him, it’s already dark but he takes a deep breath and tells himself to stop being a coward. As much as he’d like to make Horsea go faster he knows his horse is already tired from earlier so he has to endure several minutes of anxiousness as he travels through the swamps. In this moment he’s not sure who he would hate more to see, his rapist or the night folk. He gets his answer a few minutes later when Horsea starts whining and moving like he wants to kick something, he is clearly scared. “Easy there, b-“In a second an arrow hits him in the arm and he falls off his horse with a loud thud while Horsea makes distressed sounds and starts running away.“Dammit!” Arthur clutches his arm and searches for whoever shot him. He quickly finds his target, draws his revolver, and fires off two shots.The Night Folk stumbles as a bullet grazes their leg. However, they recover quickly enough to shoot another arrow. Arthur dodges this one, rolling to his side, and then he fires off another three shots. This time, all three hit them in the chest, and they topple over. Arthur wastes no time in summoning Horsea and mounting him before more show up.“C’mon, get us back to camp!” Arthur yells. Horsea springs into action, using the last of its energy to sprint away. Arthur lets Horsea steer himself as he takes a rag, wraps it around the arrow, and stabilizes it.Arthur is so glad to see Clemens Point come into view a while later. His horse begins to slow down but he should be fine now so he doesn’t try to make it go fast again.“Who’s there?!” He hears Lenny’s voice yelling as he points his gun at him.“It’s Arthur! Lenny I need help.” Arthur tries to dismount and groans when he tries to use his arm.“Oh shit, what happened?” Lenny puts his gun away and moves next to the horse to help Arthur down.“Fucking night folk...I hate those bastards.”“Huh I’ve only heard of them but now I can see what they mean when they say they’re not friendly.” Lenny turns around and whistles at Horsea. “Come here boy, follow me.” Arthur’s horse walks behind them as they approach the camp, they walk past Kieran who is falling asleep next to the fire.“Hey! Wake up!”“Uh? Huh? What?”“Take care of Horsea, make sure he’s not wounded.” Lenny tells him and Kieran immediately gets up and goes to get the horse’s reins. “What about me, you idiot?” Arthur jokes.“Kieran is good with horses, i’m not so sure how good he is with humans.” Lenny laughs and helps Arthur sit on a chair. “I’ll go wake up Hosea, he’ll know what to do.”“Leave him, just bring me the first aid kit...and some whiskey.” Arthur groans as the adrenaline starts to wear off, and the pain starts to set in.“Ok, hang on.” Lenny runs out and gets both from the camp medical supplies, then brings them back. He hands the whiskey to Arthur, who drinks some straight out of the bottle before putting it down.Lenny carefully unwraps the rag and sets it down, then he uses both hands to pull the arrow out. Arthur grunts when it’s removed, but otherwise he doesn’t react.“Arthur, your jacket.”Arthur shrugs off his jacket to the best of his ability, letting Lenny help with his injured side. Then, Lenny unbuttons his shirt and lowers the sleeve until Arthur’s wound is exposed. He makes Arthur hold his sleeve up as Lenny takes a clean rag, pours some whiskey onto it, and starts cleaning the wound.“Where were you, anyway?” Lenny asks.“Out with a friend.” Arthur answers. Lenny doesn’t need to know about his relationship with Albert yet.“You both trying to get yourselves killed?”“Apparently.” Arthur chuckles and hisses when Lenny touches his wound again. “Anything happen while I was away?”“Nah, pretty relaxed day. Sean and I robbed some stagecoaches earlier, but we didn’t find a lot.”“You should...ow!”“Sorry.”“You should talk to that man at the post office in Rhodes, he knows when important packages pass through here. He’ll tell you if you pay him.”“Hm, I don’t know, sounds like a gamble.”“It’s worth a shot.”Arthur begins bandaging his arm, but he lets Lenny take over when he struggles to do it. “There, you should be fine. But you can show Dutch the bandage and maybe he’ll give you a break from work.” Lenny jokes.“Yeah like that ever happens.” Arthur laughs. “Thanks, kid.”Lenny pats his shoulder. “Get some rest. You need it.”“Thanks. Good night.” Arthur stands up.“Night.” Lenny goes back to his post.Arthur fixes his shirt and grabs his jacket before heading over to the horses. As he approaches Kieran and Horsea, he hears John’s and Abigail’s furious screams.“YOU CARE MORE ABOUT YOUR GODDAMN BOOZE THAN YOUR OWN SON!”“SHUT THE FUCK UP! I DON’T NEED YOU NAGGIN’ AT ME ALL THE TIME!”Arthur goes up to Kieran and puts his hand on his shoulder. Kieran practically jumps at that. “So, how’s Horsea? He ok?”“U-um, yeah, he, uh, he’s awright. Just a bit spooked, is all.” Kieran stutters, going back to patting Horsea’s neck.“MAYBE I WOULDN’T HAVE TO IF YOU JUST SPENT SOME TIME WITH YOUR SON!” Abigail screams in the distance.Arthur glances to where Abigail’s and John’s voices are coming from. “Good. I’d hate for this horse to up and die on me.”“Yeah, he’s a really good one.” Kieran pats the horse one more time and smiles “Well, I uh, I’ll go back to sleep now.”“Sure. Thanks, Kieran.” Kieran nods and goes back to sit next to the fire. Arthur walks back to the main camp and he decides to check up on Jack. He finds him in the tent he shares with his mom, hugging his knees. It breaks Arthur’s heart and it angers him too. “Jack?” Jack looks up and Arthur can see the trails of some fresh tears on the poor boy’s face. “Do you want me to tell you a story?” Arthur asks as he sits down next to the boy.“Yes.” Jack nods and sniffles so Arthur pulls him close and hugs him, feeling his heart break again when Jack’s shoulders shake as he cries into Arthur’s chest.“It’s ok, don’t listen to them. Now, let me think of a good story…”“Can it be a story about cowboys? Please?”“Of course.” Arthur starts rubbing Jack’s back. “Uh, once upon a time, there was… a… brave cowboy named Jack, and he loved horses. He would constantly check in on his horse, brush her mane, feed her apples, everything you can do for a horse, he did. Now, one day, his horse got sick-”“Horses get sick?” Jack asks.“Yes, they do, but they don’t show it like people do. Anyway, his horse got sick, and Jack was very upset about this. So he set out to find some medicine for his horse-”“What kind of medicine?”“Uh, I dunno, somethin’ for horses. So Jack set out to find some medicine, and he came across a strange feller that told him, ‘I will give you the medicine if you help me.’ So Jack agreed to help him, and the feller told him to kill a wolf and bring back its pelt.”Jack gasps. “No! I don’t want him to kill a wolf. Can’t he just use a bit of fur?”“Uh...sure. The strange feller told Jack that a bit of fur from the wolf would work fine too. So Jack set up some bait and waited behind a bush. When a big grey wolf showed up Jack came out of his hiding spot and approached it slowly.”“Is the wolf nice?” Jack gets comfortable in Arthur’s arms and begins to rub his eyes.“Uh-huh. He’s nice. When Jack asks it for a bit of its fur the wolf nods and lets him cut some fur from its tail.”“Mm.” Jack closes his eyes. “Then Jack takes it to the stranger and he makes the medicine for his horse. The medicine helps Jack’s horse and they are happy and go on adventures again. The end.”“What’s the horse’s name?” Jack mumbles.“Apple, because she loves apples.” Arthur picks Jack up and carries him to his bed.“I like apples too…” Jack head lolls as Arthur lays him down.“Maybe I should start calling you Apple, then.” Arthur tucks Jack in and kisses his forehead. “Good night.”Jack doesn’t respond. Arthur quietly steps out of the tent, only to be greeted by Abigail.“Hey.” She says to him. “How’s Jack?”“Just put ‘im to sleep.”“That’s good. Didn’t want him stayin’ up again. You know how he is when he doesn’t get enough sleep.” Abigail peeks in the tent. “Y’know, you’re a much better father than Jack’s own dad.”“I ain’t a good father.” Arthur immediately retorts.“Yeah, you keep saying that while doing all the things John is supposed to do for his own son.”Arthur doesn’t know what to say to that so he just shrugs. “Thank you, Arthur.”“Yeah.” Arthur begins to walk away but he stops and turns around. “Hey, how about I take him to the city tomorrow? To eat some ice cream or something. He seems like he needs it.”“That would be lovely.”“Alright then, good night.”“Night.” Abigail steps into her tent.Arthur turns back around and goes over to his own tent. He takes off his pants, then he hops into bed. He takes out his journal and doodles absentmindedly while waiting for his body to grow tired. As he curves some lines and makes others nice and straight, he thinks about Albert’s exhibition, namely, the wounded sparrow. Normally, Arthur wouldn’t think twice about such a picture, but somehow, it evokes emotions in him that have no name.Arthur frowns as he continues his work. What could have left that bird like that? Assuming it wasn’t sick, which Arthur isn’t sure about, not many animals would have did that to a bird and then just left it there. The territorial animals wouldn’t have seen it as a threat, and any carnivore would have just eaten it. Maybe a human did it. Humans tend to be cruel and wasteful, after all. One of them could have caught the bird, tortured it, and threw it aside to suffer and die.“Good thing Albert stumbled across it.” Arthur thinks to himself as he finishes the drawing. It depicts that same sparrow, but inside a nest. A white dove stands beside it, offering it a branch with berries on it. Arthur smiles and closes his journal, then puts it away and closes his eyes.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Arthur yawns as he stretches his back, relishing in the satisfying pops he gets. He throws the covers off and gets out of bed. He takes a moment to scratch his jaw, then he sets about his morning routine. He starts off by throwing on some relatively clean clothes, then he grabs his toothbrush and steps outside. John is glaring into a washbasin like it personally insulted him, his honor, and his cow.“Mornin’, John.” Arthur wets his toothbrush.“Mornin’.”“See? We CAN be nice.” Arthur sasses for no reason. He puts the toothbrush in his mouth and starts to brush his teeth.John just snorts and rubs his face.“Heard you and Abigail fighting last night.” “Yeah, I don't want to talk about it.” John grumbles.“Ok, fine. Just maybe consider being less of a jerk and keep your voice down next time? You probably kept everyone up with your shouting. Plus Jack heard you, he was crying.”“He did? Aw, shit.” John scowls.“I had to comfort him, y’know. Put ‘im to bed.”“Yeah yeah, I’m not surprised. Did Abigail help?”“Naw. She came to the tent after he fell asleep.” Arthur spits into the grass and rinses his toothbrush.“You seen Jack around, by any chance?” John asks as he rubs his eyes.“I just woke up, so no. By the way I was thinking of taking him to the city later to watch a show or something, might cheer him up.”John seems to consider for a moment, like he’s figuring out which of Dutch’s tasks he can ignore today. “Hm, you know what? I’ll do it.”“You sure?”“Yeah yeah, I need to make sure my son doesn’t hate me.”“Huh. You actually sound smart for once.” Arthur puts his toothbrush away.“Shut up.” John punches Arthur in the arm.“You first.” Arthur starts walking away. He gets a bowl out, grabs some stew, and then sits by Javier at the campfire.“Morning.” Javier greets Arthur.“Mornin’.” Arthur says back. “Micah still mad at me?”“Yep.”“Good. He can die mad.” Arthur starts to eat.Javier chuckles. “With all the comotion, I never found out why you both started fighting in the first place.”“He was just being a piece of shit, as always.”“Yeah, but you usually tell him to fuck off and move on.”“It’s...uh…” Javier is a good friend. Arthur thinks. Maybe he can tell him about Albert. Plus, Arthur has been dying to tell someone about Albert, other than his dads. “He said something…about someone I like…”“Mary?”Arthur rolls his eyes. “Come on, Javier. You know that was over ages ago.”“I heard you saw her again, back in Valentine.” Javier smiles.“It was nothing. We’re not together.”“So who is it then?”“You wouldn’t know who he is.” Arthur decides to answer with.“Try me.” Javier gives Arthur a sly smirk.Arthur sighs. “He’s, uh… he’s from New York.”Javier leans forward. “So a man this time!”“Yep.” Arthur shoves some stew into his mouth.“What's he like? Is he handsome? Does he like art too? Does he know Spanish?” Javier rapidly fires off before Arthur has a chance to answer any question. “Come on, tell me!”“Alright alright! Well he’s uh...he’s very handsome.” Arthur admits, and his cheeks start to grow hot. “I guess he likes art? He’s a photographer. And uh… I don’t know if he knows Spanish.”“Next time you see him, you should tell him ‘te amo y quiero casarme contigo’.”“Uh… that’s too many words, and I bet it’s something that will make me embarrass myself.” “No! I’m trying to help you keep him with you! I’ll write it down for you later.”Arthur chuckles. “Alright then.”“So does he know? That you like him?”“Yep. We even, uh, kissed.” Arthur looks away and scratches the back of his head.Javier goes still for a moment. Then, he starts bouncing and squealing. “That’s amazing! What was it like? How soft were his lips? Did he kiss you softly? Passionately? Was it after a date? During?”“Whoa, slow down, there. Can’t hold a conversation like that.” Arthur holds his hands up to stop Javier.Javier clears his throat. “Sorry. I, uh, got a bit carried away. It’s just that you haven’t been in a relationship since Mary, and I just, uh, I’m just excited, is all.”“Think you’re more excited ‘bout it than me.” Arthur starts eating again.“Well, it’s just that you always look so sad, we were all hoping you’d find someone again. We care about you, Arthur.”“Really?”“What? That we care about you? Of course!”“Thanks, but no, I mean that you were hoping I’d find someone?”“Oh, yeah. I think Charles and John were even making bets.”“Huh. Who won?”“Charles. John was convinced you’d never get over Mary.” Javier tells him as he finishes his stew.“Eh. To be fair, I’m not quite over her, but, well, I’ve moved on.” Arthur shrugs.“Doesn’t matter. John still lost.” Javier puts his spoon in his bowl and stands up. “Is it ok if I tell them?”“Naw. You can only tell someone about somethin’ like that once.” Arthur smirks.“Ohhhh, I see.” Javier mirrors Arthur’s expression. Then, he laughs. “Good luck with that!” He walks off to put his dishes in the improvised sink, a large bucket.After breakfast, Arthur tries to help around with his usual chores, but chopping wood or carrying sacks around is out of the question with his injured arm. He ends up feeding the chickens and briefly helping Mr. Pearson in the kitchen before being kicked out for constantly eating ingredients behind his back.He is about to start cleaning guns when Mr. Strauss shows up, with his book in hand and a little note he extends to Arthur. “Already?” Arthur makes a face but takes the piece of paper anyway.“There will always be desperate people, Mr. Morgan. No matter where you go.”“Mhm, just why is it always me that has to collect the debts?” Arthur grumbles and puts the paper in his pocket then continues cleaning his gun as they speak. “Hm well I’d say you get the best results, last time I sent Bill, he killed half of the people on the list and didn’t find the money.” “You care about the people we kill?”“I care about whether or not you bring back the money, Herr Morgan. Oh and by the way…” Strauss opens his book and pulls out a small envelope. “This arrived in the mail, I asked around If someone knew a person named ‘Albert Mason’ and Mr. Matthews said this might be for you.” “Thanks.” Arthur takes the letter and walks over to his tent. He opens it as he sits down on his bed, and right away some ink stains on the paper catch his attention, especially the paw prints at the bottom.
Dear Arthur, or Tacitus?

I hope you’re well, I just wanted to check up on you. I’ve been a bit worried since you left, considering what happened on our way back from our date… I suppose I should have invited you in rather than let you go back on your own. I don’t know when you’ll receive this letter but please write to me when you can to let me know you made it back alright. Or, if you happen to be in Saint Denis, I’ll always welcome a visit from you.

Love, Albert.

P.S. I’m sorry about the mess, Ravioli wouldn’t stop walking all over the table and trying to catch my pen.
Arthur chuckles as he counts out the number of stains. “Oh, Albert.” He carefully folds the letter and puts it in his journal, then he grabs his pen and some paper.-----“No, hold still, you can’t- Cheddar!”Cheddar pounces on Albert’s camera and bites at the lens. Albert curses and picks Cheddar up, then puts her back on the stool.“Siiiit. Cheddar, siiiit.” Albert holds a finger up to Cheddar’s face. Cheddar blinks and sits down. “Good girl.” He gives her a few pats and scritches, which makes Cheddar purr in approval. “Will you let me take some photos now?”Cheddar nuzzles Albert’s hand.“I’ll give you even more pets after I take your picture, how about that?”Cheddar meows and Albert goes behind the camera to take the picture before she moves again, but just as he’s about to snap the picture she jumps off the stool. Albert groans in frustration. “Fine, leave. I won’t take your picture, and I won’t have anything to remember you by once I leave this town. I will cry every night trying to remember what Cheddar looked like, because I won’t have any pictures of her!” Albert says dramatically and lets himself fall over the now emptier couch. Cheddar meows at him from the floor, and he only throws his arm over his face and pretends to cry.“Ohhhhh, Cheddar!” Albert loudly sobs. “It hurts so much to feel this kind of heartbreak! And after I got you that cute outfit, too!”Cheddar starts to lick Albert’s pants, brushing her fancy ruffled collar against them. She meows again and hops onto Albert’s lap, then props her paws up against his chest.“How will I possibly-” Albert smiles as Cheddar licks his chin. “-Cope with forgetting what you look like? It will leave me as only a fraction of myself!”Cheddar decides she doesn’t like the taste of photographer and hops off. She trots over to the open window and stands on the ledge, looking out into the garden.“Cheddar…?” Albert uncovers his eyes and looks around. Just when he spots Cheddar, she jumps out the window. “Cheddar!”Albert gets up and runs up to the window he watches Cheddar stumble a little and try to get out of the outfit. When she realizes she can’t, she runs off into the street.“Shit!” Albert makes his way downstairs quickly, almost forgetting to close the door. Cheddar knows her way around the streets, but she’s very clumsy with that outfit, and he’s worried she’ll get run over by a cart or get trampled by a horse. With that in mind, Albert runs out into the streets and runs to where he last saw her.Albert’s heart pounds as he searches for Cheddar. He finds her dashing off into an alley, and Albert follows suit. Cheddar rounds a corner with ease, while Albert trips over his own two feet attempting the same thing. He scrambles back to his feet and keeps running after his cat, who’s farther away now.“Cheddar! You get back here!” Albert’s already panting from exertion, but still, he refuses to give up. In fact, he only pushes himself harder, forcing himself to go just a bit faster.He runs through the alleyways until he finally finds Cheddar next to a pile of trash behind what looks like a restaurant. She is trying hard to take the suit off, and at the same time biting and clawing Albert when he tries to help her take it off.“Ow ow! Wait! I’m trying to help!” Albert is focused on helping his cat out of the suit so he doesn’t notice the couple of men a few feet away from him talking in hushed tones. But he looks up when one of them shoves the other on the wall and points a gun at him. Albert protectively picks up Cheddar and and looks in horror to what seems to be a robbery in process.“Give me one good reason not to tie you up and turn you in right now. There’s a pretty good price on your head.” A man in a dark suit tells the other he holds by the throat against the wall. The hostage has long blonde hair and an ugly moustache, and he looks like he took a hell of a beating not too long ago.“Yeah, you can get good money for me.” The blonde man says with a mocking smile. “But you could get a whole lot more for the whole Van Der Linde gang. And I just happen to know exactly where they are hiding.”“You have been riding with them for months and you expect me to believe you’ll sell them out?”“We’re going through some very difficult times. Everyone there is ready to think the worst is over, but I know what’s ahead, and I don’t want to be hanged. I mean, it was nice while it lasted, but I don’t hold any of them dear anyway. Especially not after this.” He vaguely points to his beat-up face and smiles. “So… you can take me to the station now and never catch them or we can work out an agreement.” Albert clutches Cheddar to his chest and hides behind a trash can. His heart’s lurching in his chest, beating so hard that Albert shakes all over. Cheddar meows, and Albert almost screams before shushing her.“...Alright, let’s say I believe you and accept your deal. What exactly will you tell me?” The man in the suit presses his gun to the blonde man’s cheekbone.Albert’s lip quivers, and his legs shake. He strokes Cheddar’s fur, more to calm himself down than to comfort her. Cheddar keeps biting at her outfit.“Ok ok, easy there, do you mind putting that thing down? I can’t think like this!” The man in the suit just glares and moves his finger to the trigger making Albert almost scream. He wants to go, he doesn’t want to see where this is going, but he’s scared the man in the suit will see him and shoot him too. “Fine. I was thinking maybe tell them that you guys have discovered our location and are coming our way. I’ll tell them about a place where we can hide, but you will be waiting there.”“And then?”“And then? Well, tie them up and let me go of course! Maybe we could toast or something, what else do you want?”The man in the suit pauses. After a few long moments, he takes the gun away. “If you even think about double-crossing me-”“Yeah yeah, I get it. This ain’t my first rodeo, after all.”The man steps away, letting the blonde man go free. Albert takes a deep breath and forces himself to stand up and take a few steps away. He almost makes it out of the alleyway when he accidentally kicks a can.“What was that?!” Someone shouts. Albert hears a gun cocking and wastes no time in running away.Albert clutches Cheddar to his chest and runs as fast as he can almost running straight into a wall when he looks behind his back.“You! Stop right there!”“What are you doing? Just shoot him!” He hears the blonde man’s voice and Albert fears he’ll hear a gunshot any minute.No sooner did he think that than a sharp pain shoots up his arm. Albert cries out and stumbles. He falls to the ground, miraculously both still holding Cheddar and managing not to crush her. He glances behind him and gasps. Now both men have a gun in their hands, and they’re running towards Albert.“Shit, shit, shit!” Albert scrambles to his feet. Cheddar meows in distress and sinks her claws into Albert’s arm. Albert ignores the pain and runs out into the open streets.He hears another gunshot ring out right as he rounds a corner. Albert clutches Cheddar even tighter and runs past a carriage and straight into a horse.“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” The rider shouts at Albert as he ducks under the horse and keeps running.He runs into another alley that takes him to an apartment complex and the few people there stare at him in confusion and then run away through the only exit or lock themselves inside their homes when they see the two men approach. Albert backs off until his back bumps into the wall.“S-sirs… please… I didn’t- I didn’t hear anything, I-“ Albert pathetically tries to lie, but both men just get closer. “I won’t tell anyone. Please. I was just trying to get my cat back.” Albert’s hands shake around Cheddar and the blonde man smiles when he sees the cat in a suit, stained in his owner’s blood.“You wanna do it here?” The blonde man asks the man in the dark suit.“There must be an army of law men outside because of those gunshots, let’s do this somewhere else.” Albert has barely time to process his words when one of them hits him hard in the head. In just a few seconds, everything goes black.-----A gunshot fills the air, and then another fires off. Hosea looks up from his meal at the same time Dutch does.“Anyone workin’ here?” Hosea asks.“Not that I know of.” Dutch shrugs.Hosea casually but protectively wraps an arm around Dutch. He gives him a kiss, making Dutch smile. Then, Hosea reaches for Dutch’s fries, only to be blocked by Dutch’s hand.“Not gonna fall for that this time.” Dutch laughs.“All those years together and you won’t even share your fries with me?”“No, don’t do that. You know I hate it when you do that.”“It’s good to know my husband hates me.” Hosea dramatically says.Dutch sighs and frowns but he pushes his plate in Hosea’s direction who smiles and grabs four fries at a time.“Now you’re just taking advantage.” Dutch complains but he doesn’t stop him. Hosea chuckles and pops the fries in his mouth. Then, he watches the people and animals stroll through the park. “Hey, look, a white dove.”“I’m not falling for that, either.” Dutch grumbles.“No, really. Look.” Hosea points to a tree.A white dove is perched on a branch, cleaning its feathers.“Huh. Would you look at that.” Dutch smiles. He glances down, and sees Hosea taking more fries. “Hey! How can you live with yourself, knowing you lie to your husband and steal from him?”“Like this.” Hosea grabs another fry, leaving just three more on Dutch’s plate. “Here, I won’t steal any more.” Hosea chuckles and feeds Dutch the remaining fries.Dutch pouts, but he nonetheless accepts the fries. His pout almost disappears when Hosea kisses his cheek. Almost. He watches the dove for a while, pointedly not making eye contact with Hosea.“Oh, cheer up, will you? I’ll buy us some ice cream.” Hosea hugs Dutch.A tiny meow interrupts them.“Did you say something?” Hosea asks.“No.”“Huh. Must be hearing things, in my old age.” Hosea mutters.But again, he hears a meow and this time Dutch must've heard it too, because he turns his head in the same direction as Hosea. From behind a bush, an orange cat walks out wearing a little suit. It would be adorable if it weren't stained with blood. The cat looks at them for a moment and meows again, then it starts licking the blood off its body.“Oh poor thing, do you think it's injured?” Hosea moves closer to get a better look at the peculiar cat.“I have no idea, but I have so many questions…”Hosea crouches down in front of the cat and holds his hand out to it. It sniffs Hosea’s hand, then it turns around and walks away. A short distance later, it looks back at Hosea and meows.“You think it wants us to follow it?” Dutch says, getting up and standing by Hosea.“Only one way to find out.” Hosea walks towards the cat.The cat walks off again, confident that the humans will follow. It leaves the park and goes out into the streets, checking every so often to see if the humans are following. It stops in the middle of the street and watches the humans.“Now what do we have here…?” Dutch crouches down. Two drops of blood catch his eye. He drags his fingers through them. They’re still fresh.“Found anything?” Hosea asks while looking around the street.“Yeah, more blood.” “Huh, well I always thought cities could be even more dangerous than being out in the wild. Someone must’ve been robbed and dropped somewhere around here. Maybe we should leave.”“Are we sure none of our boys was coming here today?” Dutch asks scratching his goatee and looking down at the ground to see if there's more bloodstains.“I don't think so… well, Arthur sometimes comes here to visit that man he's dating, but he was collecting debts for Mr. Strauss today.”Dutch's eyes suddenly widen as he seems to remember something. “Jack.”“Huh?”“John asked me this morning if he could skip some chores to bring Jack here to watch a show or something.”“Shit, we better take a look just in case then.” The cat sniffs the air. After several seconds, it faces down the street and loudly meows.“Guess it caught that scent.” Dutch remarks as he gets up.He and Hosea follow the cat some more. It takes them through the streets, stopping every so often to sniff more small bloodstains, then it keeps going. They pass by the theater, where a crowd of people are hanging out.“That was AWESOME!” A familiar voice stands out among the crowd. “With the way they went, bwoooosh! And, huaaahhhhhh!”“Guessin’ you enjoyed the movie, then.” A man in a hat crouches down to be eye level with a young boy.“Yep!” Jack nods excitedly.“Oh look, there they are!” Hosea’s voice makes both of them look up, and Jack immediately runs up to greet his grandpas. Meanwhile, the orange cat meows at them to keep following her, but she is ignored as John approaches them.“Hey, what are you doing here?” John asks them.“We were looking for you.” Dutch smiles at Jack and pats his head when he hugs his legs.“Something happened?”“No no we were just a bit worried, this uh…” Dutch looks around at his feet looking for the cat and finds it trying to pull Hosea’s pant towards the street. “This cat found us and has been trying to guide us somewhere, it found a trail of blood and…” John just looks at Dutch with more confusion the more he talks.“We were just checking where it led to, wanted to make sure you both weren't in trouble.” Hosea explains while carrying Jack and still ignoring the poor desperate cat that's still trying to drag him towards the street.“Don’t worry, me an’ Jack didn’t get into too much trouble.” John exaggeratingly winks at Jack, who laughs. “Isn’t that right, my lil cowboy?”“Yep!” Jack laughs harder.“That’s a relief.” Hosea makes a point to sigh extra loud. “We wouldn’t want to worry your dear old mother, would we?”“Nope!” Jack giggles.The cat trots over to Hosea and bites down on his pant leg, then tugs on it as hard as she can.“Hey! Stop it!” Hosea says, shaking his leg to make the cat let go.“Dad, look! The cat has a suit!” Jack points at it.“Uh-huh… that's completely normal.”“Can we keep it?!”“Oh no, we already have Cain at home, and he causes enough trouble.” John extends his arms, so Hosea gives him Jack. “Dad, pleaseeeee!”“We should go home now, your mother must miss you.” John tries to distract him so he doesn't convince him into adopting a cat but he finds it very hard not to give in when Jack starts pouting. “Listen, how about we stop to buy some candy on our way home?”“Yes!”“Great, let's go then. Bye guys, I’ll see you back at camp.” John waves at them and so does Jack.“Bye, grandpas!”“You need any help getting back home?” Dutch asks.“Naw, I’ve got my horse, and my lucky charm.” John pats Jack’s back. “You take care, now.”“Bye.” Hosea smiles as John walks away.“Man, he’s really working to be a good father.” Dutch comments with a smile.“Maybe there’s hope for him after all.”The cat meows so loud it’s practically screaming.“Think the cat’s getting impatient.” Dutch says, walking towards it.“No kiddin’.” Hosea follows suit.The cat, upon seeing that she has their attention again, follows the scent through the crowds. She takes them through a relatively straight path through the city, eventually leading them to the city limits and beyond. Hosea and Dutch whistle to their horses, and they come running. They hop on their respective horses, then they keep following the cat.Once they reach that point where there's only swamps ahead and the last houses behind, the cat walks around meowing and sniffing trying to pick up a scent but not being able to guide them further. There's no more visible bloodstains on the ground either.“Looks like the trail ends here… could they have taken the body in a cart?” Dutch wonders out loud.“Probably, but who knows in which one. Following wheel marks would be useless there's dozens here.” Hosea puts his hands on his hips and looks around.Dutch crouches next to the cat who is still trying to sniff the ground. “I’m sorry kitty, looks like we can't help you.”“Hold on, let me ask around.” Hosea turns around and starts walking towards one of the houses.“Hosea, we found John and Jack, I don't see what's the point of keep looking.” Dutch and the cat follow behind him.“Just let me do it… I’m intrigued about this whole thing.” “Your funeral, old friend.” Dutch shrugs. He leans down and picks up the cat.Hosea only has to knock on the door once to push it open. He shares a glance with Dutch, who puts his hand on his revolver. Hosea steps inside to find a dimly-lit living room, with an oddly-shaped pile in the corner.“Hello? Anyone in here?” Hosea calls out. He gets a groan in response. “Hello?” He lights a candle with one of his matches.Now he sees that the pile is human-shaped, and starting to move around. Hosea runs over to it and looks it over. The man is wearing casual clothes, a dark jacket, and he has dark hair and a beard, but what’s concerning is the open gash on his head and the blood staining his sleeve.“Uhhh….” The man groans and tries to move again, and suddenly the orange cat starts meowing loudly and rubs up to him. “Ch… Cheddar…?”“No way, this is your cat?” Dutch asks as he watches the cat rub its head on the man’s chest.“Love, help me out here.” Hosea tells him as he cuts the rope binding the man’s wrists together. Dutch gets to work cutting the rope around the man’s ankles. “You’re in luck my friend. Your cat guided us here, I wish I had a pet that loyal.”“Uhhhh...”“Dutch, not now. We need to help him.” Hosea crouches in front of him and lifts his head slightly “Hey, sir?” Looking at his face more closely, he seems strangely familiar.“I… they… sh- shot… me.”“I think we should just carry him and take him quick, who knows how long he has been losing blood.” “Ok.” Hosea nods and turns to the injured man. “Sir? What’s your name?”“A… Al… Albert…”“Albert?” Hosea repeats as he slides an arm under Albert’s armpit to help him up. “Oh shit, you don’t happen to be Albert Mason, do you?”“Hosea, now’s not the time.” Dutch grumbles as he takes Albert’s other side.“You’re right.” Hosea concedes as they start carrying Albert away. Cheddar trots by their heels, not taking her eyes off Albert. “Albert, do you know how long it’s been since you got shot?”“Nuh-uh.” Albert groans. It takes all of his willpower to stay conscious.“Don’t worry, me and Hosea will get you someplace safe.” Dutch reassures him as they help Albert onto Silver Dollar.“Where? Practically every doctor in Saint Denis is either incompetent, or will refuse to treat you or anyone with you.” Hosea points out, quickly getting on to keep Albert from falling.“There’s an abandoned town northwest, it doesn’t have much, but whoever kidnapped him won’t go to there. Plus, it doesn't have any gators.”“I guess, but we should at least bandage his arm or something. He looks way too pale already.” Dutch offers him the bandana he uses to cover his face, and Hosea thanks him and helps Albert out of the coat covering his wound.“I’ll keep guard outside, don’t take too long.” “Shhit...ow! ow!”“I’m sorry, Albert. This won’t take long.” Hosea rolls up his bloodied sleeve revealing a small hole in his skin.“Oh god… oh no… no…” Albert goes even paler when he sees his wound, and now Hosea really fears he’ll pass out.“It’s alright, I’ve seen worse. You’ll be fine.” Hosea works quickly, tying the bandana tightly around it.“Oh god, I’m going to die,” Albert murmurs, not taking his eyes off the wound. “And my cats will starve, and-”“Easy. You’re not going to die.” Hosea pats his uninjured arm, then checks to see if the bandanna will help stop the bleeding. Once he determines it will, Hosea holds Albert close. “Ready!”Dutch grabs Cheddar and gets on his horse, then he and Hosea start riding off. They soon arrive at the abandoned town of Pleasance, where they hitch their horses and carry Albert inside one of the houses.“How you holdin’ up?” Dutch asks.Albert lolls his head to the side and mutters something incoherent.“Need to get him somethin’ to eat.” Hosea says as he dusts off an old bed. It’s filthy, but it’ll do for now. He and Dutch lay Albert down on it, then Hosea sits by his side and carefully unwraps the bandanna.“We should do something about his wound too, preferably now.” Dutch pulls some canned peaches out of his bag and places them on the bedside table.Hosea inspects the wound and he makes a face, feeling bad for what Albert is about to go through.“Give me a bullet.” He asks Dutch and he pulls one out of his bag and gives it to Hosea, he pulls out a package of matches too. “Poor man.” Hosea opens the bullet and lightly touches Albert’s face. “I’m sorry, Albert.” Then he pours the gunpowder in his wound and lights up a match moving it close to the wound to cauterize it. Albert immediately cries out in pain and trashes around, or tries to with the little energy he has left. Dutch holds him in place while Cheddar meows in distress from the floor. Hosea takes the match away and flicks it, then puts it on the nightstand. “Shhhh, it’s over now.” Hosea uses a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off Albert’s brow.“I want my cat…” Albert whimpers as his chest heaves.“Uh, Cheddar, right?” Dutch turns around and looks at Cheddar. “Here, kitty kitty.” He starts making kissy noises at her.To his surprise, Cheddar bounds over and hops onto the bed. Albert smiles once he sees her, and he lifts his good arm to pet her. Cheddar purrs in response and nuzzles Albert’s hand.“You’re such a good kitty…” Albert breathlessly coos.“She actually led us to you, believe it or not.” Dutch remarks.Albert gasps. “You’re the best kitty in the whole wide world! Oh yes you are, oh yes you are!”“You were very lucky, my friend.” Dutch grabs the can of peaches and opens it. “You could have bled to death, or maybe whoever did this to you would have come back to finish you off.” Dutch offers it to Albert, and Albert grabs it with his good arm.“I think I was left there to die… I mean, they tied me up…” Albert shudders at the memory and eats some peaches straight from the can. “Can't remember much, they knocked me out before taking me there.”“Huh, so It was more than one person?” Hosea asks and sits on the bed next to Albert, he looks through his bag for something to clean up the gash in his head.“Two. I interrupted their chat, guess they didn't like it.” Albert laughs bitterly. “By the way, you seem familiar, and I think you said my name while I was about to pass out.” “Yeah, we met briefly a few days ago.” Hosea smiles at him. “I’m Arthur's father.”Albert’s face lights up with recognition. “Oh! Nice to properly meet you! I would shake your hand, but…”“No need to worry. Bullet wounds ain’t fun, after all.”“Wish I didn’t have to learn the hard way…” Albert grumbles.“First time?”“Yep. Frankly, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”“Why’s that?”“I always seem to find myself in some sort of danger.” Albert tells them. “Whether it be a group of hungry wolves, or a few highwaymen intercepting me.”“But Arthur keeps saving you in the nick of time.” Dutch infers.“Oh, so he’s told you about that?” Albert chuckles and blushes a little. “A bit more than that, actually.” Dutch smiles. “We think you’re a good match for him.”Albert’s whole face goes red, and he doesn’t know what to say. Dutch laughs and gently pats his shoulder.“You both are the same.” He says with a chuckle. “So uhm… how is he by the way? We had a bit of trouble on our way back from a date and I’ve been a bit worried since he left.”“He’s ok, I heard he ran into the Night Folk and got shot in the arm but nothing too serious.”“Oh my! I should have offered him to stay with me!”“Don’t worry, Arthur had it under control. He is more than capable of taking care of himself.”“Yeah but sometimes things go wrong… and he could’ve ran into his r-“ Hosea’s eyes widen and he interrupts Albert before he can finish his sentence. After all, he did promise his son he would keep his secret safe from his other father. Though Hosea might have to tell him at some point… but it might be better if it’s in private.“Mr. Mason I’m afraid I don’t have the supplies to tend to your head injury, luckily it’s not bleeding anymore, but we should do something about it. How about we let you rest for a bit, and then take you back to Saint Denis?” Hosea quickly says.“What if my kidnappers are there?” Albert brings up.“Hm,” Hosea starts to consider that. “Did they see you in the city?”“They kidnapped me there.”“You live there?” Dutch asks.“Yes, sir.”“Shit.” Dutch starts scratching the back of his head. “We’re gonna need a-”“Don’t say it, honey.”“But-”“No.”“Honey?” Albert raises an eyebrow. “Oh, yes he’s my husband.” Hosea smiles.“Oh I thought you were brothers or something, I don't remember Arthur mentioning having two dads. It's nice to meet you Mr…?” Albert trails off.“Kilgore.” Dutch decides to go with a fake name for now. Albert looks at him confused. “Wait… you receive Arthur's mail?” Albert mumbles to himself. He thinks it's good to know for when he writes more letters in the future…“Pardon?”“Nothing. It's a pleasure.” Albert clears his throat and tries to ignore the light blush in his cheeks. “So what were you saying about needing something?”Dutch’s eyes light up, and he grins wide. “We need a plan!”“Now you’ve gone and done it.” Hosea grumbles, putting his face in his hand.“This plan is going to be amazing! Spectacular! It’s going to be a stroke of genius! We are going to make lots of money off this plan, and before we know it, we’re going to be harvesting mangoes in Tahiti!”“Why Tahiti?” Albert asks.“Excellent question, my friend! Tahiti is a beautiful place, with warm weather and delicious fruits aplenty! It’s a paradise with beautiful beaches and shimmering tides! Tahiti-”“Love, we’re getting off-track.” Hosea points out with his face still covered.“Uh… well, Tahiti sounds great and all, but I think I’d just like to go home… and lay down in my bed for a few hours…”“Hmm, well, I guess we could escort you back to your house and act as your bodyguards. Did your kidnappers see where you live?” Hosea asks.“No, I was away from home when they saw and attacked me.”“Great, you should be fine then.”“Hmm they either must’ve been talking about something very important, or they just really didn’t like eavesdroppers. What did you interrupt, Mr. Mason?” Dutch asks scratching his goatee.“Uh… I’m not sure… something like a deal? Those two didn’t seem to agree on a lot of things other than hurting me.” “You know who those men were?”“No.”“Could you point them out in a lineup?”“I’m, I’m not sure, I was too scared to get a good look at them. Plus, they hit my head.”“Damn.” Dutch mutters. “Okay, here’s the plan: we cover your face, take you back home at night, then we will stand guard outside your door. How’s that?”“Sounds good by me, you’re very kind to go those lengths to keep me safe, sirs.”“Well, you’re important to Arthur, of course we would want to keep you safe. Plus, we like you, isn’t that right, love?” Hosea asks Dutch and he smiles.“Absolutely! You seem like a fine man, Mr. Mason. And I have never seen my boy so in love in years! And happy too, which hasn’t been the case these past few months. He’s been acting kind of strange, and very sad… I wonder what has been bothering him...” Hosea looks down with a sad expression but he doesn’t say anything. “But, Albert, I’m so glad you both met, I see him smiling more now.” Dutch grabs a very old chair and sits down next to the bed, ignoring the creaking sounds coming from it. “You know, I think I might’ve catched a glimpse of your likeness in that journal of his the other day.” Dutch chuckles“Oh… that’s very sweet.” Albert smiles and blushes.“I see we’re embarrassing our son in front of his boyfriend now.” Hosea sits down too with a chuckle. “I guess we could spend some time like that and wait for nightfall, but not too much. Mr. Mason needs to rest.”“I have some pictures of Arthur from when he was fourteen!” Dutch exclaims excitedly as he whips out his wallet. “And lord, was he an awkward boah!” He pulls some pictures out and hands them to Albert.Albert smiles slightly. “He looks nothing like he does now.”“Puberty did a lotta favors for that boah.” Hosea comments.Albert hands the pictures back. “You know, I thought you’d show me baby pictures.”“Oh believe me, I would if I could. Thing is, we adopted Arthur a few weeks before taking this-” Dutch holds up the oldest photo. “Picture, so in a way, these are his baby pictures.”Albert takes the picture and looks it over with a little smile on his face. Dutch and Hosea stand behind a young Arthur who pouts to the camera and looks like he wants the photo session to be over already. “He was a cute kid, and it looks like he didn’t enjoy pictures.” Albert hands the picture back to Dutch.“And now he’s dating a photographer, oh the irony of it all! How long have you two been together by the way? I’ve only just found out about you two but it seems like you’ve know each other for a while.”“We’ve only just become a couple, but we’ve known each other for a few months. We kept running into each other, you see, as I photographed the wildlife, and, well…” Albert looks away and scratches his hair as he blushes. “We just… started feeling things for one another.”Hosea chuckles. “Ain’t nothin’ like how I met my sugar plum.” He looks over at Dutch and gives him a warm smile.“How did you meet?”“Well, sometime in the… mid-70s, I think? That right?”“Yes, dear.” Dutch takes Hosea’s hand.“Sometime in the mid-70s, I was travellin’ about an’ I had gotten lost, so I decided to stop, rest, an’ hope a kind traveller would help me out. While I was campin’, a young man came by an’ introduced himself, then sat next to me by the fire. I didn’t think nothin’ of it, so I shared some food with him an’ asked for directions. He told me where to go, an’ then he went on his way. It was only much, much later that I would discover he robbed me blind. Took my money, one of my guns, even my tradin’ cards!”“They were nice tradin’ cards, by the way.” Dutch interjects.“They were. Shame about them gettin’ burned. Anyway, later on, when I had got where I needed to go, I was walkin’ around, and guess who I saw? That same man that robbed me! So I walked right up to him, said ‘fancy seein you here’, then I showed him my spare gun an’ politely requested he give me back my stuff.”“Pay close attention, here comes the funny part.” Dutch tells Albert.“Then he draws my own gun on me an’ says ‘no, YOU give me YOUR stuff!’ I would've shot him then and there, but right at that moment, a police officer stumbled across us, drew his gun on us, an’ tried to arrest us! So we were looking at him, then we looked at each other, an’ we bolted at the same time! An’ it just so happened we chose the same direction, so now we were tripping over each other trying to get away from the police officer, an’ man, he musta been tryin’ to get a promotion, because he chased us halfway across the city! When we finally lost ‘im, we were so damn tired that we couldn’t even hold up our guns, let alone rob each other, so we settled down together, an’ got to talkin’. An’ as it turned out, the man was such pleasant conversation that I couldn’t help but like him, despite him robbin’ me an’ all. After a while, we up an’ decided to start travellin’ together. That man would become my sweetheart, an’ later, my husband.”“Well, that's quite the story.” Albert smiles, watching them hold hands and gaze lovingly at each other. “I would love to be able to call Arthur that too one day…” Albert blushes and looks away when they turn to him with big smiles.“Really?! That would be lovely! Ooh, we could help you pick out the ring!” Dutch stands up from the chair and starts pacing around the room, rambling and planning the proposal. “Oh, he's going to be so happy, and-” Hosea grabs his hand and makes him sit down again.“Come on, love. He didn't mean now.”“I say there's no better time than the present, life is short, and no one knows what tomorrow can bring.”“Yes, but you’re going to scare him off.” Hosea jokes, and Albert smiles a little.“I mean, I would love to, but we have been dating for such a short time, plus I would like to put a ring on his finger once I know I can stay with him for good.” “What do you mean? Where are you going?” Dutch frowns in confusion.“I have to go back to New York, you see. I need to publish my work there, plus, I have to go see my family, let them know I’m alive and in one piece.” Albert idly pets Cheddar as he explains. Cheddar purrs and gently nuzzles Albert’s hand.“How long will you be there?” Hosea asks.“Frankly, I don’t know. There’s so many things I have to do, get my name out there, shake hands with everyone, speak at a museum or two, and that’s just scratching the surface.” Albert frowns.“Will you come back?” It’s Dutch who asks this time. His brow furrows as he thinks about Arthur.“Of course I will! As dangerous as the West is, I love this place! It has stunning sights, beautiful creatures, and, of course, Arthur himself!”“And Arthur knows about your plans?”“Of course he does, I wouldn’t have told your son I love him just to leave and never come back. Listen, I don’t want to hurt him in any way, you can be sure of that, although there’s nothing I can do about how he’ll feel once I leave… I will be pretty sad too, but… I’ve been working so hard for this opportunity and It could really help me take on more projects and-““It’s ok.” Dutch smiles and gently squeezes his good shoulder “It’s more than understandable, I like that you have your own dreams and goals. Just don’t forget about him, hm?” “I won’t. You don’t just forget the man that saved your life a million times and swept you off your feet in the process.” Albert smiles just a little. Cheddar crawls up his torso and starts licking his chin. “Cheddar!” Albert laughs as he turns his chin away.“You better not. Arthur’s got a real bad case of puppy love for you.” Hosea mutters as he reaches over and pets Cheddar. “It’d break his heart if you up and forgot about him.”“I won’t! I promise!”“Good.” Dutch nods. “I don’t want my son getting his heart broken, y’hear?”“I do! I won’t break it, sir!”Hosea chuckles at how Dutch keeps reminding Albert not to play with Arthur’s feelings. He doesn’t want that to happen either, but he trusts Albert, and he thinks it might be better to let him rest for now. Dutch can continue lecturing him later. “Alright we should let him rest and wait for nightfall.” Hosea stands up and stretches a little then turns to Albert “If you need anything just let us know ok?”“Thank you both so much. You’ve been so kind to me.”“Well, you’re almost family now.” Hosea gives him a gentle smile.