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"A-Arthur?"
The gunslinger paused at the weak voice, turning to look at the O'Driscoll tied to the tree. He was the only one awake, aside from their hostage, having had a couple of bad dreams that needed a tot of rum to remedy. He set into his regular glare, hands on his belt as he waited for Kieran to tell him what he wanted. If it was another plea for food, Arthur had half a mind to give him a clip round the ear.
"I, uh… I need the bathroom. Mary Beth usually takes me, but I don't…she's asleep and…." He seemed to be sweating, despite the chill, moonlit air, and Arthur sighed.
"I'll cut yer hand free and you can just whip it out." He growled, pulling out a knife, and Kieran paled.
Shaking violently, Kieran opened and closed his mouth a few times. "I-I need to go over there." He jerked his head over to the woods behind camp.
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "You haven't eaten in a week, O'Driscoll. You don't need a shit." He snarled. It was obviously a trick of some sort, to get Arthur to let him loose so he could escape and tell Colm where they were holed up.
Kieran lifted his chin, pinching his thighs together. "Ple-Please, Arthur, I really gotta go." He whined. "If I wet myself, it'll just add to how…how awful I stink." He mumbled, pressing his head against the tree and closing his eyes.
Arthur shook his head and grabbed Kieran's arm, roughly spinning him around to the other side of the tree. He took his knife and sawed through one of the ropes, freeing his right hand but not his left. "You're staying here." He growled. "Ain't letting you weasel away."
Kieran couldn't find the words to argue, his breath choppy, heart in his throat as he swallowed thickly. "Oh, god…." He whimpered, before unbuckling his pants. Arthur noted that he didn't just free himself and go, he let them slip around his ankles and tried to do an inelegant squat. It was then that Arthur saw why.
"What in the hell?" Arthur whispered, seeing the clear absence of something he thought should have been there. "Hold up, hang on." Before he knew what he was doing, he cut the rope entirely, and unholstered his gun as Kieran scrambled to pull his pants back up. "C'mon, be quick. No funny business." He grunted, waving his pistol.
Kieran nodded and darted around the back of a tree, and Arthur heard his sigh of relief, watching the edges of his form from around either side of the rough bark.
"...So, how'd you end up in that situation?" Arthur asked. "Someone cut it off?"
Kieran gave a breathy, nervous laugh as he reappeared, his face a picture of anxiety. "No, I actually, uh…" He rubbed his wrists, knowing he'd not have long before he was lashed to the tree again. "I never had one. Wish I did. A-Always wanted one." He looked at Arthur with fearful eyes, unable to stop his teeth chattering and his knees knocking as he obediently went back to stand by his tree. "Mammy always said I could be anything I wanted to be. She wanted me to be a seamstress. I wanted to be a man." As Arthur moved close to tie him up, Kieran shied away, gulping audibly. "P-Please don't hurt me…"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "What, 'cuz you was born with different parts, you think I'm gonna take offence?" He grumbled, making sure the knots were tight. "Ain't my business. O'Driscoll or not, everyone should be able to be who they are."
A choppy sigh of relief almost made Arthur smile. "O-Oh, thank you, sir." Kieran muttered. "You won't… That is…I don't want anyone else finding out."
Nodding, Arthur gave him a slight smile. "'Course. This don't mean I like you though." He gave him a pointed look. "I'd happily still slit your throat."
"I-I understand, sir!" Kieran gave a frantic nod.
"Good." Arthur looked toward the horses and clicked his tongue, watching his brindle thoroughbred walk over. He took two sugar cubes from his bag, pressing a flat hand to her nose so she could eat one, then looking at the other. Fingers still slimy with horse saliva, he pushed it to Kieran's lips, not quite sure why he was doing so. They were starving him. Though a single cube of sugar wouldn't do anything to sate him. He guessed it was just an apology for being brusque, watching the man immediately snatch it with his teeth without hesitation, as though worried Arthur would yank it away. He watched Arthur mount Persephone with wide eyes, unbelieving in the presence of the only kindness he'd been shown since Mary Beth had immediately accepted his gender.
As the horse left, Kieran let the sugar cube melt on his tongue, knowing the sweet taste would only make his terrible stomach pains worse, but hardly caring as he thought about Arthur, and how easily he acclimated to knowing his secret.
He smiled for the first time in a long while.
oOo
"Geld him."
The words made Kieran yelp with fear, twisting against his bindings. He watched Bill walk to the fire with a squeak of terror. "Wh-What's he doin'-- where's he goin'?!"
Dutch laughed, and Arthur - much to Kieran's horror - laughed too. "Oh, don't worry! They're only balls, boy!" He said as he moved down to grab Kieran's pants.
Arthur reached out a hand to stop Dutch before he yanked them down, still laughing. "C'mon, Dutch. Boy's gonna talk, surely."
Bill came back with the tongs, hot and red, snipping them together so sparks flew out onto the grass. "Get them pants down, let's see the little fellers!" He laughed, Kieran whimpering.
Dutch tried again, and Arthur stopped him once more. "Dutch."
"Damn it, Arthur, what's wrong with you?!" Dutch confronted him, but Arthur's eyes were on Kieran, dangerous and cold, urging him. Telling him that he wouldn't intervene a third time.
"Okay, okay! Listen!" Kieran yelped. "I know where O'Driscoll's holed up!" He was so relieved that he hadn't been found out that he almost couldn't get his words out, but the clip of the gelding tongs still echoed in his skull. He confessed Colm's location with his eyes squeezed tight, hearing Bill's groan of disappointment that he didn't get to emasculate him.
As Arthur untethered him from the tree and gave him a rough shove toward the horses, Kieran stumbled a little, looking at him with teary eyes. "Th-Thank you." He muttered, so only he could hear.
"Yeah, yeah." Arthur rolled his eyes. "Could'a been saved all that if you'd just told us." He grumbled, fishing an apple from his bag and tossing it to Kieran as he called John and Bill to join them on their ride to Six Point Cabin.
oOo
It was early evening when Arthur saw Hosea mixing herbs, watering them down and pouring them into a small tin cup over the fire. He watched with interest, wondering if he wasn't feeling too good, but he soon passed it to Kieran, who took it with a soft word of thanks. He was wrapped up in a blanket, leant against a log, his face pale. Well, paler than usual.
"What's all this?" Arthur asked, scratching the base of his neck as he sat on a chair, pouring himself a coffee.
Hosea put his things away, smiling. "Our new friend here isn't feeling too well. Just a little something for health, and to take the pain away." He pulled a sliver of bark from his bag and passed it to Kieran. "Chew this. It'll help too."
"O-Oh, you're too kind, Mr Matthews." He gave a weak smile, drinking the tonic with a face of disgust, then putting the bark between his back teeth to chew.
"Nonsense. I'm just kind enough for a man in my line of work." Hosea said as he sat, his knees making a crunch sound as he settled.
Arthur looked at Kieran quizzically. "So, what, you dyin' or something?"
Shaking his head, Kieran twiddled his thumbs. "J-Just, y'know…" He opened and closed his mouth a few times. "O-On the rag, for, uh, want of a better term."
Arthur's face melted into realisation and he nodded, sharing a look with Hosea, who seemed to be just fine with Kieran's situation. No doubt Hosea knew from the get go, being as perceptive as he was. "Ah. Well, I ain't too well-versed in that sorta stuff, but…" He rummaged in his satchel, before producing half a chocolate bar, offering it to Kieran. "Could ya make use of this?"
The way his face lit up could've warmed Arthur even if he was in Colter again, and Kieran thanked him profusely as he tore into it, gnawing on the chilled hard corner.
"I was telling Kieran earlier, I knew someone like him once. It's actually more common than people think." Hosea explained. "Wish I could tell you that you'll be safe if you tell the gang, but unfortunately my partner has some strange ideas about the company he keeps." He gave Kieran a pat on the shoulder before standing up. "Maybe once you're a little more liked, once you stop being Colm's boy and start being my boy."
As Hosea left, Kieran watched him go with nothing but love and adoration on his face. He glanced at Arthur and silently offered him a chunk of chocolate, seeming glad when he refused, continuing to gnaw on it.
"When did you know?" Arthur asked. "If it's not too personal a question."
Kieran shrugged. "Early on." He gestured to a slight scar on his cheek. "Pappy's razor when I was six. Wanted to be just like him. Cut me open, it did." He smiled into the flames, licking his lips of chocolate. "I-I just wanted to say, Arthur…thanks. Had my nose broken once, lost a tooth another time. People like to swing fists at things they don't understand."
"Ain't that the truth." Arthur nodded. "Don't mention it, anyway. You saved my life, makes us square."
Nodding with a grin, Kieran leant against the log, figuring he was pretty glad Arthur had hogtied him all those months back.