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If Sean hadn’t of come along on that stagecoach job, it would of gone so much smoother. If the loudmouth bastard had kept his ego under control and his gun holstered for 5 minutes, then that job wouldn’t have involved the death of the driver and them having to hide in an abandoned fucking slave shack.
But, nonetheless, they got paid. And they got paid good; $320, shared equally between all 4 of them, with $40 going towards the camp from each of them and $40 for themselves.
So the day was going better than most, with Sean getting a smack round the head with his own stack of cash by Morgan and being sent off back to camp. Bill found the little Irish shit annoyingly amusing.
4 sets of hooves galloped into Clement’s Point, the riders pulling their steeds towards the hitching posts. Arthur jumped down off of his Appaloosa, Mariposa, and tipped his hat towards the other men. Bill, Sean and John following suit.
A good whiskey was in order.
Bill looked back over his shoulder, watching Kieran pat their horses necks and offer them sugar cubes or peppermints. Brown Jack jerked his head forwards and clamped his teeth on the boy’s hat and pull it off, making Kieran’s face light up and a smile spread across his face.
That boy was too sweet for this gang of conmen and murderers.
It had taken a month for Bill to finally admit it to himself. He really liked Kieran Duffy, too much for his own good. Kieran was kind, innocent and, in Bill’s personal opinion that he was pretty sure he shared with at least three other gang members, absolutely adorable.
When he had saved Arthur’s life up at Six Point Cabin, that was what made Bill’s knees weak and his mind foggy. The boy would do anything to protect anyone, wether that be a horse or the same people who threatened to geld him and kill him.
Bill Williamson was too far gone now to stop his untimely attraction. Not that he even wanted to stop it. And he was glad, he had started to be a little nicer to Kieran, picking things up from town for him, cleaning his own saddle for once and pretty much anything he could think of.
The man shook his head and dropped his bolt action rifle off at his bedroll before going to retrieve a well-needed whiskey from one of the crate. Bill sat an empty table, putting his feet up and took a long swig from his bottle.
Yeah, today had been better than he expected it to be.
“Hello, Marion...” Came a greasy voice from beside him. Spoke too soon.
God he fucking despised this bastard.
“Hello, Bell...” Bill mocked Micah’s tone, before taking another sip of his whiskey. Micah scoffed and walked round to sit right in Bill’s sight, blocking his view of the scout campfire and a certain person who was currently stroking Brown Jack’s mane.
“How have you been then, Bill?” Micah leaned back in his chair, a dirty smirk playing on his face. What was he doing? Bill grunted, leaving the question to hang in the air. It was silent for a moment before Micah spoke up again.
“How’s the O’Driscoll, then?” Bill stopped, and looked up past the brim of his hat. His heart beat sped up slightly. The blond outlaw noticed the effect of the latter question, and scoffed again.
“Sore, yet? Nah, what am I talkin’ ‘bout? He’s probably used to it.” Bill put his bottle down on the table, trying with all of his might to not hit it over the others head. “THATS probably why Colm kept him around. Entertaining the troops, I bet. Spending the night passing round a used whore like a cigarette...”
Bills hand curled into fist in his lap, he had to calm himself down or they would be burying Micah in just a few minutes. Micah laughed from across the table, he stood up and started to walk away.
“Maybe you could give me a go later, huh?”
Bill snarled and picked up the bottle and chucked it at the head of the man in front of him. It smashed on his head, leaving Bill a window of time to come round and punch him square on the nose. Micah fell to the ground with a muffled thud. Bill crouched over him and started to land a few well placed punches before Micah finally recovered. People started to gather as Micah wrapped his hands around Bill’s throat. Survival instincts kicked in as Bill brought his own hands to try and pry away the dirty hands. Micah quickly rolled them over, leaving him to finally land a punch. Bill could feel a split forming in his eyebrow and his lip.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?”
Micah was hastily dragged off of Bill by Charles and Arthur while he felt a par of gentle hands wrap around his arm. Kieran wasn’t looking at him as he helped him up, he watched Arthur and Charles hurl Micah away from them, blood coming from his nose and staining his teeth.
“Jesus, Bill, what was that?” Kieran finally said as he looked at him through his lashes. Bill sighed, how in gods name did he explain this outburst? Kieran crouched down and picked up Bill’s hat, he smiled as he handed it to him. That only made Bill forget the world around them and smile back at him. God when Kieran smiled it sounded like angels singing...
”What, do you always have your O’Driscoll-whore come and bail you out of fights?” Micah pushed past Arthur, only just getting caught by Charles before he could walk any further.
Bill glared at him and stepped forward, only just getting caught himself by Kieran’s hand being firmly pressed against his chest.
“I said...WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!” Dutch pushed passed the crowed and eyes the scene: Charles and Arthur holding back a bleeding Micah and Kieran with his hand on Bill’s chest, keeping him in place.
Things were silence once again, Arthur eyes the snarling blond and sighed.
“Micah was just bein’ an asshole, Dutch, ain’t nothin’ big.” Dutch eyed his son wearily before turning to Bill and then to Micah. He sighed before quickly dismissing the crowd. He walked up to Micah and said something to him, before turning and dismissing them as well. Kieran moved his hand from Bill’s chest and held his hat in his hands.
“What happened, Bill?” Dutch said in a low voice. Kieran stepped back slightly, allowing Bill to speak in hushed confidence.
“He-He was just bad-mouthin’ people, that’s all, Dutch.” Dutch nodded and looked over his shoulder before looking back. “Won’t happen again.” The black-haired man nodded again and patted Bill’s arm before walking back to his tent.
A gentle hand wrapped around Bill’s wrist and Kieran led him behind the food wagon. He motioned for Bill to sit on a crate, handed him his hat and collected a rag and dipped it in a bucket of freshly gathered water.
He came forward and started to dab at his split brow, it stung slightly but Bill was way too occupied by the man in front of him to care. Kieran wasn’t looking him in the eye but, GOD, were his eyes pretty. Reminded him of silver jewellery. Suddenly, Kieran’s free hand came and rested gingerly in Bill’s hair.
If Bill wasn’t already sat down, he would have passed out. This was the best moment of his life...
”T-Thank you...”
“For what?” Kieran stopped for a second and smiled at him.
Jesus...
”For stopping’ me, I woulda killed him...” Kieran continued with his work, moving to his companions lip. Williamson’s breath hitched as he felt the other mans breathe on his cheek. From the way they were positioned, they’re faces inches apart, either of them could easily inch forward and let their lips touch.
It was so easy...just a little bit...
“I woulda let you. I think we all would. He’s a pig...” Kieran stopped dabbing at his lip and they just...stared at each other. “What was h-he talkin’ about, anyway?” he quickly straightened up and put the rag back into the bucket.
What was Bill meant to say? ‘Oh, yeah, he was being an asshole towards you, so I defended your honour, my love!’, Bill Williamson wasn’t a knight in shining armour from Mary-Beths books. And he couldn’t seem to come up with a lie to cover him.
Fuck it.
”He was-was insulting you...I couldn’t just sit there and let him call you a whore-“ Bill stopped, he shouldn’t of gone that far into his tiling confession. He’s in deep now, no going back. “The bastard deserves it. And more! No way would I just let him stand there and talk shit ‘bout you!”
He heard Kieran take a deep breathe. He turned and his cheeks were stained a dusted pink.
“R-Really? You were...defending me?”
“Of course!”
They sat there for a minute, the whispered of the camp gossiping and the sound of the river lapping onto the shore seemed distant to them. Then, not even a sense of hesitation, Kieran came forward and pressed their lips together. It felt like their lips were on fire!
They moved together, letting the heat of the moment and Bill’s confession lead them. They explored each other with their hands; Bill’s landing on Kieran’s hips, dragging the boy down to sit on his lap and Kieran’s landed around Bill’s neck, helping them tug each other closer.
Soon, their lungs burnt and they needed air. They pulled apart, they were breathing hard and fast. They then burst into laughter and Micah and his hateful words were completely forgotten and replaced by something more...sweet.