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Lenny smiles when he sees Sean and Arthur returning to camp, but doesn’t stop carrying a haybale to the horse feeding station. Only when he spots Sean almost fall over as he climbs down from Ennis does Lenny worry, and he drops the haybale on the grass, rushing over.
And, just as he feared, he finds Sean injured. Slumped in Arthur’s grip (his quick thinking being the only thing that saved Sean from crashing to the ground), Sean has a nasty shiner, his eye swollen almost completely shut. But worse than that, Sean’s neck is encircled by ring of ugly, purple, hand-shaped bruises, and Lenny grimaces.
“What the hell happened to you?” Lenny asks, putting his hands on Sean’s shoulders.
“We got ambushed by Lemoyne Raiders,” Arthur says. He lets go of Sean, trusting Lenny to keep his wobbly sweetheart upright. “One of them crept up on us, and Sean got a rifle butt to the face.”
“Y-Yeah,” Sean says, his voice weak and scratchy. “Ol’ Morgan here didn’t notice, and next thing I knew, the fecker pinned me down and started ch-chokin’ me—” A tickly cough bursts out of him, and Sean winces.
“You should probably stop talking, Sean,” Lenny says.
“Nah, I-I’m fi—” Sean’s voice breaks like he’s going through puberty, clearing his hoarse throat.
“Watch out, boy, or you’ll lose your voice,” Arthur says, but then he smirks. “Although… I’m not sure that’d upset the rest of us too much.”
“Arthur, don’t tease him,” Lenny says, shaking his head at Sean to discourage him from talking back. Sean scowls, but settles with making an obscene hand gesture at Arthur.
Arthur chuckles. “Okay, okay, sorry. Y’know, I did kill the asshole when I saw him chokin’ Sean.”
“I know you did, Arthur,” Lenny says, smiling. For all they mess with each other, Lenny knows Arthur sees Sean as a younger brother. “And thanks, really, for bringin’ him back to me.”
“No problem, kid,” Arthur says, grinning back. “Go on and rest up, Sean. I’ll hitch Ennis for you.”
Sean nods, but immediately hisses in pain. Lenny winces in sympathy, wondering how much that hurt his sore neck.
Leaving Arthur with the horses, Lenny leads Sean into camp. He encourages Sean to sit at the nearest table, and says, “I’m gonna get Miss Grimshaw. Be right back.”
But before he leaves, Lenny leans down, giving Sean a quick kiss.