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Micah hasn’t slept in days, and he wouldn’t say that’s Bill’s fault… except it is. Bill knows that Micah can’t sleep without Bill’s body against his own (being cuddled keeps the nightmares away, but he’d rather die than admit that), and yet Bill has been gone for three goddamn days, off on a job with Javier. Well, at least they said it’s a job.
But Micah doesn’t believe them anymore. So tired his head hurts, he finds himself wondering if it was all a lie, and they went off to have some fun together. Paranoid and jealous, Micah soon convinces himself that Bill is cheating on him with that Mexican pretty boy. After all, they’re suspiciously close when Javier isn’t threatening to slit Bill’s throat (because Bill got drunk and said something cruel again, whilst Micah laughed at his lover’s predicament, because even Micah isn’t stupid enough to repeatedly antagonize Javier after Javier punched him around the face that time), and Javier is far more handsome than Micah could ever hope to be.
And, with this knowledge swirling through his groggy mind, Micah grabs several bottles of beer and sits at the scout fire, wanting to drink until he finally falls asleep. Because if he’s got booze, he doesn’t need Bill to help him sleep.
But even as he drinks, Micah finds himself unable to drop off, his jealousy getting worse with every gulp of beer. Too stressed to sleep, he just keeps drinking, needing Bill to return and explain himself.
Later that evening, a thoroughly drunk Micah notices Boaz and Brown Jack trotting into Shady Belle. He stands up, everything spinning and his vision blurring, dropping his latest bottle onto the dirt in his haste to rush towards them. Micah pounces on Bill and Javier at the hitching posts, folding his arms and glaring at the pair.
“Oh, hey, Micah,” Bill says, but his smile soon fades. “You okay?”
“Not really, Marion, no,” Micah says, slurring so badly that his words run together. Stepping closer, he pokes Bill in the chest, muttering, “Had a goooooood time, did ya? Good lie, y’know, tellin’ everyone yer out robbin’ when, when yer actually out fuckin’ yer new fancy man,” he spits, pointing at Javier.
“What the hell?” Javier says.
Bill stares at him, puzzled. “Micah, are ya drunk?”
“Don’t change the subject. I know what yooooou’ve been doin’. Is he a better lay than me, Marion, s’that it?”
Javier and Bill stare at each other, before looking back to Micah. And then, to Micah’s overwhelming confusion, they begin to laugh.
Heat rushing to his face, Micah splutters, “Wh-What’s so funny, assholes?”
“You, you think I’m cheatin’ on you with Javier?” Bill says, laughing harder.
“W-Well, obviously, yeah,” Micah says, beginning to wonder if he made a mistake. Simmering with embarrassment, he bites his lip.
Bill hooks his arm around Javier’s neck, tugging Javier close enough to ruffle Javier’s hair. As Javier scrabbles to get free, snapping at Bill to quit ruining his hair, Bill says, “We’re brothers, Micah. Morgan and Marston are my brothers too, but especially this guy. We ain’t in love. Ain’t nothin’ like that. I promise.”
Finally escaping Bill’s grasp, Javier bends down to grab his fallen hat, setting it back on his messy hair. Muttering something in Spanish at Bill (Micah can’t speak Spanish, but even he can tell it’s a swearword), Javier says, “Besides, if he was gonna cheat on you with anyone, he’d choose someone who likes men, idiota.”
Micah frowns, tilting his head. “But I, I thought you—”
“You thought I like men ‘cause I dress nicely?” Javier says, laughing again (and Micah resists the urge to punch him). “You’re a fool, Bell. But for the record, I don’t like the ladies either. None of that shit interests me. So, I’m definitely the wrong person for your sweetheart to cheat on you with.”
Bill grimaces when Javier says the word ‘sweetheart’, shoving Javier and muttering, “Shut up…”
“Aw, did I embarrass you?” Javier teases, shoving him back.
“Fuck off, Javier,” Bill says. Turning to Micah, he adds, “See what I mean? There’s nothin’ to be jealous about—”
“I ain’t jealous, Marion,” Micah says.
As both he and Javier snort, Bill grabs Micah’s hand and says, “Yeah, you are. C’mon, come with me, Micah.”
And before Micah can resist, Bill drags him into the woods north of camp. Watching Bill take him somewhere secluded, Micah grins like a pervert, certain that Bill wants to make it up to him. So, when Bill stops by a tree, Micah wastes no time in grabbing Bill’s waistband, smashing their lips together.
But Bill pushes Micah off him (he’s always been stronger than Micah, and that’s not when Micah is drunk off his ass), wrapping an arm around Micah when he stumbles.
“Huh?” Micah mumbles, confused.
“We ain’t fuckin’, Micah,” Bill says. “Lookit you. Just… c’mere.”
And Bill sits down, dragging Micah with him. Dizzy from the booze, barely able to see straight, Micah groans, feeling sick as Bill yanks him to the ground. He screws his eyes up, and when everything stops spinning, Micah opens them to find Bill sat against the tree, Micah resting sideways across his lap. A burp escapes him, so goddamn drunk, but Bill just chuckles.
Slipping his arms around Micah, Bill cuddles him, encouraging Micah to lean sideways until his head rests on Bill’s shoulder. He kisses Micah’s forehead, soft and tender, and says, “You didn’t needta get all worried, Micah. You’re the man for me.”
Trying to kiss Bill but headbutting him in the process, Micah goes even redder with embarrassment, too drunk to kiss his lover properly. Humiliated by the state he got himself into, he mumbles, “Really?”
“Sure thing. I… I love ya, Bell,” Bill says. He must be embarrassed too, his own cheeks flushing. “Even though you’re a drunk bastard.”
“Takes one to know one…” Micah says, his voice sing-song.
“Hey! I’m tryin’ to be nice, asshole!”
“Okay, okay, ‘m sorry.” Micah giggles until he snorts. “Love ya too, Marion…”
Bill chuckles, kissing his cheek (Micah would prefer a hard kiss on the lips, but he assumes that Bill doesn’t want to make out with a man who can barely sit upright). “I ain’t goin’ nowhere, Mike.”
Micah grins, always loving the nickname. “Thanks, sweetheart…” he mumbles, yawning.
And as he relaxes on Bill’s lap, his lover’s arms around him, grateful that Bill isn’t cheating on him (and he still loves Micah after that outburst), Micah’s tired eyes close. Drunk, sleep deprived and very comfortable, Micah’s head lolls…
And only seconds later, he finally drifts into desperately needed sleep.
Curious if Bill and Micah have made up or straight-up murdered each other, Javier follows after his brother and his brother’s asshole of a lover. With Micah in such a state, he knows that he won’t walk in on them fucking (he once found Micah on his knees for Bill, and Javier was scarred for life), so it’s safe to approach.
But he doesn’t find them arguing, or even having a conversation. Instead, Javier sees a hilarious scene. Bill sits on the ground, his back against a tree, with Micah slumped across his lap. A snore confirms that Micah is asleep, his head resting on Bill’s shoulder as Bill’s arms loop around Micah’s body, holding them close together.
“Having fun there, Bill?” Javier says, grinning. When Bill glances away, obviously embarrassed, Javier’s grin broadens, needing some revenge for Bill ruining his hair earlier. “Enjoying being Micah’s bed?”
“Fuck off, Javi,” Bill says, but he keeps his voice quiet, obviously trying not to wake Micah.
And despite how much he wants to tease Bill, Javier finds the sight of his brother cuddling his partner rather sweet. He doesn’t understand romance at all, and he has no idea what his brother sees in Micah Bell, but Micah looked like he hasn’t slept in days when he argued with Bill, so it’s weirdly nice to see the bastard finally asleep. And the sight of Bill being used as Micah’s bed is almost cute.
Shit, if only I had a camera, Javier thinks, longing to capture a snapshot of the sweet scene (which he totally wouldn’t use to humiliate Bill in front of the others).
“You’re cute together, brother,” he teases, voicing his thoughts purely to annoy Bill.
And it works. Flushing red in embarrassment, Bill splutters, “W-We ain’t cute, Javier.”
But his sleeping lover betrays him, mumbling, “Marion…” in his sleep in the softest tone Javier has ever heard Micah use, a sweet smile on his sleeping face.
And Javier raises his eyebrows, amused that a sleeping Micah helped him embarrass his brother.
“Oh, just get lost,” Bill grumbles, but he’s smirking. “We ain’t cute.”
“Keep telling yourself that, hermano,” Javier says, walking away.
But when Bill thinks Javier is out of his sight, Javier spots Bill gently stroking his fingers through Micah’s hair. He smiles as he does so, and Micah makes a contented groaning sound in his sleep, snuggling closer.
Sappy fool, he thinks, smiling.
And then it occurs to him that he and Bill never turned in their earnings, and with Bill currently… indisposed, the task falls to Javier. So, leaving those two idiots to cuddle in the woods, Javier returns to Shady Belle, ready to tell Arthur and John about what their brother is doing.
(And if those two later go to take a look, finding Bill asleep too, and they use Arthur’s camera to take a photograph… well, Javier can’t be held responsible for the chaos that might cause.)