Work Text:
The spurs on Boothill’s heels are a loud indicator of his presence.
He can’t stop them from jingling and jangling with every step he takes, but his movements are calculated nonetheless. Careful to not use too much force when he isn’t “working,” acutely aware of his own surroundings thanks to his enhancements. He isn’t afraid to take a beating or several, though, his body and mind are proof of it. He can afford to be reckless, to be unapologetically rough when he needs to be.
Morgan, on the other hand, is both quiet and helplessly clumsy— humanly so.
Used to wearing boots two sizes too big when he was a kid, he stomps wherever he goes. The steel toes of work boots he refuses to let go of just yet are dented and scratched from all of the times he’s tripped over his own feet, his arms and legs riddled with scars and bruises he doesn’t even recall getting because he’s too absorbed in his work.
Outside of their space, anyone would guess that Boothill is the wild one and Morgan is his leash, and they’d be right. It’s a classic back and forth between a fool and a straight man when it comes to them. “Don’t drink the oil I give you, dummy,” countered with a “yer gonna get mad at me for bein’ thirsty ?”
When they’re alone, Morgan isn’t so clumsy. He takes his work seriously, especially when Boothill is his client, and so he’s mindful with how he handles him. There’s a certain sort of gentleness in the way he carefully pulls the cowboy’s metal casing open, how he reserves a more kinder tone for him as he fills the silence with what will be done next— “I’m tweakin’ your receptors a little”, “how do you feel? How’s your noggin?”
Boothill basks in the attention, in the fact that Morgan is like this with only him, as he always has been. It reminds him of home and, usually, he wouldn’t think much of it— can’t go back anymore— but it feels nice this time. Like he’s still human, just as clumsy and reserved as his sweetheart is.
“Fit as a fiddle thanks to you, sugar.”
Boothill can afford to be reckless. He can be rough and rowdy as much as he wants to be as a dead man walking, but right now he feels alive under the care of Morgan. More than ever.