Dishes and Dirt

3

Wyatt entered the bar and got himself a drink. While he leaned up against the bar itself he surveyed the room and saw several shady faces. One of which he knew and thought he'd never have to see again. Sam Hendricks, with a face more ugly than an old mangled piece of leather, was a sight for sore eyes. He caught Wyatt's eye and sauntered towards him.

"Well, Wyatt Goings, I thought I'd never talk to you again."

"Hey, Sam," Wyatt said, "I see you're still living the low life."

"Well, me and the boys have a little operation taking place here today and I heard you were in town so, I thought I'd stop by."

"You better not try anything, you shitbag."

"C'mon, Wyatt, we were just wanting to have a little fun."

"Sure you are," Wyatt's hand moved to his gun.

Sam scoffs at this, "You just wait." He turned and looked at the shady faces in the crowd, "C'mon boys," The men all got out their pistols and pointed them at any of the given personnel in the bar. The patrons of the bar also got out their guns, it was a full out standoff. Sam pointed the gun at the bartender. He threw the bag that was attached to his belt at him using his gun to motion towards the cash box.

"Don't move a damn muscle, Bill," Wyatt said, turning his attention to Sam, "I really did hope you left this life. After all these years, you'd think a man'd get tired."

"You're joking." Sam smiled, a nasty sight, it was like he was getting ready to spit poison at them.

"One can dream, Sam." Wyatt said, smirking like a devil.

The first shot was fired. Then many more followed, some from the patrons, some from Sam's group.

"Someone go get John!" Wyatt yelled, jumping behind the counter. At this a man ran out of the madness to the jail. The bartender grabbed the gun under the bar and started at Sam.

Before John came some of the men on both sides were injured, including Wyatt. After this,Sam and his men retreated, and they went out shooting.

"We'll be back!" Was the last thing that Wyatt heard.

Wyatt got up from his place behind the bar, holding his arm, and yelled, "Who all here is hurt?" Two or three of the men replied, limping their way over to Wyatt. John made his way into the bar while this was going on and saw Wyatt. He looked down at where Wyatt was holding his arm, blood was seeping out under his grip. John's face went white.

"What happened here?" John asked, worriedly.

"Never mind that we gotta get these men to the doctor." Wyatt replied. John nodded quickly and helped Wyatt grab the other men and made their way to the infantry. The doctors and nurses tended to the other men in the room and that left Wyatt, still holding the wound on his arm.

John walked up to him and said, "You're hurt," he covered Wyatt's hand with his own, trying to pry his hand off, "Let me see." Wyatt removed his hand to reveal a small part of his arm that was bleeding.

"I just got grazed, nothing much." There was hurt in John's face.

"C'mere," He pulled Wyatt into an unoccupied bed, "Stay there." He ran off to go get something, presumably medical supplies, and left Wyatt thinking. Why was John being nice to him all of a sudden? Why did he look worried? His thoughts were interrupted by the reappearance of John. He dropped the medical supplies he was holding next to Wyatt and sat down beside him.

"Would you move your shirt out of the way, please?" Wyatt unbuttoned his shirt and pulled his arm out of the sleeve to reveal the muscle underneath. John's eyes followed his hands as he did so. For a second glancing down at his chest too. He quickly averted his gaze and occupied himself with cotton and gauze. "So how did this all happen?"

"Well, it's a short story really. Sam and bunch came by and I guess they wanted to rob the bar." He left out the part about Sam knowing where he was. The warmth from John's hands slipped through the bandages being wrapped around Wyatt's arm. He leaned into the touch. John seemed to notice this and let his fingers travel above the bandages slightly, footsteps were heard coming towards them and John pulled away quickly. It was one of the doctor's assistants.

"Well, it's not looking too good. Some of the men will be fine, others not so much. But, overall, I think we'll be fine."

"Ok, thank you," John murmured. When the man left John leaned into Wyatt, Wyatt leaned back. Wyatt didn't know what John was feeling at that moment but he knew John loved the old town he inhabited, all the people in it too, and losing anyone would be grave. Wyatt wrapped his arm around John, pulling him in closer. Surprisingly, John didn't reject it. They stayed like that for a bit, not even talking. When John finally got up he said, "You'll want to change those bandages every so often. Don't want to get an infection."

"Okay, thanks," Wyatt looked up at him, "A lot."

That night John made a fire a little far off behind the hotel and sat outside while Wyatt and Mrs. Danbury ate inside.

"I haven't seen him like this in a while," said Mrs. Danbury, her head tilted to her plate, "It's been years."

"I'm gonna go out and take some food to him." Wyatt said as he got up. He grabbed a plate of food and made his way out.

He found John staring into the fire absently. He looked empty, tired. Even though he didn't show it on his face, Wyatt knew John was worried.

"Hey," He said softly, "I got you some food." He sat down beside him.

"Thanks," John said. He looked to be somewhere miles away. He felt so far off, so much so that if Wyatt reached out he wasn't sure that he'd touch him.

John spoke in a quiet tone, "Y'know when you came 'round I thought you were just another one of those rodeo boys that got into our town to be a big fish in a small pond. Just stir everything up and leave right after. But, you're different. You help out so much. I hate to say I was wrong about you. You're not bad at all, you're.... Amazing. You care. You care so much and I can't even imagine where this town would be without you right now. You've changed this town, these people, hell, you've even changed a stubborn bastard like me." The funny part of it all was that he was sincere, the statement was a pure unfiltered confession. It left Wyatt awestruck.

"I don't know what to say, John," John covered Wyatt's hand with his own, "I can't put it into words, how I feel about you, although I must say its not bad." They were close now, closer than they'd ever been. It was, then again, quiet. John looked up at Wyatt and held his gaze. They were breathing each other's air. Wyatt lifted his hand to John's face and his thumb circled his cheekbone. John glanced down at Wyatt's lips then up again. Wyatt leaned in and closed the space between them. John's lips were soft under his gentleness. Once they parted John distanced himself from Wyatt. He was quiet again.

"Let's go back to the house," Wyatt said quietly. He pulled John up and then. They put out the fire

He pulled John up and they put out the fire.

Mrs. Danbury was already asleep when they got to the house. Wyatt followed John to his room and locked the door behind them. Wyatt took off his hat then John's. John started to unbutton Wyatt's shirt, fingers gently fiddling with the buttons as they made their way down. At the point where his shirt was half way open John ran his fingers up and down the planes of Wyatt's abs, savoring each ridge and dimple he came across.

"Is this okay?" He asked, looking up at Wyatt with his big brown eyes.

"Better than," Wyatt replied in an exhale.

John pulled off his shirt and ran his hands up Wyatts back and kissed him again. Wyatt took his hands to the top of John's shirt and started to unbutton it. Once he got it open he was greeted with a torso full of scars.

"Oh," Wyatt whispered.

"Yeah," John said, "You don't really get to have a good body in my field."

"What do ya mean," He ran his fingers over his scars, "You're beautiful."

Wyatt got on his knees and started kissing the scars. John's hand found its way to Wyatt's hair as Wyatt made his way down the hair leading under the seam of John's jeans.

They finished undressing each other down to the under garments and after that they fell asleep, wrapped in each other's arms.