Red Dead Redemption 2 - One Shots, Lemons and Imagines

Arthur Morgan: To Handsome to Be an Outlaw

(The reader meets Arthur who is being attacked by a cougar and they jump in to save the handsome outlaw. This is just a simple one shot, no lemon or smut present.)

Word Count: 1529

From the Reader's Point of View:

   The wild cat dragged the man by the arm, causing splatters of blood to spray on the ground surrounding him and the cougar. His hat flew onto the ground and as the cat sunk his teeth into his flesh, with him screaming and grunting as he punched the animal in the face to try and free his arm from its jaws. 

   Pulling my repeater from my saddle bag of my Ardennes horse, (H/N), I took aim and as I did, everything around me slowed. The animal's head swinging from side to side slowed as I aimed the barrel at the right eye and pulled the trigger, one, two and three times. As the final bullet entered it's orbital area, its locked jaws released their hold on the man's arm and he fell backwards on his bottom. Backing away from the now deceased animal, the man huffed and puffed, coughing only slightly as his gaze met my own. 

   "You alright, mister?" I asked as I dropped the repeater and bent to his side. "I'll be fine." He answered, but judging from the large bite wound and seemingly multiple gashes into his chest and stomach, I knew he wasn't fine. 

   I held the take that was in tact and brought him to his feet. "You're bleeding very badly, mister. Let me help you, come with me." I told him, leading him by the hand and bringing him to my horse, helping him onto the back before sitting in front of him. As I rode to my cabin, his own horse followed behind mine, his head trying its best to stay up right. "You alright, mister?" I asked repeatedly, needing an answer to be sure that he was still even conscious. I felt the blood from his arm dripping onto my thigh as he limply held onto my waist. Coughing a bit more then before, he stated, "I-I'll be fine." I was still seriously worried. As the ride grew longer and longer towards the cabin, the cough got worse and worse, along with the bleeding. 

   I urged (H/N) to ride faster, soon arriving at our small estate in the Heartlands. Hitching my steed to her post along with the man's, I helped him off of the back of the saddle. He held back several severe coughing fits as I assisted him up the three stairs, onto the porch and into the house. "Mind if I ask what your name is, mister?" I asked, helping him into the guest room just next door to my own. "Ar... Uh, Tacitus Kilgore." He answered, going blank for a second as he laid down on his back before giving his final answer. Giggling softly, I proceeded to the nightstand beside the bed and opened the top drawer. "Try that again for me." I requested. The man let out a long sigh. "Arthur Morgan, miss." I smiled at his final reply. Of course I knew who he was. The bounty on his head spoke volumes that he couldn't manage in his condition. 

   I pulled bandages from the drawer and began to bring over medicine and water to wash the wounds, along with wash clothes. I brought them to the top of the night stand and laid them out, then turned to him. Before even thinking of unbuttoning his shirt, I asked, "May I?" Arthur seemed to hesitate but remembered the wounds, nodding. I unbuttoned the trail of buttons and examined the wounds. There were small, superficial wounds surrounding one large gash underneath his chest. Wincing at the sight of the purple and red laceration, I decided to focus on the huge bite wound on his forearm before even wanting to sew that closed or wash it up and hurting him a bit. 

   I poured a bit of water and medicine into the wound, causing him to wince and grunt in pain. Other then those sounds and the several curses he let out, it was silent. "So... How'd you know I was lying? Bout my name, I mean." Arthur asked me, watching as I poured a bit more medicine and water on one of the clothes and dabbing the flesh with it. "Well," I started, before allowing him to give another pained grunt. "Beside the fact that you hesitated, almost said your real name before quickly remembering, that handsome face on those Wanted Posters stuck in my mind." I answered, smiling a bit and causing him to let out a hearty chuckle. "Handsome? Nah, you must be sick as well, no offense." Arthur replied as he smiled at me. I smiled back and wrapped the bandages around the wound, wrapping three thick layers to ensure the bleeding would stem. 

   "None taken. But still. For an outlaw, you ain't too bad." I smiled more, gently laying his forearm down and then focusing on the gash wound and scraps on his toned torso. Just as I had feared, another few coughs escaped from his lungs as I was about to drench another wash cloth in water and medicine. Keeping the wash cloth back, I waited for him to settle down. But as the coughs began to slightly intensify, Arthur began coughing on his fist, several drops of blood spraying on his skin. Oh no, I thought to myself. That cougar either seriously caught something serious, or he has something that I really can't help fix. 

   As Arthur settled down once more, he laid his head and shoulders back down against the pillow and groaned. "You alright?" I asked for maybe the millionth time in that single hour. He nodded, which signaled me to begin cleaning the germs from the wounds to prevent any infections from brewing and making his condition significantly worse. Luckily, the bleeding from his body wasn't as bad as the blood coming from his forearm, which was already making its best effort to stain the previously crisp, clean bandages. 

   As I finished cleaning the wounds, I motioned for him to sit up. Arthur proceeded to take his shirt off, fully exposing his perfectly toned upper body. Whoa, I thought to myself. For a seemingly sick and wanted man, he wasn't too bad at all. I felt a small blush rise to my cheeks as I wrapped the rest of the bandage roll around his body, underneath his pectorals and over his torn up abs. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a small blush rise to his face as well. I giggled softly. "Outlaws blush too?" I asked and he scoffed. "I do not blush, miss..." He answered but then proceeded to trail off at the realization he did not know my name. "(Y/F/N Y/L/N), Mr. Morgan." I answered and he shook his finger, looking away in an attempt cover the blush on his cheeks. "Yeah, right." I smiled wide at his response. 

   For what seemed like forever, I watched Arthur and kept an eye on the wounds. Meanwhile, he and I engaged in a conversation that might last with my memory for as long as I live. He told me about the gang he'd been riding with for the past twenty years, their lifestyle and he even told me about how they seemed to be crumbling, ever since he'd been diagnosed with one of the deadliest diseases that's been plaguing this country silently. 

   "Just because of the way you got this disease doesn't make you a bad man, Mr. Morgan." I told him honestly. "Miss (Y/L/N), I got this disease beating a sick man for a couple of dollars. His death caused his wife and son to move to one of the slimiest towns in the county and caused her to sell off her body to men for a couple of dollars. If that doesn't make me a bad man, and make me deserve this disease as a reward, I don't know what does." Arthur confessed to me, causing the blush that had surfaced on my cheeks earlier to fade quickly away and replace itself with no color at all. "And by the color your face is now, I reckon you no longer think of me as a handsome man in anyway." Arthur added, pulling his shirt back on and buttoning it up halfway. For some strange reason, something urged my right hand to reach and gently grab his wrist, causing him to stop looping the buttons through the holes of his shirt. The blush slowly rose to our cheeks once more. Still gently holding his injured arm, I leaned forward just a bit and gently pressed my lips against his, truly not caring if I would catch whatever he had. 

   Arthur seemed to be taken a back for just a simple second before relaxing and pressing back against my lips. The blush across my cheeks only intensified and after about a minute, I pulled my lips from his, a small giggle escaping from me. Arthur smiled wide before continuing to button up his shirt. Giggling once more, I thought to myself, Yep, too handsome to be an outlaw.