Red River Valley: A Tennessee "Kid" Cooper x reader fanfic (on Hiatus)

8: The Old, Red Harmonica

The video attached to this chapter is meant to be played at a specific part. Obviously I can't stop you from doing otherwise but please keep this in mind.

Once (Y/n) was certain Tennessee would be fine by himself for a little while, she had decided to go check on his horse. (Y/n) pulled open the barn door and spotted the horse in a previously empty stall. The first thing she did was remove all of the horse tack.

It took her a minute to figure out how to undo all the straps and buckles but eventually she managed to do so. That was also when she learned that saddles are a lot heavier than they look. After a lot of struggling the horse  was finally free from all of the heavy, leather equipment. (Y/n) took a moment to catch her breath before fetching some water and feed for the creature.

Once the horse was taken care of (Y/n) turned her attention to the things attached to the saddle. She managed to detach the saddle bag and briefly thought about going through it. She ultimately decided against this and opted to just bring it to Tennessee instead. That proved to be a struggle in and of itself.

After awkwardly carrying the heavy bag all the way back to the house and up the stairs (Y/n) knocked lightly on Tennessee's door to announce her presence. Tennessee looked up in surprise and immediately noticed the saddle bag (Y/n) was struggling to hold.

"Where did ya find that?"

"On your horse, I figured that you'd like to have it back." (Y/n) wheezed as she carried it over to him.

"Ya found Lightnin'?"

"He wandered over here, I didn't have to look very hard."

She set the bag down on the chair she had brought up earlier. Tennessee immediately started rummaging through the bag, checking to make sure everything was still there. He let out a loud sigh of relief and pulled a large, old looking, red leather bound book and held it close. (Y/n) could see the words "Thievius Raccoonus" scrawled across the front cover in gold lettering. She didn't know what that meant but apparently it was important to Tennessee.

Another thing Tennessee was very happy to see again was a worn looking, red harmonica. He turned it over in his hands repeatedly, a relieved, happy, smile on his face. Engraved on the bottom were the initials; H.F.C.

"Do you play at all?" (Y/n) asked curiously.

"A little, ah don't know a whole lotta songs. Ah like to make it up as ah go sometimes." Tennessee replied, giving the instrument an experimental fweet. "Ah do know one though, mah Pa taught it to me when ah was still a tiny little critter."

"Really, can you play it for me? If you don't mind that is." (Y/n) added quickly.

Tennessee chuckled softly before raising the instrument to his lips. (Y/n) leaned forward and listened as he began to play. (0:00-1:09)

(Y/n) studied his face as he played, his eyes were closed and he wore a relaxed expression.  He swayed slightly with the melody, nothing too extreme though. After a little while he stopped and set the harmonica on his lap, smiling nostalgically.

"That was lovely," (Y/n) smiled softly, "what song is that?"

"Thank ya kindly," Tennessee said with a smile, "it's called Red River Valley, my Pa used to play it for me all the time when ah was younger." He chuckled quietly to himself, "Ah used ta beg him ta play it fer me whenever the opportunity arose. Eventually he decided that ifin ah liked it so much he outta teach me how to play so ah could listen to it whenever ah'd like to. We couldn't afford another harmonica so he decided ta give me his."

"Are those his initials?" (Y/n) asked, gesturing to the letters engraved on the bottom of the instrument. "H.F.C.?"

"Sure are. They stand fer Huckleberry Flynn Cooper. Odd name, Ah know. He preferred that people called him 'Huck' instead a Huckleberry."

"I see, where is he now?"

"Dead." Tennessee stated.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, besides," Tennessee added dully, "He's been gone a long time now."

"Oh......" (Y/n) trailed off, not sure how to respond to that.

An awkward silence hung in the air as
(Y/n) tried to find something to say. Tennessee stared down at the harmonica in his hands, his mind somewhere else entirely. After a few more seconds of silence (Y/n) decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry if I brought up some bad memories, I'll leave you alone now."

Tennessee nodded absently, still focused on something else. Just as she was about to leave the room (Y/n) paused and looked back at Tennessee.

"It really is a lovely song," (Y/n) gently remarked, "thank you for sharing it with me. "

As she left the room (Y/n) could have sworn she saw Tennessee smile slightly.

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Two chapters in one day I am killing it! The next chapter should be up within the next three days. I say that because that's usually how long it takes me. Times honestly vary depending on how inspired I am at the moment.

As always thank you for reading this and I love you guys! 💛