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

10: Midnight Stroll

"Please (Y/n)! It'll only take twenty minutes, thirty minutes tops." Tennessee begged.

"I don't care how fast you'll be, someone might see you." (Y/n) replied sternly while stubbornly blocking the door.

Ever since Tennessee had been able to walk around easily he had wanted to go outside. At first (Y/n) had allowed him to go out on to the back porch but  that wasn't enough for Tennessee. The outlaw had practically lived outdoors, it was understandable that he had grown restless after being kept inside for two weeks. (Y/n) had caught him trying to sneak out while he thought she was sleeping. Now they were at a bit of an impass.

(Y/n) refused to move away from the door until Tennessee decided to cut the crap and go to bed. Tennessee refused to go to bed until he got some fresh air and no, opening the window didn't count. Although he could have easily pushed (Y/n) out of the way Tennessee's morals wouldn't allow it. (Y/n) was a lady and no self-respecting cowboy would ever lay a hand on a lady.

"Ah sneak around places for a livin'," Tennessee argued, "Ah'm purdy sure nobody's gonna notice."

"You have a literal hole in your side, I'd imagine that would make sneaking around a little difficult."

"Ah can hardly feel it anymore, ah'll be fine." Tennessee insisted.

"You won't be fine if you reopen it, then we'll be back to square one and it'll be even longer before you can go outside again."

"Ah'm not gonna do anythin' crazy ah just wanna stretch my legs for a little while. It ain't nothin worth pitchin a fit over."

"Well you can do that next week, you should be fine by then."

"Ah don't think ah can stay cooped up in here fer another week without goin' crazy as a loon!"

(Y/n) pressed her lips together in a tight, thin line. This could go on for hours if they kept arguing like this. She sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Fine," (Y/n) relented, "you can go out."

Tennessee's face lit up.

"But," (Y/n) added, "only if I go with you to make sure you don't do anything stupid." She said, crossing her arms.

"Ya can't be serious."

"Those are the conditions, take em or leave em."

"Fine." Tennessee groaned.

(Y/n) stepped aside to let him pass. She followed Tennessee outside, silently praying that no one spotted them. Much to (Y/n)'s relief Tennessee started walking in a direction away from town. He seemed more interested in the slope a slight distance from (Y/n)'s house.

A strange, shrieking noise sounded in the distance, causing (Y/n) to jump. She glanced nervously in the direction of the sound, unsure how to react. Tennessee continued walking, unfazed.

"What was that?" (Y/n) whispered.

"What was what now?"

"That" (Y/n) hissed as she heard it again.

"A coyote? There's a few of em round here. They ain't gonna hurt ya if that's what yer worried bout."

"Are you sure?"

"They ain't too fond of people, unless they're feelin desperate Ah'm purdy sure them varmints'll leave us alone." Tennessee reassured.

Tennessee stopped just in front of the slope. (Y/n), assuming that they would head back to the house now, started walking in that direction. Tennessee apparently had different plans. Alerted by the crunch of rocks and dirt (Y/n) whipped around and watched in shocked horror as Tennessee scrambled over the slope. He dusted himself off, turned around, and offered to help (Y/n) up.

"What'd ah do?" Tennessee asked with mild confusion as he noticed (Y/n)'s reaction.

"In what world does scaling slope count as 'nothin crazy'?" (Y/n) hissed, "Are you trying to reopen your injuries?"

"Sakes alive*," Tennessee groaned, "It's a small slope it ain't that big of a deal."

"We'll see if it ' ain't that big of a deal' when you start bleeding all over the place." (Y/n) grumbled under her breath as Tennessee helped her up.

Tennessee walked over to a patch of ground and kneeled down to study the hoofprints in the dirt. He muttered something softly to himself before getting up an walking a little to the left. He stared at the ground, thinking hard. (Y/n) watched as Tennessee turned around and pointed an imaginary gun at some unseen threat.

"If Lightnin'was here and that fella was there.....and then ah turned around and..." Tennessee turned around and walked towards the slope and noticed a dark splotch on the ground. 

"What are you doing?" (Y/n) asked.

"Ah'm tryna figure out-AHA!" Tennessee exclaimed as he dug something out of the dirt and held it
triumphantly above his head.

(Y/n) squinted at the small object, trying to figure out what it was. It took her a moment to realize that it was a bullet.

"Ah was tryna figure out where ah was when them varmints shot me." Tennessee explained as he slipped the bullet into his shirt pocket.

"Is that why you wanted to come out here? Why on Earth would you want to know that?"

"The fact that ah didn't notice ah'd been shot has been botherin me ever since ah came to. Ah wanted ta know how long ah'd been runnin round with a hole in mah side." Tennessee explained, "That and ah'm mighty tired of sittin in the same room fer days on end."

Now that he was done investigating, Tennessee turned back to the slope. (Y/n) still couldn't figure out why he would want to return to the spot he'd been shot, especially since the incident had happened less than two weeks ago. Before she could dwell on it much longer (Y/n) noticed Tennessee had reached the slope and was staring at her mischievously. Once he was sure he had her attention Tennessee sat down at the top and smiled cheekily over his shoulder.

"Don't you dare." (Y/n) said sternly as she realized what he was up to.

The outlaw scooted forward slightly and leaned forward.

"If you reopen your injuries it won't be pleasant."

Tennessee planted his arms on the ground next him. (Y/n) watched in dismay as he slowly pushed himself forward before quickly sliding down the steep slope. Once he was at the bottom Tennessee stood up and shot (Y/n) a wide smile. (Y/n) pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Aside from giving me grief why would you do that?"

"It's called havin fun, you should try it sometime ah think ya might like it."

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*Sakes alive = for heaven sakes.

Sorry for posting this later than anticipated, my WiFi is currently down and I've been rationing out my data.

I honestly wasn't sure how to end this chapter so sorry if it was a little odd.

To celebrate 150+ reads I'll be including an illustration in the next chapter. I'll get it up as soon as this whole WiFi thing is resolved.

Thanks for reading this!
Love you guys!💛