"By the Campfire" - RDR2 Oneshots

I'm Fine

Warnings: Severe Depression, Suicidal Thoughts and Tendencies

Characters: Arthur, Hosea

Pairing: Arthur & Hosea (platonic)

Concept: Pre-Canon

Arthur Morgan wasn't one to share his feelings, everyone knew that, and everyone accepted it. The man was one of a steel heart and easy face, something the older members of the gang knew was due to the way he'd grown up. That didn't stop people worrying about him, though.

Each member worried in their own way. Dutch gave Arthur a journal to keep his thoughts so he didn't have to keep them all in his head. Hosea bought him a set of pencils so he could draw with them instead of using a knife. Mrs. Grimshaw found him a satchel to put things he liked inside. Karen had stolen him a camera to take pictures of things he liked. John had made him a book to store those pictures of the things he liked.

Even in their own way, everyone worried. But over time, as the camp grew, the worrying lessened. People sometimes asked how he was getting on, and sometimes they'd ask him to come with them alone so they could see if there was any water under their foundation. Other than that, nobody worried.

Almost nobody.

Because Hosea worried.

Hosea had been there in the beginning when Arthur was at his worst. He'd witnessed the boy grow up trying to forget the abuse he'd endured as a child. He'd watched the man grow cold after Eliza and Isaac had died. He'd watched and noticed and knew. And he was still worried.

Years after everything, not any incident in site, Hosea Matthews saw that his son was not okay.

It came out of nowhere, or so he thought. One week Arthur was laughing and drinking by the fire and the next he was either off on his own or holed up in his tent. A mix of emotions had formed themselves in the young man's eyes. One moment it was hatred and anger, and the next it was sorrow and hurt.

Hosea first asked Dutch if he'd seen the change in their son. Of course he hadn't. For a man that could carry the world on his shoulders and shrug at him with the cockiest of smiles, he was an utter idiot. Never noticed a thing.

He then asked Mrs. Grimshaw. She'd noticed he was off but didn't seem too concerned. After all he'd had a cough not only a month ago.

After that Hosea asked several more gang members, and they all said they weren't worried because Arthur was the strongest of them all. Hosea would've smiled if he hadn't been so concerned.

Then he tried to talk to confront Arthur himself about the issue. Unsurprisingly the young man said he was fine, leaving Hosea annoyed and even more worried than before.

~

The days that followed he noticed Arthur getting worse. He stopped waking up at the crack of dawn, instead waking up after everyone had left to do their own business so, presumably, he could do his own. Hosea also noticed that Arthur's eyes had grown red and puffy around the edges, something that immediately set him on edge. The young man usually never cried.

The last thing that Hosea noticed was that Arthur spent more time in his journal, drawing with the pencils Hosea had bought him all that time ago.

"Arthur." Hosea sat down next to his son and leaned against the giant oak tree behind them.

"Hosea," Arthur replied as he closed his journal, hands placed protectively over it.

"What's wrong, son?" Hosea got a glance, but nothing more.

"Nothin's wrong. I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" This time Arthur's brows furrowed in irritation.

"I said I'm fine, Hosea. Stop askin'."