Red Dead Redemption one shots

A little hunting trip

Still holding each other tight, Arthur's head resting against John's shoulder, the men were woken up in surprise by John's hungry stallion.
Neither acknowledged their position, shooting up and getting their clothes back on as fast they could.
Arthur lightly laughed "This big boy is really showing you a hard time ain't he?"

John chucked in response, he loved that horse too much to be mad, and didn't properly answer Arthur.
They exited the tent and Arthur watched as John cooed the stallion, giving in on his tantrum and feeding him the carrot he wanted. Arthur checked on Boaddicea, picking her hooves, and feeding her as well. He was thankful she was such a calm and contained horse, compared to the crazy Sampson, who despite having just been broken in a few months back, was much taller (and crazier) than any other gang horses. He thought he was the perfect match for its rider.

They took down the overnight camp quickly, deciding to head straight back to camp.
They were already halfway when Arthur's thoughts submerged again. He couldn't believe what had happened a few hours ago, especially the cuddling afterwards. He supposed it was better than fighting, but Arthur Morgan was no fairy, he thought to himself, clutching his reins.

On the other end of the road, John's mind was perfectly blank. He was staring at the horizon, counting how many wild animals he saw, to animate the long and boring trip. Arthur and him weren't talking again, and John was still sleepy, he would have rather been in bed (definitely not cuddled against Morgan) than riding first thing in the morning.
He tried to avoid thinking about how things had changed around camp too, seeing as how Dutch's behaviour towards him had shifted after he tried to address it.
Thinking about nothing was John's specialty, after all.

When they finally arrived, they were rewarded with baby Jack crying his guts out, throwing a tantrum for whatever reason. John sighed.
He tried to avoid being spotted, hiding behind Sampson, but Jack's crying got louder, which meant the person carrying him was approaching, fast. Next thing he knew, the baby was in his arms and Abigail was walking away, smoke and bottle in hand, not having said one word.

"Good luck with you father duty mister Marston, he's been crying like that for half an hour now" Hosea said, having sneaked up on the men to reunite with Arthur, walking too fast to be innocent of running away from the baby. John glared at the men, sighing.

Whenever he needed advice, everyone ran away from him. John had no idea of how to calm the baby! Even his annoyed stallion walked away, and John hadn't had the time to take his tack off. Oh well, he supposed he'd getter get Jack calm before anything else.
He pat his back, cradled, cooed the baby but nothing worked. The noise was getting insufferable and it had only been a few minutes. He tried everything he remembered the carers at the orphanage did to calm babies, when John was sneaking out to the rooftop. He cursed himself for not being attentive enough during this time yet still remembering the exact path he took every once and again. Of course 8yo John Marston would not give a damn about the nuns and the babies.

In despair, John hugged the boy and resumed gently stroking his back, and little Jack finally seemed to calm down. His little fists unclenched and tears dried.

Arthur was going back to his tent to nap for a bit, when Dutch asked him to go get John, to talk about the job.
It's not like Arthur wanted to avoid John, he was simply scared the other would be nervous around him, or that they would fight again. John was the problem, not Arthur, he was just being considerate.

He walked around, saluting and asking the gang members if they had seen him. Who knew a stinky cowboy with a crying baby in his arms would be so hard to find?
He found Abigail behind a tree, smoking heavily. She was annoyed when Arthur asked for her help. "Why would I know where that prick is? I'm not his mom!" He supposed the few moments of tranquillity where she got to be anything else than a mother were precious to her, and she didn't want to think about upsetting things during that time. Or anything concerning her husband.