Requested by @ConnorDonovan4
⚠️WARNING SPOILERS⚠️
~Plot-Line:
This is going to take place when Kieran is tied up to a tree and antagonized by the gang. The reader will be quietly be giving him table scraps and slowly improve their relationship. Things will start going well until the gang tries to go after Colm O'Driscoll...
~Relationship Status:
The reader and Kieran Duffy will start off as acquaintances and slowly build up their relationship as the oneshot goes on.
~Word Count:
3840
Okay, this is coming from me, does anyone just like, Love Kieran's eyes, or just me? The picture above makes them stand out so well.
Enjoy!
Y/N - Your Name
L/N - Your Last Name
——
It's the last day of being up in the Grizzles, after this few weeks of being suck in the cold, we'll finally be able to see the green grass once again! The gang packs up the last few items, and I make eye contact with Lenny. He nods his head towards the wagon, motioning me to ride shotgun. I walk quickly to the other side, and jump on.
"Away from the bitter cold!" He excitedly says, and urges the horses to move after the wagon in front of us.
"I'll finally be able to feel my nose! From how many run-ins we've had with the O'Driscoll's, I've yet to take a moment and warm up." I say as my hands feel my face, trying to warm it up. I was freezing, even with a warm coat on.
Lenny looks to me, "We'll be out of here shortly. It'll be too hot for these jackets soon enough." We hear a cough behind us in the wagon, and I look behind us. The member of our rival gang continues to cough and hack.
The O'Driscoll that Arthur seemed to capture was in the back of the wagon, freezing. I frown, having some sympathy. I take off my warm coat, and stand up, crawling into the back of the wagon.
"What are you doing, Y/N?" Lenny asks, looking over his shoulder as he drives the horses.
"Poor feller is gonna freeze to death. I'll be fine, we're almost out of here anyways. Unlike him, he might not live with no layers." The O'Driscoll looks at me, confused. I then give him the coat, he looks up at me, grateful. He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.
"Nah, it's fine. Thank me later, warm up." I crawl back into my seat next to Lenny. Soon, I see the grass again. I take a deep breath of the air, and let it all out. We hear a crash, and look behind us to see Hosea and Arthur cursing, the wagon wheel falling off.
Hosea waves off to us, "We'll catch up!" Lenny waves to him, and we wave back. Charles and Hosea hold up the wagon while Arthur helps put on the wheel.
"They'll be fine, Hosea knows where he's going." We get back onto the road, and drive into the Heartlands. We soon arrive at the place Dutch and Hosea were going off about.
Horseshoe Overlook it was called. We drive our wagons right onto the campsite, and we all start to unload our things.
Miss Grimshaw shouts and gives orders to us, telling us where things are going. Before we know it, we've turned this place into a camp.
I hear shouts, and groans and look to my left. I see Bill shoving the O'Driscoll to a tree, and tying him up. I couldn't help but feel bad from how poorly he's been treated. But from how much I hate Colm O'Driscoll, I can't really complain.
Dutch turns on his record player, and we all sing to the music being played. Everyone gathers around the campfire, even some of the gang standing up and dancing with some of the ladies.
Pearson then brings out a huge kettle, and shouts, "Time to eat!" We all cheer, and get our bowls to grab a few spoonfuls of stew. We all then gather around the campfire, and eat our stew. I take a few bites and then hear groaning behind me as I eat. Looking over my shoulder, I see the O'Driscoll. Out of pity, I stand up and walk up to him.
"You've got a name, besides O'Driscoll?" I ask, and he hangs his head, not wanting to look up.
"K-Kieran." His voice says, barely a whisper.
"Well Kieran, your in luck. I've got something for you. It might not be much, but enough for you to live." Kieran picks his head up, and sees the bowl in my hands. He then looks up to my face, and notices who I am.
"Y-You..." Grinning, I shake my head.
"It's fine, Just get better so we don't need to hear you moan and groan." I chuckle, and fed him with the fork in my hand. I would untie him, but I can't risk the chances of him running off or me getting yelled at.
Soon, he finishes the bowl. He looks atleast a bit better, and will live atleast another day.
"Just make sure to not give us trouble. I may seem nice, but that doesn't mean the others will be." I warn him, and he slowly nods. He then seems to close his eyes and fall asleep. I can't blame him, he's not doing the greatest at the moment.
I join back with the gang at the campfire, my bowl empty. I casually head to the meat wagon and drop off the bowl, not saying anything to anyone. Everyone seems to still be in a jolly mood, and seemed to not notice that I had slipped off for a bit.
I smoothly sit back in my seat, and join in everyone's joy. We had survived from the harsh winter up North, and we're now settled in the Heartlands, away from the Pinkertons.
——
In the morning, I wake up by hearing the birds peacefully chirp.
I sit up, and look around. It had seemed that no one was awake yet, looking to Kieran's spot on the tree, I see him looking around. We make eye contact, and I stand up, walking over.
"Need some water? Nobody's up, I'm not too worried about anyone seeing." Kieran widens his eyes, and gratefully accepts my offer. I once again walk over to the meat wagon and grab a water canteen.
I walk back over, and unscrew the canteen. Putting my fingers under his chin, I lift his head back. I then out the canteen to his lips, and he drinks out of it. His faces seems to look better within the first few sips of water, and I give him a second to breath.
I then give him the last few sips, and I look at him. "Better?"
He shakes his head, in disbelief. "T-Thank you, I mean it. I really do." I grin at him, and put the cap back onto the canteen. "Don't mention it. Literally."
He chuckles, and I head back to the meat wagon, and put the canteen back.
I turn on my heel and bump into someone. I gasp, and back up. Looking up, to my surprise, I see Arthur Morgan.
He grins down at me, and says, "So, that's where you ran off to last night." I see Kieran who's behind Arthur's back, still tied up. His eyes filled with fear as he watches Arthur confront me about giving food and water to the O'Driscoll.
I play it cool, and say, "I mean, he ain't gonna be too useful to you fellers if he's starving and dyin' of thirst." Arthur chuckles, his arms folding.
"You sure? You seemed pretty friendly about giving him water." I lose hope, and my shoulders sag.
He laughs, "Don't worry about it. It's the right thing to do, he's too scared to even try anything with us." Arthur pats my head, and then goes off towards the horses. I stand there with my eyes widen open, I had gotten away with feeding Kieran.
Well, I guess it's only because Arthur is such a good man. He does what he thinks is right. Me and Kieran make eye contact once more, and I turn on my heel, deciding I needed sometime to myself to think.
——
The days pass, and Arthur continues letting me feed Kieran. He's come out friendly with us, and telling us about the O'Driscoll gang. He says there was a camp of theirs not too far, and we could probably catch Colm O'Driscoll there if we all went.
Me and Kieran had soon became friends, and we shared times with our gangs. However, Kieran says that the O'Driscoll's never really had much thought of a family then we do. Here in our gang, we've always thought as all of us as family.
He's shared the encounters with Colm, and how many times he's seen Colm shoot his own gang members after stupid mistakes. Honestly, I can't say I'm surprised.
I'm actually on my way to feed Kieran when I hear a scream and laughter. I quickly run over, and see Bill antagonizing Kieran, slowly leaving a cut mark on his cheek. "Hey! Leave him alone!" I yell at Bill, who turns to me with his eyebrow raised.
"Oh c'mon! He's an O'Driscoll!" He yells at me, and puts his knife away from Kieran. Bill turns himself fully towards me, and looks furious.
"First of all, his name is Kieran. Second of all, that 'O'Driscoll' has given us valuable information on the whereabouts of Colm O'Driscoll. So, go ahead. Torture him, let's see what Dutch will say about getting a rid of a chance to end Colm." I state, and Bill's eyes widen, noticing what he almost did. He walks quickly over to Dutch, and tells him of the news.
Dutch looks to me, and then to Kieran. He shouts to me, "Untie him! We'll talk more about this! We've got some folk up at Valentine getting some supplies, they'll be back soon."
Kieran and I both sigh in relief, and I rush over. I take out my knife and unbind the rope tying his legs and arms to the tree. He stands up, and adjusts his wrists.
He looks to me, "T-Thank you. You've saved me from..." He points at Bill, who's in deep conversation with Dutch. "Him."
I grin at him, and then say, "That's Bill. He's usually nice, but to O'Driscolls? Forget it." Kieran shakes his head, "I'm not an O'Driscoll! Not anymore, atleast."
I shake my head at him, "You've gotta prove that to the gang. I might believe that, but the others don't."
He nods silently, and I then grab his arm, bringing him over to the table. I sit him down, and reach under the table for the box of dominoes.
I then place it on the table, and look at him. "Wanna play?" Kieran's eyes light up, and he becomes competitive. "Alright, ...?" He questions my name, and I smile at him, "Y/N."
"I've got to warn you, Y/N. I've got a competitive side to me. Prepare to lose!" Kieran's expression changes into a very happy expression, and I try to keep that expression on for as long as I can.
We unbox the dominos and split them between each other. I then set some of them off to the side, and we place our dominoes on our racks.
Kieran seems to easily get a head start in the game, and before I know it. We're at a tie, 3 dominoes each.
I hear someone's footprints and a hand on my shoulder. I look up and see Arthur. He looks at my dominoes, and then walks over to see Kieran's. Arthur chuckles and says, "My money's on Kieran. This kid's good at the game." I become worried, and I look down at my dominoes. I have nothing that can be placed and I draw a domino from the side, it not matching them. I look up at Kieran, who's laughing by my expression. He then quickly places all of his dominoes down, and wins the game.
Arthur claps Kieran on the back, and Kieran looks to me. He grins and says, "Good game. M-Maybe next time?"
I respond, "Anything to get a smile on your face. You should keep it, you look better smiling." I wasn't wrong. He looks much better when smiling.
Kieran smiles even brighter, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks.
——
A few hours pass, and everyone is back at camp. The sunsets, and we have our usual gathering at the campfire. Kieran joins us at the campfire this time, with his own bowl of stew.
Karan and Tilly start singing a song, and Javier plays his guitar, matching their voices. Everyone claps to the beat, and John gets up, grabbing Abigail's hand, asking her to dance.
Dutch asks Molly, who almost immediately accepts. Kieran slowly turns his head towards me, and asks, "W-Wanna dance?" His voice stutters as he asks, and he stands up. I with him, and we begin dancing to the beat.
Before I know it, everyone's up and singing. Smiles on everyone's face, Javier continuing to play his guitar, running his fingers on the strings of the guitar.
We were all so loud, I wouldn't be surprised if Valentine could hear us. But I don't think anyone cared, we were all having such a good time. There wasn't no name calling, no accusations, no fighting. It was all family time, we all were spending time together as a family. What Dutch wanted us to be.
Little Jack dances around the campfire, and Abigail spins him around. He giggles and clings to his mother's legs, and smiling brightly.
I look at Kieran, who's staring at me. He sees that I notice, and his face turns red. Grinning at him, I hold his hands. His face turns even redder, and I then wave his arms around, getting him to dance.
We smile at each other, and dance together as the stars twinkle above us all. Soon before we know it, we're all tired and exhausted from our excitement. Abigail puts Jack to bed, and is soon followed by Hosea.
One by one, we all go off in our own ways, hitting the hay.
Soon, it's just me and Kieran. I look at him and say, "You know, It was fun. Real fun. It's been awhile since we've all joined in together. Usually it's just Lenny and some of the ladies."
Kieran shakes his head, "You put me in high spirits today and you saved my life. Without you, I'd be a dead man by now." I laugh, and I agree. He'd probably be long gone without me, but let's not think about that. Soon, I then stand up and grab an extra cot off one of the wagons.
I walk back to him, and hold the cot out to him. "You've gotta be tired. C'mon, I've got extra space in my tent." I offer and walk to my tent, and Kieran follows.
He lays out the cot in the opposite side of my tent, and we both lay down.
"Night, Y/N." I hear, and I respond,
"Sleep well, Kieran."
We both dream off, and eventually get a goodnight's sleep.
——
The next morning, I wake up to see Dutch calling Kieran's name. I sit up, yawning. I look out my tent to see everyone rushing around and getting their horses ready.
I get up and out of my tent. I walk over to Dutch. "What's happening?" I ask, curious of the hustling.
He turns towards me, "Kieran said he's got a possible lead on where Colm is. We're going to take that chance and see if he's there." I nod, and then Dutch shouts, "Mount up, everyone! We're headed to get Colm O'Driscoll!"
Everyone mounts up, and Kieran takes the lead. We all urge our horses forward, and we ride away from camp.
I hear John speak up, "So, O'Driscoll, where the hell is this place?" He asks, his horse whinnying. It's mane blowing in rhythm with the wind.
Kieran speaks up, "S-Some place North, I've only been there a few times. But Colm used to stay in the cabin there for days upon days." He stutters before speaking again, the tone of his voice seeming nervous. "M-My Name is Kieran, and I'm not a damn O'Driscoll!" He states firmly.
Bill snaps at him, "Whatever you say, O'Driscoll."
We ride like the wind, and we're judged by Kieran. Our horses slow to a stop, and we all dismount.
"Be quiet, it might be best to not make any noise. Colm will up and run before we even reach the cabin." Kieran looks towards the cabin, which seems to be buzzing with noise.
Drunk men were scattered all over the camp, women pleasing the men, and empty gun shells everywhere.
I take out my knife, and look to Kieran. He nods towards an O'Driscoll in front of us. I run up, and wrap my arm around his neck. I then use my knife to silt his throat.
I drop his body, which gives a quiet, thump.
I crouch back down, and we move forward. Until I hear a shout, "Look! There's Van Der Linde's here! Boys, let's get em'!" Gunshots ring out everywhere, and we all take cover behind logs, wagons and trees.
We slowly push forward, taking our Colm's goons. I then run up to the cabin, and the door opens wide, a man tackles me, and holds a knife above my head. I try to push him off, but I struggle. I hear a gunshot, and the man above me goes still, and falls onto its side. Panting, I sit up. Kieran's eyes widen and he looks at me. I nod at him, and then grin.
I'm about to speak to him until I hear horse's galloping at the side of the cabin. I look up to see Colm and some of his gang escaping. I quickly act, and see a horse hitched at the side of the cabin.
I unhitch it, and jump on. I harshly use the stirrups, yelling at the horse to go faster. Gunshots from in front of me ring out, trying to hit me. I quickly move out of the way, and before I know it, I hear a loud scream from the horse I'm riding. The horse is shot, and loses it's balance.
We tumble down, and the horse lands on my legs. I scream out in pain, the horse ontop of my legs.
I try to push the horse, but it's body is too heavy for me. I then hear more horses, and look up to see them heading in my direction.
Someone shouts my name, and my vision blurs from the tears in my eyes. The pain starts to hit me, and my legs ache. I then feel the horse's body raised off my legs, and I'm yanked back. My mind snaps out of it, and I see Kieran helping me onto his horse. He then mounts up with me, and I wrap my arms around his torso to hold on.
We take off down the hill, and head back towards camp. I reach down to my legs, and feel them. They seem okay, but definitely bruised. Probably broken. Atleast I could still feel them, I could have been in worse condition.
I then wrap my other arm around Kieran's torso again, and put my head on his shoulder. I say, quietly, "Thank you.."
A blush creeps onto his face and he slightly turns his head, to look at me, "What for?"
I roll my eyes, "You just saved my ass twice. In a row!" I exclaim, and he chuckles. "I did what you probably would have did for me. Let's just hope your legs are okay." He says, and bites his lip. He seems nervous, and his eyes are narrowed.
I ignore it for now, and we ride back into camp. Dutch asks Miss Grimshaw to tend to me immediately, and the ladies swarm me, helping me off the horse. They help me to my tent, and they lay me down gently.
I groan in pain, and Mary-Beth feels my legs, asking where it hurt.
I explained to her the places that I felt pain, she gets other opinions of the other girls and come to the conclusion that I have a swollen ankle, and my toes were broken.
(This would probably do much more severe damage, but I decided to just make it a much happier ending.)
I've seen better days, but at least I'll heal. Mary-Beth, Tilly and Karen all leave my tent and inform the gang of my injuries. I lay back down, and put a hand on my forehead.
I felt stupid. I let Colm get away, and a horse fall on top of me. Then my tent opens up, and someone walks in.
Kieran looks at me as he walks in, his face filled with worry. "Your okay! Your okay!" He says, and practically dives down, hugging me. A puzzled expression appears on my face, but I hug him back without hesitation.
"I'm okay. I'll be good as new in a few days, just need to stay off my feet." I say, and I hear sniffling. My eyes widen, hearing him cry.
"What's wrong?" I ask, and he cries a bit harder but manages to spit out, "I thought it'd be much worse. I thought you'd lost your legs, and we wouldn't be able to play dominoes anymore... Or dance at the campfire with everyone."
I let out a laugh, and then another. I burst out with laughter. I push his shoulders back and say, "Even if I did loose my legs, that wouldn't stop me from trying to beat you in a game of dominoes. By the way, your ridiculously good at."
I then shrug my shoulders, "We live in a dangerous world. It's not the first time I've been hurt, or someone in the gang got hurt." Kieran somewhat agrees, and then I feel his forehead press against mine.
From how many times I've made him blush, it was my time to blush. The tips of my ears turn bright pink, and I smile at him. I felt sparks fly between us, and I place my hand on his.
Kieran smiles at me, and places a hand on my cheek. His face begins to turn a little red, and our eyes connect.
"I think I'll live another day." I say, grinning.
I feel our lips connect, and my eyes close. My face turns into a brighter red, and I wrap my arms around his neck. I feel Kieran smile against my lips and I then hear him say,
"You better."
——
Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!
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