Hosea Matthews X Female Reader
Summary: After so long of not seeing each other, you and Hosea finally meet again.
Word Count: 2690
A long time has past since Hosea left your house with Dutch van der Linde, you hadn't seen him since. Hosea had been back to the town you live near but he obeyed your wishes and never visited you.
The gang had grown a little since Hosea left with Dutch. A woman called Susan Grimshaw had joined them and a young man named Arthur Morgan had joined the ranks as well. Hosea still thought about you a lot. He knew that he made his choice and left with Dutch, he knew at the time that it was goodbye. Admittedly, he hadn't expected you to tell him never to visit you and to stay away from you but he couldn't blame you for it. When ever he was near your house he wanted to visit you but he knew that you didn't want him too so he stayed away. He had seen you in town once and it broke his heart. Some times he wished that he had stayed with you but this gang had already become his family. Hosea still loved you, more than anything. He knew that if he ever saw you again, he wouldn't be able to leave you again.
Your father had passed away so you left your house behind, deciding to go out on your own as a con-woman and criminal. You worked alone and you were happy like that, at least for now. Of course you still thought about Hosea every now and again. You loved him and you still love him, you hadn't met any other man that could compare. You just kept telling yourself that you had to give yourself more time for your feelings to fade away. You were never going to see Hosea again, you didn't even know where he was now. A part of you didn't even want to see him again. He made his choice and he left you. You accepted that but you couldn't deny that you still had feelings for him.
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You had travelled far from your home, getting away from the town and the people who knew you. You spent most of your nights in temporary camps or paying for rooms in hotels or saloons, it wasn't ideal but you were getting by.
You left your room in the saloon and walked down the stairs, towards the bar. You looked around and saw a young man sitting at the bar, ordering a drink. He didn't quite look like he belonged here, he was definitely just passing through or here for some sort of work. You decided that he would make a decent target for the morning. You straightened out your skirt before wandering over to him but before you could get to him another man joined him.
This man was dressed a little nicer than the younger one, and his black hair was slicked back against his head but you couldn't see his face. You shrugged, deciding to just find some money somewhere else. Before you could turn around and walk away the new man turned to you. You froze slightly, you never thought that you would see him again.
But there he sat, Dutch van der Linde. When he saw you he furrowed his brow at you like he was trying to remember your face or where he knew you from. Once he seemed to remember his face lit up with a charming smile.
You turned to leave but he spoke up. "Excuse me, Miss. Can we get you a drink?" Dutch asked as he stood up from the bar and walked towards you, followed by the younger man, who looked a little confused.
"No, you can't" you shook your head and continued to walk away.
"Miss L/N, I understand that I probably didn't make the best first impression so please allow me to make a second" Dutch pushed, still following behind you.
"Mr van der Linde, there is no need to do that" you sighed as you turned around to face him, crossing your arms over your chest.
"Hosea is with us, he is going to meet us here" he told you, it was obvious that he was trying to get you to stay so that you could reunite with Hosea. The truth was that Dutch could see that Hosea clearly missed you, even after all this time, and Dutch actually felt guilty for being the thing that got between you both. He felt as if he had to make things right again and this was the perfect opportunity.
"Then I suppose I should get out of here" you shrugged, beginning to walk away again. You noticed the younger man watching you both with a confused expression.
"You don't want to speak to him?" Dutch asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. You sighed and turned back to him. You refused to cry in front of Hosea when he left and you would try to keep a level head now. The sooner you got away from here, the better.
"No, I don't. I made that very clear the last time I saw him. You should remember, you were there" you smiled, sarcastically sweet, as you stopped to talk to them.
"Alright...well...this is Arthur Morgan, a mutual friend of ours" Dutch nodded before introducing you to the young man that was stood beside him, the young man who nodded politely at you.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr Morgan" you smiled at him, there was no reason to be anything other then polite to him. You assumed that he was a new member of the gang that Hosea had been talking about.
"You too...I'm sorry, I have to ask because Dutch hasn't explained anything to me. You are Y/N L/N?" Arthur smiled and asked you, like he already knew your name or knew who you were.
"Uh, yes" you nodded, your face falling back into a confused expression.
"Hosea-" Arthur began to explain but was interrupted by the saloon doors opening. The three of you turned your attention to the door and saw Hosea walking in. Arthur shifted uncomfortably while Dutch look between you and the man in the door way.
As soon as you looked in his direction, your gaze met Hosea's. You held each other's gaze for a moment. You hadn't seen him for so long and you actually thought that you would never see him again, it's like everything just came rushing back to you. Hosea just stared back, the last thing he expected to see when he walked through those doors was you. He didn't know how to react, he never thought that he would see you again. He had thought about what he would say to you if he ever saw you again a million times but nothing could prepare him for it really happening. He didn't know what to say.
Dutch patted Arthur's shoulder and nodded towards the bar, Arthur just nodded back at him before they both walked over to the bar. You snapped out of your trance and turned away from Hosea and the other two men. You began to walk away and that snapped Hosea into action. He walked away from you once and he couldn't watch you walk away. Hosea gently grabbed your wrist and turned you back round to face him.
Hosea new that he had to act fast but now that you were standing in front of him he had no idea what to say. "What are you doing here?" he asked, instantly regretting his choice of words. Out of all those things he could say...he chose that?
You opened your mouth to say something but sighed when you noticed Dutch and Arthur watching you from the bar. "Uh, let's talk in my room. You friends are listening to us" you sighed as you turned around and began to walk towards the stairs. Hosea just nodded, relieved and thankful that you were even willing to talk to him. He followed you up to your room and stepped in side, letting you close the door behind him.
"What are you doing here?" Hosea asked again, still not knowing what to sat to you. He expected you to shout at him and curse his name because that's what you should do. He knew that he deserved it.
"My father passed away...so I left. Now I'm just travelling around" you told him, assuming that he wanted to know what happened since he left rather than why you were staying at this saloon.
"I'm so sorry, I should've been there with you" he sighed, shaking his head as he looked down at his feet, ashamed.
"But you weren't" you shrugged. What happened, happened. There was nothing anyone could do to change that now. "Look, Hosea...I don't care that you weren't there to help me through it. You left and that's okay. You made your choice" you sighed, you weren't going to argue with him about this.
"I missed you..." Hosea admitted, his voice breaking towards the end as he looked at you with sadness in his eyes.
You couldn't help but return his sad gaze, of course you missed him too. "I missed you too but we both went our separate ways" you told him as you stepped towards him, trying to compare his face to how you remembered it.
"I didn't want to go separate ways" he shook his head as he took a step closer to you. All he wanted was to hold you in his arms again but he knew that you would just reject him, and he wouldn't blame you at all.
"Yes you did!" you shouted, surprising you both. You finally let your anger and sadness show. Hosea flinched slightly at your outburst, not speaking as he watched you try to calm yourself down. "You did...you had a choice to make and you chose Dutch and the gang. You knew that I couldn't go with you, so you chose to leave me behind. I understand, I really do but that doesn't make it hurt any less" you told him, finally being completely honest about the way you felt. You couldn't just keep acting like it didn't bother you, like you fully accepted his choice.
"I know...I'm sorry. I know that isn't enough and that it won't make up for what I did but I am truly sorry" Hosea sighed, hanging his head again. He knew that he couldn't say anything to make what he did right. All he could do was apologise so that you knew that he regretted it.
A silence fell over you both. You couldn't stand here and just tell Hosea that you forgave him but neither of you knew what else to say. "...I burnt your clothes" you spoke up, breaking the silence as you laughed sadly to yourself.
"What?" Hosea laughed along with you sadly but their was genuine amusement in his voice.
"Remember the clothes you left at my house?" you asked, still laughing sadly to yourself, he just nodded at you. "I burnt them" you explained and you both burst out laughing. But it wasn't sad laughter, it was genuine. It almost felt like how it was before Hosea left.
"Okay, my clothes definitely deserved that, I deserved that" Hosea continued to laugh but he sounded honest. Your laughing slowly faded away and there was a pause before anyone spoke again. "I love you, Y/N, I never stopped loving you. Even Dutch could see that" he smiled sadly as he broke the silence.
"I love you too" you sighed back, looking down at your feet.
"Come with us now. We have a real camp. Join us, there is nothing stopping you now" he asked you as he stepped closer and cupped your face in his hands. He lifted your face up to look at him, brushing his thumbs over your cheeks.
"Hosea...I love you but I never thought I would see you again..." you had accepted that you were never going to see him again. You still had to process the fact that this man was actually standing in front of you.
"I know it will take a lot to forgive me but please try. Take as much time as you need but come with us" he was pretty much begging you at this point and you could see the pain and the sincerity in his eyes.
"Hosea..." you sighed, you wanted to say something but the words got caught in your throat.
"I can't lose you again. Leaving you behind was the most stupid thing I've ever done" Hosea admitted, running his fingers through his hair.
"Alright, I'll come with you but that doesn't mean-" you began but he interrupted you before you could say what he didn't want to hear.
"I know, I know. Oh, and please give Dutch another chance. You have every right to dislike him but he is a decent man" Hosea smiled at you. He couldn't help but smile. He was finally getting you back. Even if you didn't forgive him, you would be there and he would have to miss you as much.
"I'm sure he is. He is your friend so he has to be a decent man" you smiled as you pulled away from Hosea. He frowned at first but relaxed when he realised that you were beginning to pack up your belongings.
"Would you like some help packing your belongings?" he asked and you nodded at him, you might as well get some help while you can. Hosea nodded before silently beginning to help you organise and pack up your things.
He opened a drawer and began to empty it out. He paused when a small piece of paper fell to the floor. He furrowed his brow as he leaned down to pick it up, as he stood up he turned the paper over and saw that it was a photograph. He stared intently at the photo. It was of you and Hosea, you had a photo taken in town one day on one of your dates. Hosea remembered that day very clearly, he had smiled for every second of it.
You continued to fold your clothing, not noticing that he had seen the photo you had kept even after all this time. "Y/N?" Hosea asked quietly. You hummed as you turned around to face him, before you could process what was happening, Hosea's lips were on yours.
You slowly began to kiss him back, you had missed him so much and you just could hold back anymore. You needed to be with him, you needed to be in his arms. You wrapped your arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around your waist.
"I'm not leaving you again. You're stuck with me this time" Hosea smiled as he pulled away from the kiss and rested his forehead against yours.
"Well, it could be worse" you teased with your own smile. "We better hurry up, don't want to keep Dutch and Arthur waiting" you chuckled as you pulled away from him.
You laughed again when Hosea tightened his hold on you and pulled you against him again. "They can wait a little longer" he hummed in your ear before kissing you again. You just smiled as you kissed him back, not caring about the two men downstairs. Anyway, Dutch owed you.
You and Hosea slowly moved across the room, never breaking the kiss. Slowly and carefully, Hosea laid your back down against the bed. It just felt good, it felt right, to be back in each other's arms. This is were you both belong and you both knew it.
"I love you" Hosea whispered, resting his forehead against yours again as his hand soothed up and down your waist.
"I love you too" you whispered back with a soft smile, gently caressing his cheek. You did love Hosea, you always have. You knew that you would forgive him, you already have, because you knew that you didn't want a life without him.
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