(F/N) was hyperventilating as he rode up to camp, he was beyond exhausted, and not from working. The reason he felt so weak was his passenger, Sean kept rattling on, "This seems like a nice place to lie low for a while. It's no Donegal but it'll do."
(F/N) was clenching his fists as he hitched Brown Jack to a post, he needed to calm down right now. Sean had talked the entire way back to camp, the entire time, he had heard so much about Sean's Da and his homeland, it made him want to cry.
As (F/N) walked back to his spot, Da...Dutch caught up to him, "(F/N), my son."
The young gun turned, weakly smiling, he was so happy to talk to someone who didn't have an Irish accent. The gang's leader frowned when he saw how defeated (F/N) looked, "It was that bad, huh?"
(F/N) nodded, he was gonna have nightmares about the ride back, "That bad."
Dutch frowned and pulled out one of his cigars, "Well, I know how to remedy that. Let's have some fun tonight. Let's enjoy ourselves."
(F/N)'s eyes widened, he wanted to be sure he heard him clearly, "Are you saying we're having a party?"
Dutch smirked and lit the cigar and wet the end with his lips, "Maybe, just a little one. That means no opium."
(F/N) sighed, at his reminder of the most interesting night he had ever had, "That was one time Dutch, and that guy told me it was really rare tobacco."
Dutch chuckled, at his suffering, "You go enjoy yourself, son."
(F/N) nodded, and walked over to a box of beer, as Dutch yelled out, "Mr. Macguire is back. So come on, let's have ourselves a party!"
(F/N) uncorked the beer, and took a long sip as Sean got up on a crate and started giving a speech, shockingly he already had a drink in his hand.
(F/N) smirked and shook his head, he walked back over to his tent. The sun was slowly setting on the horizon, it felt peaceful. As he made his way to his tent Kieran walked over to him, "So we're celebrating?"
He nodded, this was gonna be fun, "Yup, it's really just an excuse to get drunk and sing. It's been a while since we've had one."
Kieran nodded, he sounded relieved, "All right, that does sound nice."
(F/N) nodded and took off his gun belt, he tossed the belt on the ground, "Yeah, you go have fun, I'm gonna go get blind drunk."
Kieran nodded, as he left (F/N) commented, "You better watch out for Sean. He's gonna give you so much hell when he finds out you were an O'Driscoll." Someone started the phonograph, and it started the classic accordion music it usually did.
Kieran's smile faded as he scurried off, (F/N) chuckled to himself, he saw Arthur riding up. (F/N) smiled and walked over, he grabbed another beer from a crate, while taking a sip from his own. As Arthur hopped off his horse, (F/N) threw the beer at him, the older man turned and barely had enough time to grab the bottle before it hit him in the head.
(F/N) laughed aloud, Arthur sighed and uncorked the bottle, "What if I hadn't caught that?"
(F/N) didn't stop laughing he was hunched over, Arthur sighed and walked up to (F/N), he almost shoved him over as he walked past. He looked at the camp, everyone seemed to be having a good time already, there was no trace of the bad times they had recently. He quickly caught up to him, the entire gang was having a good time, it looked like, Sean was with Karen and a couple of others and were singing a song at a table. There were a bunch of people gathered around the campfire and talking. (F/N) smiled, it finally felt like things were back to normal. He walked with Arthur back to his tent, "It finally feels like things are going our way for once."
Arthur nodded, "Yeah, I guess our lucks finally come back for now."
(F/N) sighed at the pessimism of Arthur, and took a long drink from the bottle, he felt like he could catch his breath, "Yeah, I don't even want to think about that stuff for the rest of the night."
Arthur nodded, "Agreed," he tossed his gun belt on his bed, and did something rare, he gave a genuine smile, "let's go get drunk."
(F/N) smiled and held up his bottle, that was the best idea he had heard in a long time, "Yeah!"
The two walked over to Pearson's wagon where there would be more beer. (F/N) smirked when he saw Dutch and Molly slow dancing, the Irishwoman was laughing and looking like she was having a good time, while the man with a plan seemed to be equally enjoying himself. (F/N) smiled, he turned to Arthur, "Good to see they're working things out."
Arthur nodded he looked tiredly ahead, as they passed the tent Mary-Beth walked up to Arthur, she looked at him dreamily, "Will you dance with me, Arthur?"
(F/N) frowned when he saw her looking at Arthur the way she was. He knew he was going to say yes, so he already started to walk towards Pearson's wagon. He was gonna spend the rest of the night alone apparently. For some reason, that got to him, he didn't know why. But before he could get too far, Arthur spoke up, "Actually, I needed to go talk to Hosea, over by the campfire. But I'm sure (F/N) would love to dance with you."
(F/N) stopped in his tracks, he turned around, checking to see if he had heard correctly. Mary-Beth seemed taken aback by his rejection, but she quickly recovered, she looked at (F/N). "Would you dance with me then, (F/N)?"
Arthur walked past (F/N) smirking, his heart rate jumped a couple of times, "I...uhh...yes...if that's what you want."
The woman walked up to him, she was smiling kindly at him, "Do you know how?"
(F/N) nodded, he tried to muster up some confidence, but he was failing, he spoke quickly, "I think I can manage."
Mary-Beth held out her hand for him to take, she smiled and put her other hand on his shoulder. (F/N) quickly snapped out of the spell he was in and put his hand on her waist while grabbing her soft hand.
They both smiled, and the pair started dancing, (F/N) was sweating a bit but he hoped she wouldn't notice. Mary-Beth looked at (F/N), and laughed at his nervous demeanor, "I saw you come into the camp the other day soaked with blood and this is what makes you nervous? You're doing fine, I don't bite."
(F/N) shrugged as he twirled her, he tried to keep his cool demeanor, "What can I say, I always had a weakness for pretty women...Uh...I mean."
Maty-Beth laughed, as she put her hand back on his shoulder, she kept talking to him to keep him cool, "sometimes you're a nervous wreck."
(F/N) scoffed, he focused on what he was saying, he tried not to get lost in her blue eyes, "Is that what you think of me?"
Mary-Beth smiled, she squeezed his hand lightly and got a bit closer to him, "I said sometimes, but most of the time you're a sweet man, and a good man all the time."
(F/N) smiled his confidence slowly came back to him as he dipped her, "Ohh why can't you just admit it? You love me and you know it."
Mary-Beth frowned playfully, and he twirled her again, "I do have some self-respect."
(F/N) laughed as she insulted him, "I'll win you over one of these days."
Mary-Beth rolled her eyes, "You're gonna have to do something pretty big."
(F/N) smirked, he had no idea what he could do, "Ohh I will."
She shook her head and smiled, "I take back what I said, you're a strange man all the time."
He laughed out loud, "And I think that's my cue."
(F/N) broke away from her and did a mock bow, while she responded with a curtsey, "Thank you for that (F/N), it was nice."
He smiled, as he winked at her, "Anytime you need a dancing partner, I'm always there Miss Gaskill."
Mary-Beth smiled slightly and walked off, (F/N) walked over to the campfire where most of the people still awake were, they were apparently telling stories. Currently, Bill was telling a story about when he was in the army. (F/N) sat down right next to Charles and Hosea, Hosea was sitting on his usual chair, while Charles sat on the ground.
Uncle was sitting on the log to Bill's left while John was sitting on a stump to Bill's right. As Bill finished the story Charles noticed (F/N), an idea popped into his head and he spoke up, "When I was younger, I used to sit around a campfire just like this and with a group of friends we used to tell stories."
(F/N) shifted, he could sense where this was going, "I've seen all of you share one time or another...well almost."
Charles turned to (F/N), "I was thinking that (F/N) here could tell us about his past, and where he comes from."
Hosea frowned and opened his mouth to protest in favor of (F/N), but Bill spoke first, he seemed confused, "What the Hell do you mean? He told me he was raised by a pack of wolves, what more do you need to know?"
Everyone went silent and looked at Bill, testing to see if he was serious, he was. John looked at the dumbest member of the gang, then back at (F/N), "Yeah, I know you're private. But it ain't right that only Arthur and Dutch know where you come from."
(F/N) sighed, and spoke up, he needed to find a way out of this, none of them would understand his past, "Well the reason I ain't telling any of you is that it's personal. Even thinking about it...gets me going."
(F/N) wiped a tear from his eye, he thought about his life before the gang, the darkness that it was. Charles saw the pain he was causing his friend so he thought of the next best thing, "Just give us something. That's all I'm asking."
(F/N) sighed, bit his lip, and weighed the pros and cons in his head, and then sighed, "Alright...I think you all earned something."
Everyone in the circle leaned forward, they wanted to hear his story, "The government used magic items..."
Charles shook his head and interrupted, "No."
(F/N) looked at him, he tried again, "Okay, Okay. There were these pirates who one day found a shipwreck in the middle of the ocean..."
This time John interrupted, angrily shouting, "Come on!"
(F/N) looked at John, but he never the less persisted, "Being's from the moon exchanged a child from there world..."
Bill finally had enough, "Even I'm not dumb enough to believe that! We want the truth! Give us the God damn truth!"
(F/N) sighed, finally realizing that the game was over, they weren't gonna stop hounding him until he gave them the truth. (F/N) licked his lips, and mentally confirmed he was ready to tell them, whether they were ready to believe him was entirely up to them. He took a deep breath, "The truth is...I'm the son of somebody in the gang."
Uncle immediately looked uncomfortable, as if some past decision had come back to haunt him. Charles leaned forward. Hosea's eyes widened, not believing he would tell them this. John let out a drunken laugh, he wiped a tear from his face, "I'm trying to imagine Miss Grimshaw changing your diapers when you was a baby."
(F/N) scoffed and rolled his eyes at Marston's drunken antics, "No, it's not Grimshaw! It's my father."
Uncle leaned forward, he desperatley needed to know something, "You're Ma didn't happen to have white wiry hair on one side of her head did she?"
He frowned, that had to be the craziest thing he heard all night, "What? No!"
Uncle let out a sigh of relief, he wiped some swat off his brow, "Oh thank God...that rules out one of the five, if you were older by about twenty years, I might have dropped dead. They used to call me the 'one-shot' kid when I was younger."
Charles leaned forward, ignoring the old man's statement, "Who is it?"
(F/N) sighed, and whispered, "It's Uncle."
Uncle's eyes widened, "What!"
Charles shook his head, annoyed he could still lie, "No. Be honest."
(F/N) shook his head, and rattled off the first name that came to him, "Javier."
"He's almost the same age as you."
"Hosea."
"It's not me and you know it."
"Bill."
"I was in the army by then!"
"Micah."
"Get serious!"
"Herr Strauss."
"You don't have that strong an accent."
"Swanson."
"He's a priest."
(F/N) took a deep breath and looked Charles right in the eye, he shook his head and sighed, "Okay, you win...It's Dutch."
Hosea's mouth was wide open but he held a hand over it, everyone in the circle was quiet. Until they all burst out laughing, no one except Hosea believed him. The idea of their leader being the father of the immature (F/N) was too funny. He kept the dead face expression on his face, and slowly got up.
(F/N) walked off, as the laughter died down, everyone decided to drop the matter, it was ridiculous to think he was related to anybody here. By now the moon was lit, and (F/N) could feel the exhaustion catching up to him and he had yet to do the only thing he had sought out to do: Get Drunk.
He walked over to a table with a box full of beer on it, the only other people there were, Karen and Sean. Karen was sitting on Sean's lap, they were quietly talking to each other. (F/N) sighed and sat down opposite from them, the drunk woman noticed (F/N), she smiled at him, and spoke in a slurred tone, "Thankhs for shaving Seen, (F/N). I...reallys appreciatees it. Yur Gret."
(F/N) nodded, he grabbed a bottle, and popped off the cork, the Irishman looked at (F/N), he was a little tipsy but he could still talk normally, "You think you can handle that, (L/N)? That's top-grade moonshine. Just a sniff could knock you down."
He shrugged and took a sip, it burned a little but it wasn't too bad. Karen suddenly got a mischevious look on her face. She whispered something into Sean's ear then got up and left, she waved at (F/N) as she stumbled away. Sean smirked to himself, "Alright, I have to be somewhere. Thanks for the save (L/N). I'll see ya tomorrow."
As he left, (F/N) got an idea and sniggered, the man with the mouth stopped, "What's so funny?"
(F/N) looked at the Irishman, "You're only leaving because you know I can drink you under the table."
(F/N) didn't see the logic that he was using but he was trying to find any excuse to get drunk with somebody. But Sean took the bait, "No, mere man can out drink a Macguire!"
(F/N) smirked, and leaned on the table, he felt an aura of confidence around him, "Prove it."
Sean shook his head, "Ohhhohoho. You really got yourself in it now my friend." Sean grabbed a bottle from the crate and sat down in his old spot.
"Rules are simple, first man to pass out loses. Even you can understand that right?"
(F/N) smirked and raised the bottle with the powerful liquid in it, "On three we start?"
Sean nodded and raised his bottle, (F/N) cracked his knuckles and looked at the cocky Irishman, "One, two..."
That was the last thing (F/N) remembered from that night.