Arthur Morgan X Female Reader X John Marston
Summary: Both Arthur and John are in love with the reader.
Word Count: 2200
You have been very close to Arthur and John for a very long time now. You joined the gang when Dutch and Hosea found you, which was only a few weeks after they found John. You were even John's age so you basically grew up together in the Van der Linge gang, Arthur was like a role model to both of you. The three of you grew up close and stayed close throughout your adulthood.
-----
ARTHUR
Arthur watched you as he lost himself in thought, all he could wonder to himself was: how did you and John go from annoying kids to his best friend and the woman that he was in love with?
Arthur could remember that you used to get so flustered when he complimented you. He knew that you had a pretty big crush on him at some point but at the time it only amused him, even if he did have some feelings for you. To this day, Arthur regrets not doing something about it. But he could still remember how you would blush and stumble over your words when you spoke to him, you are so adorable.
Arthur could also remember that when you had gotten old enough, he had given you your first beer. When everyone else had gone to sleep, you both drank the night away. You got drunk really quick since it was your fist time drinking, and that made Arthur feel a little guilty but now he looks back on it fondly. That night he practically carried you to your bed and left you with a quick kiss on your forehead, earning a drunken giggle from you.
JOHN
John watched you and smiled fondly to himself. You had both joined the gang around the same time and had been close friends since the beginning. He couldn't remember when exactly he fell in love with you but he did and he had fallen hard.
John could remember one particular moment from your teenage years, and he definitely thought about it fondly despite it being so long ago. Neither of you had ever told any other member of the gang about it but you had both kisses. Actually, you were each other's first kiss. You were the only people of the same age that you knew so some people might say that it was bound to happen at some point. His only regret was that nothing ever came of that kiss, you never even started dating.
YOU
You glanced up and smiled to yourself when you saw Arthur and John sitting together, both of them seeming lost in their own thoughts. You couldn't help but smile when you saw them both, you meant the world to you.
Those were the two men that you had been in love with for so long, the two men that you could never choose between.
Arthur is older than you and John so when you were younger he was a role model to both of you, he was like the cool older neighbour or something, the one that smoked and drank beer. Y'know...cause that's cool? He was allowed to go on jobs alone while you both had to stay at the camp. Arthur was (and is) incredibly handsome and kind despite his tough demeanour, you knew that he had a heart of gold, especially when it came to you.
As you and John grew up, the pair of you got closer and closer. He was the only person your age that you knew so it would make some sort of sense that you developed a crush on him. He was even your first kiss. You were both about 16 and you had both wandered away from the camp, John had kissed you and you had happily kissed him back. But nothing ever came of it, a relationship never started.
Those two crushes just never went away. New gang members came and went, you met plenty of knew people but Arthur and John were the only men for you. Those crushes only grew and became even more to you.
So here you were, still torn between two amazing men.
-----
You stepped into John's tent with a kind smile on your face, you wanted to check in him. After he received those scars on his face, he had been healing and then he started acting a little differently around you. You assumed that he was a self conscious about them. Neither John or Arthur were exactly known for their self confidence anyway.
"Hey John, how are you feeling?" you asked as you closed the canvas behind you before sitting down beside him.
"Not bad. Been better, been worse" John shrugged, making you smile softly at him.
"Can I?" you asked gently as you reached your hand out and hovering your fingertips over the large scars on his face.
John glanced at you curiously before nodding slightly. You smiled as you brushed your fingertips against his healed scars. When Arthur brought John back to the camp with those new scars on his face, you were so scared but now you were just glad that he was alright.
"They've healed perfectly" you assured him with a kind smile, you actually thought that John looked good with those scars.
"Yeah, now I just have three massive, ugly scars on my face" John rolled his eyes, pulling away from your touch.
"Oh John...they aren't ugly" you frowned, brushing your fingers against his cheek and making him turn his head to face you.
"You don't have to lie to me" he told you and you sighed, how could John think so lowly of himself?
"John, a few scars couldn't make you ugly. They add character. I think you look handsome with them" you told him, smiling again. You ran your fingers over the healed scars again, brushing your thumb over his cheek.
"Well, thank you...I might like them after all" John smiled, ducking his head like he was getting a little flustered. You smiled at this, you were just happy that you could make him feel better about himself.
Arthur stood outside of John's tent, he had been about to step inside when he heard your voice. He didn't want to eavesdrop but he couldn't help himself and after hearing that conversation he was more than disheartened. He let out a defeated sigh before taking a step back and walking away from the tent.
-----
Everyone in the camp had been drinking, and they were all pretty tipsy or drunk. The gang was having a small party to keep up morale, and it seemed to be working tonight.
Everyone had gathered around one of the tables in the camp to watch Arthur and Micah compete in a game of Five Finger Fillet. You watched, obviously cheering on Arthur, while everyone placed their bets on who would win.
Sean patted his pocked and turned them inside out to find that he had no money on him. "A kiss to the winner!" Sean shouted as he grabbed your wrist, holding your hand up in the air, completely catching you off guard.
"Sean!" you gasped with wide eyes but nobody seemed to protest. Maybe it was the alcohol but you didn't really mind either. Well, you would certainly mind if Micah won but if Arthur won you would be more than happy.
"Arthur, you better win!" you shouted, yanking your wrist out of the drunken Irishman's grip.
It was a close call but, thankfully, Arthur won the game, which just made Micah roll his eyes at the defeat. Everyone started talking among themselves, swapping money and collecting their winnings.
"Your reward, Arthur" you laughed as walked up to him, completely overjoyed that he won instead of Micah. You delicately cupped his face in your hands as you stood in front of him.
"You don't have to, y'know" Arthur told you as he wrapped his hands around your wrists, not wanting you to feel like you had to kiss him just because of Sean's loud mouth.
"Oh come on, you're not that bad and it's just a kiss" you rolled your eyes before leaning up and pressing a quick kiss to Arthur's lips. The pair of you unintentionally lingered against each other's lips but you both soon pulled away from each other.
John collected his money from Javier with a small laugh, only for that laugh to completely disappear when he glanced over and saw you giving Arthur his reward kiss. John felt his heart clench at the sight, even if he knew that it didn't mean anything.
Before either you or Arthur could react to the kiss, you were pulled away by a drunk and laughing Karen, leaving Arthur blushing with a small smile on his face.
-----
Arthur and John have been out on a job but haven't been back in a while, you were getting worried since they were meant to be back at the camp a while ago. You had been sitting around the camp, picking at your nails as you tried not to think about what kind of trouble the men you loved could have gotten themselves into.
Your head instantly perked up when you heard two horses riding into the camp, you glanced over at the horses and felt instant relief when you saw John and Arthur. They seemed perfectly fine, unharmed, and that put you at ease.
You practically jumped out of your seat before hurrying over to them. They dismounted their horses and they both smiled when they saw you approaching them.
They both walked towards you and once you reached them, you wrapped your arms around their necks. They both leaned down a little and wrapped their arms around your waist, holding you against them in a group hug.
"You two had me worried sick, I thought something bad had happened" you mumbled into the material of their shirts before pulling away from them both.
"Don't worry, we're okay" John assured you before placing his hand on your shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze, making you smile.
"Sorry for scaring you" Arthur apologised with a small smile, placing his hand on your arm in a reassuring manner.
"It's fine but you both owe me" you teased them, laughing slightly and they laughed along with you. Both of them would be more than happy to make it up to you.
-----
You sat at a table in the camp, a table that was away from the other members of the gang so that you could have some privacy. You were drinking with John and Arthur, a bottle of whiskey in the centre of the table and a shot glass in front of both of you.
The three of you had been drinking for a little while now and the three of you were a little more than tipsy at this point, but none of you were actually drunk.
"I wouldn't know what I would do with out you both" you told them with a small smile as you swirled the liquid around in your glass.
"Trust me, we would be far more lost with out you" Arthur assured you, making you smile even more as John nodded along in agreement.
"We would have been dead a long time ago if it wasn't for you" John told you honestly and it was Arthur's turn to nod in agreement.
"I love you two, you know that right?" you asked them as your smile softened, needed them to know how much they both mean to you.
"Of course we do" Arthur promised you and John nodded along, both of their smiles fading just a little.
"I really love you both" you repeated, your smiling falling even more and your voice turning serious.
"I love you too" Arthur and John said in unison, making the air around you all even more tense.
The three of you looked at each other before staring down at your respective glasses, all of you lost in though. Almost simultaneously the three of you picked up your shot glasses and knocked them back, emptying them in one go, before returning your sombre gazes back down to the now empty glasses.
Deep down you knew that John and Arthur were in love with you but you were in love with them both, it was impossible to choose one of them. You knew that it would hurt the other and it would hurt you to see the other one go, there was no winning in this.
Both Arthur and John knew that they were in love with you and they knew that the other was in love with you as well, both of them could also see how you felt about them. They knew that it was too difficult and they just couldn't hurt the other.
Love hurts when its unrequited, when one party doesn't love the other to the same extent. You had prepared yourself for this pain as many people have. How do you prepare yourself for the pain of having your feelings returned and not being able to do anything about it? You hadn't planned on falling in love with two men, and they had been the only two men you have ever loved.
But what could any of you do about it?
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