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Charles watched Arthur ride away in the sunset, Winchester galloping under him. The man was holding the bridle with one hand, the other was hanging free in the air. Charles always thought Arthur looked sexy that way. But he never dared to say it out loud. Never.
It was around 5 o'clock in the evening and Charles was hoping Arthur would be back at camp before it gets dark. But knowing him it would never happen.
So, as Charles was left alone with his thoughts he tried to set his mind on something else. Making new arrows for his bow sounded like a good idea. This time Javier and John were the one who had to take the night watch duty, which meant Charles could sleep during the night.
The man tried to focus on the work, but the arrows kept slipping out of his hands which constantly annoyed him. After a few more times when another arrow slipped through his fingers Charles had enough. It's already been an hour of his miserable attempts and he couldn't take it anymore. He decided to walk around the camp to relax a bit, maybe complete a few chores.
Bill was sitting at the table not far from Arthur's tent with a bottle of beer in his hand. Charles had no idea how many the man already drunk and he wasn't particularly interested in finding out.
He tried to walk past Bill without any kind of encounter since they weren't exactly on friendly terms, but the other man seemed to have different intentions.
“Hey, Charles,” Bill echoed as the man was about to walk away.
“Bill,” Charles, himself, didn't really want to talk to him right now.
“I know what you are,” the man simply said with no further explanation.
Charles kept standing there, watching Bill swing the bottle in his hand up to his lips and take a sip.
“What… exactly do you mean?” he still stood there.
“I know what you are,” Bill repeated. With no further explanation. Again.
Charles decided to walk away since he didn't have any wish to continue this forced small talk, not even in the slightest.
The man just walked away without looking back at Williamson.
Arthur came back at 2 o'clock in the morning covered in mud and smelling like some swamp. This wasn't new to anyone so no one actually bothered asking. Charles was still awake when he saw the other man riding into the camp and leaving Winchester next to Taima as always. Arthur, meanwhile, went straight to his bed and dropped dead just to fall asleep. It was not the first time this happened and not the last for sure.
The next morning Charles woke up and Arthur was already doing chores like always. He was carrying a hay bale, walking past Kieran when the other man offered him to go fishing.
“Sure, why not,” Arthur shrugged casually. “But I would prefer to eat first.”
That sounded reasonable for Kieran who already had his bowl of stew.
While Arthur was having his first meal of the day he was preparing the bait to go fishing. Charles stood not far away near a tree, watching him closely. This O’Driscoll better watch his back. Charles always treated him as he did the rest of the gang, but now he just got himself an enemy. And it was certainly not Charles’ fault.
Both men rode off, accompanied by Charles’ look that was darted at Kieran. Sean walked past him, barking a joke.
“Oi, Charles,” the Irish laughed. “You could burn a ‘ole in ‘em O’Driscoll boy,” he kept gagging.
Usually Charles wasn’t in the mood to put on any kind of fight but today was one of the days when he did want to do that.
“Sean,” he clenched his jaw, which made the vein on his neck stand out. “Why don’t you find somethin’ useful to do?”
“Easy, big guy,” the Irish immediately felt the situation and the possible threat. “I'm just jokin’ around.”
Suddenly Hosea, who was walking around the camp, appeared to be right next to them. He was a bit worked up from scolding Bill out, and it seemed he already found his new prey.
“Sean!” he barked with no hesitation. “Go take the watching duty post!”
“But…” the Irish tried to excuse himself from doing the unpaid labour.
“No but’s, go work you lazy bastard!” Hosea frowned, taking a hands on hips pose.
Sean had no choice but to take the watching duty. The old man murmured something about the new generation being lazy and went to sit at the table to read a book not without stealing withering glances at Bill.
Kieran came back around 5 o'clock but Arthur was nowhere to be seen. The man went straight to the horses without speaking to anyone. Charles watched him brush one of them, hands crossed on his chest. If Arthur won’t show up soon he will let Sadie or Bill kill him. Maybe even both of them at the same time. Depends.
But Arthur did show up a few hours later. He had no shirt on, just jeans and chaps. He stored his clothes in Winchester’s saddle bag. His body was dump wet and a few locks of his blonde hair stuck to his shoulders.
“Son, what happened?” Hosea asked, flipping a page of his book.
“Went for a swim,” Arthur laughed. “Reminds me of that time you took us fishing.”
“Oh, you mean when John fell into the river?” an older man chuckled, slightly rocking on the chair. “Don’t tell him but that was amusing.”
Arthur burst out laughing.
Charles was at the campfire too deep in his thoughts and didn’t see Arthur coming back. When he heard his laugh he instinctively turned to the source. His coffee mug dangerously tilted, which made Javier raise an eyebrow at him, not stopping adjusting the strings on his guitar.
“You are about to spill your coffee, compadré,” he sighed and begun strumming chords while humming a simple melody.
“Right,” Charles muttered and squeezed his mug a bit tighter so the coffee wouldn't spill.
Gosh, what a day.