Chapter Text
This is where he wanted to be. Right here.
In the kitchen of an old ranch house, stood next to the woman he proudly calls his mother, helping cook dinner. The noise of laughter floated through the air, its source from a table with those he calls his family sat around it.
The smell of slow cooked meat and vegetables hit his senses and his mouth watered. Bessie’s always been a good chef and he vowed to learn everything she’s willing to teach him. It’s been like that since he first got here.
Those dark memories from when he was a kid don’t exist here. His life started the second he stepped foot on the rich soil of Clemens Point Ranch and became a son to parents who love him more than anything.
Arthur couldn’t get more lucky than this.
He grabbed the plates out of the cupboard and placed them on the countertop, the laughter had died down enough to hear the soft thud of a glass hitting the table and liquid splashing onto the floor.
“Oops!” Little Tilly exclaimed and covered her mouth before she turned to her father.
From the head of the table, Hosea chuckled and picked up the cup, “It’s okay, sweet,” Arthur grabbed a dish towel to soak up the juice dripping onto the floor, Hosea leant over to stroke Tilly’s cheek, “messes like this are easy to clean up.”
Tilly was only 5, the youngest of the bunch. Sat next to her, scrolling on his phone, was John being his angsty 16 year old self. Arthur was the oldest, he recently turned 21.
He’d always wanted siblings and he couldn't've picked a better brother or sister. He remembers the day his parents told him he was getting a brother, a kid who was like him, a kid who just wanted a better life. Lucky for Tilly, she wouldn’t ever have to worry about memories from her past since she came into their lives at just a year old. He wouldn’t have it any other way for her.
Back at the table, opposite Tilly was Charles, his best friend. He was softly smiling at the little girl as she animatedly spoke to him about some storybook Hosea had read to her.
Having cleaned up the mess and poured Tilly a new drink, Arthur went back to helping Bessie pile the food onto plates ready to be served.
She grasped her hands together and held them to her chest, “I think it’s ready to eat!” She took off her apron and kissed Arthur’s cheek, “Thank you for the help, baby.” Her voice was soft, gentle.
The plates were carried to the table and were received with thanks and comments of how it smelt and looked good.
“John, put your phone away and eat.” Bessie said as she sat in her chair, she held out her hand to prompt her youngest son to give up the device.
John sighed and mumbled what sounded like ‘fine’, handing over his phone. Tilly giggled at her brother.
As they dug in, conversation started up again, just simple domestic chatter. Life was perfect.
“This is great, Mrs Matthews.” Charles politely complimented.
Bessie tutted playfully, “We’ve been over this Charles, Bessie will do just fine, none of this formal business.”
“Of course, sorry.” He released a breathy laugh and she sweetly smiled.
“Ya’know, as much as I love havin’ you ‘round, Charles, I’m starting to think you just really like my cooking.” She laughed and waved her fork his way.
Charles blushed and ducked his head, his focus back on his plate of food.
Arthur, sitting in the seat next to Charles, looked across to John. He watched him push his food around with his knife. Arthur kicked him under the table and John jolted upright, he glared at his brother.
“What’s wrong with you?” Arthur questioned, shovelling food into his mouth.
“Nothing.” John went back to pushing the food around.
“Eat your damn food then.” The older said with a mouth full.
“Boys.” Hosea stated simply and firmly. He scooped up some veggies and fed Tilly.
John finally gave in and started to eat. Silence fell over them again as they all ate, that was until John’s phone buzzed and he went to get up to see who it was, chair legs scraped against the floor.
Bessie grabbed his arm before he could move to the cabinet she had put it on, she pulled him back to his seat.
“Don’t even think about it, just sit and eat.” She gave him a stern look.
John whined and looked at Hosea.
“Listen to your mother, John.” He didn’t even look up from his food.
The teenager huffed and heavily sat back in his chair, hair fell over his face. He’s been going through a phase of shutting people out and sighing anytime you try to talk to him. Rebelling over nothing, as Hosea had put it once. Teenage things.
Arthur was the same but wasn’t this bad, he’s a mama’s boy through and through so it was hard to act all tough and angsty around Bessie.
But having a little brother was bound to bring out his comedian side and boy did he love poking the bear.
“Prolly his little friends,” Arthur started and John glared at him again, “wait, no, his girlfriend!” Arthur laughed.
John scoffed at the comment.
“At least I have friends.” He spat.
Arthur’s mouth fell open and furrowed his eyebrows, offended.
Their mother closed her eyes and sighed and their father just continued on with his dinner and feeding Tilly.
“I have friends,” the older boy gestured next to himself, “look, Charles is right here.”
Charles looked between the two brothers and pressed his lips into a thin line.
“Wow, one friend.” John sarcastically said.
Arthur rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. And so the argument had begun.
“Lenny's my friend!”
“Wrong, he's my friend”
“Okay, Javier”
“Wrong again, he's also my friend”
Charles decided to chime in, “Sadie’s your friend.”
“The scary ranch hand lady that Charles introduced.” John said flatly with one eyebrow raised.
“She’s still my friend, you moron.” Arthur mumbled and went back to his unfinished food. Hosea had finished his meal and set his cutlery down, he watched as Tilly quietly giggled at her brother's antics. He would be lying if he said he hated moments like these. Squabbling siblings at a dinner table. It just brought so much normality to them.
Hosea planted his elbows on the table and clapped his hands together.
“So what if his only friend is Charles, at least he's not hanging round a gang or something… ya'know I was in a gang once.”
“We know pa!” They both said at the same time, not once turning to look at him.
Charles turned to look at the older man next to him.
“Wait, you were in a gang?” Charles was intrigued by the new information.
Arthur groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Oh, Charles, please don’t get him started.”
Bessie laughed and stood to start cleaning the table of now empty plates as Hosea relayed his memories of the Van Der Linde gang he ran with in his early twenties. At some point during the dramatic retelling of Hosea’s youth, Tilly had clambered into John's lap and started telling him about what the chickens had done that day.
Coming back into the room with a cake she made earlier, Bessie placed it in the middle of the table and started to cut it into pieces for everyone.
She handed a plate to Arthur and was struck with a thought.
“Speaking of friends, what happened to Eliza?” She questioned.
He placed the plate down in front of him and sighed.
“We broke up, Ma, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember,” she passed a plate of cake to Charles, “it’s just, she was such a nice girl, didn’t you stay friends?”
Arthur shrugged and stabbed into his slice of cake.
“I guess, we still text, nothing fancy.”
Bessie sat back down and smiled at Tilly who was closer to her now, still on John’s lap. She leant over and wiped some frosting from her little girl’s chin.
Hosea cleared his throat.
“So no girlfriend?” He inquired.
Arthur and Charles both snorted a laugh.
“Nope.” Arthur simply said before shoving the sugary goodness into his mouth.
They reverted back to easy conversation, talking about plans they’d made and things they heard on tv. They retired to the sitting area and John had disappeared to his room to call his girlfriend. Bessie had made tea for them and sat snuggled up to Hosea on the couch, Tilly laid over their laps, eyes drooping from fighting sleep.
Not long after, they took themselves to bed, saying their goodnights.
Arthur stood holding his bedroom door ajar, he listened out in the hallway and found it to be dead quiet.
Perfect.
He closed the door softly and turned the fairy lights that hung around his ceiling on and switched the main light off creating a more cosy setting. He walked back towards his bed, footsteps light to avoid the known creaks of the floorboards.
Sat upon the bed, waiting, was a warm body in nothing but boxer shorts.
Arthur climbed onto the sheets and swung a leg over the other man's thighs, straddled him and settled his weight down. A pair of hot hands snaked up his bare thighs as his own attached themselves to the man’s hips.
"Howdy." Arthur drawled in an almost whisper, leaning in.
The man tilted his head back, squeezing his eyes shut and giggled, he tried desperately to stay quiet. Arthur gave him a playful slap on the shoulder as he tried to suppress his own laughter.
"Charles, I'ma tryna be sexy here!" He leant even closer and buried his face in Charles's exposed neck.
"I know, I'm sorry," his hands started to run up and down Arthur's thighs, "it's just, howdy?” he giggled some more and tightened his hands, “Alright, cowboy!"
Blush blossomed on Arthur's cheeks, pulling his head back, he moved his hands to slide them around Charles's shoulders. Burying his fingers in his long, soft hair, their eyes met.
The laughter died down as the cowboy leant forward and closed the short distance between their lips. The kiss was sweet and tender, no need to rush as this was their private time to just exist in each other's space. It was their time to pretend to be like lovers from poems and silly romance novels.
It was their time to just exist as one.
Charles moved his hands up, finding purchase on his boyfriend’s hips, lightly digging nails into soft, plush flesh. He pulled him closer.
Without breaking the slow kiss, Arthur rocked his hips forward and let go of a breathy moan into his lover's mouth.
Arthur was hopelessly in love with him and no one knew. Too afraid to leave these secret moments behind, too afraid to show his true self.
Arthur detached his hands from Charles and reached to take off his shirt, pulling at the hem. As he lifted it just above his stomach, his bedroom door flung open and in rushed a pale looking John.
He jumped back off of the other man’s lap to put some distance between them, he grabbed a pillow to throw at John which hit him square in the chest, whilst Charles grabbed another pillow to cover his crotch, hiding the obvious evidence of what they were just doing.
"John! What the fuck!?" In a whisper shout, Arthur tried to keep his voice down, he didn't want Hosea and Bessie to barge in too, or to wake little Tilly.
John stood in the middle of Arthur's room in shock. Jaw slack and a look of horror written on his face.
"I really fucked up, Arthur." The older boy stood up from the bed to meet John where he was standing.
Charles buried his head in his hands, hiding from embarrassment. They just got caught by a greasy, loud mouth teenager. Their perfect secret now had a crack, a pretty troublesome one.
"Yeah, you did," Arthur jabs a finger to John's chest, hard enough for him to rock slightly, "don't even think about opening that shit talkin’ mouth a yours, got it?"
"What?" John looked up at his big brother confused.
Now it's Arthur's turn to look confused.
"What do ya mean, 'what'?" The older brother narrowed his eyes.
John looked around him and saw Charles, who having recovered from his embarrassment, sheepishly waved at the 16 year old. Pillow still firmly pressed into his lap.
"What, you and Charles?" He looked back at Arthur, "I don't care about that and it's not like you guys are that good at hiding it!"
Arthur stood gobsmacked as John ran a shaky hand through his unkempt hair.
Not good at hiding it? It’s not like they make out in front of him. Sure, they spend a lot of time together and Charles stays the night a lot, but it’s not like John pays attention to those around him very often.
"I've done something stupid and you're the only one I can talk to," he looked back at Charles, "and I guess him too." He gestured towards him.
Arthur shook the initial shock off and focused on his little brother. This had to be serious if John was acting this way, panicked and running straight to his big brother. He needed to put his adult face on.
"Okay," he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, "what have you done this time?" He sounded tired.
First he heard the sniffle, then he saw the red face and hunched shoulders. Tears threatened to fall from the younger's eyes. He hadn’t seen John cry like this in years, it was a little unsettling.
Arthur sighed and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder for comfort.
Then John mumbled something he couldn't hear.
"You're gonna have to speak up." Arthur rolled his eyes, he just wanted to get this over with so he could go to bed and forget this interaction ever happened.
John took a deep breath.
"Abigail's pregnant."
And there it was, another mess to clean up. But this wasn’t as simple as a split drink.
The room was silent. It was painfully so. Charles cleared his throat to break it.
Arthur stared at John, blinking at the sudden news.
"I'm sorry, did you just say that Abigail's..." Arthur shook his head.
"Pregnant." He finished his brother's sentence.
"Pregnant... right." He slowly turned to look at his boyfriend who looked equally as dumbfounded. He turned back to John, he removed his hand from his shoulder and scrubbed it over his face, squeezing his eyes shut again. It was starting to give him a headache.
Sighing for what felt like the hundredth time, Arthur gave his brother a serious look.
"Okay, it's going to be okay, just let me think." He placed his hands on his hips, standing over the smaller boy, "We're gonna have ta tell Ma and Pa, but for now just go ta bed and we'll figure this out in the morning."
John nodded and swivelled around to the door, just as he reached the doorway, he ran back to Arthur and captured him in a bone crushing hug. And then he was gone.
Arthur shut the door after him and turned back to Charles.
"I got an idiot for a brother," he sighed, "now move over and cuddle me."
"Of course, sweetheart." He moved to lay down and lifted the covers for Arthur to slide into his arms.
His head was swimming with thoughts of what was going to happen next.
“What are we gonna do?” It was an open question to all of it and Arthur just wanted to know the answer.
“Like you said, we’ll figure it out tomorrow,” Charles kissed his temple and brought his body closer to him, “for now just sleep.”
If this is his last night of peace, he sure as hell is gonna get cosy and enjoy it in the arms of the man he loves.