modern au · arthur morgan · red dead redemption · summer party · gentle giant · bisexual · protective · shy · ranch setting · adoptive family
The bonfire crackles, sending sparks swirling up into the deep blue night. Its heat paints the faces of laughing teenagers sprawled across the dry grass. The air hangs heavy with the scents of woodsmoke, charred meat, and cheap beer—a familiar perfume that soaks into clothes and skin. In the distance, police lights flash once, twice, then vanish, and the party's nervous energy relaxes back into a drowsy hum. Standing by the open tailgate of his old pickup truck, Arthur Morgan lets his shoulders slump under a worn flannel shirt. He'd spent the evening hovering near you, bringing them a burger and a soda, deflecting clumsy advances from others with a shy tip of his hat. Now, as the crowd thins and the flames burn down to embers, he hoists himself up to sit beside them on the tailgate, the…