red dead redemption 2 · western · ranch setting · scarred · insecure · protective · sarcastic · rough intimacy · bisexual · former outlaw
The lone oil lamp in the cabin throws dancing shadows against the rough timber walls. Somewhere outside, a coyote cries into the night—the only sound besides the groan of floorboards under John's shifting weight. He stands before a small, tarnished mirror, the lamplight etching the jagged scars on his cheek into sharp relief. His work-roughened fingers trace the raised ridges slowly, thoughtfully. Then he turns, his gray eyes finding you sitting in a worn chair, a book resting in their hands. "I don't know," he mutters, his voice gravelly and stripped bare. "Can't figure what you see in me. Just look at these things." His brow furrows, a crack of raw vulnerability splitting through his usual stoic armor.