Buck's Boot
Mar. 23rd, 2020 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenkatyastarTitle: Buck's Boot
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Characters/Pairing: Chris/Vin, Buck/JD, Josiah
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge/Prompt: Ficlets 60: Boot
Word Count: 1,000
Date Written: 14 March 2020
Warnings: None
Summary: Buck's boot is found unexpectedly underneath somebody's bed.
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
Vin's fuming, a wild look having overtaken his eyes, when he bursts into the saloon waving a boot. The townspeople scatter, the men shying away from any potential conflict with the fierce tracker who's much more like a native than his skin belies. The women skitter away, but they watch and giggle behind their hands and fans, whispering to each other about the unidentified person with whom the handsome man, and one of Four Corners' well-known most eligible bachelors, has been sleeping. It's not any of them, and that brings a pout to several, pretty faces.
"It's gotta be that Travis woman," one says.
"No way. She has Chris."
"Since when did that stop a girl?"
"It clearly ain't stopped his." One brunette pouts in her most seductive expression. She pulls her arms closer to the side, trying to give the cowboy a better look at her scantily clad breasts, but he's paying no more attention to her than he normally does, if as much. She sighs and stomps her foot. "Darn it! None of those seven 'cept Buck'll give us the time of day!"
"Speaking of," a redhead points out, "that's Bucklin's boot."
"No!" The women watch, wide-eyed, as Vin turns from them to spin toward his coworker.
"I AM RIGHT!" he yells, dangling the boot in the air. "THIS IS YOURS!"
"Now, look here, pard, I can explain." Josiah steps up as Buck's backing steadily away, his hands held up in the air and his palms pointed toward Vin. He was afraid this was going to happen since he lost that boot, but he'd hoped he would have found a way to retrieve it from beneath Chris' bed before the tracker found it. His mustache wiggles, almost as though it wishes it could jump off of his scared face and run for its own life.
Josiah also holds up his hands, calling for peace, as he boldly steps toward Vin. "Brother -- "
"PREACHER MAN, I AIN'T GOT NO PATIENCE FOR YOU RIGHT NOW!"
"I was only going to ask that perhaps you could hear him out before you shoot him." Josiah shrugs, and Buck yelps as he moves out from between the two of them. "But if you want to go ahead and shoot Buck where he stands for being the horndog we all know he is and not hearing the truth of the matter, go ahead. Leave us with only six men to protect this town."
"What? You think I'm gonna stay with y'all after this crap?! Hell no! I'm shooting his ass dead, giving Chris a piece of my mind -- " Everyone in the saloon other than Josiah, Buck, Nathan, and Ezra, who's still calmly dealing cards, gasps at that revelation. Every person in town has speculated about who the seven men sleep with, but none of them would have guessed that any of the brave, strong men who laid their lives repeatedly on the line for their little town slept with each other! Especially not when they could have their pickings of any female in the town! " -- an' then I'm leavin'! I ain't dealin' with this bullshit 'cept to kill his ass!"
They were accustomed to Vin's musket, but it was no musket for which he now reached. He removed a tomahawk from somewhere within the back folds of his tan jacket and swung it in his hand. He caught it smoothly and gripped the handle even harder. The Preacher noted both that the tracker's knuckles were bone white and the tomahawk was decorated in very few feathers, each with a dot of blood still on them. It was clearly a weapon Vin used only for personal, grave occasions, such as this.
Josiah shrugged his massive shoulders. "Be that as it may, wouldn't you like to know just how much talkin' it took to get Larabee back in the bed with him?"
"NO!"
Everyone looked up again at the youngster's scream. Vin sighed wearily as JD flung himself between him and Buck. "VIN, YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"
"THE HELL I CAN'T, JD! NOW MOVE!"
The doors swung open again; this time, everyone hushed but Vin. "Come to see your lover beheaded, Larabee?" he drawled darkly to the man in black.
Chris' mean, green eyes slanted from Vin to Buck. "He ain't my lover," he said calmly. "You are."
"I was!" Vin swung onto Chris.
JD grabbed the tracker's distraction to help Buck get behind the bar. "We'll talk later," he ground out from between gritted teeth, "after we make sure your stupid ass lives through this!"
"I damn sure ain't now!"
Chris shrugged as though he didn't care, despite the knowledge that Vin's departure would break his heart. Tanner's heart was breaking now, he knew; he should've remembered to get that damn boot back to Buck before now. "He put me to bed the other night, back when you were still out on the hunt 'fore you came back, 'fore," he added quietly, "we even knew you were comin' back."
"Just because I was gone doesn't excuse you screwing Buck -- "
"I didn't screw Bucklin. I didn't go easily to bed. I wanted to kill somebody. You weren't here," Larabee added, speaking perfectly plain and calm. "Just 'bout killed Buck 'cause he wouldn't let me go after you. I grabbed his boot, wouldn't let go, but he got away anyway just as I was passin' out."
Nathan, meanwhile, was nodding along with every word.
"This true?" Vin asked the healer, narrowing his eyes at him and watching for any sign of dishonesty.
There was none. Vin dropped the boot as the weight lifted from him. Chris swiftly closed the gap between them; his long, lean fingers gently pried the bloody tomahawk from Vin's loosening grasp. "I -- " Vin wouldn't look at him.
"I felt the same way," Chris admitted, touching Vin's stubbled jaw with his free hand, "when you were gone, an' I didn't know if you were comin' back. Next time," he ventured, "let me ride with you."
"Deal." Vin sighed, and then kissed him.
The End
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Characters/Pairing: Chris/Vin, Buck/JD, Josiah
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge/Prompt: Ficlets 60: Boot
Word Count: 1,000
Date Written: 14 March 2020
Warnings: None
Summary: Buck's boot is found unexpectedly underneath somebody's bed.
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
Vin's fuming, a wild look having overtaken his eyes, when he bursts into the saloon waving a boot. The townspeople scatter, the men shying away from any potential conflict with the fierce tracker who's much more like a native than his skin belies. The women skitter away, but they watch and giggle behind their hands and fans, whispering to each other about the unidentified person with whom the handsome man, and one of Four Corners' well-known most eligible bachelors, has been sleeping. It's not any of them, and that brings a pout to several, pretty faces.
"It's gotta be that Travis woman," one says.
"No way. She has Chris."
"Since when did that stop a girl?"
"It clearly ain't stopped his." One brunette pouts in her most seductive expression. She pulls her arms closer to the side, trying to give the cowboy a better look at her scantily clad breasts, but he's paying no more attention to her than he normally does, if as much. She sighs and stomps her foot. "Darn it! None of those seven 'cept Buck'll give us the time of day!"
"Speaking of," a redhead points out, "that's Bucklin's boot."
"No!" The women watch, wide-eyed, as Vin turns from them to spin toward his coworker.
"I AM RIGHT!" he yells, dangling the boot in the air. "THIS IS YOURS!"
"Now, look here, pard, I can explain." Josiah steps up as Buck's backing steadily away, his hands held up in the air and his palms pointed toward Vin. He was afraid this was going to happen since he lost that boot, but he'd hoped he would have found a way to retrieve it from beneath Chris' bed before the tracker found it. His mustache wiggles, almost as though it wishes it could jump off of his scared face and run for its own life.
Josiah also holds up his hands, calling for peace, as he boldly steps toward Vin. "Brother -- "
"PREACHER MAN, I AIN'T GOT NO PATIENCE FOR YOU RIGHT NOW!"
"I was only going to ask that perhaps you could hear him out before you shoot him." Josiah shrugs, and Buck yelps as he moves out from between the two of them. "But if you want to go ahead and shoot Buck where he stands for being the horndog we all know he is and not hearing the truth of the matter, go ahead. Leave us with only six men to protect this town."
"What? You think I'm gonna stay with y'all after this crap?! Hell no! I'm shooting his ass dead, giving Chris a piece of my mind -- " Everyone in the saloon other than Josiah, Buck, Nathan, and Ezra, who's still calmly dealing cards, gasps at that revelation. Every person in town has speculated about who the seven men sleep with, but none of them would have guessed that any of the brave, strong men who laid their lives repeatedly on the line for their little town slept with each other! Especially not when they could have their pickings of any female in the town! " -- an' then I'm leavin'! I ain't dealin' with this bullshit 'cept to kill his ass!"
They were accustomed to Vin's musket, but it was no musket for which he now reached. He removed a tomahawk from somewhere within the back folds of his tan jacket and swung it in his hand. He caught it smoothly and gripped the handle even harder. The Preacher noted both that the tracker's knuckles were bone white and the tomahawk was decorated in very few feathers, each with a dot of blood still on them. It was clearly a weapon Vin used only for personal, grave occasions, such as this.
Josiah shrugged his massive shoulders. "Be that as it may, wouldn't you like to know just how much talkin' it took to get Larabee back in the bed with him?"
"NO!"
Everyone looked up again at the youngster's scream. Vin sighed wearily as JD flung himself between him and Buck. "VIN, YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"
"THE HELL I CAN'T, JD! NOW MOVE!"
The doors swung open again; this time, everyone hushed but Vin. "Come to see your lover beheaded, Larabee?" he drawled darkly to the man in black.
Chris' mean, green eyes slanted from Vin to Buck. "He ain't my lover," he said calmly. "You are."
"I was!" Vin swung onto Chris.
JD grabbed the tracker's distraction to help Buck get behind the bar. "We'll talk later," he ground out from between gritted teeth, "after we make sure your stupid ass lives through this!"
"I damn sure ain't now!"
Chris shrugged as though he didn't care, despite the knowledge that Vin's departure would break his heart. Tanner's heart was breaking now, he knew; he should've remembered to get that damn boot back to Buck before now. "He put me to bed the other night, back when you were still out on the hunt 'fore you came back, 'fore," he added quietly, "we even knew you were comin' back."
"Just because I was gone doesn't excuse you screwing Buck -- "
"I didn't screw Bucklin. I didn't go easily to bed. I wanted to kill somebody. You weren't here," Larabee added, speaking perfectly plain and calm. "Just 'bout killed Buck 'cause he wouldn't let me go after you. I grabbed his boot, wouldn't let go, but he got away anyway just as I was passin' out."
Nathan, meanwhile, was nodding along with every word.
"This true?" Vin asked the healer, narrowing his eyes at him and watching for any sign of dishonesty.
There was none. Vin dropped the boot as the weight lifted from him. Chris swiftly closed the gap between them; his long, lean fingers gently pried the bloody tomahawk from Vin's loosening grasp. "I -- " Vin wouldn't look at him.
"I felt the same way," Chris admitted, touching Vin's stubbled jaw with his free hand, "when you were gone, an' I didn't know if you were comin' back. Next time," he ventured, "let me ride with you."
"Deal." Vin sighed, and then kissed him.
The End
