I think we as a fandom moved way too fast away from the fact that Javier has a scar on his throat, aka someone slit his throat. Imagine the fucking terror of that, of someone getting up close and being SO close to killing him, imagine the panic Javier must have felt with the knife running over his skin, thinking "this is it" and then it isnt, for some reason it isn’t. Either the person simply didn’t go deep enough or someone saved Javier, still the terror of blooding running down your throat, trying to process that you should be dead but for some reason you aren’t.
I dont think we talk enough about how terrifying it must have been for Arthur to save Jamie from killing himself, because yeah this is just a pathetic little kid but it is his ex girlfriend's pathetic little kid brother. He hadn’t seen Jamie for years but Jamie was so close to being part of his family. He cared for Jamie, a lot, and even if he knew that Jamie didn’t have the guts to actually pull the trigger there will always be that voice in the back of your head saying "what if?"
What if Jamie pulled the trigger? What if Arthur got to see yet another person he care for die because he couldn’t save them? What if Arthur had to ride back to Valentine with Jamie's body? What if Mary saw Jamie, her little brother, dead because Arthur, her ex, couldn’t protect him? What if Arthur had to explain to Mary that Jamie would rather die than go back home?
What if?
Arthur might be a tough man but he is a man none the less and I think there are so many small moments we overlook because we just expect him to brush it off.