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quietlyebbie · 5 months

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Night owls

I've been wanting to write a Kieran Duffy one shot FOR AGES. He's my ultimate fave along with Sean and Arthur and I deeply wish we could give him a good hug in game. 💔 OMG I MESSED UP WITH THE TITLE IT'S "NIGHT OWLS"

Next mission : Part 2 of Fairest of Them All ! I already have the whole plot, now I just need more time :')

Please excuse my aweful grammar mistakes. Like I said, I'm mostly writing these one shots by night due to my new job ! I can take requests if wanted, it might just take some time. ☀️

Kieran Duffy x GenderNeutral!Reader

Word count : 2.5k

Short summary : You and Kieran are two night owls who found one another on the dock of Clemens Point to gaze at the stars.

Tags : cute, our favourite horse boah, Chapter 3, Clemens Point, Kieran being cute asf, insecurity, stargazing

"O’Driscoll."

Here’s what Kieran heard most of the time, in the most scornful tone. No matter what he was doing, no matter what he was looking at, no matter what he was talking about. He was an O’Driscoll boy, and almost everyone in the gang reminded him about his former allegiance, even little Jack. He always felt safe around horses, they would not yell at him for a simple mistake, or openly pick on him like Sean would do. Kieran was a shadow, hiding from the rest of the gang despite Bill’s or Arthur’s best efforts to have, at least, one beer with him. Kieran was scared of many gang members, but certainly not of you.

Since Arthur brought Kieran, first tied up in Colter’s stable, you had been overwhelmingly kind to him. You had given him food and had the right to untie him for him to relieve himself. You hated Dutch’s decision to keep him tied up and not having the right to feed him, but your own motives won over his orders. You could not stand Kieran’s endless cries for food, you just wanted him alright. Since he was free and taking care of horses, Kieran kept offering you his gratitude by picking a few flowers nearby, carefully placing them on your cot. He was too shy to directly give his bouquets to you… and you never knew who gave you all these gifts.

Just like Mary-Beth, you had fallen for him. When you were not on guard duty, you enjoyed looking at him from enough distance for him not to spot you. You were too shy to talk to him, somewhat intimidated by his gaze. His large green and arched eyebrows always made him look like a lost puppy, which was quick to make you forget about what you wanted to tell him. But one thing was quick to make your heart rate increase in a mere blink of an eye : whenever your gaze met his, he would quickly blush and smile at you. He was deeply fond of you and, despite being quite awkward with the rest of the gang members, was quick to show his emotions to you.

That night, you were resting by the dock of Clemens Point. Not a sound could be heard but the faint noise of campfire’s burning logs, or Arthur’s snore as you passed by his tent. Even Dutch was silent after his numerous arguments with Molly, which were now a routine. You had wandered around the tents to see if there were no other lost souls, night owls like you… but everyone was asleep. You had walked to the dock and sat there, taking your boots off and pulling your trousers up, allowing your feet to rest in the cold water. You were facing West, taking time to appreciate how beautiful the sky was, with the Milky Way showing its most beautiful stars above your head, giving you a beautiful picture to enjoy. Gazing at the sky by night was something you often cherished as it was relaxing.

"M…M-May I join you ?"

You turned your head to your right, noticing that Kieran was standing there, dressed in his underwear. His voice was so faint and calm that you had barely heard it. You could tell he was blushing, his hands clenching on the bottom of his shirt, nearly tearing it in the process. You shivered, still intimidated by his presence, gently nodding while patting an empty space beside you.

"Sure." you smiled

It had taken about two or three days for Kieran to make this first move with you. He had mentally rehearsed his speech, from his moves to his facial expression, deeply scared of making you run away. He awkwardly moved forward and sat beside you, the tip of his feet touching the water. His heart rate was incredibly quick, he could not come out with any decent word to make the conversation. In fact… neither could you. His sole presence felt calming enough for you to enjoy the moment, but you were terrified of saying a word, believing he would also run away from you. How wrong the two of you were !

"Crap! It’s cold !" Kieran gasped, quickly dragging his feet out of water

"C’mon, it ain’t so cold." you smiled as Kieran turned to face you

"It is !"

His reaction was heartwarming enough for you to chuckle. The simple fact that he wanted to do things like you, plunging his feet into water despite its temperature was not hot enough, made him look adorable. You had seen Kieran trying to fit in with the rest of the gang by mimicking them on a daily basis, often trying to hold himself like Arthur, sitting by the fire like Sean or helping Ms. Grimshaw with morning chores by repeating her tasks with her proudly watching him do better than the girls all-together. He had genuinely believed the water was somewhat warm when he saw you bouncing your legs back and forth and wanted to join you into this harmless activity.

As soon as he noticed you laugh a little, Kieran blushed and turned his head down. He believed he had ridiculed himself before you, and was wrong ! He turned his head back to you and smiled as he quickly understood he had no right to be ashamed, judging by the comforting glance you gave him. He was so confused and charmed at the same time, enough for him to smile even more. At this moment, he understood that there was nothing to be scared about. In fact, he felt comfortable enough to speak again.

"You… you like gazing at the stars, right ?" he asked

"Yeah. I find it relaxing, especially after tough days. What about you ?"

"Same for me. I love watching stars move above my head… it makes me realise how actually small we are compared with what’s up there."

Your eyes open wide to this statement. Just like you, Kieran loved watching the sky, acknowledging how tiny humans were, and how vast the universe was above you. Centuries ago, you would have been called mad by believing something existed beyond Earth and probably burnt at the stake for heresy. What was above your head was fascinating enough for you be feel lost in your thoughts, but never could you have imagined that Kieran felt the same as you, especially since he could neither read or write.

"My mammy used to say we’re tiny beings." Kieran restarted. "She used to bring me to fields to gaze at the stars and often told me stuff about constellations. Can’t but think about her when I look at the sky now."

"What we she like ?" you asked

"Beautiful and kind. She had her ways, but she loved things that weren’t good for ladies. I was ‘bout six when I lost her and pappy to cholera."

"I’m… I’m sorry."

"Don’t be. It ain’t your fault."

You could help but feel bad about Kieran’s past. The way he childishly called his parents mammy and pappy made you remember your own life, how you had lost your family at a young age too. Having been left alone in the streets of your hometown for years, Dutch and Hosea finding you felt like a miracle, providing you with a family you never expected to have, with Arthur and John as your two older brothers, watching over you since your induction into the gang. Kieran was certainly not as lucky as you, having joined the army for some time before leaving, living on his own before the O’Driscolls got him. Poor Kieran had it worse than many folks of your gang, being an outcast for most of his life.

As far as you remembered, you were still young when Colm and Dutch’s feud occurred and had time to see how cruel the leader of the O’Driscoll boys was with his men. Dutch had shielded you from him, not allowing you to be nowhere near Colm or one of his men. You could remember Arthur and John never leaving you alone when Colm was walking by, even dragging you behind them when he was glancing towards your direction. You felt terrible you heard Kieran speak about him by the fire, how cruel and merciless he was, how many of his men he killed to just replace them, believing he went through hell while riding with the O’Driscoll Boys. At least he was safe with you !

"B-by the way… it was me." Kieran mumbled

"You ?"

"I… I-I’m the one w-who puts flowers on your cot."

You shivered and blushed at this sudden confession. It might have taken so much courage for Kieran to admit such thing to you ! You had been questioning a few gang members for weeks about these gifts, not knowing who would give you flowers and why someone would even gift you something anyway. You were close to mostly everyone, but probably not enough for anyone to give you flowers.

"You’re the one who’s been bringing me flowers all this long ?" you blushed, feeling your heart rate increase

"Y-yeah… You’re so kind to me, and… you know, you didn’t treat me like a monster. And… well… you…"

Kieran kept loosing his words, turning his head down. Saying he was the one who was secretly giving you these beautiful flowers was already such a big step forward ! He could not even think about what he could say next, being overwhelmingly terrified about your rejection, still being somewhat aware that you were receptive to his sweet charms. Kieran kept his head down for a moment as his large eyes twitched a little towards you.

"You’re really attractive…" he mumbled

Your heart stopped beating for a second. If Kieran had told something like this during the day, he would have seen you turning red. Your mouth was half-open, you could not even respond to his sudden compliment. How sweet and genuinely kind Kieran was ! Enough for you to completely forget about your surroundings, and about Dutch who had been woken up, looking at the two of you between his tent flaps while Molly was asleep. The rest of the world did not matter much as you and Kieran, two night owls gazing at the stars above, finally found each other. Yes, finally.

"You… it’s alright… you can tell me to stop…" Kieran mumbled, shyly turning his head away while closing his eyes. "I ain’t probably the one you expected…"

"N-no ! Don’t ever stop, please." you gasped. "Don’t !"

Despite feeling a vast amount of butterflies and bubbles inside you, you could not hold it any longer. You took a deep breath and dragged your feet out of water, moving a little closer to Kieran. Your hand rose to his directly, you lifted his face by gently holding his chin. What a move ! You could feel him shiver as he quickly opened his large eyes to look at you, still surprised. He even looked a little scared… like the lost puppy you thought him to be.

"Y/N…?"

Your other free hand made its way to his cheek, his eyes opened wide. Nobody had even been so gentle towards him, so kind ! And there you were, there you were. His sunshine, his wildest dream. He would have never expected you to be this receptive to his words and act so gently with him. His eyes got filled with tears of happiness, he even moaned of pleasure as you rubbed his cheek with your thumb. The very last time someone had touched his face so gently was his mother herself, on her deathbed. It felt good enough for him to smile, bending his head for you to keep going while looking deep into your eyes.

"You’re such a treasure, Kieran…" you smiled. "My treasure… I’m so glad I found you… "

"I’m… I-I’m happy I finally f-found you too…" Kieran stuttered

As you looked into his eyes, you had not noticed that Kieran’s hands had moved to your waist. He rose a little, moving his legs aside as he dragged you a little closer to him, carefully enough not to scare you. He did not want you to run away, he could not allow this… neither could you. You had found each other, and it felt like the beautifulest dream anyone of you could ever imagine.

"I... l-love you." he whispered

You had no time to respond to such a beautiful sentence, Kieran had quickly moved forward to passionately kiss you. Your hands moved to his shoulders, you clung onto his shirt as you were softly pushed down, laying beneath Kieran who could not back away anymore. He kept kissing you so passionately that you even forgot about time and your surroundings. Nothing else mattered but the two of you, finally fusing into one being beneath this endless star-filled sky. Kieran rose a little above you as you gently caught his face between your hands, gazing into his beautiful eyes.

"I love you." you smiled

Kieran smiled and arched his eyebrows, being overwhelmingly thrilled by what you had just said. No one had ever told him such thing ! He wanted to cry, but having you so close to him, ready to receive another kiss from him made him forget about all these negative and nostalgic thoughts he usually kept for himself. He kissed you one more time as you heard someone walk on the dock, causing the two of you to quickly stand up. Dutch was there, his arms crossed on his chest. You and Kieran stood still, turning your head down like two children who had been caught red-handed after messing around, which made Dutch smile.

"What are you doing here ?" he asked

"Gazing at the stars, Dutch." you responded

"We weren’t doin’ anything wrong, S-sir." Kieran added

"You sure weren’t, now go to sleep. Y/N, you’re on guard duty tomorrow, and we need Kieran to take care of horses."

The two of you nodded, causing Dutch to chuckle a little as he watch the two of you walk away in line. Right before separating, you dragged Kieran inside your tent and closed its flaps. In no way could you just leave Kieran sleep by the tree alone again ! You allowed him to lie down on your cot first. He opened his arms to greet you into his embrace.

"Cuddles ?" he whispered

Your heart melted one more time, you could not resist. You obliged and lied next to him, wrapping your arms around his waist. Your head quickly nuzzled in the crook of his neck as he placed a blanket above the two of you.

"All good ?" you asked

"All good."

It had been such a long while since Kieran did not get the right to lie down and enjoy a bed, even a bedroll, anything more comfortable than the bare ground ! He was quick to feel a relaxed, slowly drifting into sleep as he snuggled into your thin mattress. You rose a little to kiss his cheek, causing him to moan while holding you closer to him, held into your embrace on a comfortable bed, hiding under a warm blanket. He had forgotten how great it felt to have covers above him, how great it was to be loved. And, with you, he would remember what love felt like.

"Goodnight, Kieran." you whispered

#kieran duffy #kieran duffy x reader #rdr2 x reader

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