#thomasblanky

“Now, laddie,” he heard Sean start. Lenny barely paid attention to the road in front of him, seemingly hanging on to his every word. “Today’s your lucky day. You’ll get to see the master at work.”

A snicker rose from Arthur’s throat at that, out of his mouth before he could stop it. It was loud enough that Sean turned his head to look at him, with a wide grin and a spark of mischievousness in his eyes - Arthur didn’t recall ever seeing him without it.

“You doubtin’ me, English?” he said. Lenny was looking at him now too, with the skeptical look of someone who’d seen Sean do enough idiotic things to think he was an idiot, and yet not quite enough to be convinced of it. Arthur wiped a hand over his mouth to hide his smile, giving Sean a pointed look.

“Just stick to the plan,” he said simply, and Sean let out a bark of laughter.

“You don’t need to worry ‘bout me, Arthur, you know that,” he answers. “Just worry ‘bout young Lenny here, an’ let me do the work.” He turns back to Lenny. “See what I mean? Ol’ Arthur here, that’s his favourite advice to give. Remember the plan, stick to the plan. The plan, the plan! Whatever happened to improvisin’, eh? He’s lost his touch!”

“Careful, boy,” Arthur growled, still playful, though Lenny’s eyes were shifting between him and Sean nervously. Arthur spurred his horse so that it fell in step with theirs, guiding them off the road. “And shut up. We’re almost there.”

 —–

“Get down!”

Arthur grabbed Sean by the collar, pulling him to the ground roughly, ignoring his strangled cry of protest. Bullets whizzed above their heads as they flattened themselves against the boulder behind which they’d found themselves, the stagecoach guards seemingly intent on giving as good as they got. Lenny was making himself scarce, hiding behind a tree as best he could a little ways to Arthur’s left, looking at him and waiting for his instructions.

“Dynamite, Sean?” Arthur hissed between his teeth. “Goddamn dynamite?”

Sean flashed him a smile, not half as sheepish as Arthur thought it should have been.

“Well, your plan wasn’t about to work,” he answered. “An’ I stopped them, now didn’t I? Now, we gonna do this, or spend the day arguin’ here like fishwives?”

Despite everything, Arthur couldn’t help but laugh, reloading his repeater and signaling Lenny to get ready to fire back. He looked at Sean, and wished he could punch the shit-eating grin off his face.

“Come on, then.”

—–

“So y’see, lad, I saved the day!”

Lenny looked at Sean, arching an eyebrow.

“From what I seen, you damn near blew us up,” he replied, though with a smile. Sean laughed, turning to look at Arthur, riding behind him.

“Bet that was better than your ‘plan’, wasn’t it?” he asked, grinning again.

"I shoulda left you hangin’ upside down where I found you,” Arthur growled. “Woulda saved myself a lot of trouble.”

Sean snorted, turning back to Lenny.

“Grumpy ol’ bastard, he is, but he loves me, I tell ya,” he said, and Lenny gave an unconvinced hum.

Arthur scoffed, lowering his head to hide his smile under the rim of his hat.

“I’m just gonna let you believe that.”