#somft hosea

[12timetraveler]

Heyyyy if you’re doing requests could you do a little drabble of Hosea surprising the reader with a gift? 🥺👉👈

If you’re too busy then that’s totally fine, just thought I’d send in the request

Saved this one for when I really needed a pick-me-up so here we are.

Summary: Hosea has been gone on a job for over a week and reader has had the worst week ever without him.

Hosea/reader (I think I kept it pretty gender neutral except for mention of a skirt.)

Cw: hurt and comfort.

~~~~~~~~~

The last ten days had been absolute hell for you. 

Well okay maybe not hell. That was a little dramatic. But a dark storm cloud had been hanging over your head since Hosea left with a few of the other men to run a con out west a ways. You missed your lover desperately. You and Hosea had been officially a couple for nearly two years, and had been flirting coyly for six or seven months before that, starting the moment you’d joined the gang. 

You weren’t the needy sort of partner who needed your beloved’s attention on you all of the time. No it wasn’t just that you missed soft little kisses in the morning to rouse you for the day, or that you missed the feeling of his arms randomly slipping around you throughout the day and pulling you close. Though you did miss all of that terribly. 

But more than that, it was simply his presence that you missed. Seeing him sitting across camp, watching him read to Jack, the way he’d comfort and advise everyone in the gang. Even the little snores he made as he slept beside you. Heaven help you, you even missed the horrible coughing that wracked through his lungs. You just missed HIM. 

On top of missing him, you seemed to be having the worst luck. You burned your hand checking on the stew for Pearson, jabbed a needle so far into your thumb while sewing that Susan had to be the one to pull it out, seemed to trip over your own feet every step you took, stepped on a piece of broken glass barefoot (fortunately the cut hadn’t been too deep, but it stung like hell), and your horse bucked you on the way back from a mail run in town and you’d had to walk back to camp. 

You could hardly remember a worse week, and you just desperately wanted to curl up each night against your lover and whine about everything that was going wrong. But the bedroll next to you was cold and empty, and you found yourself lying awake most nights, not crying exactly. Well not audibly. But tears streamed down your cheeks in those dark hours when you were alone. 

Just when you thought you were about to lose your mind, and that you wouldn’t be able to handle one more second without your sweetheart, Davey called a happy hello from where he stood at the entrance to camp on sentry duty, and you heard a chorus of tired hellos reply. 

You shot to your feet like lightning, dropping the tin plate you were scrubbing back into the tub. You hiked up your skirt and raced toward the hitching posts, where Hosea, along with the three others he’d taken, Charles, Arthur and Lenny, were dismounting. 

Hosea grinned ear-to-ear when he saw you and opened his arms wide. You practically pushed Dutch out of the way as you barreled into Hosea’s arms. Hosea stumbled back a couple steps as his arms enveloped you, falling back against Silver Dollar, who huffed but supported you both without further protest. 

“I missed you,” You whimpered, nuzzling your face against his neck as you clung to him tightly. 

“I missed you too.” He cooed, squeezing you even tighter. "How were things here without me?" 

You didn't respond beyond a soft little noise, somewhere between a whimper and a groan. Hosea pulled back just enough to look at your face. He cupped your cheek in his hand, and his thumb came back wet. Oh shit were you crying? 

"Hosea!" Dutch said cheerfully. "How did it go?"  

Hosea didn't say anything at first, only staring down at you in concern. You leaned your head into his touch and closed your eyes. 

"Just fine," Hosea finally responded to Dutch. "I'll tell you about it all later. Right now I need to hold my darling and rest for a while." He said. 

Dutch let out a chuckle, letting you know exactly what he thought you and Hosea were going to do. Neither of you contradicted him as he went off to greet Arthur. 

Hosea wrapped his arm around you, keeping you close as he loosened Silver Dollar's girth and pulled his saddlebag down from the horse's back. The two of you strode across camp to your tent, unable to let go of each other. 

You closed your tent flaps behind you as Hosea sat down on his bedroll with a tired groan. Your bad week forgotten, you immediately got to work. 

You sat behind him and helped him out of his coat, setting it aside. You could see the tension tight in his shoulders, travel and stress having built there. You immediately began massaging his neck, touch light at first then growing stronger. 

"Dearest..." Hosea murmured, but you just hushed him gently. 

"Let me take care of you. Please." You begged. You desperately wanted to just help him right now, even though your eyes were still damp, though no tears were falling. Hosea seemed to be able to hear the desperation in your voice, that you needed to do this, so he didn't protest further. 

His head began to droop as your hands worked at his muscles, rubbing away the exhaustion from the road. Soon his muscles were soft and pliable under your fingers, and his head was bowed low in relaxation. You pressed a soft kiss to the back of his neck, and rested your chin on his shoulder. 

"Thank you, dove," Hosea sighed. "That felt wonderful." You just hummed in response, wrapping your arms around him for a moment and holding him tightly. 

Hosea slowly lay down on his side, pulling you with him, and he rolled over to face you. He gently caressed your cheek with the back of his finger, eyes flickering across your face in that analytical way of his, reading your emotions as easily as he would his newspaper. 

"It's been awful without you here, Hosea." You sighed, tears beginning to brim over and spill down your cheeks once more. 

"How so?" He asked gently. 

So you began venting to him, telling him about your horrible week. When you told him about stepping on the glass, he immediately sat up and removed your boot, checking over your bandaged foot. Thankfully it was healing well. He lay back down and let you continue venting. 

"All this because I was gone?" He asked gently once you were done. "I'm flattered that you think so highly of me, but I'm not sure what I could have done to stop any of that," his tone wasn't judgemental, or taking himself seriously. It was just a normal Hosea quip. 

"No, obviously not. But it just felt like... I don't know, like the universe was taunting me when I already missed you so much. And beyond that, I missed your comfort, your sage counsel." You nuzzled your face into his chest. "I missed having you next to me each night, and talking to you at dinner." You sniffled, trying to push down your tears, and failing. 

"I'm here now," he soothed, stroking your hair back and kissing your forehead. "I'm so sorry you've had such a tough time in my absence. I wish I'd been here for you." 

You said nothing, just clung to him tighter and let your tears wet his shirt as you let yourself cry. 

"How was the job?" You asked once your tears began to subside. 

"It went fine. Nothing too exciting," Hosea said. "I did get you something though," 

"You got me something?" You asked, looking up at him. He smiled and nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a little box. The two of you sat up so you were sitting facing each other.  

"Yes. I came across this traveling fortune teller, who collects things from far and wide. She had a variety of trinkets and things. But then I saw this." 

Hosea opened the box to reveal a small cameo-style pendant necklace. Only instead of an image of a person carved out of the little white stone, a fox sat amongst some long grass, staring back at you with a cunning grin. The background color was an enamel in your favorite color. 

"Hosea it's beautiful," you gasped, gently picking up the little pendant and brushing your thumb across the carving. 

"I thought you might like it. You always call me your sly fox." Hosea chuckled. "Also," he held the pendant and slipped his fingernail into a little crack, revealing it to be a locket. Inside was a picture of Hosea. 

It was a younger picture of him, from a couple years before you'd met him. He was your Hosea, not that dashing but wild and untrustworthy young man in the picture by Arthur's cot. But he did have a few less wrinkles on his face. 

"Oh Hosea," you gasped, reverently taking the pendant back from him and studying it. "Thank you so much. I love it." 

"I'm glad." Hosea said, pulling you into his arms. You settled into his lap, sitting with your back to his chest. You couldn't take your eyes off the locket in your hand. 

"It's no replacement for being here with you," Hosea murmured in your ear. "But maybe it'll help keep me close if I ever have to go away again." He kissed you cheek. "Although I doubt I'll be going anywhere anytime soon," he groaned, flopping back on the bedroll dramatically. You giggled and lay down beside him. 

"That's fine by me"