Chapter Text
Louis and Tex rode into town with all of their belongings tucked into a small bag each. It was a town of decent size, but isolated in the dry prairie. Tying their horses up to a fence outside of the General Store, Tex went inside while Louis waited with the horses.
The General Store had shelves stocked with a variety of food, clothes, medicines, and even weapons. At the front counter, two men were discussing over their bottles. Tex walked up to the counter and caught the attention of the storekeeper.
“Are you looking for directions traveler?” The man scratched his black whiskers before tipping his wide brimmed hat in greeting.
“Yeah, do any of y’all know which direction Monty’s Ranch is? Me and another fella have jobs lined up there.” The other man next to Tex looked over.
“I am Monty. Are you two the new ranch hands from the East?”
“Yessir.” Monty nodded at Tex’s response.
“Let me finish up with Ida here and I can show you the way back to the ranch. It isn’t far.”
“We’ll be outside waiting.” Tex shook Monty’s hand and walked back outside.
During this however, Louis had run into a little problem. The second Tex had gone inside, a stranger ran up to Louis. He was a squirrely figure with clothes of good quality, but he was covered in dirt and grass stains. His face had a manic expression as the man let out a dramatic cackle and held up a clump of flowers. Louis felt his face turn red as that same smile was focused on him alone.
“Hide me!” The man clung to Louis’ back as another person came into view.
“Really, Flo?! What have I told you about messing with my garden?” The other man had clearly been chasing after the first man—Flo apparently—for a while because he wore smudged glasses and a free-flowing, rumpled ascot.
“You can’t prove anything, Cal!” Flo, used Louis as a human shield to avoid the angry gardener.
“My roses are in your hand!” Cal pointed at him.
“Suuuure. Anyway, thanks for helping me stranger!” Giggling, Flo tucked a lavender rose into Louis coat pocket and ran off.
“You can’t just bother random people! Ugh, sorry about that. My brother is a handful.” Cal pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Nah, that’s alright. Do you want your flower back?” Louis hopped he would say no.
“Uh, no. He wouldn’t give you a flower that you didn’t deserve.” The townsperson shook his head and then ran off in the direction that his brother went in.
Louis leaned up against his horse, trying to ground himself. What the heck just happened? One moment he was petting the horses, and now he had ran into some sort of handsome, gremlin man. He breathed out a deep sigh into his hands.
The moment Louis looked up, Tex bursted out of the General Store. He came over and started to untie his horse.
“You find the ranch?”
“That and the boss. He’s inside buying some stuff.” Tex pointed to the door where Monty was just leaving.
“Okay, it’s not too far out of town, so I didn’t bring a horse. You’ll have to go slow with me.” Monty beckoned them both toward a road going Southwest of the town.
Tex and Louis got on their horses and led them on a trot after Monty. Eventually, false front shops and homes turned into overgrown grass. It wasn’t long before the two Easterners saw the silhouette of a barn and a few other buildings. Surrounding them were fields of yellow wheat blowing in the wind.
“Louis, what’s that you got in your pocket?” Tex pointed to the stolen Lavender Rose Flo gave him.
“Oh, this fella from town named Flo gave me it.” Louis took it out and inspected the soft petals with a smile.
“I wouldn’t be around that boy if I were you. He’s a nuisance.” Monty shuddered in front of them.
“Why? What’s he done?” Frowning, Louis remembered the nice man he meet earlier.
“That boy is an absolute criminal. Last week he set a group of hens loose in Vada’s bar. The week before that he ‘accidentally’ set Wy’s fence on fire. I bet he stole that plant.” Clenching his fists, Monty gestured to Louis’ flower.
“Uh-yes, but it was stolen from his brother?” Louis flushed while his new boss nodded at the confirmation.
“Why don’t you just arrest him?” Tex spoke up from his saddle.
“Can’t. His father is the town’s priest. He won’t let anyone touch his offspring from hell besides himself.”
“And what does that mean?” Concerned, Louis asked.
“Something about all punishment needing to be administered under the eyes of god.” Monty spoke in an impression of an old man.
“That sounds like quite the character.” Tex scratched his scruff.
“Yup. Anyway, here we are. You can put your horses in the barn with the others. Then that yellow house by the big tree is the bunkhouse.” Pointing at every building, Monty gave directions and descriptions. Finally, he turned back to Tex and Louis. “I won’t have you working until tomorrow, so just settle in for the meantime.
With his new workers informed, Monty walked into the farmhouse. After Tex and Louis got their horses set up in the barn’s stables, they headed over to the bunkhouse.
“How long do you think we’ll stay in this town, Tex?” Louis flopped on the first vacant bed he saw, not bothering to unpack his bag.
“At least until this job is done I suppose. Why?” Tex paused his packing.
“Just wondering… I just think this might be a decent place to settle.” Looking away from his companion, Louis sighed.
“Louis?! You don’t really think some stranger is going to walk up to you and give you flowers everyday, do you?” He put his hands on his hips.
“Just think about it? We’ve been running around for so long and it would just be nice to… rest?”
“Hm. I’ll think about it.” Zipping up his bag, Tex quickly blew out the lamp. “Night, Louis.”
“Night, Tex…” Louis drifted off as the windows darkened with the setting sun.