Between Two Trees (Mush Meyers x Reader)

XV

"I think you were right. We should have gone back for the horses." Peggy said after an hour of trekking along the river bank.

"We would have lost time though." Blink objected. 

"But it's taking forever anyway." Peggy returned. 

"Will you two knock it off, we're almost there." Mush replied, not looking the least bit winded from the difficult terrain. 

"Good, then. My feets are killing me." 

"It's feet, not feets." 

"I didn't know you were one to care about grammar." 

"I promise they're not always like this." Mush told you, jerking his head at the two of them. 

"From what I've seen, it's only most of the time." You replied with a grin. 

Mush returned the smile, nodding. "Yeah, pretty much." 

"So, do you do things like this a lot?" You asked curiously, stepping over a root. 

"Like what?" Mush questioned. 

"I dunno, all of it. Hunt down sheep thieves, fish, swim, all this stuff you've done with me since we arrived." 

"Nah, not half of it usually." Mush smiled. "Well, some of it yeah, but not the sheep thieves bit." 

"Should I be worried then? I thought you knew what you were doing." You said, cracking a grin. 

"Just keep thinking that, sweetheart, I'll figure it out." Mush winked at you, which set your stomach all aflutter again. "Probably." 

"Somehow that doesn't reassure me." You managed to squeak out under the brightness of his smile. 

"Well-" Mush began, before Peggy's voice broke the spell. 

"Y'all just gonna walk right past Johnson's property, or..." She said from up on the bank, Blink by her side. 

"Sorry." Mush turned beet red, turning and starting up the bank. You were close behind. 

"Must have missed it," He added, looking around. 

"Yeah, cause your eyes were on Y/N." Peggy mumbled. "ANYway, I was thinking, and last summer I discovered these caves that were like an ant nest or somethin', all connected underground. I only went down some of 'em, but there were a couple entrances I found. One of 'em's right here, and I was thinking maybe the rustlers were using the caves to hide the sheep." 

"So where's this entrance?" Mush asked, looking around. 

"Here." Peggy said, patting two boulders that were on the ground at the foot of the small hill. She dropped down and crawled through the gap, her voice echoing back. "It's bigger than it looks. Come on!" 

Exchanging glances, the three of you followed her in, you, then Mush, then Blink. 

You emerged in a cavern that was nearly all the way dark, except for the glimmer of light that shone through the passage. Peggy lit a candle that she'd pulled from who-knows-where, handing it to you. "I've got one for each of us." She said, giving one to each of the boys and lighting one for herself. "Don't drop 'em." 

"Whoa." Mush mumbled, looking around. Two different tunnels, sloping downwards, branched off from this cavern. 

"We should probably split up. It will be faster." Blink said. 

"No, that's a bad idea." You shook your head. "We'd all end up lost and then where'd we be?" 

"Underground, probably." Peggy said. 

"Yes, underground." You sighed. "Underground, separated, and with no way out." 

"We could go twos then." Blink said, not looking put off. 

"That doesn't help much." You replied. 

"Here." Peggy said, handing you a... rock? 

"Um. Thank you, it's beautiful." You said, accepting the rock. 

Peggy rolled her eyes. "Look, you can mark your path." She said, dragging it along the cavern wall. "See?" She pointed at the chalkish residue it left. "So worst case scenario, we follow the markings back to here." 

"What about time? How long will we search for? We don't even know if they're in here." Mush argued. 

Peggy produced a tarnished brass pocket watch and flipped it to Mush. "Voila. Shall we say, 10:00 we start heading back? I'm assuming you have yours." She said, turning to Blink, who nodded. 

"Ten o'clock then." You nodded, looking around. "So I suppose we're a team." You said to Mush, who also nodded. 

"Wonderful, that leaves us." Peggy said, motioning to herself and Blink. "We'll be seeing you, then." She beamed. "Oh, and if you get in trouble, or find the robbers or whatever, just come back here, leave a message on the rock, and go get help." 

"I feel like you've been planning this." Mush said suspiciously. 

"No, Mushy, I'm just smart." Peggy beamed at him. "Now, move out." She hooked her arm in Blink's, starting down a side tunnel.

"I suppose we should start, then." You said. "Any preference?" 

"One where I don't have to duck, please." Mush said. 

"Let's do this one." You decided, starting down with Mush close behind you. 

After a couple close calls with your hair and Mush's candle flame, plus the difficulty of dragging the rock along the wall, it was decided that Mush's candle be put out, and he would do the markings while you held the candle. 

After a long time, the tunnel split off, one branch continuing on and the other forking off to the right. 

"Which way?" You asked, raising the candle high. 

"Right." Mush said, his voice echoic in the tunnels. You nodded and started down the tunnel. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, and must have been even more difficult for Mush. And, unfortunately, it was also a dead end. After some tricky maneuvering, the two of you managed to get out of that tunnel and back into the main one. With shaky laughs, you caught your balance just before tripping over a snag of rock again. This time, Mush caught you. By some miracle, the candle hadn't gone out, loosely held in your left hand as you stared up at Mush. 

Mush couldn't help but think how amazing you looked, your hair slightly disheveled from the squeeze through the passage, but your eyes as bright as ever, your nose still crinkled slightly from breathless laughter, and your lips-- 

"Can I kiss you?" He breathed, the sound barely audible. 

One heartbeat. Two. 

"Yes." You said, your voice small and quiet in the cavern. 

His lips touched your cheek first, gentle but full of warmth. Then he kissed you again, just a little bit closer to your lips. His hand came up, cupping your cheek, thumb tracing over the places that his lips had just left, each touch filling you with fire. He looked you boldly in the eye, then, and your breath nearly left you as he said, "I've wanted to do this since the first day I saw you." 

You had only a moment to realize you didn't have any clue how to properly kiss someone, and another moment to realize you didn't care. And then his lips met yours. 

They were soft, careful, questioning. And you didn't know how you knew how to answer, but you obviously did, your body pressing closer to his, your right arm looping around his neck as his other arm wrapped around your waist, one hand splaying gently but firmly on your back and just like that you were lost, completely caught up in the kiss, in him. 

He pulled away, then, for a second, and you only had time to wonder, did you do something wrong? when he was back again, pulling you closer, closer than you thought was possible, and then-- 

Voices. Nearby, close, voices, voices that didn't belong to Peggy or Blink, voices that sounded mean and hard. And then the voices rounded the bend behind Mush, and then you knew Peggy had been right, after all. The rustlers were in the caves, and they had just found you.