Red Dead Redemption II Preferences and Oneshots

Arthur Morgan: Dissociating

Arthur Morgan X Female Reader

Summary: Arthur helping a reader who is dissociating.

A/N: I don't know much about dissociating but I've tried my best. Also, sorry it's a little short...

Word Count: 900

You're dissociating wasn't something that everyone knew about, it was difficult for you to explain and you weren't sure if they would understand or not. So you mostly kept it to yourself. The only person you had told about it at all was Arthur. He had noticed it a few times but didn't actually know what it was, so he had awkwardly asked you about it. You trusted him enough to explain your dissociating to the best of your ability. He seemed to understand pretty quickly, not thinking you were weird because of it.

Now that Arthur knew what was happening when you seemed to drift off like that, he wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help. He was pretty sure that it couldn't be a very pleasurable experience. So you had explained some things that helped you stay grounded and present.

Whenever Arthur sees you beginning to dissociate, he tries to help in anyway he can. Over time, he's started to figure out what works the best and what is pretty much useless. It still changes every now and again but he's starting to get pretty good at it, even if he does say so himself.

-----

You were sitting at the campfire with the other members of the gang, most of them anyway. Arthur was sitting beside you as everyone laughed, talked, and told stories.

Arthur laughed and shook his head at something John had said, something completely idiotic but still funny. He glanced at you, instantly noticing that you were starting to stare into the fire and that you weren't really responding to anything that was happening. Nobody, other than Arthur, had noticed your change in behaviour but that was probably a good thing.

Not wanting to call any attention to you, Arthur placed a hand on your shoulder, getting you to look at him. He tilted his head to the side as you looked at him, you seemed to be watching his face more intently than usual, almost like you were trying to recognise him or something. He just smiled at you before standing up, gently taking your hand in his.

Casually and quietly, Arthur got you away from the camp. Away from the noise, getting to somewhere more private so that he can try to bring you back to yourself.

Arthur sat down on the ground, resting back against a tree. He gently guided you down to sit between his legs, you do so without any argument. As you sit down, he wraps an arm around your waist, holding you against his chest. He remembered you saying that sometimes just being held helped you, and he definitely had no complaints about that.

After just sitting for a moment, Arthur held his free hand out in front of you, making sure that you could see it. He softly asked you to count his fingers and you did so pretty easily. He couldn't help but smile when you laced your fingers through his, holding his hand in your lap.

Remembering that getting you to describe simple things like the world around you often helped to ground you, Arthur decided to try that. "Where are we?" he asked softly, resting his chin on your shoulder so that his lips were near your ear. He hoped that staying close to you might help.

"Near the camp" you said simply and Arthur nodded slightly, at least you knew where you were. Arthur still wasn't sure how this worked so he sometimes worried that you didn't even know where you were or who he was when you were dissociating, so he just did his best to help.

"What can you see?" Arthur asked, smiling as he watched you play with his fingers absentmindedly.

"There are...trees and flowers" you told him as you looked around the wooded area, admiring the natural beauty.

"What colour are the flowers?" he asked, encouraging to give more detail.

"Red...blue...purple" you told him with a smile, they were beautiful.

"And what colour is the sky?" he asked as he unwrapped his arm from your waist and ran his fingers through your hair. Was he taking advantage of being alone with you? Maybe.

"Blue" you told him, enjoying the feeling of his fingers running through your hair as you looked up at the sky.

"And the grass" he prodded.

"Green" you answered, looking down at the grass as Arthur grabbed his journal from his satchel and sat it down beside you.

"My journal is on the ground next to you, on your left" Arthur told you and, without really thinking, you placed your hand, that wasn't holding Arthur's, on his journal.

The little things like describing the environment, feeling Arthur's hold on you, his hand in yours, his fingers combing through your hair, it was all making you feel more grounded.

"How are you feeling?" Arthur asked, wrapping his arms around your waist as he rested his chin on your shoulder again.

"Better...thank you" you told him and smiled softly. Arthur smiled and kissed your temple before just sitting with his arms wrapped around you.

You both sat like that for a moment, with Arthur just holding you. After a little while, you craned your neck so that you could look at his face. You lifted one hand and brushed your fingers against his cheek, brushing them over his stubble before smiling at him.

"Thank you" you said softly, this time sounding much more present than before, at least to Arthur.

"Anytime" Arthur assured you, dipping his head down to capture your lips with his own in a sweet kiss.

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