A Glimpse of Heaven - Cort x (Fem)Reader
Warnings: mentions of drinking, cursing, breakup angst (followed by comfort)
For my dear bestie @wildsaltair, with all my love and support in her recovery from breakup.
Patient and observant, the preacher awaited for the next phase of his martyrdom facing his state of total demise. As the laughing stock of the town, nobody really paid him as much attention as he did to all of them. He had already learned enough of the pains an ills from the people who despised him, but foremost, he had obssesively learned about you. The cute, smiling girl always sparing a sweet glance towards him before returning to the contestant she followed. A man Cort was sure didn't deserve you, but it didn't matter because your love towards him was too evident. That alone should have been a better reason to brag than his shooting skills, since he was not as good as the admiration your feelings induced must have made you believe. What could you possibly know? Those delicate hands have never held a gun, only caressed softly the face of that jerk with each win.
After making it far enough to believe himself above who he once was, he finally dumped you in front of everyone. Tied up at the entrance of the canteen, Cort watched powerlessly as you suffered through the heartbreak and humilliation knowing he would have jumped in your defense if he could. He had made a vow, he gave up on violence, but if he would have been in free capacity for it he would have wished to beat the shit out of the ungrateful man.
Right before storming out of his sight, you looked at him one last time and seeing the joy he had got so used to find in you leave broke him. His silent mercy didn't calm your tears, but there was a quiet understandment of shared misery between you during that brief instant. Even at your lowest, you were still beautiful, and he dared to consider if your shy signals towards him could be pointing towards a similar reasoning. Curious about him, not interested, because you only had eyes for the bastard that had just broken your heart.
The worst was yet to come, because after a good long while of not knowing what happened to you due to the disruption of the routine he had came to memorize, he found you about to rush inside once more. You were a broken mess, your hurry a sign of shame as you probably intended to walk in and drink your misery away without being questioned.
His desperate calls to stop you had no effect, and in an intempestive act product of the urgency, he clumsily grabbed the skirt of your dress with his tied hands hoping you would at least look down at him.
" This ain't your godamn business, preacher! Let me be!!! "
Your harshness didn't disencourage him as much as it should, mostly because he was already used to being mistreated.
" Miss, please! You don't have to do this, ... I know it feels a tempting solution, but it's not a real one. "
The good advice that you perceived as church gibberish feel on deaf ears as your wrongly targeted anger escalated.
" It helps you forget, ... and that's all I need now."
His pleading eyes looking up at you from the ground hoped for the miracle that would soften you again as the helpless man spoke from the heart.
" And you will forget, ... for a very quick while. But then you will be a lonely woman drinking her pain and money away among the worst men in town. Alone and drunk enough for bastards even worse than him to notice."
A sudden break of fear interrupted your dismissal of him, to what he advanced with even greater softness.
"Choose wisely ... Do you want to pile up more regret? "
The first act of genuine care towards you broke down the facade of strenght you were pulling out for the rest of the world to see. In the slight change of your semblance he found the sense of your real self and you opened up to him realizing that you had no choice.
" I have nothing to live for, he took everything! I don't even know what I am going to do on my own in this shithole ... He was my first love! I believed in him when nobody else did, and now that he is someone he thinks I am not enough for him."
Tears started to flow, but his inviting smile tried to act against it.
" You still have your honor! And we will try to guard it, shall we? "
The irony made you chuckle, and realizing that you were being comforted by the most disgraced man in the whole town didn't help as much as he thought.
" You can't even help yourself."
Far from giving up once he had conquered some of your trust, Cort admitted his blame with an innocent glance.
" But I can help you, ... If you let me. "
The harshness briefly returned in the form of skepticism, and you were fair to have some doubts about the unusual proposal.
"Unless you are offering to kill him, I am not interested. If I wanted a confession, I would ... "
Cort tried to raise up, but the chains made it insanely difficult and in this frustration he found the needed spirit to be more direct than he needed.
"I'm talking as a man, not a priest. A man who has seen enough, who is going through Hell and has found a glimpse of Heaven in your pretty eyes."
Against the instinctive guesses of his helplessness it turned out you weren't shying away from his confession. Kneeling to reach him in the ground, you studied his face with care searching for traces of deception.
" You are a real smooth talker, ... I've deal enough with that."
In a vain attempt to emphasize his point, Cort bit and licked his dry lips
" I will look after you, even in chains." He insisted in a soft whisper that lowered in volume as he spoke. " Bet on me the money you were going to waste drinking in his name, you will make enough to pay for a room."
You were even more confused than before, but you weren't precisely in the place to complain.
" Let me understand this: you don't want to fight for yourself, but you would if you know it helps me? "
He nodded affirmatively with an imperceptible movement and the strands of hair then falling at the side of his face gave him an unusual appeal to your eyes.
" I'm trying to fix all the wrongs in my life, but you were wronged and i can't bear it … I can't bear this sight either. You are more beautiful from up close than you appeared to me in the crowd. "
For the first time since the breakup you giggled sweetly and genuinely. The small bit of joy he got from you was enough to get a matching smile from him. A lifeful sparkle in his eyes as they lost in yours signaled the shift of your definitive impression.
" Certainly, they couldn't beat those good looks out of you. "
Tentatively reaching your hand to adjust the rebel strands, you took a shot to ran your fingers through his hair. It proved to be surprisingly soft for the decaying state of a man left at the mercy of the weather.
He started hoping you would commit to take a seat alongside him, but you raised up instead and before he could get to protest you were walking inside.
It confused him, until you emerged out proudly holding a glass of water that you kindly offered for him to drink by your own hand after taking the first sip.