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It was time.
Algie patted his horse's neck as he rose from tightening the saddle, the horse leaning into his calloused hand and letting out a friendly neigh. Algie was certainly going to miss him when he had to move back to civilized country, perhaps he could convince Miss Lyons to buy a place with room for a horse or two, perhaps a ranch.
The year in the West had been good for Algie (although of course, it wasn't without its many hardships that hadn't existed in his previous comfy life). His stubborn baby fat had disappeared from his face, leaving him with a handsome look, his hair was longer and messier but still clung to the last remaining bits of resemblance of how it looked in his "civilized" days before he had become a cowboy.
His skin was tanned and oft sunburnt from long days of of hard work under the blazing sun, his once pudgy stomach now toned and firm from hours of working the mines and lifting heavy pickaxes and rocks.
But most of all, it wasn't his looks but his ways that the West had changed the most. He had come here a sissy, a scared little boy that falsely called himself a man, with a tiny revolver that any cowboy worth their spurs would laugh off as if it was a toy. Big Jim, the toughest cowboy of them all, while not eloquent with his words and often slow with his thoughts, had taught Algie all he needed to know to become a man.
Big Jim had given Algie his first full-sized pistol and shown him how to ride a horse. It was with Big Jim when Algie found his first pieces of gold. Big Jim had been with Algie for every step of his journey to manhood, the tough cowboy showing the younger man everything he needed to know in order to become strong and confident.
And in return for all Big Jim had done for him, Algie returned it in the ways of looking after the big cowboy, keeping him away from the demon drink before it made him sick, cleaning up around the cabin, cooking the meals he knew the rough cowboy liked but didn't want to admit it. When the big cowboy was up during his countless nights of restlessness and sickness, Algie was at his side with a cup of water and a reassuring presence.
The two of them made a good pair. Big Jim was strong and big, which allowed him to do the heavy lifting, fixing up the supports of the cabin when they fractured or broke, lifting the heavy rocks when they spotted a hint of a gold vein, scaring off any cowboys who wished to have a share in the duo's profits - and so much more. Algie was smaller and mean, better fit for the detail and small work, fixing up small cracks and chips, worming into small gaps to mine out the bright gold that flashed in the darkness, backing up Big Jim with witty comments and smart remarks when they got in a tussle with other cowboys. They were like two pieces of a puzzle, perfectly made for each other in a way that could never be recreated.
Algie could only hope that his relationship with Miss Lyons would be the same.
Speaking of Big Jim, the man himself was lumbering out of the cabin they had both shared for the past year, an unexplainable expression in his dark eyes as he idly strolled up to Algie, raising a hand to block the searing sunlight from his eyes.
Big Jim and Algie had become the tightest of friends over this last year, seeing great success uncovering gold out in the mountains and plains. The other cowboys had even started calling them the 'Golden Duo' due to the sheer amount of luck they had in spotting gold veins. Algie was going to miss their adventures, dearly so.
"Where ya headed, Algie?" Big Jim puffed on the pipe he had set between his lips, reaching up to tilt his hat down against the sun, "Headin' to the bar?"
The bar was one of the few places Algie and Jim were apart, the bigger cowboy having decided to stay far away from the demon drink after his struggles at the beginning of Algie's stay out west. They were almost attached at the hip everywhere else.
"Oh Jim, didn't I tell you?" Algie grinned at his friend, wondering how he possibly forgot to tell his good friend the amazing news, "It's the end of January! I must return to Mr. Lyons now, as I've met the terms of his contract. I've got to go marry Miss Lyon!"
Jim slowly took his pipe out, setting it down on the small table outside their cabin door. Algie watched him, waiting for a response, a feeling that he couldn't describe creeping up as he noticed Jim didn't seem excited for him.
"You're leaving?" Big Jim's eyebrows were scrunched together, his lips twisting into a frown.
"I..." Algie paused.
Why was he leaving?
Seeing Big Jim upset was starting to cause a horrible sensation to form in Algie's stomach, as if he had made a great mistake.
Was this really what Algie wanted?
"Do you still have the note?" Big Jim questioned, idly fiddling with his belt loops, his expression still not one of happiness or excitement for Algie, "From Mr. Lyons?"
"Oh - Yes!" Algie fished around in his pocket for a moment, his searching fingers quickly finding the rough paper that he had kept with him throughout the many rough months and fishing it out.
February 1st, 1912
If Algie Allmore, proves himself a man, inside one year, he can have my daughter's hand in marriage.
Signed / Harry Lyons.
"It's February tomorrow. There's no doubt I've proven myself a man by now with your help, so there's no way Mr. Lyons won't let me marry his daughter." Algie grinned triumphantly at his friend. "I'm going to be married, Big Jim!"
"So you're going to leave and go marry that Miss Lyons you talked about when you came here?" Big Jim peered at the contract, before looking back at Algie, handing the crumpled note back over, "You're leaving all this behind? Won't you miss it?"
"Well, of course." Algie shrugged, "I'll miss the horses. And the other cowboys. And the cabin. And the gold. And-" Algie paused. He was leaving behind so much. He was leaving the life he had come to love, all for Miss Lyons, who was a pretty face but... other than that? Algie didn't know her. He didn't know if they would be happy living together, if their living patterns would match or clash.
He already had someone he loved living with, sharing the cabin with Big Jim was something he treasured, and he was about to leave that behind...
Oh.
Oh no.
Algie barely noticed the contract slipping from his fingers, the note falling to the dusty ground as Algie's mind made the connection between the feelings that had been slowly forming over the last year, connecting the dots on who the true target of his heart was.
Algie didn't love Miss Lyon.
No.
Algie loved Big Jim.
Well, only one way to deal with that revelation.
"Wait. Big Jim, I have to admit something." Algie took a deep breath, forcing himself to maintain eye contact with the man he had come to know so intimately over the last year.
"Yes?" Big Jim raised an eyebrow, waiting for Algie to continue.
"I... I don't think I've overcome my sissy ways." Algie stammered.
Big Jim's brows furrowed, before he visually made the connection between what Algie was saying and the context of their situation.
"Oh?"
"And I don't think that I love Miss Lyon." Algie forced out in a rush, "I love... someone else."
"Someone else, eh? Well," Big Jim grinned, his teeth showing from beneath his chapped lips in a way they only did when he was truly happy. "It seems you failed to meet the requirements of Mr. Lyons' contract then. What are we to do with you?"
"I guess I'll just have to stay here." Algie winked, feeling much more confident with himself now that he had identified the true target of his sissy heart, "With you."
"I think I'd like that Algie." Big Jim nodded, "I'd like that very much. To celebrate your decision, what do you say we go find somewhere secluded," Big Jim reached over and gently caressed Algie's jaw, the touch sending feelings of which Algie had only dreamed off flashing through his body, before the taller cowboy gave his partner - now in more ways than one - a wink, "to search for gold, of course."
Oh, Algie's heart was going through too many emotions to handle this. It felt as if a million loose butterflies were fluttering around in his chest, his cheeks becoming warm as he flushed.
"To search for gold, yes, and nothing else," Algie smirked, before quickly hauling himself up onto his horse in a way that was almost second nature to him now. When he was settled in the saddle, pulling his hat down low over his eyes, he turned to give the man he had called his friend - and who was now so much more - for the past year a seductive look, "I'll show you something worth far more than gold, if you can catch me!"
With that flirt, and a snap of the reins, Algie's horse was off like a shot bullet, a trail of dust in its wake. Big Jim let out a roar of laughter before quickly darting to where his own horse was standing and quickly mounting him and snapping the reins, his loyal steed darting off after the pair ahead of them.
With Mr. Lyons' note crumpled in the dust and trampled by hooves, all thoughts of Miss Lyons forgotten, the Golden Duo rode off together into a golden horizon.