Rdr2 Modern Au - Tumblr Posts
I feel like everyone making a Modern AU of RDR LOOOVES to make sure Issac is alive (which I love too I want to see Issac) but EVERYONE forgets about John’s daughter who died too :( like what about her? Can’t she live too? What would yall name her? I wanna know 🙏🙏
Modern Au, Van Der Matthews headcannons !
(Happy HFF) :
Dutch + Hosea met at a college party through Susan
Dutch is a Philosophy professor and Hosea is an English professor at the same university
Both proposed at the same time, laughed, and Dutch accepted Hosea’s first. (You know the trope)
Adopted Arthur when he was 8, and then 2 years later decided they needed another one, so adopted John when he was a baby.
Dutch cannot cook for the life of him (1st reason they hired Pearson) but still tries to make Hosea breakfast in bed for his birthday/Father’s day. (He means well)
Hosea reads before bed, and pets Dutch’s hair/rubs his back. (It KNOCKS Dutch out)
John/Arthur addresses Dutch as “dad” and Hosea as “pa”
Hosea cannot physically sleep without white noise, which he ended up passing onto Dutch when they got married.
Dutch separated the physical fights, (between Arthur and John) Hosea separated the verbal fights.
Dutch/Hosea will give the other the silent treatment if they find out they continued watching a show without the other.
Have Arthur and John’s graduation photos out on display, (much to John’s dismay) and both are very different vibes (Arthur has a great smile and John was in his emo phase)
Dutch bought Hosea a Keurig one day after a bad argument. He was immediately forgiven.
Love their sons to BITS I tell you. Both have hoarded all pictures they’ve drawn throughout childhood, and they are stored in their own labeled boxes.
They FREAKED OUT whenever they discovered they were gonna be grandparents.
Cain is their dog. (Hosea bought him for Dutch one year on Christmas)
Dutch talks to his sons through texting: “Thinking of you 😘👍💗” and Hosea prefers phone calls.
Hosea has a green thumb, Dutch does NOT. (He’s killed a few plants while Hosea was away on business trips) (Hosea killed him)
Dutch is a: “Go ask your Pa.” Kinda dad.
Hosea is an “Elbows off the table” kind of dad.
Hosea assembles the Birthday/Christmas wishlists, Dutch goes and finds everything
More Vandermatthews modern AU headcannons!
(Since y’all liked the last one)
Here you go @soullessni 🫶
Hosea is/was VERY good at skating (both roller and ice) and taught Dutch how to skate (that’s primarily what they did on dates)
Hosea LOVES ABBA. Dutch sometimes plays it on their speakers and Hosea can’t resist a dance because it’s ABBA. (Their favorites are Take a Chance on Me, or Why’d It Have to be Me?)
Hosea’s best era was the 70s and Dutch’s was the 80s.
Branching off of that; Hosea totally sported a short sleeved button up tucked into flared pants with white GoGo boots. Meanwhile Dutch totally had a mullet and mustache combo in the 80s. (He misses it) (yes this is in reference of what he canonically looks like in rdr2, I think what he currently looks like is similar to rdr1 Dutch)
Some of their dates back in the day consisted of:
Skating dates
Disco dates
Sight seeing
Bicycling/hiking
Museums
Dates they do nowadays (when they have time) :
Museums (still)
Going out to dinner (a classic)
Drag shows
Staying home with a movie/show
Karaoke bars (with friends too)
They met through Susan in 1979 (Dutch was 22 and Hosea was 33) (they did not expect to fall in love with each other)
Dutch asked Hosea out everyday until he finally said yes
They always used to have hour long conversations which was VERY expensive, and Dutch’s line would PILE UP with everyone trying to reach him.
Hosea is a white wine drinker and Dutch is a red wine drinker
Gazing longingly to each other is their love language. (Whether that is across the room/table/street you decide)
Their actual love languages are:
Hosea- Quality time, physical touch (especially receiving), acts of service
Dutch- WORDS OF AFFIRMATION (especially receiving) , physical touch, gift giving
Dutch used to idly twirl the phone cord while talking to Hosea (tell me he didn’t..)
Dutch only drinks coffee, but Hosea loves both coffee and tea equally
Dutch can’t cook but he has PERFECTED the way Hosea makes his coffee
They often visit each other’s lecture rooms/classrooms at work
Dutch delivered Hosea flowers to his house everyday while they were dating, and nowadays Dutch buys him some still every so often (Hosea would always play it cool around Dutch when brought up, but he was always giddy to see a new bouquet everyday on his doorstep)
Branching off that; Dutch would leave him little poetic lines clipped to the flower baskets. (Hosea saved them all no matter how grammatically incorrect they could be sometimes) (he’s a stickler for punctuation)
Nowadays when Hosea says: “hmm?” Dutch over annunciates what he just said to make fun of his old age (receiving an eye roll from Hosea) (could also apply to the cannon timeline)
The types of conversations they have belong on a podcast (neither of them know how to/want to run one, but they’re hysterical nevertheless)
They both gossip about everything that’s happening in the gang. No one can possibly gossip more than they do
Modern AU headcannons
The Vandermatthews family edition
When John was a teenager he made slime and got it in Dutch’s expensive Persian rug he keeps in the office. (Dutch was LIVID.)
Hosea reads late into the night, which caused Dutch to buy one of those clip on reading lights so he can finally sleep peacefully.
Dutch and Hosea do embarrassing dances in the kitchen/living spaces when the kids are around. Arthur and John cringe hard at this.
John was introduced to Limp Bizkit and his life was forever changed.
Arthur: “GET OUT OF MY ROOM.”
John *In the doorway*: “IM NOT IN YOUR ROOM.”
Arthur: “dinner is ready.”
John: “OKAY.”
Arthur, louder: “OKAY!”
Arthur tans at the beach, John burns
Arthur has straight A’s, John has straight C’s
John will take a (monthly) shower and get the WHOLE floor wet
John’s favorite Christmas was when he got a bass guitar, and Arthur’s favorite was when he got his blue truck.
Arthur sits on Dutch/Hosea’s bed and just spills the tea to Hosea late into the evening (Dutch wants to get ready for bed soon)
Arthur is a PC player, and John is a console player
John has to go to the mall with Arthur when he wants to go alone because “John doesn’t socialize enough”
They both got to choose their bedroom colors, however, John wasn’t allowed to do THE DARKEST black in the store, so his room is a dark grey with a black accent wall. (Arthur’s room is blue)
Branching off of that, Arthur and John could decorate their rooms HOWEVER they wanted, there was no intervention from the dads
Hosea does the “Dad hand” during road trips when the boys have a snack he wants.
Hosea is the designated driver because Dutch has terrible road rage
They live on a pond, in fact Dutch and Hosea argued over it before buying the house, so much so that Hosea threatened a divorce because the ONLY thing he wants is a pond. Dutch folded, and Hosea fishes everyday.
Arthur loved Percy Jackson and John loved Warrior Cats.
Arthur is a cereal eater, and John is a pop-tart eater
The contrast between Arthur’s masterpieces vs John’s doodles are crazy. (They’re both proudly displayed on the front of the fridge no matter what) (yes this is based on their canonical journal entries, sue me)
John and Arthur took those embarrassing Macy’s photoshoots in the early 2000’s that are out on display for everyone to see in the future.
John has an INCREDIBLY embarrassing graduation photo from when he was in his emo phase in high school, and his dads refuse to remove it. (It’s placed next to Arthur’s gleaming grad photo)
Dutch has slippers he wears around the house, and Hosea just wears his socks.
John still doesn’t know how to swim in this AU, Hosea has tried to teach him, but John refuses to get in the water.
They have taxidermy in their house from when Hosea went hunting more often when he was younger.
Somehow Hosea and Dutch’s aesthetics work so well together.
Dutch is very much old money, and maximalist, and Hosea is definitely Vintage and Woodsy (It works together if you saw their house)
You would be convinced that John’s nails were naturally black and chipped from how much he painted them.
Hosea has a “Shop” in the garage like every dad has to have. (It’s full of fishing supplies, paint cans, and other tools ofc)
John’s room is very dark, messy, and covered in posters from every movie/Tv show/video game he’s ever seen/played. Also, making the bed? What’s that?
Arthur’s room is open and airy, with his own mountain murals painted on the walls, a full art desk, and he also doesn’t know what making the bed means.
More van der family modern/semi-modern headcannons
Dutch is the type of guy to throw away instructions to IKEA furniture and then cry because he doesn’t automatically know how to assemble it
Dutch/Hosea gave the boys copies of their house keys for emergencies only, but they just come in and out whenever, plus bring whoever they want with them so over the years the whole gang has a house key.
Everyone is a friend of each other, met through work, school, etc. (they live in a small community so they all know each other anyway)
Susan, Swanson, Strauss, and Pearson are all friends of Dutch and Hosea from college.
Arthur would have like a 40 pack of crayons as a kid and John would take them and break them of course, and when Arthur would snatch them back, John would resort to violence. This caused road trips to be extremely long.
Roadtrips:
Arthur: “Hey look there’s a herd of cows!!”
John, extremely loud: “MOOOOOOO”
As they grew older, Arthur mainly draws or reads on roadtrips and John plays on his gameboy/Nintendo DS or sleeps. (He gets sick if he reads in the car)
Arthur definitely pushed John into hotel pools when they were younger. (One of the dads had to get him)
You can definitely hear John’s music blast through his earbuds on all occasions.
Arthur is the kind of kid who’s always looking out his window at the right time and points out any animal he sees. (John always misses it)
John got his scars from being in a bar fight when him and Javier were in a small band in their early 20s. They were in some shitty dive bar and someone broke a bottle and used it against John and Javier. (They stopped touring after that)
Arthur is the designated guy to let the dogs out at night and watch them from the porch in his pajamas, occasionally yelling at them when they start barking at something. He does this even in the dead of winter.
The boys always fight physically/verbally over basically nothing 24/7. When a fight begins stirring in front of the dads they tell them to go outside with it.
John: “I was going to take a nap, I don’t even want to go to the mall..”
Arthur: “well I didn’t even want to take you, Dad wanted you to go.”
John: “whatever.”
John had a huge Pokémon phase when he was much younger, like in 6th grade or something. Gengar is his favorite.
John grew his hair out from a buzz cut throughout high school he shaved it right before his freshman year, and it grew to his shoulders when he graduated.
In the earlier years John and Arthur would argue over which CD they should put in the car. (Dutch and Hosea had one of those thick CD binders in their car, with a huge verity of music)
Arthur: “WE LISTENED TO GUNS N ROSES LAST TIME!!”
John: “NOTHING ELSE IS GOOD.”
Arthur: “THATS NOT TRUE. What about Johnny Cash?”
John: “ugh.. no.”
Arthur: “what’s wrong with Johnny Cash?”
Dutch: “just pick a damn CD already.”
Arthur and John fight over shotgun all the time, even as adults on the rare occasion they’re taking their dad’s car somewhere
Rdr2 modern Au: Family reunion (aka gang reunion) head cannons:
Abigail Marston- Primarily watching all the children, and building charcuterie boards. (She’s snacking on the berries and cheeses that don’t fit) she likes to make sure everyone gets plenty of fresh fruit and protein to go with the barbecue. And later, she sets up the kiddie pool for her daughter while the older boys play in the pool.
Arthur Morgan-If not playing with the kids, he’s drawing pictures for them as the requests come in. He’s also watching football with the boys. He’s eventually asked to play with Issac, Jack, and his niece. Sadie tells them to assault Kieran with the water guns, which Arthur does gladly. When Kieran turns around and notices him, he picks up his niece, and he and the boys book it.
Bill Williamson- screaming at the TV until he has to go to the corner store to buy sodas because they forgot them. He has to go to 15 stores because none of them have the sodas they want, he’s on and off the phone with Dutch, until Dutch yells at him to figure it out himself, to which he calls Hosea instead, who gives him better instructions. When he comes back he sees the score has changed for the worse so he rapidly interrogates John to ask what happened.
Charles Smith- mainly chilling with Arthur, and keeping to himself, but the children love him so they demand he and Arthur play with them all the time. Charles sits out the game when Arthur and the kids shoot Kieran in the back with the water gun. Arthur manages to outrun the boys, who end up splitting up and doing something else. So Charles and Arthur watch over John’s daughter, until she wants to go to the kiddie pool.
Dutch Van Der Linde- trying to make sure everyone’s having a good time (it’s required) and that plans fall into place. He’s also barking orders at people to help out, and desperately trying to keep his house clean. He’s also asking the score every time someone shouts “LETS GOOOOOO!” From the living room.
Hosea Matthews- mainly running all over the place. Going between: bossing people around with Dutch, helping Abigail with the charcuterie boards, tending to the grandchildren, peaking at the game, giving Dutch affection, and bringing everyone snacks/drinks. (He’s a busy man)
Issac Morgan- brought his game system that his cousins beg him to play, until it runs out of battery, then they do a whole bunch of activities that mainly Jack comes up with. He has a lot of fun watching his dad get up to mischief. Until he tells Jack to come with him to play tag in the front yard instead.
Jack Marston/his sister- jack wants to do a whole bunch of things, water gun, catch, tag, water balloons, and swimming. Marston girl (haven’t come up with a name yet) is just aimlessly following everyone, she’s too young to come up with her own ideas. The three of them manage to trail water and grass in the house every 10 minutes.
Javier Escuella- watching the game he’s not really interested in, so he’s mainly on his phone. He likes giving everyone the stink eye whenever they scream at the TV. Suddenly he gets really grossed out whenever he sees Bill lick his fingers and return to the popcorn bowl because he was eating it, so he gets up and wanders into the kitchen for something else.
John Marston- Shouting at the TV like a few others, and apologizing to Javier when he glares at him. Drinking several beers, and then asking Abigail for some more strawberries (she denies his request because it’s for the boards) Defending his graduation photo that Micah made fun of, which started a heated argument between them.
Josiah Trelawny- In and out of the house, he’s got errands to run. He’s there if you look close enough. (He shows up at the last minute for photos)
Karen Jones- Decimating the beers like John. Hanging out with her friends, Mary-Beth and Tilly, and making arrangements for personal hangouts with them to catch up. Thought of ditching the function with the 2 of them all together, but they know how much it means to Dutch, so they decide to stay.
Kieran Duffy- Was in the living room to begin with, but the screaming and loud TV started overwhelming him, so he left to go find Mary-Beth and her friends. Got squirt on his back with a water gun by one of the kids, but when he turned around, Arthur was holding the gun. (Arthur and the kids ran away laughing)
Lenny Summers- Similar to Javier, he’s mainly reading on his phone, until Sean comes up with his idea, so he gets up and helps him out. The kids like asking him to play since he’s a lot younger than Arthur and can last longer, which he agrees to. And in the evening he’s in the pool with the kids and Sean. (He’s winning at Marco Polo)
Leopold Strauss- Showed up late because he had to work. Enjoying the evening on the patio with Pearson and Swanson, and reading a book.
Mary-Beth Gaskill- Hanging out with the girls until Kieran approaches her to ask if he can hang out with them. The other girls say it’s fine and they stick together for the evening. She laughs at Kieran for getting water-shot in the back, but helps him get a new shirt to change into.
Micah Bell- Sulking in the living room with the rest of the boys. (He’s not the football type) either on his phone or scaring the kids that walk into the room. Eventually he gets bored, and looks at the family photos (this is Dutch and Hosea’s house, so the pictures are of John and Arthur). He makes fun of John’s infamous Grad picture, which starts an argument between him and John.
Molly O’Shea- Helping Abigail and sometimes Hosea with food prep, until she eventually gets overwhelmed with the living room screaming so she steps outside for a smoke break. She sees the other girls and Kieran and asks to hang out to which Karen immediately agrees. She and Karen share a whiteclaw in the hammock at the end of the evening, while they watch the sunset.
Reverend, Orville Swanson- Enjoying his time on the patio with Strauss and Pearson, and occasionally Susan. He interrupts his activities to grab another beer every so often, but he’s mostly just enjoying the weather and the conversations with them.
Sadie Adler- inspecting the Barbecue occasionally because she’s convinced that Pearson can’t do it right. Whenever you see her she either has a beer/cigarette (or both) in her hand. Definitely cool aunt vibes, and feeds the children with devious ideas (like squirting Kieran with a water gun) (which Arthur agrees to) and when she goes inside she likes to sneak up behind Abigail and watch her prep the food.
Sean MacGuire- brought sparklers for the kids, but also for himself. The kids love them and dance around in the front yard with them, drawing shapes and writing their names in the air with them. Sean likes watching them for a little while until one of the kid’s sparkler dies, and then he hands them the one he has. And when the kids ask Lenny to swim, Lenny invites him also. (He’s bad at Marco Polo)
Simon Pearson- Mostly on the patio cooking barbecue on the grill for everyone’s dinner. Sometimes he goes in the house for a beer, and to ask the scores. He gets annoyed at Sadie’s nagging, because he believes he’s doing a good job, to which she denies. He enjoys sharing his college and Navy stories with the boys, while they’re telling stories.
Susan Grimshaw- definition of “Multi-faceted woman.” She’s doing everything. Helping out in the kitchen with everyone else, Making sure everyone is fed, helping Mary-Beth get a spare shirt for Kieran, checking on the barbecue progress, splitting the argument between John and Micah, and making Deviled Eggs for everyone (they’re everyone’s favorites)
Tilly Jackson- Mainly hanging out with the other girls, or plucking off Deviled eggs behind Susan’s back. Abigail gives her charcuterie ingredients that don’t fit as well. She’s enjoying spending time with the little one, and braiding her hair before she goes into the kiddie pool. She also bought the boys the water guns, and some little toddler toys for the little girl.
Uncle- Napping. (And if he’s awake he’s drinking and asking when the food is done. Per usual, he’s not very helpful or active.