Dirty Dishes
Stephen Strange x f!Reader
Warnings: None, not really …. This is mostly fluffy fluff
Summary: (Y/N) was trying to wash the dishes but Stephen has other plans
A/N: i hope you guys like this 💕💕💕 just thought I would write some inconsequential fluff 🥺💕💕 but if you have any ideas of what I should write please leave me a request 💕💕 I love writing them 💕💕💕
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She sighed contently, running the soaked sponge over the food-stained plates, creating soap suds that wrapped around her hands along with them, occasionally scrubbing harder on a spot that seemed fixed on sticking on. Her mind was so focused on the task of bubbles and clear, cold water in front of her, that her surroundings began to fade into the background, the sounds of the television becoming more incoherent, as the echo of the streaming, crystal liquid from the tap enveloped her ears.
She had delved so far into her work, that she couldn't hear the soft footstep's that grew louder as they entered the space. Stephen leaned against the white wall, fixating his gaze at her, her frame tense as she held the circular, ceramic plates carefully, allowing the lathered dishwashing liquid to flow down to the reflective metal sink, and into the drain at its center. Her eyes were narrowed at a little speck that blemished the otherwise perfectly white surface, strands of hair falling from the ponytail that she pulled them into, the shirt she wore hung loosely around her body, falling off slightly around her shoulders, recognizing it to be his. Taking a few steps forward, he encircled her waist with his arms, as she gasped, being snapped from her daze, resting his chin on her shoulder, turning his head slightly to place a soft kiss on the exposed skin of her neck. She hummed contently for a few seconds, sighing contently as he swayed their bodies gently, before trying to wriggle out of his hold, unconvincingly claiming, "I still haven't finished washing the dishes", gesturing to the single glass that stood alone in the otherwise empty basin.
Raising an eyebrow teasingly at her, the pile of bubbles around the counter caught his eye, scooping some of it up in his hands, smearing it across her cheeks, her jaw-dropping at the action, promptly responding by grabbing the sponge at her side, throwing it at the laughing sorcerer that faced her. Easily avoiding her make-shift weapon, leaving it to land on the dark, aged hard-wood floors, he spun their bodies around, his hands splashing the cold liquid from where it still streamed out of the metal pipping, her hands coming up to shield her face from his attack, dampening her sleeves. The edges of her mouth curled upwards into a grin, grabbing his wrists to hold them at his sides, an attempt to stop them from creating a bigger mess, "Stephen, stop it", she giggled at his playful behavior, her cheeks tinted crimson, "we're gonna have to clean this up too".
His chuckles became softer as he fixated his gaze at her lips, the smile fading from her face as she realised how their faces were inches away from each other, leaning herself closer to him so that their lips connected, moving in sync, his hands, tightening around her waist. Instinctively she interlocked her hands behind his neck, closing any gaps between them, gasping as he pushed her towards the counter, squeezing her hips gently, letting him slip his tongue into her mouth, earning a soft moan from her. Pulling away for a few seconds, he whispered into her ear, “jump”, she responded instantly, curling her legs around his torso as he lifted her to place her on the smooth, spotless counter, continuing the kiss.
After a few more minutes, the pair broke the kiss for air, their soft panting the only sound that drifted around them besides the quiet talking from the television, resting their foreheads against each other. Delicately he placed a hand at the nape of her neck, the warmth from his hand making her hum happily, as he kissed the side of her head tenderly, sighing, “I love you”. Laying her head against his chest, finding comfort in the steady thumping of his heart, “love you too, Stephen”, before pecking his cheek tenderly.
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Polkadot Man x M! reader Pt 2
Warning-Vent and a little bit of fluffy.
Summary: you manged to find out the truth but it didn’t help the fact you were still clinging onto something that has been proven true. Abner couldn’t help but comfort you even if you keep on rejecting every advantage. The thinker couldn’t help but feel a sense of justice but also a hint of guilt.
You sat within the bus eating girl scout cookies that you bought against Rick’s thoughts pressured on the cookies. “I can’t believe you actual bought girl scout cookies” Rick pondered on your childish behavior. “Your just jealous for your not stuffing your face” Rick rolls his eyes but smiles and gives you a fist bump.
Cleo grins for Rick stomach growls “And when was the last time you ate Rickie” you tease. Rick huffs and takes the offered cookies and says “Shut up” you hum. More boxes of girl scouts cookies are handed out to everyone expect Nanaue for he doesn’t eat such foods.
“I like strawberry” Abner mumbles to which cause you to trade over your strawberry for his chocolate ones. You gave him a sly wink to which cause him to hide his face with the help of the box.
“Hey why are you afraid of rats?” Cleo asks Robert while you moved and took a sit beside Abner. “Why are you so in love with them ratcatcher 2?, you know what I think?, I think you have serious case of daddy issues” you frowned at Robert. Robert isn’t exactly known as a expressive type and everyone can see it regardless how cold heart he is you know otherwise.
“I have no issues with how much I loved my father” Robert sighs “You remind me of my daughter that’s why I’m here”. You couldn’t help but smile while biting into a cookie. “Why are you afraid of rats?” Cleo once again asks the same question. “My old man. when I was a lad, if I didn’t finish a task right, he would dole out a punishment. And one day, he just locked me in a create for twenty-four hours. And it was full of starving rats”.
You sighed and whistled to gain Roberts attention and threw three cookies at him, he caught all three of them. “As imperfect my father was ,he loved me. I wish I could give that to you”. ‘Don’t worry yeah?, I’m gonna get you out of here alive” Cleo smiles “I’m going to get you alive out of here”.
“What about clock” you hummed “Your oddly quiet” Robert pips up “Oh yes whats your story”. Cleo smiles up at you while Abner turns his attention to how close you were. “I don’t want to bore anyone to death” Rick scoffs “Shut up and tell us, I’m all eyes and ears” you frown at him.
“Uh...where do I start, I was born in may the 18th 1918″ you thought of how you lost your mother. “My mother died after bring me into the world. I was small but strong while my father walked out of my mothers life the moment he found out she was pregnant”. Cleo frowns “So my granddad took me in so all I knew was that I had to live through a time era where if you were caught crying even a little your shamed for it”. Abner places a shy but comforting hand on top of yours “I was different I knew that but different made me strong and I reached for knowledge”.
“I found it easier to keep to myself until Benjamin came along in shape of defending me” you chuckled a little. “He is my childhood friend who glued himself to me from the very beginning, you see we both grew up in the back houses” Cleo frowns out of confusing. “That is what we called them, it’s just houses that were mistaken for apartments” Cleo nods. “I remembered getting into fights with older boys and I was an idiot for believing that I’ll win but I never did” Chris now understand why you protect Abner.
“But I ain’t no coward for I didn’t run away from a fight other then that the old crow wouldn’t let it go” Robert chuckles or something like that. “I would come home all scruffy every two weeks to the crows dismay” Rick nods. “Years past and I was top of my class even tho I caused trouble and had been caned for it” Abner winces at the thought of it. “I enrolled into university but halfway through my second semester I dropped out to join the air force in 1939 August the 18th” you had to take breath. “I had trained enough to find myself within the sky in the midst of 1942 defending my country” you found yourself growing a pit in your stomach and you felt like vomiting.
“I was battling above a filed like nothing had gone wrong in the first place, the very Nazi manged to slash me out of sky” Robert doesn’t know anything about the air force but can see it. “I found myself hurrying to my death until an enemy pilot collided with me but I didn’t meet death instead I found myself two days before the whole entire event”. “Other then that when the fall of Poland had happened I had to be the last to know” You squint at the box of chocolate cookies before you.
“Around the time Benjamin had been set off to Poland and hadn’t returned so when I had been shipped off to Poland, I searched for him” Robert clears his throat. “I think that’s enough” Robert could tell that you didn’t want to go any farther with your side of the story. Abner squeezes your hand and when you notice you move your hand from his to which caused him to shutter away.
“Hey penis-maker, we’re on a mission” Chris makes a face “Easy inspector gadget. A little drink never hurts nobody”. You frowned at the idea but you really need a pick me up so you gone with the flow. “Expect the thousands of people killed in drunk driving accidents every year” Abner commented. You stare at him and could tell he was still a little hurt from you moving away from him.
“Here’s to last three hours of being alive” Robert didn’t agree “I’ll be alive. You speak for yourself”. You drank your drink like a shot and didn’t hesitate to ask for another. You find yourself laughing and watch as Abner gag on his drink to which cause you to pat his back. “Easy there dots, you want to be somewhat sober” Abner nods.
Everyone found themselves dancing with the music blazing in the background. You watch them fail at one of the most simplest thing in the world and you couldn’t help but laugh. “C’mon Y/N join us” Abner spoke while holding out a hand. “No you guys got it handle, I’ll just get in the way” you weren’t an upbeat dancer your more of slow dance type of guy. “No your not, you need this too” You smiled but caved in “Fine”. You took a last swig of your drink before standing up to dance with him.
You held onto Abner’s waist from behind and dance with him, for the truth you weren’t that bad. Abner sways his hips in synced with yours and you couldn’t help but evolve your arms around him. Swaying with your face just a few inches off from his right shoulder. You held his hand and kept on swaying while the both of you smile and laugh. You tugged him back to which cause him to look down at you, you grin and “Damn you are one dish”. Abner frowns out of confusion but by your grin it must be a good thing.
Abner turns around and stares down at you and without warning he captures your lips with his. You stood thunderstruck but kiss back after a few seconds, it never accrued to you how soft his lips were. How gentle and shy he can be, how easy a red tent grows across his cheeks. He had to be the most sweetest thing you ever had met. Far too sweet, Abner had to be the number one candy in the world.
The two of you pull away with a small smiles on each other faces. You hum and kept on swaying to the music until Cleo poke Abner side. “Sorry for breaking you two up but you gonna have to focus for his here” you look and saw The thinker himself. You nod before parting from Abner to keep an eye on the weirdo over at the bar with Robert pressing a gun to his side.
But now here your with this odd looking man making a way to the back door with him mouthy off. “If you think that big mouth of yours is gonna save you sadly think again” he hums at your words. “Your the 1940′s guy right” you grow surprised “Pardon” he just smiles. You push through to the back only to see half-naked women “Sorry Loves we just want to get by” they screamed of course.
A solider turns to us but Cleo makes a rat shove it’s way into his mouth to which cause you to frown. “Ah geez now you don’t see that everyday” you watch the man squirm while the others moved on. “Now that is nasty” the man reach a hand out to you but you declined his odd muffles for help. “Sorry mate it’s more like a you problem” he still lays there until he just stop moving. You made a face “Oh my goodness that’s fucking gross” you watch the rat scurry off somewhere else. You flinch when the rat doubled back and ran pass your right shoe “Ugh, fuck no” you shiver “Y/N!” you hear Milton call out.
“That was a gross way to die” Cleo only sighs “I’m sorry if that creep you out”. “No I didn’t mean it in that way for it was unexpected” Cleo looks up at you and smiles. You can tell she is still jumping “Welp weirdo how does it feel to be here” the man only grins. “Benjamin called out to you but you never came” you glare at him and kicked him. “Y/N” Abner spoke softly “Don’t his just lying” you frown and said “Yeah, his just lying”.
“Look Abner about before I..” you were cut off “don’t worry about it we all have our ups and downs”. “For I killed my mom” you frown and by his very life you can tell he had done it for the greater good. “I know Abner and I’m truly sorry” Abner smiles and lays his head on your right shoulder. “Num Num” Nanaue says so you groaned “No, he isn’t Num Num’s” Nanaue seems disappointed.
Abner cuddles into your right side “Hey Abner” he hums “What are you gonna do once your free”. For the truth Abner doesn’t know himself “I don’t know” you smile. “You can see the rest of England with me then” Abner smiles and says “I’ll like that. Cleo came and said “Hey can I join” you smile and move over for her to join. She took your left while Abner has your right, Weirdo looks at you three before he started pondering over his own life.
“Okay so operation Harley” Rick says to each of us while we all nod.
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I know I said two-parts but I’m gonna stop here for now.
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Counter Clock Incident Redux
When the Senior Crew comes back from an away mission, they mysteriously start to become younger. It’s up to Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford, Tendi, and Westlake to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Crying rang through Medbay, piercing anybody's ears that happened to walk in. Chang had a baby Ransom in one arm and T'ana in the other, trying to hush them to sleep. Minimum medical personnel was allowed to interact with the senior crew, as seeing your captain as a baby isn't the best for leadership. As a result, Westlake, Tendi, and Chang worked non-stop researching cures and running a mini nursery.
"Come on, Commander, hush-hush! Go to sleep. Please, for the love of God, go to sleep!" She spun and bobbed around, trying to keep herself awake.
Kitty T'ana stretched her paws out, and her retractable claws came into view. "Oh no no, you don't want to scratch the person holding you," Chang panicked, as T’ana had already scratched up half her body. It was her boss's idea of 'playing.’
Across the small room, Tendi played on the floor with Freeman. Large, colorful wooden blocks were scattered around them as they stacked the blocks as high as possible. Every few minutes or so, one of them would tip the tower over, and both would burst out in laughter. Chang walked over to Tendi with the two babies in tow.
"Tendi, please take over. They haven't stopped crying for 30 minutes, and I have so many scratches from T'ana that I don't even think the dermal regenerator is going to fix it." Tendi always had a way with kids. She knew how to play with them, feed them, put them to sleep, and she loved them. She would have fit in perfectly as a pediatric nurse on a Galaxy-class ship where there were families, but she was on the Cerritos, with no children on board. This was a small blessing to her.
Tendi got up from her spot and carefully took both babies. "Just watch over the captain for a moment" just then, Mariner walked into Medbay. "Oh, look, Mariner can help you!"
Tendi pushed Mariner with her hips over to where Chang sat. She plopped down in front of her mother, taking one of the many blocks and handing it to the baby.
"So, where are Boimler and Rutherford, and how is the ship?"
Mariner spoke as all three of them stacked blocks. "Rutherford is researching how to get these guys back to their normal age along with running engineering. Lieutenant Nieli has the bridge. God, he’s awkward at giving orders. And Boimler, well, I think he's in his hidey closet doing a captain’s log."
"How are you doing with" Chang motioned over to baby freeman.
Mariner thought for a moment, "I mean, it's weird, but I'm sure Rutherford can get them back to normal."
At this point, Carol had stacked the small blocks five high. When leaning over to grab more, she accidentally knocked the tower down. Sniffles came from her before the full-blown crying started.
"Oh god, not again" Chang grabbed Freeman and rocked her slowly in her arms. "The crying is nonstop with them," she explained to Mariner.
Beckett started to undo the top of her uniform jacket, causing Chang to raise an eyebrow. From her bra, she pulled out a small bottle of blue liquid.
"Romulan whiskey," Beckett answered before Chang could ask a question.
"But why in your-?"
"I always keep it on me in case I have to deal with extra bullsh*t. And it's in my bra because these uniforms don't have any pockets."
Mariner moved closer to her mother and opened the cap on the small bottle. Chang stepped away from Mariner.
"What are you doing?" Chang asked
"Back in the 20th century, parents used to put whiskey on their kids' pacifiers to help them relax. Maybe Romulan whiskey will help calm my mother down."
"But, we don't even have a pacifier?"
"It's cool, man; I’ll just put a couple of drops in her mouth, not enough to get drunk off of"
If the nurse wasn't so sleep-deprived, she probably would have argued against it. However, Chang wasn't exactly against having the babies fall asleep, even if that meant giving them alcohol. Beckett walked over to her mother again and positioned the little glass bottle over her mother's open mouth. The blue liquid was just about to drop into Freeman's mouth as Tendi glanced over and realized what was happening.
"Mariner!" She ran over and snatched the glass away from Beckett, "What do you think you're doing giving a child Romulan whiskey!"
"What the? Tendi, it was to calm her down! They used to do it all the time in the 20th century!"
"20th-century medicine?" Tendi continued as she grabbed the baby from Chang, "that's barbaric."
The two followed Tendi over to the replicator, where she requested baby formula at 37°c.
"Babies need milk, not outlawed whiskey" she started to feed Freeman and make baby noises to her.
Mariner rolled her eyes as Chang added, "Says the person who uses ketchup in her milkshakes."
Rutherford burst in at that point, waving his PADD around and shouting, "I figured it out!"
Mariner walked up to him as Tendi assigned Chang to change Billups' diaper.
Rutherford started to explain, "so I was doing some research on what happened on the Enterprise over 100 years ago, and apparently after they were able to stop the aging, they placed the crew in the transporter pad. The transporter pad saved the original cellular layout of the Enterprise crew, so when they were beamed just a fraction of an inch, they were able to revert to the normal ages."
He was panting from excitement and running all the way to Sick Bay from engineering.
"We still need to figure out how to stop the cellular de-aging, or else the crew will just become babies again," Tendi pointed out.
"That is where I come in!" Westlake walked over in his tired, disheveled state.
He held up a hypospray with a gray liquid inside. "This will freeze the cells in place, so they don't keep dying. Once Rutherford uses the transporting beam on them, their cells should reset."
"And we get our senior crew back," Tendi bounced from excitement, "though I will miss having babies around."
The four officers jump at the sound of Chang screeching from the other side of the room.
"He freaking peed on me!" She yelled as she tried to dab the urine off her uniform jacket!
"I might be the only one who misses it, though"
…
"Ok, the coordinates are put in, go ahead and place the crew members on the transporter pad," Rutherford instructed.
Westlake, Tendi, and Chang set the babies on the pad, and Chang muttered something along the lines of good riddance. Westlake administered the hypospray to each of them. Boimler walked in carrying a stack of uniforms and Mariner followed him with a large blanket.
"The Senior Crews uniform are all pressed to regulation with Combadges and Pips nice and polished."
Mariner mumbled about how brad was a kiss ass, and she unfolded the blanket and threw it over the babies.
"Mariner! You're gonna smother them!" Tendi pointed out
"And they're not going to fit into their Starfleet issued onesies once they revert back to their original ages. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like seeing Ransom's photon torpedo today!"
"And I'm officially sick," Chang deadpanned before her eyes widened in realization. "Also today? Do you mean that-"
"Rutherford hit it!" Mariner cut Chang off.
Rutherford pressed a button and slid his hand across the screen. Transporting sounds filled the room as the babies disappeared in white light. Moments later, they reappeared a few millimeters to the left. In the baby's place, we're five larger lumps rolling around under the blanket.
"T'ana," Shax spoke, "You should at least take me out to dinner first."
"Are we doing some sort of-'' Ransom was cut off by Westlake clearing his throat. Slowly, Jack pulled the blanket off from over his head and let it rest in his lap. Craning his head up, he saw three nurses intently looking at him, along with Boimler avoiding eye contact and Mariner gagging.
"Good afternoon, Commander," Westlake spoke, and he walked over, tricorder in hand. "It's good to have you back."
"Gah," Freeman sat up, clutching her part of the blanket to her chest, "I feel like I got hit by a shuttlecraft."
The rest of the crew slowly adjusted.
"Do you remember anything?" Tendi started to scan the captain.
"No? Not really." She pulled the blanket higher on her. "I would like to know where our clothes are, though."
"Oh, would you fu*king relax!" T'ana snatched a tricorder from Chang and started scanning herself. "I just did physicals on all of you last week! There was nothing that I, nor the nurses, hadn't seen before."
Billups was the last to emerge, face red from embarrassment. He pointed to Boimler, Mariner, and Rutherford. Rutherford waved back.
"Not to worry, sirs, I have fresh uniforms for you, all pressed-" he was cut off by Mariner, who started digging through the clothing stack. She pulled out an operations jacket.
"Ohhh, lieutenant commander pips! Headshot!" she balled the jacket up and threw it to Billups, hitting him in the face and knocking him to his back. "That's what you get for almost phasering me!"
Mariner continued to toss uniforms to the crew, much to Brad's protests. "You're creasing them, Mariner! I spent 30 minutes pressing the pants!"
"Kid," Ransom started, "I really don't care if they're creased. I just want some freaking clothes!"
Boimler defeated look faded into the background as Westlake ordered the crew to report to sickbay. All of them shuffled out as the Ensigns stayed behind.
"I'm gonna miss them being babies! They were so cute!" Tendi stood next to Rutherford.
"I'm not" Chang rubbed her eyes, "I need sleep, a hot shower, and to never see a baby again."
"All I know is I saw way too much of the crew today" Mariner reached into her bra, pulling up a glass of Romulan whiskey. "Want some?"
And things were back to normal.
Well, as normal as the Cerritos can get.
...
Wow, my first multichapter fic is finished! Thanks for the support everyone
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You’re My Number One || Tap
Summary: Tad comforts Pip post Phinnip beach fight and it inspires a teeny tiny talk about the future.
@i-am-obnoxious
Pip Seville
It did not take long to find Tad-- though they had not been dating long, naturally his boyfriend would not be far from the beach. And indeed, there he was, wading in the water, doing...something. Pip didn't care actually, he just needed to vent hardcore and that was exactly what a boyfriend was for.
"Oh my god, Tad, you will not believe the weird fucking conversation I just had with Phineas!" he launched right into it, kicking off his sandals so he could let the edges of the water roll over his toes. "UGH he's like so fucking infuriating I could scream right now!"
Samwise Theodore Tad Fiske
Tad had mostly been splashing around in the water, yeah. He didn't go far in, mostly cause people were still weird about some Jaws situation or whatever. He wasn't that worried though. Shark attacks were like super rare and stuff.
His head jerked up as Pip came rushing over, eyes wide as he moved closer to his boyfriend, arms up. "Woah woah babe. Your vibes are like off the chart." He reached out to tug Pip in for a hug. "You wanna like breathe for a sec my d- babe? It's like a big puff in and out. It's seriously...super good when like the vibes of the universe are off balance."
Pip Seville
Pip appreciated the hug. Tad was warm and his clothes always had this lingering scent of chlorine from his swim practices, which Pip always found relaxing, like...Tad's aura was a spa or something.
He did not, however, appreciate being told to breathe.
"I know how to breathe," huffed Pip a bit impatiently. "I don't need to breathe, I need to rant. Out of nowhere, he just started attacking my life choices. Actually--it wasn't out of nowhere, I remember now. It was exactly right after I complimented him. How messed up is that? And he was like, oh going to NYC is so selfish and you're abandoning all your friends. Like what the fuck?"
Samwise Theodore Tad Fiske
Woah. The vibes were way harsh for his babe, which was seriously not chill. It made Tad's vibes like the sea on a stormy day. He didn't want his babe to be upset and stuff. Though he also...didn't quite get why Phineas would harsh Pip's vibes like this.
"So like...." Tad looked like he was struggling to process a difficult math problem. A lot of computing was going on and it took him a moment to try to connect. So Phineas didn't like NYC. Or he didn't vibe with Pip going because Pip was awesome and who would want Pip to leave? That'd be sad vibes sure...
But why would Phineas get all ragey vibes? Unless he was like Tad, and totally vibed with how super mega foxy and awesome Pip was. "Woahhhhhh.....Phineas totally likes you babe."
Pip Seville
Pip did not need much to comfort him, so he liked to think. A soothing hand on the back. A shoulder to cry on, if crying was necessary. A promise to commit murder against the one who wronged him. Tad could even have said 'Dude, that sucks," and Pip would have nodded vigorously, feeling seen.
He was not expecting whatever the HELL just came out of Tad's mouth.
"What?!" Pip blurted, loud. "Wh-- no. No, aw, you're-- that's actually kind of sweet, I think, I don't know, because I marvel at how your brain works but-- no, trust me he definitely does not. This is not Mindy-Danny energy, this is more like..." what pop culture reference would Tad understand best? "Golem and Frodo. We both are very passionate about similar things, and would bite off each other's fingers to get said thing. Phineas is just trying to get under my skin."
Samwise Theodore Tad Fiske
"Aww but babe it's like...I get it kinda cause I'd be super sad to see you go but like...you're gonna be a rockstar and like sing and make everyone go woahhhh...." He squeezed Pip lightly. "But like that's your dream and stuff. Me I'd vibe in NYC and stuff. Y'know? Like...there are probably waves there somewhere..." He was pretty sure there was an ocean on that side of the states.
"But maybe Phineas gets like ragey instead of sad longingness vibes or something." He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't say it made sense to be ragey vibes you know? But like...you're hot stuff babe."
Pip Seville
This was the most confusing, surreal pep talk that he'd ever had. And it was... turning him on?
Please see it from Pip's perspective: the moon behind Tad, as Tad held his hand and said all the right things and then some. That he was talented and destined for greatness, that Tad understood his dream, that Tad-- wait, he'd vibe in NYC? Wait, like...with Pip? As well? Together? At the same time? In the beautiful-ugly brownstone of Pip's wildest fantasies, where they'd host dinner parties and share a closet and he'd give Tad shoulder massages?!
You're hot stuff babe, said Tad, but it might as well have been a marriage proposal.
Wait. He was angry. Angry, not-- confused-overwhelmed-horny. Wow, having a boyfriend was a form of mind control, huh.
"I--" Pip was blushing deeply and stuttering now. "I...I really don't think he likes me but... so you're totally okay with me going to NYU?" was what he finally managed to get out of his mouth. Wow, he had forbid himself from talking about this until at least October, when early applications happened. Wtf Tad Fiske.
Samwise Theodore Tad Fiske
Maybe Pip didn't see how Tad saw things, at least about Phineas' weird crush energy. But Tad wasn't a super cool star in the making and stuff. Pip like sparkled dudes. He had sparkle lights around him. Every time he saw him, Tad felt even more of the gooey good vibes. It was impossible not to.
"I mean you were like totally planning it before we even started dating right babe? Would be kinda chaos energy vibes to be all mad about it." Which really didn't fit in with Tad's vibes at all. And anyway, New York seemed dope. Even if New Yorkers had this weird anti-LA vibe that LA people just...did not have. Whatever man. Tad vibed wherever he went.
Tad shrugged his shoulders. "If it makes you happy babe like yeah. Long distance people have vibed before. But like...I don't really feel the college vibe for me anyway so like...if we were still together and stuff I could go wherever. Open a hot dog stand...heard the hot dogs are seriously sick there, or like go pro surfer...woah imagine..."
Pip Seville
Okay, some of the NYC fantasies were dashed, drifting further and further with every word that Tad said and so Pip really had to stop him speaking. This was precisely why he had not wanted to talk about the big U word (uni) before October. For one, maybe he and Tad would break up! And another, why worry about it!
Why worry about the fact that Tad didn't want to go to college!
Why worry about the fact that Tad's dreams apparently amounted to open a hot dog stand.
One freak-out at a time please and-- wasn't it way sweeter to focus on the whole, Tad wanting to come to NYC for him and also his very open and generous statement about how getting mad at Pip was clearly crazy people behavior?
And so Pip just-- kissed Tad to stop him from imagining hot dog stands. And also to calm himself down-- kissing was infinitely better than breathing, so he leaned into Tad, let his arms wrap around his neck for just a few more moments before pulling away. "Thank you for being you," he said sincerely.
...Though he'd leave the parts of Tad that stressed him out for another time.
Samwise Theodore Tad Fiske
Pip kissed him and fireworks went off in Tad's head. It was awesome as always, and his arms drew Pip a little closer to him as they kissed. Man but no vibe was better than kissing Pip he was sure about it.
A smile spread across his face. "You're welcome babe. Thanks for being the best babe," he added, leaning in to kiss his nose. "My brain is all swirly every time you kiss me." He laughed. "What were we talking about?"
Pip Seville
Pip's brain also went swirly when he kissed Tad-- swirly like paint colours running down a canvas, all his usual worries drenched in rainbow so he didn't, well, worry at all. He emerged with fluttering eyes and the world a little kinder. So that weird fight with Phineas... it didn't seem like THAT big a deal. They'd probably just forget about it. Cuz like, fighting was what they did, right? Pip would pretend it never happened and he was sure Phineas would be happy to do the same thing; he hated actually talking about anything real.
Pip shrugged. "Oh nothing. Just Phineas being a dick to me. I don't care though, because his opinion doesn't matter to me. Yours does though. And you support me, because that's what you do when you care about someone." Pip grinned and kissed Tad's cheek.
Samwise Theodore Tad Fiske
"Oh yeah." Tad had kind of stopped caring about Phineas as soon as Pip kissed him. Sure, did he still think the dude had weird crush vibes? Yeah, but whatever. Pip was kissing Tad and stuff not him so it was all good.
"Yeah babe. I've got your back." He grinned, reaching up with one hand to stroke Pip's cheek. "You're like...my number one."
Pip Seville
You're like...my number one.
And Second Gen Legend BoA's song "Number One" burst through Pip's head, giving him the energy and confidence to do a drop-split in this second if he wanted. He wasn't going to because he'd mess up his trousers, but that's where he was emotionally.
And he decided then and there. He was going to help Tad. Yes. It was his job, because Tad was also his number one, and so he would clear a path to uni for Tad-- preferably to a school in an NYC area code! But hey, community colleges were great too!
He squeezed Tad's hand, his eyes wide and bright. "You're mine too. I--" LOVE YOU SO MUCH I THINK WE SHOULD RUN AWAY TOGETHER WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADOPT A LITTLE GAY DOG WITH ME
"--am so glad you're my boyfriend." Whew, crisis averted. "C'mon, let's like, go play flip cup or something."
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my girl
From this prompt list: “Wait a minute.. are you jealous?”
More of Butch’s internal monologue-ing, lots of brooding, and confirmation of feelings! Hurray! Oh, and SMOOCHING.
Butch Deloria x Rosie Sheridan (Lone Wanderer)
1500 words | [read on Ao3]
The Rivet City marketplace wasn’t as exciting as the Muddy Rudder, in Butch’s opinion. Sure, it had its purposes, but he could count on one hand the amount of times he had found the need to actually shop from the various store-fronts and it was usually because Rosie had dragged him there. That day was no different, the two making the trip from the Citadel to trade before they made their way north through the capital on an errand for Moira. Butch wasn’t fully convinced on helping to create a Wasteland Survival Guide, but he wasn’t about to watch Rosie go off and travel on her own and risk getting hurt—or worse.
Except today, Butch found his patience running thin as he sat in front of Flak ‘n Shrapnel’s waiting for her to finish speaking with the marketplace guard. What was his name? Harkness? What a dumb name for a guard—he thought, glaring at the man with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. Butch briefly remembered Rosie speaking about helping him before with something—that’s how she ended up with the impressive plasma rifle (that she barely knew how to shoot) strapped to her back.
What he didn’t understand was why she was wasting time in talking to him, of all people. Maybe he understood when she took the time to visit the other city occupants, like Doctor Preston or Vera Weatherly. But a city guard? The more he watched the two interact, the more uncomfortable he felt, the irritation crawling at his skin and knotting his stomach in a way he wasn’t familiar with.
What happened to shy and reserved Rosie that barely spoke a peep? Rosie, who preferred to observe and scribble in her journals than have long, drawn out conversations. That was the girl Butch knew—how she’d get flustered and trip over her words when embarrassed, and how she still let out a nervous giggle when they kissed. Rosie was the girl he wanted to keep all to himself, even if that made him selfish. Retaking the purifier be damned—he just wanted to spend every aching moment with her.
Butch recoiled at the sound of her laugh. Why was she laughing? He glanced up to see Harkness gesturing to her rifle, smiling—and it was all he had to see before standing abruptly, nearly toppling the chair over in the process. Neither Rosie or the guard noticed as he made a swift exit, stomping up the railing to the top outside deck. He paced along the steel walkway until he was overlooking the water, crossing his arms as he slumped over the railing.
For a while he stayed like that, before pulling the pack of smokes and lighter from his jacket pocket. Rosie didn’t appreciate the habit, but right now he was too frustrated and needed to clear his mind. With the first drag he leaned over the railing again, expecting to relax but his thoughts didn’t quiet. When did he become so reliant on Rosie? Didn’t he leave Vault 101 so he could make it on his own? Have all the fun he wanted without consequence? Since when did he care what she did, or how it affected him? Probably since he went soft and caught feelings for her, that’s when.
Then again, maybe he’d always been soft around the edges and just had to get out of the vault to realize it. Maybe all he needed was a nice, cute girl to keep him grounded. Rosie certainly fit the bill, and the more time Butch spent with her, the more he realized he didn’t want to be apart. The discomfort from settled in his gut as he thought about where she was right then, still in the marketplace, laughing it up with that guard.
Sure, he wasn’t sure what the topic of conversation was, but did he really need to know? Only he was supposed to be the one to make her laugh like that—sweet little giggles at corny jokes and breathless laughs when he tickled her for too long. Who did this Harkness guy think he was? Twice her age and making a pass at her? Well—at least that’s what it looked like to Butch—he didn’t want to think about it.
He flicked one burned through cigarette away before lighting up another, glancing down at his Pip-Boy to see how much time had passed. The sun was setting—his chest tightened when he thought about how in all the chaos, Rosie always stopped to watch the sunset and sunrise, always in awe like she was seeing it for the first time. He wished she was there now to watch it with him.
“Hey.”
The cigarette between his lips fell and plummeted straight into the waters below as he flinched at the sound of her voice, like he had summoned her with his thoughts. Butch turned to her, wiping at his mouth in a hopeless attempt to get the taste of nicotine out as she approached. The wave of guilt morphed back into irritation and he crossed his arms over his chest, propping his boot on the railing as he leaned back. He forced a cool expression, like nothing was bothering him.
Rosie raised a curious eyebrow. “What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for you,” he shrugged. “Wanted to see how long you and that Hardness guy were gonna keep flirting.”
She blinked at him in surprise, and her smile disappeared. Uh-oh.
“Harkness,” she corrected, skewing her lips to the side. She studied him carefully without saying anything. “Wait a minute…are you jealous?”
Okay, so maybe Butch wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with the emotion—once, his ma (and Susie) had told him he had a jealous streak—but he never liked to admit it. Made him out to be weak, or out of control of his emotions. He huffed, frowning as he gripped the sleeves of his jacket and avoided her stare.
“As if!” he answered, even as a heat licked at the back of his neck and ears. “What do I have to be jealous of huh? Some old man?”
Rosie hesitantly stepped closer to him, offering the barest of smiles. “You know that…me just talking to other guys isn’t flirting, right?”
“I know that!”
“Then why are you out here brooding?” she asked.
He pouted, and finally met her eyes. “He made you laugh. I—I thought I made you laugh.”
She flashed him that surprised look again, but this time her expression softened, and her smile lingered as she moved just a little closer, like any closer and he would run off scared. Rosie rubbed at her elbow—a nervous tick, her teeth running over her bottom lip in thought.
“A friendly laugh is different,” she explained before gesturing to him. “With you I—”
Butch watched as a blush crept along her cheeks and her gaze danced away. It was usually like this, the two of them—stubborn and incapable of expressing their emotions through words—so they usually ended up kissing and making out instead. Blame it on being young and inexperienced—they both had a lot to learn.
“Butch, I like you. God only knows why, but I do,” she spoke after a moment of silence. “I’m with you. I’m your girl.”
He straightened, arms loosening from his chest. “Yeah?”
The color on her cheeks increased. “Well, I mean—”
“I like the sound of that,” he interrupted, wondering how goofy his grin looked. Inside his chest, his heart was hammering against his rib cage. Instead of dread, he felt excitement. If that’s what she thought, he felt completely stupid for being jealous before.
“You never…you never asked me,” Rosie said next. “You still owe me a date.”
“What?” Butch was flustered. He could’ve sworn he had asked her about being his girlfriend, or at least called her that a few times since kissing her…or maybe not. And yeah—he really messed up on not taking her out like he said he would, but hey, they were busy saving the wasteland. That was a pretty good enough excuse, right? He nervously rubbed at his neck. “I guess I kind of skipped over that part, huh?”
She looked at him expectantly, those pretty blue eyes shining behind her glasses.
“What do you say, Rosie?” he asked, calming himself with a breath. “You want to go steady with a guy like me?”
“Does that mean you’ll take me on a date?” she questioned in reply, with a coy smile.
Butch reached out to grasp her hands and yanked her closer, grinning at her surprised yelp that quickly dissolved into a fit of laughter.
“All the dates you want, Rosie baby,” he dipped his head, capturing her lips in a sweet, lingering kiss. “Anything for my girl.”
Rosie returned the kiss, smiling against his mouth. “Your girl,” she repeated, her soft giggle warming him from head to toe. “I like the sound of that.”
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OC-tober 7th: Pre and Post Game Life
OC: Annie Sinclair, Alec Sinclair / Featuring: Codsworth, Nick, Hancock, mentioned names
Enjoy :)
***********************
Spring would always be Annie’s favorite season, but man she loved fall, too. Especially since the weather was just perfect for a Saturday.
October 23, 2077 was her first day off from the day care in weeks, and she was looking forward to it. She lie in bed and remembered telling the kids in her class yesterday about how excited she was to go see a movie with her best friend, walk around the park, and then have her favorite meal with Alec for dinner.
So when she rose from her pillow that morning, little did she know her plans would change drastically.
“Morning, Codsworth!” She said cheerfully as she approached him in the kitchen.
“Ah, good morning, mum! Your coffee; 173.5 degrees Fahrenheit, brewed to perfection!” The Mr. Handy robot spun around the counter, carefully holding the steaming mug out to her. She chuckled, “Why, thank you! Glad I actually have time to enjoy it today.” She carefully set it on the counter and prepared her blasphemous amounts of cream and sugar. Typically Codsworth would do that, but it was the one thing Annie insisted on doing herself. Mainly because he commented on the sheer amount of sugar and caffeine she poured into it each day.
“I’m assuming sleepyhead is still asleep?” She wondered out loud to Codsworth. “Yes, mum! Sir Alec is peacefully sleeping his day away, though I did hear him mumble something about space monkeys at around 4 am.”
Annie laughed. “He is a space monkey. But he did get off from his shift pretty late last night. I’m gonna check on him.” She grabbed her coffee and headed down the hall to his closed door. After gently knocking, she cracked it open just enough to poke her head in.
His soft snoring drifted into the hallway. Army fatigues littered the floor next to his bed from when he was too exhausted to change last night. “Bless your heart, Al. They’re working you to death. What exactly are they expecting to-?”
The doorbell echoed from the living room, causing Annie to jump and Alec’s snoring to pause for a brief moment, then resume quietly.
Annie placed her coffee back on the counter. “I believe it’s that salesman again, Miss Annie. He can’t take ‘no’ for an answer, can he?” Codsworth explained from the window. “He’s just doing his job, Cods. Let’s see what’s up.” She tightened her bathrobe and adjusted her bun before opening the door.
“Good morning! Vault-Tec calling!” A Vault-Tec Sales Rep approached her with an all-too-wide smile on his face. “Good morning!” She politely smiled back.
“Isn’t it? Just look at that sky up there!” He paused to gesture also-too-widely, and cleared his throat when she nodded awkwardly. “*ahem* You can't begin to know how happy I am to finally speak with you. I've been trying for days. It's a matter of utmost urgency, I assure you.”
“Oh, well, then I’m sure glad you came!” She laughed nervously.
“Yes ma’am, I am too. Now, I know you're a busy woman, so I won't take up much of your time. Time being a, um, precious commodity... I'm here today to tell you that because of your family's service to our country, you have been pre-selected for entrance into the local Vault. Vault 111.” This man bounced back and forth from being overly excited to clearly being afraid of something. Annie was beginning to be a little worried. “Oh, okay, uh, great! Where do we sign up?”
“You’re actually already cleared for entry! Just need to verify some information, is all, you know, in case of uh.. total atomic annihilation.” He whispered the last part.
Now Annie was worried. “Right, okay...” She took the clipboard and filled out the information, while tentatively watching him glance around nervously. “You don’t think that will actually happen, do you..?”
He took the clipboard from her. “U-uh, well it’s always better to be prepared, right?” He glanced down at the papers. “Wonderful! I’ll just run these over to the vault, and congratulations on being prepared for the future-!”
The door was closed suddenly as half-awake Alec leaned against it. “That guy again? Annie, don’t tell me you bought anything from him?”
“No, of course not! He was just telling us that we’re cleared for entry into that vault on the hill, in case of ‘total atomic annihilation!’“ She mimicked the sales rep, and Alec chuckled. “Yep, thanks to yours truly.” He grinned and wandered off to get his coffee from Codsworth.
“Well, I’m gonna go freshen up real quick.” Annie stretched and went to the bathroom for just that.
A few moments passed, and she was just finishing tying her bandana up in her hair when she overheard Alec from the living room. “Wait, Cods, turn that up.”
“What’s going on?” She asked as she entered the living room, finding Alec huddled by the TV.
“Followed by... yes, followed by flashes. Blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions... We're... we're trying to get confirmation... But we seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations... W-We do have coming in... That's um... confirmed reports. I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. My God.”
The TV went black. Silence roared as Annie and Alec exchanged fearful looks.
Then all hell broke loose when the air raid sirens cried their woeful cry.
---------------------------------
How much time had passed? 1 day? 1 week? 1 year? She didn’t know. But when Annie opened her frosted eyes, it felt like it had been ages. A horrible gag escaped her throat when her pod suddenly opened, causing her to fall to her hands and knees and retch on the floor.
She took deep, heaving breaths and shivered. “That... was not a decontamination pod.” She muttered. The difficult part was standing up, as if she had forgot how to. But she was able to weakly get on her feet and stumble to her brother’s pod directly across from hers. Only, she wasn’t expecting to find it already open, and empty.
“W-what? Alec!?” She cried out, and turned to look around. “Alec!!??”
Then, ever so faintly she swore she imagined it, she heard it way off in the distance. “Anneka!!”
They made a promise to each other when they were little. A promise to only say each other’s full names when something was really wrong. And she knew, not only from her full name, but from the plain fear in his voice that something was very, very wrong.
“ALEXANDER!!” She screamed, and began staggering as fast as she could towards the exit. She only paused when the door wouldn’t open to cough some more, then promptly gained her footing and ran to find another way out.
The only thing that made her pause again was the site of the roaches the size of small dogs. And the several vault-tec-adorned skeletons littering the vault. “How long has it been...?” When she found the 10mm pistol, she was glad Alec taught her to shoot when she was in high school. It made the rest of her escape easier for her.
When she eventually found the Pip-Boy and made it to the elevator, it was coming down, when it should have been up this whole time. She called his name again, but when there was yet again no answer, she tentatively stepped onto the platform and let it raise her joltingly to the surface.
A thousand thoughts were swimming through her mind, so when she adjusted to the sudden sunlight, she wasted no time in jumping off before the platform even fully stopped and frantically began calling his name. “Alexander!!! Alec!! Al-...Al...”
And she took it all in. The world she once knew, decayed to almost nothing. All the green, gone. All the life, dissipated. She fell to her knees in shock. “A...Alec...” And the tears fell. The tears fell and the vocal cords were strained from agony.
Moments passed before she finally lifted herself from the ground, dusting off her vault suit, still damp with frost.
And a new fire burned in her. An inferno of determination to find her brother, and adapt to this new, terrifying world.
“Don’t worry, Alec. I promise you..” She adjusted her glasses and looked at the sky. “I will find you if it’s the last thing I do.”
------------------------
“And I did... didn’t I...?” She said quietly to herself.
Annie had been walking around Sanctuary, reminiscing about her promise, and where it’s taken her. In the backyard of her dilapidated house, a small, white handmade cross sit still on a mound, covered in wildflowers. And an aging military picture of Alexander Sinclair was pinned safely in the middle.
“I just wish I could’ve found you sooner. But, no sense dwelling on that, right? I’m happy for those last few moments I had with you.” She crouched in front of him and rubbed the picture endearingly. Tears trickled down as she smiled sorrowfully at him. “I miss you, Alec. Every day. But we’re making a peaceful Commonwealth here. You’d be happy.”
“Annie? Time for the speech, doll.” Nick called from the house.
“Oh, coming!” She wiped her face quickly. “Sorry, looks like I’m needed! I’ll be back soon. Love you.” She kissed her fingers and tapped them on the picture, then scurried back to the street where the crowd was waiting.
A soap box sat patiently waiting for her underneath the strung lights along the street, and the banner from the tree that read “United Commonwealth 1st Anniversary!” Everyone was chatting amongst each other until Annie took her place on the box.
“Everyone! Today we celebrate the 1 year anniversary of peace in the Commonwealth!”
A roar of applause.
She laughed. “I know our version of ‘peace’ may seem odd, but as tenuous as it is, we must celebrate every moment we have of it, which is why 1 year is cause for such a huge celebration!” Applause. “1 year ago today, I made an agreement with every faction, city, and settlement to compromise in all our endeavors. I met with each of the leaders, including the new mayor of Diamond City, Hancock of Goodneighbor, Preston of the Minutemen, Maxson of the Brotherhood, and yes, even the leader of the Institute, with whom we had the most... animosity. But they have agreed to stop the kidnapping, the experiments, and to leave the Commonwealth alone unless it’s to help us. By their terms, we also leave them alone, and help voluntarily with whatever they need should they need it. The Brotherhood has agreed to help, not control, with building up the Commonwealth defense. And the Minutemen are still setting up settlements, now with the help of the Brotherhood. I know there’s still some hatred amongst us, especially for the Institute. But we need to put that hatred aside if we’re ever going to thrive again. Continue to stand with me, with each other, and let’s continue making the Commonwealth a better place.” Hancock handed her a Nuka Cola. “TO THE UNITED COMMONWEALTH!”
“TO THE UNITED COMMONWEALTH!” There was another roar of applause, and everyone happily cheered, danced, cried, and just celebrated.
Hancock helped her down from the box and watched the crowd with her. “Good speech, sunshine. But part of me is kinda worried.”
“About?” She asked as she took a swig of cola.
“About this ‘tenuous peace’ you’ve worked so hard to achieve. I know you’ve got an optimistic way of lookin’ at things, but it probably ain’t gonna last. A year is lucky.”
“I know. That’s why we need to celebrate while we can, before someone disagrees with someone else, and then it’s back to square one.”
“Right. Then it’s the war all over again.”
She chuckled sadly. “Well, if it ever comes to that, it’s like Alec always said...” She took a long drink from her cola and sighed.
“’War never changes.’“
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@billy-hoepe @bonniebunz @softupshur, @bandtrees everybody else who liked/reblogged the first, second, and third chapter- y’all’re awesome and cool and your tags and comments inspire me to keep writing! I hope something nice happens to you this month!
“Not gonna lie Upshur, that kid’s weird,” Piper said, pulling the curtain around the table. Miles swallowed the lump of fear in his throat, hoping those shadows licking at the edge of Billy’s frame were just his sleep deprived and traumatized mind playing tricks on his eyes.
“Doesn’t say much though, seems pretty quiet,” Billie muttered, swatting Miles’ hands away as she undid his button down, the shirt sticky with half dried blood. “We don’t need to worry about him talking, do we Miles?”
“No – no, he won’t-”
“Will you?” Piper asked, voice sing song soft as she pressed stinging antiseptic solution to the stubs of his fingers. Miles flinched away, but in spite of her small stature, Piper firmly held his hand in place.
“I wouldn’t have come here if – you know I wouldn’t do anything like that, right?” His words were strained, calm forced into his face as Billie turned to a table of tools.
“You’re a – well, you were a big shot reporter, buddy,” Buddy. Piper barely noticed Miles’ breath hitch.
“Relax Miles,” Billie said, tapping the needle in her hand, bubbles floating to the top. “Pip’s just being a jerk,” She brought the needle to his hand, giving him a glance. “It’s a local anesthetic, we need to clean up those cuts, you’ll feel the pressure but not the pain,”
Miles gave a grim smile, watching Piper set out scalpels and clippers and gauze. Billie set to work at the bullet buried in his shoulder, prodding the wound cautiously.
“By the way Miles, who the hell were you fucking with? Must be big fish if you’re here and not a hospital,” Piper asked, Miles looking away and ignoring the warmth of fresh blood as she began work on his left hand.
“Mount Massive,” He managed through gritted teeth, Billie still cautiously picking at the bullet wound. Piper looked up, eyes bright with recognition.
“Oh, cool! I had a girlfriend who worked there a while ago, think she got laid off recently actually, or maybe it was maternity leave? Haven’t talked to her in a while, we aren’t that close anymore.” There was a clatter as she set a bloody tool back into the metal tray.
“The hell were you doin’ up there? Not officially reporting ‘em or something, right? Thought you got fired or whatever after that stunt you pulled overseas,”
“Murkoff-” Miles inhaled sharply, Billie’s knife hitting a nerve. The sisters shared a glance. Piper sighed, cauterization of wounds filling the air with an all too familiar stench. There was an uncharacteristic rush to Billie’s movements as she continued to work the bullet from his shoulder.
“You two can’t come back here, got it? Soon as the sun’s up you’re on your own,” Her voice was quiet, nearly a whisper. Miles gave a stiff nod. “We don’t fuck with those guys, they’ve got a hand in every pocket; they’re real serious about whistleblowers and shit, they’ll ruin you, if they don’t outright kill ya,”
“They sure as hell tried,” Miles said with a dark chuckle, wincing as Piper began working on his right hand.
“Yeah, but they like to be thorough,” Piper glanced to her sister as the other woman finally pulled a chunk of bullet from Miles’ shoulder. “They’ll track you down, find everybody you talked to and do worse to them,” Miles’ eyes flashed to Piper as she snipped a jagged fingerbone to a cleaner cut. “Basically, Billie and I might be fucked for helping you,”
“I don’t – I don’t think we were followed,” Miles managed, Billie stitching his shoulder with a practiced hand. Piper gave a shrug.
“Good thing your mama’s way back in the East, wouldn’t want any of those goons visiting her,” The smaller woman said, holding one of Miles numbed hands still as she began to bandage the wounds. Miles jerked on the bench, but Billie held him down as she set a bandage to the wound on his chest, pressing against bruises and broken ribs.
“Easy, you might not be feeling much now, but tomorrow you’re gonna wish-”
“No, no, not that,” He said with a groan, already feeling the aches of his new stitches. His head looked to the curtain, the room outside very still and quiet. “He’s been talking about going back to his mom’s-”
“Don’t,” Piper said, voice soft as she took the tray of bloody tools away from the table.
“I know, but-”
“Listen, Miles, if you went to Mount Massive, found that kid, and took him…Murkoff is gonna consider you for one, a thief or kidnapper or whatever depending on how important that guy is, and two, an insurance nightmare. They’ve got a lot of money they’d rather not part with in lawsuits.”
A rhythmic knock rapped at the door. Billie glanced at her phone.
“Kev’s here,” She said, wiping blood from her hands and setting aside clean bandages. “I texted him earlier, to bring some stuff for you two, when you first knocked. Clothes, y’know? So you’re less recognizable.”
“And you told him to stop by Lee’s, right? For dinner? I’m starving,” Piper said, wrapping Miles’ hand in clean, white gauze.
“Yeah, yeah,” Billie said, pulling the curtain away and walking to the door. Miles looked to the couch, Billy’s form small and shivering. He swallowed a lump in his throat, hoping the sisters didn’t notice the darkness swarming behind the younger man’s blank eyes, the tendrils of nanites writhing across his body and blending with the shadows.
The door opened with a click, and Billy snapped out of it, the darkness dissipated by a single cough, eyes unfocused but clear.
“I got the stuff,” A new voice said, the crinkle of plastic bags accompanied by the smell of grease and spices. Kevin stepped through the door, Billie planting a kiss on her husband’s cheek. He nearly took up the whole door frame, ducking to keep from hitting his head on the light fixture that dangled in front of the door. He gave a nod to Miles, who could only give a weak smile in return.
“Gimme!” Piper squealed, Billy flinching away as the woman darted across the room to acquire a container of Chinese food. “Sorry Billy boy, a girl’s gotta eat,”
“Hold up Pip, we’ve gotta finish up with Upshur first,” Billie chided, Kevin pulling the bags of food up to the ceiling. Piper groaned, sulking back to Miles with comical disappointment. “Kev, could you, uh, hang out with Billy over there ‘til we’re done? You got some stuff for him, right?”
“Yeah, had Chris go through their things, pick out stuff they wanted to donate to the thrift store, figured this was about the same kinda charity, right?” Kev said, holding out a different grocery bag to his wife. Billie nodded at the contents.
“Cool, I’ll finish up quick, make sure Billy’s good, but then these two gotta stay the night,” She said, giving Kevin a tight smile. “Date night tomorrow night sound good?” Kevin grimaced.
“Chris’ got-”
“Right, SAT practice…damn, well, we’ll figure it out,” She pulled the curtain back across the divider, Kevin setting the bags of food on the table.
“Hey little guy,” He said, voice quiet and movements slow as he approached the couch, bag of clothes in hand. Billy recoiled at the words, shrinking deeper into the cushions. Kevin stopped walking. “Just got some stuff for ya, mind if I sit next to you?”
Billy’s eyes darted from the curtain to the giant of a man. Where did Mom go? How did he find her if he never left?
The man repeated his question. Billy nodded. It was better to let him do what he wanted. Safer. It couldn’t hurt worse than the ache in his chest.
“Here,” He said, setting the bag of clothes between them. “Chris is pretty big for their age and you seem a little small for yours so there should be some stuff in there that’ll fit you. Miles will just have to make do with the baggier stuff.” His smile was encouraging, gentle. “Sorry if it’s a little…unique. Chris has been going through some phases lately, but that just means more variety for you,”
Billy slowly leaned toward the bag, eyes catching glimpses of clothes. Stripes, plaids, polka dots, and sequins. Crop tops, flannels, button downs, sweaters, and vests. Shorts, jeans, cargo pants, sweat pants, and skirts. He glanced back to Kevin.
“Take what you want, it’s for you and Upshur, the rest is going to Good Will,”
Billy sifted through the clothes, trying to remember what he liked. When was the last time he picked out a shirt? Asked for a new pair of pants? Most of his clothes at home were hand-me-downs. He knew he didn’t like the uniform they gave him at the asylum. And that he didn’t like the shorts he wore in the cold place.
He liked Miles’ jacket. It was warm. It smelled like coffee and smoke, under the sickening scent of blood. Billy picked out clothes like that. Clothes that reminded him of Miles. A pale button down with plaid patterning. A cozy blue flannel. Worn but comfortable looking jeans. Soft socks with rubber grippers along the sole.
Kevin had taken out a container of food, picking at the contents with chop sticks as Billy sorted through the articles and compiled his favorites around him. On the table, Miles slowly sat up, blood and grime wiped away to reveal a patchwork of stitches and bruises and clean bandages left behind from the sisters’ work.
“You look like shit Upshur,” Kev said, gesturing with his chopsticks and eyes settling on the man’s hands as the reporter tried to push himself to his feet.
“Take it easy,” Billie hissed, grabbing his good shoulder. “Let’s get you to the couch. We’ll give Billy boy a quick check up then let you two rest up. You’re gonna need it.” The woman walked Miles to the seat, Kev reaching over Billy to pass on the bags full of clothes to the dazed patient.
“Kid, leave your stuff on the couch and come over here so we can get a better look at you,” Piper’s voice was friendly. Soft and inviting. And every fiber of Billy’s body screamed that it was a trap. Another test. Soft voices always led to numbing needles and suffocating quiet and then he would be underwater again, drowning but not drowning and breathing without air –
“Easy kiddo,” Kev’s voice rumbled beside him, a hand gripping his shoulder. Billy’s own hands were shaking, pins and needles loosening his grip on the clothes in his grasp. Darkness flickered at the edges of his vision, the ghostly afterimages from the Engine blurry against the white light from the makeshift operating room.
“Billy,” Miles. He knew Miles. Miles was safe. Never a trick. Never a lie. Not yet, at least. “You need to breathe,” He couldn’t see Miles, his vision crawling with those half corporeal insects that always seemed to eat his eyes and burrow into his skull. But Miles was there, a hardly felt warmth beside him. And Billy needed to breathe.
With a shaky inhale, chest aching for air, Billy blinked tears from his eyes, vision refocusing on his numb, shaking hands. And Miles’ hand, a mangled mess of bandages and bruises, gently rubbing some sensation back into Billy’s unfeeling palm. He lifted his eyes slowly, Piper and Billie and Kev seemingly unperturbed by the disturbance.
“They’re gonna help, okay? Not gonna hurt you,” Miles forced a smile, nodding to the sisters. Billy looked over Miles’ face, not quite meeting his eyes as he scanned the fresh stitches and bandages.
Eventually, he managed a stiff nod. Miles hadn’t hurt him yet, and the icy shadow that breathed down his back when the doctors lied and the nurses muttered under their breath was a distant chill. The people here were yet to pose a threat to him, at least, as far as the static specter in the back of his mind was concerned. Billy stood on shaking legs, shuffle toward the waiting women.
“Easy, easy,” Piper said, hands hovering around him without making contact as she guided him to the operating room. “Can you sit here on your own?” Billy managed himself up onto the cold, metal table, his own body far away and actions automatic. He focused on his breathing, chest hollow and rattling with every exhale.
“It’s alright, you aren’t the first to freak out, won’t be the last,” Billie muttered, a sincere attempt of comfort him somewhere in her tone. He could hardly hear her, keeping his focus on Miles, who seemed equally anxious that they finish looking over Billy’s bruises and cuts.
“You’re in rough shape kid, but you’re doin’ a helluva lot better than Upshur,” Piper said, smile across her face, hands gentle as they held Billy’s head up to force his eyes to meet her own. “A lot of water, some food, and sleep will do you a lot of good.”
“Really?” Miles’ voice was hoarse, a whisper in the quiet room that drew all eyes to him. “He’s okay?”
“Far as I can tell,” Piper said, giving the journalist a shrug. “Physically speaking. Bruises, cuts, easy antiseptic wash and band aid. Throat is raw as hell but the best he can do is take it easy.” She guided Billy back to the couch, her hand gently resting on his shoulder.
“We need to clean up for the night, then we’ll put the lights out. I’ll take first watch,” Billie supplied as she stepped back into the operating room, moving a tray of bloodied tools to the sink. “Get some fresh clothes on and get some rest.”
“I’ve got to go make sure Chris’ sleeping well. I’ll pick you two up in the morning,” Kev said, pulling his wife into a hug before heading back to the door. “Night,”
“Night,” The sisters echoed back, softly rummaging back in the operating room.
Miles was already asleep, breathing deep and slow, broken ribs aching against bandaged skin. He looked cold. Billy shed the blood stained jacket, placing it over Miles’ sleeping form. The clothes were warm and dry and smelled of fabric softener. Mom never used fabric softener; it was too expensive to buy regularly.
But there was something comforting in the floral scent, the freshness of the clothes compared to the dingy couch beneath him. How long had it been since he had dressed himself? Without doctors and nurses buzzing around him like anxious mosquitoes, needles at the ready full of sedative?
He curled into a ball at the opposite end of the couch, listening to Miles’ breathing and the sisters’ quiet murmurs. Eventually the room grew quiet. And the light went out.
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Double The Pay~ Lee Scoresby & OC fanfic
Note: Hi!! This is a lil something I got inspired to write one Sunday night after watching HDM & reading Lee x Reader stuff! I have included an OC Female character called Indra. Pls let me know what you think- Its a draft but I think it turned out ok! A bit cliche but hey!
Enjoy :)
•°○•○•○•••
All Farder Coram had said was "Double the pay?" laughter in his voice as he shook his head at the young girl who had tricked them all.
See Lyra was a smart young girl, that had to be said before anyone moved onwards- she knew how to get people to help her, how to weigh & bargain with her words alone.
She had certainly done so with the two new recruits to the Gyptian crews.
Lee Scoresby, Aeronaut, Adventurer & all around troublemaker with lovely hare Hester his dæmon had recently found his path crossed with Lyra, all because of a certain re-armoured bear, who now claimed the space next to him huffing with impatience.
Indra Collen, Explorer, Fighter & Fellow troublemaker with her raccoon dæmon Lowell. She too had been part of the troupes trying to convince Lorek to get back into the world. She had seen the spark Lyra brought, never going out despite the cold icy winds the north blew constantly.
Indra knew of the Gyptians, her grandmother a Gyptian woman herself- forced to give her daughter to her father- a passing magisterium general- but that was a whole other story.
What matters here is the fact that these two had been fangled in their own way into joining this new adventure & what a one it was going to be!
°°°°••••○○○○●●●●••••°°°°○○○○●●●●°°°°•
Another thing one must know in order for this tale to have its birth is of Lee & Indra.
Lee and Indra were practically as good as inseparable. Partners in life as they were in trouble.
The two had met bordering on five years ago in far far lands from the North. They had met of course in a huge ruckus.
Lee had found the wrong inn, wrong words, wrong sleight of hand and found himself smashed against a reception desk of said inn- getting his ass handed to him.
"Well fuck"
"Lee you really are an idiot"
"Thank you Hester- I appreciate that right now"
The person doing the dusting with the Aeronaunt's body snarled chucking him into the window, glass smashing outwards as his body met the frosty road, splinters & rocks marring his face.
"Is this my lowest moment?" Lee contemplated for a second spitting gravel from his teeth into the dirt.
"Nah probably not" he winced, sitting up and huffing as a hunking man, bones groaning under his size quick-waddled towards the exhausted adventurer.
"Here we go" Hester sighed- not even surprised anymore.
"Nothing a nip of brandy won't shake" he winked to his dæmon.
"Now I don't know about that- might need a bit of whiskey too" A voice cut through Hester's abated response.
Lee looked up squinting at the strong sun behind the speaker until it settled into focus.
A woman with bright golden eyes alight with a spark of amusement and curiosity- he could feel the insant tangible fire & excitement seeping from her very essence like no-one before. She stood with a raccoon at her side- both surveying the situation with a clear lack of judgment or surprise- he distantly wondered how many times she had been in his postion right at that second.
"Now now lady- this is between me and the piece of shit on the ground here" the meat-head spoke- barely regarding the mystery woman despite the hastily spotted dagger hanging from her belt that Lee spotted the next second.
He watched her smile before aiming a very swift & sharp punch to the side of the man's head, knocking him down cold like timber at a woodman's forest.
"Well shit!" Lee exclaimed unprompted.
"Shit indeed Mr-?"
"Scoresby- but you can call me Lee seeing as though you just saved my ass"
"Ok Lee- I'm Indra Collen & this here is Lowell" she smiled- grasping his arm and pulling him to his feet.
"Pleasure" he replied tipping his hat.
"How about you repay me by telling me how the hell this all happened?" She twinkled.
He grinned. This was gonna be good.
°°°°•○•○○●●○○°°○°○•●•●•●•°°○•○●●●○°
From that day forward they'd stayed in each others lives. Ever the exception to their nomadic rules. Turning from grateful strangers to fanciful friends to much much more- proclaimed lovers- bound to travel & adventure together for as long as life allowed them.
So it was inexplicable that they came as a pair really, with Hester & Lowell too of course.
And so the two found themselves at the beginning of a new chapter for them & and invited into a new ongoing story book to dance amongst the pages & fly alongside the plot.
°•••○●°•●○○●○•°●•°○●○•°°•●○•°○○●○•°
"Miss Collen?"
"What's up buttercup?"
"When we get to the far North..."
"Mm"
"-And to the place the gobblers have taken everyone.."
".."
"Do you think we're strong enough to do it? To defeat them & make it out?"
Indra paused, contemplating the question the small brunette had posed her as they trekked up the cold hillside, only a few hours into their true journey. She knew Lyra wouldn't take molly coddling.
"Yes and no" she sighed and stopped walking to face the girl.
"I believe we have a good lot- a good chance- riddled with determination & brave, brave people- but I don't know the forces that they have there- but we will try as hard as we can & truly Lyra, with someone like you and people like the Gyptians to fight alongside I couldn't be more honoured or more hopeful"
"I hope that was the answer you wanted Miss Belaquar" She tickled Lyra under her chin before continuing her trek.
Yet spinning round to add- "And you can call me Indra you know!"
°•••○●●•°○°●°●°○•●°○°•○○○•°•●●••°○●
"Quickly now!!"
Everyone was hurrying as they passed over the seedy cliff. The tumultuous drop looming from below, fear creeping up into the minds of the man from between the very cracks in the rock.
They set wooden planks to pass people, equipment & supplies across the rocky casm of the mountainside.
With most of the Gyptians and Lyra across already it was now down to the two to make their steps.
"You go first- so I can be here to catch you" Lee said firmly.
"Don't you-" Indra spun round to speak but deflated at Lee's worried expression.
"Fine but I'll be as pip as peaches you'll see love" she said softly yet promised, hand on his coat right over his heart.
She passed across with ease, sending a wink back his way yet a coil settling across and around her chest at the realisation it was Lee's turn.
He let out a nervous bark of a laugh at her sudden expression change.
"We've faced worse babe"
"Be careful"
" course"
Lee began across the plank fine- afterall he was used to climbing the side of the balloon sometimes when he really had to.
He was used to heights, he was used to winds, but the thing was, he usually had the side of a balloon latticed with rope to hold onto...
When the wind suddenly picked up it threw him off, teetering to the side slightly with a sharp inhale.
Indra reached forward but he shook his head.
"I'm ok!" He flashed her what he hoped was a reasurring grin that only half reached his eyes in all truthfulness.
He took several more steps slowly, almost across.
"Told you- easy as pi-"
Suddenly the board he was standing on dropped out beneath his very feet.
He yelled as he felt himself start to fall.
"LEE!!" Indra screamed reaching down and just grabbing the edge of his sleeve desperately.
"Lee! Reach up to me! Please baby- come on- COME ON!"
He clawed desperately at the rock trying to reach up and grab her other hand.
"Ind- I c-can't-" he puffed into the cold as he struggled.
"Yes you can! Yes you can- come on- don't you fucking dare leave me-" she croaked shakily.
Joined by several gytians, they reached further down than she could whilst grasping him and they all heaved him back up onto the rock path.
He lay face down breathing heavily- clutching at Indra.
They breathed as one, ragged and sharp with relief.
"Ind- Ind- Ind" he repeated like a prayer- whilst she pulled him into a tight hug rocking slightly with her boyfriend safe in her arms- Hester buried into their sides.
"Shhh its ok- I've got you" she whispered.
He looked up- skin paled with shock & fear yet alert & cold with stark red against the pallor.
He put his hands either side of her face and they kissed deep & desperately, the pain still racing.
•○•●○•°•●•●•
Thats everything so far! Pls let me know thoughts!! And yes ending with a lil bit of "tongues battling for dominance!!"
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A Promise
I know that kiss meme has passed through our little corner and disappeared again, but an idea is an idea and I’m still grinding away at them. AO3 here, leave me some nice comments if you read things I write.
“Hey, uh, Nate? You awake? Can I… talk to you, for a minute?”
Nate rolled to his back, spinning quickly at the sound of MacCready’s voice. Piper slept soundly beside him, wrapped up in the sheet and Nate’s arm caught beneath her shoulder. Nate shuffled carefully up the bed and slid his hand gently out from under her, careful not to disturb her sleep. He sat up, brushing his hair from his face, smoothing it with his palms, and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress, letting his feet drop to the cold floor.
“Sure,” He cleared his throat groggily, “what is it?”
MacCready’s mouth twitched nervously, and he gestured down the hall.
“Can we…” Nate nodded and wiped his eyes. “Sure. Go on ahead, I’ll fix us some coffee. And, uh, put on some pants.”
He smiled, and Mac nodded gratefully, heading through to the parlour. Nate stood up and picked his pants from the end of the bed, rolling them on and stretching his arms wide,yawning. It was dark outside, Nate guessed it must be about one, one-thirty, without looking at his pip-boy; though he hadn’t really slept yet, he’d dozed off briefly, and a strange sense of timelessness settled over the house. The small hours sure stretched out, even now, with the power running and working lights in most places, and his sleep cycle was way out of whack.
He took a deep breath and stooped over the bed, pressing his lips gently to Piper’s bare shoulder, then wandered to the kitchen, shirtless in the hot summer night. MacCready had set some water boiling on the stove, and Nate shook some coffee grounds into the pan, stirring it with his finger, then setting two tin cups on the counter while the coffee brewed.
“You want a sugar in this?” Nate asked, flipping the lid of a small box beside him.
MacCready nodded, and leaned back against the counter, hoisting himself onto it ass first.
Nate tutted. “Mac, there’s a perfectly good-”
“I know, man. I know. I just wanna sit here okay?”
He looked at Nate, his eyes small and tired in the artificial light, and Nate shrugged.
“Suit yourself, son, but don’t blame me when you get a sore ass.”
MacCready’s mouth curled into a little lopsided smile. “Yeah, you’ve never had anything to do with that, have you?”
Nate smiled and lifted the pan off the heat, pouring the thin steaming brew into cups, crushing a little chunk of sugar into one cup with his fingers, and sliding it to MacCready. He leaned back against the counter himself, ankles crossed lazily.
“So what’s up?”
Mac sipped his coffee and pulled a face.
“This coffee, jeez. I know it’s old but… it tastes like the back end of a brahmin.”
Nate laughed. “You’re awfully discerning for a man who grew up in a cave. How easy d'you think it is to come by coffee around here?”
He took a mouthful and swilled it around his teeth.
“You’re right though. It does taste like ass.” He sighed and cradled the mug to his chest. “C'mon, you woke me up for something, and it wasn’t stale coffee. What is it?”
MacCready bit the inside of his lip and looked at the floor, shuffling his feet against the counter. He opened his mouth, then closed it again and sniffed, rubbing his fingers through the short hairs beside his mouth. Nate looked at him, patiently sipping his drink. MacCready pulled a crushed cigarette from his pocket and lit it, inhaling hard and letting the smoke hiss through his teeth in a thin stream.
“I’m gonna head back to DC.”
Nate’s stomach sank. He swirled his coffee in the mug, trying to keep his face blank.
“Uh-huh?”
MacCready nodded.
“Heard from the caravan Daisy sent the meds with. They got it to Duncan, he’s…” MacCready’s voice welled and choked up. “He’s gonna be okay if he stays where he is. But… but he might not make the journey. Not for a long while. Doctor there reckons six months before he’s on his feet again.”Nate put his coffee down.
“Shit. That’s… that tough news.”
MacCready looked at Nate.
“I can’t leave him on his own, man, I can’t. I been a sh- a crappy enough dad right from the start, and when Lucy…” He paused, swallowing tears, his lips pressed tight to stop them trembling. “I’m all he’s got. I gotta be there. But I’m so fuckin’ scared, Nate. What we’ve got, here, it’s… Sanctuary, and the Minutemen, it’s… it’s a whole other world now. It’s a life. DC is different. There’s nothin’ there for me now.”
Nate reached out and rested his hand on MacCready’s knee.
“Six months goes faster than you think, Bobby. ”
“Yeah. And a lotta things change too.”
He stared deep into his coffee cup, silent and tight, taking a drag on the cigarette, then spoke quietly.
“What if he doesn’t remember me?”
Nate shook his head and slid his arm around MacCready’s shoulders, pulling him close. He held his breath in his chest, crushing down a sudden swell of memory – Shaun, ten years old and inside a sterile, glass walled room, panicked and fearful. He held MacCready tight to him, rubbing softly at the merc’s neck, and MacCready sank easily into his arms, small, sharp tears running from his face and down Nate’s shoulder, cigarette smouldering between his fingers.
Nate stared at the dim lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, and let MacCready sob against his skin. His fingers combed through the hair at MacCready’s temple, softly, slowly, and another picture struggled to the surface of his mind. Nate’s father, coming into his room early in the morning on Christmas day, when Nate was about four years old; the visceral, animal fear he felt – those footsteps so unfamiliar on the landing, the strong smell of tobacco and paint and brandy when he leaned over Nate’s bed to place a gift at his feet.
He shifted his weight, pulling Mac’s chin up to look at him.
“Hey. You can’t let that thought take hold. You just can’t. Gotta work with what you know, Mac, you know that.”
MacCready nodded, apologising softly and wiping his eyes. Nate squeezed his shoulder.
“Nothin’ to be sorry for. Just… don’t start being your own worst enemy before you’ve got an idea of where you stand. Look,”
He paused, fumbling for words like loose change,
“I’m… not gonna pretend it won’t be tough. It’s… look, I never said this before, but when I… when I found… Shaun, in the Institute…”
He hesitated, taking a deep breath.
“He didn’t know who the hell I was. He looked at me, and I said his name, and… and he screamed. Screamed for his “father”. Mac, I thought I was dying. It was… like losing him, all over again.”
MacCready looked at him solemnly. Nate sucked his teeth and shook his head, slowly.
“But he’s not… that’s not how it turned out, y'know? It’s more different than I could’ve imagined, but… what I’m saying is you just can’t lose hope. And we both… you and me, well, we turned out okay, didn’t we?”
MacCready wiped his mouth and ashed his cigarette, fat chunks of grey dust falling on the counter-top between his knees. He took a drag and looked at the floor.
“I don’t want it to be like that for him. I don’t want him to grow up without me, I just… I don’t think I can do it alone. I’m no good on my own, man. Lucy was everything, kind and honest and not a fu… fricking coward. And you, what the hell are you? Out of the ice and throwing yourself at the commonwealth like a fricking atom bomb. Nothing stops you, man. Nothing stops you.”
Nate raised his eyebrows.
“So, what, crossing the states and risking your life for a “maybe” cure isn’t worth a damn? Duncan is alive because of you, Bobby.”
“And what happens after I get there? We stick around DC, dodging mutants every other block and flipping the bird to the Brotherhood, until they tell me Duncan won’t ever walk again? Or until I leave everything behind again? How many fresh starts does it take to catch a break? I’m sick of moving around. Sick of playing like it doesn’t bother me. I’m sick of being alone.”
Nate’s chest tightened, a pang of sadness stabbing at his ribs.
“You won’t be alone, Bobby.”
MacCready’s eyes swelled red with tears, and he wiped his nose with the back of his hand, trying to hold his composure.
“Don’t talk to me like a kid, Nate. I’ve done this before.”
Nate shook his head.
“Not like this.”
Nate pulled him close again, putting his cup down gently and sliding into the space between Mac’s knees. Pressed tight to his chest, MacCready leaned into him, wrapping his arms over Nate’s shoulders, hands resting between his shoulder blades. Nate kissed his neck, breathing the scent of him, pressing his face into Mac’s pulse; kissed the corner of MacCready’s jaw, felt the tightness of muscle, his teeth clenched and throat tight; kissed his cheekbone, at his temple, cold salt tears drying sticky against his lips. MacCready’s breath hitched, he swallowed.
“I’m sorry, man. I’m sorry. I don’t wanna leave you, you know that, right?”
Nate nodded silently against his cheek.
“I don’t wanna leave you, you’re so caught up in this shit-”
“I know.” Nate sighed “I know.”
MacCready pulled back, his eyes searching Nate’s face.
“Everything I do, man, people just see the worst. They hate me, they think I’m just running away all the time, like I’m not terrified of leaving you to deal with it all. Like I ain’t scared I’m gonna lose you.”
“You’re not gonna lose me.” Nate assured, quietly. “I’m… it’ll be harder, without you, but we’ll make it. And this?” He gestured around him, “will all be right here, when you get back.”
Mac shook his head. “You don’t know that, man, you can’t-
Nate shifted his weight, leaning forward and catching MacCready’s mouth in a small, desperate kiss, holding him tight, until his breath was ragged and short. Their mouths parted, and Nate ran his hand up across the merc’s chest, cupped MacCready’s face gently.
“I promise.”
One more time, link to my AO3 in case you wanna read my other things
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Cheating the Devil (Prologue) -- James Patrick March
Summary: James March loves his daughter more than death itself. The mother of his child, doesn’t.
Warnings: birth (gross), implied drug addiction
Pairing: James Patrick March x daughter!reader
Word Count: 1,800+
A/N: Here it is, sluts!! My next pride and joy. This is just the prologue, and chapter one won’t be from a Third Person POV (unless you guys totally dig this), so this is a little short. I hope you guys like it, though, and lemme know what you think!
“Fuck, James! I’m going to kill you when this thing is finally out of me!” (Y/M/N) screamed, tightly gripping onto the hand of the man beside her.
“I’m already dead, darling, so, unfortunately, that shall not be,” James March sighed but offered the woman on the table a reassuring squeeze regardless. “And this is not a thing, she is our daughter.”
The mother growled, “Your daughter. I want nothing to do with this!” Another painful screamed ripped through the air as (Y/M/N) pushed harder, willing the baby inside of her to just get out. On the woman’s other side, Hazel Evers stood, swiftly patting the soon-to-be mother’s forehead with a cold rag, tutting softly.
“Just one more push, doll, and you’ll be done,” another voice gently spoke. Liz Taylor kneeled between the screaming woman’s legs, her acrylic-less nails carefully maneuvering the woman’s thighs further apart. Liz was by no means a doctor, or certified to be delivering a baby, but she was the most trusted in the hotel and therefore, declared fit for the job.
James held onto the woman’s hand a little bit tighter, eyes flashing from hers to Liz in anticipation. (Y/M/N) gave one final push, screaming loudly as she did, until a small wail broke out across the room. The woman moaned in instant relief, her head lolling to the side as her eyes began falling shut with exhaustion.
“It’s a girl. Would you like to hold-” Liz paused her announcement once she looked up, noticing the mother already passed out on the bed.
Ms. Evers quickly checked her pulse before nodding to herself silently and beginning to do away with the soiled sheets. “Oh yes, such a mess. Messiest of messes,” she murmured to herself, ignoring the screams of the baby March.
James slowly walked over to Liz, his hands already held out for his baby girl. “Give her to me.” Liz obeyed, not even bothering to wipe away the mucus, wax, or blood that covered the child. “She’s… beautiful.” The second she was placed in his awaiting arms, the screams of the child ceased as if they had never been happening to begin with.
Liz side-eyed the man, looking over at the child herself. She was shocked at the baby’s sudden silence but said nothing about it, figuring it had to be a ‘James thing’. Shrugging her shoulders, Liz began to wipe off her hands. “What will you name her?”
James paused, “(Y/N). (Y/F/N) (Y/Middle/N) March,” he smiled, before allowing Liz to finally wipe the baby down with a gentle rag.
“Shall the mother be okay with that?” Ms. Evers pipped up, delicately tucking in the covers (Y/M/N) was laid beneath.
“She does not have a choice in the matter. She’s made it very obvious she wishes nothing of the child,” James huffed, pulling the baby away from Liz -once again- as soon as she had been cleaned off. It was clear to Liz and Ms. Evers that James had no intention of letting his daughter go anytime soon. He brought (Y/N) closer to his face, the occasional tear falling from her bright, (e/c) eyes. James placed a gentle kiss to her forehead, smiling down at her lovingly. “She will be mine to love and cherish, nobody else’s.”
“I’m gonna getcha! I’m gonna getcha!” The voice of a man echoed down one of the many hallways of The Cortez, while he chased a small child. Donovan laughed loudly as the six-year-old he was chasing giggled maniacally, turning corners every-which-way. She was nearly as fast as him, her half-ghostly nature giving her the headstart she’d need against his vampiric speed.
“No you won’t!” she squealed back, looking over her shoulder to see just how far away Donovan was. However, as she turned another corner, she smacked into somebody’s leg, her forceful speed sending them both flying to the ground.
“Watch it.” (Y/N) looked up to see a woman on the ground, rubbing her sore head with a scowl.
“‘M sorry, mommy,” (Y/N) murmured, looking down at the patterned carpet in shame. Suddenly, before (Y/M/N) could scold the child further, hands were under (Y/N)’s arms and yanking her up from the ground. She looked up as she was balanced on Donovan’s hip, the older man wearing a glare.
“You know the rules, (Y/M/N). Steer clear of the halls when I’m on babysitting duty,” Donovan scowled, before smirking at the child on his hip. “(Y/N) and I like to cause chaos.”
“Yeah, chaos!” (Y/N) giggled, copying Donovan’s tone of voice and causing him to laugh.
“This is an adult establishment, children shouldn’t be permitted.” Donovan looked up at the new voice, his scowl returning as the child in his arms fell silent.
“Pi-... Go away, Sally. This is her hotel, not yours,” Donovan said, stuttering slightly at the near-slip of a curse word.
Sally laughed bitterly, “You can’t even say piss around the thing.” A cigarette was held between her lips as she helped (Y/M/N) to her feet, shaking her head in annoyance. “We all know the only reason you put up with the kid is because ‘a The Countess.”
“Yup. The second that brat turns eighteen, this all goes to her. And Elizabeth wants it,” (Y/M/N) slurred, tripping over her feet despite her still stature.
Donovan shouted, “Don’t call her that! And, that’s not true. (Y/N) is fun to be around.” (Y/N) flinched slightly at Donovan’s loud voice, so he smiled softly at her in reassurance. Her (e/c) eyes were wide with worry as she listened to the conversationed, knowing better than to interrupt. “The Countess and I both enjoy her.”
“She’s not even your daughter,” (Y/M/N) suddenly snarled, jolting forward with her hand outstretched. She was wearing a cropped tank top, and various track marks were visible on her arm. Donovan took an immediate step back, turning his body so that (Y/M/N) couldn’t grab ahold of (Y/N).
“No, but she is mine, so I advise you to step away.”
“Daddy!” Instantly, (Y/N) was squirming in Donovan’s arms, trying to be let down. The vampire obeyed, lowering the girl to the ground with a pout. The (h/c) took off, running towards the awaiting arms of her father.
“Mm, hello, my little killer,” James smiled, catching his daughter in his arms and hoisting her into the air. She giggled wildly, hands immediately reaching up to mess with his perfectly styled hair. James placed her on his shoulder where she clung tight, and she rested her cheek atop his head.
(Y/M/N) glared at the interaction, raising an eyebrow. “You really love her, don’t you?”
James looked taken back and offended by the question, staring at the woman in shock. “More than I’ve ever loved anything in my life. More than my killings, more than my hotel, more than The Countess. I would die a thousand times over for my daughter,” he snarled, gripping the child’s waist in a protective manner.
(Y/M/N) fell silent at his declaration, licking her bubble-gum-pink lips slowly. Donovan and Sally stood to the side, watching the stand-off carefully- this happened at least once a day. “Alright.” Her simple words shocked everyone and even (Y/N) raised her tiny brows. Her mother was a fighter, which is what had caught James’ attention in the first place. She never left an argument unfought, so it was surprising to see her walk away from James and the child so easily.
“I’ll take over for the rest of the evening. Thank you for the assistance,” James spoke, giving Donovan a curt nod before turning on his heel and walking away, (Y/N) still clutching tightly to his hair.
(Y/N) was asleep in her overly-large bed, with a stuffed animal clutched tightly in her arms when a hand viciously shook her awake. The small girl flinched, her eyes blearily blinking open. “Mommy? What’s going on?” she whimpered, rubbing small fists into her eyes to try and wipe away the sleep.
“We’re leaving,” her mother said, hastily uncovering the child from her bedsheets, before pulling her into her arms. (Y/M/N) grunted at the weight, not accustomed to carrying a child around.
“Is daddy coming?” (Y/N) grumbled, pushing lightly against her mother’s shoulders, while continuing to clutch her stuffed animal tightly.
(Y/M/N) grunted, adjusting the child, “No. It’s a mommy-daughter adventure.”
“I want daddy to come!” (Y/N) whined, slowly waking up into a fit of hysteria.
“He isn’t coming, and that’s final. Now, be quiet!” (Y/M/N) hissed, tightly grabbing onto her daughter’s wrist. The child whimpered in pain, but fell silent, choosing better than to disobey.
The mother quickly left her daughter’s hotel room after tossing a blanket over her, scurrying down the vacant hallway. It was well past one in the morning so there wouldn’t be any unsuspecting guests to run into it- but the tenants of the hotel were a different story. (Y/M/N) needed to get out of there fast and undetected. She wore a grey, stained jacket with the hood flipped over her head, hiding her messy locks from sight and blue jeans, with a blanket wrapped around (Y/N) to keep from further detection. As she entered the elevator at the end of the hall, pressing the ground-floor button, she could practically feel her heartbeat in her throat. If she wasn’t careful, and she got caught, she would be killed on sight and would never have her chance at freedom. Thankfully, for her, James March was having his monthly dinner with The Countess. Meaning, she only had to look out for Donovan, Liz, and Ms. Evers. In her arms, (Y/N) shook, biting the top of her stuffed animals head to drown out her sobs. The child didn’t understand why she was being forced to leave, and all she wanted was her father.
Once the elevator dinged its arrival, (Y/M/N) snuck out quickly, checking the front desk. To her relief, Iris was fast asleep, her cheek pressed against the registry. (Y/M/N) took her chance and bolted, sneaker-clad feet racing up the lobby stairs and out of the front doors. The second the crisp L.A air hit her face, she screamed joyously, startling the child in her arms.
“This is for the best. For both of us,” she spoke quickly, beginning to run down the confusing streets of Los Angeles. It was dark and it was cold, but (Y/M/N) was hell-bent on getting (Y/N) to the church a couple miles away, no matter how badly the child shivered and whimpered. Nobody would think to look there for her, and she would be out of (Y/M/N)’s hair. The child would be put in an orphanage or a foster home, and (Y/M/N) wouldn’t have to worry about being a mother anymore or the guilt she felt for not loving her own daughter. It would all be over.
All Writing Taglist (OPEN): @teageowen @mads---world @alex--awesome--22 @scarletraine @hxdesworld @frozenhuntress67 @samanthasmileys @simonsaysyasss
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Chapter 2 Of ‘The Pandering Country Western Star’
Chapter 1 - Epilogue
---
Kiwi snuggled down in Tweek's hair as Tweek tapped his finger on the table top. Craig's livestream would start any minute. Would Craig use the script Tweek edited for him? No, he probably scrapped it. It was too much. It didn't make his fans feel good about Craig keeping his personal life a secret from them.
The more Tweek thought about the whole situation, the angrier he got about it. Coming out is hard and terrifying. No one should be pushed to come out to the world like this — especially not at the hands of a bitter ex. Craig was right to break up with him! He dodged a bullet, as far as Tweek could tell.
Tweek's phone dinged and he picked it up, keeping one eye on the laptop in front of him.
The text message was from Craig.
"I'm going to start my livestream soon. Wish me luck? :)“
"Luck ;)" Tweek typed and chewed his lip.
This was too risky to send. He didn't even know how long ago Craig broke up with his ex. Was it a month? A year? Two weeks? Was he pushing too fast?
Besides, Craig probably didn't even see Tweek like that. He was a famous country star after all. There were men much more like him out there he could pursue. Men who were famous and used to Craig’s lifestyle.
With a sigh, Tweek went to delete the wink and replace it with a star or a smile, (he hadn't decided which one) when Kiwi took hold of a lock of Tweek's hair and pulled. Tweek yelped, his thumb going right down on the send button.
His heart froze in his chest as he stared down at his mistake. A scream rose up from his throat but died down the moment the livestream started a few seconds later.
Craig smiled at the camera, waving. He held up the black and white guinea pig from his wallet photo and moved his paw to wave as well.
"Howdy," He greeted, and Tweek realized just how much of an accent Craig put on for his fans. "There's quite a crowd here, huh, Astro? I think this is my biggest livestream yet."
Astro didn't look all that impressed. Craig set him down in his lap.
"I'm guessin' you're all here because I said I've got some really big news. I can tell from the chat, you all seem to think it's music related." Craig's smile strained. "It ain't."
Craig took a deep breath, scooting a little farther back. Best Tweek could tell the livestream took place in Craig's living room, which was nothing but Western aesthetic: decorations made with wood, barbwire, and rope covered the wall behind him along with a rustic painting of a pasture with some tiny black, white, and red dots (probably cows or horses, Tweek realized) on it.
"This isn't how I wanted to do this." Craig sighed. "I had other ideas. Plans much classier than this, when I was in a much happier place in my life, but circumstances changed. I want y'all to hear this from my mouth and not the front page of a magazine."
Craig shook once. His face twisted like he was going to vomit, but he swallowed any bile back down.
"I am gay," Craig stated simply, pulling Astro so he pressed against his stomach. "I have always been gay. Since I was still in my mama. That's just how it works. That's how God made it work."
Tweek tensed. Around this part was when he started to edit out the pandering. If Craig went on about God and how He has a purpose for him, then he threw out all Tweek did and went back to the first draft.
Craig's eyes flicked up, looking beyond the camera, then back. "This has been a hard decision for me and a shock for many of you, I'm sure. Or maybe it’s not. Maybe you could all tell and never bothered to let me in on the secret."
Tweek let out a breath he did not remember taking. He slumped forward so abruptly that Kiwi fell from his hair. Kiwi landed, somewhat gracefully, if a little wobbly, on the table.
"Sorry!" Tweek reached out to comfort Kiwi, but he turned and flew up to his perch in his cage.
Craig continued, "Like I said, this isn't how I wanted this to happen. I’d rather had y'all meet my husband after we got engaged or married, but that ain't gonna happen now, I guess."
Pain flashed across his face for a fraction of a second. "I'm sure y'all find out why when Country Western Living comes out since that's where my ex outs me. I think publishing it is downright dirty and shows a lack of journalistic integrity, but I'm not a rich ol' magazine editor." He shrugged. "What do I know — besides you don’t tell other folks secrets for money?"
Tweek couldn't help but smile. Craig was going to throw that magazine right under the bus for this, wasn't he?
"I can say, I spent years hiding myself from people, both family and friends, and from the world itself. It was hard, and I felt like a liar. I heard conversations about folks like me that made my stomach churn. Conversations that I'm sure wouldn't happen if the people in the room knew I was like the people they were talking about."
He cleared his throat. "Even if it's not a perfect coming out story, I think I'll be much happier now, and I know I can make music truer to my life and with more passion than ever before. I want this to be a good thing for all of us."
Astro pipped and began to roll out of Craig's lap. Craig smiled down at him then set him on the floor.
"Don't worry about Astro. I'm still keeping an eye on him. He's safe," Craig reassured. He settled himself back in his seat before continuing, "Now, I know some of you don't ‘agree' with people being gay, and, well, I can't change your mind, but if you don't, it isn't my problem."
Craig fixed the camera with a hard look, his accent falling for the last sentence.
That wasn't part of the first draft or the edited one. Craig was supposed to offer to answer questions from the livestream after he mentioned how coming out would make his life better.
Tweek leaned so close his nose nearly touched the laptop screen.
He was proud for Craig.
Even as he answered, somewhat invasive, questions about his sexuality, he seemed relaxed, as if a heavy weight hanging over him just dropped to the ground and missed him.
Well that's what it was, wasn't it? No more hiding. No more lies and fake girlfriend stories. No more feeling like a gay fly on the wall when people bash the community.
"Ok, um, Little.Shop.Of.Yaoi280, I don't know what a ‘uke' or a sea...seem...see-mee? Whatever are and I don't think I want to," Craig was saying as he read through the comments. "Yes, KittyKatLover, I have read the Old Testament. I also read all the verses that say God loves me and made me how I am. That's all I want to say about that."
Tweek finally fell back in his chair, running his hands through his hair, with a goofy smile on his face. Craig handled those kinds of questions a little better than Tweek did the first few times he got then online. Nowadays he deleted invasive or backhanded comments on sight. He used to argue, sometimes with sources, sometimes without, and it would keep him up at night with worry.
He'd have to advise Craig to copy his current method and not his old one.
"Ok, I think Astro wants to go nap with his brother and sister, so one more question," Craig muttered, more to himself than the stream. "Let's see...I like this one. PikachuKetchumAll151 asks me if I could have come out like I wanted with a husband at my side, what would I have said."
He hummed a moment. "I would have announced the man with me is the love of my life and I am blessed to introduce you all to him, but that isn't going to happen any time soon, unless," Craig smirked, "I get very lucky with dates in the near future." He winked.
Tweek fell out of his chair and to the floor, eyes wide. No. Craig didn't. He didn't just ask him on a date on a livestream like that, did he?
"Oh, jeez!" Tweek's mouth gaping open like a freshly caught trout as Craig finished up.
The screen was dark for only a few seconds before Tweek's phone began to ring. Shaking, Tweek answered it without looking at the number.
"Tweek?" Craig asked. His voice was nothing but excitement. "It's over. Did you watch it? All of it?"
"Did you ask me out on a livestream?"
"Hmmmm, no," Craig replied, almost coyly, and Tweek remembered how to breathe properly. "I wanted to ask if you'd like to hang out, actually. I'm not ready to date anyone else right now, but making friends who are also gay and have been out longer than me? I would like that."
Tweek forced his voice to stay steady as he replied, "Yeah, I'd like that too."
---
Red tapped her nails against the lacquered wood of her desk. Her stomach twisted with disgust. She might just vomit over all the negativity surrounding Craig.
She shook her head. No, it's a very vocal few. Most of the reaction towards Craig coming out as gay had been positive. He had plenty of congratulations and even some fanart for him with the Pride flag. Some celebrities even tweeted they were proud of him.
"About time. You'll be happier now, Craig! #LoveisLove" The frontman of Moop, Stan Marsh, tweeted. His partner, Red's old friend, Wendyl, as well as the rest of Moop, also sent Craig their support. Wendyl even went as far as to argue on Craig's behalf in the comments.
Not that Red planned on showing that to Craig. She couldn't risk him getting involved in an online shouting match and ruining his aloof country boy persona.
Her eyes drifted over the copy of the magazine on her desk. Craig and Thomas were on the cover, walking out in a park and holding hands. Craig’s focus was solely on Thomas and not the beautiful scenery. They must have assumed deep in an isolated park would be a safe place for a secret date. Clearly, they were wrong.
For what seemed like the hundredth time, Red skimmed the article. The picture Thomas claimed they would publish, one of him and Craig kissing, was nowhere to be found. Red didn’t believe Thomas lied about the photo. When he called, he was stammering nervously and the stress made his tic act up so badly he had to keep starting his sentence over and apologizing.
From Red’s best guess, the photo was probably on private property and the magazine couldn’t legally publish it, but this could use it against Thomas anyway. Not that it mattered in the end. Thomas already admitted he and Craig were dating in the article.
Red closed the magazine then tossed it aside. Even if Thomas had been tricked into talking, he still was the reason Craig had been strong armed into coming out before he was comfortable, and that pissed Red off.
Grumbling to herself, she turned back to scrolling through the comments on Craig’s latest post, a picture of Petunia in sunglasses and a tiny cowboy hat. It never ceased to amaze her how much he dotes on his pets and treats them like his own children.
Unfortunately, even on a post of a rodent dressed as a cowgirl, people were making hateful comments and asking invasive questions.
Kevin opened the door, steaming bowls in his hand.
"I have leftover chili or microwave ramen." He held up the bowls in turn. "Which do you want?"
Red didn't look up from her computer. "Ramen."
Chili was too heavy and spicy for her stomach to handle. Kevin watered down the romen every time, so she didn't have to worry about making herself sicker.
He slipped the bowl next to her then looked over her shoulder with a frown.
"You need to take a break from those," He told her before spooning chili into his mouth.
"I want to, but I can't." She slurped up noodles. "I'm going to report every bashing comment that might break Twitter's terms of service so Craig doesn't have to see it." Twitter probably wouldn't do anything, even if the comment did break their TOS, but it made her feel better anyway, since Craig decided deleting comments would only make things worse.
Kevin rubbed between her shoulder blades. His hand was warm from the bowls, relieving some of the tension.
"Craig's a big boy, Red. He can handle some hate comments. He's probably been preparing for it for most of his adult life." Kevin set his bowl down to walk behind her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders then rested his chin on her head. Given how tall she was, when she sat was about the only time Kevin could do this.
"I know, but..." A noise of uncertainty left her throat.
He kissed the top of her head. "It'll be alright. Someone else will do something worse soon and everyone will forget about Craig being gay."
Red set a hand over one of Kevin's, smiling softly. He was such a good husband, so caring and sweet and understanding. She hoped Craig would find someone like that for himself one day.
"Hey, do you know who the guy Craig's been texting nonstop is? Some gay internet celeb, right? The one who helped him with the script?" Red asked abruptly.
"Tweek Tweak, I think is his name," Kevin replied. "I checked out his channel: he's got an alright voice and seems like a good guy. Craig really likes him. We should take bets if this is another case of Tuckers falling in love instantly."
Red rolled her eyes at the joke.
“Good thing I’m a Stoley now, huh? Or you would be worried."
Kevin laughed. “Good thing for both of us!”
Red hummed to herself a moment before pushing back her chair, nearly sending Kevin to the floor. She jumped to her feet and spun around.
"I'm done with this for tonight," Red announced, taking Kevin's hand. "You're right anyway. Craig is a big boy." She kissed his cheek. "So, com'on, let's go watch ‘Battlestar Galactica’."
---
The house was much less "Cozy Ranch, Sweet Tea with Lemon on the Table Next to a Fresh Rhubarb Pie" Charm than Tweek expected, Craig could tell just by the confused expression on his face as he looked around the living room. After the livestream, Craig put most of the western decoration back in the attic where it usually stated. If he had to stare at a ‘Live, Laugh, Ride Horses’ on the wall all the time, he’d vomit. Every time he had tried to ride a horse before, it either nearly threw him off or tried to eat his fingers. He could live and laugh just find without them
"Something wrong?"
"No. It's just...big. Wow. Way bigger than my apartment." Tweek spun around. "If I let Kiwi loose here, I'd never see him again."
"It's not that big," Craig defended, deciding not to mention that was the main reason he didn't like his own pets wandering outside their pen without him around. Once he and Stan and Kevin spent the better half of a day searching for Stripe when he escaped from the pen
"I think my parents' coffee shop could fit in here," Tweek muttered, bending down to get a closer look at a stone carving Craig got from a trip to Peru.
"You're parents own a coffee shop?" Craig put his hands in his pockets. "So you're from a business family?"
"It is why I have my degree in business management." Tweek reached his hand to touch the nose of the carving but flinched back. "Did you ever go to college? I mean, I think Stan said he met you in college, didn't he?"
Craig picked up the carving, making Tweek stumble back a few steps.
"I left to become a music star," He twisted the carving over, brushing his fingers along the maker's mark at the bottom, "but I was learning about the physics and chemistry required in the fuel propulsion of jets and rockets."
Tweek blinked at him. "So you left college to be a rocket scientist to sing about drinking beer and trucks."
"You know," Craig set the carving back on the table, "my parents had the same reaction."
"You could have gotten us to Mars." Tweek straightened up. "But, you know, I admire that you took the chance and left that path to follow your dream." He grinned. "Really. It's admirable. My parents would have flipped out if I dropped everything to tour."
He paused then quickly added, "Not that I want to. I like being able to record from my house. Little stage performances are enough for me."
Craig laughed. "No, I understand. It's pretty heart pounding to have a million eyes on you at once."
Tweek shuddered at the thought.
"Hey, come on, my kids are excited to meet you." Craig put his hands on his shoulders and steered Tweek out of the living room and down the hall.
"I've been telling them only good things these past weeks," Craig continued. "How talented you are and what nice handwriting you have." He paused at a door. "I let Petunia sniff your revision, and she loved it so much she nibbled on the paper."
Tweek snorted as Craig opened the door.
The pen took up a sizeable corner of the room and was surrounded by a knee height fence. Inside were several beds and many toys and hidey holes for his pets. Craig noticed one of the sipper bottles was getting low and made a note to refill it, along with their food dish which somebody (Probably Stripe) knocked over into the bedding again.
“Wow.” Tweek’s mouth gaped. “I thought guinea pigs were kept in cages like hamsters, not something like this.”
“I built it myself,” Craig proclaimed, “though, I went a little overboard in size. Three pigs don’t need this much room.”
His plan was to let Petunia have a litter and have himself an army of guinea pigs, but once recording and touring started up, Craig found it was hard enough providing enough care and affection for the ones he had, so he took all three to the vet to be neutered. According to the vet, they would live happier and healthier lives that way anyway.
One of the guinea pigs shuffled around in the hammock and poked a nose out. Petunia looked around before spotting Craig. She gave a squeak and scrambled out to hurried over, probably expecting treats. Her noisy journey from the hammock made the other two peek out from sleeping under a fake log.
Craig stooped down and picked up Petunia. He held her out for Tweek to hold.
"She doesn't bite," Craig mentioned when Tweek hesitated. "Promise."
Tweek took her and held her carefully to his chest. Stroking her long, brown fur, Tweek leaned over the small fencing to look at the others.
"She's soft and those two are really cute," he complimented with a nod to Astro and Stripe the Sixth.
"Thank you. I'm proud of my boys," He reached over and scratched Petunia between the ears, "and my baby girl."
Petunia moved her head against his palm with a happy noise.
Astro grew jealous at the attention Petunia was getting and began to get rowdy in the pen to steal some of it for himself. With a smile, Craig stepped into the pen and sat down. Instantly, Astro was in his lap with Stripe the Sixth settling down next to his leg.
Tweek wavered a moment before following after Craig and taking a seat in the pen.
He opened his mouth when his body went stiff.
"Ack!" He pulled his hand to his chest. "She licked me!"
A grin spread across Craig's face.
"That means she likes you." He scooted closer so they sat side by side, much to Stripe’s annoyance as he had just got comfortable.
"Like a dog?" Tweek stared down at Petunia in awe. Clearly, Tweek hadn’t had more interactions with rodents than average house mice.
"Yes, they are very affectionate critters." He pressed his leg against Tweek's, resting his palm on Tweek’s knee. Tweek tensed, but relaxed a moment later and didn't move away.
"Oh? They are? Well, you know, this," Tweek whistled softly, "is what birds do when they like you. They talk around you and sing."
"I didn't know that." Craig leaned a little closer. Their shoulders were touching now.
"Yeah. They sing and tweet all day if they're happy and safe."
Craig hummed a wordless tune, raising his finger to brush a lock of Tweek's hair back. Before his hand left, Tweek set his on top of it to keep it against his cheek.
"Do you want to know what guinea pigs do when they like someone?" Craig tilted his face towards him.
Tweek mimicked the action, twisting his body a little and disturbing Petunia. She made a whining squeak, alerting Tweek that his action displeased her, though he paid her little mind.
"What else?" He asked as his fingers gently squeezed Craig's hand.
"Something a little like..."
The gap between them grew steadily smaller and smaller until Craig pressed his lips against his.
"This." He pulled back, tapped the ends of their noses together, then pressed his luck to kiss Tweek again.
After a few blissful moments, the two parted completely.
This time when Petunia was disturbed she crawled out of Tweek's lap to trot to Craig's. She climbed over his crossed legs and snuggled down next to Astro.
"W... w... " Tweek stammered.
For a fleeting moment, Craig's chest gripped with worry that Tweek might be trying to say "Why did you do that?!" or "What made you think I wanted that?"
"’Wicked’..." Tweek finally breathed.
A snorting laugh escaped through Craig's nose. "I guess it was. Maybe even ‘radical’ or ‘tubular’?" He teased.
"No, I mean," Tweek chuckled, "'Wicked' like the musical. Jimmy gave me tickets to a performance he's helping with next month. Would you like to come? Like as a date?"
If he could grin any wider, his face would have split right down the middle.
"I'd like that, but you know what I'd like even more?"
Tweek's face dusted pink but he smiled too.
"What?"
"You let me take you out for a date tonight since I don't want to wait a month." Craig moved Stripe to his lap as well. The two already there made irritated squeaks but allowed their sibling to snuggle down between them.
Tweek nodded, pushing his hair back from his face.
"As long as there's no mechanical bull wherever you take me." He laughed. "My friend, Jason, rode one once and broke his arm when he fell off."
Craig's expression twisted into disgust before he could stop himself. Tweek furrowed his brow, nervously fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
"Tweek, I have a confession:" he took a breath, "I hate country music."
Tweek stared at him before bursting out into laughter.
"Oh, right, uh-huh." He elbowed him in the side. "That's a good one. If you want to go someplace with a bull, that's fine. Just don't expect me to ride it."
"I'm serious," Craig deadpanned. He leaned to allow his head to fall back. "I guess ‘hate’ is a strong word. I used to like it. I was raised on the stuff, after all."
Tweek lifted himself on his hands to turn to fully face him. His prompting look encouraged Craig to continue.
"When you said you thought it was admirable that I left school to pursue my passion, well, it was actually the opposite. Rocket science is my passion. Music is a job."
"What?" Tweek shook his head. "That doesn't make sense. That's not how it works."
"That's how it ended up." Craig shut his eyes. "Stan needed help taking all his Moop stuff to a venue, so I offered my car. The owner's daughter overheard me singing to myself and said she'd pay me to sing for her."
"Did you?"
"Thirty dollars for singing a cheesy country love song to a girl? Hell yeah, I did." Craig snickered at the memory. "After that, she told me she could get me on stage for a bit if I wanted. I didn't want a glamorous life of a music star, but I was a broke college student and performing there got me a free dinner and whatever tips I made."
He opened his eyes with a frown. "Then it all kind of snowballed from there. I got asked to come to sing there more and more and soon other places were asking for me, and Red offered to be my manager and before I knew it," he fell back, startling the guinea pigs, "I was famous."
Tweek stared at him, big blue eyes searching his face before he took a breath. "Why would you keep doing something that makes you unhappy?"
Craig shrugged. "Money. I sing what people want to hear from me and, until recently, pretended to be what they wanted completely. Just a good old Southern boy who sings songs that pander to other good old Southern boys."
"So, are all your songs just pandering? That can't be all you ever wrote." Tweek chewed his lip. His brow furrowed. Craig could only assume he was thinking about all the songs of Craig's he knew to check himself.
Craig pushed himself up onto his forearms. "I didn't write any of my songs, actually. When I was first starting, Red introduced me to a lyricist. He'd make the lyrics. I'd help with the instrumentals if he needed it."
"That...really?" Tweek moved to sit on his knees.
"Yeah, his name is Thomas." A pang hit his stomach, but he took a breath and went on, "Thomas actually did live a country life, a little. More to draw from than I have. He has Tourettes, and his mom sent him to a ranch camp for kids like him every summer from when he was eight to eighteen."
"Wow, so you’re really a fake," Tweek replied, unamused.
“I don’t auto tune myself or lip sing during concerts. Besides, I’m not the only one. An old member of Moop, Eric Cartman? He left to make a Christain Rock band called Faith+1. Fucker’s as far from a holy Christain man as you can get.” Craig snorted. “He’s even more in it for the money than I am. At least I care about my fans a little. That man would push them into the fires of Hell himself if he was offered a dime for it.”
“But you’re still faking! I mean,” Tweek ran a hand through his hair, “all of your songs can’t be pandering party songs, can they?”
"I do have one song that wasn't just a cash grab."
"Oh, yeah? Which one?"
"‘Hazel Eyes.'"
Tweek’s face twisted in thought as he tried to recall the song. Craig couldn't blame him if he didn't know it. ‘Hazel Eyes' barely broke the top forty for a week then faded into song obscurity. It was still his favorite, though for bittersweet reasons now.
Craig hummed the first two bars at the start of the chorus before he sang, "Black hair; Hazel eyes, looking at me with love long disguised. Hold my hand where dad and mom can't see. Let me with you and you with me. Please never look away from the future of we, my lovely hazel eyes."
Realization crossed Tweek's face.
"I remember that song. I really liked it, but didn't know the title."
Craig bobbed his head. "Thomas wrote that for me."
"Didn't he write everything for you?"
"No, I mean for me. Thomas...he was my boyfriend. I'm the ‘Hazel Eyes' the song talks about." Craig winced, realizing that bringing up a love song his ex wrote him with the man he just kissed was not his best plan.
"Oh..." Tweek chewed his lip "Wasn't Thomas the ex who..."
"Yeah, that Thomas," Craig confirmed. "I think that's another reason I don't like country much anymore. Everything I sing is by him. It's just salt in the wound."
A hand fell on his shoulder, so Craig lowered his gaze from the ceiling. Tweek smiled softly at him.
"Do you want to write a song with me? I'm not the best. I didn't go to college for it or anything, but maybe together we could make something good."
"So, what I told you isn't a deal breaker?" Craig asked.
Tweek shrugged. "No, I guess not. Maybe I can help you break into other genres, or if you want to leave professional music altogether and be a rocket scientist, I can help with that, too, if you want. I find people are much happier when they can be themselves and follow their passions."
Craig stared at him before chuckling. Tweek was such an amazing person.
---
The night wind was pleasant as Craig and Tweek walked side by side down the street. Craig readjusted his coat. For once, he didn't look like something a western store threw up on: A blue zip-up jacket over an old Moop shirt, black skinny jeans, and a chullo hat with a geometric pattern and yellow tassels.
Tweek mocked the skinny jeans when he first noticed them until Craig pointed out that's what he had on as well. At that point, Tweek blushingly hurried them into the theater to find their seats.
Craig raved excitedly about the play they'd watched. Tweek was so pleased that Craig liked it. He'd suggested it on a whim. It was the first idea his brain could provide him with that wasn't ‘kiss him again, you fool!' He hadn't expected Craig to actually agree, but he hadn't expected Craig to confess he’d grown disenchanted with singing country music, either.
"Alright, so were Elphaba and Glinda low key in love or something? Or am I just reading that subtext now that I'm allowing myself to?" Craig wanted to know, lightly swinging their combined hands while they passed under a streetlamp.
Tweek laughed. "I've never read the book, but in the musical, it's platonic, I think."
"You've never read the Wizard of Oz?" Craig stopped and fixed Tweek with a startled expression.
"What? Of course, I have!" Tweek scoffed. "‘Wicked' is based on a book that’s based on the ‘Wizard of Oz’. I've never read it, so I don't know if Elphaba and Glinda are lovers there or not."
Craig chuckled. "Well, I'm going to assume they fucked at Shiz at least once."
With a chuckle of his own, Tweek began to reply when a new voice cut him off.
"Hey! Hey! Craig, you—cocksucker!”
Tweek flinched, spinning around. Sooner or later, he knew some crazed fan would come to harass them. Why did it have to be tonight though? Even with the skinny jeans thing, the night was going so well!
As the man neared, Tweek’s heart pounded in his ears. They weren't too far from the theater, so there had to be more patrons nearby who could call the police if a fight broke out, right?
Scanning around, he saw only a huddle of people across the street, though they seemed to pay the couple and the yelling man no mind.
A disheveled man with short, messy hay-colored hair ran up to them and Craig stiffened. The man had bags under his eyes so deep that they rivaled the ones Tweek had when he was in the worst of his teenage anxieties.
"S-sorry!" He stammered, doubling over to pant. "I didn't mean to say--fuck!--that."
Tweek straighten. He wasn't much taller than the man, and nowhere near as tall as Craig, but he could be intimidating if he wanted to be.
"What do you want? We're busy right now," Tweek told him firmly. If they left quickly before this man started shouting at them, the night could still be salvaged.
Craig put his hand on Tweek's shoulder. He turned to him, and Craig shook his head.
With a deep breath first, Craig looked to the man. In an uninterested tone, he greeted, "Hello, Thomas."
Tweek stifled a gasp. Thomas? The Thomas? The one who forced Craig to out himself? That asshole?
Rage bubbled up in Tweek. He gritted his teeth and curled his hands into fists. If this jerk tried to cause trouble he would—
Craig wrapped his hand around his and squeezed without breaking eye contact with Thomas.
Thomas looked at their hands then looked away guiltily.
"Craig, I need to talk to--asshole! I need to talk to you." He chewed his lip. "Please."
"Why? So you can sell whatever I say to a magazine again?" Craig somehow remained coolly detached when he spoke. Thomas winced as if Craig just punched him in the gut.
"Craig, please, I didn't mean to. They had--they had a picture of us and--Balls shit!--we were kissing. How could I reply to that? Mother fucker! There was nothing I could have done! They would have run the picture anyway if I didn't answer. I--shit cock!-- I had to tell the truth!"
Thomas slumped forward, shrinking down like a dog about to be scolded for breaking a vase.
"I'm sorry. I did what I thought was best for you."
All at once, Craig’s aloof attitude broke. A low growl ripped from his throat as he stomped forward a step, getting into Thomas' personal space.
Jabbing a finger at his chest, he snarled, "‘Best for me'? If you wanted what was best for me you would have called me when it happened. Not Red. Me. You would have stood by me and helped me figure this out, but you wussed out on me and didn’t even answer my calls."
Thomas’ breath shook as he took it. He blinked hard, but under the streetlamp's light, he couldn't hide that his eyes were wet.
A pang of pity hit Tweek's stomach.
Thomas still loved Craig and probably did do what he thought was best. The cold indifference then a blast of sheering hot fury must have hurt more than Thomas let on.
Tweek reached out and grabbed a tassel of Craig's hat. Pulling it, he managed to make Craig step back.
"I'm sorry. I got scared, Craig! I'm not...Look at me! Who would want to come out dating someone like me?" He whimpered.
"I did — would! I never gave a fuck about your tics or how you looked." He squeezed Tweek's hand so hard, that Tweek bit back a yelp. Craig didn’t notice. "But that doesn't matter now, I guess. Goodbye, Thomas."
Craig pulled Tweek down the street. Tweek looked over his shoulder to see Thomas sigh heavily and slowly walk the way he came. The huddle of people instantly turned their attention to him when he neared. They started to console Thomas, but Craig took Tweek around a corner before he could see more.
"Craig..." Tweek started, "Um...that was—"
"Harsh?" Craig stopped, and Tweek bumped into his back. "Yeah, I know. It's the first time we've seen each other in months. He's been avoiding me. I guess it all came up at once."
Tweek twiddled his thumbs. It wasn't his place to say, but he couldn't hold his tongue on this. "I think he really was sorry."
"Yeah, I know," Craig repeated. "I know." He sighed. "Sorry. I just...I'll forgive him some time, but not right now. He threw my whole life out of sync and didn't even have the guts to help me set it back up. I think I'm entitled to making him squirm a little."
Tweek shrugged nervously. "Yeah, maybe, but you're not going to make him suffer too much, right?"
At least Thomas seemed to have friends to help him through Craig’s retribution, but Tweek still felt pity for him. Breaks up hurt, he knew that from experience, but all Tweek's breakups had been over issues much more trivial or minor than what Craig and Thomas went through.
"Another couple of weeks or a month, and I'll reach out," Craig muttered after a moment's thought, "but, Thomas and I are over. I couldn't ever trust him fully again." He flashed a smile at Tweek before taking his hands gently in his. "At least, I got one good thing out of this."
He bent down and kissed Tweek, slow and sweet. Tweek chuckled and rested his forehead against his.
"I wish I'd been able to meet you when I was younger. I think you would have made an awesome first boyfriend," Craig said with a lopsided smile.
"You know, I think I just thought of a great idea for a song if you'd like to head back to my place for the night and work on it," Tweek offered.
"I'd love that."
---
AN: Epilogue posted in a week
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DARK THINGS (Chapter 1 Draft 1)
(also super unedited)
“Awwwww!!! Fucking shit, did we actually have to do that??” I fell back on my chair and let out a hasty sigh. “For real?”
“Yeah…. It's called homework.” Peter frowned before a smile crossed his face. “Well on the bright side, you'd make a decent stripper.”
“He doesn't really have the body for it though.” Steff eyed me from the other side of the desk sceptically. “Not enough ass.”
“Nah.. he hath not the skill to be a stripper, nor the charm.” Ellie, the girl who sat next to Steff, pondered for a moment. “A prostitute perhaps?”
“He's not pretty enough for that either.” My friend flicked their long hair back only to lean over the table and ruffled mine up with the sweetest smile. “But if we sell his organs on the black market, we're sure to make a fortune!”
“HEY!!! Fuck all of you!” I pulled away, playing a grumpy face while fixing up my now messy hair. “For the record, why do you always mess up my hair? It takes Peter forever to get it look this damn good.”
“That's very true, it takes a lot of effort to make Noel look presentable to society.” My friends snickered at Peter's words. “A shit load of effort.”
“AND, as I was saying,” I gave my best-friend a playful push for his word. “I would make an amazing stripper, sex worker or organ donor on the black market but that's not the point here!”
“Huh, sex worker?” Ellie mumbled under her breath. “More new words to learn.. great!”
She rolled her eyes and yawned as gray light broke through the window, softly landing on all of us. The classroom was illuminated with only the silver glow as the day slowly began, classmates stumbling in, the rings under their eyes darker then the world around them.
“So can I copy your homework, my dear mooooooooonlight?” I bated my eyes at him. “Pretty please…?”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa….. how about, no! You need to learn your lesson.” He laughingly barked. “Come do it yourself, it's not that hard.”
“As if?” I groaned, tossing myself on the table like an angry toddler. “Why have you betrayed me like this?? I thought you loved me!!”
“You can copy mine.” Ellie said, her odd accent spilling all over her words as she pulled out her math supplies, her blond hair seemed to glow in the absence of light. “I'm not positive it is correct though..”
“Don't encourage him!” Peter exclaimed. “This way he'll never pass the class.”
“I was only fishing for Peter's sympathy but I guess my powers are too strong!!” I carefully took her notebook. “I could become the best super villain the world has ever seen!! Nahahaha!!!”
“No, it really isn't.” She shook her head at me kindly. “But dream big, kiddo.”
“Ellie, you sparkle fucking joy and I would willingly carry your children!” I gave her a big smile and began copying. Normally being called kiddo from a girl I had a slight crush on would have been frustrating but this early in the morning I didn't really mind.
“Noel...” Peter spoke my name with such care, I had to look at him. “You're a full blown idiot and you are aware that is anatomically incorrect right?”
“Who are you to control his body?!” Steff laughed while they pulled out their math notebook and slammed it on the desk next to mine. “Make space Noel, I don't have the homework either!”
Ellie gave them a gentle smile before pulling out her Nokia phone, a device that looked older then I was. She poked around on it while Peter arranged his books to look perfectly synchronized and they and I scribbled away. A tired humming began to fill the room as more classmates came in.
“By the way, where is your sister? Or Bryan for that matter?” I asked, barely glancing up from my work.
“You know Maria, she will stay in bed until the last moment even if God himself tried to wake her up.” Peter let out a small laugh. “And Bryan.. who knows?”
“He's probably dressed too masculine again.” Steff snickered. “His mom is probably making him change right at we speak so that she can impress Mr. You-were-born-a-girl-so-why don't-you-dress-like-one.”
“Speaking of Mr. Hofmann, why the fuck do neither of you two ever do your math homework?” My best friend looked over at us writing away. “Seriously, he's like the only teacher who always checks if we did it or not.”
I looked up into his deep brown eyes. They were the same as that of his twin sister and of his mother but I liked his the most. A soft brown that matched with his dark hair and skin… and his beautiful kissable lips. Not in a “I'm secretly in love with my best friend” kinda way, more in a “I would make out with my best friend at any given moment, in a platonic way of course.” There is a difference trust me, a huge one!
“Because Mr. Hofmann.” Steff groaned. “I live to spite him. My hate for him gets me out my goblin hole every morning.”
“True words that inspired people across the nation.” I nodded before turning my attention back to Peter, as if it ever truly left his gorgeous face. “Hey do you have number 5? 'Cause our dear Ellie just put a bunch of question marks there.”
“The spoken and written word has changed too much since my birth, keeping up bringeth with it many hardships.” She didn't even look up from her device. “And such calculations were seen as witchcraft, as they should.”
“Yeah…. So Ellie is being cryptic again.” I leaned my head on his shoulder and snuggled closer. “Please moonlight, do us this favor..”
“FINE!!” He sighed, passing me his notebook. “Why do I always give in so easily to you?”
“Because you love me!” I gave him a smooch on his cheek before focusing my concentration on the math problem. “I love you too...”
“Where would you get the idea that I… wait, did I just hear that correctly?” His tanned cheeks gave off a slight reddish tone, making it clear that he was blushing. “You like..love me?”
“Yeah.” I threw him a slight smile. “As a friend.”
“OOOOOOOh friendzoned!” Steff looked up from their writing to laugh. “But like seriously Noel, don't even try and deny you're totally in love with Peter.”
“I'm straight, so unless Peter is actually a trans girl,” I continued copying out the calculations. “We're just friends.”
“Can you just admit your bisexuality before before wrinkles cover your fleshy skin and the long fingers of death cuts the thread of your mortality?” Steff groaned. “Please!”
“Aye.” Ellie agreed, still not looking up from her phone. “We're begging ya.”
“Oh man… look I know you guys are the ultimate shitlords and our future rulers and all that but for fucks sake, can you talk like modern humans?” I scribbled in panic, jumping over stupid calculations to get the homework finished before the bell rang. “Now if you don't mind, I would like to finish this.”
“Finish what?” A voice stated as footsteps wandered through the door, Maria's soft giggle by his side.
“Awww Bryan, you sweet pumpkin!” I looked up from my writing for just a second to face my friend. “Get your ass over here and your notebooks out, we've got math homework to do!”
“oooh.. uhm you see..” Bryan stalled as he pulled up a chair towards where we sat. “well I.. uhm.. I.”
“We just did the stupid homework.” Maria plopped herself down on Ellie's lap and gave both her and Steff a kiss on the cheek. Ellie simply shifted her phone and let her girlfriend sit down comfortably. “Plus Bryan managed to get me out of bed so we're here a bit early.”
“BRYAN, You Motherfucker!! What happened to us dying together?” I frowned. “You truly disappoint me!”
“Yo dude!” Peter leaned over to the wide eyed teen. “How did you get Maria up? What kind of magic do you possess? Can you teach me??”
“She wrote me yesterday that she wanted to copy the homework so I did it quickly and..” He nervously looked back at Peter. “an..and so I came by this morning to pick her up. And she was already awake..”
“Stop using your fear to hid thy wizardry! Damn Skippy, I see through you.” Ellie ruffled up his hair without her blue eyes leaving the device she held in her hand. “Thy anxiety is so tough that I could spear it down with my bow and skin it to make a lovely rabbit soup.”
“What?” We all stared at her.
“She means you're so super nervous, like a rabbit.” Maria pipped up. “And that you shouldn't be scared, we're not gonna hurt you.”
“I WILL BE SCARED AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME… not scared? Stop being scared? If anything you're making me more scared!” Bryan pounded his fist on the table before his words drowned into a whisper. “And I have anxiety so yes, I will be terrified. Thank you very much.”
“I said no such thing.” Ellie looked up with a concern and yet gleeful look on her face. “You should be very terrified, thou areth friends with us. Ey!”
“I just shit myself, great!” He smiled and turned to Steff and I. “So what's taking you too so long?”
“What do you mean?” We both asked, looking up from our writing before I continued. “We're dumb, ok? It takes us a little longer do things.”
“Oh, we know that.” Peter laughed.
“Speak for yourself.” Steff punched my arm.
“No but why are you doing the whole page?” Bryan asked. “We only had to do five and six.”
“What??!” I glared at Peter while Steff glared at their girlfriend. “Then why are we doing all of these?”
“Who truly knows?” Ellie shrugged. “You should be asking yourselves that question. Thou has been jacked! Get reketh”
“Yeah, you guys just blindly copied out our homework, with no thought of what we actually had as homework.” Peter stated, his arms crossed. “It your damn own fault.”
The bell rang behind us, a soft ding dong but I didn't notice much. Instead, I was too busy imagining how I was gonna strangle Peter. Kinky, I know but I was thinking about doing it in a nonsexual way. More of a pure rage way.
“Fuck you!” I mumbled angrily. Ok, maybe I was thinking about choking him in a slightly sexual way but not in a gay way. Because I am heterosexual who is only into females! Super straight in every way, I thought as I watched his lips move as he countered my words and imagined kissing them.
“Fuck me yourself, coward.” He joked, pulling his notebook away from me.
“Gladly… wait no!” I whispered without thinking before shouting. “That's not what I meant.. I meant that you wish I would fuck you! Because.. I'm cute and you're cute and we'd be super cute together and.. no wait, what am I even saying?”
“Is he still pretending that he's straight?” Maria rolled her eyes when Steff nodded. “Noel, we all know you're in love with Peter.”
“Not even your mama loves Peter and she fucked him!” I shouted. “And you two are twins!!”
“Dude, that's.. that was uncalled for.” Bryan whimpered, in his hand a cubic cub that he turn endlessly without trying to solve the colorful square. “You can't accuse someone of incest, even as a defense.”
“I'm not accusing him of anything.” I spoke quietly before a smile danced across my face. “I'm just saying he's a motherfucker.”
Our group went silence as I glowed with pride at my, may I say, amazing delivery. The rest of them seemed to have a different opinion to mine, with Steff covering their face with their hands and Maria just giving me the death stare. Only Bryan, kinda muffled a slight smile. At least one of these savages understood my genius!
“Hey babe.” Peter placed his hand on my thigh. “I know you're in denial about our love so I would murder you where you sit.”
“NO!” My voice cracked as he stared at me with his deep brown eyes. “I'm fucking not! Cause.. uhm. Fuck you. Maria, make your brother bother stop bullying me!”
“Peter stop hurting the poor bean.” She smirked, her hand running through her hair. “Don't you see he's suffering enough from his undying love towards you, why would you inflict even more pain on him??”
“I hate all of you.” I shook my head at Bryan and he let out a sigh of relief. “But especially you Peter. You're stupid.”
“HEY!” Peter unleashed the full force of his math book against my head. “And I helped you after you totally forgot to your homework”
“I choose not to do it.” I said proudly. “Albert Einstein failed school and look what he did.”
“That's actually a total myth you know.” Ellie added. “He got really good grades but only Germany with our 1-6 notes so when he moved to another country with 6-1 notes they thought he had failed the grade.”
“Thanks for destroying all my hopes and dreams.”
Ellie blushed and began stuttering. “Oh no... I didn't mean it.. I'm so sorry.”
“Ellie, my precious bean, that was once again sarcasm.” Steff whispered to her and then turned on me. “And how could you not know that? Everyone knows that. Also side note, you kinda did forget your homework so don't lie to yourself.”
“I'm sorry, I don't spend my life reading up and learning random facts about famous people.” I tilted my chair a bit more. “Also how do you know that before wasn't a lie and this is me finally telling the truth.”
“No, you prefer playing video games over and over again.” Steff frown. “Doesn't shooting people get boring after some time?”
“I love you darling but no hating on video games.” Maria smirked. “Either way, wasn't Albert Einstein born with a smaller brain and that made him so smart?”
“It was only a tiny bit smaller then the average brain but with the same amount of brain cells which caused his brain to work far better then ours.” Peter added to the conversation. “And talking about hopes and dreams, Albert Einstein was working a boring desk job as an adult when he worked out his theories.”
“Hmmm... brains. I hear those things are tasty.” I licked my lips. “I'm actually getting pretty hungry, who wants to volunteer as tribute to my belly? Smart people only.”
“I think it's more about the spices and the way you cook it.” Maria stroked her imaginary beard “Raw brains sounds just gross.”
“Well that's just your opinion.” Ellie seemed to have gotten over her embarrassment and rejoined the conversation. “I think raw brains are delicious.”
“Eww.” Peter barked.
“Wow, we're really just going to kink shame poor Ellie here. She likes raw brains, you like dudes.” I put my arm around Peter. “There's no difference.”
“Wait, I'm not kinky. Not in that way at least.” Ellie spoke, startled. “I just enjoy a good meal. Vore is not a thing I like, nor will it ever be.”
“So being gay and being a cannibal is the same thing?” Peter glared. “You've truly sunken far, dear friend.”
“Seriously.” Steff joined in. “That's low even for you.”
“I'm sorry!” I attempted to defend myself but they seemed to have already hardened their hearts to my woo. “I was kidding..”
“There are some stuff you just can't joke about, that was one of them.” Maria joined into the fight. “And I thought you were cool.”
“How did we get from Noel not doing his homework to cannibalism?” Bryan asked into the group. “And how do we always move over to these kinds of conversations?”
“We were talking about Albert Einstein's brain then we came to brain food and then Noel had to compare cannibalism to being lgbt+.” Peter crossed his arms. “What does the defendant have to say in his defence?”
“I-..” “Guilty!” Steff broke into the conversation, interrupting my speech, one I had already thought about before I opened my mouth. “I say we execute him on the spot.”
“I second that!” Peter was quick to second it even though Noel looked at him with innocent eyes.
“How are we going to execute him then?” Maria rubbed her hands together gleefully. “Burning to the stake sounds like fun.”
“How 'bout no.” Ellie seemed visually shaken by even the thought. “What about beheading?”
“Too painless.” Peter countered. “He deserves to suffer.”
“Guys...” I tried to change the conversation but they continued to ignore me. I glanced at Bryan who seemed to have dissociated himself entirely and was inspecting a piece of lead that lay before him. I whispered his name several times before he shot back up into reality and looked at me puzzled.
“Shhh prisoner, the judges are deciding your fate.” Steff shushed him. “Mortals who hath' committed such a horrid crime does not deserve to speak.”
“Guys maybe we should leave Noel alone.” Bryan began his defense of my case but Steff cut him off, refusing to let him speak. “Shush human, spare us the sounds that escape your pretty lips. We know where your loyalties lie.”
“Don't take it to heart.” Maria spoke softly to Bryan. “We're just joking around and foreshadowing stuff, no need to worry.”
“My word, how about we cook him alive.” Peter rubbed his hands together “You know, with boiling water and all that good stuff.”
“I say we eat him.” Ellie grinned. “Tis the best way to depose of a corpse.”
“Yeah.. how about no.” Peter growled. “But a bloodsucker like yourself probably doesn't understand what no means.”
“Why wouldn't I know what no means?” Ellie countered, her eyes seemed to flash red for split second. “No means no, simple as that.”
“That is simply untrue.” We all spun around to see our dear math teacher, Mr Hofmann standing there, his body leaning on the doorway. The other students had noticed him standing there and had gone to their respectable seats. We had not. Who knew how long he had been standing there. How much he had heard.
“Sorry.” I said as I hurried to my proper place and pulled out my school books. The others did the same, some slower then others. Bryan rushed to his seat and practically threw his stuff on the table in terror while Steff stared him dead in the eye as they very slowly moved their chair to face the front.
“No. Definition: a negative used to express dissent, denial or refusal, as in response to a question or request. Also used to emphasize or introduce a negative statement.” He seemed to float into the room and found his way to his desk, his face unchanging before a slight smile crossed over his lips. “But It's math now so everyone pull out your homework. Everyone should have it, No excuses.”
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Baby Bird (Fly Home) - Chapter 6: Watching Life Pass You By
Chapter 6
(This chapter is because of KieraElieson.) Logan and Virgil are settling down just fine! Brotherly love and all that! Besides, who ever thought that the idea that younger siblings were annoying and frustrating was ever true? I mean, come on...
Notes:
Everybody thank KieraElieson for this chapter! I was gonna rip your hearts out brutally but I guess I'll save that for a different day. :)
----
Virgil approached the door to his apartment just in time to hear a muffled bang. Panic ripped through him. He fumbled with the keys and tore the door open. Inside, he was confronted with an interesting spectacle. Logan sat in the midst of various materials, covered in flour, with an old science book open next to him. The counter was filled with bowls and cups, so much so that Logan was forced to set the book and himself on the floor. He was kneeling in front of it now, blinking up at Virgil. The boy looked unharmed, leaving the origin of the bang still a mystery. Virgil spluttered a few moments, looking for words, as the microwave beeped. He turned to see something coating the inside of the machine. Logan’s quite voice pipped up behind him,
“Oh, so eggs do explode in the microwave.” He removed his glasses and cleaned them, the movement causing a dusting of flour to fill the air. Virgil turned and took in the small form. Logan appeared calm but Virgil knew better, his shoulders were tense, and his head was erect, but his eyes were lowered. His movements were stiff, and Virgil could tell he was pretending. Pain hit him in the chest as he thought back to the first time, he’d seen this behavior.
Logan hadn’t been older than three when Virgil had been forced to hide him and leave him alone all night. He hadn’t had time to explain himself, either. He’d shoved the boy into a cupboard and ordered him to stay still and quiet, “Like a robot” those words had held more of an impact than Virgil had bargained for. How many times had Logan shifted to this behavior? He became aloof and hid in his mind. Holding emotion in and shoving it down, quiet and compliant, just like a robot. As time had dragged on, the coping mechanism had become an obsessive behavior. There had been a long time when Virgil hadn’t seen Logan at all; just the robot. Logan would become stiff and silent and obedient. Virgil could recall how scared he had become, trying and failing to get his Lo-lo back. Now, Logan glanced hesitantly up at his older brother. Virgil sighed and let his shoulders sag,
“I could’ve told you that, Lo.” He let his gaze sweep around the room and let his backpack fall to the ground with a satisfying thud, “Let’s get this place cleaned up.”
The mess looked worse than it was, as it is in many cases, and it was well on its way to being finished when a knock sounded at the door. Virgil tensed and shot a glance at Logan. The younger boy was still, listening for further sounds and watching Virgil. The teen picked up the cutting board and wandered to the door, he peered through the peephole and felt his heart rate slow. He lowered the deadly weapon and slid the latch on the door open.
“Hey, Pat.” He smirked shyly at the cheery landlord, “Need something?” Patton beamed and bounced a little,
“Only to ask you what you wanted for dinner on Saturday, my Angelic Songbird!” Virgil raised an eyebrow at the name and bit his lip at the question.
“Ummmm…whatever you want to make is good with me…” He muttered as he set the cutting board down against the wall. He hated making decisions. Patton knew this. Patton knew this and insisted on continuing to ask every week. Patton knew this, continued to ask every week, and Virgil always gave the same answer. Patton crossed his arms, just like always,
“Now, Virge, I know you like to make everything easy for me but, honestly, Kiddo, I want you to pick something!” He watched as Virgil shook his bangs in front of his face and gnawed at his lip. Suddenly, he looked up and then darted his gaze away. A light blush colored his cheeks.
“Could we, um, that is, if it isn’t too much trouble…you know what? Never mind, I don’t wanna...” Patton leaned forward and tilted Virgil’s head up. The teen stopped talking altogether. Patton took two slow breaths and waited for the anxious boy to mimic him.
“Now, what is it, Virgil?” Patton was patient, Virgil hated and loved that about him.
“Couldwehavethatchocolatecakewiththejaminbetweenthelayersagain?” Patton blinked and took a moment to decipher the jumbled request. Once he had, however, his signature smile was back and as blinding as ever.
“Of course, Kiddo!” He chuckled happily and extended an arm towards the teen. Virgil slipped through the door and let himself be bundled into a hug. He took a deep breath and felt his whole body relax. Patton smelled like home and safety. Virgil burrowed closer subconsciously. Frick, where did this man get his shirts?! Material this soft should not be allowed to exist. Patton finally sighed and pulled back, “I’ll see you Saturday then, right?”
“Right.” Virgil smirked. Patton turned and began to walk away with a little bounce in his step. Virgil paused to watch him before turning to go back inside. He was stopped by Patton’s cheery voice once more,
“Oh! And don’t forget to bring Logan!”
Logan was still standing where Virgil had left him. Seeing his brother unharmed, Logan’s fear was replaced with careful curiosity.
“Who is Patton?” He asked as Virgil resumed cleaning. Virgil turned and looked Logan up and down, twisting his mouth into an amused smirk,
“Go get cleaned up and then I’ll tell you.” The younger boy groaned but scuttled off anyway. Virgil snorted and began to scrub the microwave out. A few minutes later he sighed and placed his hands on his hips. He surveyed the now clean kitchen. The blue counters were once again cleared and the white cabinets were no longer covered in mysterious liquids. The tile floor was scrubbed clean and the microwave was reassembled. The patter of footsteps echoed as Logan scurried down the short hallway and into the small sitting room that sat just across from the kitchen. His hair was wet and the long baggy material of one of Virgil’s many hoodies covered his slender form. Virgil walked over and ruffled his brother’s hair, sending water droplets in every direction. Logan grunted in annoyance at the treatment and Virgil huffed a laugh.
“Come on, let’s go to the bedroom.” He led the smaller boy down the hall, and it wasn’t long before the brothers clambered into the large bed and tugged the purple quilt up around them.
“So,” Logan demanded, “who is he?” Virgil laughed and rolled over on his side, looking into Logan’s glasses that reflected the dim light given off by the lamp in the corner. He struggled for a way to start.
“Patton is…” He paused, searching for words, “he saved me, honestly. When I first ran away, I had nothing. Nothing but determination and a ridiculous dream. Well, dreams don’t feed you or give you a place to sleep. It was a pretty cold night and I was hunting for food when Patton came across me.” Virgil dropped his gaze and pressed his mouth into a firm line, “If it weren’t for Patton…I don’t know if I would’ve made it.”
Logan let this information sink in as he wriggled closer to Virgil’s safety and warmth.
“He seems nice.” He finally muttered, twisting his fist in the purple material of the quilt and letting Virgil remove his glasses. Virgil huffed another laugh,
“Yeah,” he muttered as he flicked the lamp off and pressed a kiss to Logan’s hair, “he’s pretty awesome.”
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Wraith in the Ruins: A Fallout 4 Story Part XIII
Let Me Go
Trigger warnings: canon language/violence/gun, drug and alcohol use. Suggestive/mature content
Bloody mess warning!
Game spoilers!
Please enjoy
“My dad’s old Highwayman would’ve come in handy right about now. Are we sure we’re still on ninety-five? I figured there would be a little more asphalt than this. ”
A week out from Sanctuary, Wraith’s caravan had been traveling in almost nonstop rain and the road was thick with mud.
“Was that a truck? I’d think we’d need some big tires for this slop, ya feel me?”
“Nothing can stop a Highwayman!” Wraith did her best impression of the spokesperson but then frowned to herself when she realized she was the only person to have actually ever heard the original commercial.
“I’d rather have a vertibird… fly above all… nngh… stupid… wet… CRAP!” Falling over sideways, MacCready lay defeated and motionless as the ever helpful Dogmeat licked his face.
Deacon fished him out, smiling at the cork-like pop, “No thank you, I’d rather not.”
“How long, in a car would this trip have taken anyway?” Hancock crouched slightly, “You want me to give you a piggyback ride, MacCready?”
“Naw man, I’m all gross and… oh… very funny.”
Laughing at them, Wraith snapped her fingers, “I don’t even have the heart to tell you. A Blitz would have gotten us there like that.” She smiled as she reminisced, “Plus they had those really cool gull-wing doors!”
“What kinda doors?”
Raising her arms out to either side, Wraith bent her elbows and spread her fingers like pinions on a wing, “Like this.”
“I know what it means, sunshine. Wanted to see if you’d make a silly pose.”
“I’m not silly! I’m a majestic shorebird.”
A small smile twitched at the corner of his mouth as Deacon enjoyed listening to and occasionally joining the trio’s banter. However, while maintaining the Harley character he had to be careful about breaking into his establish Deacon-the-funny-guy routine; laughing too loud or too frequently. Successfully gaining enough muscle mass to almost completely change his physicality, along with a full, red beard and without his glasses, he was completely unrecognizable even since Valentine’s wedding. Hancock, MacCready and Wraith had been consistent with calling him by his alter ego and he along with the five synth refugees all remained safely anonymous.
“Yes general, this is the highway. Behold your tax dollars at work.”
“Well… I’m gonna write my congressman…” Wraith slowed to walk next to Deacon, letting Hancock and MacCready move ahead. “Are we going to be able to stop in Baltimore? Or… whatever it’s called now. Or do we have to skip it like Philly?”
“There’s not a whole lot to see if we do stop; there’s some small trading stations that pop up in the summer but we might be early yet.” Deacon’s smile broadened as Hancock, noticing Dogmeat struggling in the mud, hefted the pup and carried him against his chest like a child, “We might have left too early in general… General. I haven’t seen spring rain like this in ten years.”
“Are we… talking about the weather like old people?”
“The weather will do more than… dampen our spirits. Time is a concern.”
“We wouldn’t want to get sick… being under the weather would slow us down.”
“If L&L sent a party after us… their rain of terror would…”
“Ugh, no! That’s stretching.” Wraith play-punched his arm.
“Oh? Couldn’t think of another one? I guess I won that round.”
Careful! Harley wouldn’t be this familiar. Tune it back…
Making note of the sudden shift in Deacon’s body language and tucking her chin, Wraith whispered her concern from the corner of her mouth, “L&L, huh? I thought you found the last two…”
“Later.”
MacCready had found a small rise that was relatively dry and despite the fact that it was still a good two hours until sunset, the caravan stopped for the night. After making sure the brahmin were sound, everyone was being fed and watch shifts were selected, Wraith broke away to meet with Deacon.
“Hey, that’s my trick!”
Wraith doubted that she had actually been able to sneak up on him. “You’re being kind.” Folding her slender legs under her, she propped her back against a wretched-looking tree, “How much will you tell me?”
Seating himself on the opposite side of the trunk, Deacon’s voice was low, “My contact in Underworld is Tulip. Captain Sally and The Bruiser are still at large.”
“I thought Hancock’s network had found them.”
“Shit happens.”
Not for the first time, Wraith berated herself for leaving the Railroad, “I should have stayed. Should have finished…”
“Not everything that happened or will happen is your fault, Pippa. Fuck’s sake!” Genuinely annoyed, Deacon leaned around the oak to glare at her, “Dial down your ego for two seconds and you’ll realize the Earth doesn’t fucking revolve around you!”
“Holy shit! What the fuck was that for?!”
With Wraith’s angry frown inches from his own, Deacon had an impulse to kiss her. Letting the image carry him away for far longer than was healthy, he felt heat on his face.
Shit! FUCK! SHITFUCKDAMN!
“…are you?” Clearing her throat, Wraith sat back on her heels, “What was that? Please, tell me what…”
“No, Wraith.” In one fluid motion, Deacon rose to his feet, turned and melted away into the evening shadows.
The insects were becoming a problem. The rains had finally let up but the further south the caravan progressed the warmer it got and the swarms of bugs were insufferable. Ranging in size from annoying to lethal there was a growing concern over the amount of ammunition being spent.
“Goddamn bugs!” Hancock seemed especially agitated and would routinely spend his daily allotment of shells, “Someone take my gun from me; I can’t help myself!”
“You could always just stab them…”
“Hey, that’s right!” Brandishing his beloved combat knife, the ghoul licked the blade with a mad light in his eyes.
“Or, or you could take some Day-tripper and we could strap you to a brahimn for the rest of the trip.”
Hancock made a show of being torn between ending all bug life at the end of his knife, or enjoying a nice high, “Gee, Harley how will I ever choose?”
Surprised that he would play along, Deacon’s confusion mounted when the lanky mayor draped an arm across his shoulders, “What’s got you so… friendly?”
“Wraith’s been lower than brahmin udders since she snuck away to chat at ya.” Hancock pulled the other man close to whisper in his ear, “And you’ve been even lower, brother. You kids feuding or what?”
Alarmed to know that his mood was affecting his body language, he straightened his back. Feeling uncomfortable under the ghoul’s arm, mostly because he enjoyed the contact, Deacon shrugged and was able to side-step away. He chuckled, “Damn, you are just as dangerous as she is.” Still feeling the weight of Hancock’s touch and angry that he had liked it, he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “I told her about the L&L setbacks; the false intel… more or less.”
“You tell her ‘bout the mole? About how I killed that fucker?”
“No Mr. Mayor, I didn’t. Because she’s not supposed to have to know about the Railroad and where I’m at or about whatever it is that I’m doing. I’m trying to give her one less fight and one less worry.”
“Well, you’re doing it wrong. Lyin’ has never worked with her.”
Annoyed, Deacon talked through his teeth, “Well, how exactly would you go about it?”
“Fuck if I know.” Folding his arms behind his head, Hancock walked away while whistling Keep a Knockin’.
Hancock was whimpering. It wasn’t unusual for him to battle his demons in his sleep but it still made Wraith’s heart hurt. She pulled him closer to her and his eyes opened briefly. He smiled, thankful to be rescued and he laid his head against her chest.
“Fighting ninjas again?”
“Heh. Not this time, sunshine.” He yawned and nuzzled her breasts through her shirt, “MacCready and Dogmeat still on watch?”
“Yeah. I’ve gotta get up soon. We’ll do a swap-out so you won’t be alone for long.”
“Stay with me for a couple more minutes.” His voice carried a surprisingly high level of anxiety.
She kissed his head, “A bad one, huh? I can stay a little longer.”
“I’ve told you I love you, right?” His voice wavered, almost as if he had been crying.
“Yes, of course!” She squeezed him tightly, “And I love you. What was it?”
“Don’t wanna trouble you with it.”
“It’s no trouble. It was just a dream, right?”
“I… MacCready didn’t want to leave th’ Capital and you decided to stay with him. I… I lost you both.”
“That you, Wraith?” MacCready was staring intently through his night scope, “You picking up anything on your fancy wristwatch?”
“No. Why?”
“I… my neck hairs are up… I don’t see anything but…”
“You feel.”
Lowering his scope, MacCready’s shoulders slumped, “That’s from that book again, isn’t it? You enormous nerd.”
Wraith gave Dogmeat a pat, “Puppy here seems to be relaxed.” She stuck her hand in MacCready’s back pocket to give his butt a squeeze, “Now, now. We have been through this; if you know what I’m talking about then you’re just as big a nerd.”
Returning the scope to his eye, he pretended not to notice her hand, “Darn it! I feel like I’m being stalked. Harley isn’t out there being a… messing around, right?”
“He’s out and about but he’s taking this all very seriously.” She checked her Pip-boy again, “I still don’t see anything. You sure it’s not just a case of the jitters? Tell you what; I’ll go do a quick sweep. The bad vibes are coming from the east, right? Hang tight.”
Moving silently through the scrub, Wraith calmed her mind for peak focus. Stopping every few yards, she strained her ears to listen for any minute change in the night sounds around her. Crisscrossing back and forth, she moved east until she reached a swamp and ran out of solid ground. Slowly standing in the moon-cast shadow of a large bolder, she held her breath and closed her eyes.
You never thought that maybe Mac would want to stay. You never thought that up until a couple of years ago his whole life had been in the Capital Wasteland and maybe he prefers it. What if Duncan refuses to leave and Mac doesn’t want to traumatize him by forcing him? What if Carol and Greta convince him not to take his son? What if he had been in love with Morningstar and when he sees her he’ll realize that you’re not as good? What if…
Dangerously close to hyperventilating, Wraith was able to snap herself back… just as the deathclaw hit her.
“Light, GET SOME GODDAMN LIGHT OUT THERE!”
“How?! We don’t have a generator with us, Mayor Hancock!”
As soon as he heard the deathclaw’s roar, MacCready had raised the alarm and he and the dog sprinted off into the night. Now, Hancock was left to organize the pursuit and was terrified that his nightmare was coming true.
“Lanterns! Torches! Fucking sake! Let’s GO!” When Deacon made as if to follow, Hancock stabbed his finger at him, “Not you! Stay and protect the camp.”
His jaw clenched as he ground his teeth but he complied.
Get up! Getupgetupgetup!
Able to gather her legs beneath her despite her lungs being devoid of air, Wraith ducked and dodged as the monster did its best to bifurcate her. She felt hot blood streaming down her face and she realized she had forgotten her armored hood back at camp.
I am such a shitshow!
The moon was full and so afforded her enough light to evade the monster’s swinging talons. Injured as she was, Wraith knew that she would tire quickly and needed to get on the offense. She expected that her companions would hear the beast’s bellow and attempt to come to her aid but she had traveled fairly far from camp. Even with the moon’s light it would take time to find her. Options seemed to be limited…
I need to slow it down. I don’t know how deep the swamp is but if I can get it stuck in the mud…
Weaving through a small copse of trees, she gained enough distance to grab a syringe of med-X and the bottle of Buffout from her pack. Bolstered by the chems, she unsheathed Kremvh’s Tooth and sprinted straight at the creature. Diving between its legs, she slashed its Achilles tendon as she passed and rolled to her feet behind it. Ducking under its tail as it spun around to pursue her, she sprinted for the water.
Leaping to a fallen tree, Wraith ran along its length and turned to mark the deathclaw’s progress. It seemed oblivious to the fact that its left foot hung by a strip of hide and she watched in horror as it gathered itself to jump to her log.
I’m drowning here! The only way this could be worse is if there were two…
A second deathclaw bellowed from her left.
Oh. Swell.
Trying to keep up with Dogmeat, MacCready paid no mind to the branches whipping across his face. He was terribly worried that he hadn’t heard gun shots and he was attempting to convince himself that it was because she preferred melee weapons and not because she had been killed.
Has she lost her mind? Didn’t she learn anything from the last time?!
Man and dog rounded the bolder just in time to see the second deathclaw rear back and bellow its challenge. They then both watched in horror as the injured deathclaw leaped to Wraith’s log. She was catapulted through to air to land with an enormous splash, where she sank like a stone into the swamp’s dark waters.
Snarling as viciously as Dogmeat, MacCready quickly doubled back and climbed the bolder. Rifle in hand he sent shot after shot to the second deathclaw’s right knee as Dogmeat led it in circles around the rock’s base. The sniper cut through the beast’s leg like a lumberjack felling a tree and it collapsed heavily to its side. Dogmeat continued to worry it, preventing it from getting up and MacCready changed his target to the monster’s left knee. As soon as it was destroyed, the former merc whistled the canine away and tossed a grenade; finishing it off.
Although her flight had been ungainly, Wraith had seen the deathclaw coming and so had been able to steel herself before being launched into the water. Unable to see through the silt, she swam to the bottom and headed back toward the shore, hoping to flank her foe.
The deathclaw had somehow tracked her progress and so dragged itself through the muddy water after her. Wraith surfaced right next to it and it lunged at her with its mouth open. Pulling her .44, she unloaded a full clip into its gaping maw. Her angle was bad however and so even though the wounds she inflicted would prove to be mortal, the monster wasn’t dead yet.
Frantically doing the backstroke, she was able to find footing enough to leap at the deathclaw with her blade leading the way. Landing heavily on its head she pushed the dagger through its upper jaw and pinned its mouth closed, roaring defiantly into its face.
The deathclaw plunged and shook; crow-hopping to try and dislodge her. With one hand on her weapon and the other on one of its horns, Wraith held on for dear life as the monster thrashed. Her substantial strength still augmented by the Buffout, it should have come to no great shock when the creatures horn came away in her hand. Losing her grip on her weapon’s blood-splattered hilt, she was once again flung into the water.
Moonlight reflected through the great spray of blood, clearly defining its crimson hue. The deathclaw stood with its head raised and arms spread wide, almost as if it was appealing to the moon for mercy. Then with a deep, mortal groan it fell dead.
MacCready stood motionless in complete shock. When Wraith surfaced, sputtering and cursing he realized he had been holding his breath, “Are… ARE YOU OKAY?!”
“GrrrrrrrAWWRRR!” Splashing and growling, Wraith kicked at the beast’s head before retrieving her dagger. Then, suddenly spent, she flopped onto her back in the mud, “Ugh. I think so.”
Dogmeat ran to her and setting his nose to her head wound, whiffled unhappily.
Wraith sheathed her weapon and reached up to run her fingers through the dog’s neck ruff, “I’m okay buddy. I… I think.”
“NO! YOU ARE NOT! YOU ARE BLEEDING!” MacCready had his med kit out in a flash.
“You have a flare gun, right? Do that first, okay?”
The relief Hancock felt when he saw the flare was dashed when he saw MacCready hovering over Wraith as she lay on the ground. Unconsciously gripping his chest over his heart, he walked with slow, heavy steps to stand next to Dogmeat. “MacCready…”
Taken aback by Hancock’s stricken look, the young man waved his hands, “She’s alive! She’s a crazy monster but she’s alive.”
“Who’s a monster?!”
“Have you ever seen yourself fight?” MacCready bent to kiss her, his slight shiver evidence of his fear, “My knock-out, monster woman…”
Hancock kneeled in the mud and placed a hand on Wraith’s blood-caked forehead, “Did you pick a fight with two deathclaws all by yer lonesome?”
“No… I’m ashamed to admit they got the drop on me.”
“I distracted you. Got in yer head. Shouldn’t have told you ‘bout that dream.”
“It’s not your fault! Don’t… just don’t, please.” Wraith caught MacCready’s hand, “Don’t bother stitching me up; I have a couple of derma-fuses at the camp.” She sat up as the young man bound her head. “It’s a shame Bear isn’t with us; I’d have him skin these two… deathclaw armor would be super cool.”
“The one I got was an albino too. That’s pretty rare.”
“What am I, chopped liver?” Hancock turned to one of the Minutemen escorts, “How ‘bout it Lloyd, you wanna help me set yer general up with some swanky new threads?”
“Do you have the right kind of knives for that?”
Placing his hand on his chest as if she had given him the greatest of insults, Hancock raised his voice to a falsetto, “Do I have the right kind of knives? ME?! You’re asking ME?!”
It was the last night before the caravan reached the designated rendezvous at relay tower Kx-B8-11. MacCready and Wraith lay together in her bedroll and a nervous Wraith had not slept at all. Her mind was tormenting her with Hancock’s dream and she couldn’t shake the image of MacCready’s back moving further and further away from them.
“Wraith, you keep sighing…”
“Oops, sorry!”
Gathering her gently into his arms, MacCready kissed her temple, “What’s the matter?”
“What’s Morningstar like? Fahrenheit calls her a ‘beautiful giant’ but I don’t think it’s a complement.”
“No, probably not.” MacCready laughed, “It’s accurate though. She’s about as tall as Hancock but like two of him across. Maybe three…”
“Were the two of you friends?”
“No...” The pregnant pause suggested otherwise and it was his turn to sigh, “Maybe… It’s kinda complicated.”
“Tell me a story, Mac.”
“Sure, fine. It’s not like I’m gonna get any sleep anyway.”
“Yay.”
“Nyx is a nosy, goody two-shoes. She’s a busybody who can’t seem to leave sh… stuff alone.” He rolled away from her onto his back and stuck an arm behind his head. “She came to Little Lamplight so she could get into a vault. I helped her out and then I couldn’t get rid of her. She said that she owed us. I told her to… leave us alone.”
“You told her to fuck off?” She could see him smile in the dark.
“Verbatim.” His smile grew larger, “She didn’t listen, of course. She would bring supplies; food and clothes and stuff. When I turned sixteen and left she offered me a job but I was… stupid and told her ‘no thank you’.”
“Fuck off, part two?”
“Yeah. I thought I could make more money, faster with the Gunners. Looking back… I acted like such a idiot kid.”
“Mac, you were sixteen! That is a kid.”
“Not in the wasteland.” His smile gone, he looked sadly backward in time, “Then I found out that she had cleared Lamplight out and set up an orphanage in Megaton. I was so angry… but I don’t know why. Honestly, it was pretty amazing what she did for those kids. She gave them a chance to be... well… kids. That didn’t stop me though. I went and told her exactly what she should do with herself.”
“The return of fuck off, part three the sequel?”
“After Duncan was born, Lucy…” MacCready swallowed, hard, “Lucy said I needed to make peace with her. I… refused.” A rim of moisture gathered at the corner of his eye, “I was still being…” Unable to continue, a large tear traveled down his cheek.
“I’m sorry. You don’t have to keep going.”
He sniffled and reached out to pull Wraith to his chest, “No, it’s okay. After I lost Lucy, I got… dark. I would drop Duncan off at Underworld and take missions that… I don’t think Charon would’ve done.”
“Charon is Morningstar’s… bodyguard? Actually I’m not sure what their relationship is.”
“Complicated. I think at one point she owned him. They might be a couple but I honestly don’t know.”
“Owned?! Like… not like a slave?!”
“Like I said, complicated.”
“Oh… no.”
“After Duncan got sick I promised him that if he could hold out until I got a cure, that I would be a better person. I finally went to Nyx. She never even hesitated, just came to help me as if we were best pals. I took it completely wrong, like she was using this as another opportunity to show how much better she is. Ugh, I was such a bastard!”
“Stop being so hard on yourself.”
“You don’t understand. If you knew all the things I’ve done…”
“Hancock says that too. You both know perfectly well all the horrible stuff I’ve done.”
MacCready shifted himself and sat up, taking Wraith by the shoulders and looking in her eyes, “You two are different. You guys did that stuff to help other people. You both made sacrifices and hard decisions so that they could be saved. I did terrible things because I hated everything. I was joking when I called you a monster. I’m the monster.”
Matching his stare, Wraith cupped his cheek with her hand, “I don’t know if you’d ever want to tell me everything but I want you to know that I would listen. I love you. I always will.” She kissed him and gently set her forehead against his.
They sat that way, quietly for a few seconds until MacCready pulled slightly back. He stared, smiling into her eyes. His look morphed from adoration to lasciviousness and he ran his hands from her shoulders down her back. Setting his lips against hers in a needful kiss, he tucked a hand in the waistband of her jeans to squeeze her butt.
“Mmmm, Mac… We have to… stop…” As her lover’s hands and mouth traveled across her body, Wraith barely had the presence of mind to protest.
“Think so? I can be quiet. I can be good and quiet.”
“Huugh… It’s even… more fun… oh mmmm… when you’re loud…”
“Beacon has been activated… Harley.” Wraith was genuinely regretful at not being able to make a rhyme.
“Acknowledged, general. The Morningstar escort should arrive in less than twenty-four hours. Was there anything else?”
“No. Thank you soldier, you are dismissed.”
Wraith frowned as she watched him walk away. She had made several attempts, during the last days of travel, to engage with Deacon. She understood the need for his alter ego but was disappointed that he was no longer allowing himself to be friendly.
I make jokes and laugh with all my people. Probably more than what’s appropriate but… This is so different than any other mission. He’s so different… even from when we left Diamond City.
“General, Morningstar has been spotted. She should be here in about twenty minutes.”
“Thank you, Lloyd.”
The sun had barely risen the following morning but Wraith had been up all night. Both Hancock and MacCready had tried to calm her but her anxiety had turned Nyx Morningstar into some sort of boyfriend-eating gorgon.
And then she was come.
At well over six feet, she was perhaps the tallest woman Wraith would ever see. Morningstar wore heavy combat gear with a custom, lion-like helmet that was heavily inspired by gladiatorial armor. Lifting an arm, she waved as her group crested the hill. When she removed her helm her impressive mane of blue-black hair poured forth like liquid night. Her large, gold eyes smiled in a truly friendly manner as they surveyed Wraith’s group.
“Hey there, butt face.”
MacCready stood, flanked by Hancock on his left and Wraith on his right, “Hey mungo.” Swaggering up, he stuck out a hand. Nyx clasped it firmly, then to his shock, pulled him to her and swept him off his feet to spin around in a whirling bear hug, “AAAAAAHHHH! PUT ME DOWN, YOU BEHEMOTH!”
After a couple more revolutions, she set him back on his feet, “I’m sorry R.J. It’s just so good to see you!” She turned her sun-beam smile onto Hancock and offered him her hand. “John Hancock, you old raisin! How are you?!”
Shaking her hand firmly he smiled, “Still sweet and wrinkly! You’re impressive as always, Morningstar. Speaking of impressive, may I have the pleasure of introducing Wraith, General of the Minutemen?”
Wraith lifted her chin and secured her face into her best I-need-to-win-over-this-jury smile, “I’m honored to meet you, Morningstar.”
“The honor is mine. And please, call me Nyx.”
“Only if you will call me Wraith.” Wraith turned her attention to the silent, tall sentinel standing slightly behind Nyx, “And you must be Charon. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.” The entire hill top seemed to freeze as Wraith extended her hand to the mountainous ghoul.
To everyone’s shock he took her hand and offered her the tiniest of quarter grins, “The pleasure is mine.” Charon then turned slightly to Nyx with a slightly larger, tiny grin and a wink.
When Nyx saw Dogmeat her eyes widened and she took a knee, “Hello old man.”
The German shepherd sat and placed his paws on her leg. The two stayed in silent communion for several seconds before woman and dog rose to their feet.
Turning back to Wraith, Nyx was all business, “We should move soon. It would only be natural for my group to assist yours breaking camp. Lots of moving bodies can be confusing to those who may be watching.”
It suddenly occurred to Wraith that six of Nyx’s group very closely resembled Deacon and his five synth refugees. Nodding, she joined the throng of people and brahmin. Then, completely imperceptible to an outside observer, the two groups swapped costumes, as if by magic.
As the large caravan headed south, Nyx and Wraith walked together. Wraith’s mind was a whirl of questions but afraid that she’d be a pest, wasn’t sure where to start.
“Danse isn’t with you.”
Wraith jumped slightly, startled by the broken silence “No. I did ask him if he would like to come but I think he feels this chapter of his life is closed. Did you know him?”
“I know everyone.” Nyx’s smile somehow softened the egotistical declaration, “Not well, but I did meet him before Maxson whisked him away. I have a letter for him from former scribe Haylen.”
“Ah. She did end up quitting then.” Wraith somehow felt even more awkward, “You might find this a strange question but, is she… okay?”
“Wraith, to be clear; I am connected to the BOS but I myself am not an active member. I have an understanding with the elder. To be blunt, they owe me. A lot. As such, they understand that certain towns, settlements and people, are under my protection. Places like Underworld. People like the ghouls living in and around the Capital Wasteland. People like my super mutant friend, Fawkes. People like Haylen.”
The large women had unconsciously picked up her pace and Wraith had to practically jog to keep up with her, “Did they threaten her?!”
“Not at all. That whole… debacle, was a huge embarrassment and setback for the Brotherhood. You remain public enemy number one but Haylen will be fine. I have her doing medical research for me and she seems to be happy.”
“Speaking of medical research, I have a gift for you.” Wraith, eager to change the subject, passed her a derma-fuse, “It’s Institute tech designed to close lacerations.”
Nyx’s eyes took on a greedy gleam as she accepted the device, “Fascinating! How does it work?”
“I don’t actually know how it works but what it does is localized cellular regeneration. Dermis only, hence the name. I actually brought you two; one to use…”
“And one to ruin, trying to figure out how to make more?” The two women shared a laugh.
“Well, glad to see you are getting along.” Returning to the group after scouting ahead, MacCready flashed them a roguish grin.
“What of it, R.J? Why wouldn’t we? I happen to be a super-fun person!”
He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, right. What were you two talking about?”
“About how you’re a huge dork.”
“Oh, I’m huge alright. In all the right places!”
“Does that explain your enormous head?”
“Big brain.”
“I think you mean big ego.”
Despite the harsh volley of words, MacCready seemed to be enjoying himself, “Well, you would be the expert on gigantism and egos.”
Wraith, feeling out of place, dropped back to her more normal walking pace. Suddenly finding herself side by side with Charon, her feeling of awkwardness intensified to new heights.
“So, I assume this is normal? For them, I mean.”
“Yes.”
“Not to say it isn’t funny.”
“Sure.”
“Well. I um… guess I’ll go check on… brahmin stuff.”
Wraith’s passage through the Capital Wasteland left her feeling nostalgic and sad. The ruins of The Mall were particularly emotional. Her nerves frayed by the journey and the imminent face-to-face with Duncan, she held Hancock’s arm as they walked.
“You’re gonna be fine, sunshine.” The ghoul kissed the back of her hand, “We’ll be back, all together in Sanctuary before you know it. One big, happy family; lots of weird aunts and uncles for the kids.”
MacCready sought them out just before passing through Underworld’s doors. “Whew! Here we go.”
The caravan members distributed themselves between The Chop Shop and Underworld Outfitters as MacCready, Hancock, Dogmeat and Wraith climbed the stairs to Carol’s. Just beyond the door, flanked by his ghoulette aunts stood Duncan.
“Daddy!” Giggling, the small boy threw himself into his father’s open arms. “Daddy I’m a big boy! I poop in the potty and can come with you now! Auty Carol says so! Daddy… are you ‘kay? Daddy?”
MacCready had tried his best to hold back his tears, afraid that his crying might confuse or scare his son. Caught somewhere between sobbing and laughing he was making strange noises in his throat, almost as if he was being strangled.
“It’s ‘kay, daddy. Crying is ‘kay too.” Duncan had pulled back slightly and was now patting his father’s tear streaked cheek, “Daddy, does your tummy hurt?”
“He’s just very happy to see you, honey.” Tears ran down Carol’s face as well, “I’m Carol, you must be Wraith and Hancock. This is my wife Greta. Welcome to Underworld.” The ghoulette did a double-take, “Is that… that can’t possibly… Dogmeat?!”
“Look, Daddy! There’s a doggy! It’s a good puppy?”
“He’s… yeah buddy. He’s the best puppy.”
Deacon sat at a barstool waiting for Tulip. After their tearful reunion, MacCready and company had settled down for the night and he had separated himself to wait for his contact to close her store.
“Do you have a Geiger counter?”
“Mine’s in the shop.”
“Harley, everything is all set. The packages will be distributed by Morningstar’s courier service starting tomorrow.”
“Well, all things considered that went remarkably smooth. Kinda waiting on the other shoe…”
“It’s funny you should say that. I need your help.” Tulip lowered her voice and set her hand suggestively on Deacon’s thy. “Follow me back to the shop.”
Maintaining character, Deacon slung his arm around the ghoulette’s shoulders and leaned into her as if too drunk to walk straight, “Ohboy, I thought you’d never ashk me!”
Morningstar’s imposing presence seemed to fill the store and she leaned toward Deacon with a predatory look that reminded him of a hunting lioness, “The L&L gang is here! They’ve killed Watts.”
“Victoria…” Deacon’s mind whirled, “Who’s running the show?”
“I want you to.”
It made perfect sense. He hated it. His mind reeled back from it, “Why can’t you…”
“Don’t do that. You know why!” Nyx folded her powerful arms, “I’m way too high profile. It wouldn’t have to be permanent. We need you to whip us in to shape like you did for the Commonwealth branch. Tulip has her hands full and,” She cast an apologetic glance to the ghoulette, “she has no leadership experience. It’s you. Take a protégé if you want. Train them… but it’s you.”
“You… you got me over a barrel.”
“I promised General Wraith that I would make sure Duncan MacCready makes it safely back to Sanctuary. I will not go back on my word. I will go… you will stay.” Her eyes softened at the pain in Deacon’s pale blue eyes, “I know you and Watts went way back. I’m sorry to throw this at you now but it just happened a couple of days ago.”
“Hancock’s network had been closing in. We knew they left but we had been misdirected north. Goddamn it…”
“You’ll do a lot of good for us here. I will make sure you’re provided all necessary resources.”
“Of that I have no doubt.” Squaring his shoulders, Deacon turned to leave, “No time like the present. I’ll be off to…”
“Headquarters are still at the late, great Manya Vargas’s. Let me know when you change location… cause I know you will.”
“You’re not going to say goodbye.” All three flinched as Wraith stepped out of the shadows.
Nyx turned and took a menacing step, hands raised and ready to attack, “Bad move, General…”
“Wait! Wraith is Railroad! Or… she was…” Deacon placed himself between them, “Whisper! Wraith was Whisper!”
Nyx calmed immediately. Looking back and forth between them, she seemed to have an epiphany, “Let’s go back to the bar for a bit, Tulip.”
“Fine. If you two fight, don’t go wreaking up my shop!”
The silence was heavy, like the pressure before a thunderstorm.
Don’t… Wraith, don’t…
“Am I a child to you? Do you honestly believe you can protect me from… why wouldn’t you have told me? Hell, lie to me about the reason but fucking tell me that you’re leaving!” Wraith still had her fists clenched.
“You’re giving me permission to lie?”
Don’t… I can’t…
“I...” She seemed to deflate before his eyes, “I guess you’ve always come and go as you please.”
“You told me to leave. You told me once…”
“That was a mistake! I fucked up. Had I known better what I was doing…”
“No! You were right! You did everything and more for the Railroad… for me. You were done. Turning your focus to the Minutemen was the best decision you could have made. Just look at everything you’ve accomplished!”
Wraith shook her head, “Look at all the lives I’ve ended…”
“STOP FUCKING DOING THAT!” Deacon’s eyes flashed fire and he took an unconscious step toward her, “STOP! Don’t belittle yourself. You are the single greatest thing that’s happened to the Commonwealth… and to me.”
“You… you have no intention of coming back. Do you?” Tears streamed down her face.
“You don’t need me, Wraith. You have to let me go.”
“You’re like my brother! We… you’re my family.”
“The time has come for us to part ways.”
She lifted her arms as if to embrace him but he backed away.
Don’t hug me Wraith. I’ll… I’ll shatter. I’ll break if you hold me.
“You… you’re my friend. I love you, Deacon.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“You don’t know me, Philippa. My name is not Deacon.” His face empty of emotion, the nameless man turned his back, opened the door and walked away.
Lie. Lie. Lie.
Thank you so much for reading! Like what you read? Looking for more? Please search my Wraith in the Ruins tag in my bio. There is a link-tree master post with all of the chapters. Questions/comments/concerns, my ask is open (anon too). I appreciate any feedback. =^..^=
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WHAT DO YOU THINK ROMANCED COMPANIONS WOULD BE LIKE WAKING UP ON CHRISTMAS MORNING AND WHAT GIFT WOULD THEY BRING SOLE IM YELLING BECAUSE IM THINKING OF ALL THE CUTE FLUFF STUFF
Okay sooo, this wasn’t written by me but by my good friend @fantomofthehiddles, who did a super good job at this masterpiece. It’s under keep reading because it is long and amazing :P
[[Damn, Iturned this into an f!Sole before I realised what I was doing. So sorry, I’lldo better next time, I pwomise! ;__;]]
[[Also,sorry this turned to be as long as an average Ghoul lifespan…]]
Sole awoke one morning to find the worldcovered in snow. At first, she felt surreal, like in the old world, like justin a second she would hear Shaun shifting in his crib, crying for his mommy.But it wasn’t Nate who was still asleep next to her, and it wasn’t 2077anymore. It was just the thick layer of snow and halos of icicles hideverything that, up till now, did a very good job of reminding her the worldhad changed: ruined houses, dead trees with broken branches, ubiquitous debris,and even the yelloweed grass. She reached for her Pip-Boy, as she did everymorning, accidentally turning the knob to “Data”, and if it wasn’t for that,she wouldn’t even realize it was 25th of December already. And thenit hit her: this would be her first Christmas without Nate, without Shaun…without her family.
Cait
“Hey,darlin’, you okay?” Cait sat up next to her, wrapping the bedding around hernaked body to protect herself from the crispy tang in the air. Sole put her armaround her and nodded mindlessly, though the words “yeah, I’m fine” somehowdidn’t want to leave her throat. Cait’s eyes wandered to the Pip-Boy. “Oh, it’sChristmas, ain’t it?”
Solelaughed softly, though didn’t really feel it. “You forgot? Really?” She didn’tmention she would have almost forgotten it herself.
“Hey, whenyou haven’t any real holidays yer entire life, they just slip by.” She soundedalmost angry, but then she looked to the side, maybe even blushed a little, andsaid, “Well, I ain’t gonna spend it complainin’. I’m glad I have me darlin’ toshare it with.” And with a kiss on Sole’s cheek, she jumped out of bed andopened the trunk she kept her things in. “Here. I made this for ya. I know itain’t much, but… I’m not as good with me hands as you are.”
Sole turnedthe bladed knuckles in her hands. They were chrome-finished, polished to ashine, and the blades were so visibly sharp Sole didn’t feel the need to check.On the bottom, on the surface that would rest against her palm, Cait had engraved:“Give ‘em a taste, love” in surprisingly elegant letters. Sole started tosuspect she had had Sturges help her with these.
“Not much?”she teased. “I love them. Come here.” She pulled Cait back to the bed and gaveher a kiss, which soon turned into a much hungrier and sexier make-out session, until they finally pulled away, albeitwith some effort. “Now, what do you say we go for a walk to the Combat Zone andmake Tommy spend Christmas with us? And we could have MacCready come with us.”
Cait lookedat her in such surprise, she didn’t even notice her eyes teared up a little.“Nothing would make me happier, luv.” And after another second of staring atSole’s face in wonder, she smiled with clear, unbridled joy, a smile Sole sorarely got to see on Cait’s face, and said, “It’s nice, y’know, having afamily.”
Curie
“I havenever seen snow before, did you know?” Curie said, standing at the window,staring at the white roofs of Diamond City’s buildings. Sole walked over to herto embrace her from behind. She put her chin on Curie’s shoulder, looking out atthe view, and suddenly all the hard work she’d put into installing the windowwas worth it. The fluff was still falling, slowly, gently drifting to theground, clinging to the Christmas lights drawn across the square, and thechildren played below, having a snowball battle without care for any collateraldamage to walls and passers-by.
Sole dug her face in Curie’s neck, stifling acry as she realized she would never get to see Shaun, real Shaun, playing like that. She did adopt the synth Shaun,mostly for Curie’s sake; Curie, upon learning about the feud between theRailroad and the Institute, and how everyone else played into it, had been veryconcerned about how their relationship could be viewed by others. How Solecould be ostracized or even persecuted for loving her. How maybe she didn’treally like being with a synth. So Sole adopted the kid to calm her doubts,show her she really cared; but there was still a nagging voice in the back of hermind making her constantly aware that the ten-year-old boy, now running aroundTakahashi’s noodle stand in order to get a better angle at the ‘enemy team,’wasn’t her real son. Even though he acted like one and loved her like one. Hewasn’t her own.
But peopledidn’t know that, except for select few, like Curie, of course, or Nick who hadhelped her find Shaun in the first place, or X6. Everyone else though shereally did find her son at the Institute. Well, they weren’t really wrong.
“As much asI love this, ma belle,” Curie said,pulling Sole out from the dark corners of her mind, “we must get going. He havea lot to do today! You promised me carolling, remember?”
“I do,”Sole replied reluctantly. Oh, Piper was going to have a field day with them.
“Butfirst,” Curie continued, obviously ignoring her tone, “I have made a veryspecial gift for you, mon amour!” Shescuttled through the room, leaving Sole completely dumbfounded. They’d beenspending every waking moment together for weeks now. When did Curie manage toget her a gift without her noticing? And a hand-crafted one, at that? “Here,unwrap it! I read that unwrapping presents used to be an important traditionbefore the War. But I’m afraid I had to use pages from a children’s book. It iscolorful, yes?”
It wascolorful, and pretty. So much that Sole tried her best not to damage thepackaging too much, but Curie didn’t seem to mind. What emerged looked somewhatlike a leather collar, black, and quite elegant. There was a round piece ofplatinum at the front which seemed to have a purpose beyond just being adecoration.
“It doessomething, doesn’t it?” Sole asked, throwing Curie a mistrustful glance.
“Yes, see,if you put it on and press this button, it releases a mild chemical which willstop pain conduction from the neck down. It should make it more comfortable foryou to tend to your injuries in the field, when I am not there to help.Professor Scara helped me with the technology. She said it is called ‘achoker’, even though I don’t see why. Still, very useful, no? And I think youwill look very mignonne in it.”
“Oh, Curie,”Sole said, almost crying for some reason. “You’re the most amazing woman I’veever met. Thank you.”
“I knew you would like it!” Content, sheopened the window to shout: “Shaun, monpetit cœur! It is time to come home!” And as she turned back to Sole, “This shouldbe an interesting experiment. We should start with the Science Center, no? Myco-workers should be thrilled to have us.”
Sole turnedthe choker in her hands, feeling the texture of the soft leather, before sheput it on the side table. There would be time to test it later. Now, she wasabout to spend Christmas with her family.
Danse
“What was that about?” Sole heard Hancock’s voiceoutside the window.“Hell if I know,” Nick replied, they voices getting quieter as they walkedaway. Sole looked out the window to find Danse standing on the porch.
“Whathappened?” she asked.
“I smiled,”he replied, causing her to choke with stifled laughter. “And I told them ‘MerryChristmas’. I don’t think they liked it.”
“They wereprobably just surprised,” she said before walking out to the porch with him andpromptly shivering in the cold. Note to self: winter is not the time of year towalk out of the house in nothing but a nightgown. “Oh, shit, it’s cold.”
Danselooked her up and down. “That is indeed the case when you stand barefoot in thesnow.” Had he said it, he picked up against her protests that everyone wasgoing to see—
“It’s justfor a second,” he cut her off, dashing to the building across the street. AndSole, holding on to his strong, broad shoulders, suddenly didn’t mind. He sether down near the fire. “I actually have something for you that might be theanswer to your problem.” And from a locker, he pulled out… Maxson’s battlecoat?
“Wh… Pleasetell me you didn’t go back to the Prydwen to kill Elder Maxson for this,” shestuttered out, but as Danse began shaking his head with amusement, she noticedthere wasn’t any blood on it, and in fact, there weren’t any sign of wear atall.
“If I did,I wouldn’t be standing here right now,” he replied. “It’s just…” Shock onSole’s face deepened. She had never heard him not finish a sentence before.“You used to joke about how much you liked Maxson’s coat, so I thought I shouldmake one for you. Like I said once: if you want something, say it, and I’llmake it happen.” And he wrapped the coat around her bare shoulders, and shemarveled at how warm it was, how well it fit her, how even the lining was justright, and how…
“You madethis? On your own?” She still couldn’t believe it, even holding the damn thing inher hands.
“Well, theyalways encouraged us to work on our uniforms, and turns out, leather isn’t muchdifferent. I hope you like it.”
“Oh, Danse,I love it!” She jumped into his arms again just to give him a deep kiss. Andfeel his biceps, because why not. Danse in turn embraced her waist and huggedher close to steady her. She could feel his firm chest on hers even through hisclothes. As always, it made her remember Nate, just like every time Danse puton his power armor, she remembered Nate in his, and, just as always, shecouldn’t help thinking about how lucky she was. This is where she’d alwaysbelonged: in a soldier’s arms. “Thank you so much, hun’.”
Dansestumbled back into the wall as he put his forehead against hers, closed hiseyes, and momentarily lost his balance a bit; but Sole wasn’t worried. Even ifthey had fallen, Danse would make sure she landed safe on him. Nevertheless,there was something desperate in how he longed for her touch.
“Honey?What’s going on?” she asked gently, her hands against his face. He squeezed herwaist harder, to the point it almost hurt, but then he set her down again.
“I want totell you how important this is for me,” he said softly, looking straight intoher eyes. His fingers played with a strand of her hair, almost as if on theirown. “The last real Christmas I had was… all the way back in Rivet City, withCutler. Later, when we joined the Brotherhood… There always seemed to be moreimportant things to do. Holidays just seemed… silly. We’d give each other smallgifts for a few years, the even that stopped, and then he…” And now, for thefirst time since always, she heard his voice break. She rubbed his face withher hand, trying to give him some sort of comfort. He took a breath, thencontinued, “I just want you to know, this means a lot. Those memories withCutler are some of the most precious ones I have, and I feel blessed to be ableto add to them with you. You make me feel the same way he did: like I have afamily again.”
Hancock
Sole turnedand looked at Hancock, still sleeping soundly, his scarred lips slightly partedin steady breaths. His eyes were moving as he mumbled something in the linesof, “what the fucking fuck happened to this mutfruit?” Sole should havelaughed, but somehow, it only made her feel worse. She didn’t want to wake himfrom this obviously thrilling dream, but… She snuggled up to him, put her headon his bare chest, the warm ridges and crests scraping against her cheek. Ifshe felt chilly before, that was now completely replaced with the heatemanating from Hancock. She clinged to him with her entire body, blamingherself as he stirred awake.
“Hey,sunshine, what’s going on?” He threw his arm around her, squeezing her waistreassuringly.
“I’m sorryI woke you. I didn’t—”
“Come on,getting to spend more time with you? Nothing I’d like more In the world.” Hekissed her forehead and she nuzzled her face into his neck, breathing in hisscent. “So what’s up? Why are you like this? Come on, it’s Christmas.”
“I know…”
“Oh… Ohh.”He pulled her up onto himself until she was on top of him. He cupped her facein his hands, placed another gentle kiss on her lips. “I love you, Sole. I knowit’s not enough to fill the hole your family left in you, b— No, shit, don’tcry.”
Solecouldn’t help it. She clung to him again, bawling all over his shoulder,suddenly so overwhelmed by every bad and good thing she felt, she couldn’t holdit in anymore. She’d been gathering it up for the last three months, nevertalking much about it, never letting it out, because in this world, everyone’slives sucked, and most of them much worse than hers. She had it good, comparedto some. And she really did believe she’d left her old life behind, since thisone was, surprisingly, so much simpler. But apparently not.
Hancock heldher close, rocking them a little as he brushed her hair and gave it a fewkisses. She still couldn’t believe how well he understood, even though she knewit was killing him inside to see her still pining for the husband she had lost.For a dead man. Unless she found a way to truly put Nate out of her mind,Hancock would always feel like he does now: like he comes second to her. Andyet, he remained at her side, loving her unconditionally. Saying how he didn’tdeserve her, when truly, it was her who didn’t deserve him.
“I loveyou, too,” she said finally, having regained control over her shaky breathing.“And I’m so, so sorry.”
“Now, don’ttalk crap like that.” Hancock brushed her hair aside as she raised her tear-stainedface to look him in the eye. “You had a rough year. Rough two hundred years.You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.”
Shesnuggled up to him again, suddenly unable to speak again. Hancock gave her amoment which he seemed to enjoy just as much as she did, and then said: “Okay,that’s enough of being two emotional wrecks, we need to get going,” as helazily slapped her ass.
Sole satup, too surprised to throw him a black look. “What? Why?”
“We’rehaving a Christmas party at the Third Rail. Didn’t I tell you?” She shook herhead. “I could swear I told you. I did tell you to bring a dress, didn’t I? Well,anyway, it won’t be much of a party without everyone’s favorite mayor making anappearance, so why don’t you just…” And then he bluntly rolled her off of him.Sole, with a pained sigh, kept rolling until she almost fell off the bed andscrambled to her feet.
“Oomph…fuck.” She leaned against the wall, feeling her head explode, but like, in thedistance.
“Youalright?”
“Just a bitdizzy. And a headache.”
Hancockcame over to kiss her temple, but snorted along the way: “You’re spending waytoo much time with me.” But then a thought occurred to him and he frowned. “Ormaybe you’re sick?”
“Bullshit.I’m just tired.” As soon as she could move normally again, she began dressing,much to Hancock’s theatrical anguish. “It’s not like last night brought me muchsleep, exactly…”
“Yeah,sure, make it all my fault,” he teased as he pulled on his coat and fastenedthe belt across his chest. “You little vixen, you.”
Solechuckled. It absolutely was not his fault. He had just about fallen asleep whenshe’d decided to jump his bones. Oh, the poor bed.
Afterseveral minutes of him constantly interrrupting her as she tried to getdressed, they finally went down to the Third Rail, where the entire populace ofGoodneighbor was already gathered. As soon as Hancock walked in, everyonewelcomed him with an earth-shattering ‘huzzah!’ raising their glasses, which,as Sole suspected, were full thanks to his generosity. Oh, how easy it was tomake these people happy. Hancock waited for the commotion to die down—someonehanded him a glass of wine in the meantime and Hancock now thumped hisfingernails against it.
“I’d liketo make an announcement,” he said. “One a bit more elaborate than my usual ‘ofthe people, for the people’.” Everyone cheered anyway. “Okay, okay. Come on,folks. I just wanna say that Goodneighbor may have started as a place, but nowit’s about you. The people. Without you, there would be no Goodneighbor. And itmakes me more happy than I can say to be able to call myself your mayor andcall you my family.” Cheers and ‘aww’s broke out again.
“We loveyou, too, Hancock!” a man shouted.
“Now, now,don’t get too familiar, Joe, you’re not my type.” Hancock winked and Sole couldswear at least half the crowd pretended to faint while the rest laughedheartily. “Not to mention, and here we’re coming up on the second part of myannouncement that most of you probably know, I’m already spoken for.” Sayingthat, he pulled Sole in closer. The crowd cheered on, albeit less loudly, andsome of them murmured in an unsurprised agreement. Sole’s eyes met MacCready’s,who was sitting at the bar, and he smiled and put his glass up to her.
“Now I’dlike you all to come see the gift I got this one. Y’know, in hopes she’ll makegood use of it and come visit us a little more often.” People laughed again,and then most of them followed as Hancock led Sole out with his hand on herwaist.
“What thehell did you do, Hancock?” she murmured, blushing. For someone who got involvedin so much, she didn’t necessarily like being the center of attention.
“You’llsee, sunshine,” he replied in that low voice of his. Son of a bitch. Theywalked out into the cold, crispy air, smelling of smoke and winter. Snowcrunched beneath their feet as they took a left turn around the corner of theOld State House… and then she saw it. A beautiful silver vertibird, clearlyfreshly washed and polished, was sitting on the roof of Hotel Rexford. Anenormous red bow was somehow tied around the pilot’s cabin.
“What thefuck? John? What the actual fuck?” she stuttered, and he only stood there andgrinned proudly. “You can’t be serious! Whaa… How did you even…?”
“You knowhow Gunners will do anything for caps?… Yeah.”
“Do went tothe Gunners?!”
“More likecontacted them via a messenger, arranged a meet on neutral gr… Oh, stopfreaking out. They’re pretty reasonable when they hear the caps jingle, andthey do keep their gear in good condition.” Sole was still shaking her head athim with her eyes widened in honest shock, so he continued, “What was Isupposed to do? Go to the Brotherhood?”
“How aboutget me a smaller, more… manageable gift?”
“Stopwhining.” He kissed her to shut her up. Some of the more intoxicated partyerscheered them on as they rode the line between propriety and shamelessly makingout in public. Hancock pulled back a little, but still stayed close, and whenhe had her so close, his rough hands on both sides of her head, suddenly therewas no one else in the entire world. “It’s your fault, you know. Should neverhave said you’d like one of your own. You should’ve known I’d strive to make ithappen.” Sole let out an incoherent babble, hiding her red face in her hands.Hancock laughed and kissed her forehead. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go spendChristmas with family.”
BONUS:
As theydescended back into the Third Rail, this time led by a small group of drunkNeighborhood Watch guards, singing a bawdy song as they stumbled down thestairs, Hancock and Sole were suddenly approached by Magnolia.
“I wantedto say, I’m happy for you two,” she said before they could even greet her.“You…” She put her finger on Sole’s chest. “You are one hell of a woman. Iwould know.” She winked and laughed with that perfectly calculated chuckle.“Take care of him, dear. And you, Hancock—don’t fuck it up.”
“Oh,Magnolia. I would never.” Again, with unbridled joy, he kissed Sole’s templewith such exhilaration, she couldn’t help but laugh. But she also couldn’t tearher eyes off of Magnolia’s fiery gaze. There seemed to be something else.
“But,still, in memory of old times…” She threw Sole a meaninful look, making herblush again, as she reached underneath her dress to take out a small package.“I’d like you to have this. I think it’ll suit you well.” And, saying that,Magnolia left a kiss on Sole’s cheek and went on to take her place at themicrophone and entertain the crowd as only she could. Sole opened the smallpacket to find a ruby-eyed ring with intricate engravings around the socket.Hell, it seemed to be older even than her. She stared at it in disbelief untilHancock gently took it from her.
“Well, I’llbe damned.” He said only before slipping it on her finger and then placing analmost theatrical kiss on her hand. “Now, milady… Shall we dance?”
Solelaughed and let him lead her down to the main room of the Third Rail. No onepaid much attention to them anymore, busy with their own friends andactivities. Only Whitechapel Charlie dipped his hat to them as they went past.They found a fairly quiet corner in MacCready’s VIP room, and as they dancedslowly to Magnolia’s voice seeping under the door, singing her specialinterpretations of the Christmas carols, Hancock embraced her close and kissedher neck gently, sending warm shivers down her spine. Until he suddenly jerkedhis head up.
“Wait. Whatdid Magnolia mean by ‘old times’?” he asked, watching her carefully. Soleblushed at the memory of Magnolia’s scent and deft fingers.
“Nothingmuch, love,” she said immediately, but Hancock’s grin made it clear he figuredit out anyway. She laughed at the face he made. Hancock kissed her deeply, andthen instead of dancing, she was in his arms again as he put his hand on theback of her head and refused to let go. And when they pulled back, they wereboth panting hard, and she could see his thoughts written clearly on his partedlips and lustful gaze.
“Goddammit,John,” she said immediately. “We are notdoing this in MacCready’s room with everyone on the other side of the door.”
“Mm, you’reright…” he mumbled, but still didn’t let her go. “But why not?”
MacCready
She allowedherself several minutes to shed a few tears over the life she used to have, butthen a pitter-patter of small feet sounded in the short hallway, and she hadjust barely enough time to wipe her face in the bedding before Duncan ran intothe bedroom.
“IT’SCHRISTMAS!” he shrieked in a tone that nearly burst her eardrums, jumping ontothe bed. “And there’s snow! Have you seen?”
“Yes,” shechuckled, as if immediately healed by his child-like excitement. “You wannahelp me make the food?”
“I would…”He sat up and wrinkled his nose with an undecisive pout. “But I’d also like togo outside… I mean, there’s so much SNOW!”
“Right, youusually wouldn’t see this much, would you? Okay, then, why don’t you getdressed warm and run down to Miss Alice and get some razorgrain and fruit?Actually, take whatever she’ll give you, your dad will probably figure out ause for it.”
She waitedfor Duncan to say, “Oh, okay, I guess” and leave to get dressed before sheburst out laughing at her own unintended sexual innuendo. Fuck, four days isapparently way too long.
Just anhour and half later, they were both in the kitchen, preparing dough for thecake she had promised Duncan probably a couple of weeks ago. Brahmin wasalready marinating, carrots and silt beans cooking; she even prepped the cornwhen she got bored as the dough was rising. Now she was trying her best to makesomething resembling chocolate icing with the odd-tasting brahmin milk, sweetrolls, sugar bombs, and a pinch of coffee. It wasn’t going so well.
“Duncan!Can you please not?” Sole shouted, gently pushing the boy’s hand away from thedough. “Come on, would you rather eat raw dough or a chocolate cake?”
Duncan wasthinking for the longest time before he finally said, reluctantly, “Cake…”,even though he was still eyeing the dough longingly. Sole sighed. “When isDaddy going to be back?” he asked then, and the way he said ‘Daddy’, like hestill couldn’t believe the word even as it left his mouth, tore Sole’s heartout of her chest. Well, shit. She didn’t need it anyway.
“Soon, Ihope,” she said as normally as she could, but she couldn’t help to glance atthe time. RJ had left their house at Sunshine Tidings a few days ago to go finda gift for Duncan. He’d said he would come back in time for Christmas dinner,hell, that he’d even help her make it, but it was already past noon and hestill hadn’t come home. Fuck knows where he went in the first place. He mightbe dead in a ditch somewhere, chewed on by molerats, or… worse—torn to shredsby ferals. She found herself wondering what she’d do if she had to tell Duncanthat, and then take care of him alone. Would she even be able to?
Don’t thinkabout it, she told herself. It would be okay. She sent Strong to go with RJ,and these two were pretty much unkillable together. RJ probably miscalculatedthe time it would take them to get to Goodneighbor and back with Strong slowinghim down a little.
“Why don’tyou go play with Dogmeat outside?” she asked Duncan, seeing the internal battleover the dough play out clearly on his face. “Just dress warmly and becareful.”
“Okay,” hebeamed up at the idea, got ready in the matter of seconds, and shouted “Comeon, Doggy!” as he rushed out the door. Dogmeat slid off of his couch, stretchedcarefully, and followed him out, his muzzle drooping like he wanted to say,“gosh, I’m getting too old for this,” even though he was barely four.
But soonSole could see the dog rolling in the snow so zealously he rolled off a hilland stopped only at the water pump, hitting it with a yelp. Duncan ran to checkup on him, but Dogmeat got up without trouble and immediately knocked the kidoff his feet and into another heap of snow. Sole chuckled to herself before shewent back to her fight with the icing.
It wasn’tlong before Duncan rushed back inside, red-cheeked and shivering, but stillwith a huge grin on his face. Dogmeat soon followed, covered in snow so snuglyone couldn’t even tell he was a German Shepherd anymore. He stood in the middleof the living room and tensed up.
“Oh, no,no, NO!” Sole managed to shout out as she ran to kick him out to the porch, butshe was too late. Dogmeat shook it all off on the beautiful rug she’d restoredwith such effort. Goddammit. “If youthink you’re getting back on the couch, young dog, you are very mistaken,” shesaid strictly. “You stay here in the mess that you made.”
Dogmeatwhined with his uncanny understanding and indeed sat his tail down on the wetrug. That probably wasn’t the best course of action, Sole thought, but she couldn’tback out of it now. She put some wood in the fireplace before going back to thekitchen.
“And you,Duncan, go change and please hangthese wet clothes near the fire, but not inthe fire, okay?”
Duncannodded and ran off. She still wasn’t over how much energy that kid had. But,she supposed, it was normal for children. She’d just never had a chance towitness it before. Her eyes teared up again, and she told herself it was fromthe heat of the cooking.
Duncan sooncame back, got himself busy with some toys, but then eventually ended up on therug with Dogmeat anyway. Sole watched them amused as Dogmeat rolled onto hisback to get some belly rubs, and Duncan, scratching him with one hand, drovethe toy car on his chest with the other. And when the toy inevitably fell offthe steep slope of a dog’s ribcage, Duncan reached over him for it and Dogmeatshamelessly licked him in the face. Duncan, caught by surprise, jumped backwith a surprised shriek before he laughed. Sole smiled. There was probably nothingmore joyful than a small child’s laugh.
“Aww, Ithink he likes you,” she said and Duncan giggled even more. Dogmeat pushed hishead under Duncan’s hand and the two were promptly playing together again.
Only a fewminutes had passed before the door opened again with another wave of cold airblowing into the house. Sole turned away from the stove just as Duncan yelled:“Hi, Daddy!” and ran to get a hug.
“Hi,buddy,” RJ said, putting his arm around him, and then promptly giving Sole anapologetic look. “I’m sorry it took so long, we—”
“Oh, shutup,” Sole cut him off and ran over, rising up to her toes to finally kiss him.His lips and cheeks were awfully cold, but she didn’t care. “It doesn’tmatter,” she said as she pulled away, sliding her hands down his chest. “Aslong as you’re okay, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, I’mfine. The snow surprised us a little. Some places, it was up to my waist and wehad to improvise. Have you ever had Strong give you a piggyback ride?”
“Wha—”
“Look,Daddy!” Duncan spoke up, having long gone back to playing with Dogmeat on therug. He was now climbing over Dogmeat’s back while the dog not only suffered itpatiently, but even seemed to enjoy it. And just as RJ moved to get him to stopin fears that he’d get hurt, Duncan continued delightedly: “And Mama said Doggylikes me!”
Thatstopped RJ dead in his tracks. Sole, too. Duncan had never called her thatbefore. RJ turned to her slowly with an odd expression. She didn’t know what tomake of it. Was he angry? Did he think she made Duncan say it? She shivered. Orwas he just in shock that after barely a month, his little boy was already…? Hewent over to the kitchen table, stiffly, sat down… and just started crying.Sole froze. Duncan didn’t notice there was anything wrong, thankfully, so whenshe could move again, Sole grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to thebedroom, saying, “Let’s go get you changed out of those, you’re freezing.”
It wasn’tthat she wasn’t shaken, especially with how Duncan just threw it in there, intoa normal sentence, like it was the most regular thing in the world. And thetruth was, he had never called her anything before, really. Somehow, thatfive-year-old kid managed to navigate every conversation in a way that allowedhim to avoid calling her anything else than ‘you’. So this did feel like a.50-caliber bullet to the chest.
But RJ wasin such state that all of that now faded away. He slumped to the edge of thebed like he got deflated, and immediately hid his face in his hands. Solekneeled on the floor next to him and could see tears glistening between his fingers. She rubbed his knee, but couldn’tfind any words to say. Only after a long while filled only with RJ’s stifledsobs and the quiet sounds of Duncan’s play coming from the other room did Solemanage to let out a sad sigh and whisper, “RJ…”
“I’m sosorry…!” he whimpered, barely keeping his voice down as he collapsed entirelyso that Sole had to embrace him and prop him up on her shoulder, or he would’vefallen off the bed.
“No, no…”she said, but he didn’t seem to be listening anymore. He just went on.
“Oh, God… Ijust never expected him to…” He held on to her for dear life, and thedesperation and pain behind his cries made her tear up, too. There was somethingsqueezing her throat already. “It’s been years… Years… And I stopped believingI’d ever hear him use that word again… And the first time I do, I think, ‘no,it’s not her’. Oh, God, Sole, I’m so sorry…”
“Don’t be,RJ,” she could barely hold her own tears back. Something about the way he criedresonated deep within her and she couldn’t help herself. “I’m not trying tofill Lucy’s shoes. I don’t expect you to forget about her, I know you stilllove her.”
RJ wassilent for a longer while, clearly trying to regain his composure, before hefinally pulled away and looked her in the eye. He seemed calm, but his eyesbetrayed the freshly opened wounds he suffered from. “I do. But I love you,too. And I didn’t like feeling like that—angry, at my little boy. It wasn’t hisfault. He probably doesn’t remember Lucy at all…” His voice broke again, andSole had to blink away her tears. “It’s not his fault. It just… hurt, you know?Like she was being erased and… I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry, Sole.”
“You don’thave to apologize, babe. I get it.”
Hesniffled. “…I know. You always do, don’t you?” He kissed her forehead, his handon the back of her neck as he pressed his lips against her skin. He then puthis cheeks to hers and stayed like that for a while. “I still remember it, likeit was just last week. Lucy was playing with him, holding him on his lap, andwe talked about something… the crops, I think? And suddenly, that little boyraised a toy in his hand and just said, ‘Mama!’… It was the first word he eversaid.”
Sole feltwhat was left of her tormented heart drop to the bottom of her stomach. “I’msorry,” she said. RJ looked at her in surprise, so she explained, “I feel likeI took that away from you.”
“No.” Hisvoice was suddenly adamant, as if seeing her crying, in pain, made him switchinto protector mode again. “No, you gave my son a home. If he’s able to acceptyou as his mother…”—even as he said that, his voice trembled, “I should behappy. It’s not your fault, and definitely not his, that I can’t handle moving on.”
“You’redoing just fine,” she reassured him with a smile. “As long as we love eachother, we’ll figure everything else out.” He nodded, but she could clearly seeshe made him emotional again. She wiped her face, completely covered in tearsshe didn’t even feel. “Wow,” she mumbled, “we are a pair of tragic messes.” RJlaughed softly, but only held on to her hand as she stood up. “Come on,sweetie. You promised to cook.”
And thatfinally tore a real, honest chuckle from his throat; Sole beamed up alongsidehim. They went back to the kitchen, hand in hand, but before she managed to puthim at the pots, RJ hurried to the duffel bag he had left near the door.
“Hey,Duncan,” he said, “do you wanna see your present?”
The boyjumped up from the rug, letting out something that only vaguely resembled avery loud ‘YES!’. He rushed to the table just as RJ was putting the duffel bagthere and asked, “Is that why you were gone for so long?”
“Yeah,buddy. Had to go get the best for you.” And with that, RJ reached into the bagand pulled out… a BB gun. Sole blinked in surprise. She didn’t expect him to dothat sort of thing, not after all those times when he said he didn’t wantDuncan to have the same life he did, full of violence and blood. But thenagain, was there really any other life to be made in the Commonwealth?
“I know, Iknow,” he said, seeing Sole’s surprised gaze. “But he needs to learn to protecthimself, and the earlier, the better, right? Besides, I mean, it’s just a BBgun, it’s not like he’s going to turn into me…”
Duncan,after doing a round around he house holding the small rifle like a commando,ran back and stood at the table, looking somewhat distraught. Sole took amoment to admire the worksmaship of the weapon. Even if it was just a glorified toy, the barrel was sleek black and the buttpolished to a shine, and there was something special in the way it was built.It must’ve been a unique. And she had no doubts RJ cleaned and oiled it atleast three times on his way back.
“Isanything wrong, love?” she asked noticing Duncan didn’t really know how tostart.
“No, Imean, I really like it, but…” He sucked his lips in, then pouted again. “I wanta scope, too.”
RJ glaredat him, like he wanted to say, ‘NO, YOU DON’T’, but before he could, Sole cautiouslyasked, “Why?”
“’Cause Iwanna be just like Daddy when he shoots.”
Solestifled a laugh, which was an especially difficult task, given RJ’s surprised,almost betrayed face in front of her. “Sure, Duncan,” she said. “We’ll figuresomething out tomorrow, how about that? And for now, just go and play with it,learn how it feels. Okay?” And as Duncan shuffled away, she looked back at RJ.“I think you may have miscalculated a bit, love.”
“Thatlittle…” He shook his head. “You do know it makes no sense, though.”
“Of course,but what harm could it be? I’ll make him a detachable short scope. Let him havefun with it, even if the gun’s range isn’t nearly enough.”
RJ sighedand only then stopped making faces in disbelief. He threw her another odd look,but this time it was one of the good kind. “I have something for you, too,actually,” he said, but before Sole could protest, he added, “it’s not much,don’t freak out. Just a memento, I suppose.” And then he took out a necklacefashioned out of an old silver chain and a rifle round, and placed it in herhand.
“What’sthis?” she asked, feeling like an idiot. RJ said it was a memento, so sheprobably should recognize it from somewhere, but she just couldn’t place it.But he didn’t seem to mind.
“It’s thefirst round I shot after taking up with you. We encountered some raiders on theway to Diamond City? You were taking cover in front of me, and just as I wastaking aim, you stood up with those brass balls of yours and just went at ‘em.Distracted me so much I completely missed. I picked it up afterwards—at first,I was supposed to use it again, but then it just sort of traveled with me andnever found a way into my rifle. So…”
“It’sperfect,” she said, “I love it. Can you…?”
Evenfastening the necklace on her, RJ couldn’t help but make excuses. “I know it’snot much, but…”
“Hey.” Sheturned around and put her arms around his neck again. “It doesn’t matter, love.You already gave me the best Christmas gift I could ever dream of: a family.”
Piper
Solepromptly put it out of her mind—there was a lot to do. She woke Piper with akiss, the kind that made her murmur and stretch, and then put her arms aroundSole’s shoulders and pull her in for continuance. Her house in Diamond Citywasn’t big, but with Sole only dropping by from time to time when she managedto steal away from her other duties, it was more than enough. And even thoughit was insanely early for both of them, they already heard Nat bustling arounddownstairs.
“Wow,” Solesaid. “She got excited for Christmas.”
“Nat?Never,” Piper replied, getting out bed and rushing down the stairs, still onlyin her shirt and shorts. Sole took a moment to appreciate her legs and the waythe oufit showed off certain parts of her, before finally getting dressedherself and following her.
“MerryChristmas!” Nat, wearing an apron, shouted at their sight way more joyfullythan Sole had ever heard her speak. She didn’t even put down the ladle when shehugged them both warmly, and then went back to cooking. Piper looked like she’dbeen hit by lightning.
“What isgoing on?” she whispered to Sole as they went back upstairs to get dressed.“Did the Institute take her.”
“Stop it,”Sole laughed. “It’s just the holiday cheer.”
“No,seriously, Blue… I’ve never seen her act like this.”
“Trust me,she’s just possessed by Christmas spirit.” Piper didn’t seem entirelyconvicted, but Sole couldn’t really offer her anything else. She still hadn’ttold her she’d decided to take over the Institute in order to make it betterfor the people of the Commonwealth. She had no idea how Piper would react. Soeven though she knew firsthand Nat was not swapped and that, in fact, no onewould get swapped for a synth ever again, she wasn’t going to tell her that onChristmas morning. “Look, if she still acts like this after the holidays, then you’ll have a reason to be worried.For now, just enjoy it. Come on, she’s cooking for us.”
“Yeah,that’s what worries me the most,” Piper mumbled. “But okay. I’ll put aside mymistrustful journalist nature aside… just for today.”
“Goodgirl,” Sole teased and kissed her again. “Now, come on, I wanna give you yourgift.”
“No!” Piperjumped in immediately. “Me first!” After which, she darted back downstairs withSole close at her heels.
“Really,you should probably see what I got f—” She didn’t finish as Piper pushed a boxup to her face like a little excited girl. It was flat, but quite big, with abig blue bow around it. “Okay…” Sole said as her brow raised, and Piperimmediately got all flustered and adorable.
“O-Okay,maybe I got a little bit too… But I just… Oh, just open it.”
So Sole didand inside she found a… a scrapbook? Well, it was definitely hand-made, withpages glued to the leather-bound cover with wonderglue, probably, and even thecover seemed to be taken from some other book. But it didn’t matter, becausewhen Sole opened it, she found pages and pages and pages of photos of her and Piper, and even some of the others,all from the time they spent traveling together. There was her conversationwith Nick, and here how she went to the mayor’s office, and on the next pagewere even photos of her breaking into Kellogg’s old house… But somehow, ‘thisreporter’ managed to keep herself from captioning every single one, insteadsettling for just a few sarcastic remarks here and there, like the one thatsaid “Justice served hot” at the photo of her going at some raiders with aflamer. Sole felt like she was about to burst out laughing, but instead shejust stood there in awe.
“You… Youwere taking photos the entire time?” she stuttered out, then raised her gaze tolook at Piper’s flustered face.
“Yeah, Imean… Didn’t you ever notice?”
“I… I don’tknow, I guess I didn’t. I mean, I saw you photographing everything else, justnot… me.” She went back to flipping through the pages. Here was their time atCovenant… There, their trip to Vault 81… And at the very end, on the last page,was only one photo—the one they’d made together at the beginning of theirrelationship, here in Diamond City, laying in Piper’s bed as Sole kissed hercheek and Piper couldn’t help but blush and laugh. And the caption said only, “HowI knew”. Sole felt tears pricking at her eyelids.
“Thank you,Red,” she managed to push through her tightened throat.
“You’rewelcome, Blue.” Piper looked like she was about to burst into tears herself,but held herself bravely as she pulled Sole in for a hug. They just couldn’tstay away from each other, could they?, Sole thought, burying her face inPiper’s hair.
“Hey, youtwo lovebirds, how about some help here?” Nat suddenly shouted from the otherside of the room. “Do I have to do everything alone?!”
Piperpulled away from Sole, sniffled; wiped away a tear hanging from Sole’seyelashes; and then she chuckled and said, “Gotta love family, huh?”
Preston
By the timeshe managed to gather strength to get out of bed, the entire town was buzzingwith people gathering up near the tree at the round square. She got dressed andfollowed suit, only to see Preston helping the settlers up several ladders tohang decorations from the branches. She kinda liked him in a position ofleadership. There was just something… something else to the way he distributed tasks among everyone, keeping thembusy, until the entire town worked together to make the most of this Christmas.It honestly warmed Sole’s heart as she walked towards them and people greetedher with happy voices and ‘Merry Christmas’es and ‘good to see you’s.
“Hello,General,” Preston said a bit sheepishly as she approached, even though his facewas sporting a wide grin.
“Hello, myFirst Officer,” she replied cheekily. She could swear he blushed a little, butthankfully, with him, only she was able to tell. “You’re having fun,” she addedas she motioned to the people around.
“It’s reassuringto see people come together and forget about their troubles on a day like this.”He smiled softly. He was talking about the settlers, but he looked only at her.Then he turned his face to the sun as his gaze drifted away and he said,“Everyone’s so cheerful and carefree.”
“What aboutyou?” Sole put her hand on his cheek to turn his face back to her. She didn’teven notice when they’d moved closer to each other, to the point where it mightstart being really uncomfortable to everyone around. She didn’t really care.“How is it today?”
“Could bebetter,” he said, and she knew he meant it was awful. “I mean, last year…”
“I know,”she stopped him before he could fall into that abyss again. “I know.”
Prestonkissed her forehead, drawing comfort for having her close. Or at least that’swhat she thought, given that it was exactly what she was doing.
“I’m justglad we found each other,” he said.
“Me, too.”
They stayedlike that for another minute, linked in that intimate embrace, as everyonebustled around them, shouting and laughing. The sun falling on the decorationscovered the ground around them in colorful flashes.
“Come on,”Preston said eventually, pulling away from her, though with clear effort. “Iwant to give you your present.”
“Shouldn’tyou keep watch on your lemmings?”
He blinkedat her. “What’s a ‘lemming’?”
Solepaused, staring into the distance. “Nevermind,” she replied eventually. “Oldworld stuff. Lead on, then. Where did you hide it?”
“Like I’mgoing to tell you,” he smiled at her. “Where would I hide your future presentsthen? Just wait here.” He left her at the porch of their house as hedisappeared behind the one across the street, but then he was gone for so longshe couldn’t tell where he went anymore. Bastard.
And then henearly gave her a heart attack when he came up from behind her saying, “Well,what are you waiting for?” As soon as she was done shrieking, she slapped hisarm as he laughed. Oh, it was so nice to see that poor man laughing. “Come intothe house, love. It’s there on the counter.”
And whenSole looked, she saw a fully modified laser musket laid out in the kitchen,obviously custom made, repainted in blue and white, and with the Minutemen logolovingly engraved on the side. She picked it up gently and turned it in herhands, marveling at the handiwork.
“You saidyou didn’t like the muskets for how long it took to wind them up, so I figuredout how to make it automatic,” Preston said, coming up and embracing her frombehind. “Do you like it?”
“Huh.” Sheput it to her shoulder and let go a quick series of lasers through the openside door at the wreck of her old car that was still standing on the drivewayeven though she was supposed to break it down to pieces probably like twomonths ago. But, well, it turned to ash in a matter of seconds now, so… problemsolved? She threw Preston a glance over her shoulder just to see his perplexedface. Oops. Seems he didn’t expect her to just start shooting it right away. “Ilove it,” she said cheerfully, and bent herself awkwardly to pull him in for akiss. Preston shook his head leniently, but gave in to her and they spent thenext few minutes passionately making out in the middle of the living room asSole only tried not to drop her new gift on the floor.
“Now,”Preston said when they finally ran out of breath and had to pull away, “time toget back to our family, huh?”
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