#and now whisper just flirts with danse because why not

[siribear]

a high pitched whistle precedes the explosion. it rocks the ground underfoot, rubble bursting from the ground, crashing into the lake nearby and raining along the pavement. their own isolated storm, booming thunder and all.

the general of the minutemen watches the proceedings idly, face impassive while the others cheer around her. she smiles appropriately when preston looks to her, nods when penny does the same. but inside, she’s railing. something about it rankles, the explosions, the weapons. artillery. her, being at the head of it.

the explosion on the horizon, the shockwave rushing up to meet them at the top of that elevator.

whisper, on the other hand, sees that giant blimp floating across the river and figures a hand she can play. she allows herself one clap on sturges’s shoulder as congratulations. who does it, she isn’t sure. all she knows is she’s got somewhere else to be: the prydwen.

preston isn’t happy about it, with her working with the brotherhood, but aside from the one broken power armor she liberated from the museum of freedom, they have no way of crossing the sea as it is. he relents, though it takes some convincing for him to stay and let her go by herself. deacon was right; he can’t be seen on the prydwen again. and neither can both heads of the minutemen be up there - just in case.

he balks at that, but can’t argue her logic, as much as he wants to.

‘i don’t like you being up there by yourself, general. it isn’t safe.’

‘we have the goodwill of the majority of the commonwealth. they won’t do anything to me unless they want to piss everyone off,’ she reasons. ‘or they capture me anyway.’ she shrugs.

preston sighs and hands over her new hat, scrubbed clean and smelling of abraxo. ‘if we don’t hear from you, we’re going out there.’

she smiles at him, adjusts her ponytail and places the hat on her head. ‘i’ll send word. the artillery is still too new, and we need to keep it a secret.’ she thinks back to the explosion and the new craters along the road. ‘as much as possible.’

preston squares his shoulders and takes a deep breath. ‘be safe, general.’

he tenses, even now, when she lightly places her hand on his arm. ‘i’ll be fine. don’t let them blow up our neighborhood before we even have a chance to settle it, okay?’ the buildings are falling apart as it is. if they test any more artillery they may as well raze the buildings themselves and start from scratch.

‘i’ll keep them in line, ma’am.’

‘then i’ll be back, soon. oh, and see if you can find some paint. i have a feeling my new power armor is going to need a few touch ups.’

-

it takes days for her to travel east alone. with the growing minuteman presence deeper in the city, raider groups have moved out to the bay. whisper nearly walks in dead view of one, barely avoiding detection by ducking behind a building. that interruption alone takes her hours to move beyond, and she doesn’t sleep that night, moving instead under cover of darkness. a blown out diner becomes her shelter for a few hours of restless sleep come morning.

she misses deacon. not just so she has someone to watch her back as she sleeps or the safety they have in numbers, but because she-she just misses him. him and the comfort of having someone she trusts at her back. and in resting she remembers this, too: deacon kissed her back. enthusiastically. before he knew she knew about the institute spy.

her heart races, and whether it’s from the memory resurfacing or the prydwen looming overhead, she doesn’t give herself time to dwell. a knight spots her and calls down a vertibird after confirming her identity. more than once, wandering brotherhood soldiers eye her hat with not-so-subtle shakes of their heads. of course, danse is the only one that looks her in the eye and gives her a respectful nod, offering to lead her the rest of the way to meet elder maxson.

he pulls her aside, into an empty examination room. ‘why do you need to see the elder?’

‘don’t trust me?’

he closes his eyes, sighs. ‘i want to. but there were reports of explosions near the castle, and now you’re here.’

it’s her turn to sigh. she adjusts her hat, pulling the brim away from her eyes. she can almost hear deacon in her head, calling out howdy, partner. ‘my being here has nothing to do with the explosions. seriously. we found a sentry bot in the armory.’

he’s silent as he stares at her, then, ‘okay.’

‘okay?’

‘i’m trusting you. elder maxson is in the mess hall.’

she’s touched. danse leads her further down the hall, to a larger room with a short bar separating a small kitchen from rows of cafeteria tables. at the bar sits elder maxson, alone despite the other brotherhood members in the room, nursing a drink between his hands. he greets danse curtly when they approach, and gives her an equally quick nod.

‘general.’

whisper slides onto the stool next to him, legs crossed, one arm hanging off the bar. ‘elder,’ she says sweetly. ‘how are you?’

‘this isn’t a social call, general. what is it?’

she huffs. fine. ‘i want a suit of power armor.’

out of the corner of her eye, she sees danse, somehow, stand up straighter, eyes widening as he looks to elder maxson. the mess hall quiets, the others not even pretending they aren’t eavesdropping. maxson grunts heavily and stands.

‘follow me,’ he commands gruffly. whisper looks to danse and shrugs with a grin.

‘you didn’t tell me that’s why you were here,’ he near-hisses in her ear.

she shoves her hands in her pockets and moves to go after maxson. ‘you didn’t ask.’

behind her, he sighs again before falling into step with her. ‘you can’t be serious.’

maxson leads them to the front of the prydwen’s second level, unlocks a door, and waits for them to approach. ‘i can be,’ she whispers over her shoulder, and steps through.

what looks to be maxson’s quarters is barely decorated. no sense of personal touch in the room aside from the brotherhood flag hanging over his bed and a personal desk and terminal. there’s a side door that leads to a personal bathroom, but otherwise she wouldn’t be able to tell his room from, say, danse’s quarters. the latter who trudges in, ducking through the door and takes up residence in the corner of the room before maxson shuts the door behind them. unlocked - at least that’s unthreatening.

whisper stands with her thumbs hooked in her pockets and watches maxson settle in front of her, standing as tall as he can, hands laced behind his back. ‘if you think you can just come aboard this ship and demand a suit of power armor,’ he starts, ‘you’re sorely mistaken.’

she barely stops herself from rolling her eyes, looking instead to danse who looks like he has regrets bringing her here. ‘it wasn’t a demand. you asked me why i came here, i told you.’

now, maxson looks back to his paladin, who bows his head. ‘i’m sorry, sir. i didn’t know - ‘

‘can i finish?’ she interrupts, earning herself a pair of glares in her direction. ‘if you’re going to shoot me, just know that plenty of people know i came here. if i don’t report in soon, they’re going to figure out something happened.’ she raises a hand to stifle further comments, and, surprisingly, they stay silent. ‘i have my own suit i could probably repair in a few months, but i simply don’t have the time. i have information i simply need to act on, and i’m willing to trade for it.’

‘what could you possibly have for us that’s worth losing a suit?’ maxson asks, voice tight, admirably restrained. she pulls a pair of dog tags from her pocket and holds it out to him. after he scans the name on the tag, ‘is this a threat?’

‘i don’t murder people for the fun of it. i found these.’

‘where?’

‘that’s what i’m willing to trade.’

the elder grips the tags in his fist and walks over to the door, jerks it open. ‘we’ll find out ourselves. go.’

this time, she does roll her eyes, but only danse can see. ‘i took the distress pulser. the dog tags aren’t the only thing i found,’ she says, looking directly at danse, imploring. months, if she loses this. and out in the glowing sea? who’s to say their renegade institute scientist isn’t dead already. she can’t waste any more time than necessary. she turns to maxson, her voice softer. lays out her case in this courtroom. ‘there was another squad here before danse’s, wasn’t there? i can find them. whoever’s left. we’re both on borrowed time here.’

‘elder,’ danse starts and fails.

maxson shuts the door. ‘what do you need the power armor for, exactly?’

she grimaces. no telling what the brotherhood would do if they found the scientist first, either. ‘it’ll bring me closer to my son.’ he doesn’t look convinced. ‘whatever i learn, you learn, but i honestly can’t risk losing this information for anything.’

his head jerks to danse. ‘you brought her up here. i’m making her your problem.’ whisper startles. ‘paladin danse will go with you. bring back what you can, and i’ll determine if you’ve earned the power armor.’

she lets out a breath, genuinely smiling. ‘thank you, elder maxson.’

‘you have access to our armory for any supplies you may need. bear in mind, you will pay for them. if you have to rest before you leave, i can radio down and have a bed set up for you.’

‘i’m ready if you’re ready,’ she says to danse.

‘i can be in ten minutes,’ he informs her.

perhaps it should be insulting how reluctant he seems to go with her, but it doesn’t matter. what matters is, she’s one step closer to the glowing sea than she was before.

maxson escorts them back down the hall, and the three split off. danse to his quarters; maxson to the control center; and she to the quartermaster. proctor teagan has little to say to her as she rattles off a list of supplies. the caps aren’t a problem, neither is the space, and she meets danse on the flight deck in exactly ten minutes. he boards the vertibird first, the machine swaying slightly under the power armor’s weight. she hops on next, buckling into the bench next to danse.

‘do you still trust me?’ she asks over the headset, voice tinny in her ears over the roaring of vertibird blades. vertigo kicks in when the mechanical arm drops the vertibird and as it stabilizes in the air. they’re to be dropped off near med-tek research near where she found the first bodies. if the patrol fell back, they’d go somewhere close, so it seems a good place to start.

‘i don’t know if i agree with how you approach things,’ danse says, eventually. she can’t fault him that, either. ‘but i'm trusting you. for now. don’t make me regret it.’ she wonders just how much trouble he gets into for being associated with her, even vaguely.

he doesn’t ask if she trusts him, and she doesn’t offer. she doesn’t know if she believes him entirely, or if he believes himself. maybe he’s just saying it to appease her, and it works just fine. as long as he doesn’t kill her in her sleep, but that doesn’t seem his style. unless -

‘you don’t sleep in your power armor, do you? i’d hate for you to roll over and squish me in the middle of the night.’

he closes his eyes, and she imagines him counting to ten. ‘no, i don’t.’

‘okay,’ she says, and swears she hears the pilot trying to hold back laughter. ‘just checking.’

[persephone-plasmids]

Debriefing

Deacon and Sole fanfic.

[AO3]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

Debriefing

Deacon and Sole walked in complete  silence through the abandoned Nuka-World park. Not because they were worried they’d attract the attention of ferals, but because neither of them seemed to be mature enough to address the incredible kiss they’d both just shared. Of course, nearly having Sole kill him when she got poisoned by HalluciGen and meeting a super dramatic Ghoul named Oswald had also distracted them. But Deacon was fairly certain the kiss was the real reason for the silent treatment he was currently getting.

I shouldn’t have done it, Deacon thought to himself. Although even as he thought this, his mind replayed the sensation of Sole’s lips against his and he felt his cheeks flush.

Sole was walking ever-so-slightly ahead of him, her hips swaying back and forth in a way that Deacon tried to ignore.

Right. He needed to fix this. To get things back to normal.

“Hey Charmer, did I ever tell you about the time I went undercover as Magnolia for an entire week?”

Sole slowed her pace a bit so that Deacon could fall in step beside her. “Go on,” she said, raising an eyebrow with an amused look in her eye.

“I did the whole shebang. Donned the red dress, wore a black wig, sang all the songs.”

“Flirted with the patrons?” She asked.

“That was my favorite part,” Deacon said. “You wouldn't believe how many free drinks I got that week. It’s amazing what people will do for a pretty face.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Sole’s lips, but the action just brought Deacon’s attention right back to the very area he was trying to forget.

He cleared his throat nervously before continuing. “I'll tell you, though. I’m not a fan of shaving my legs. I could never quite get that little area behind my knee.”

At this, Sole snorted, trying to suppress her laugh and failing miserably. “How do you even come up with these ridiculous lies?”

She still wasn’t looking at him, but he preferred it that way. If she wasn’t looking at him, then they weren’t in danger of suddenly kissing each other.

“Who says that’s a lie?” Deacon asked, his voice easily slipping back into its smooth unconcerned cadence.

“Literally anyone who’s ever met you,” she said, looking down at the ground as they walked. “I can read you most of the time. But I’m finding it harder and harder these days.”

“Oh?” Deacon asked.

He wanted to know what she’d meant by that, but he never did get his answer. Instead, he heard the familiar clomp, clomp, clomp of power armor approaching them. Deacon rolled his eyes at the Paladin’s lack of subtlety and Sole moved a bit further away from Deacon.

The motion would have been almost imperceptible to anyone but him. But it still gave him complicated feelings. Was he hurt that she didn’t want to be seen being this familiar with him? Or did it give him hope that she was feeling that same connection to him, even if she was trying to ignore it.

“Soldier,” Danse said, nodding to Sole before turning to Deacon. “Liar.”

“Ouch,” Deacon said, placing a hand over his heart and stumbling back a few paces dramatically. “Shots fired, Paladin. Right out the gate too.”

“Told you everyone knows you’re a liar,” Sole said under her breath, grinning as she looked at Danse.

MacCready appeared suddenly beside Danse, out of breath and wiping blood from his hands. “There’s a serious Bloodworm infestation here. I think we should get out of Dry Rock Gulch. It’s not worth the effort.”

“That’s just as well,” Sole said. “The Synth isn’t in Nuka-World. They’ve already made it out of The Commonwealth.”

“Is that so?” Danse asked. “Outstanding!”

“Bingo!” Deacon shouted.

Everyone stopped and turned to look at him in confusion.

“Danse said ‘outstanding’. That’s the last square I needed on my boy scout bingo card.”

No one said anything. Instead, Sole’s cheeks immediately flushed a dark shade of scarlet as her eyes grew as wide as saucers. She stared at Deacon in horror and had she not immediately looked away from him again, he would have thought there was a Deathclaw behind him.

Danse cleared his throat uncomfortably before Sole began loudly speaking. “So, I think we’re all done here. The Synth is safe and we’re all alive. Let’s head out.”

Sole’s voice sounded unnatural. And the way Danse turned away from Deacon with a stronger look of annoyance on his face than normal, told him that something was wrong.

As Sole and Danse began walking away, Mac sidled up beside Deacon and said in a low voice, “Not really your color, is it?” Before snickering and joining Sole and the tin can.

Deacon brought his hand up to his lips. When he pulled them away, he could see that they were stained with Sole’s red lipstick.

“Perfect,” he groaned.

--------

Things back at Railroad HQ had been normal when Sole and Deacon returned to report to Desdamona. Painfully normal. The kind of normal you got when you were trying too hard to make things seem normal. Sole was still avoiding eye contact with Deacon, but when she thought he wasn’t looking, he’d catch her staring.

Again, his sunglasses proved beneficial for more than just his Railroad missions.

“Thank you both for your continued efforts on behalf of The Railroad,” Desdemona said, after they’d given her the news concerning the Synth in Nuka-World. “Charmer, you’re getting much more efficient in your debriefings.”

“Charmer can debrief me any time,” Deacon said, giving her finger guns as Sole just shook her head in exasperation.

“Deacon, do I need to refresh your memory on the no fraternization rule?” Desdamona asked.

“Oh come on, that was funny,” Deacon insisted.

“Deacon?” Desdamona was still waiting for him to answer.

“No Des. I’ll do my best to shield your ears from my incredible wit. But just know you’ll be missing out.”

“I think I’ll survive,” Des said shortly. “You’re both dismissed.”

And with that, the imposing woman walked away.

“Sheesh, tough crowd,” Deacon said, pulling on the collar of his white shirt for effect as he smiled over at Sole.

“I mean… she is right though,” Sole said, looking down at her hands instead of at Deacon. “We probably shouldn’t joke about stuff like that.”

“Are you… we joke about that kind of stuff all the time,” Deacon said incredulously. “I mean… if it makes you uncomfortable of course I’ll stop. I just… thought that was sort of our thing.”

Deacon could feel his cheeks heating up as he desperately tried to save the situation. If Sole was uncomfortable with their joking, it was news to him. She was usually the one to start the innuendos. But he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

The kiss may have tarnished their friendship a bit, mostly because it made it impossible for Deacon to keep lying to himself about his feelings. But he didn’t want it to completely ruin what they already had.

“I just… don’t want people to talk,” Sole said simply, still looking down at her hands.

“Yeah, of course, Boss. Whatever you say,” Deacon answered, rubbing the back of his neck before trying to assume a nonchalant posture. “Just trying to keep things light. I’ll resort to the old failsafes instead. You know… the nuclear apocalypse… the hopelessness of our existence… Danse’s extensive grooming routine.”

Sole almost smiled at this last bit. He could tell from the way her jaw tensed. But instead of smiling she just nodded. “Thanks, Deeks.”

Without another word, Sole gave Deacon a curt smile, turned on her heel, and walked away, leaving him totally and utterly confused about where they stood.

Idiot, he thought. Did I seriously think I could kiss Sole without things getting weird? Do I really want to throw away my closest friendship just because I… what? Feel something for her? Big deal. I feel something for Fancy Lad Snack Cakes and I’m not making moves on them.

Deacon refrained from letting out the gigantic sigh that had settled in his chest, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Instead, he ducked into the escape tunnel and out the back door into the small underground room just beyond the main section of Railroad HQ.

Pulling out a cigarette, Deacon nearly jumped out of his skin when Sole lit a match beside him.

“Geez! Are you kidding me?” Deacon whisper-shouted at her, jumping back against the wall and hitting his head in the process.

He dropped his unlit cigarette to the ground and rubbed the back of his head where it had made contact with the bricks.

“I thought you were always aware of your surroundings.”

“And I thought you were a baby Deathclaw about to drag me off to mommy like a bleeding morbid trophy,” he said, still whisper-shouting. “Why are you back here, Sole?”

“I needed some alone time,” she said, her face slightly amused as she watched him come down from his scare. “And then you just followed right behind me.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Deacon said. “I didn’t even see you come back here. Trust me, I don’t go around looking for humiliation more than once a day.”

“Excuse me?” Sole asked, her eyes narrowing at his words.

Deacon swallowed, realizing he was being too honest again. He didn’t want her to know he was hurt. Hell, he didn’t even want her to know he had actual feelings for her.

“I mean… I have gone looking for humiliation in the past,” he began, trying to think up a lie funny enough to distract Sole from his honesty. “Like this one time--.”

“Deacon, stop,” Sole said, shaking her head. “Sorry, I just… I can’t do this.”

“Yep, no problem,” Deacon said automatically, without really knowing what she was talking about specifically.

Odds were, he probably didn’t want to know. He’d made a point of detaching himself from the people around him. It was a necessity in The Railroad. But it had also been crucial for his survival after Barbara. Sole broke down that resolve and made him feel out of control in a way that he both loved and hated.

Sole turned to leave but stopped herself and instead faced Deacon once more, looking at the ground with a deep sigh.

“I’m just going to say it, okay?” she began, now looking up to meet his eyes before frowning. “Geez, Deeks, will you please take those sunglasses off so I can actually see you?”

Panic.

He needed his sunglasses. Otherwise Sole might find out just what a terrible bluffer he actually was.

“You know what? Never mind. This might actually be easier if I can’t see you.”

Her words were doing nothing to comfort him and he was desperately trying to quell the mild panic attack that was rising in his chest. “Sole, if I’m dying, you really need to just rip off the bandaid and tell me.”

He grinned at her, but they both knew it was a facade to mask his panic.

“I appreciate you telling me about Barbara. That took a lot of trust to open up to me about her.”

Well this wasn’t looking good.

“And I felt instantly connected to you because of it. We… we both knew what it was like to experience loss.” Sole frowned but pushed through it. “And honestly, after everything with Nate, I didn’t think I’d ever… feel anything for someone again.”

Deacon had to stop this conversation. He’d made her uncomfortable. And he hated himself for that.

“You don’t need to say anything else, Boss. I got it loud and clear,” Deacon said.

But Sole wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily.

“I don’t think you do,” Sole said. “I get that you flirt. It’s what you do. And it was always fine with me but… I can’t keep putting myself out there just to find out that this whole thing is a big joke to you. I’m not like that. It… it hurts too much.”

Deacon’s heart twisted inside of him. Had he misunderstood this situation completely? There was no way. Because as much as he’d dreamed about Sole reciprocating his feelings, he never thought it would actually happen.

Deacon had been a bigot back in his youth. Someone had died. He’d been a violent man. Sure he’d changed, but there was no way someone as good as Sole would be able to look completely past that. She may say his past wasn’t important, but she was just being polite. That’s who Sole was.

There was no way she could ever truly forgive him. He knew that. And he didn’t think he’d deserve that kind of forgiveness even if she did offer it.

“I respect you too much to break up our team, because we really do work well together… I just need the flirting to stop,” Sole said, looking down at her hands again as she twisted them together. “I want… I want you, Deacon. And it’s fine that I can’t have you. Really. I can learn to live with that. I’m a big girl. But… I’m not good at differentiating your joking with what’s real. I never have been. You know that.”

Deacon was staring at Sole now with the most shocked expression he’d ever worn.

She was saying that she had feelings for him. Wasn’t she?

Of course, he could just ask her for clarification, but that went against every instinct inside of him that was screaming at him to make a joke.

He realized a bit too late that he had been staring at her in silence for quite a while. She looked up at him uncomfortably with a wince. “So… are we good?” she asked. “Even though… you know… I just told you I have a crush on you like some five-year-old on the playground?”

There it was. The confirmation.

Deacon’s mouth might have actually dropped open in shock. He wasn’t sure.

“Okay, well… this has been sufficiently awkward. But I said what I needed to say. So…” she gave him a soft awkward slug on the shoulder. “Good talk, Sport.”

She instantly shook her head in embarrassment at her own words.

“Yeah, I’m going to leave now,” she mumbled, ducking her head down and turning to walk away.

“Wait, hold up just a minute,” Deacon said, finally regaining control of his brain. At least partially.

Sole turned around slowly and reluctantly.

“I swear if you make fun of me for this, Deeks, I will fill your pillowcase with cayenne pepper while you sleep.”

“Whoa,” he said, raising his hands up in surrender. “That escalated way faster than it probably should have.”

Deacon reached down and hesitantly took Sole’s hand in his own.

“I just… are you actually saying you have feelings for me?” Deacon asked.

Sole’s cheeks flushed at his straightforward words. Deacon was never straightforward. Except for the time he’d told Sole about Barbara.

“Seriously, Deacon? You’re going to make me say it again?”

“You feel things for me?” Deacon repeated, trying to rephrase his question so that there was no confusion. He wasn’t doing a great job. “Not like the way Danse has feelings for his power armor, right?”

“I mean, I’ve seen the way he looks at his power armor. So, maybe,” Sole said, that ghost of a smile returning to her lips. “Seriously, can I go now? I don’t know that I’ve ever felt this humiliated. This is worse than the dream where I show up to school naked.”

Deacon’s eyes grew wide behind his sunglasses at this statement. “Okay, well I’d definitely like to hear more about that in a minute,” Deacon began. “But I just… I feel like I need to be absolutely certain. You, the perfect, beautiful, compassionate, smart, brave, sexy, savior of The Commonwealth, have romantic feelings towards a former-bigot, current-man-child, broken, immature, and hopelessly lost human?”

Realization seemed to dawn on Sole in that moment. At his words she could see the insecurity dripping off of him, cleverly disguised by jokes and a devil-may-care attitude.

He felt the shift between them. Felt the way she squeezed his hand with confidence now, knowing that his flirting wasn’t a joke. That his casual contact wasn’t all that casual.

“Well… the jury’s still out on whether or not you’re a human or a synth,” she whispered with a grin. “I still haven’t tried your recall code on you.”

With that, Sole pressed her lips to Deacon’s. He hadn’t kissed Sole many times, so he didn’t have much to compare it to, but this kiss definitely felt different. Her hesitation was gone. Her lips were confident as they moved over his, and he smiled at her touch.

“Can we go back to that whole, dream business you were talking about a second ago?” Deacon asked, but Sole instantly silenced him with another kiss, which he was just fine with.

Her hands roamed slowly up his chest, as if she were taking her time to enjoy the moment. Goosebumps erupted all over his skin at her touch.

As she gently bit his bottom lip, something he definitely hadn’t expected from her, he couldn’t stop himself from being too aware of their surroundings. He wanted to melt into the kiss. He wanted to thoroughly enjoy this moment. There weren’t any more questions between them. They both understood each other finally.

But they were also in Railroad HQ. Anti-fraternization Zone Number 1. They may have been in the escape tunnel, but agents regularly used it as an overflow for the headquarters.

“Hey,” Deacon said, pulling away from Sole regretfully. Confusion lined her features. “So… I want this. You have absolutely no idea how much,” he began. “But… we’re not really in the best place for… grown up bonding time.”

Sole smiled up at him. “Doesn’t that sort of make it more exciting?” she asked.

What? Where had this Sole come from?

Not waiting for his response, she kissed him again, harder this time. He tried to exercise restraint.

He failed.

Instead, he pushed Sole up against the wall, parting her lips with his tongue and pressing his body against hers. Every fiber of his being burned to be even closer to her, but even with this bold new Sole that stood before him, he knew she wasn’t that type. She’d want to take things somewhat slow. And he was fine with that.

Besides, after years of being completely touch-starved, any contact was like a revelation for Deacon.

His hands found her waist, softly kneading the smooth skin there as his mouth moved against hers. She made a little noise that encouraged him further, prompting him to trail his kisses down to her collarbone instead.

She grabbed his hair in a slightly painful manner, but he didn’t mind. Instead, he focused on the very important work he was doing on her neck while her hands pulled him more firmly against her.

“Deeks,” she said breathlessly, though he hardly heard her. His lips were too preoccupied with just how perfect her neck seemed to be. How had he not noticed before? “Dea-con,” she said again, still just as breathless.

This time he heard her. And he loved the way his name sounded when she was the one saying it. The way her breath hitched at the end of the first syllable when he’d nipped at her neck. That desperate quality to her voice.

“Mmm?” he mumbled, now slowly moving his lips back towards hers.

“You…” but her words were cut off by another kiss. “Said we should be careful here?” she finally managed, between kisses. “About Des?”

This was more like the reserved Sole he knew. But he was enjoying himself too much. He was finally kissing her. Really kissing her. Not just for fun. Not as part of a ruse for a mission. Not in some psychotic funhouse where he wasn’t sure if she really wanted to or if it was just some weird trick of the drugs in Kiddie Kingdom.

Being able to touch someone after so long was like an oasis in a desert. And she saw him. Really saw him. That was normally the last thing he wanted from someone. But it was all he wanted with Sole.

“Screw it,” Sole said between another kiss before she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him harder against her body, shuddering as they crashed together.

“I already told you, I left a backup in the escape tunnel,” Tinker Tom said from somewhere near the room’s entrance. “Now if y’all would give me two seconds, I could actually go get it.”

Sole instantly broke the kiss, looking wide-eyed at Deacon in a panic. He pressed a finger against her lips and grabbed her hand. Without a word, Deacon pulled her towards the exit at the far end of the room. It would lead them out into the cool night air of The Commonwealth.

As he held her hand and pulled her behind him, he couldn’t stop the embarrassing little smile that broke across his face. He heard Sole giggle behind him and it only added to the pure unadulterated joy that was beginning to permeate his very being.

She saw him. She saw all of him. And she still wanted him.

------

Note: This fic makes me seem like I don’t like Danse. I actually love him! I just like to make fun of him :)

Also, if you enjoy my writing, I’m an author IRL. I’ve got 13 published books, but my favorite is Parrish. You should check it out if you like ghosts and love stories between weirdos.

[mojavehearts]

Chaotic Neutral character trying to flirt with Paladin Danse (horridly)

(REQUESTED!) 

i know this took forever jskjh thank you for being patient 

it was a early day on the prydwen

mutated birds were cawing 

some of the paladins were snoring

and you just needed entertainment

strolling around the large space your eyes land on a certain paladin 

he was sitting at the bar finally out of his clunky power armour, he was quite handsome, rugged

just minding his own business when you decide to sit beside him 

he barely even looks up or acknowledges at first, only giving you a slight polite nod as he continues just staring off into space

your brow furrowed as you wondered what the hell this guy did in his spare time, it certainly couldn’t just be sitting here and staring off at nothing 

you turn your entire body to face him and inhale slightly

‘‘Hey paladin, what brings you here? do you come here often?’‘

his brow furrows ‘’what do you mean? of course i come here often its the bar on the prydwen, are you feeling well soldier? as for what brings me here the snores were becoming to loud’’

you concave in on yourself slightly, small bits of embarrassment flooding your system but nevertheless you straighten yourself back up and then softly rest against the bar you hand holding up your head to peer up at him 

‘‘I might have a slight...Fever’‘ his eyes widen ever so slightly and you smile wondering if he had caught on but he swiftly stands ‘‘ill take you to Knight-Captain Cade, if you’re feeling a fever you should get a check up’‘

you sigh deeply and turn your body away ‘’don’t worry about it paladin I’m just dehydrated’’ and then you walk back to your bunk in shame

a few days later Elder Maxson had designed a small task force with you in it to go to the Cambridge police station and clear it out and luckily for you Danse happened to be put on that same one

you put your game face back on and begun to plan out your attack thoroughly for when there was time to mess around

finally it seemed you got to have some down time and you slowly approach

you wouldn’t say you were the most confident person, and maybe your flirtations where more awkward than you had first thought, or maybe he was just THAT oblivious but. Still you will prevail

he stood at the other side of the desk while you took a seat on top of it

‘‘So ...Paladin, the doctor says I’m lacking some...Vitamin U’‘ he stares into your very soul for a minute and clears his throat

‘‘Ah outstanding so you did go to Knight-Captain Cade, I’m glad that it wasn’t life threatening you are a very valuable asset to both the brotherhood and me’‘ he seemed to smile with his eyes and you were wondering if he was finally playing along, in his own way...Until

‘‘so these vitamins are they hard to come by? I would be willing to help find some for your wellbeing’‘ you bring a hand to your temples and sigh softly and hop off the desk 

‘‘Thank you, but that wont be necessary’‘ you walk off again in shame having to see Rhys smirking, holding back his laughter

The next few days were actual torture, from the ghoul attacks to... Danse being too oblivious you were beginning to wonder why you were still even trying

‘‘okay, one last time’‘ you take a deep breath and slowly walk up to the Paladin 

this time you were becoming more risky

you place a hand on his hard chest and then realise that wont work in your favour because now you’re flustered

he looks down at your hand and back at you then sternly places a hand on your forehead

‘‘Maxson should have made sure you were able to take on this task your Vitamin U deficiency is acting up’‘ instead of how you wanted to act and pull away you steadily move further into his palm 

‘‘Soldier?...Y/N?’‘ his voice was gentle now

it clicked in your head suddenly ‘’i got it’’ you whisper to yourself

‘‘Oh paladin you’re so thoughtful, how would have known that under all those muscles was a caring man’‘ you smile triumphantly thinking you finally did it 

‘‘oh no Rhys get someone on the radio Y/N is delirious!’‘

you go rigid and groan loudly

(AYAYAY finally done wooppp i was getting so much second hand embarrassment for this one fdhjjiujoiujeo)

[atombombbagel]

romanced companions and sole have a massive fight and break up: how companions deal w it and how they react whenever they see sole afterwards??? (extra angsty w danse & mac pls i love them)

I’m so sorry it took me so long to get to all of these reactions, I feel extremely bad about it :(

ANGST AHEAD, this is very very over exaggerated…

Also, I know in the ask it says ‘how do companions deal with it and how do they reactafter they see Sole afterwards’ but I’m leaving that to part two (because Ihave another request to tie in, hope that’s okay)

Trigger warning; mentions of drug use.

 In gamespoilers, just in case you haven’t finished the game or what not - (Blind Betrayal, The Nuclear Option, Far Harbour DLC)

Hope you enjoy! 

Cait:Another one. Cait slammed the mirrored cupboard door closed, nearly shatteringthe glass. This was the last straw; her blood was boiling, and she hadn’t seenmuch action in weeks. She could barely control her rage. She stormed from thebathroom and into the bedroom where Sole was getting dressed.

“D’ya have te keep thisjunk lyin’ around the house?” Cait asked angrily. Throwing a psycho needle ontothe bed. “That’s not the only thing in the cupboard Sole. Why would ye keep theseinside the house when ye know my past.” She was visibly angry at this point.Sole turned around and looked down at the bed.

“I’m going to get rid ofthem, we pick so much junk up I forget to sell-”

“SELL THEM!?” Cait boomed,her Irish accent getting thicker. “Why would ye sell them knowing what they do.Get rid of them!” She put her hands on her hips, shaking her head.

“I think you’re beingunreasonable, imagine the money we could make-”

“Are ye thick Sole?” Caitfurrowed her eyebrows, cutting Sole off again.

“What are you so worried yourold junkie ways will return. Relax.” Sole snapped.  

“FUCK YOU.” Cait Shouted beforehuffing. “D’ya know what I can’t do this. I’m out.  You’re a fuckin’ asshole.” Cait threw herhands up before spinning around on her heel and walking hot feet out the door.

She does her best to avoidSole after she left them, because she knows full well if she saw them, she’d eitherjump their bones or punch them in the face. She wants to do neither.

Curie:“Oh no!” Curie whisper-yelled as she watched the poor settler getting mutilatedby ruthless raider. “We have to help them!” she turned to Sole who was alsowatching the horrible sight in front of them.

“We can’t, we’ll giveaway out position.” Sole hated that they couldn’t help. “There are too many ofthem, if we go in guns blazing, we’ll end up like that poor soul.” Curie knewthat there wasn’t much they could do, but it was in her nature to be caring.She had to do something. She got up attempting to go in there but Sole grabbedher and carried her away. “What are you doing?!” Sole snapped at Curie.

“Why did you stop me!They need me!”

“That was a suicide mission!I’m sorry but he was as good as dead.” Sole didn’t mean to sound so harsh, butthey couldn’t take back the words now.

“What happened to theminutemen being of the people, for the people?!”Curie questioned. Sole was taken aback by Curie’s tone of voice.

“There wouldn’t be anyminutemen if we all went on missions like that. We must pick out fights!” Soleshook their head. “I can’t lose you.”

“You may not have lost mein death, but you’ve lost me as a partner.”

“What do you mean?” Soleasked, their forehead creasing.

“You’ve changed. Those poorpeople. You would’ve helped them but now I’m not so sure.” Curie sighed. “Ihave to go.”        

Danse:The loud explosion reverberated through the sky, it would have alerted anyonefor miles and miles. So, when Danse heard the commotion he rushed outside, hiseyes scanning the mess in disbelief. It was gone. Metal and fiery rain. Whocould do this?

Danse lifted his head ashe heard the ding of the elevator, alight smile appearing on his lips as he saw Sole appear from the doors. Sole didn’tshare the same expression. He furrowed his brows.

“Sole? Are you alright?” Heasked, now filled with worry. Sole just looked at him for a moment, trying tobuild up the courage to tell him. They knew this was going to be bad.

“I had to do it. I didn’thave a choice. I’m sorry,” Sole said quietly, unable to look the taller man in theeye.

“What did you do?” Danse’sworry was exacerbated by Sole’s cryptic words.

“The Prydwen. The Elder,he didn’t give me a choice.” Sole swallowed the lump in their throat. They lookedup at Danse for a split second, his face etched with disgust.

“That was you.” His toneof voice was cold and its scared Sole. “There were children up there.”

“You think I don’t knowthat?” Sole shot back quickly. “There are children in the institute too.” Dansecouldn’t even look at Sole. What Sole had done was repulsive. “This wasn’t an easydecision for me.”

“You murdered so manyinnocent-”

“Innocent?” Sole snapped.“The Brotherhood are hardly innocent! Look at what they did to you!”

“Oh, and the instituteare much better!” Danse fired back. He turned away and looked down. What Solehad done had made him sad at heart, but all he could feel was this bubblingrage in his veins. “Get out.” He ordered, turning back to face them.

“Danse, lets talk aboutthis.”

“No! I don’t want to hearit. We’re over, I could never date someone so cruel and selfish.” He spat hiswords at Sole like a snake would spit its venom. Sole didn’t say another word,they just left, left Danse in his own misery.

Deacon:Deacon’s secret identity was all he had. It kept him safe, it kept him distant.That was until he met Sole. They saw straight through him and tore down thosewalls and identities he’d spent so long building. How could they do this to him?

“IT WAS YOU.” Sole hadnever heard Deacon shout so loud, in fact they’d never heard him yell at all.It was shocking to say the least.

“What are you talkingabout?” Sole asked, their voice a little shaky. Deacon scoffed as he looked directlyat Sole. He wasn’t one to be messed with when he was angry.

“Remember those guys wewere scouting? The ones who kidnap the synths and torture them?” He lowered hisvoice, but not by much. Sole nodded slowly.

“What about the-”

“Don’t bullshit me Sole,I know you told them of my identity. You. You are you the one who went to ‘speak’to them.” He took a step forward which made Sole take a step back. Sole wasstuttering.

“I didn’t, I swear.”

“You actually sold meout. I TRUSTED YOU,” Deacon boomed, and Sole swore his dominating voice shookthe room. “We’re fucking done.”

“Deeks, I wouldn’t. Don’tdo this. It wasn’t me. I wouldn’t do that to you.” Sole pleaded but the agent wasn’ttaking any of it.

“Stay away from me.”  

Hancock:“You were flirting,” Sole snarled, shaking their head. All Sole wanted was tochill out in the bar with Hancock and what did he have to do, talk to thatpretty girl who was so enamoured with him. “Oh, Hancock you’re so brave!” Solemocked coldly. Sole’s blood was boiling, and Hancock’s wasn’t that far off.

“There is a differencebetween flirting and being nice Sole,” Hancock fired back. “You get jealous ofthe stupidest things. It’s hard to take you anywhere.”

“WHY ARE YOU WITH ME THEN!?”Sole raised their voice louder than usual, making Hancock take a step back.

“Sometimes I don’t evenknow!” He shrugged. “You’re over the top! And you’re blowing this way out ofproportion! She was being friendly.” He paused before adding, “You’re just jealousI get the attention and you don’t.”

“Fuck you Hancock,” Solehissed, “She was clearly trying to get you to fuck her so why don’t you go andshack up with her?!” Sole knew that they were pushing him, whether it be onpurpose or not.

“I’ve had enough of this.”Hancock pushed passed Sole, heading for the door.

“If you leave now, we’redone,” Sole snapped. The ultimatum didn’t seem to bother him, he was too angryto care at this point. He reached for the doorknob. “Wow. You love me my ass.”Hancock ignored Sole completely leaving through the door to cool off.

MacCready:“I don’t need your help!” MacCreadyaccidently snapped at Sole, and this wasn’t the first time he’d done it either.Sole being the sweetie they are was only trying to help Mac patch up a wound,only they had poured a little too much alcohol in the cut. MacCready cursed asthe cut oozed blood and alcohol, the wound stinging beyond relief.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” Soleimmediately apologised to him, but it went straight over his head, the onlything on his mind was the pain emitting from his leg.

“Stop trying to be sohelpful all the time! I can do things myself you know!” MacCready’s shoutingfrightened Sole a little. They’d never been on the receiving end of MacCready’sfury. “Just, get away from me. I don’t need you here.”

“Well if you don’t wantme around,” Sole said sadly, taking a few steps back. MacCready just glared at them.“I’ll just go. I’m so sorry.”

“Good!” MacCready calledafter them as Sole left the room, heading back to their home. They never knewhe felt that way about them.  

Nick:Acadia, Far Harbour, The children of Atom. Sole struggled to decide what thebest course of action was. Nick had tried to put his two cents in, but Sole wasn’texactly listening to reason, they couldn’t they were too confused by the wholesituation and Nick, well he was obviously going to side with DiMA. Why wouldn’the? They knew each other.

“You don’t have to dothis. DiMA didn’t mean any harm.” Nick tried to convince Sole not to tell the peoplewhat DiMA had done. All the lies he’d told to keep the peace. But what is peacewhen it has a deadly cost? Sole didn’t know.

“I can’t deal with all thesefactions against each other, all the time. If it isn’t the Brotherhood and thesynths, its this. I can’t let him get away with what he did. It WAS wrong,”Sole informed Nick, knowing full well they couldn’t change his mind on the subject.

“One mistake shouldn’tdefine a person, you of all people should know that.”

“Classy. Bring up my mistakesto justify someone else’s actions.” Sole turned away from the synth, pacingback and forth as they did so.

“I will not stand by andlet you do this.”

“You can’t stop me fromdoing what needs to be done Nick, I’ll do what is right no matter what.” Heknew by the look on Sole’s face he wouldn’t persuade Sole otherwise, theirfinal decision would be just that, final.

“Maybe not, but I can end this. I can end us,”Nick threatened but Sole just turned and glared at him. “I’m not sticking byyour side this time. We’re done here.” Nick wasn’t joking either, he had hismorals and so did Sole. Maybe they weren’t meant to be.

Piper:Piper was fuming. She had spent hours findingout all the necessary information she needed to write the biggest story of herbudding career. Just when she thought she had the perfect published masterpiece,she finds out that her source was a phoney. The greatest piece of writing she’dever put together was fake and if people found out, her reputation would onlyget worse.

“You gave me the dodgiestsource out there!” Piper boomed as Sole walked through the door to the Publick Occurrences.As soon as Piper’s loud voice shook the small building, Sole stumbled back, startled.

“What do you mean? Theman for your interview? He told me-”

“You did it on purpose!You knew this would be a fantastic story! But no. No one can be a hero and savethe day except good old Blue, straight out of the vault, sob story and all.”Piper’s rage only increased when Sole tried to explain themselves, but she didn’twant to hear it, she didn’t want any of Sole’s lame excuses.

“That isn’t true at all.I was by your side trying to HELP you, not sabotage you. Who told you I stabbedyou in the back?” Sole asked, trying to stay calm.

“It doesn’t matter who!All that matters is that you did it! You wanted to see me fail!” Piper snapped,this time crossing her arms. Sole had seen her get angry, they’d just neverseen her get this angry. “I thoughtyou loved me!”

“I do love you. You haveto believe me-” Sole pleaded.

“Get out!” Piper shoutedand Sole took a step back. “GET OUT AND DON’T COME BACK.

Preston:Preston stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Solehand over some Jet to Mama Murphy. He toldSole to stop feeding her addiction but instead of listening to him, theyused her sight for their own use, endangering the old woman further.

“Sole.” He grabbed theirattention with his thunderous voice. Sole could tell he was angry. They toldhim they would stop and here they were getting caught again. “A word.” Henodded his head towards the door. Sole gave a light smile to Mama Murphy beforefollowing Preston out the door.

“Before you say anything,I needed her help. I’m close to finding Shaun.” Sole tried to reason withPreston but at this point he didn’t want to hear Sole’s reasons.

“How many times have Isaid to stop giving her chems? They aren’t good for her. I know you want tofind your son, but this isn’t the way! You’re killing her! How could you be so self-centred?”Preston scolded.

“He is a child Preston! Ineed to find him!” Sole shot back, creasing their eyebrows as they looked athim.

“NO! Not like this!” Prestonshouted, moving closer to Sole’s face. He was visibly angry now, you could tellby the creased-up features on his face.

“You can’t tell me whatto do!”

“FINE! Then were done. Ican’t continue to support you if you’re going to force drugs into Mama Murphy.I can’t.” Sole’s expression immediately softened. Preston was breaking up with them.What.

“You’re not actuallygoing to break u-” Sole started but was cut off by Preston who was stillenraged.

“Yes I am. Don’t think I’mhelping you anymore. I’m completely done.” Preston didn’t even wait for Sole toreply before he backed away, leaving to them to their own devices.

X6-88:X6-88 tapped his transmitter in confusion, usually it worked fine, there havebeen a couple of instances where it had played up at sent him somewhere else insteadof the destination he wanted, but never had it just stopped working. It was annoying,he’d have to contact a member of the institute or find another courser to helphim fix it. And by fix it, he had to find a deceased courser… regardless, hewas trapped until Sole returned. Which they did shortly after it had broken.

“It is good to see you.”X6 said with a faint smile as Sole walked in their home. Sole smiled lightlyback at him, only X6 could tell something was up. “What is wrong?” He asked,sitting down on a chair next to his bottle of purified water.

“You’re not going to likethis, but please hear me out, okay?” Sole pleaded and X6 nodded. He was reasonablewhen it come to most things. “Shaun… Father, I do believe that deep down hethought he was doing what was right…” Sole took a long pause before musteringup the courage to continue. “But I couldn’t let him carry on with what he wasdoing, it isn’t right. I couldn’t let him replace people, destroy families. I’msorry.”

“I don’t understand.” X6said, confused.

“The institute. It’sgone.” There was a long moment of silence, X6 coming to terms with what Solewas saying. He stood up and removed his laser rifle from his belt, pointing it atSole.

“How could you?! How couldyou go against me like this?” The look on his face just read betrayal. Sole didn’tthink they’d ever see that look, mixed with a bit of sadness, on his face.

“I didn’t go against you.The institute and what they stand for, its wrong X6. But now, we can betogether away from all of this. We can start over and be happy.”

“I could NEVER be happywith you. You destroyed my home! You killed Father!” He stepped forwards, pointinghis gun at Sole’s head, ignoring the tears stinging their eyes.

“Put it down, NOW!” Sturges,who had heard the commotion, came in and held a short hunting rifle to thesynths head. “I think its time for you to leave.” He nodded his head towardsthe door as a demand. X6 lowered his gun and headed out the door, taking onelast look at Sole before leaving the settlement.

[companions-n-shit-blog]

Romanced companions (+Nick and deacon) cheat on female!ss and a week of looking for her they find her in a settlement locked up in a room (locked herself in there). What would they do to get her back and who did they cheat on her with?? Sorry if it's kinda long :/

Holy crap this was a long one but I finally finished it! *NOTE: I don’t actually advise staying with someone who isn’t loyal*

Danse: Ever since he discovered he was actually a synth he’s been trying to find himself. The stress of everything he knew becoming a lie has taken a toll on his mental health. Especially now that he is what he despised the most. He couldn’t even get the courage to see sole again. All he could think about is the shame he felt. During one of his worst and lonely nights he found himself wondering Goodneighbor. He felt he belonged there, with the low lives and drifters. He eventually made it into The third rail, drinking his pain away. After knocking back a few too many he was approached by a woman in a beautiful red dress, the singer Magnolia. “You seem to be running from something due to them shots you keep knocking back.“she smiled as she sat next to him. “You have no idea.“He sighed. After the two chatted for what seemed forever she began to move closer. He could feel the warmth of her breast on his arm. "Let’s go back to my place and I can help you forget your problems for a bit longer."she whispered. At this point the room was spinning for Danse and he was willing to try anything to help him forget. They both agree to spend the night together. The next morning Danse found himself completely naked in a strangers bed. He barely had any memory of what happened after they left the bar. Magnolia was nowhere to be found. He tried putting his pants on but fell against the wall. A few seconds later he heard a knock on the door. He slowly opened the door. "Who is it?” Once the door was wide open and his vision cleared he realized it was sole standing infront of him. “Danse, thank god where have you—-.” Their sentence cut off after sole realized Danse was barely clothed. “Danse….what are you doing here?” Danse rubbed the back of his head trying to make up a excuse but nothing came out. Realization flooded sole’s face. They gave Danse a teary eyed glare and quickly dashed away. “Sole!” Danse yelled but they didn’t turn around and faded into the distance. “Shit!” Danse quickly got changed and ran after her. After hours of searching and asking around he eventually found sole locked up in their sanctuary home. He knocked on the door “Sole, please come talk to me.” All he heard was silence. “Sole, I made a stupid drunken mistake. I should’ve never done it and I understand if you never forgive me….I didn’t think you’d want to be with me after you found out I’m a synth. I’m sorry I pushed you away. It’s what I do when I’m afraid.” After a couple of minutes of more silence Danse decided he couldn’t be forgiven and started to walk away but then heard the door slam open. Sole jumped into his arms and caressed his face. “I would never abandon you for being a synth. I love you, synth or not and you should never forget that.” Danse pulled them into a embrace. “I love you.”

Deacon: It’s been 3 weeks since sole has seen deacon. They knew what they were getting into dating such a mysterious man but this was getting ridiculous. After using some of their connections sole eventually managed to track him down at a little settlement about 25 miles away. After mingling with the locals for awhile they finally spotted him in a drifter outfit talking to some lady. Sole decided to hang back and see what Deacons been up to. They eventually made their way into a old dinner where a Mr.Handy was serving. Sole sat a few booths across from them trying not to be noticed. They seemed to be laughing about something while drinking some coffee. Deacon placed his hand on her head and ran his fingers through her hair. She gave him a small kiss on the lips. Sole could feel her face burning red with anger. After half a hour of flirting they payed and left towards a small house with sole following behind. The two went into the house and shut the door. Sole crept up and placed their ear on the door. They heard laughter and the sounds of kissing and movement. After a few minutes sole couldn’t bare it any longer and kicked open the door. Deacon was laying on top of the unknown woman with his shirt off. They both had shocked expressions. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"Sole exclaimed. Deacon jumped up and started pushing sole into another room. "WOAH WOAH, I can explain sole.” Sole angerly slapped Deacon across the face. “How dare you."she choked. Sole stormed out leaving deacon with a bruised face and a confused woman. A few days pass until deacon finally returns to sanctuary. He immediately heads to Sole’s house, lightly knocking and opening the door. He saw sole laying back to him in their bed. "Don’t talk to me."Sole whimpered. Deacon sat down on a chair across from them. "Sole, you don’t actually believe I’m that scummy do ya? I was getting Intel out of her for the railroad. I’m not in love with the girl, it’s strictly business.” Sole angerly sat up. “I’m sorry but back in my day sleeping with someone else is cheating!” Deacon clenched his fist. “I’m sorry but back in my day people trusted eachother. I wasn’t actually going to sleep with her. You should know that.” Sole gave him a very cold glare. “How dare you get mad at me. I’m the one who should be mad!” Deacon quickly stood up. “I’M MAD BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.” He took a deep breath. “I’m mad you didn’t trust me.” He grabbed sole’s hands between his. “I’m sorry I should’ve told you what I was doing. I guess I’m just not used to having someone in my life.” Sole smiled. “I understand.” Sole wrapped their arms around his neck.

Hancock: It’s been 2 weeks since the news of sole’s death reached hancock. He couldn’t believe she was gone….just like that. The one person who actually gave a damn about him. Ever since the news he’s been drifting in and out of consciousness from massive amounts of drugs. He found himself back in Goodneighbor. He was soon aproached by a young woman drifter who also looked like she’s had too much jet. “Hey Hancock. Back for another tour of the town?” He decided there was no point in fighting it and joined the woman back to his office. After doing the do and taking alot more jet a few hours later he heard a knock on his door. “Come in.” As he was trying to shakily refill his jet inhaler he heard a soft voice say “Hancock?” His head shot up to see a bruised and battered sole looking down on him. “SOLE!?” He brushed his fingertips over their bruised face. Sole’s expression went from joy to coldness. “I see you’ve been enjoying yourself.” Hancock looked down at the woman “Sorry love but I think your time here just expired.” The woman slowly grabbed her clothes and stumbled out of the room. “Sole, I thought you were dead!” Sole sighed “Yeah so did i but coming back to this kinda makes me wish I was.” Hancock let out a long breath. “Look sunshine, I thought you were gone for good. I know this looks bad and I fucked up. I never had any intention of being unloyal to you. You’re the only person I can truly say I love you to.” Sole smiled and pulled him into a kiss. “I love you too.”

Maccready: Sole hasn’t been around as often lately. Maccready couldn’t help but notice Sole taking quite a liking to Deacon lately. On one rainy afternoon he saw the two talking with a merchant in Diamond city. They kissed right in front of him. Maccready was filled with rage and stormed off to the nearest bar. With every drink the image of them kissing faded more and more. He noticed a young woman beside him drinking a beer. She resembled lucy in some ways. “I haven’t seen you here before."He said. She blushed, "Oh I’m just passing through.” After a hour of chatting away Maccready invites her to dance. They both sloppily attempt to dance to a 50s style song while others watched and laughed. She eventually fell on him and they met in a drunken kiss. After he helped her up everyone applauded and cheered. Maccready smiled until he saw two dark figures in the corner of the room. It was a angry looking sole and a amused Deacon. Sole quickly ran up and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him into a unrented room in the back. “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?” Sole screamed. “Sorry that I wanted to have my own little fun after I saw you and Deacon making kissy faces.” Sole snorted in protest “WE WERE PRETENDING TO BE A COUPLE TO GET A DISCOUNT MACCREADY!” Maccready’s heart dropped. “Sole….I’m so sorry. I didn’t know, I thought it was the right thing to do.” Sole placed their forehead on his. “You should trust me more, I would never cheat on you.” Maccready squeezed Sole and picked them up. “I don’t deserve you.”

Nick:Sole had been gone on missions for the last few weeks and finally got their first break in ages. They decided to stop by Diamond city for some noodles and remembered Nick had asked them to grab a few case files for him. After finishing their meal sole headed to Nick’s office. Sole dropped their bag at the door and headed into the main area. After turning the corner sole was shocked to see Nick sitting in his chair with his assistant Ellie sitting on his lap with her arms around his neck. “Looks like you two have been working hard.” Sole scoffed. They both jumped up in shock. “Ellie….why don’t you go get some air.” Nick replied. Ellie immediately left the agency. “I know this looks bad but I can explain.” Sole sat on a desk and crossed their arms. “Go on.” “Ellie is young and impulsive. It was just a little crush, that’s all.” Sole sarcastically laughed. “Even if it was, why would you let her do it Nick? You know we’re together!” Nick took his hat off and rubbed his head. “I’m sorry I failed you. I guess it was a moment of weakness, you’ve been gone for so long I guess I got lonely and let things go too far. I understand if you want to end things.” They sat in silence for a minute until sole slowly got up and pulled Nick into a hug. “I forgive you, but don’t let anything like that happen again. Next time I’m gone for awhile, I’ll take you with me.”

Preston: Preston woke up in a unfamiliar room. He had a massive hangover and couldn’t find his pants. Last night was a blur. All he could remember was celebrating another Minutemen victory. After stumbling out of the room and miraculously finding his way back to sanctuary he was met with a lot of odd glares. He managed to change and wash up, still wondering what the hell happened last night. He heard his door swing open and was met with a slap to the face. A very angry sole was standing in front of his doorway. “HOW COULD YOU!” Preston held up his hands trying to calm her down. “PIPER TOLD ME THAT SHE SAW YOU LEAVE WITH SOME WOMAN. HOW COULD YOU CHEAT ON ME LIKE THAT? AFTER ALL WE’VE BEEN THROUGH!” Immediate memories flooded back to his mind and his heart sunk. “Sole I’m sorry. I must’ve had too much to drink. I didn’t know what I was doing.” He felt hot tears runs down his face. Sole went in for another slap but he grabbed their hand this time and tenderly held it. “It meant nothing. I would never do anything to purposely hurt you sole. It was a drunken mistake. Please forgive me, I can’t live without you.” Preston started sobbing on their shoulder. Sole frowned and rubbed his head. “If you truly love me, you have to promise never to do that again.” “I promise.”

[ber-bonfamille-lyons]

Countdown || One-shot

Summary: Berlioz goes to a concert in Bristol and tensions in his little group of mates is high. 

TW for drug use, anxiety

10.

There are ten types of vices Cliff shows to Ber and his mates, the lot of them stashed on the train. Bristol is coming into focus, something like ten minutes out. Cliff’s got Fey’s and Molly and Mary Jane and all the other girls too. The pills could be candy. The pills could be jewels. They shine in the iris of each of Ber’s mates as they lean over to pluck a lucky one from the pile.

Ber gets hungry looking at them. But he’s thinkin’ about-- Tink, actually, Tink locked away in a place she hates over flirting with too many of these bite-sized dollops of heaven. Tink, and how alone she is. Tink, and the blues of her lips after a slip of Fey’s, a kiss she couldn’t take back.

And the next thought is of Simba.

Baggie gets passed around, hand to hand. When it arrives in Ber’s hand, he shifts in his seat, rolling the plastic in his fingers, considering it--  and then he hands it back to Cliff.

“Saint Berlioz,” says Spence from cross the seat. Their eyes meet. Someone snickers.

Ber can feel a low tremor in his chest, but he just shoves his hands in his pockets. He’s fine. The music will drown it out, soon enough.

9.

Thurl keys a can of beer, and a fountain erupts. The cement splatters with that pale ale outside the club before Thurl ducks his head and brings the beer in. He slurps noisily, throwing back his head as he gulps, his adam’s apple bobbing.

Sun’s going down. Door’s open at 9.

Thurl lets out a refreshing “Ahhh” as he finishes the beer, then crushes it in his hand. He bends down, the  plastic bag crinkling as he produces another can. Around them, bodies shuffle from foot to foot. It’s cold. Cold for Ber at least. He puffs air on his hands to warm up his frigid fingertips. Soon it’ll be warm though, real warm. He’s got just his leather jacket over a t-shirt, knowing that he’ll need to shed a layer once he’s just another body among hundreds of bodies-- or, the way Ber likes to think of it, a single cell in one giant body. When the club swallows him, that’s when he transforms.

He’s got his phone in one of his pocket, earbud in one ear. Stromae is playing. He likes to warm up for concerts with music from that concert. Everybody always thinks this is kind of nuts, cept Pep, who has the other earbud.

“Think he’ll do any from Alors on danse?” comments Pep.

Ber shakes his head. “Not if he’s previewin’ stuff.”

“Think he’s previewing stuff?”

“Cliff says so.”

“Yeah, what do you think?”

Ber licks at his lips, then blows into his hands again. “Town like Bristol,” he says, “sure. Less likely to leak.”

“Spence will leak it though,” Pep says with a laugh. “Won’t you Spence?”

Spence is two people behind Berlioz-- June and Sarah between.

“My sacred duty,” comments Spence. Ber doesn’t turn around, so when he speaks, Spence’s voice echoes over Berlioz. Ber thinks of the teachers coming in on the overhead, barking orders.

Pep laughs again. “Hey Ber,” Spence speaks directly to him. “You can publish any footage I sneak on your blog first.”

It doesn’t sound friendly. Ber doesn’t know if that’s because it’s not-- it’s just Spence, mocking him-- or if Ber’s made it up in his head, thinking he deserves to be mocked. He chews a little on the inside of his cheek and ducks his head. His throat clears. “Cliff’ll want it for the radio blog,” he says, not looking.

“Cliff’s a dick,” calls Spence all cheerful. Cliff’s voice raises into a whiny protest: “HEY, you pisser, watch it.”  

Ber turns his head half-way, catching Spence’s eye, because Spence is looking directly at him.

Then there’s more crinkling of plastic, Thurl getting out a third beer. Cliff, lips pink and wet from the second, hoots. “Who’s gonna shotgun next?”

“Berlioz!” shouts Sarah and pushes at his back. His earbud slips out when he takes one step forward. He can hear Spence snort, then mumble something to June.

Cliff pushes the can into his palm. Its metal skin is cold, even colder than his fingertips. Those fingertips wrap around it as he thinks to himself, Simba said you could drink.

He needs to. His brain is itchy, he needs it quiet.

He sticks the key in and twists it. The beer shoots out fast, spraying his neck till he gets his lips round it and then he takes all of its nectar, down, down, till it’s all churning in his stomach. A stream of beer dribbles from the corner of his lip, golden under the streetlight.

“Got anymore?” Ber says when he’s finished.

“There he is!” Cliff exclaims, claps him on the shoulder. “I was worried for a moment there that our lil Berlioz wouldn’t be joining us this evening,” he chuckles.

The next beer goes down just as easy. And the one after that.

8.

The eight of ‘em shuffle in line, tickets out, their cans trashed behind them on the ground and their eyes wild. Ber feels as light as a paper plane. His eyes rest on the door. The cement is already shaking from the music they got pounding out of the speakers just over that threshold.

They weren’t always eight, you know. Their line-up has always been in flux, this group existing far back before Berlioz, mates drifting in and drifting out. The only thing that bonds it, that keeps it a group, is this scene ahead of them-- all that music, coaxing people like Ber forward. Coaxing people like Ber-- and like Zib and Cliff and Thurl and Pep and Spence and June and Sarah-- together.

Ber thinks about how easy it was, becoming friends with these people. All he had to do was know a code word-- the name of an album or song or artist. A codeword, which unlocked a language he has spoken fluently now for six years of his life. The friendships came with it. And you know, he could say that code word to anyone  in this club and find another mate. Someone to drink with. Someone to smoke with. Someone to dance next to.

It’s so easy, becoming friends with these people, so easy that you can replace them just as fast, like switching out records or changing a song on the radio. It’s like-- Ber used to have a favourite song by Stromae, till he came out with a new album, and he found a new one. Cliff used to have other friends who dicked off to uni and now he’s replaced them with this lot.

These two scenarios are exactly the same thing, Ber thinks. It’s so easy to replace, and to be replaced.

They enter the club together. Immediately, they begin to link arms to form a wall, to push themselves to the front. Today, they are eight.

Tomorrow though?

Ber’s body jostles, tugged by Thurl ahead of him, pushed by June behind him. “You texted Simba you arrived safely yet?” she hisses at him. 

It’s so easy, becoming friends with these people. And it’s so easy to lose them.

7. The opening act is shit and everyone’s bored. Toward the end, Ber excuses himself for the loo, since he’ll not want to miss a moment of Stromae. He’s not drunk enough either. Everything feels compressed, not in the way he likes. He needs a drink.

There’s a queue which he scowls at, but takes his place in it, the seventh person before the door. He leans up against the wall.

“Stole my idea, I see.”

It’s Spence.

Ber opens his eyes. He didn’t know he closed them. Spence sidles up, leans his shoulder against that same wall and studies Berlioz. Ber wants to jump out of his skin.

“Habit,” Ber says.

“Yeah, I know. Gonna get drinks after this?”

“Mm.”

“I’ll join you.”

“Sure.”

Spence inches closer and Ber pushes up from the wall like it’s on fire.

Spence scoffs. “I fucking knew it.”

“Knew what?” Ber says, his voice a low whisper as his heart kicks up speed.

Spence scoffs again.

6.

Six years ago, he and Spence had hooked up for the first time.

Only then, it had just been a kiss. They’d been smoking weed in the garden shed of Spence’s house, playing Bloc Party on Ber’s phone, when Spence had leaned over and kissed Berlioz. It lasted one second.

“We should do that again,” Berlioz had said, and then he hit replay on his phone.

  5. Spence scoffs, “Knew you were avoiding me. What’s it been now? Five months?”

“Since what?” Ber plays dumb.

“Come off it.”

Ber looks away.

“Berlioz,” says Spence. “Berlioz. Stop it. You’re being a prick.”

Thing is, Ber wants to stop it. But he’s shoved himself into the back of his own brain, and now he’s practicing folding himself up into the littlest units so he can become invisible. He can’t climb out now, he never could. Spence should know that, Spence, who’d watched Ber fold before. Spence should know him-- all these people should know him.

“You just gonna keep ignoring me?” pushes Spence.

He’s not, he swears. He’s trapped. He’s staring at the crud on the club floor as shoes drift into his line of vision and then drift out.

I don’t mean it, I’m sorry, I don’t know. These words float through his brain and he can’t grasp onto any.

Then Spence shoves him.

Ber stumbles into the person in front of him and that person dominoes into the one after that. The other bloke whips on him fast. “What the fuck is your problem?” the stranger snarls, grabbing at his arm. He’s got pupil-eyes, black-hole eyes, Ber calls them. Ber stares stricken into those tunnels.

“I--” Ber utters.

The stranger lets go of his arm. “Chill out!’

And Spence actually laughs behind him.. Ber turns-- “What the fuck did you do that for--” he hisses.  

“Why the fuck do you think?”

4. There are four more people in line but Ber can’t do this.

He escapes, ejecting himself from the line as fast as he can. He shoves back into the crowd where the air is thickest with the smells of sweat, booze, breath and smoke. He wades through it like fog, as the lights of the club spire above him in blades of neon green and pink. There’s a rumble through the crowd as the front stage lights flash a blinding white and the house music comes to an abrupt stop.

French crackles in the air-- Are you ready?

Everyone shouts their temporary god’s name: Stromae! Stromae! Stromae! Stromae!

Behind him, Spence calls his name instead: “Berlioz! Fuck you. You’re gonna listen to me.”

He’s being hunted.

“You’re a tool, you know,” Spence spits from behind. “The way you are with him. You’ve been ignoring us for months.”

The crowd pushes him back and forth Ber keeps his balance if only because he’s done this too many times, and his body knows how to ride the waves. He weaves toward the back of the crowd, eyes on that door, even when his vision checkerboards with the strobe lights.

The door blinks in and out and in and out and in and out, like a camera snapping at rapid shutter speed.

“BERLIOZ.”

3.

Stromae’s voice booms once again through the speakers and over Spence: “TROIS… DEUX… UN”

The crowd gets more violent and the music starts up again. Ber should be up at the front. He should be jumping up and down, one cell in one body, not shoving people into each other.

He is the discordant note. He is the one, wrong thing, in a hive mind of perfect harmony.

“You’re his little bitch,” shouts Spence from behind.

He breaks through the crowd and walks the straight line to the door. As he crosses the threshold back into the Bristol air, he can breathe.

2.

“Berlioz.”

And then it’s the two of them.

Ber closes his eyes at the sound of Spence’s voice, as though he is collecting strength. This lasts a second, then he whirls back around. “Leave me alone,” he bites out-- in French. He rubs at his eyes, feeling tears gathering there.

“I’m not letting you get away with this anymore,” hisses Spence. “You wanna leave, fine. But know that you’re being a shitty friend, like you’ve been all year. He’s changed you. You let that happen.”

“What the fuck is your problem, just because I’m happy--” Ber starts, stops, brain resetting mid-sentence. “Just because I--I don’t want to get blasted every weekend o-or--”

“You can be happy and not a total tool, you delusional prick,” snarls Spence. “He says jump, you say how high. He’s the reason you won’t talk to me. You look at me like I’m diseased.”

“That’s not his fault,” says Ber, hoarsely.

“Oh yeah it is. You don’t do anything without his approval or opinion.”

“That’s not true,” he says more desperately.

“Yeah it is.”

“You don’t know us--”

“Exactly, because you’re so far up his arse and you won’t talk to any of us anymore!” snaps Spence.

He thinks all this is dangerous, Ber wants to say. And maybe it is. Ber would have to admit that if he says what he thinks. Maybe he doesn’t want to do it anymore, not the way he has in the past.

But his brain is a roar of white noise, all his words lost underneath it. Not a single one of them would help him anyway. If he could, he’d drown himself in the music, but the club has teeth and it’s not safe, not with Spence standing in guard of it, not with his friends in there, his friends who aren’t his friends anymore.

And that’s all his fault. Spence is right. It’s all his fault. No one will notice that he’s gone. No one will be surprised.

“...I’m sorry,” he tries, pathetically. Spence stares at him just as hard as he has been.

“Sorry about what?” says Spence. “Which part?”

“I...I…”

Spence’s nose scrunches like he’s smelled something horrible. “Nevermind, Ber. You don’t get it.”

“I’m sorry I--I’m-- different, I-- I’m sorry I-- don’t wanna hook up with you anymore--”

Spence scoffs again. “It’s not about that. I don’t care about that. ”

“Then...I…”

“Whatever. I’m not missin’ Stromae over you.”

Then Spence turns and ducks back into the club, engulfed in the neon lights and all that heavy, hard-hitting sound. Ber feels frozen to the ground. The Bristol air claws cold at his skin. His breath comes in short pants, visible in the air. And then he’s crouching on the cement, gripping at his own knees and each breath slices through him like a knife.

1.

Ber is alone.

He takes a cab back to the train station. He sits on the platform, the next train not for one more hour, and it’s not even going the right way. He has a missed text from Simba, telling Ber that he loves him. Ber could call and he could cry, but  that would feel like a betrayal-- to Spence, to himself, to the music he loves and has left behind.

So instead, he fishes his hand into his pocket, pulling a little pill from Cliff’s baggy after all. It’s his only friend now. Ber rolls the little thing between this thumb and his index. He promised Simba.

Simba doesn’t have to know.  

Ber slips the pill into his mouth, and that warm, clean high keeps him company till the train comes.

[atombombbagel]

Romanced companions react to seeing a stranger relentless hit on Sole? Like, some sleaze at a bar continuously hitting on Sole despite their firm rebuffs that they're taken?

*I mixed this with another request that was similar, something along the lines of ‘Companions react to someone trying to kiss SSbut they don’t want to kiss this random stranger’ Hope that is alright

Cait: Soleshifted awkwardly on the bar stool as they waved their hand in front of the guyhitting on them, basically telling him to fuck off. Despite endless attempts,he was still coming onto them, still smelling like stale, warm alcohol and Solewas at their wits end. Cait saw Sole’s uncomfortableness and took it uponherself to give the sleaze bag a piece of her mind, especially when she noticedthem lean to try and kiss Sole.

“Back off ya asshole,” Cait said shoving the guy back by hisshoulder, nearly knocking him off the bar stool he was propped up on.

“Mine your own business lady,” the guy said and Cait laughedmockingly. She scoffed when the guy proceeded to lean back into Sole, grabbinghim by the shoulder and punching him directly in his right eye, this timeknocking him clean off the stool.

“Fuck off they’re mine,” Cait spat, watching the man scamperto his feet so he could get away from her, “Ye alright Sole?” she asked turningto them. Sole nodded slowly, stunned by the events that had just gone down.

“That was pretty freakin’ hot,” Sole said, making Cait laugh.

“I got a lot more where that came from,”

Curie: Curiekissed Sole’s cheek before she headed off to get herself a drink at the bar,she was quite experimental when it came to trying new alcoholic beverages. She orderedherself a couple of drinks and turned around to find Sole, making out withsomeone else, only that wasn’t the case. She put the drink tray down on thetable before slowly walking towards Sole and the other mystery woman.

“Would you get off!” Sole shouted as she pushed the womanoff of her, making her stumble back a couple of paces.

“Come on honey,” the other woman said, leaning back into Sole.Sole scrunched up their nose at the smell of the woman’s breath, a mix ofalcohol and Mirelurk cake. Sole shook their head, being firm when they said no.The woman made another pass at her.

“The last time I heard, no means no,” Curie stated with herhands on her hip, shaking her head at the woman, who shot Curie an annoyed look.

“What are you, the fun police?” the woman mocked, and Curiefurrowed her eyebrows.

“No, I’m a scientist,” Sole sniggered behind her, she was soinnocent, she couldn’t even pick up a hint of sarcasm from the other woman.

“What no I meant,” the woman sighed, “Uhh,” she huffed, “thisisn’t worth it,” the woman held up her hands and pushed past Curie, bothering anotherwoman at the other end of the bar.

“Thanks for coming to my rescue,” Sole said with a smile andCurie smiled back.

“Do I look like an officer?” Curie said looking down at herclothes and Sole burst out laughing. They’d have to explain sarcastic humour tothe clueless Curie.

Danse: “I’ll haveanother, and one for the lady / man,” A short man stepped up to the bar,nodding towards the bartender as he ordered himself and Sole a drink.

“I already have one,” Sole replied holding up her half emptyglass.

“I insist,” Sole scoffed and turned their back on the man, aclear no to him, but he apparently couldn’t take a hint. He grabbed Sole’sshoulder and forced them to face him as he pushed the new drink in theirdirection, “Don’t be a spoil sport, have some of your drink,” he ordered, andSole tried to push him off, but his grip on them was iron clad, “C’mon no needto be a tease,” he laughed, making Sole’s face scrunch up in disgust.

The man leaned into Sole, puckering up his lips and Solekicked him in the leg. Before the man could react Danse had stormed over to himand picked him up by the collar, carrying him towards the bar door. He kickedit open and tossed the man onto the ground. He then walked over to him and puta foot on his chest.

“I suggest you don’t try that again civilian,” he saidangrily before removing his foot from the man’s chest and turning back to walkinside the bar. He sat down next to Sole.

“Bartender, a drink for my hero?” Sole said as the leaned ontheir arm looking over at Danse. They leaned over and pecked his cheek, makingDanse blush.

Deacon: Deaconand Sole were undercover, working to rescue a synth from a raider base, they’ddressed up as cut-throat raiders and now they were sitting around a bonfire,listening to the disgusting tales of one of the raiders.

One raider who was drunk and high off their ass decided itwould be a good idea to hit on Sole, practically jumping into their lap.

“I could rock your world,” they hiccupped as they leanedinto Sole, nearly knocking them off their chair. Sole struggled to push themoff, they didn’t want to give away their cover. Deacon looked over, trying notto lose his cool as he watched the raider lean into Sole and crash their mouthto Sole’s. They shoved the raider off his lap and Deacon got up walking overand kicking the guy in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.

“That’s my piece of ass you’re messing with,” Deaconstuttered, trying to sound like a badass, but failing, he looked over at Sole,“that sounded raider-y, right?” he whispered and Sole nodded slowly.

“We should get the synth and get out of here,” Solewhispered back and Deacon nodded wrapping his arm around Sole’s shoulder.

“We are going to do stuff…” he looked awkwardly at theraiders sitting around the bonfire, “be right back?”

Gage: Sole hadconvinced Gage to dance with them at a bar in Nuka world, he was reluctant, buthe sighed and gave in anyway, he always did. Sole leaned up and kissed himhungrily as they danced and after that Gage took a little break to go orderthem some drinks from the bar.

“One Nuka Cola and one Gwinnett Ale,” he said nodding at thebartender as he put a couple of caps on the table, forgetting he was with theOverboss for a moment and drinks were on the house. When he turned around henearly dropped his drink seeing another person throw themselves at Sole, theirhands grabbing at their waist as they tried to pull them into a kiss, “Holdonto these,” Gage said to the bartender and they nodded at him. Sole tried topush the person off but he kept coming back to them.

Gage stalked over to the person and grabbed their shoulder,spinning them to face him.

“You lost?” Gage mocked, before he raised his fist and hitthe person in the face, knocking them back a couple of paces, he leaned down,so he was eye to eye with them, “touch my fucking woman / man again, I will endyou,” he shoved them back, walking over to Sole and putting his arm aroundtheir shoulder as he walked back to the bar with them. Sole didn’t have to sayanything because Gage’s actions said everything.

Hancock: Sole wassitting on a sofa at one of the tables inside the Third Rail, a group ofdrifters sitting at the table with them. Hancock was leaning at the bar,talking to Whitechapel Charlie, getting up to date on the goings on in histown. He was watching Sole out of the corner of his eye. A drifter sat next toSole, their hands on her leg as they whispered in her ear. Sole shook theirhead at them, picking up their hand and moving it from their leg.

Hancock watched as the drifter put their hand back on Sole’sleg, this time squeezing it as they leaned back into Sole’s ear, their mouthinches from Sole’s.

“No,” he heard Sole say, but the drifter wouldn’t removetheir hand or give up with their pointless flirting. Hancock pushed himself offthe bar and nodding a goodbye at Charlie as he walked over to Sole’s table,twirling his knife in his hand.

“Seems like someone wants to end up like old Finn,” he saidin a gruff voice, startling the drifter. They turned to look at Hancock, theireyes widening as their eyes trailed down to the knife in his hand, the lighthitting off it making it shine in their eyes. The drifter immediately let go ofSole’s leg, getting up and practically running out of the bar.

Hancock sat down in the space next to Sole, wrapping his armaround their shoulder.

“Anyone else want to try anything?” Hancock asked, his knifegleaming in his hand. They all frantically shook their heads, avoidingHancock’s dark eyes, “Good,” he put his knife in his jacket pocket, beforeleaning over and pecking Sole’s cheek. Sole had never been more attracted tohim, than in that moment.

MacCready: WhenMacCready noticed another man flirting with Sole it made his heart sink to thebottom of his stomach, he couldn’t help but feel like they’d pick anyone overhim, but that wasn’t the case at all. He watched as Sole got up and moved awayfrom the man, sitting in a different seat, only to watch the man move into theone next to her.

“Would you back off?” Sole said in frustration as the mancontinued his relentless quest to get Sole into bed with him. It was then thatthe man leaned into Sole, trying to force them to kiss him, but Sole slappedhim across the face.

“I love a challenge,” the man said as he grabbed Sole again.By that time MacCready had walked over to Sole, putting himself in front ofthem as he confronted the man.

“I think they told you to back off,” MacCready said puffingout his chest in an attempt to appear tough. The man chuckled looking down atMacCready.

“What are you going to do about it little man?” he laughedand MacCready smirked before headbutting the man in the nose, making himstumble off his chair and onto the ground, holding onto his nose.

“Back off,” MacCready said through gritted teeth and Soleput their hand on his arm, making him turn and look at them, “you alright?” heasked and Sole nodded.

“Why don’t we get out of here?” Sole said suggestively witha smile and MacCready nodded. He wasn’t going to say no to that.

Nick: “No,” Solesaid as they walked past the same guy who had been trying to get them to go ona date with him for the past couple of days. He was at it again, constantlyfollowing Sole around Diamond City as he relentlessly asked them out, going sofar as to grab their ass as they walked by. Sole had tried to ignore theirconstant attempts, but it was getting a little out of hand.

It was only when he’d grabbed Sole and pinned them againstthe wall, trying to kiss them that Nick finally snapped himself, grabbing thekid by the shoulders and pulling him off Sole.

“That’s not a good idea pal, unless you want to spend thenext few days in surgery that is,” Nick said calmly as Sole’s eyes widened ashe said it, they’d never seen him threaten anyone quite like that and to behonest they liked it. The man shook his head, avoiding Nick’s threateningglowing eyes, “good, now get out of here and don’t try that again,” he shovedthe man away, and he stumbled before running in the opposite direction.

“Wow,” Sole said to Nick and he turned to look at her,“Detective Valentine protecting what’s his, I like it,” Sole said with a winkand Nick chuckled. He hadn’t even thought about it that way.

Piper: “Could youperhaps not do that?” Sole asked as a man grabbed their hips from behind,swaying with them to the music, “Look my girlfri-”

“Oh, come one now, we’re just having some fun,” she said,her hands gripping at Sole’s waist. He moved so he was in front of Sole, “wecould make it a threesome,” he whispered leaning into Sole’s ear. His lipspressed against Sole’s neck as his grip on their waist tightened.

“Get off of me,” Sole squealed as they pushed against themans chest, finally getting free of his grip. Piper had returned from thebathroom, watching the events go down, she thought for a moment before walking overto the two of them.

“Local man is a sleaze bag, doesn’t take no for an answer,this is going to make headline news,” Piper said as she pretended to scribble acouple of lines down in her notebook. She looked at the man again, who had ahorrified look on his face, “I got plenty of ways to ruin your reputation,” shesaid, tapping her pencil against her lip, “none of the ladies will come nearyou when I’m finished,”

“This is your girlfriend?” The man rolled his eyes beforebacking off.

“So, you’ve heard of me?” Piper said excitedly, holding herhand up to her chest. The man huffed before turning around and walking off, “hmm,guess he doesn’t like me,” Piper then said, pretending to be offended, sheturned to Sole, “You alright Blue?”

“Yeah,” Sole nodded, “Thanks for your help,”

Preston: Sole andPreston had been visiting a nearby settlement, to see if they needed anything,whether it be supplies, defences or some help with building new places to live.They’d been helping out all day, fixing up some broken windows and picking somecrops and they’d decided to take a little break and have a drink to wind downand relax.

“What’s a beautiful person like you doing here all alone,” adrunk settler said as they approached Sole, sitting on the chair next to her,her hot breath hitting the side of Sole’s face.

“I’m not alon-”

“Shhhh,” the woman said putting a finger over Sole’s lips asshe cut her off from talking. Sole raised her eyebrows at the woman’s rudeness,pulling her face away from the other woman’s finger, “How about we get out ofhere and have some fun,”

“I’m good thanks,” Sole retorted, turning her head away, butthe woman was persistent, and she grabbed Sole’s face and planted a sloppy kisson Sole’s mouth. Preston had been watching the entire time and he thought he’dbetter step in before things got worse. He walked over to Sole, putting a handon their shoulder.

“Everything alright over here?” he asked and Sole shooktheir head, “I think you’ve had enough,” Preston said to the woman, who wasbarely able to keep herself up on the chair. He helped her up and walked herover to one of the small houses filled with beds. He tucked her in and left herthere before walking back into the bar and back over to Sole.

“I wasn’t going to-”

“I know, I saw. She was drunk,” he paused, “andI trust you, what do you say we head back home?”

[atombombbagel]

Companions, not so secret crush

Cait: “Do I have to fucking spell it out for ya?” Cait wasn’t good at sharing her personal feelings with people and when she did she wasn’t delicate about it, “I know what I’m feeling aint one sided. I’ve seen the way you look at me,”

Sole knew better than to stop off at a bar, seeing as Cait liked a drink from time to time and now Cait was on Sole like fleas on a cat.

“I want to be with ya and I know you want it too, so you might as well just say it,” Cait slurred making Sole laugh as they tried to stop Cait from falling from her bar stool. What she was saying was true, there was no doubt about it but she was wasted and probably wouldn’t remember doing this in the morning.

“Why don’t we talk about this in the morning? Right now, you need some sleep.”

Curie: Curie made no secret about her obvious crush on Sole. She could barely control her urges, let alone her feelings, as she’d only had a synth body for a couple of weeks. There were so many things to think about, all these feelings towards life and towards Sole.

“Curie?” Sole waved their hand in front of Curie’s face, snapping her out of her thoughts. Curie smiled before apologising, “I just cannot stop thinking about you, these feelings, what do they mean?” Curie said nonchalantly, making Sole blush. It wasn’t every day that someone would be so blatantly forward with their feelings for someone, but then again it was Curie and she didn’t have a filter.

“Oh, I seem to have made you uncomfortable?”

“No, no, that isn’t… I just wasn’t expecting… well that, really,” Sole wasn’t expecting that in the slightest and now they weren’t quite sure what to do about the thoughts about Curie running through their mind.  

Danse: Sole glanced over at Danse, who had his eyes fixed on Sole’s ass. Sole held in a laugh as Danse looked away, hoping he hadn’t been caught but he had, again.

Scribe Haylen had informed Sole of Danse’s little puppy crush on Sole and Sole hadn’t thought much of it until they started noticing the small things Danse would do for them. Sole had cleared out their storage chest aboard the Prydwen, only to watch Danse, from a distance, putting extra ammo and fusion cores in there.

“Are you okay Paladin?” Sole asked a smile forming on their lips as they watched Danse stammer, he’d been caught, again. He apologised and Sole would laugh as he excused himself, nearly stumbling over his own feet as he hurried out of the room. Sole couldn’t help but notice that Danse was cute when he was blushing, way too cute.

Deacon: “Word around HQ is that a certain spy had maybe developed a crush on a certain vault dweller. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you Deacon?” Sole teased, running their fingers lightly up an unexpected Deacon’s chest.

They were running on an op for PAM, trying to find a stray courser that happened to escape the Institute’s blast. Sole watched as Deacon’s face went all different shades of red.

“Who me? Nope. I know nothing about that,” he tried to play it cool but even his disguises couldn’t save him from the relentless torment he’d receive from Sole.

“Right, well that’s a shame, because…” Deacon watched behind his sunglasses as Sole slowly unzipped their vault suit. Deacon’s breathing hitched in his throat as his eyes fixed on Sole’s exposed chest. He dragged his lip between his teeth, waiting for Sole to reveal all to him, wanting it.

“If you find the spy you let me know,” Sole winked before leaving a flustered Deacon, very frustrated.

Hancock: Sole caught Hancock’s eyes as they raised their glass to their lips, throwing back whatever alcoholic beverage Charlie had poured for them. Sole had heard the rumours, not that Hancock kept his feelings a secret, he was very open about his conquests. Sole leaned into Hancock, resting their hand on his chest as they put their drink on the table next to them. Hancock was a flirt and lucky for him, Sole was too, whatever game he was playing, Sole would gladly join in.

“What’s the word around town, Mr Mayor?” Sole whispered into Hancock’s ear, sending a shiver down his spine. Sole was awfully close to him and it took everything in his power not to pull them into him.

“Sunshine, I think you already know,” he said back, his breath tickling Sole’s cheek. Hancock knew that Sole was aware of his feelings, but just like them, he could play this game, all day long.

MacCready: Sole had saved his son and they were very attractive, so it wasn’t a surprise to him when he felt that familiar pang in his heart whenever Sole entered a room. He’d only felt this way once before and for a man who wasn’t good at sharing the way he was feeling it was pretty damn obvious. Everyone could see it, the way he looked at Sole and the way he spoke to them. But Sole seemed to be oblivious.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” Sole asked with a smile as they noticed MacCready looking at them. He shook his head, looking down at the table. It was at that moment he wished that he was bold like Cait or Hancock.

Later that evening Hancock had filled Sole in the crush and they felt stupid for not seeing it earlier. So, Sole did what Sole does best, they teased him about it. They sat back down at the table, leaning in to MacCready as they spoke, their lips mere centimetres from his. Sole made sure they were touching MacCready, even it was a simple brush against their arm. Now Sole waited, waited for MacCready to make his move.

Nick: Ellie’s words played on Sole’s mind, in fact they couldn’t forget it and now they found that they may have developed something for their favourite Synth detective.

“He was so grateful, you’re all he talks about. You’ve done so much for us and for him, I can see why he fancies you,” Ellie had slapped her hand across her mouth but it was too late, way too late and now Sole didn’t know how to act around Nick.

“Is everything alright? You seem distracted?” Nick stopped moving, titling his head a little as he eyed Sole in concern. And then Sole felt that melting feeling in their heart. They didn’t know how long they could keep up this charade.

Piper: “What’s wrong with her?” Sole asked Nat, as Piper stormed through the door to Publik Occurrences.

Piper had laughed at something Sole had said, snorting loudly in the process which caused Sole to laugh at her.

“Oh, she has a crush on you. She told me,” Sole looked from Nat to the door, so that is why she was mad. Piper had a crush on them? That was the best news they’d heard in a while.

Sole found Piper, tapping away at the keys of her type writer, she knew Sole was watching. Sole watched from over her shoulder, she was furiously typing.

Turns out Sole is an asshole

“Oh, come on I didn’t mean to upset you,” Sole tore the page from the type writer, making Piper stand up in a huff, “When were you going to tell me?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Sole smiled at Piper, she was adorable when she was mad. Sole leaned into her.

“You have feelings for me,”

“Oh my god,” She dramatically threw her hands around as she spoke, Sole caught her hands, pulling her into them.

“You should’ve just told me,” Sole smiled mischievously. If they thought they were off the hook, they were very mistaken.  

Preston: Preston thought he was doing well, hiding his crush on Sole, but he was wrong, so very wrong. Mama Murphy saw it, as she sees everything.

Preston watched as Sole spoke with a settler in Oberland Station, he loved the way they took the work of the Minutemen so seriously. He tried to shake off the feeling of butterflies in his stomach as Sole walked back over to him.

“We’re all done here, should we head back?” Sole said, but it didn’t register with Preston as he was too busy inside his own head, “Preston?” Sole nudged his arm gently, snapping him out of his thoughts, instead he focused on Sole’s smile.

“Yes, lets head back General,” Deep down Sole knew of his crush but for now they just wanted to let this situation play out. And if the situation goes on for too long, they’d have to do something about that.