#and yes up for upside down ofc | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ebaylee422 · 1 year ago

Text

Landside

Billy X GF!Reader

Authors Note: We want a scared Dad Billy? Yeah we’re gonna get one.

AU Summary - This is if Billy didn’t ‘actually' die during Season 3. He’s been with the group for a year, even aiding them against Vecna Season 4. Everyone who fell victim to Vecna was trapped in the Upside Down, including but not limited to Barb, Billy (ofc), Bob, Chrissy, Eddie, Jason, etc You get the idea. They all still bear the weight of what happened to all of them. It’s like they were raised from the dead if you will. This fic takes place maybe five years later? So 1990-91 ish

Warnings/Tags: Smut, Unplanned pregnancy, family trauma, name-calling between friends. Fixing everything and any death post season 4, lots of Steddie and Ronance, Talk of body issues, pregnancy fears, fear of not being good enough, Physical violence in the form of threats or thrown objects.

Word Count: 7.8k

I come up from doing a few laps in the pool, stepping up the stairs. Billy walked towards me with a towel in hand.

“Looking good out there Ms. Y/L/N.” I smirk, taking the towel from his hands, dabbing at the water on my face and hairline.

“Thank you,”

“Perfect form, and that suit is marvelous.” he winks.

“Well your form is marvelous,” I say making him blush, “I mean, you are a great teacher, teaching lessons to the kids-”

“You know, I could uh. I could teach you if you like?”

“Oh?”

“Yes, well, I know all the styles.” he looked me up and down, opening a piece of gum. Setting his free hand to follow the strap of the bikini dangerously close to cupping my breast. “Free style, um Butterfly, and Breast stroke.” I watch him breach his soft lips slipping the gum into his mouth, accidentally dropping the towel in my hands.

“Oops.” I bend over, picking up the towel slowly. So he can see the arch of my back and the space between my bathing suit and breasts. “I didn’t know you offered adult lessons.”

“Well you know, I offer advanced lessons to a select clientele. Come to think of it, there's a good pool out at uh, Motel 6 on Cornwallis. Very quiet, you know, very private. Should we say tonight, 8 o’clock.”

“Wouldn’t this be the 4th time this week Mr. Hargrove? I don’t think there’s anything left to teach me.” I brush my hands on his chest toying with the whistle around his neck.

“Oh you see that’s where you're wrong I think there are plenty of things left to do. I just don’t think I’ve pushed you hard enough.” leaning into the tease, brushing up my arm leaving goosebumps even in the damp heat of summer.

“Well I need to-”

“It will be the workout of your life.” he cut me off,

“I will need your help deciding what to wear, you have such impeccable taste.” I ran my hand down my side over the hem of the swim bottoms, knowing it drove him crazy looking at the light trail of hair disappearing into my swim bottoms along my pelvis.

“A tease you are,” he pulls my waist to him, kissing me deeply for everyone at the pool to see how taken we are with each other. My fingertips dip into his waistband, distracting him while my tongue dips into his mouth, snatching the gum and pulling back quickly. "Oh a thief too, I see your game." I blow a bubble, smacking the gum and twisting out of his arms to hold his hands.

“Gotta hit the showers, California, perhaps a rain check? I’ll find you before I leave!” winking and popping the gum one last time, skipping to cool off from the hot sun in the women's locker room.

Grabbing a fresh towel and some soap from my locker I pull the curtain taut. Letting the water run over my suit, unsticking it with all the chlorine and sunscreen. Hanging it on the hook, tying my hair up and washing my body. Just when there’s suds' coating my eyes I hear someone pull the curtain open,

“This one’s taken!” I hide my body against the wall, trying to wash out the soap when the curtain closes again. Getting frustrated I vigorously put water in my eyes, hearing wet steps. A hand covers my mouth so I can’t scream, turning me around quickly to the haughty chuckle. Billy stands smiling wildly, “What do you think you're doing!” I smack at his chest, he shushes my protest, kissing down my throat creating a bee-line to my chest. Instinctively I hook my arms around his neck, looking down to see he’s also completely naked. “You're supposed to be working, go away.” I hum as he kisses the tops of my breasts.

“But your breasts are so amazing and all soapy. God, have they gotten bigger? My girls, all pretty and sensitive.” he whines on my neck, “and I know you didn’t just buy a suit I wanted, tease me with it. Not wanting me to fuck you, oh not my doll! What have you done with her?!” I laugh as he shakes me, hands on the middle of my spine.

“Okay well then it worked better than I thought, I guess actions speak louder-” he was hammering the spot on my neck that gives my stomach butterflies, “Billy-” I whine.

“Yes? Anything for you.” he looked up, with those gorgeous blue eyes pupils of black onyx swallowing the ocean with lust.

“B, I don’t feel too good...” I pout,

“Well then, let me make you feel so much better, huh? Let Billy take care of you. I'll make you feel better, and damn you smell so good, Indiana.” He doesn’t push my limits by forcing himself on me, just showering me with love in his way of physical contact.

"Billy-..."

"What hurts baby?"

"My back, and I'm nauseous." I hold onto him, playing with his St. Christopher’s necklace under the cool water.

"Well I could blow your back out for ya and buy you dinner afterwards. A nice corn dog and push pop from concessions?"

"You're not helping. You corn dog."

"Correction, it's horn dog." He blows a raspberry along my neck, correcting me.

“Billy! Someone will hear us!” I laugh, running my hand through his wet locks.

“Nope paid that one kid five bucks to scare anyone off, think his name is Ben. Maybe Benson?”

“There’s a teenager outside the woman’s shower room scaring people away so you can fuck me?”

“No, I locked the door and put one of the shower chairs under the handle!”

“Hmm, might take me a little more convincing.” I tease, pushing his shoulders down for him to kneel in front of me. He winks holding onto the backs of my thighs.

“God damn, doll.” He nuzzles his nose along the seam of my cunt, lifting one of my legs to hook over his shoulder. “So fucking wet f’ me, huh?”

“Yes...” I moan when he licks a trail from my entrance to my clit sucking the button into his mouth to roll it over his tongue. He looks up at me as two of his fingers split my folds curling them inside me.

“Shit Billy, ‘M close.” I pant holding the back of his head as he licks my cunt like his favorite ice cream flavor. He pulls off suddenly standing, retreating his fingers from my cunt to circle my clit.

“Want to feel you cum on my cock, doll. Get me there.” He commands, thrusting his swollen and leaky cock against my thigh. I grasp him, rolling in matching circles with my thumb along the tip.

My head thumps the tile wall and we giggle at the noise.

“You okay?” He holds me cheek in his free hand then threading his fingers into my soaked hair.

“Yeah, want you.” I whisper, kissing his lips with bruising passion. He takes himself from my hand lining up with my entrance. Holding my other leg against his hip now so I’m spread open for him. He puts my hand between our bodies above my clit,

“Rub your clit for me, not gonna last long in your pretty pussy.” I whimper at the thought, he kisses me deeply as he pushes inside. My walls have to re-stretch around his girth every time. My free hand accidentally scratches along his back as he pounds into me. He pants into my mouth as he picks up speed, I squeeze around him cumming with a soft cry of his name. That sends him over the edge. I can feel the first wave of his hot load as he pushes himself deeper inside.

Billy drops my leg, rubbing at my hip and holding me upright as we come down from our high. He kisses along my collarbone as he reaches for my body wash. We spend a few minutes in peaceful post orgasm, treasuring each other’s bodies before he speaks.

“Feel better, doll?” Billy whispers like an unspoken confession.

“A little, thank you honey.” I turn off the water after we clean ourselves off, he dries off by shaking out his hair like a dog. Pelting me with water droplets in the process.

“What?” He acts innocent as I dry my arms and legs, “I’m going back to the pool anyway.” He hands me a towel allowing me to dress moderately dry. Giving up his water after his guided workout, I take one sip before being hauled over his shoulder.

“Billy!” I yell as he grabs my bag from the hook, moving the chair from the door.

“What? I promised my girl some dinner!” He smacks my ass when he walks down the hall to concessions.

“Billy put me down, I’m too heavy!” I groan, getting nauseous from the pressure on my abdomen. He sets me down on the counter cutting the line completely, getting one of his close friends Heather’s attention in the process.

“Horseshit, you’re fucking light if anything and beautiful no matter what. You could turn green and I’d still do ya.” Heather and I audibly cringe at him.

“Regular for both of you?” she asks leaning over the counter

“Yeah, three corn dogs and a large coke with-”

“With mustard I know!” She goes to the single fryer, dropping them in.

“Have you tipped her today?” I ask him, pinching his waist.

“Ow, hey we both work here. I might as well give her some of my paycheck with the amount of food we trade.”

“Trade?” I raise my eyebrow in disbelief “Billy it is your responsibility as the straight white man to empower the women in your life. Be better.”

“Yeah ass-wipe, be a good civil servant and pay me.” Heather leans over handing me a paper cup of Coke with a straw.

“Stuff it dyke.” I gasp smacking him in the chest, “Ow!”

“Bite me lunkhead.” She fires back at him, they flip each other off like children.

“You two are terrible to each other.” I groan, sliding off the counter when she sets the bag down next to us.

“Hey Y/N, are you coming to the tailgate tonight with everyone?” She asks, tearing a twister with her teeth.

“Um, I don’t know yet. We’ll call you tonight if we can’t make it. Right Bills?” I look at him looking for a way out of it.

“No babe we gotta. We’re hosting the after party at our place with everyone. So I can keep an eye on Max.”

“Don’t go all psycho big brother on her, she’s in high school Billy.” They start to argue about what they were exposed to at young ages and with Max’s condition Billy argues she could be taken advantage of. I feel dizzy as they argue, leaning onto Billy’s shoulder for support.

“You can’t say shit because you are an only child, huh?” Billy pulls me closer by my waist, trying to have me side with him. “Doll, you okay?”

“Huh? Just got really sleepy, I think I should nap and pick up the apartment before we have a bunch of our friends and family over.” I kiss his cheek, “I’ll see you at home?”

“Yeah of course, you want me to walk you to the car?” Billy asks worriedly, pressing a kiss to my temple and hugging me tightly goodbye.

“No it’s okay, have a good shift guys. I’ll see you tonight!” I wave leaving the food and cola with Billy. I drive home quickly and pass out on the couch immediately blaming it on the Hawkins heatwave.

I woke up a couple hours later to dishes clanking together and whispered song lyrics. Stretching my aching muscles, I stand seeing a blanket thrown over my lap. Smiling, I walk into our kitchenette to see Billy with his Walkman on full blast, before he can see me. My stomach gurgles and I race to the bathroom, throwing up an empty stomach of Water and Cola. I sit on the floor for a moment dizzy, dry heaving a few times. Noticing I’d knocked over a box of tampons that were unopened. My heart drops as I try to piece together when I’d had my last period.

“Shit...” I scramble off the bathroom floor going into the bedroom with my purse with my planner and address book. By the book it could’ve been anywhere from 7 to 9 weeks ago. It’s not like Billy and I’s sex life isn’t consistent, and birth control wasn’t something I could feel good about. We agreed to use condoms and suffer any consequences if that happened. Last time this happened was in Highschool, Billy took me to the clinic and they gave me something called Danazol or something like that. Everything turned out okay then, but we were older now this really had consequences now if I was truly pregnant.

“Y/N? Where are you at doll?” Billy yells down the hallway, dragging his feet and hitting his hip on the hall table like always. I look at myself in my vanity mirror and quickly wipe my eyes clean. Running into the closet before he steps inside the room.

“Picking out my outfit for tonight!” I answer back, clearing my throat.

“Oh yeah?” Billy comes around the corner, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Does that mean my girl is gonna give me a little show?” He chuckles.

“Unless you wanna be late to the tailgate? Not again, hot stuff.” I turn out of his arms, looking in our shared dresser for pants.

“Ooo you should wear those black Levi’s your butt looks good in.” He thinks, always having the more trendy style out of the two of us.

“Okay what shirt? I don't want to get too hot.” I add taking the high waisted Levi’s out, with a tired huff.

“I’d say none because you’re already smoking-” Billy teases

“Billy please, you are the one who got me into this mess. Please help me.”

“Okay, I’m sorry for finding you the best thing in my life so violently attractive.” He pleads and pouts “Forgive me, and definitely that solid red crop you wear to the bars.”

“I wear that to show off my boobs and get us free drinks.”

“Exactly, you look great in it.” I scoff, grabbing the clothes and some fresh under clothes.

“Are you ready to go?” I asked him from the bathroom, happy he didn’t look too closely at my facial expressions. Billy has a way with prying things out of people, part of the endless Casanova charm.

“Hell yeah got and eight pack and Munson and that other tall dude are bringing the dobie. We are all set.” He goes on about the plans tonight as I get ready in the bathroom. Looking under the sink after I change my clothes I look for a spare test. Always having some cheap ones lying around for myself or friends. Hitting a particular box with my hand I take it out and go to pee. Setting it on the counter while adding a hint of makeup and volume to my hair.

“Almost ready, Bills.” I call out, waiting longer than three minutes. I close my eyes and flip over the test on the counter. Taking a deep steadying breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. My neck sweats as I slowly open my eyes, looking down. I gasp, loud enough it worries Billy.

“Babe?”

“Sorry accidentally stabbed my eye with the mascara wand!” I say the first thing that comes to mind, cringing as I hold my hand over my mouth.

“Okay we let's get going Indiana, we can’t keep my fans waiting.” He laughs, starting to open the bathroom door. I scramble throwing the test into the medicine cabinet and shutting the mirror.

“Yeah, let’s go!” Billy dips in for a kiss,

“You look beautiful.”

“I look like a sl-”

“No, do you like it?” He asks honestly, I nod my head. He’s matched with cut offs and a Def Leppard muscle tee. “Then you're perfect. Grab your purse doll. I’ll go start the car.”

I smile sighing in relief, wrapping the test in toilet paper and burying it in the trash. Locking the door behind us, Billy already has his new muscle car running. A 1985 Camaro IROC-Z in his signature blue color. The drive to the large run down lot where Star Court had burned down. Gives you shivers thinking about when I lost him for nearly a whole year. He has a hand on my thigh as he pulls up next to Steve’s burgundy BMW. Robin and Nancy immediately separate us, taking me away to get each of us a drink.

“Girls, Jesus hang on a second!” I laugh barely able to get my seat belt off before I’m dragged to Argyle’s Van.

“Hey there pretty ladies Johnny boy has the drinkies in the front seats.” He says as him and Jonathan’s head hang off the side of the out back doors. They are already toasted.

“Got any Coke?” I ask

“Which kind?” I hear a scruffy voice behind me, turning to see Eddie. I hug him tightly,

“Eddie!” I shriek, swallowing down tears in my eyes as Steve stands awkwardly next to him. I pull him into my next hug “Stevie! When did you morons get home?”

“Couple hours ago, Eddie just sold a few songs to a up and coming band in Texas?”

“Yeah, Pantera? Plus another to Warrant again, they should release their new album sometime this fall.” Eddie confirms a little smug,

“Wow good for you, babes.” I smack Eddie’s bare shoulder, feeling someone’s hands wrap around my waist and sniff my hair obnoxiously. “Billy...” I squirm feeling cold beverages in his hands.

“Hello gentlemen, see you’ve reunited with my lover.” His breath reeks of cheap beer already making my stomach turn upside-down.

“Sure have, wanna bum me a smoke like old times?” Eddie shakes Billy’s hand, Steve and Billy share a nod, still not fully healing their relationship quite yet.

“Go hang out with the guys, the girls and I are gonna mingle with some distant friends.” I encourage him, he gives me the ice cold coke he got for me before heading off with them.

“Okay Y/N,” Robin slurs a little, holding onto Nancy’s hand “now I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on breasts more a connoisseur.”

“Because you like judging people” Nancy laughs,

“Shush, baby. We’re all friends here but babes what are you doing differently? You look so hot, right now!” Robin holds her hands out like she’s trying to convince Nancy and I.

“Just a-” I freeze watching Nancy’s eyes narrow, like she does when she is trying to solve a puzzle. Damn Nancy Drew acting Wheeler.

“Just... What?” Robin asks a little loud, we both shush her.

“I’m late.”

“Late?” Robin looks at her girlfriend quizzically,

“How late?” Nancy’s eyes nearly burst out of her skull, Robin nods along with her eyes squinted.

“The positive kind.” You try to hint to both of them, Robin now bobbing along to the music as she drinks from her solo cup.

“Shit, does Billy know?”

“I took the test before we left, I don’t know what to do.”

“Does he want kids?”

“Yes, no? Shit maybe? We’re just in a really good place right now so I’m nervous.” I shrug, and Nancy hugs me. Robin turns around randomly and then runs towards Steve as he goes to get another beer.

“Everything will be okay, we’re here for you.” She takes my arm and we walk around mingling and chasing Robin away from the trunks with beer pong set up on them after she talks to Steve.

He walks back over to the guys, Billy is catching up with Heather when Steve whispers something into Eddie’s ear.

“Yeah right, I’m gonna school your ass when we get to my place.” Billy yells at Heather as she walks towards you and the other girls.

Steve clears his throat, Eddie looks at him oddly. Steve nods towards Billy, Eddie’s brows furrow as he sighs.

“Hey, Billy you're okay with Y/N dressing like that?” Eddie lowly wolf whistles, at the sight of her. Steve knocks on his head with his beer bottle.

“Um hello? I’m right here.” Steve rolls his eyes, Eddie knocks his shoulder, spilling his beer a little on his shirt. Billy laughs when Steve glares back, taking a long drag of his smoke and blowing it in the opposite direction of his friends.

“I picked out her outfit, I know how to fight. Y/N can wear whatever she wants.” Billy says, simply through his exhale.

“Okay man but... Stevie over here did win in ‘84. Just saying.” Eddie says critically, through his teeth, holding his hands up in surrender.

“Hey fuck off Scarface.” Billy scoffs as Steve interjects, wrapping an arm around his very not sober boyfriend's waist.

“Look Hargrove, Eds is just saying Y/N/N has filled out a bit this summer and is getting a little unwarranted attention.” Steve points the neck of his beer bottle to the ex-basketball team, all a bunch of high school rejects still living in their parents basement as they get fatter and older.

“Oh come on, they’re too scared of me to mess with my girl. I came back from the dead remember?” Billy wiggles his spare fingers while oooing and ahhing like a ghost. Eddie laughs at that, knocking their beers together while Steve’s headaches at the idiocracy.

The sun sets and a majority of the adults who have to work in the morning leave. While a majority of the high schoolers stay together drinking the now warm beer, most of our group also sticking close together about starting college or jobs in the fall. Billy and I reunited shortly after to head over to the apartment first, Lucas and Max sat in the back seat of the car as I drove, being the only sober one.

“I totally could’ve driven, I only had a few beers.”

“And smoked a joint with the guys.” I add turning down the music,

“What can't I bond with my little sister's boyfriend?”

“I had one puff, I doubt I’ll even feel anything.”

“One puff was enough, you already drank tonight Lucas.” Max says kindly,

“Pfft you girls worry too much, right Sinclair?” Billy holds out his fist for Lucas to bump it. He laughs a little too hard when Billy tries to yank him forward.

“Don’t gang up on the only two women that enjoy your company.” Max scoffs at her brother.

“Whatever, you're up for some ball tomorrow Sinclair?”

“He can’t-” She’s cut off my Lucas explaining their plans

“Sorry Billy, it’s Max and I’s anniversary. We’re staying in Indianapolis for the night.”

“Aw how cute, please take pictures.” You fawn over them, you know exactly what Lucas has been through. That pain of losing your first love, knowing at a young age it was your last. Taking this second chance for all it’s worth every moment no matter how insignificant it is to others, is precious.

“Better wear protection Sinclair, or I’ll have to kick your ass for knocking up my sister.”

“Billy!” Max punches him hard in the shoulder.

“What Billy means is we want you to be smart about your choices, but we can’t tell you what to do anymore-”

“Just want what’s best for you, you’re good kids. We don’t need more children running around right now, we’re all still kids.” Billy cuts you off,

“Um, Y/N are you on birth control?” Lucas asks politely, We’d agreed when Lucas and Max got serious their junior year they could ask me and Billy anything. I didn’t want them to feel odd for their feelings or idiots for the things that aren’t taught.

“I didn't enjoy it, I use a diaphragm sometimes which is like a cup that prevents the sperm from going up into the cervix. Yet we mainly use condoms because the latter makes us both uncomfortable.” I put simply, shrugging. I look in the back mirror. Lucas is leaning his head on Max’s shoulder as she plays with his shirt cuff.

“It feels like your jamming your penis into plastic Tupperware surrounded by warm-”

“EW! Ew stop Billy.” Max covers her ears and starts singing to the radio. I turn it up for her, we pull up to our assigned parking. Others start filling up the parking lot shortly after making a b-line straight to Billy and I’s apartment.

“No, we had to pull off to the side of the road because we were lost, and exhausted!” Billy exasperates,

“If Billy didn’t finally just pull over, I probably would've strangled him over the armrest.” I add to the story of Billy’s and I’s recent across-country road trip to California.

“So what happened after you figured out where you were?” Will asks

“Not exactly we-”

“We were in the backseat when a Sheriff drove by. We couldn’t even get our pants you all the way before he knocked on the window.” Billy laughs, Eddie and Argyle join him.

“I pulled down my dress while Billy collected himself enough to ask the man, old enough to be my grandfather for directions.” I rolled my eyes, leaning against Billy. He wrapped his arm around me as he finished the story.

“He handed me a handkerchief and slapped me on the back because her lipstick was smeared on my neck.” He pointed right under his jaw,

“Yeah I’m the slut and he was the stud.” I scoff,

“It’s okay baby. He probably keeled over jerking it to the image of you in that sundress when he got home that night.”

“Ew.” I cringe, “Want another babe?” I ask taking his empty beer can away.

“No, I'm good doll.”

“Hey did you hear Carol Perkins and Tommy H. are expecting?” Steve nods, sharing to Billy and I, I stiffen in Billy’s arms thankfully his too tipsy to notice.

“Yeah no shit, I never really gave a shit about them after graduation. They were the kind of people you know in school and then end it. Figures they are one of the firsts to get knocked up.�� Billy continues to blabber about how he doesn’t think anyone should have kids until they’re married or at least financially stable among other things. In front of all our friends, who Buckley has told everyone closest to Billy and I.

My stomach turns as I make eye contact with Steve. Him and Billy did work things out, my friendship with Steve and Steve’s serious partnership with Billy’s closet friend Eddie made a huge difference.

“I’ll be back..” I walk down the hallway past my spare bedroom where Robin is passed out as Elle and Max read a Cosmo next to her. I go into the bathroom and sit on the toilet trying to collect myself. There’s a knock and a call of my name. “Almost done.” I call out,

“It’s just me doll, are you okay?” Billy talks quietly, I open the door and he swoops me into his arms, “What’s going on? You’ve been weird all night.”

“I’m sorry.” I mumble in his shoulder

“Don’t apologize, I know you haven’t been feeling good lately. Maybe we should make an appointment or something?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.” He kisses me once, then twice.

“Do you want kids?”

“Is that why your acting strange, because of the pressure of having babies outta high school?”

“You didn’t answer my question...” I whisper looking at the ground trying to will tears out of my eyes

“No, I don’t think I do. My Dad was a shitty father to say the least, he thought having me would save his marriage but the abuse he gave to my mom only got worse afterwards. That’s too much responsibility.” He answers so assured and honest it breaks my heart.

Maybe a dog, someday but fuck kids. We’d be great Aunt ‘n Uncle to Max’s kids and anyone else who decides to baby-make.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Why do you ask?” Billy asks nervous

“I heard about Carol at the grocery store and wasn’t sure how’d you react.”

“Oh Y/N I don’t give a crap about them. Not when I have you guys.”

“Hey, I think I’m going to say goodnight to everyone and lay down early.”

“Yeah? I can end the party if you need.”

“No, no. I can sleep through anything.”

“Okay doll, whatever you need.”

I go back out into the living room and slowly say goodnight to everyone, Steve, my best friend next to Billy, hugs me a little longer and a little tighter.

“Good night, honey. We’re here for you.”

“Yeah, always Y/N.”

“Thanks guys, love you.” I blow Eddie and Steve a kiss, Eddie dramatically falls backwards and Steve catches it to place over his heart.

Everyone else bids me goodnight as well, I run into Nancy and she’s waking a very grumpy very sleepy Robin.

“You leaving?” I ask her, Robin is practically curled around Nancy’s small frame leaning on her for support.

“Yeah Robs doesn’t feel good obviously.” Nancy shakes her head, placing a kiss on her partner's cheek.

“I’m never drinking again...” Robin groans

“Get home safe girls, call the house when you get there?” I hug both of them,

“Mike is driving us home since he’s sober, we’ll be okay.” She assures me, small towns were definitely non-conforming but we’d heard of other violence acts committed on same-sex couples in the bigger cities. No one ever deserved that.

Call me, if you need anything. We’re here for you too.” Nancy adds, saying goodbye to everyone as her, Robin and Mike leave.

I go into my bedroom and close the door, putting on my pajamas and removing my makeup. My stomach turns but I go to sleep anyway, a couple hours later I feel the bed dip and a warm arm wrap around my waist. It disappears a few hours later as Billy gets ready for work. Like always, I slowly wake up before he leaves, giving him a goodbye kiss. When he’s out the door, I race to the bathroom and puke my guts out. It’s like that enough of the morning I call out of work. Laying sadly in bed most of the day, until just before Billy gets home around 6. I wash my face and take another test, once again it’s overwhelmingly showing positive. I took this one and the other I hid in the trash last night and put them in my pocket. I conjured a plan on how to tell him, Billy Hargrove. My Billy, he comes home as I’m finishing the only dinner that sounded and smelled appetizing.

“Hey Indiana! I’m home.”

“Hi California.” I call back from the kitchen, plating the chicken and pesto for two. Well three...

How was work?” He kisses me on the cheek, smelling of coconut sunscreen and chlorine.

“It was okay, I had lots of lessons today. The boss is having me take a course on training babies how to swim. Guess it’s in high demand, and extremely important. Almost 45% if not more babies from birth to age four.” He tells me wide eyed, helping me bring the plates to the table as I grab him and beer and the ginger ale I’d been nursing for a couple of hours.

“That’s horrible.”

“Yeah but it means they’re moving me to nearly full-time since those lessons are more important than just the summer. I start working at the Hawkins Rec Center in a few weeks.” He says with a smile hidden by pesto

“Wait, you got a promotion?!”

“Yep, don’t have to go back to the shop this year. I can just teach lessons and couch at the high school.”

“Billy, that's amazing!” I reach out and take his hand,

“I can’t wait, but I’m a little nervous about teaching kiddos so young.”

“You're great with kids Billy.”

“I wasn’t-”

“You’ve changed, you and Max had a lot of unresolved issues. Things have gotten a lot better the past couple years. For christ’s sake she is here for dinner at least once a week if not more. Not even Susan can say she sees her daughter as much.”

“Thanks, how was your day?” He kisses the top of my hand all suave and romantic,

“Haven’t been feeling to good but I think I’ll get better in a couple months...”

“You go to the doctor?”

“No, I took a test yesterday and today.” I swallow the bile rising in my stomach

“If you didn’t go to the doctors-” I cut Billy off, running to the bathroom and clutching the toilet bowl. He follows, then helps by holding my hair and rubbing my back. “We should go to the ER, you didn’t even drink yesterday.”

“It’s okay-”

“No the hell it’s not Y/N! You’re throwing you guts up and you’ve-”

“Billy...” I hold out my hand for him to help me up, flushing the toilet before washing my hands. Tears fall down my cheeks,

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell...”

“It’s not that.” I strain to find the two words, hiding my face in my hands.

“What’s going on?”

“Promise we can talk about this?” I turn to him dizzy, I take his hand in mine and go to sit down on our bed.

“We can talk about anything, Y/N.” He pushes my hair out of my face. I reach into my sweatshirt pocket and turn over the pregnancy tests. Tears continue to cascade down my cheeks as Billy freezes his expression is unreadable. He swallows hard taking the tests.

“I’m pregnant.” I tell him wetly, wiping away tears so I can see him better. He stands, throwing the tests down the hall with a clatter. Hard enough I jump at the sudden action. Hands running through his hair, irritation now bursting through the seams.

“What?” He scoffs

“I’m pregnant, Billy.”

“Fuck, Y/N.” He paces the foot of the bed, working himself up “How long? How long did you keep this shit from me?”

“I-I found out last night.” I explained standing close to him.

“Yeah? Is that why you’ve been all weird and shit around me? You were hiding this?”

“Nooo, no Billy. Please.” I try and reach for him,

“Don’t ‘No, Billy’ me. Is this why you don’t want to go on birth control? Just trying to trap me?” His voice gets elevated as the questions continue, he pushes off my hand like he’s been scolded with hot water.

“No, I love you.” I cry, holding onto myself

“Do you? You know I don’t want kids, Y/N!” He gets in my face words booming through the house and my ears and I gasp. “What the fuck?” He storms out the room, hearing him knock into the table in the hall with a groan before there’s a crash and bang. I run out, he’s thrown it across the hallway creating a dent in the drywall and breaking the legs of anything that was on top flung or stepped on.

“Please don’t push me away!” I raise my voice, trying to walk over the mess in my bare feet.

“Did you even think, to consider how I felt?”

“I am trying to understand but you're yelling and throwing things around. Are you blaming me for this?”

“You’ve got some nerve, it takes two Y/N. You won’t make me do shit, now move.” I find him in the living room collecting his wallet and keys.

“Billy, please-” I beg him standing in front of the door, he moves me aside with a strong hand.

“No, I’m leaving. I can’t do this, this is the one thing.” He spits at me, fire exploding behind his eyes.

“If you leave, I’ll never forgive you!” I call to him, my voice raw and overwhelmed with emotion.

My mind begging and pleading for him to shut the door and engulf me in his arms. Tell me everything will be okay, that he loves me and we’ll get through this.

“It’s too much.” He fums, the door slams shut behind him, shaking a picture off the wall.

I hobble over to it, defeated, it’s one from the California trip. Billy had given the camera he borrowed from Jonathan to an older surfer to take a photo of us at the beach in our wetsuits. My hair is tied back, smiling at the camera with a teeth filled grin. While Billy looks at me and smiles, eyes dopey with exhaustion but something he hadn’t felt in a long time. Joy. The glass from the frame has shattered and scratched it, splitting the two of us by our hands. I hold it close as I dial the only people I can trust,

“Yello, Munsington household or Harrinuson if you like that better.” Eddie answers the phone, with his infectious bravoto.

“Hi Eds.” I sob out in relief.

“Y/N, honey. What’s-” His voice deepens immediately in concern,

“I-I told him, he left. He left me.” I weep into the receiver, trying to collect my thoughts.

“Okay, hey do me a favor unlock the door and turn on the TV? Distract yourself while Steve and I get there.” Eddie tells me calmly, ‘What’s going on?’ I hear Steve interrupts.

“Okay. I’ll try, I’m so sick Eddie.”

“Do you need to go to the hospital?” Eddie asks, ‘Is that Y/N/N?’ Steve interrogates still faint on the line.

“No, I’m just puking.”

“Is there blood or anything strange about it?”

“No...” I cry louder

“Hey-hey,” Eddie gets my attention again, “that’s good. Remember what I said, Steve and I are getting in the car right after I hang up.”

“Okay Eds.”

“We’ll be there soon, Sweet Girl.” Steve takes the phone from Eddie who barks ‘Steve where are my keys?!’

Hang tight, I’ll be right there. Everything's gonna be fine.” Steve assures both of us.

“Yeah...”

“We’re on our way.” Steve hangs up the phone, staring at his metal head boyfriend with a single shoe on untied and the other in his hands as he tears up the entire living room looking for his keys.

“Eds?” Steve stands by the landline hands on his hips.

“Hold on Steve, I gotta find my keys!” Eddie holds out his shoe pointing it at his boyfriend as he moves to the kitchen table.

“Eddie.” He scolds in a boisterous manner enough to make Eddie look at him

“What?!” Eddie yells, looking at his boyfriend to find him jiggling Eddie’s car keys in his hand,

“Get in the van-.” He motions him to the door,

“Why’d you let me tear up the apartment?”

“It was kinda funny, give me a reason to make you help me clean it when we get home.” Steve throws the keys to Eddie going to the passenger side.

“I haven’t even put my shoes on.”

“I doubt your shoes will have any impact on us kicking Billy’s ass.”

I hear a single knock at the door before a flurry of dark curls and onyx eyes enters the apartment, behind him a tanned honey colored pompadour with equally syrup eyes enters. I suck in a breath, watching them look around. Steve goes to where I’m crouched in the living room, cleaning up the glass from the picture frame. He immediately engulfs me in his arms, not saying a word as I squeeze him a little too tight.

“Hey, shhh. I’m here, Sweet Girl. I got you.” He holds me tight, his caress of my hair like an affirmation he’s molding to my skin with each rub.

“Shit Steve where is she, he tore up the hallway-” Eddie walks with untied shoes to Steve practically hoisting me in his lap as I cry, he holds one of the positive tests.

Hey, Y/N...” Eddie accidentally steps in the pile of glass swept together, he finishes the job with a broom and dustpan. My breathing steadies a bit more with them here, I’m not alone.

“I'm sorry, I don’t have anyone else to call.”

“Hey now, none of that. Don’t apologize, you’d do the same thing if Eddie knocked me up.” I chuckle at Steve pinching his bicep, feeling relieved by the minute.

“You’d make a great mom.” I breathe deep trying to make the joke back,

“So are you.” Steve kisses my temple, swaying us in the living room. His words sink deep as I hide my wet cheeks and snotty-nose into his shoulder.

“Um, I don't know if you want your pee stick but I found it in the entryway.” Eddie sits criss-crossed in front of us, setting the test down like an offering in front of me. Taking a minute to finally tie his shoes, as if he hasn't tripped a billion times since leaving the apartment.

“Gross Eddie, it’s just called a pregnancy test.” Steve chortles straightening out his leg to kick the other in the thigh.

“Ow! You’ve hurt me deeply Stevie, I twas trying to lighten the mood. Also that pasta is the freaking bomb.” He swats Steve’s foot away when he nudges him again. Noticing a change in mood again, instead of sadness it’s anger.

“It made me sick, that’s how the conversation started...” I mumble against Steve,

“Wait am I going to get sick from eating some?” Eddie asks alarmed

“No stupid she’s having morning sickness, keep up.” He squints at his boyfriend as if to say ‘read the room’.

“Are you PMS-ing babe? You’ve been awfully mean-” The metal head pouts,

“Shush this is about Y/N.” The King with no crown points his finger angry,

“No, I love it when you two bicker like you’ve been married for 50 years.”

“One day with this one is a whole year’s worth of irritation.” Steve sticks out his tongue playfully at Eddie shaking his head.

“I wonder what 5 minutes of pleasure with me is then.” Eddie blows a kiss and wiggles his eyebrows.

“Ew stop being in love in front of my unborn child.” the silence is a pregnant as you are.

“So Robin wasn’t just drunk blabbering last night?” Steve rubs his warm hand along my back,

“Nope.” I pop the ‘p’, the silence overwhelms all of us until Eddie gets uncomfortable enough to speak.

“You don’t have to right this second but, you wanna tell us what’s going on?” He fumblingly asks with a concerned smile. I relay all of what happened tonight along with a few more tidbits.

“Billy hasn’t ever explicitly told me he didn’t want kids. So I wasn't expecting him to be excited and have everything figured out but he just left me.”

“Jesus Christ, you talk to anyone else?” Eddie wipes a hand over his forehead, I shake my head. Steve has been tense since I started talking about what Billy said.

“He say where he went?” Steve asks with deathly calm, I shake my head twirling the test in my hands.

“I know where he is, and I’m gonna kill ‘im.” Eddie stands up, taking out his car keys.

“No Eddie!” I whine,

“Munson, where the hell are you going?” Steve stands beside me,

“To talk some sense into this asshole, I love you I’ll be back-” He kisses Steve before running out of the complex.

“Don’t get arrested!” Steve yells out, turning back around to me. “How about you get cleaned up? I’ll clean up out here and we can watch a movie together on the couch like old times.” He offers, holding my arms and massaging my biceps to encourage laughter.

“What about the drywall? And the kitchen-”

“Y/N/N. I’ll call Wayne in the morning, I’m sure he’s got the tools from patching up the trailer. And I’ll clean the kitchen so you don’t get sick again because of the food aversion.”

“You’re stubborn...” I pout, moving over the broken pieces of wall and furniture in the hallway.

“Nah just enough to not take shit from you and Henderson.” He laughs, picking up the trashed things in the hall as I enter the bathroom.

Turning on the shower to warm up a few seconds allows the room to fill with steam. The first thing I see in the mirror is me, hazy and weak. Too weak to handle side effects a a little blue pill, to weak to stick up for myself and yell back, too weak to fix things. The mirror fills with steam as quickly as I fill with dread. I start undressing only able to see my body from a upper preview. For weeks I thought I was bloated, stressed out from my job and not working out. The normal protective pudge of my stomach has a small softball size curve that doesn’t move like the rest of me. It’s hard to suck in, and more prominent when I full relax. I don’t feel scared for myself, but scared of what I can offer. Alone, I’m barely able to remember to drink water but always remember to do the dishes before bed to make breakfast easier to have.

Lamenting through my own thoughts, I shake them away. There’s doctors to talk about this kind of thing, that’s what they’re there for. Support groups for mothers who don’t know what to do. The kids have taught me a lot but none of them except Erica were even under ten when we’d first met. When it’s your own child, it’s a whole different ball game. There will still be a team surrounding me even as the opponents team boo’s and hollers. Now it’s a waiting game to see if my pitcher is with me.

I like to think Billy is a good man, not by any means by himself. Repaired as many relationships as he could, hate who he was before. He thinks before acting but I’d seen that look before, anger is normally a response to a much deeper and complex feeling. Fear, frustration, sadness. He’s been taught his whole life that the answer is to push those other things away, make room for hate, bigotry and self preservation. While I grew up in a different way, in a different world. Built for me to fail, built for me to resent motherhood as the only outcome for my life. The only thing a woman is good at, but doesn’t receive the credit for only the blame and the hard work it takes. To be loved by the things you can create but not the person you are. Billy is just as scared as I am, but I will not be the one to fix this. I will not be alone.

Masterlist

#Billy Hargrove #billy hargrove smut #billy hargrove x reader #dad!billy x mom!reader #billy hargrove x gf!reader #stranger things #stranger things smut #Fix it fanfiction

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tanoraqui · 5 months ago

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Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: Kabru & Mithrun's Life-Changing Road Trip

safhkjkhf no but also fake!Kabru is entirely flat because Mithrun doesn't have depth perception...

Between this and the information that the team has a 1:2 ratio of guards to criminals, with the guards often appointed by their families as a melodramatic show of loyalty to the realm - which is...possibly literally true, considering the prestige of badassery; but, considering the criminals and the danger, also very possibly a polite euphemism for what amounts to a public sacrifice... I kind of ferally want to know about the dynamics of the Canaries. Are they loyal to each other, or to the cause? Are they all just under the threat of execution? Kabru expected the captain of the squad to be an aristocratic guard, them being more trustworthy than a semi-pardoned criminal ofc, but instead he's...whatever exactly Mithrun's legal status is; I've avoided some details of his backstory.

...I might have to go back and try to actually mentally distinguish these people from each other.

Laios Heaven is actually Kabru Hell, and vice versa. It's a very efficient system!

*giggles* Kabru is having a weird, upside-down day.

"Don't wish often" is such a threatening thing to say, honestly. Don't want. Don't try. Don't be alive, or this place will try to kill you and eat you, for it, too, wishes to live, and that is how the continuation of life works.

It's so so interesting how elves clearly have ANSWERS, answers that our party have been searching for, which would've made their whole adventure easier, and the elves just aren't telling people. To maintain their own power over other races? Probably. Because knowing about demons who'll offer you unlimited power would be a dangerous temptation to many? In fairness, probably that, too. But it sure as hell serves them first.

Oh yeah, this definitely reads as aristocratic youths joining the Canaries isn't per se voluntary on their families' parts. It's the elvish Suicide Squad.

The timeline isn't making sense. When Mithrun banished the giant mushroom, it was clearly implied that it went to where and when Team Touden were when we'd last seen them, just after their first incident with the changeling mushrooms and then the dwarvish cable car. However, now the pop-up side panels are saying that Kabru and Mithrun's week in the dungeon together is happening at the same time as Team Touden goes through their shapeshifter adventure, barometz, Golden Country, griffins... Which makes sense if one assumes the Canaries & co went into the dungeon right after Kabru first spoke to them, which does seem right in terms of those characters' plotline and personal timetables. But there was no indication, when it cut over to them, that we'd suddenly gone backwards a week in the comic's timeline; indeed, the giant walking changeling mushroom incident suggested it was a single continuity...

Is this just a continuity error? Did I miss some clarifying signifier?

Kabru: [tells Mithrun his own backstory back at him]

Mithrun: You left out the soap operatic relationships rooted in royal intrigue, which in turn was rooted in millennia of other royal intrigue.

Kabru: Yes, but I need it to be understandable to a man who's mostly just going to ask me how the goat-demon tast– I mean, uh... Your story structure was bad, so I simplified it.

Oh shit, that's the thing Marcille is studying! She doesn't know it summons demons!

...My instinct is, "if only someone told her instead of completely outlawing the knowledge, forcing her to stumble blindly into the consequences on her own!" But, uh... I'm not sure this would actually stop her. She's very determined, and also has her share of wizard hubris. This is, of course, a driving question of the story.

It wasn't easier to kill them? It wasn't easier to simply stop drawing magic from the infinite-power dimension?

...ok obviously not the latter, because, y'know. Fossil fuels. But seriously it wasn't easier to just kill them?

It's sooo intersting how everyone else views Laios's love of monsters as a dangerous moral failing, when it's really just...ecologist enthusiasm. The man thinks this class of being is Neat. He is harming literally 0 people about this. He isn't even forcing anyone to eat them, just inviting them really enthusiastically and/or pointing out that this is necessary in order to achieve their shared goal of saving Falin.

Yes, obviously this could be subverted into something terrible by an encouraging demon. Just like, obviously, a desire to protect and preserve people can be! Or a desire to live happily with your loved ones! Laios isn't worse than any other Lord of a Dungeon; y'all just hate monsters!

Kabru that is SO gay, jfc. I object on principle to the phrase "no heterosexual explanation", but--

M! V! P! M! V! P!

Friendship? Teamwork? Mutual respect and shared understanding of goals? Mithrun is a very useful ally because he really does Only want to stop the demon; he doesn't care about the geopolitics of it. Though his perspective is still very elvish and he definitely will kill our beloved protagonists without hesitation if they seem like they're going to be a problem.

I would read an entire novel about the formation of the halffoot union, honest to god. I bet it was very exciting. I bet someone tried to kill Chilchuck at least once.

#dm lb #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi spoilers

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lunargrrrl · 24 days ago

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Lights, Camera, Magic

Chapters 6 & 7 are now up. I'm not going to lie to you, I'm a bit obsessed with director Agatha Harkness 💜

agatha harkness x fem!reader | slow burn | power dynamics | eventual smut | oh and agatha is a top in this, ofc

Agatha Harkness sits in the director's chair of some of your favourite movies. Your world suddenly turns upside down when you're invited to audition for her latest screenplay, "Witching Hour".

“Cut. Can we try that scene again?” Agatha calls, then turns her attention to you, her tone sharp. “I need more from you, sweetheart. This isn’t a melodrama. Elara is supposed to have depth. Give me something real.”

You blink, taken aback. “I thought I was—”

Her eyes narrow, cutting you off before you can finish. “Thoughts don’t matter here, darling. I need action. I need intention,” she says, her voice piercing. “Elara isn’t just some meek witch fading into the shadows—she’s fighting to hold back her desire, resisting the pull of Selene’s power. She’s craving something she’s afraid to surrender to. That tension, that struggle—it needs to be palpable,” her stare doesn’t falter, “And right now, I’m not feeling any of it.”

You feel the weight of your co-stars' eyes on you, their attention snapping to the sudden shift in her tone with you.

You're acutely aware that everyone is here on set today, executive producers included.

Her blue gaze feels like it burns you, searing at your skin whilst your stood there in the same plunging black witchy dress which formed your costume last week,

Agatha steps closer, her eyes locked on yours, the smirk that dances on her lips unmistakable. “I know you can do better, but right now, you’re giving me nothing. Step it up. Don’t waste my time. I’m not here to mommy you.”

Yes, ‘mommy’, you think in your head, as the mere mention of the word sends a ripple of heat throughout your body. But the intensity of her glare and the heat rushing up to your cheeks makes it feel as if she heard your thoughts. The smirk deepens.

#agatha harkness #agatha x reader #agatha x fem!reader #agatha harkness fanfic #agatha all along fanfic #agatha harkness x you #agatha all along

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jedifarmerr · 3 months ago

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Wasteland Masterlist/AO3

Pairing: Frankie Morales x F!Reader/OFC (established backstory, no y/n or physical descriptions)

Series Summary: Sentenced to a life underground after a nuclear attack, what was said to be a quick and painless process somehow ended up taking 200 years. Waking up alone and with everyone else still frozen, a search for help and answers turns upside down when four mysterious men come into the picture.

Rating: E (chapter warnings: language, food & eating, some allusions to PTSD. Let me know if I missed anything!)

Word Count: 12k

Authors Note: Yes, it's been a thousand years and I'm so sorry, but here we go again!

Chapter 11

“Have any of you seen Tom?”

Frankie glanced from the Miller’s to Santiago, his gaze catching on the empty stool that haunted the head of the hightop. He grimaced and looked away, feeling a stone lodge in his gut. Being here without Tom didn’t sit right with him.

They were at Shamrock Brewhouse – a tradition on Tuesday night. There was no one in the sunroom with them, but Will and Santi scanned the basket archway and the limited view of the second floor for any prying eyes or stray barflies. Nothing. Scarlett was nowhere to be found with their food either.

“Nope,” Will answered as Santi sullenly shook his head. They turned to Benny who was tracing the rings and runny medullary rays on the oak table.

“I ran into Molly the other day at the grocery store, but no Tom,” Benny said, voice low and sad. “Have you seen him, Fish?”

Lifting the frosted mug to his lips, Frankie downed a heavy sip and swallowed. “Not since the welcome home party.”

Twelve days ago.

One of them should’ve seen Tom around town by now. Sanctuary was too damn compact. You couldn’t evade anyone for too long unless it was intentional.

A bitter taste hung tauntingly behind his uvula, and no – it wasn’t pale ale backwash. Tom had made his point abundantly clear not showing up tonight – for the second week in a row. The writing was plastered on the wall: Tom was avoiding them.

And Frankie had no idea how to deal with that.

It was fucking with his head.

He’d never been on the other end of Tom’s silent treatment. None of them had, not Will or even Santiago. They never fought to such a degree before. Frankie tried to recount when any of them last genuinely argued with Tom. It must’ve been sometime before he retired. Butting heads was inevitable on missions when stakes and tensions were high.

Will cleared his throat, shaking Frankie from his musing. Behind Will, the wall of windows revealed a pitch-black sky. It was still somewhat early. It couldn't have been later than 8:30, but the nights had grown longer the further it inched into fall.

"It's been long enough. It’s time we reach out,” Will declared as he rubbed his jawline, his fingers scraping the thick, blonde hair there. “Besides, Tom’s not gonna be the one to do it.”

“No shit,” Santi murmured, snatching a greasy fried pickle from the basket in the center of the table. "But if we all show up at his house unannounced, he's gonna feel ambushed."

True.

“Alright, then, who goes?” Will didn’t look directly at anyone, but the answer was obvious. Even if Frankie knew his friends would never say it first.

There was a long pause. The air was ripe with tension. The music from downstairs bled in from the ceiling into the sticky floorboards, vibrating the legs of his chair. Frankie glanced around the table at his friends. Their faces were bathed in disfigured shadows by the few stained-glass pendant lights that barely lit the room. The glass was painted in dark neutral tones, the bulbs dim and orange as pumpkins.

"We all know it has to be me,” Frankie broke the silence. “I can go see him tomorrow.”

“Only if I’m coming with you.” Santi stared at him adamantly. The expression on his face was resolute, but Frankie still protested.

“You don’t-”

“You’re not going alone,” Santi interrupted, voice firmer than usual. He rarely raised his voice at Frankie.

"Not after that shit he pulled with your mom," Will added, and Benny nodded.

Surprised, Frankie’s lips parted. He didn’t think they would still be hung up over that. It had been almost two weeks, but the guys were still pissed at Tom for dragging his mom into this mess. Good thing he kept his mouth shut about Tom mentioning his dad. Or else it would be World War fucking 4.

"I wonder what your dad would think of that - about all of this."

Frankie could still recall the way Tom sneered at him. Those words had been said so flippantly – so carelessly – that it rooted Frankie to the spot. Shocked. He would’ve sworn he’d just been pummeled by a rabid gulped with the way the air caught in his chest, squeezing his ribs and lungs.

Tom must’ve known. Tom had to have known that it haunted Frankie. That he’d thought about his dad and especially his opinion every goddamn day since meeting her. Hell – longer than that. It’d plagued him for years. Ever since that cold January night when tiny white specks fell from a starless sky, wetting his ears and nose – snow. It was almost as if those flakes had melted into his head, sunk into his brain, and buried themselves somewhere deep within the grooves and fissures of his frontal lobe. He could not rid himself of it, could not make a decision without it being there - looming and present, unseen like a ghost.

What would my dad think of this? Would he be proud of his son?

It had been in that moment that Frankie had wanted to defend himself against Tom. It took everything in him not to lash out, but he knew better than to argue with Tom when he felt backed into a corner. There was no point. It was like dealing with a wild boar – a prowling snake – a faulty fragmentation mine where one tiny misstep would make him completely implode.

Instead, Frankie had left his office without saying a word.

Honestly, Frankie didn’t expect Tom to swallow his pride and ask for forgiveness. It was less of a joke and more of a universal fact that Tom was allergic to apologies. The word sorry would sound alien in Tom’s voice. It didn’t matter, though. Frankie had already made up his mind and forgiven Redfly. It felt like the least he could do given the circumstances.

"It worked out, though, didn’t it?” Frankie finally replied.

Abruptly, Will straightened and his brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Frankie said, his thumb smudging the sweaty mug. “Blue seems to like working there-”

“That’s not the point, man,” Will intercepted, his blue eyes piercing into Frankie. "He never should've put you in that position."

Frankie shrugged, his tongue running along the roof of his mouth, feeling the dents and ridges. It was tough. He could understand where Tom's anger stemmed from in a way they could not.

He could see it from Tom’s perspective, and a part of him felt deserving of Tom's wrath. If roles were reversed, he’d also feel betrayed. He’d be shaken up, as well. Crawling out of his skin if someone, let alone his friends, showed up with a Vault-Tec kid claiming they were innocent.

“I could’ve said no,” Frankie reminded them. “We just need to make things right with him.”

---

The next day, the sun was beginning to set as they made their way to Tom’s place.

Frankie felt like he was going to be sick. His throat was dry as chalk – tongue lace-patterned. The hard lump in the center of his chest was shaped like an unruly fist.

His slippery grip tightened, practically strangling the glass handle of their peace offering – a growler from Shamrock. Coming equipped with an olive branch in his arsenal seemed like a necessity at this point. It never hurt to be prepared.

He hoped that Tom would be willing to talk as they silently walked through the orange and pink painted streets – as they moved into the calmer part of town and past colonial homes primarily reserved for families.

Encroaching upon the white picket fence, he was surprised to see Molly. Or her ponytail, more like. Her rich copper hair nearly blended into the budding sunset. He’d never met anyone with red hair before her. As a kid he’d thought it was a myth that only existed in the dingy pages of picture books like Madeline.

She was alone in the backyard. Her back turned to them as she picked up fake, plastic food in the patchy grass. It gave him a moment to readjust a smile on his face before Santi knocked on the fence.

Molly spun around, squealing when she realized it was them. At least she was elated to see them.

"Tom didn't tell me you guys were coming by." She tossed the toys into a nearby bin and waved them in.

“Thought we’d surprise him.” Santi unlatched the gate, tipping his stubbly chin towards the house. "Is he home?"

“He’s inside with the girls.” She hugged Santi, then Frankie. This was a much kinder welcome than anticipated.

It was funny how different Molly was from Tom. On the outside, their couple almost seemed like a mismatch. Polar opposites. She was warm and bubbly and as green as her eyes. There was a callowness there, an innocence that Tom did not possess, but then again, nobody who lived in the vaults did.

Tom needed someone like that to calm, ground, and balm his barbed-tooth edges. Molly was good for him. They worked well together.

After setting the growler carefully on the ground, they helped Molly clean up the rest of the yard: chalk, hula hoops, and a single jump rope. Most of the time, Molly talked about the girls – Janey had started school. Tess was learning how to ride a bike. They’d been pestering Tom non-stop about when the guys would come visit.

That made Frankie feel a gut-twisting guilt for his friend. Poor Redfly. He was angry at them, but still had to cover up their absence and had done it well, given how normal Molly was behaving. Frankie couldn’t imagine. Lying to his mom was hard enough and would undoubtedly be worse with a wife and kids.

"Would you mind hanging around out here?” Molly asked, directing them to sit at the patio table. "It's almost bath time, and it will be impossible to get the girls upstairs if they see you."

It was no problem. Of course, they did as she said. It would offer them more privacy, anyway.

As Molly waved goodbye she made them promise to come by next week for dinner with the Millers before heading inside to fetch Tom.

Waiting, Frankie nervously drummed his fingers along the tempered glass. The sun was barely cusping the horizon. A crisp breeze, scented with salt and early October, rattled the leaves, which had recently changed from green into fiery shades of orange and red – some pink and vermillion.

The back door kicked open – it swung and hit the terracotta siding with a thwack.

Wordlessly, Tom stepped onto the porch. His jaw was clenched. His beard was scraggly and unkempt. The only good sign was a stack of three cups in his left hand. It seemed he was letting them stay for a drink.

Frankie watched as Tom mechanically walked towards them. Usually, he’d stand to greet him but decided not to push it. He instead went with the safe option of a smile. The last thing he wanted to do was get off on the wrong foot over something stupid like a hug.

Santi must've had the same thought because he remained seated, as well. "How's it going, man?"

"Alright." Curt. Stone-cold.

The only sounds that followed were the wind and the whine of rusty hinges as Tom sat in the chair between them. God – it was awkward. It made Frankie doubt if it was a good idea coming here.

Tentatively, Frankie slid the growler over to Tom hoping it would help. It was a gift – a tribute. Tom remained silent as the grave. For a second, he thought Tom might push it away, deny it, and tell them to leave, but he finally sighed and accepted the offering. He unstacked the cups, unscrewed the lid, and poured the inky black liquid into the first glass.

"Imperial Stout." Tom's lips twitched enough to resemble a smile. "Trying to butter me up?"

"That depends." Pope shrugged with an ease that Frankie envied. He made everything look so simple. “Is it working?”

Tom answered with a nondescript hum before filling the other two glasses. Together – they took a drink. The beer coated his mouth. It tasted mildly of cherries.

It was civil twilight. The sky was crepuscular and cornflower blue. Around them, the streets were empty. The closest neighbors were an elderly couple who were likely already in bed. Tom was lucky. His house was private, located on a half acre of land.

A light from upstairs suddenly turned on – it flooded the grass with a dull yellow hue, and Tom cleared his throat. “Molly’s getting the girls ready for bed, so we can cut the bullshit.”

"What bullshit?" Santi quickly shook his head. Barely a word had been said, yet. “We’re just here to talk.”

Tom remained silent, eyeing Santi as if he was lying. It didn’t seem to faze Santi because his voice was as calm as ever.

"What do you want from us, Tom? We’re doing everything you asked. We’ve been looking after her-”

“We? Really?” Tom snuffed, the bottom of his cup smacking the tempered glass. "Cause what I’ve heard is only one of you is babysitting her.” He flayed Frankie with such a venomous glare that it startled him. “How’d you get that job, huh Fish? Pulling sticks?”

"Are we supposed to be keeping an eye on her or not?" Santi replied before Frankie could finish licking the bitter tang off his lips.

"Keeping an eye on her is a very different thing from following her around like a fucking dog," Tom spat, and Frankie had to look away, suddenly feeling severely embarrassed.

A dog? Was that what people were saying? It must've been the shop owners. Assholes. God forbid he walk her to work every day for the first week. It was just to make sure that nobody fucked with her. He didn’t like how certain people looked at her sometimes. That’s why he also walked her home if she got off when it was already dark. Sanctuary might’ve been protected against ghouls, raiders, and mutants, but there were still creeps.

Her safety was his – their responsibility.

He vaguely wondered if Kasumi had told Tom how often he was at her apartment. He hoped not. He hoped Kasumi had kept it to herself how often she saw him in her garden. In those first few days especially, he'd hung around her place slightly more than necessary when it became apparent how much she was struggling. He couldn’t find it in himself to leave her alone for too long – isolated in that tiny garage apartment with nothing more than her thoughts for company. It seemed cruel.

“Molly went by your mom’s shop the other day, but Blue wasn’t there.” Tom’s fingers curled around the metal armrest, his knuckles blanched as white as the crescent moon. “No. She was out to lunch with you.”

“So what?” Santi – again – intercepted. “I took her to lunch today - Benny took her yesterday.”

“But it’s mostly you, isn’t it?” Tom’s voice was so smug that it came across as patronizing. Even more so when his lips twisted into an impish grin. It was as if he’d caught him.

But he didn’t. It wasn’t like that. It really wasn’t.

Yes. Frankie had taken on the brunt of the work. He’d mainly looked after her, but only because the others had been analyzing the data from Blue’s vault, trying to figure out a way to open the pods. They had also been working on decrypting the synth chip. Besides, Frankie had more time to spare than the others. Will and Santi, and likely Benny as well, had someone in their beds.

“They help out when they can,” Frankie explained, tugging at the worn sleeves of his camel-tan nubuck jacket. “You know tech shit has never been my thing.”

"Don’t fuck around with me.” Tom shook his head in disbelief – or maybe disgust. “Is she what - your friend, now?”

“So what if she is?” Santi answered, but other than a grimace, Tom ignored him; his gaze remained firmly glued to Frankie’s face.

“I-” Frankie muttered, “I don’t know.”

He didn’t. He really didn’t know what she was to him. It wasn’t something he ruminated over too much because anytime he did, it struck him as a sin. He felt contrite when he realized Blue had wormed her way in. She’d gotten closer than he anticipated, and the guilt bound to his skin like old, muddy blood.

His brain was hard-wired to despise anything remotely associated with that company. It was decades worth of psyops.

They were the enemy – they imprisoned innocent people – they destroyed his fucking life.

He knew, deep down, he knew that he was supposed to hate her.

And he had hated her.

He’d despised her entirely with that bratty attitude and sinfully tight vault suit. He'd wanted to kill her. He’d pointed a gun at her head and nearly shot her dead. Brain matter on the Vienna rug. Purple guts on the velvet couch like the mud from their boots. Her body left to decompose in the living room.

It was strange how after just two weeks with her, he could no longer bear that thought. Ugly. Horrible. It cut him deeper than the idea of being her friend. He felt violently sick whenever he remembered his finger on the trigger, visualized her trembling chin and bulging eyes in his sight. The memory was never supposed to stick with him like this. She was never supposed to matter. It was like nothing made sense anymore. He swore nothing did since she came crashing into his life.

Of course, he had no idea how to explain any of that. The sky had darkened and blued like mold when he looked at Tom, wishing he could articulate all the shit in his head. He cleared his throat.

“It’s complicated.”

“Complicated?” Tom spit the word back at him. Staggering back in his chair, Tom tilted his head and scrutinized him. “Are you fucking her?”

"What?” Frankie stared at him in shock as Santi sputtered on his drink. “No.”

"Jesus, Tom. What the fuck's the matter with you?"

"Me?" Tom hissed, ramming a finger into the center of his chest. He suddenly lurched forward and Frankie could see the prominent vein on his forehead throbbing. “What the fuck’s the matter with you? I mean, seriously - it’s like you’ve all forgotten who we’re dealing with here.”

“Do you think I could forget?” Frankie snapped – his shock erupting into indignation. His fingers curled into his fists as he tamped down the fire to rattle Redfly by the collar. How could you say that? How dare you. "I know better than anyone who we're dealing with," he spat, voice shaking with overwhelming rage. "My dad's dead because of them."

It was like he slapped Tom across the face. The force of his words made Tom’s head jerk, his mouth split apart like a gutted fish. Good. Tom gaze instantly dropped to the ground, where the moss was branching over the bricks.

Frankie snagged his drink off the table and took a heavy pull, though he wished for something stronger. His body craved it. Almost demanded it. His tongue itched for the specific burn that only the hard stuff – the good stuff – could supply: gin, whiskey, or whatever gut-rot he could quickly get his hands on. Of course, all of those were off the table. Had been for the last five years. He'd given up hard liquor when he quit Mentats and Jet and every other Chem that he'd grown too reliant on to live.

"What'd she say when you told her about your dad?" Tom's voice was soft, almost remorseful. It was the closest thing he'd get to an apology.

"I haven't told her yet," Frankie answered. "It's not easy to talk about." There was a reason why most people avoided mentioning Vault-Tec. It was a trigger. It brought back those memories that he used to try and choke to death in Chems and booze.

Soon. He would tell her, though. Very soon.

"I get it."

The stars breached the surface. A gust of chilly air seeped into his jacket, making Frankie snug it tighter. He turned to Tom and even in the ripe twilight, he could see Tom starting to crack. All that previous hardness was chipping away to reveal the man he knew – his friend. Redfly.

"I'm not asking you to trust her, Tom. I know I didn't." At first. Frankie sighed, dragging a hand across his jaw. "I still have doubts."

"About her?"

"Sometimes,” Frankie admitted. “Not as much as I used to, but it’s not like all the shit from before just goes away."

“We’re just asking you to give this a chance,” Santi siad, his carob eyes pleading with Tom. Trust us. "Can you do that?"

Tom waited a moment before giving a weak nod. “I’ll try.” He raised his glass in the air and rested it against his bottom lip. "Let's hope you're right."

"We'll find out more tomorrow." Santi squeezed Tom's shoulder. "She should give us some sort of intel at that meeting."

---

You'd expected things to move a little faster than this. You'd expected them to be on your ass for information. You'd expected them to give you at most a week, maybe a day or two at the new job before they started hounding you about holding up your end of the deal. This was, after all, a transaction. It'd sorta seemed like you'd be treated like one of those informants in a drug cartel movie.

You weren't complaining, though. Not at all. Having time to settle in was nice and much needed and you took it as a sign of good faith. They’d help up their end of the bargain, and now it was your turn to do the same.

After a little over two weeks, you were finally summoned to the council building. In the basement, they'd set up a private base where you could safely share intel. It was tucked away within a maze of short hallways, secured behind a pair of password-protected doors.

Stepping inside, the room appeared to be nothing special. It looked more like a storage room than a nerve center. The floor and walls were unfinished, gritty concrete with spidery cracks in the ceiling. Tiny motes of dust swirled around the strip lights like fruit gnats. Your eyes stung when you breathed in the heavy smell of loam and spilth.

The room was certainly spacious, though. Even with ten people in here, there was legroom to spare. The limited furniture undoubtedly helped. Against the back wall, a chalkboard on wheels was flanked by foldable steel chairs on two-tier dollys. Everyone gathered in the center of the room around a long cafeteria table.

Squeezing into the spot between Preston and Benny, you noticed the table was covered in maps, which encompassed the entire state of Massachusetts. A few even expanded into parts of Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

These maps were incredibly detailed. Each included street names, major highways and interstates, parks, and various landmarks. Someone had added their own interest points: X's and O's, making the maps look like a scrambled Tic-Tac-Toe board.

"These areas are where the bombs fell." Preston pointed at the black ring around Fall River. His finger rested there for a few seconds - tapping it for emphasis before trailing to the other circles.

You tracked his movement from Bridgewater to Rockport to Milford. When his finger ran across the ring near Wayland, you winced. It felt stupid that something as small as a circle could be a trigger. You couldn't escape it.

The nightmares were constant. Again and again, you dreamed of Concord, reliving everything like Groundhog Day. There was the distant sound of sirens and screams. Families desperately wailing for someone to save them. You could see Nora - bloody lips and gravel-dust on her ashen face. Against the summer blue horizon, a bright burst of light - a mushroom cloud of smoke. You'd thought you were going to die. It rattled your skull. You'd braced for impact, accepted death, then turned around and had to live.

To make matters worse, you could not go somewhere deep inside your head anymore. You couldn’t escape to happier times. Everything was too fresh and tainted. You couldn't remember Nora without seeing her dead. You couldn't think about your parents or family trips to Spain and Greece or the Amalfi fucking Coast without the taste of vinegar burning your throat. All your memories had become rotten, curdling like spoiled milk.

A salty pressure built around your temples, and you quickly closed your eyes to keep back tears. This was not the time or place to fall apart. You could do that later, in bed, like a normal person.

If anyone noticed your reaction, they didn't mention it. You were thankful for that. You were still figuring out how to deal with everything and where to put it all.

Stuff it down.

Stuff it away.

Bury it.

You opened your eyes when the threat of tears finally waned. You exhaled before scanning the mix of red and black X’s on the map. Focusing, you recognized some of the locations of the black X’s and noticed the red was solely in the north.

"I know these black X's are Vault-Tec. So, I'm guessing the red must be for Treasury?"

Preston smiled in response as Benny explained, "We added Treasury's, just in case you were curious."

Surprisingly, it was very informative. Most of the vaults they'd found were also in the north. That made sense, you supposed. Finding the vaults closest to Treasury's and Sanctuary was probably easy – or easier, at least. Additionally, there was one in Malden, Revere, two more in the neighborhoods around Boston, and four in New Hampshire. In total, you counted 16, but that was it?

"When did you start looking?" you asked. You were genuinely curious, but your tone must have come off as judgmental or unimpressed because Tom immediately appeared offended. He defensively folded his arms and nearly elbowed Frankie in the ribs as he puffed out his chest.

"The first vault was freed in 2200."

Suddenly, it made sense why they seemed so desperate for your help. Almost 80 years of searching, 16 was barely scratching the surface. At this rate, it would take another two centuries for them to locate the rest. If not longer.

"The first vault actually liberated themselves," Preston elaborated, gesturing to the X in Swampscott. "They found us, and that's how all this started."

"How many others have freed themselves?"

"As far as we know, none," Preston said.

Tom suddenly let out a sound that sounded like a mix of a scoff and a snort. It audibly flared his nostrils. "They made sure it never happened again," he stressed, the tendons in his jaw twitching.

He continued to stare at you. The chill that ran down your spine had nothing to do with the cold draft in the basement room. Under his ruthless hazel eyes, you felt scrutinized. His upper lip curled in disgust as if you stunk of toxic waste.

The guys had said they'd talked to Redfly. He's gonna try. He's gonna give you a chance. Yeah, that didn't seem to be the case.

Benny must've sensed the growing tension because he abruptly shifted topics. “Do a lot of these overlap with the ones you had?”

You tilted your head unevenly from side to side.

“About half-and-half. I didn’t know the exact location of the ones in New Hampshire. Or any of these, either.” Your finger orbited around the three vaults in the far northeastern region. “I was pretty dicey on this one, too,” you added, pecking at the city of Lawrence. It was lucky for them that most of the ones you knew were either within a 25-mile radius of Concord or to the southeast of Boston.

“So, that means you have a vault to give us.” Tom’s voice was flat as wood as he rolled a marker across the table. It would've been easier to just hand it to you, but of course, he had to be difficult. He probably didn't want to risk touching you. It was like you were diseased.

Luckily, you caught the marker before it could slide off and hit the ground. The last thing you wanted to give Tom was the satisfaction of seeing you crawling around on the cold, cement floor for a runaway marker.

You tapped the capped side of the marker against your chin. The fluorescent lights were bright white, reflecting against the synthetic paper. On the edge of Peabody, there was a vault. Finding Cannon Rock on the map, your eyes drifted a few blocks northeast. Right there. In that park.

You paused and abruptly looked at Concord, where your family was currently frozen. You thought back to when you left the vault. The only reason you did it was to save them, not betray them.

You'd been flirting with the point of no return but realized this was it. If you did this, if you gave up the vault, you could never go back to them again. Your father would not forgive you. Thinking about losing the only thing you had left of the world you knew made your chest feel too tight. It was as if a burlap sack was wrapped around your sternum, making it hard to breathe fully.

You wondered if this was the right decision. There was a split-second where you considered giving them the wrong location, leading them there, then making a run for it. This was a position you never wanted to be in. You were tired of being misled. Tired of not knowing who to trust. Time and time again, your own intuition had proven wrong. You didn't want to fuck up anymore.

You looked up, and when your gaze landed on Frankie, he offered a small smile. It was subtle, a simple quirk of his pink lips. You felt penitent. You hated yourself for even briefly considering misleading them. It was a lapse in judgment. You had no idea what you were thinking. Whether you turned back or not, things would never be the same with your family. You knew too much.

You uncapped the marker and took a deep breath before drawing an X near the border of Peabody and Lynn.

No going back, now. It was done.

---

When Frankie saw where she marked the map, he knew Tom would definitely question her.

“Right here?” Tom hammered his index finger against the fresh blue X, smearing the edges onto a nearby street. "Are you sure about that?"

Tom's stare bore into her like a heavy boot on her neck, but she didn't flinch. Instead, she firmly nodded, not even looking down to double-check.

"Positive?" Tom continued to press despite her confidence. "Cause we've checked that area more than a dozen times-”

"I don't know what to tell you, Tom. It's there."

Frankie had lost count of how many times their unit was sent on a recce to scope out that exact area.

Over the years, there had been countless clues and data encryptions that alluded to a vault being somewhere in Peabody. They’d go and waste days sifting through the town, turning it upside down to leave empty-handed.

After a while, Frankie had started to believe it was a ruse – a diversionary tactic to throw them off their scent. It sounded like something Vault-Tec would do, but now, it seemed like they had just overlooked it somehow.

"What made you pick this vault?" Tom asked.

She glanced down at the map before peering up at Tom through her lashes. "Uh - it's the closest one." Her tone was dry, a duh heavily implied. "I thought that would be the easiest way to do this, wouldn't you agree?"

The vein on Tom's forehead pulsed like a wound. He grunted in response, clearly pained to agree with her.

Truthfully, they should've been thanking her. She could've easily given them a vault that would take days or weeks to reach, but Frankie decided not to point that out. He'd rather not pick a fight before the ink could dry on their new peace treaty. Things between them weren't entirely back to normal just yet. Their interactions were still slightly awkward – stilted and fragile.

"So," Will rested his hip against the table and looked at Tom. "Is the captain going to tag along?"

Tom's lips split into a disarming grin that shaved the years off his face. Gone were the bags, wrinkles, and frown lines. He hadn't seen Tom smile like that since he retired.

Frankie knew Tom missed being out there – with a gun in his hand. He craved action – adrenaline – the acts of violence that inflicted the wasteland. Sitting at a desk and reading through files wasn't the life he ultimately envisioned.

"Come on." Tom folded his arms over his chest. "Do you think I'm gonna let you guys do this without me?"

"Woo!" Benny cheered, pounding his fist on the table. "That's what I'm fucking talking about."

Frankie glanced across the table at Blue and noticed the worry flicker over her face. Her fingers were curled tightly around the marker as her smile faltered to one side. There was a faraway look in her eyes and absently watched Tom and Benny celebrate. She blinked and abruptly corrected her expression. Even though she appeared fine, Frankie could tell innately that something was bothering her.

It had become almost like a sixth sense. Over the last two months, he had subconsciously come to learn her tics and tells. She didn't even have to give a lot. To him, she was downright easy to read.

And right now, she was nervous. He suspected that her unease had something to do with Tom and couldn't really blame her. She had no reason to trust him or any of them for that matter.

"Will Molly be okay with that?" Preston's voice was almost as stiff as his spine, but Tom didn’t seem to realize.

"She won't mind," Tom said dismissively. It was likely. After retiring, Tom continued to fill in for a sick patrol or volunteer to clear out an infestation of ghouls. He'd jump at the chance to escape from Sanctuary. She must've realized those few hours outside the gates kept him sane. "Besides, as long as Blue's telling the truth, we should be back before dark."

When Tom looked away, Preston quickly exchanged a glance with Curie. The two of them shared an inscrutable look. Interesting. Maybe it wasn't just him who caught on to Blue's apprehension.

"Well, someone has to balance out the testosterone in this group," Curie announced casually. "So, I'll come too."

Blue snorted earnestly before flashing Curie a grateful smile. "I'd really like that, but-" she paused for a moment, her lips twisting to one side. “Won’t people find it strange that I'm tagging along?"

“We don’t think so,” Preston said. “But we did talk and decided if anyone asks, we’ll say you aren’t comfortable being here without the guys, just yet. That excuse should buy us a few months, at least.”

"Besides, everyone believes you grew up out there," Will added. "To survive this long, you'd have to be a pretty big badass."

She smirked at that, but her expression quickly turned serious again. "So, you don't think anyone will put two and two together? Even with finding a vault?"

Frankie could understand her concern, though it was highly unlikely for a few reasons. For one – the guys didn't even believe who she was when she was in front of them, donning a vault suit.

Secondly, nobody had any real reason to question the Council or their unit. They were both respected. Both were highly regarded throughout the entire Commonwealth. Even if there were rumors, Frankie doubted the gossip would include Vault-Tec. Not with his involvement. Just his seal of approval alone cleared her name.

Thankfully, Preston said something different than that.

“We told everyone about the synths in Lexington for a reason. They know we’ve been working hard on analyzing the chip,” he explained, glancing briefly at Tom. “It wouldn’t be the first time a vault’s been found that way.”

She was silent for a long moment – seemingly contemplating before she nodded and said, “Okay.”

That was it.

The meeting concluded with Tom laying out a plan.

“We’ll leave Sunday.” He looked in Blue’s direction and scowled. “After the morning patrols get back. I don’t want any fucking surprises.”

---

On Sunday morning, the patrols slowly trickled in one by one. The routes covered the area of Clifton, but you doubted they extended further than Phillip's Beach or Swampscott Mall. Waiting seemed like a waste of precious daylight for only an hour or so of clearance, but questioning Tom would surely piss him off. He was already in a sour enough mood.

For the last hour, Preston and him had bickered in the corner. The council lobby didn't offer much in terms of privacy, but neither seemed to care.

"All I'm saying is maybe we should postpone the trip another day or two," Preston had said, halfway pleading with Tom to reconsider.

It had been raining on and off since yesterday. Last night, it was so severe that it woke you up twice. Even though the storm had passed earlier, you glanced out the window at the sky, where a mass of blackness brooded on the very distant horizon. Traversing through a hostile wasteland was dangerous - even more so with sight lines limited. Preston made it sound like a death wish, but Tom seemed intent on asserting his dominance.

"It's just rain. We'll be fine." Tom's tone was harsh – final. "I'm not waiting another day to find out if she's telling the truth."

Preston must have realized that Tom would not budge because he went to a nearby linen closet and handed everyone a flimsy bedroll. He dropped it in your lap, and it smelled like mothballs. "Just in case."

Luckily, you'd been prepared and wore a field jacket with a hood. Clad in combat boots and tatty black jeans, the leather holster around your waist looked like something straight from an old western - Gunsmoke or something with Clint Eastwood. It was thoroughly shocking that Tom even allowed you to have a gun.

It was around 10 or so when the last of the patrols walked through the gates with another clean bill of health. Finally, the group left – Preston waving goodbye with a worried look in his ochre eyes.

Against the overcast skies, you could see it was storming in Lawrence or Andover. Somewhere out west. The clouds over there were smeared and bruised with a sickly green hue. The air was gummy and thick with humidity from the October rain, and as you walked down Tedscore Street, you could feel your tank top sticking to your skin.

It was strange being surrounded again by destruction. Inside the walls of Sanctuary, you could almost forget what existed on the other side. No - everything there was so clean and put-together instead of destitute.

You turned onto Eastern Avenue and saw it lined with decay. The houses and stores were comatose, rotted from time and weather. The uranium residue hung above the town, blending into the ozone. This once busy street was now full of holes.

Staring down at your feet, you carefully stepped around the debris - the pits and cracks that riddled the asphalt, making it undrivable. Inside the potholes, the fresh puddles carried a specific stink. It was earthy and sulfuric, overwhelming your nostrils like a hot shower in Orlando, Florida.

Funny – even the smell of petrichor was different than it used to be. Nothing was the same anymore. It was ugly. It was broken. The world was in utter shreds.

“Pick up the pace," Tom barked, knocking you back into the present. His hot breath and bits of spit pelted the back of your neck. He was right on your heels.

"I'm going as fast as I can," you sassed. You refused to look over your shoulder, not wanting to be that close to his face.

"It's slick here, man," Benny was quick to come to your defense. It wasn't like he was moving any faster than you.

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed Frankie lightly grip Tom's arm and guide him three steps back. You were thankful for that. It was better than nothing, though you wished Tom wasn't here at all.

You knew he would ruin the entire vibe when he announced that he was coming along. Everyone seemed uneasy around him. Barely anyone had said a word over the last hour and a half.

You’d thought Frankie was bad in the beginning, but even he didn’t act this cold. At least Frankie had the decency to act a little sympathetically toward your situation. He didn't trust or like you but cared somewhat about your safety. He didn't leave you in Concord. He'd protected you from the bugs and ghouls. You doubted Tom would've taken a nasty gash to the arm for you.

Two or maybe closer to three miles left, the group stopped for lunch in a strip mall parking lot. You plopped down next to Benny on the curb and pulled out a sandwich from the front pocket of your bag. Molly had made one for everyone. This morning, she'd handed them out personally before kissing Tom goodbye. You'd talked with her briefly, a quick introduction, but she was nicer than you expected given her husband. There was something kind about her smile.

"So," Tom began as you took the first bite. "How exactly do you know where this vault is?"

Suddenly, you realized they'd never explicitly asked how you knew the location of the vaults. You supposed it was a small detail in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps they thought it was common knowledge back then, and honestly, they wouldn’t have been completely wrong.

Looking around, you wouldn't know it now, but there were billboards everywhere, cheesy late-night infomercials, and posters shepherding traffic to the closest vault in case of an emergency. Back then, everyone knew where a few vaults were.

You swallowed. "My family went to the grand opening." Took another bite. This sandwich was delicious. You needed the recipe for whatever this sauce was.

"You've been to this vault before?" Will sounded surprised and slightly confused. Suddenly, you noticed everyone staring at you and gulped.

"Only outside of it, but yeah." You absently picked at the bread crust. Once construction finished, barely anyone was allowed inside aside from a few high-ups, such as your parents. Not even Alice had that sort of clearance, much to her annoyance.

"Vaults are a fragile system," your dad would tell her. "They need to be kept in perfect condition. We must maintain their integrity."

"And every vault had a grand opening?" Santi clarified, and you nodded.

As a kid, you used to cut the big yellow ribbon. You could remember the first time – outside of Vault 85. It was in the middle of a blizzard. Your teeth chattered, tiny hands shaking so violently in your fur-trimmed gloves that your dad had to hold them steady as you grappled with the giant scissors.

"I don't get it." Benny scratched his temple with a quizzical expression. "If you couldn’t go inside, what was the point?”

You couldn't help but smile at Benny. It was funny how much things had changed. Of course, it wouldn't make sense to him. In this world, there was no PR or promotions. They had no idea that a brand needed media attention to thrive.

"The whole thing was just for publicity." The Boston Bugle was always front and center – their pictures were broadcast on WRVR evening news. “The only reason my dad brought me was for the photo op. He thought seeing a family unit was good for the brand.”

Tom made an ugly sound with his mouth.

"If your face was already selling vaults, sounds like you might as well have worked for them." Tom glanced at Frankie, who was awkwardly sitting next to him on the cement parking block.

"It's not like I didn't consider it." You did. Of course you did. That would've made things at home so much easier. It would've made your parents – God, your mom so proud. How nice it would've been to make her proud for once. You shoved that thought away and shrugged. “At the end of the day, I didn’t want a job dealing with the end of the world. It wasn't something I liked thinking about."

For good reason, you thought, scanning the strip mall. There were the remains of a Dunkin' sign – a pizza place – a quaint corner cafe. At lunchtime, this area would've been swarming.

Now, there was no one. Now, there was just brittle mineral dust. Ash and ghosts.

You sighed. "I would've rather focused on saving the world I had, not saving it in the aftermath."

"And that's what Vault-Tec was doing? Saving the world?" Tom hissed, the words gritting between his teeth.

"That's what I thought at the time," you said calmly, voice sad. "Turns out I was wrong."

—-

It wasn't much further now. You were passing St. Joseph Cemetery, where headstones were buried under a thicket of weeds and bright yellow dandelions. Amidst the river birch and flowering dogwood trees were mausoleums entwined in vines. The brass doors were dark and rich with patina.

“Blue!” Curie called out, snapping your attention away from the grand iron archway and to the front of the line. “Wanna come lead the way?”

“Sure.”

She ushered you to the front of the pack, walking at your side. You squinted at the street signs and storefronts. It was hard to orient yourself when everything looked radically different.

“Here, this might help,” Curie said, revealing a pip-boy from her bag and placing it in your hands.

“Is this a 3000 model?” You marveled at the pip-boy before latching the band around your wrist. The device was roughly the size of your foot. It was clunkier and heavier than the prototypes. Vault-Tec had advertised the device as lightweight – you won’t even realize you have one on. Just another one of their lies. It was no wonder Curie had kept it in her bag. It felt like a two-liter of soda pressed against your radius and ulna.

On the screen, there was a monochrome map. You messed with the control dial on the right side, flipping through the different tabs at the top: data, stats, and a radio that emitted pure static. The device must’ve been modded because it was missing the vault features. Even on the home screen, there was no Vault-Boy (or girl).

"I'm guessing your vault didn't hand those out." Tom's voice was even more grating than the static.

"Nope," you said simply as you switched back to the map, honing in on the vault's location and placing a pin.

"And you didn't find that odd?"

"No, not really," you replied. "Believe it or not, the last thing on my mind after watching the world end was a fancy computer for my wrist."

You could hear Tom let out a low growl but ignored it.

As you continued down the road, you wondered if Tom was someone who people didn’t usually fuck with. It seemed highly likely. He was intimidating, after all. Big and menacing in his build. He struck you as someone who didn’t want to be tested. Or bested for that matter.

On the last half-mile, it began to drizzle. Picking up your pace slightly, you glanced at the screen and turned right. Just a block ahead, outside the neighborhood, was Granite Park, nestled in a valley between rolling hills. Most people had no idea the park was funded by Vault-Tec. It wasn't anywhere on the sign.

The park was eerie with its empty benches and dead gardens. The monkey bars and jungle gyms had lost their paint and would undoubtedly collapse with time. A cool breeze rustled the swings. The melody was haunting.

It looked different than you remembered, and not in the way that everything looked different. The park had changed, but you couldn't pinpoint what exactly.

“So, where is it?” Tom slapped his thighs like an impatient child.

With an irritated huff, you pressed forward. Your boots slopped through the overgrown grass, hitting just below your knees. After passing the picnic tables, it was basically a swamp. It led to a pond filled with moss and trash, and the air stank of stagnant water. There were willow flies and golden drakes the size of your fist. The vault was around here somewhere.

Rubbing your chin, you spanned the shoreline and even went deeper, near the forest edge. Nothing. In a valley, the land was flat enough that you could see the expanse of open area fairly clearly. Your mouth began to dry as you backtracked to the picnic tables, then scanned the grounds, including the kiddie area and splash zone.

Again – nothing.

The vault was gone.

---

“Are we gonna keep going around in circles, Blue?” Tom taunted, and you could imagine the look on his face - his chin thrust out and eyes gleaming with insolence.

Holding your breath, you surveyed the pond, the soccer fields, and cracked pickleball courts. That was the fourth time: still, nothing. Your toes and fingers felt like static. Your heart was in your throat. Your anxiety was rising to a level that made it nearly impossible to think straight.

A strong hand grasped your shoulder, yanking you from the brink of a full-blown panic attack. Your feet swerved in a circle and when you tilted your chin up, Frankie’s hand dropped to his side. He shifted back a step to study you. His thumb dragged over his bottom lip, your eyes tracking the flicker of pink that appeared between his teeth.

“Are you sure it’s here?” Frankie whispered, glancing momentarily at the group. His brows were pleated, his jaw tensing. He appeared less upset and more worried than anything.

Tom was going to lose his shit any second.

“I don’t understand. I-” You bit down hard on your bottom lip, though let it go before drawing blood. “It was here. I swear.”

It was.

It was here.

The vault couldn’t just get up and move, so where the hell was it?

Cursing, you spun back around to observe the park for the fifth time. You scanned the perimeter of the pond. Something pulled you back to the cola cans and plastic bags floating in the water. A hairless duck had made a nest from diapers.

It became more difficult to focus as Tom’s voice rose, yelling and laughing as if this was a game he’d just won. “I knew it.” He repeated over and over again. “I fucking knew she was a fraud.”

“Shut up and let her concentrate.” Frankie snapped before mumbling. “Jesus Christ.”

“Fuck you mean concentrate?” Tom snorted. “The vault isn’t here. She's setting us up. She lied to you."

“Stop it,” Santi warned, voice stern and angrier than you've ever heard. Tom growled like a wild beast, clearly not in the mood for orders.

“This is fucking bullshit.” He roared as the rain began to fall harder. “For all we know, synths could be on the other side of that tree line."

“That’s not helping, Tom,” Curie cut in, which was mildly surprising. She barely knew you, after all. All of them, especially Curie, had every right to doubt you, yet…

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Frankie shift and reposition himself at your back. He was guarding you. Ben and Will also began to defend you. It made your chest feel warm, even against the chill of the rain.

You refused to let them down. Focusing, you gripped the edges of your hood and crushed it against your ears to drown out the fighting.

Think. Come on, think.

It didn’t make sense. If this vault had opened when you were a kid, you would’ve understood being turned around, but it had been relatively newer when the bombs fell. Its grand opening was the day after your 21st birthday. Your dad had dragged you here disastrously hungover, hair in a bun and makeup crusty from the night before. You'd spent the entire drive dry-heaving in the backseat of his Bentley Continental. Then a solid ten minutes with your head buried in a public toilet, swearing off Sea Breeze's and vodka in general.

You glanced over at the bathroom, a brick shack that was surprisingly in decent shape. The vault was just a short distance from the bathroom. Squinting, you inspected where you swore there used to be a gravel pathway. Amidst the weeds and greenery, something silver caught your eye.

It was a random metal pole near the outdoor fitness zone. It looked plain and unassuming, nothing special at all. However, it triggered a memory from the day you left the vault. Outside, one of the first things you’d noticed were silver poles. The last remnants of the fence.

Slowly, your hands fell to your sides as you spotted another pole a few yards off - two more on your left. They were scattered in seemingly random order, though none too far from...you rocked back.

“The pond.”

“What’d you say?”

You ignored Frankie, too busy perusing the hills surrounding the park. The pieces were rapidly clicking into place. Yes, you’d realized something was different. Something had changed, and it was this pond. This pond was not here before. A group of vaults had been built in a flood plain. You closed your eyes, visualizing the bulkier entrance that was reinforced with protective barriers to prevent it from bogging.

Obviously, those barriers were now gone. They’d descended underground, you guessed. Disappearing along with the men, women, and children when the vault was sealed.

Suddenly, you were seeing first-hand how deep Vault-Tec's corruption ran.

They’d clearly planned this when building the vaults, strategically placing them in places where no one could find them – places where the landscape could do the dirty work. The rain had covered their tracks. Marked on a map or not, no one would question a pond in the middle of a park. It was brilliant and frightening.

That was why these guys had struggled to find the vaults. That must’ve been why they appeared so frustrated – so desperate. They had searched this area before – they were in the right place this whole time. Everything was starting to make sense.

You spun around to find Frankie staring at you from the berm. Visibly anxious, his fist shook at his side. You slid over to him, leaving barely a gap. “It’s in the pond. It’s here. It’s under the water.”

The expression on his face morphed from curious to puzzled. It took him a moment to digest the information. His gaze flickered from your face to the murky water behind your shoulder. “In there?”

You nodded, and Tom scoffed with his usual mark of disdain.

“Do you expect us to take your word for that?"

"Not at all." You moved to the side and dramatically motioned towards the pond. "Be my guest and check for yourself," you challenged, making his upper lip curl into a snarl.

You didn’t know how deep the pond went, but surely, if he dove down far enough, he’d find something. The yellow and white paint had likely thinned and peeled away, but the VT mullion would still be visible. Ponds weren’t metal at the bottom. Perhaps he could feel the steel ridges under his feet or with his hands.

As thunder rumbled in the distance, Benny stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?” Will asked, very concerned, but Benny was already stripping off his clothes.

His jacket and shirt were strewn over a bench. Gone were his boots, socks, and jeans. Clad in black briefs, your cheeks burned seeing Benny this exposed.

You'd seen a man shirtless before. Of course, you had, but they never looked like that. He was lean with muscle and much hairier than you expected. His chest and lower abdomen were swathed in dark fuzz.

Shit. You were staring.

Turning away, you caught Frankie eyeing you, his tongue pressing against his cheek. It was hard to read his expression. The rain dribbled off the brim of his cap and blurred his features – his revelatory eyes.

Almost immediately, he broke eye contact and glanced down at your wrist. "Benny will need the pip-boy," he stated, devoid of emotion.

When you finally managed to unhook the pip-boy, Benny was on the shoreline in all his farmer-tan glory. He was close enough where you could see every individual strand of russet hair between his muscled pecs. You cleared your throat and handed over the pip-boy.

"It should be somewhere close to the middle," you told him as he secured the device to his wrist and flicked on its flashlight. Smart. In this cloud coverage, visibility was going to be extremely limited.

"Don't worry, Blue. I'll find it." Benny winked before Will patted him firmly on the shoulder.

"Be quick." Will tipped his chin towards the dark, grumbly sky. They didn't need Ben dying from a lightning strike.

“I will,” Benny promised and descended into the sooty water. It must’ve been cold because the muscles on his back convulsed. The water ruffled as his head disappeared entirely under the moss.

The rain formed capillary waves, making it impossible to see where Benny was. On the shoreline, everyone stood in a single line except Tom, who was lurking in your shadow. Every breath, every scoff, every mumbled remark puffed against your pulse point like the hot breath of a dragon.

Benny emerged once – a second time, a few more yards out. He shook his hair out of his eyes like a wet dog. “I think I see it!” He sucked in a big gulp of air before diving back down again.

The storm was edging closer. Closer. The moody, pewter-green clouds heaved a low growl. A flash of white light snaked the sky as Benny resurfaced for a third time.

"Holy shit!" Benny slapped the water and hollered, "We've struck gold, bitches!"

---

The celebration was cut short by the storm. The rain pelted them as Frankie and the group fled to the nearest house with an intact roof - a split-level with a wood stove in the living room. It was a lucky find. Even though it stunk of mold, and radroaches had long-infested the master bedroom.

As Santi and Will treated the intrusion with double-barrels, Frankie worked on starting a fire. Searching the second bedroom, he found a stack of Grognak comic books and used the pages as tinder. Good thing he brought matches. His hands hovered around the fire for warmth, but the cold had seeped through his bones and made his teeth chatter. His fingers were chilled blue from the rain. His clothes were soggy and swamped, gripping his skin like mutant guts.

He undressed in the kitchen, hiding his bare ass behind the island. God forbid Blue come upstairs to see him in such a pitiful, shriveled state. Not just her – he would hate for Curie or any woman to see him like that. Even though it was completely normal. It was the cold, wet goddamnit.

After yanking on a spare pair of jeans and a t-shirt from his pack, he draped the sodden clothes over a dining room chair to dry. Time was already running thin before this delay, so there was no chance of returning to Sanctuary tonight.

Sighing, Frankie leaned against the sliding glass door and watched the steady deluge of rain. The backyard offered a small view of the park. In the gaps between the trees, he could see a glimpse of the swing set - the teeter-totters. Throughout the years, he’d spent countless hours ambling around these streets and even that goddamn park for a sign of a vault.

It was there. This whole time, the vault was right there.

He wondered how many other vaults they'd missed, overlooked, and walked right past without a clue. It was obvious they never would’ve found it on their own. They never would’ve thought to look at the bottom of a pond. Those people would’ve been stuck there forever if not for her: A woman whose skin was freezer-burned less than three months ago.

It was crazy how much had changed within a season – from a simple mission to explore further west. He could remember arriving in Concord defeated, drained, and covered in sweat and ghoul brains. Like the town before, the neighborhood had been swarming with undead. Throughout those muggy August nights, he'd desperately wished for a miracle while bunking in a brick mansion, unaware that its original owners had worked for Vault-Tec. Unaware of her existence at all.

Little did he know.

Frankie had never put much stock in the idea of fate. He would much rather rely on logic and choice than the idea that his life was written in asterism. However, there was no denying that meeting her felt almost cosmic.

Thinking about her like that made the hair on the back of his neck bristle. It scared him how fast his doubts about her were beginning to dwindle. He wanted to cling to them. Sometimes, those what-ifs felt like the only thing keeping him sane. It gave him an excuse to keep her at a distance. He didn't know what would happen if he didn't have a reason to keep her at arm's length.

A violent crash yanked Frankie from his musing. The first thing that came to his mind was Blue. As he wondered where she was, he remembered she was with Ben and Curie. She was safe with them.

Gun at the ready, he tracked the noise to the master bedroom. It was just Will and Santi moving an armoire to block a broken window, where the roaches were likely entering. Afterward, they decided to do the same for the rest of the house, checking and covering any entry points large enough for creatures to sneak through.

When they finally finished securing the house, it was dinner time. Everyone was gathered in the living room around the rekindled fire. Luckily, they were prepared for the worst and brought mason jars of chili, which was just vegetables and beans, no meat. Despite it being cold, Frankie preferred this to sleeping on an empty stomach.

“So, give me a timeline - how long does this whole freeing the vault thing take.”

Frankie turned to his left, where Blue was beside him, criss-cross on the moth-bitten rug. She shoveled a handful of dry fruit into her mouth. Her and her damn dried fruit.

“It can be a lengthy process,” Frankie answered, and she bobbled her head for him to elaborate. He snorted at her dramatics. “Depends on the season, the weather, the geographical location of the vault. Sometimes, it takes weeks - other times months.”

"Alright, but what about this one?"

Probably a while. Frankie shrugged. “I don’t know.”

The raggedy couch cushion whined under Curie as she leaned forward. “Typically, the process starts by hacking into the vault's main control board using the Pip-Boy's adapter plug. We install a backdoor attack, which allows us to remotely access the vault doors without tipping them off."

“Damn.”

“And not just that,” Curie continued. "We also gain access into the Pip-Boys registered to the vault, which offers us a headcount for the MRO.”

Doors and Pip-Boys. It was strange how those were the two weak spots in the system. Everything else, though, was locked down and encrypted. As a young cadet, part of their duties included ciphering the coding - or at least, attempting to. Frankie thought back to those weekends spent at the base's information room in the dark basement. Afterward, his head would hurt from the mess of letters, numbers, and mysterious dates: September 7th, 2041, January 3rd, 2045, and more that he couldn't fully recall. Once in a while, a random word would be thrown into the mix, like Sugar Plum Fairy or Peanut.

Goddamn peanut was everywhere. In fact, the intelligence team had been thoroughly convinced that it must have something to do with elephants. One of the best units in Sanctuary's history - Frankie's idols growing up - were deployed to Franklin Park Zoo. It was one of the worst missions ever. The unit returned home down two arms and an entire person after a blood bath with mutant lions and pygmy hippos. It was a miracle any of them survived.

The crackle of thunder pulled Frankie from his thoughts. As he slugged back a bite of chili, he figured Curie would launch into one of her usual tangents. He was fully expecting Curie to tell Blue about the ability to communicate with the Vault Dwellers as well. It made more sense when Curie explained it. She knew better than all of them the logistics behind sending messages to individual Pip-Boys. She was on the intelligence team that would spend days, even weeks, cold-calling until someone got curious enough to take the bait.

Breaking into the vault without an early warning was risky. It was essential to form trust for a smooth rescue. After all, these people had kids – families that they would want to protect. Even though it was shitty, the vault was the only home they'd ever known. That was their entire world.

Curie's mouth opened as if to say more, but she must've noticed Tom glaring from the dusty recliner because she took a drink from her canteen instead. No one wanted to deal with Tom's wrath, and knowing Curie, she'd likely tell Blue later - when Tom wasn't around to give her hell.

Will finished off the last of his chili, screwing on the lid of his jar. "This time will be harder, though," he said in his typical methodical tone. "Since the main control board is embedded into the entrance-"

“Which is underwater,” Blue finished before Will could.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Will hummed. "So, we're gonna have to figure out how to drain the pond."

“Well, maybe-” Blue abruptly cut herself off, wrenching her jaw shut. Her expression switched into something conflicted, her gaze diverting to her lap, where the cloth bag of dried fruit was twisted like a water knot in her grasp. She bit down on her lip, chewing it thoughtfully.

Frankie wondered what was going on in that head of hers as the wind rattled the windows. The rain continued to pour down in sheets, leaking from the various water stains in the popcorn ceiling. Underneath, the wooden floorboards were bent and warped and gnarled. He forced himself to focus on the plop-plop-plop instead of trying to figure out her brain. He didn't need to know the interworkings of her mind - he didn't understand why he even cared.

In the quiet room, the fire crackled and spit, casting the room in shadows. Blue drew in a breath as if savoring the smell of burning paper. The resin buttons on her shirt slowly relaxed as she exhaled. “I don’t know if you noticed the metal poles around the pond, but those used to be a part of a fence that went around the vault."

“The fuck does that have to do with anything?” Tom interrupted, very confrontational. Could he let her finish?

“I’m not completely sure,” she answered Tom more calmly than he deserved before choosing to focus on Frankie. "But if Vault-Tec wanted to wipe themselves from the surface, why leave those?"

Intrigued, Frankie's body dipped into the space between them as he licked his lips. "They wouldn't."

"Exactly." Her bright eyes reflected the orange light from the fire – her lips curved into a pleasing smile. “Now, those poles could be integral to the vault structure or something. But, maybe, there’s some type of wiring inside.” She shrugged, shaking her head as if worried to say something stupid. "I mean - I don't know much about that kinda stuff, but in order for computers and Pip-Boys to work, they gotta be getting a signal from somewhere, right?"

That goddamn head of hers.

This was the second time today she'd left him dumbstruck. She looked unsure of herself - almost insecure - and even though they didn't know if she was right or wrong, it was a sound theory. She was full of surprises.

"Blue!" Benny revered, hugging her around the shoulders and lightly shaking her. "You might be the smartest girl I've ever met."

She giggled girlishly as Benny rocked her back and forth a few times before finally releasing her.

"Thanks, but I find that hard to believe when Curie's legit the reincarnation of her namesake."

Curie clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses."

"That sounds like something a genius would say," Blue said, and Frankie tilted his head, his lips pursed as if deeply puzzled.

"Does it?"

She scrunched her nose at the sarcasm in his tone and answered, "A humble one, at least."

"And how many of those do you know?"

"Sadly, I've met more arrogant idiots," she said before trying to open her jar of chili. It didn't budge. She grunted, trying and failing for the second time. She frowned.

He gestured at the jar with two fingers. "Let me see it."

Stubborn, like always, Blue ignored him and instead cranked the lid as hard as possible. The muscles in her neck flexed, but when it still didn't give way, she groaned and begrudgingly handed it over, finally accepting his help. It took one solid twist for him to pop the lid.

"Show off," she huffed under her breath. He'd never met someone so determined to prove themselves as capable. Even with small things.

When she snatched the jar from his hand, it was Deja Vu. He was instantly transported back to her first few days in Sanctuary when cooped up in her house, they'd spent hours in her tiny kitchen. She'd put herself in charge of cooking, but he was always there, propped against a nearby counter to watch her zest lemons and mince garlic cloves. She insisted that she didn't need his help, but five minutes later, she would turn around and ask him to open a jar, stir the sauce, or grab some spices off the rack. "Whatever you say, chef."

She was a far better cook than he anticipated. Every dish, even the most basic, had her own little flare.

One night, she whipped up some brownies, licking the gooey batter off the beater. Her tongue twisted, curling around the metal rods to get every drop. It had made his breath catch.

The memory of her pretty tongue flashed behind his eyes, making his blood simmer in his veins. Frankie dug his fingers into the musty rug. His focus abruptly dipped to the jar pressed against her lips. She tipped back her head, eating the chili like a pull of whiskey.

His gaze was glued to her mouth as she thumbed some juice off her bottom lip and sucked it from her fingertip. It made something hot unfurl in his gut that he had to jam into his intestines before it could take root. He looked away, suddenly remembering where he was. This wasn't her kitchen. Other people were in the room.

Curie and Will might've been lost in each other, but Santi and Ben were staring at him. In the dark, the firelight obscured their faces - their expressions indistinct. When he thought of looking in Tom's direction, the heat of shame burned his cheeks.

It was stupid. He'd done nothing wrong at all.

So, why did he feel caught?

#pedro pascal fanfiction #francisco morales x reader #francisco catfish morales #frankie morales x reader #triple frontier fanfiction #frankie catfish morales #pedro pascal #francisco morales #frankie x reader #fallout fanfic #fallout au

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ax-y10 · 1 year ago

Note

WILBUR SOOT AS SPIDERMAN AND READER IS SPIDER WOMEN AS WELL. AND THEN THE WHOLE TIME THEY ARE FIGHTING MONSTERS AND STUFF AND WILBUR IS JUST FLIRTING THE WHOLE TIME??? LIKE YOUR SWINGING AND WILBUR IS LIKE,

“So, darling, how has your day been?”

AND READER’S JUST LIKE:

“Dude we are literally about to die.”

AND YOU CAN ADD YOUR OWN TWIST TO THIS WITH IT BEING LIKE THE NEW MOVIE OR THE OLD MILES MOVIE. AND ITS LIKE THE SPIDERVERSE AND STUFF???

But can it be f!reader? :D

Shut up

In which- Your best friend is a little too flirtatious in bad situations

A/n: Omg my dad force-fed me Spiderman and Marvel so ofc I can do this. I love this idea so much. Sorry it's really short, I had school work to do and it's due today.

Chapter info: Shitty flirting, near-death situations, probably completely off of the plot because I haven't watched spiderman in literally forever, swearing

Pronouns: Mainly you/yours (small use of she/her)

Masterlist:

"Look! You've got me swinging for you," Wilbur shouted from his distance away from you. This entire time while you were trying to get out of this situation, Wilbur was just hanging off of buildings, swinging over next to you, hanging upside down, all the while trying to get your attention. Were you paying attention to it? No. Was he trying to get your attention? Yes. Was it working? Maybe.

"WILBUR! You need to shut up and help me get out of this situation and then you can do all the flirting you want," You reasoned, the man beside you smirking and slowly nodding his head.

And the next day wasn't any better. You were trying to help civilians get out of the rubble from an attack that had happened about half an hour before, when something pushed you from behind and into the rubble you were searching through. Wilbur spotted you and decided to take some weight off the situation.

"So darling, how's your day been?" He teased, the reaction in you slowly bubbling up to the top.

"Quite shit, actually. We are literally about to die, so if you wouldn't mind, can you help me out of this?" Luckily for you, Phil came around and yelled at Wilbur, saying-

"Stop flirting with her and help the poor girl out. Nothing will get done if she can't save people, Wil!"

You best believe the flirting only escalated once you both went back to school the next day

#wilbur soot #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur soot imagine #wilbur x reader #wilbur #wilbur fluff #wilbur soot fluff #wilbur imagine #wilbur imagines #wilbur soot fanfiction #100 follower event #follower milestone #100 followers #event

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puckleberryfinnie · 1 month ago

Note

stop i love the fall update on ur page so yummyy

could i get legit anyone from beta squad with halloween costumes? thanks queen!

stop thank you so much?? just for being the first person I’ll do all of them bc I can’t choose 😻 this is just my thoughts on what I think they’d wear with you if you were to celebrate Halloween together!

Halloween Costumes with Beta Squad

Niko:

Joker and Harley Quinn

Pretty self explanatory I think- I just imagine him really getting into the role, acting all crazy the whole night. Him just holding onto you by the waist, showing you off to everyone. Both of your face makeups are completely ruined half way through the night from giving each other little smooches with the red lipstick 💋

Nick and Judy from Zootopia

Guys. The way he’d gain so much confidence with this omg? Same with the Joker, he’d get so into character and just flirt with you the whole night. (tee hee this one is personally my favorite I can’t lie)

Chunkz:

Tourist + Statue of Liberty

You’d both wait till the last minute to put something together but it’d still be the best costume of the night omg. Him wearing a “I ♥️ NY” shirt and he’d bring a little camera and take little Polaroids while you posed as the statue- SO CUTE!

Ken and Barbie

Ok I know this seems super unlikely but HEAR ME OUT. He knows how popular the movie is and knows how much you love it, so he agrees to do it with you- as long as he can be mojo dojo casa house Ken. He’d end up singing I’m Just Ken for the whole party ARG!

Aj:

Remy and Linguini from Ratatouille

The plus with this one is that you both could play either character 😋 If he’s the rat he’s pretending to hate it the whole night but secretly loves how amused it makes you. Either way though he’s being goofy with it the whole evening - he’s calling you “my little chef” ofc.

Coraline and Wybie

This one is so cute I can’t even. A bunch of people would ask for photos and you two cutie patooties would give the biggest smiles, hugging eachother closely! The shippers going absolutely insane with this one too🤩

Kenny:

Cop and Robber

Whichever one you want to be, he’d be the opposite, he doesn’t mind. The photos you take for insta would be so HAWT I can’t lie..

Bugs and Lola Bunny

This one would be so iconic too! Just giggles and laughs his laugh while walking around in the costume. Has his arm around your shoulder the whole time, telling you it’s so people know you’re together (everyone can tell either way but that besides the point😌)

Sharky:

Football (soccer) players

He’d be so excited for this one, AW. Ya’ll could really pick any players and still look absolutely amazing with this one <3 at this point he’s just using this as an excuse to show you off to everyone

Spiderman + Spidergirl

Yesyesyes. The amount of tiktoks he’d film with you while in costume would be through the roof. Upside down kiss?? Maybe?? I say yes personally😋. This or you could dress up as MJ either way you’re going to look amazing in his eyes <3

ok, hope this was decent! be sure to check out my fall event if you’d like something like this <33 thank you ever so much for reading and for the amazing request from anon <3

love ya!!

#beta squad #beta squad x reader #aj shabeel #niko omilana #chunkz

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cookiesupplier · 10 months ago

Text

Hell Aint So Bad - Part Twenty

pairing: Noah Sebastian x ofc (Ellie)

warnings/tropes: slow burn, smut, angst, fluff, mentions of death, mentions of torture, thoughts of religious ideology, minor violence, swearing, cheating. Also, for this chapter, CLOWNS.

summary: Ellie was lost in the world, homeless with no idea what to do and nowhere to go.. Who would have thought that one day, she’d end up working in hell itself.. And what does this even mean?

author’s note: Unbetaed, readers beware. And again, I leave you with Noah at the end.. I'd apologise, but...

tags: @spicywhenspeaking @bngurngheart @cncohshit @valiantroeagleangel @blackveilomens @dominuslunae @tearfallpixie @nyxthedestroyerofworlds @wild-child-7747 @notingridslurkaccount @lyschko666 @lacktoesandtoddlerants @jilliemiw86 @emmmm127 @laurpartyprogram

Ellie had a good night with Nicholas, they sat, and they talked, but not about Noah. He kept to his agreement to avoid continuing with the subject of the other demon lord, and she appreciated that. Instead, they talked about everything else under the sun, almost. Movies, music, what was happening in the mortal world, and how reincarnation in effect worked now that it was in reality something that she had to think about. It was about the soul, about being reborn, a new life, that she wouldn’t be her as flesh and blood, that she was a new person. Which brought about the big question she just had to ask him. Could she become a cockroach in her next life? That was entirely something that she would not look forward to, ever, and if that was a possibility, she called bullshit on Jolly and Folio’s reasons for not doing it. Absolute bullshit!

Apparently, with the way Nicholas had explained it to her, with his amused grin after her little rant, only those who reincarnated without learning their lessons ended up that way, which shocked her. Ellie had been under the impression that they didn’t allow that, and Nicholas had shaken his head. There were levels of punishment, and while there were some that were here for eternity, there were others, that got to a point that any form of punishment became derivative and pointless. The souls themselves demanded reincarnation, and if those that punished them came to a point that they caved and gave in, that was exactly what happened. Maybe it wasn’t a cockroach, maybe it would be something equally detestable to the soul, but either way, it was always a vile gamble they had to make.

So, thankfully, if she chose to do this, she wouldn’t end up as a cockroach, and for that, she considered it a blessing, but also, the thought of becoming someone else, and having no control over what could happen in another life, she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She needed time to think. At that, Nicholas had nodded and agreed, that this wasn’t a decision anyone should take lightly. Hearing all of this, made everything with Jolly and Folio staying back from reincarnation make so much sense, she’d never questioned it too much before anyway, selfishly if she was honest, never wanting to consider the thought of losing her friends while she was here, but this just settled even more for her.

As a whole, the night just left her with so many questions, and yet, also, helped give her a little hope. Funny. Talking about being dead, finally talking about it, and what it meant, gave her hope.

The next morning, it wasn’t as hard to get out of bed. Not only that, Ellie got up, and she got dressed, made her food at home instead of a delivery this time… and then even managed to make it to work for the first time in over a week.

Ellie paused at the door to the office, taking in a breath, she could do this, she’d talked to Nicholas for hours last night. They were her friends, they were still her friends, it wasn’t like any of them had truly changed after all, it was just, different. Yes, in some ways it felt like her world had been turned on its head, literally upside down, inside out, all over again, just like when she came here in the first place. Just like when she first became homeless. She’d survived it before, she could survive it again. Ellie was a survivor, she always had been, right from childhood. She’d survived her birth mother who didn’t want her and abandoned her, a father and stepmother who had neglected her, friends that, were only her friends when it was convenient for her. When she’d needed them most, they’d all conveniently disappeared from her life. The streets had been no easier, though, surprising, Ellie would say living on the street, it was there she found kindness in some places than she had in the rest of the world. Then she had come to Hell. A whole new stage in her life, well, death.

Pushing the door open, she walked into the office to find Jolly and Folio already there. Not that it was that surprising, she was about an hour later than she would have usually arrived to work on a normal day.

“Sorry I’m late, only about a week, but I made it I guess?”

Glancing between them, there was a hesitation there, she could see it, they were wary. Ellie supposed she couldn’t blame them, she’d been avoiding them, for all they knew she was here to blow up and scream absolute fury at them for their part in the deception.. and that was, well…

“So, I was thinking, for lunch, pizzeria, down the road, who’s in?”

It wasn’t just that she forgave them for not telling her, it was that, and she wanted her friends back. If they had to build their friendships back up from scratch, she’d do it, if not…

She missed her friends so badly, and she felt so alone right now she needed them, her friends.

“Holy shit, YES!”

Folio was the first one to speak, which didn’t surprise her one little bit, as he was right there, jumping at the chance to rush over and wrap her up in a bear hug. His arms wrapped around her so tight she would swear that she couldn’t breathe for a second there, not that she really needed to, but even while dead, as a soul, it was kind of a second habit.

“Folio, can’t, breathe.”

Hearing him chuckle in response confused her for a second until she was patting him on the back and heard Jolly from off to the side, who was patting Folio’s shoulder,

“You’ll get used to not really needing to, Sweetheart, but come on, let her go, I want a hug too.”

When Folio let her go, she blinked at him, Jolly’s words sinking in, but despite knowing that he was right, and she didn’t need to, the human innate instinct to breathe kicked in, and there she was taking in a deep breath, letting the air fill her lungs. Looking over to Jolly, eyes wide, he just smiled to her warmly,

“Don’t worry, we all do it. Just because we don’t need to, doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel good. It actually feels a bit like a high if you can stop breathing long enough before taking that first sweet breath. Such a rush. My record for not breathing is half an hour.”

“TWO HOURS!”

Folio exclaimed with a bright grin, proud that he could claim the title here, as competitive as ever, Ellie just laughed, shaking her head, ridiculous. Of course, he would take pride in that. However, the fact that Jolly actually threw in the titbit about not breathing about experiencing a high, prompted her to raise an eyebrow at him, which was, wow, cheeky. She wondered what other things they could get up to being dead that they hadn’t told her about before.

“That was while you were drunk, and right before you passed out on the floor. No one can prove whether passed out from the liquor or the lack of oxygen, or both.”

“Despite the fact that neither of those things is supposed to have quite the same effect on him in Hell as they used to?”

“Exactly.”

Jolly raised an eyebrow as he smiled, Ellie got his point crystal clear as Folio rolled his eyes, waving off the entire back and forth between them, declaring them as bullying him and deciding that making fun of him was pointless, he was better when it came to this no matter what. Even against demons, they might have fantastic lung capacity, but they actually needed to breathe. They were alive and while they could probably rival Jolly’s half an hour, apparently not Folio’s two hours, not at all. Human, souls, while their bodies functioned normally, sure, but it was just different here, in Hell, it was confusing to think about really, not needing to breathe, but still feeling hungry and eating. See, confusing! Where was the line? All Ellie could think, when it came down to it, was magic. Answer to everything, right? Right. Otherwise, she just couldn’t wrap her head around it. As it was, bonding with these two in a whole different way than before, over being dead and what that meant for them, it was going to be interesting indeed.

Giving into a Jolly hug was sweet, his arms wrapping around her soft and warm after being accosted by her Folio hug, giggling softly as he hugged her tightly, and said softly,

“Good to have you back Sweetheart, I’ve been going crazy dealing with his zoomies every day.”

Smiling as he let her go, Folio and his zoomies, honestly, he was like one of those tiny little puppy dogs sometimes, running around with no off switch. Not that any of them told him that. Mostly because if they dared, he’d probably get that puppy dog awful pout on his face and whine at them about it. But at least it also made him easier to handle, fun, games, and treats! Even so, she was sure Jolly would have been just fine without her, he had been before her, and he would have been again, when she’d said that to him, he’d just turned and given her a look, just because he would have been, didn’t mean he wanted to be, because life changed with friends, and friends changed you.

The souls that came through the office for the morning were thankfully pretty quiet, and easy to handle for her first day back with the guys, and they could skip off to lunch, which, ever since she had mentioned the pizzeria, Folio hadn’t let her forget it. Her shout, he made sure to remind her, not that any of them had to pay, but still, it was a principle of the thing. She said she would, so, that was how it went.

Once they got to the pizzeria, Nicholas joined them,

“I’d asked how you knew where we were, but then I’d come back to mind reading.”

They had all laughed at that, it had become an ongoing gag in the months she’d been in Hell, every time it had come up, they’d had a good laugh about it. It felt good to know that despite her issues, that joke wasn’t going to disappear any time soon either. She was okay with that, it was nice to know that they hadn’t treated her differently, even if she did notice they had tip-toed around some subjects. As it was, it was on the top of her tongue right now, to ask about whether the resident food thief of the group was going to show his face at any point during lunch. She didn’t though. As much as Noah was always in the back of her mind, the thought of bringing him up, asking about him, made her feel a little sick, she didn’t want to know.

So she just kept the thought to herself.

It was a cowardly move, she knew, but he also wasn’t here.

He wasn’t here, and she hadn’t gotten another message from him since Nicholas had arrived at her doorstep last night.

She knew she hadn’t, because she’d been checking her phone, compulsively.

As much as Ellie might not want to admit to that, she had been. Yes, she has said to Nick that she didn’t know if she could forgive him, but that didn’t mean her feelings for the man, the demon, had completely disappeared. As painful as they were with the massive secret, the fact that he’d lied to her for months while involved with her, and no matter how he swung it, he had lied to her. The others were her friends, Noah had been more. Ellie missed him. It hurt thinking about him, but she did miss him.

She didn’t want to see him, but she missed him.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if dying, made things easier to handle, instead of just as complicated as ever?

Seems she wasn’t that lucky, not even close.

Didn’t stop her from enjoying lunch with Jolly, Folio and Nicholas at least. Sure it was pizza, again, but it was a meal that was easy to share with friends. You could order any number of toppings on a pizza and people would pick off what they didn’t like, it worked just fine with Ellie. Despite this, they still ended up with three pies on the table between the four of them. That's what happened when one of them was a demon, and two of them were grown men, one of which was a hyperactive puppy that would take a challenge and try to eat them all under the table with a look. There was no look today.

Ellie’s weakness was garlic bread anyway, so she was good, she got some of the extra cheesy kind to share.

They spent lunch laughing and joking, talking about the last week, about the souls that had passed through, and joking about everything that Ellie had missed out on. Apparently, there had been one guy who had walked through the office in a clown costume, in a full-on clown costume, squeezing a honking horn in his hand with each step he made. That was his only means of communication. Just hearing about him truly gave Ellie the heebie-jeebies and made her glad she hadn’t been then, when Folio saw her shudder as they talked about him, he raised an eyebrow.

“What, clowns are creepy, okay, don’t look at me like that!”

“Well, this one certainly was.”

Jolly agreed, with a nod, Folio agreeing immediately as well before Nicholas gave him a look with a glance to Ellie,

“What..”

She looked between the three of them and cringed slightly,

“What did he do, oh no, oh damn, he’s in Hell, still in his clown costume.. Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not.”

Nicholas reached over and patted her hand gently.

“You better tell me, otherwise I will think of the worst-case scenario,”

“Serial killer.”

Folio supplied succinctly,

“Kids?”

“Nope, no kids, never kids.”

“Oh, good, 'cause that was the worst case.. Good.. good..well, I mean, not good.”

Her face flushed as she babbled a little, shaking her head, she had just not wanted him to kill kids.

“You know what I mean.”

The guys chuckled at her awkwardness, but they were okay, they were all okay, and no more talk of creepy serial killer clowns please and thank you. No. No more.

It was later that night when she was in her comfy PJ’s, the long warm ones, sort of, not that they were a matching set, they were mostly just lounge pants and an old soft worn shirt of Noah’s, it was comfy, and he’d left it here one night so she’d appropriated it. She’d not worn it all week, but after today, and how much she missed him, she was, she was just weak, okay? So, while she was staring at her phone, considering texting him, but no clue what she’d even say to him… she was wearing it, her finger tapping against the side of her phone as she stared at the screen, and then she heard a knock at the door.

Sighing, she got to the door and opened it, only to be greeted by the sight of a demon lord on the other side.

“Noah.”

Dividers by @saradika-graphics

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