Hi there, welcome to my story, don't let these first few chapters fool you there will eventually be a plot (involving those sneaky bastards the institute, and jizz). Please do review, it helps me keep writing.
Skin like porcelain, hair like black silk brushing down that shapely back, high cheekbones, lips full and lusciously rosey. He'd never seen anyone as perfectly angelically beautiful as his lover in all his years in the wasteland. He was perfect, and not just in terms of being a healthy, ideally preserved specimen of prewar humanity. but everything about him, the way he moved, that smooth voice with its sexy little accent and those stunningly vivid blue eyes.
How the fuck had he ended up with this… exquisite creature, whose beautiful long fingered hands caressed him like he wasn't a mass of ugly twisted scar tissue? They made a strange pair, a regular beauty and the beast. Except he hadn't turned into a handsome prince at the end. His ugliness had never gotten to him before he'd fallen for Sebastian, but being in the presence of this vision made him feel the loss of his looks with a keenness he'd never thought he'd experience. It wasn't as if he'd never had a moment of vanity before, before becoming a ghoul he'd taken some trouble with his appearance, he'd been pretty, with dark hair and grey eyes, he remembered a sort of lithe feral grace, like a tom cat on the prowl, or at least that's what he thought. It had been so many years and so many highs ago he couldn't be sure, and it wasn't as if he didn't dress well now even if he didn't have a nose.
Why did it bother him now? It wasn't as if Sebastian made an issue of it. He never brought it up. Once he'd complimented his eyes and his own expression had made sure the vault dweller never mentioned his appearance again. He sighed, well what was done was done, and there was no going back. Even if he occasionally joked about wanting his lover to be like him, he knew he wouldn't have been able to bare seeing it. He wondered if that made him a bad boyfriend, caring more about that flawless perfumed skin than about his life span or safety…but he couldn't help it, to wreck a face like that would have been a sin against nature in a world where too many sins against nature had already been committed.
Sebastian was still asleep, inky hair against clean white sheets. He'd never figured out how he managed to get their place so nice, all clean smelling and sun shining in through real glass windows. How the hell he'd pulled that one off Hancock had not idea, Codsworth was something of a miracle worker though. He still wasn't sure if the robot liked him, but it was morning… well morning for them so afternoon for everybody else, time to get up and make what passed for coffee in this fucked up world. Normally he would have supplemented that with a dose or two of jet, it wasn't as if Sebastian never indulged (and even with the chems he looked like that, sweet Christ) but today he wasn't in the mood.
It was downstairs, in the little kitchen with its camp stove and battered fridge he found the courser like one of those perverse monkey's paw versions of a wish come true. He knew about Shawn, they even occasionally ran missions for the institute when they thought it wouldn't make a mess of things, but it was still unsettling to see one of the damn things sitting at their incongruously fancy kitchen table (Sebastian always did like things pretty, which made him all the more miserably insecure).
"Based on our surveillance, you've been avoiding reflective surfaces and your facial expressions indicate self doubt and emotional discomfort," said the Courser in its unsettling monotone, "based on existing data the institute has extrapolated that you are insecure about your appearance around subject Alpha. I have been sent to offer you a potential solution to your problem." Hancock raised an eyebrow.
"Out of the goodness of your metallic little hearts?" he enquired, reaching for the coffee pot.
"Father is very concerned about subject Alpha's emotional state, and we have… certain interests in the results."
"So you wanna use me as a lab rat?" asked the ghoul as he ground… well best not to think about that, and boiled filtered water. Didn't want that pretty thing upstairs getting radiation poisoning.
"That would be a way to put it," said the courser, an imposing thing with a shaved head and the ubiquitous sunglasses,
"We have discovered an experimental serum that returns ghouls to human appearance, while leaving the beneficial aspects of their state intact, the longer lifespan, and resistance to radiation all remain, while appearing perfectly human."
Hancock didn't want to think about who they'd tested it on before him. They'd probably rounded up some poor confused ferals… he hoped it hadn't been cruel. He poured boiling water into the french press and thought about it. He hated himself for wanting to say yes. He really did, but the thought of being able to look in a mirror without cringing felt… incredibly hard to resist. He nodded.
"Alright," he said. Anniversary was coming up anyway, might as well give him a nice surprise.
The courser nodded. "The serum will be left in a safe location for you, it has to be injected into a vein, I trust you're familiar with the technique."
Hancock gave him a half smile. "Institute programmed in a sense of humor for your run, huh?"
The courser gave him a blank look and Hancock sighed. He was going to do it.