Discalaimer: I don't own Fallout New Vegas and no money is being made with this fanfiction.

Warnings: This story deals with lots of emotional and moral problems and deep feelings, but doesn't lack humor. It contains gay and straight relationships, sometimes drastic descriptions of all the ugly things in life (violence, illness, dirt etc.) and in later chapters probably more or less explicit sex.


When the Courier had asked Arcade Gannon to come along with him, he hadn't expected the other companions this man had with him. They were a bunch of crazy – if amiable – fuckers. But who wasn't nowadays?

One of them entered the Old Mormon Fort with a smoky cigarette in the corner of his mouth. For a guy he had an unusual, elegant stroll and a certain kind of charm surrounded him. It was a rough, and yet smooth, charm. He had pushed the door open with strong, slightly tanned arms. He wore a black desperado cowboy hatthat cast deep shadows onto his face, and a smirk spread on it like that of a coyote. His shaggy sideburns were a red brown color that did not hinder a stunning first impression at all, but rather intensified it.

Arcade reddened a little. This was so… unlike him. This guy looked too much like his post apocalyptic Prince Charming. Sure, Arcade was kind of reclusive when it came to personal feelings, but he was also far from being shy. It was rare that the mere physical presence of someone carried him away like this. Or should he rather say, 'scooped him off his feet'? No, that expression was too strong.

However, he knew that there had to be a hitch in spite of the man's superficially polished appearance. There always was. Things just didn't turn out like in those old pre-war fairy tales. Yes, Arcade knew them quite well. Not that he would admit it to anybody.

"Well, who have we here, Luke?" the newcomer, who was still smirking, asked. At such a close distance Arcade could see his face more clearly and because the man had to look up to maintain eye contact with him, Arcade could see the shadows play over his face nicely. He was easily four inches shorter than Arcade even if as easily as much broader. Moreover, the man had to be a bit older than him judging by all the (admittedly attractive) wrinkles.

Suddenly, Arcade noticed that he man's blue eyes were glistening dangerously. This was a predator looking back at him. His voice was pleasantly low and scratchy; a real heavy smoker then. The drags he took from his cigarette were deep and needy to support that assumption.

"I'm Arcade Gannon; researcher for the Followers of the Apocalypse," Arcade introduced himself resolutely after a few more moments of silence to recollect himself.

"And I'm Ted, Ted Lancaster. A stray in the wild wasteland. Or so I was until lucky Luke here picked me up," the other introduced himself, gently patting Luke, who was standing next to him, on the shoulder. He never broke eye contact with Arcade. Arcade was being assessed and he knew it. It would be a lie if he said that he didn't enjoy it. Arcade was most certainly not the prey type…no matter how much how the man would want that.

After a few more moments of appreciating each other's presence, the blonde noticed a cyborg dog sitting at Ted's feet. The beast had barked one time and was wagging its tail happily while eyeing Arcade, its head tilted to one side. This was strange. The man didn't exactly look like a scientist – no, not even close to one - and he hadn't introduced himself as such either. Arcade stared at the beast with a questioning look as if it would give him the answer.

"We got him from The King. Rex has some brain leaking problems and we wanna go get him a new one." Luke nodded at Ted's explanation.

"Yeah, and he got all lovey-dovey with Ted. That's why he's always by his side. Funny thing is, that happened after Rex knocked Ted down and snatched his cowboy hat away a few times, trying to kill the black leather beast. Thus all the bite marks and the occasional hole in it. Ted put it on again and again, not giving a shit about Rex's opinion. Now Rex is used to it and accepts it as a part of Ted." Luke shrugged and laughed.

"Very funny," Ted retorted, rolling his eyes. Rex on the other hand barked in affirmation, which made Arcade snort. The dog seemed to agree with his master's opinion indeed. "Oh, look boy, the handsome doctor finds it funny as well. So go to him instead. He doesn't even wear hats. My, are you a lucky one!" Ted added with such blatantly feigned hurt in his voice that it mad Arcade laugh out loud – until he choked on his own laughing.

"Did you just call me handsome?" Now if this wasn't Arcade's lucky day. The man in front of him didn't mince words.

"Why yes, dear Sir. Would you like to examine me, Doctor Gannon? I think my heart just broke from your sweet, mocking laughter and Rex's impending leave! Maybe you can fix it." With that, Ted grabbed Arcade's right wrist, lifted his own tank top with his free hand and shoved Arcade's hand beneath it right to the place where his heart was.

Arcade was dazzled and as he looked up to look the other in the eye, the smirk had returned to Ted's face. The chest felt pleasantly sculpted and fuzzy. Arcade could hardly resist squeezing and brushing over the nipple. He didn't, it was a blatant offer after all.

"Ohoho, I can feel the heat rising," Luke announced jokingly, before a very drunk woman suddenly barged into the fort. What timing. Now she was the center of attention. She looked like a ginger cowboy, uh -girl, as well. Moreover she looked tough, tougher than any man around here, so cowboy could be the right expression after all.

Curious.

Ted was the one with the biggest muscle mass by far, but he had something explicitly soft about him, something she was lacking right now.

"Oh, soft boy waggling with his huge dick in front of another guy again, huh?" she asked challengingly, grinning widely and knowingly at Ted. "You're such a whore," she added, knocking Ted over by delivering a hard slap between his shoulder blades so that he fell forward right into Arcade's arms. The doctor made quite an effort to make sure he didn't tumble back at the weight and also made sure that the other man didn't fall to the ground; awkwardly hugging his midsection.

"What?" Arcade gasped, the other man's rather massive body restricting his ability to breath.

"Cass…" Ted growled indignantly into Arcade's shirt while clasping at the doctor's coat as if he wanted to tear it off his shoulders. The sound was muffled but the volume of his voice was high enough that she could certainly hear the angered man too. Ted let go and straightened himself up again, rewarding Cass with a death glare.

"What? Don't gimme shit! I'm only tellin' the truth! People need to be warned about someone like you! Especially educated soft guys like him! I can see from miles afar that he's not the type for a fast fuck like you, such a cheap shooter if you know what I mean," she slurred and slung one arm around Arcade's shoulder, pulling him down to her level with astonishing force before she whispered, "Lemme give you some advice, Four Eyes… Don't fuck around with whores. All pun intended. He's an old whore too, so you don't know what diseases you might catch even though I am sure he has a lot to offer if you're looking for it." If one looked closely enough, one could see the beads of sweat gliding down Arcade's forehead.

"You don't happen to be a man whore, do you?" Arcade asked, looking up at Ted while he was still being held in Cass' headlock, just to make sure that this was all a mistake.

"Only occasionally, when I really need the caps," Ted shrugged it off. It didn't seem to be a big deal for him.

Great. There it was; the hitch. At least one of them. There were certainly more. It was not as if being a whore was an unusual thing in their time, not at all, but somehow his confession stung. No wonder he had instantly hit on Arcade. This had to be some habit of his. Arcade was sure he'd even come on to Ghouls and Super Mutants, maybe even robots.

Ted simply added, "Not that I ever needed a lot of Caps to begin with, even less since I am accompanying our uncanny Courier here." He had said it so casually that Arcade almost – almost- believed him. The fact that he didn't need the Caps any more didn't mean that he didn't do it for free.

He supposed the man never had an empty bed despite his outer flaws. His body was far from perfect. He was in shape and sturdy; not lean if not downright kind of a hulk, his beer belly – not terribly large - was rather prominent through his always dirty tank top stained with… beer or something like that – and blood – and – other things. All Rock 'n' Roll. His rather hairy skin was scarred here and there; his outfit was quite shabby all over. His blue jeans were washed out and torn in many places, the left pant leg ended just above the knee and damn, Arcade bet that there probably was some hole that showed a part of his ass as well, if not more than that. There was also a very prominent mass of dried blood surrounding a smaller hole in the right pant leg. He reeked of beer, some (not all that unpleasant smelling) sweat, dried blood, smoke, sex, and some cheap cologne. All things Arcade would usually have despised.

Why not now? Well, it had to be the damn raging hormones. When was the last time he had gotten laid? It had been too damn long.

Yet, it seemed as if the disgust in Arcade's face was clearly visible judging by the look Ted gave him and then the woman who he had called Cass. This was genuine hurt and… disappointment. It was a pitiful sight actually.

"Rex, we are going. Don't expect us to be back anytime soon. We will find you if I think I can handle Cass' annoying presence again. Finally teach her to shut her unbearably insulting mouth, Luke!"

Thus, Ted ended the meeting and stomped out of the Fort. Well, limped out of it. There seemed to be something wrong with his left leg. Strange that Arcade hadn't noticed it before. It seemed as if Ted was really good at hiding his limping in his usual walk but not like this, not like some Brahmin that had gone mad.

And there it was…the tear in his jeans that showed such a large amount of his ass that it even made whores blush.

"Hey, wait!" Arcade called after him, but stubborn men never listen. This one was no exception. Arcade sighed deeply and helplessly watched the gate a few moments longer until it snapped shut.

The other people in the Fort were looking strangely at the small group which Arcade was now a part of, but they decided to stay silent. They were nice and helpful people after all, just like him. Right…just like him, only they lacked his sarcasm.

After this short but insightful intermission, Arcade was sure that it would never get boring with his new acquaintances as it so often was here in the Fort. On the other hand, there were certainly many hard days to come in more way than one way. A bunch of crazy fuckers just isn't easy to deal with. Arcade deemed it worth it.

Ted didn't show up for over a week. He was most likely bedding at least half of Freeside if you asked Arcade – or Cass.

During that time, Arcade also made the acquaintance of Craig Boone; a sniper who spoke a handful of words a day at best, whereas Cass couldn't be stopped from talking all their ears off… most of the time she was bitching about Ted who seemed to be her personal archenemy for whatever reason.

"Sissy boy is gone again and we gotta do all the dirty work! I so hope he brings back some Caps. I'm so going to beat him up if he doesn't!"

"Are you his pimp or what?" Arcade asked with a sigh. That woman was drunk almost all the time and she was more than just slightly vulgar in that state. Craig grunted and groaned in a very irritated way, covering his ears with his hands. He was as red as a tomato. Easy to embarrass, Arcade noted.

"I certainly wish I was. Then I'd have more Caps for booze. Well, occasionally he is so nice and hands something over. I give him that. 'S just not 'nough."

"Does she ever shut up?" a sweet female voice called, before the woman with the hood who had just arrived turned to look at Arcade. "And who is this fine gentleman?" she carried on with a curious look on her face. She didn't need an answer to her first question because she knew it already.

Luke was the one who rose to speak so as to prevent Cass from releasing more loads of obscenities which she certainly had up her sleeve for Arcade as well.

That was how Arcade met Veronica too and found out that Luke was Cassidy's bitch (because she wouldn't keep her mouth shut no matter what efforts Luke made), not the other way round. Well, it didn't surprise Arcade much, actually.

The following week in Freeside consisted of many small or big tasks for the group around the Courier. They mainly helped the Kings and the Followers to keep order in Freeside, especially when it came to drug abuse. This was particularly notable since some of their group were obviously drug addicts as well; Cass and Ted at least, even though the latter was gone as if the earth had swallowed him up.

Not a single trace of him far and wide.

They stayed at the King's School of Impersonation to sleep the whole time because it was comparatively safe and they were most welcome there, even more so since they had prevented a violent run-in with the NCR.

Arcade shared a room with Veronica. She gently patted him on the shoulder as he sat down near the windowsill a few days after Ted had vanished, his green eyes looking out at the dimly lit street.

She was a most agreeable roommate and a great conversationalist.

"What's on your mind?" she asked with genuine concern in her voice. "You seem troubled."

Arcade's fingers tapped the glass next to him and he didn't look back at Veronica but kept his eyes fixated on what was going on outside of the window.

"Where is he?"

"The stray?" A heavy sigh left her lips. "Drowning his sorrow… and probably beating up people as well, acting on his anger. Cass treats him real bad and Luke doesn't dare to intervene. He's really not a bad guy, just fucked up and with no purpose. So he comes along, stays for a while and then departs again. Not sure where. He never stays overnight, never did. He has become a little better since Rex is with him, though. And he really does give almost all the Caps he earns to Cass so that she shuts up. She usually does then. Ted's pockets are always empty, not that he actually has many pockets." Another sigh before she settled down next to Arcade who had turned his face to her instead of out the window, by now.

"He's just like that. He will come and stay - or he won't. He isn't called a stray for nothing. People fall for his charms but he bites and flees too easily. He pushes them away and keeps them at a distance…usually after fucking them. He often walks funny if you know what I mean."

"Oh…" Arcade sighed, voice full of disappointment.

"Just don't start to become delusional like me, though. Heck, I'm even younger than you and I'm sounding a lot older. But what I wanted to say… Don't think of him as a whore because I think this is exactly his problem. People see him as a whore, nothing more. And you don't want to see him as a whore; I can see it in your eyes. He does sleep with others for the Caps, but he doesn't enjoy it. Look into his eyes and tell me, it isn't a lonely man you see.

"Do you think, he'll come back?"

"Yes, when he's hungry again, for sure."

Hungry, Arcade thought. Hungry for what?


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