Authors Notes:
'Gangster Paradise' - Remake by Post Modern Jukebox
That song is Hancock in a smoke filled room post murder, pre-sex fest. Seriously.
Anyway, building the relationship a bit more. Adding in some of the games more... fantastical elements. I'm thinking next chapter is the end.
We scaled up the cast iron stair way. My boots were still slick with Mirelurks guts, my hands wet with Raiders blood. The rain fell down like a soft blanket. More a heavy mist than a real rain.
It was miserable. The cold seemed to come in the stone tower through the tiny windows and get stuck, making it soul chilling.
"Just up ahead." She grinned, trotting in front of me with a cheerful abandon that melted all my reservations.
She faded from view, racing ahead. I kept a slow and steady pace. It had been a while since Rosie had mentioned Shaun. After her time in the Glowing Sea she hadn't had much to say to me. She had shown up in Goodneighbor, blown through my office doors, and had kissed me with such reckless ferocity I was sure my descendants would be born blushing. She looked aged but refused to speak about it; her face tight, her skin grey. I didn't mind, I was sure I'd driven Fahrenheit half mad with my moping and pining for my Vault Dweller. It had been good to catch up on the town, to show my face and remind the people that they had nothing to fear, that I hadn't abandoned them to the warmongering ways of my daughter.
I was a bit surprised to see that Fahrenheit had more than managed the town, she'd made some marked improvements. After a weekend of rest Rosie suggested we head back out on the open road, she wanted to show me things; she'd needed to unwind, take her mind off her troubles and damn if I didn't mind being her distraction. She'd taken me on a trip across the Wastes to regale me with all her past conquests; starting with Kellogg's hideaway and working her way back from there. Despite the joviality and general lightheartedness of the trip thus far; littered with stolen kisses, jokes, affection - I could feel a part of her being withheld from me.
"Hancock!" She whispered harshly, her hand just grazing my face.
I felt the electricity shoot through me at the contact, shooting my gaze to her face; her eyes were bright and gleaming, if missing the fire I could feel smouldering inside of me. God if nothing else about her drew me, her eyes were hypnotic. She turned away and disappeared around the corner. I followed her out onto the clearing, above the cloud though I could still see the expanse of Earth below and around. It looked mystical, the mist hanging low, shrouding the valley from the world around it, the bodies of the men we'd killed on our way here lay weirdly silent and nondescript. Truly apocalyptic.
"It's beautifu-Augh!" I covered my nose, "What in the fresh Hell is that?!"
She looked at me innocently, "He didn't smell that bad when we first were here."
"And that was how long ago? A year? More?" I looked skyward, asking whatever higher being there may be for strength before resting my eyes on the corpse again. The flesh was half melted away by decomposition, whatever skin was left was in turns withered by heat, frozen by winter, and water logged by the fierce Spring rain. I shook my head, "You slept next to that?" The alarm in front of me curiously silent. "What's that do?"
She got this grin. Man, I swear I felt electricity in my toes. Her eyes sparked wild with mischief, her skin damp but radiant. Her body flushed with the cold and exertion. I would NOT ravage her beside a dead body. She wanted us to stay friends. For the most part I was able to fall into that role. It was easy to be her friend, I loved her company and we shared a lot of similar interests. But then there were the moments that slipped from joking into romantic, from comfortable to sensual. And... damn if I didn't struggle. Especially now that she was so much more free with her affections, each touch, each innocent kiss brought me that much closer to giving in to her previous suggestion to 'no string attached'. But dammit I wanted strings, I wanted all the strings. And I wanted her to beg me for them before I gave them to her.
"If you wanna know, you should pull it." Her grin was wide and slow, snapping me from my thoughts. "C'mon 'Zombie King'. Unless," She paused, eyes going wide, lips open slightly in a mocking 'o'. The things I would do with that mouth one day. I stepped forward, she was a breath away, and tangled my hand in her cropped hair. "unless you're scared?"
Her pupils dilated, her breathing sped up as a flush just dusted her neck and ears. We both knew what I was promising when I grabbed her hair like that, and damn I knew she wanted it now.
I cocked a brow and leaned forward, my lips brushing her ear, "I ain't scared of anything but you."
She shivered a little when I stepped back, hand on the lever. Goosebumps flooded up her arms at my words. Her eyes dropped to my arm, my chest, lower still before she snapped her gaze back up- lip firmly between her teeth. God if that didn't get my blood raging in my veins. That damn lip bite. She didn't even blush when our eyes met.
"You shameless-" I pulled the trigger, stunned when the high pitched wail blocked out all thought. "What the Fuck?"
She grinned wickedly, pushing past me to look below. Curiously I made my way over with her, though the sudden roar of a Deathclaw told me what I'd see. Four of them swarmed below, trampling the bodies we had left behind into the dust. The younger one, smaller by far, was tossing one of the corpses around like I'd seen Dogmeat do with that studded teddy Rosie kept giving him. I turned to her, ready with a sarcastic comment that died on my tongue. She seemed far away, her eyes distant. Something dark and sad surrounded her.
"Once upon a time," she began, "I'd never have been able to kill something like that." She motioned down below. "I'd never had to dream of it. My nails and toes were painted the same color, my hair would have been perfectly coiffed and cleaned daily." She sighed heavily and I could see now that she was struggling with the past, the ghosts of her life nearly floating around her. "My biggest worry was when my oven went out or the grocery store didn't have fresh enough produce." Her laugh was harsh and self-depreciating, "Not fresh enough. Can you imagine?"
Her last whispers barely made it through the wind and the mist to reach me. I didn't know what to say. Part of me was jealous and somewhat angry. To imagine a life so carefree as to worry about fresh vegetables, my mind didn't understand. I watched her warily from the corner of my eye as she looked down at the monsters below. She looked to sad, so out of place. But I had known that. I had known she was different, it was part of why I had been so drawn to her. Standing in the hazy of a Goodneighbor sunset she had looked gloriously worn and beaten, as all people did. Initial attraction had drawn me to her, but everything she had done since then had made her irresistible; how she looked at the world, how she fought so hard to change it, to bring peace. Weary days often bled into exhausting nights. I watched her work continuously to provide for the people of the Commonwealth, the people who were so tired and down trod they couldn't help themselves. People weren't like that, not anymore. The Minutemen had once upon a time been that pinnacle of human kindness until modern human nature ruined their reputation. Ruined until my Vault Dweller became their general.
A part of me pitied her. How difficult must it have been to have the world at your fingertips just to have it all ripped away? To go from being able to grab any kind of food, have a shower whenever, to trying to find the LEAST radiated carrot growing out of the ground or eating bugs regularly? I pushed in closer to her, reveling in it silently as she laid her head against my shoulder.
"Should we try and fight our way out?" I wrapped my arm around her, rubbing her side slowly without thinking.
She shook her head against me, frizzing her hair in the back. "Nah, I don't really wanna fight them. I don't know, that young one might be my Deathclaw. I'd hate to kill it after all that effort." She caught my gaze and grinned devilishly, "we're kind trapped anyway. I bet they could squeeze in here if they really wanted to."
I shuddered at the thought of fighting one of those monsters in such close quarters. "Let's go below and make a shelter. Looks like we'll be here for a bit."
I awoke with a start, the cramp in my neck aching as I moved my head to gain my bearings. Rosie was laying on my chest, years and troubles melted off her sleeping face. Her arm was draped over me, one curled beneath her chest. Her legs were tangled with mine. Her brutally cropped hair looked on fire in the morning sun. I took a deep, steadying breath and listened. The deathclaws had left. The Raiders were dead, the Mirelurks that survived stayed by the lake. Ravens squawked and the wind whistled low. I snuggled down into her warm embrace. I didn't mind waking up slow, it was a rare treat and gave my hard on time to calm down. I closed my eyes sighing low, snapping them back open as thoughts entered my mind I shouldn't have been having about the woman pressed against me. She was so soft pillowed against me as she was. Her curves on beautiful display. My eyes raked up to her face. She captured my gaze beneath hooded lids, her eyes a murky brown.
I froze like a kid caught stealing caps from a stash.
"Enjoying the view?" Her voice was gravelly with sleep, low and subdued.
It shot heat through me, my vision split for a second. "As always." I winked slow. "Good morning Sunshine."
"Good morning John." She stretched against me, her body rubbing against mine. "That was a good night's sleep." She murmured, her leg rubbing against mine, her fingers playing along the lines of my threadbare shirt. "You run a little hot there, Zombie-mine."
I chuckled, holding her closer, trying to play off the obviously growing attraction between us like it was nothing.
Keep it friendly. Warred in my head with, Morning sex! Morning sex! Morning sex!
Her hand spread its attention further up, skin brushing against skin as she traced the lines across my collar bone. Her legs were lazily swaying back and forth against me, like a cat wagging its tail before pouncing. I knew she was horny. God I knew she wanted me and that alone was enough to make me weak enough to give in. I passed my mouth over hers in a whisper of a kiss, rewarded by the way she stiffened and relaxed in a breath. She shifted against me, nearly straddling me while laying beside me still. My hands drifted lower to her hips, sliding up under her raggedy t-shirt and lightly skimming over her skin. She twitched, smiled against my neck, pulled away from my feather light touch.
I loved teasing her, I knew sex was going to be amazing between us one day. The torment was elation for her; her body so responsive, so visceral. Light touches, teasing promises with no fruition, she lived off these things and yet as she lost herself in our kisses, in the feeling of my body beneath her going hard she became more demanding, more rough. i responded in turn. Her teeth nipped, her fingers grabbed and scraped, her hips moved not in little teasing motions but hard demanding rocking that promised to make me cum.
I groaned against her mouth as her hands worked there way down between us, slipping into my waistband and enveloping my shaft. I gasped, my eyes going wide. She smiled at me devilishly, shyly. Her green eyes locked on mine as her hands clumsily rubbed me. I bit back a curse and lay my head back, my hands roving over her stomach, up to her breasts. My fingers dipped in and pinched a nipple. She gasped, her hands losing their rhythm. She found it quick enough earning a silent 'fuck' from me.
"God you feel so good on me." I whispered.
She blushed and smiled, "I bet I'd feel even better with you in me."
It was a challenge. Her hands withdrew from my pants, my own followed suit. The atmosphere around us had changed. She pulled away and I felt the loss of her like I would a limb.
"Why?" She whispered.
I struggled with an answer I could make sense of, "I'm not desperate for a pity fuck." I ground out, "I love you and... I want so much more. I can't make sense in my head of how something as good as you came to me, and I'll be damned if I ruin all of it for some fun."
She was silent, contemplative. I sat in nervous, painful silence. I went over the words I said so many times I couldn't remember what I'd said or if it was coherent. After an eternity she leaned forward and kissed me slowly, thoughtfully. I carefully put a hand against the back of her neck as I returned the kiss. She pulled away after a moment, pressing her forehead against mine.
"I'm scared of it." She whispered.
My heart tripped, "Of what?" I smiled, looking into those rainbow eyes, "This sexy jerky? Don't be silly."
She smiled sadly, pulling away. "Let's get going, I wanna show you some other stuff."
"Holy shi-"
"Look!" She whispered, wandering off slowly, "It's... what is that? Blood?"
"Green blood?" I strode beside her, stopping to inspect the curiosity, following the trail. "It goes off that way..." I looked to her as she stood.
"Wanna follow it?" Her eyes were bright with mischief.
"I'll follow you anywhere." I answered.
It was all she needed to hear as she turned on a heel, all but skipping after the blood pools that marked where the alien had gone.
"Think it'll be friendly?" She questioned low as the blood splatters became closer together and disappearing into a cave we could just make out from the tree line.
I shrugged, "I mean, I hope so. It would be something else to make an alien friend." I grabbed her arm as we stood at the cave entrance, "Don't hesitate to shoot too though. If something happened... I-" I couldn't finish for the lump in my throat.
When had I become such a sap?
She looked at me solemnly, biting her lip for a moment before licking the raw area and nodding. We entered the darkness weapons drawn.