Hello! I'm finally back again with a new fic!

This one I've been working on for a long time now, developing an entire original region in the Fallout universe. I'm actually from New Jersey and I have a very strong personal attachment to the Wildwood area. I believe its real-life doowop aesthetic to be a natural fit with Fallout's retrofuturism, which is what drew me to designing the Wildwastes (Wildwood Wastelands) to begin with. Some of the locations mentioned in this game are referencing real present-day locations in Cape May County. I actually created my own custom map of the region, which I'll link to on my profile. Did a lot of research to keep this as canon-compliant as possible!

I was originally inspired to this idea by coming up with a backstory for my Vault in the Fallout Shelter game, which ended up blooming to a game for the Fallout 2d20 system by Modiphius, before ultimately ending up here as a fanfic. A lot of this story wouldn't be possible without the contributions of my friend Artem, particularly regarding the main character, so thanks to him for that.

Lastly, I want to give a quick heads up about the main romance of this story. The characters are both from the Vault, and are first cousins. That sort of thing kinda feels inevitable due to the very nature of the Vaults with their limited gene pools, with everybody growing up together anyway. They don't really regard each other as relatives in particular, just best friends, but no hard feelings if you're not interested in reading on.

Still here? Well, then I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Boys and Girls

Marilyn Alden folded her arms firmly across her chest, watching with narrowed eyes as everyone around her clapped. They were really laying it on thick, weren't they?

"Hey, way to go, kiddo!" Uncle Kit grinned and came around from behind the counter, "Your ma's gonna be proud when she hears!"

"That she will! It isn't every day the G.O.A.T. gives us a new doctor!" Aunt Melanie agreed with a nod towards her younger brother.

Marilyn watched as her own big sister adjusted her glasses, that typical little know-it-all gesture of hers. She hoped that when she took the G.O.A.T. herself in six years, she'd get a fancy party like this, though she doubted it. Still, if she did, she definitely wouldn't be as ungrateful as her sister was.

"Physician, actually," Quinn corrected their aunt, "That's the proper term."

"Yes, of course, dear," Aunt Melanie smiled pleasantly, although looked a tad embarrassed.

Marilyn just rolled her eyes again, taking a long sip from her Nuka-Cola. Did her sister have to always be so obnoxious, acting like she actually knew everything? Sure, Quinn was smart, but that didn't mean she had to show off all the time.

"Either way, this calls for a celebration, kiddo," Uncle Kit interjected, "Tell you what! I've got some ration coupons set aside. Why don't you let me whip you up something nice? A cake, maybe?"

"No thank you," Quinn sniffed, adjusting her glasses once more, "I'm not too fond of sweets."

At this, a scoff across the other side of the table drew Marilyn's attention. She turned to look across at her "bestest friend" since infancy, Dick DiMucci. She couldn't remember exactly when they'd become such good friends, but they'd been inseparable for as long as she could remember. He slid back in his booth, gaze locked on the others conversing nearby.

"Pfft, who doesn't like sweets?" He muttered under his breath, "She's full of it…"

Before Marilyn could voice her agreement, Dick was hit in the cheek by the paper wrapper of a straw. He glanced over towards the culprit, his twin brother Timbo.

Why both brothers chose such weird nicknames, she'd never really know. They easily could've been Ricky and Timmy, but maybe that was just too normal for a pair of oddballs like them. Or maybe it was just a way to tell them apart from the dozen or so other Richards and Timothys in the Vault. Marilyn didn't really have that problem, only sharing her name with one other dweller, who was better known as Old Lady Castelluccio by this point anyway.

"Naw, girls don't like sweet stuff once they get older, Dicky," Timbo explained, "It makes them get fat."

"That's stupid," Dick shot back, "Who cares if they're fat? And what do you even know about girls anyway?"

At this Timbo gave a little shrug and smirked, pausing to stick the straw into his Nuka-Cola bottle like some kind of heathen.

"Actually," He chuckled, "I know lots about girls."

Marilyn glanced between the twins, taking a sip from her own Nuka-Cola bottle. From the bottle's rim, like a decent person. Listening to their idiotic conversation was better than listening to Quinn get heaped with praise, at least. She saw Dick's expression twist in a sort of mild annoyance at Timbo's words after he'd taken a moment to process them.

"Oh yeah? Well, not more than Mari," He said with a gesture towards her across the table.

Timbo paused to follow the gesture with his eyes, humming in thought before glancing aside.

"Naw, more than her too," He decided at last.

Dick snorted at this.

"Stupid, she's an actual girl," He pointed out.

Dick was nothing if not a master of pointing out the obvious, after all.

"Nope," Timbo shook his head, his dark curls bobbing slightly, "She doesn't count."

"Doesn't count?" Dick repeated incredulously.

"Girls are pretty," Timbo explained, beginning to count on his fingers, "And nice. Plus they smell nice, and they're smart. Oh, and they like boys and dresses and stuff like that."

He paused to glance over at Marilyn, almost disdainfully.

"So, yeah, she doesn't count," He concluded, before looking back at his brother.

Dick immediately went to protest, but paused wordlessly and instead scrunched his brow to consider it for a moment.

"I mean…" He began, shooting Marilyn an uncertain glance, "...She's nice?"

At this, Marilyn shot them both a scowl and then delivered a swift kick to each of them from under the table.

"Ow, hey!" Dick protested, "What'd I do?"

"See?" Timbo grumbled, leaning down to rub his poor shin, "Not even nice."

"I am too nice!" Marilyn scowled, setting down her Nuka-Cola, "I'm nice to people who are nice to me… and I'm pretty too! Unlike you!"

It was a bit of a jumbled dig, she would admit. But she wasn't very good at insulting people. At least, not aloud. It just didn't come very naturally to her. And to her dismay, Timbo merely grinned at her in response.

"Yeah? Well, all the other girls like me!" He retorted, pausing to hold up his hand with his fingers outstretched, "I've already kissed five girls!"

As Timbo wiggled his fingers for emphasis, Dick made a face beside him.

"Ew, why would you want to kiss girls?" He grumbled, "They're gross."

A beat passed before he shot Marilyn an apologetic glance, as if to reassure her he was perfectly fine with her being gross. How kind of him.

"Well, who else do you kiss?" Timbo asked as he poked Dick's side, "Do you want to kiss boys, then?"

"No? Ew," Dick wrinkled his nose, "I don't wanna kiss anybody! Kissing's for old people."

At this, Timbo gave a triumphant grin.

"Guess that means I'm the older twin then!" He declared proudly, to which Dick squinted, ready to protest.

"Heh, Timbo's an old man then!" Marilyn interjected, "Old man! We should call you pop pop!"

"Fine, whatever, make fun of me," Timbo rolled his eyes, "But you guys are the weird ones. Boys and girls kiss all the time! Robin said so!"

Both Marilyn and Dick shot each other unimpressed looks, not really buying it.

"Robin's stupid," Dick finally responded, "That's why she's just a maint–ow!"

Dick winced as Timbo drove his elbow into his brother's side.

"Dad said not to talk about that, remember?" Timbo grumbled, glancing over towards Uncle Kit, "Ma's still pissed."

"So?" Dick scoffed as he rubbed his side, "Ma's always pissed."

"At you, maybe, because you're always getting into trouble!" Timbo protested, waggling a finger at his brother, "You should stop trying to sneak into the lower levels and start trying to kiss some girls!"

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Dick said with a roll of his eyes, before pausing to look over at Marilyn, "Actually…"

Marilyn froze in place, in the middle of sipping her Nuka-Cola. She could feel her cheeks start to heat up. He wasn't implying what she thought he was, was he? That they should…

"Exploring the lower levels sounds a lot more fun than this stupid party," Dick said with a grin.

"What an idiot," Timbo muttered under his breath, shaking his head in disapproval.

Marilyn blinked a few times, taking a moment to take the final swig from her Nuka-Cola to cool the burn in her face before nodding towards Dick.

"I would rather be anywhere else right now," She said as she slipped out of the booth.

Dick went to do the same, but paused when Timbo tugged on his arm, drawing him back. Dick shot him a confused glance before Timbo leaned over and whispered something into his brother's ear. Marilyn couldn't hear them over the diner's everpresent background chatter and Timbo hid his mouth behind his hand, making it impossible to even try to read his lips. Whatever he'd said was probably stupid though, considering Dick's reaction.

"You're even stupider than Robin," Dick grumbled as he wiggled his arm free.

"Hey, don't–" Timbo began, but the rest of his words were muffled as Dick pulled the collar of his Vault suit over his head.

Timbo flailed his arms in protest, even more so after getting pushed out of the booth and onto the floor. The distraction was effective, to say the least, as Marilyn and Dick were easily able to slip out of the diner while everybody was watching Timbo in bewilderment.

The two made their way along as inconspicuous as they could manage, shooting an innocent smile to every security officer they passed. It wasn't long before they arrived at the door which led to the lower levels. They were pleased to find there was no guard, but less pleased to find it locked.

"Maybe I could pick the lock?" Dick offered, "It can't be harder than Robin's diary."

"Does she write anything interesting?" Marilyn asked curiously, moving to stand in front of him and block him from sight as Dick knelt down in front of the lock.

"No, just lots of goo-goo stuff about Craig Haley's brother," Dick answered with a wrinkled nose, before adding quietly, "Ugh, I bet Craig writes goo-goo stuff about you in his own diary."

"Ew, I don't wanna think about that," Marilyn frowned, glancing down the hall, "Craig's stupid."

"Yeah," Dick agreed, "But his brother Will's pretty nice. He's always coming over to hang out with Robin."

A beat passed.

"They definitely don't kiss," He informed her.

Marilyn hummed, being a bit skeptical of that. Dick may have been Captain Obvious, but he wasn't exactly the most observant guy either. But then, maybe she wasn't too observant either, startling when something nudged her leg. Glancing down, she simply saw Dick's open hand.

"You probably have, like, a bobby pin or something, right?"

Marilyn looked at him flatly before producing a bobby pin from her dark brown hair. She didn't really need it, but Dick asked for one enough times that she'd just started to carry one at all times. Once he took it from her, he muttered a quiet thanks and got to work on the lock.

As she heard him fiddling with the lock behind her, another noise came from far down the hall. Whistling. Marilyn's heart sank. That could only mean one thing, and sure enough, Officer Castelluccio appeared into her view at the end of the corridor. Quickly yet subtly, Marilyn kicked backwards, nudging Dick behind her. At her gesture, the clicking of the lock fell silent. And not a moment too soon, as Officer Castelluccio strode over.

"Marilyn? What are you doing all the way out here?" He blinked at her, "It's not safe for a kid like you to be in this part of the Vault. We sometimes get radroaches in this area."

"Oh, I didn't know that," Marilyn frowned, truly having been unaware, "Uh, I was just taking a break from the party."

She didn't really like bugs, and she liked giant bugs even less. The thought of a close encounter with a radroach was enough to send a shiver down her spine.

"Hm? What party?" Officer Castelluccio asked curiously, "I didn't forget a birthday, did I?"

"Oh, no, it's just a stupid little party my family is holding for my sister," Marilyn grumbled, unable to help the resentment that slipped into her words, "The G.O.A.T. says she's gonna be a doc, and I guess that's worth celebrating."

"Wow," Officer Castelluccio hummed, "Little Jacqueline Alden is already sixteen?"

He paused for a moment, looking nostalgic, before glancing at Marilyn.

"That must make you… ten years old already!" He said before whistling, "Time sure does fly!"

"Yes, sir," Marilyn agreed, giving him an innocent smile.

When would this old guy go away already?

"I'm sure you'll get a great job assignment once you take the G.O.A.T. too," He said with a nod, pausing for a moment before adding, "That is, if you stop getting into so much trouble."

Marilyn held her innocent smile, but it threatened to waver. The last thing she needed right now was another one of Officer Castelluccio's famous lectures. Unfortunately, that's exactly what she got. She nodded along compliantly, never actively protesting. She'd learned a long time ago, from all of her dad's lectures, that arguing with adults was useless. Better to just let them get it out of their system.

After a good fifteen minutes, Officer Castelluccio's prattling was finally interrupted by a beep on his Pip-Boy. He glanced down to the glowing green screen before frowning.

"Ah, looks like there's a situation in the maintenance department," He sighed before adding, "Well, I've gotta run now, but you should consider what I've said."

Marilyn nodded eagerly, like she hadn't been zoning out for the majority of his spiel, and watched him hurry off to deal with whatever crisis the maintenance department was having. Once he was out of earshot, she heard Dick give a small sigh of relief.

"Sheesh, I thought he'd never go," He mumbled, returning to picking the lock.

"You and me both," Marilyn mumbled back.

A beat passed.

"Y'know," Dick began slowly, "My ma's got a pretty similar rant, too."

He paused on whatever he was going to say next as the lock clicked at last, and he handed the bobby pin back to Marilyn as he stood up. He watched her tuck it back into her hair before glancing aside.

"Back at the diner," He began, sounding uncharacteristically uncertain of himself, "All that stuff Timbo said… y'know, about you not being a girl?"

"Yeah?" Marilyn furrowed her brow.

"Were you actually, y'know, mad about that?" He asked, absently glancing down to his boot where he'd been kicked.

Frowning, Marilyn brought a hand up to rub at the back of her neck.

"Kinda," She admitted after a moment, "I mean, I feel kinda out of place sometimes. I like dresses and boys and stuff, but I wanna go on adventures and read comics too, and most of the other girls aren't interested in that."

"Huh? Wait, you actually do like that girly stuff?" Dick raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yeah," Marilyn nodded, before quickly adding, "Well, but not kissing."

"Yeah, obviously," Dick nodded back, "Super gross."

Another beat passed before Marilyn gestured to the door awkwardly.

"Well, let's get in there before Officer Castelluccio comes back!"

Dick nodded and opened the door, holding it open for her.

"Ladies first," He said with a cheeky grin.

It was always hard to see in the lower levels, once you got down the stairs. The lights were kept pretty dim, with only the emergency lights to really illuminate the place. That is, except for the light that shone from the nuclear generator. It was a bright and bold green, even from a distance and only visible through the tiny window in the door.

"Cool," Both murmured in unison as they stood on tiptoes to squint through the window.

"Wanna go check it out?" Dick grinned, "Maybe the radiation will give us superpowers, like in the comics!"

"Alright, let's see what's inside!"

To Marilyn's delight, the door wasn't locked. It seemed that they only locked the door back up to the main levels. Stepping inside, they were met with the consistent hum of the generator. It was always somewhat audible within the Vault, though it was fairly loud being up close.

"Let's just look around. We'll probably die in a fiery nuclear explosion if we touch anything, though."

Marilyn nodded and turned to look at one of the consoles. It showed various fluctuating numbers and bars, probably some sort of measure of the generator's functions. She wondered what they all meant. She was tempted to reach out and tap the keys, just to see what would happen, but thought better of it. Dick was probably right about it exploding if they messed with it.

"Ain't it crazy?" Dick said after a moment, "All this nuclear stuff, it can be used for both good and bad."

"Yeah, it's the reason we have to live in a Vault," She nodded, looking over to where he stood by the railing in front of the glowing generator, "But it's the reason we even can live in a Vault, too."

"Guess that's why my mom's always going on about her job as an Engineer being so important," Dick shrugged, glancing over as Marilyn approached his side.

"I wish my mom had an important job like that," Marilyn frowned, resting her hands on the railing, "She just works in the laundry department."

"Hey, at least it ain't trash department," Dick shrugged, going to add something else but stopped short.

At this, Marilyn shot him a curious glance, seeing he was just staring at her. He had that odd look on his face that he always got whenever he was thinking about something but didn't want to tell her. And that piqued her curiosity.

"What?" She asked with a perked brow, noting curiously how he started when she spoke.

"Uh, nothing," He said quickly, turning to face the generator.

Marilyn squinted at him suspiciously for a moment, before following his gaze over to the glowing generator. It pulsed steadily. They stood there for a moment before Dick finally spoke up.

"It's just, I guess, I'm just wondering what it's like."

"Hm?" Marilyn looked back at him, "What what's like?"

"Y'know," Dick mumbled, "Kissing."

"Oh," Marilyn blinked, feeling her cheeks quickly heat up again.

She was surprised that it was on his mind again, but maybe it had been because he'd just been talking about garbage. That did seem to match his general attitude on the subject, at least. Not that Marilyn could fully admit that she felt the same. Only, she didn't get very many opportunities to express any interest in such a thing. Not when she, apparently, wasn't even considered a girl by the boys her age. But, then again…

"Well…" She began after a moment, glancing away before his gaze could meet hers, "I guess we could… do a practice one?"

"Huh?" Dick looked at her incredulously.

"Just to see what it's like?" She hesitantly stole a glance at him, "If you want."

Dick turned to face her apprehensively, looking a bit lost for words. Something about the sincerity of his confusion made her grow self-conscious and she cleared her throat.

"Nevermind, it's stupid," She said quickly, shaking her head slightly so that her dark ponytail wobbled back and forth across her shoulder blades, "Forget I said–"

"Okay," He blurted quickly, cutting her off mid-sentence.

Now it was Marilyn's turn to look at him incredulously. Before she could think of a proper response, Dick leaned over and pressed his lips against hers. The kiss was over as quickly as it had started, but Marilyn still felt as though the whole world had shifted. She had to glance down just to double-check that the railing wasn't suddenly collapsing to drop them into the generator.

"...So that's what kissing is like?" She asked sheepishly after a moment.

"I guess so?" Dick shrugged, leaning away, "That didn't really seem like such a big deal as Timbo was making it out to be."

She watched him for a moment, still feeling the heat pooled in her cheeks, and could only give him a tacit nod in response. Even if she disagreed wholeheartedly.