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everamazingfe · 2 years
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Spooky, Scary, Werewolf Boyfriend!
Fic Summary: Geoff, a rough and tumble punk, and Gavin, a soft spoken and pastel wearing college student, have been together for over a year. People always wonder if they’re even compatible, but neither of them could ever see themselves with anyone else. There’s just one problem. Gavin doesn’t know that Geoff is a werewolf, and he worries that it could ruin their relationship if he were to ever find out. 
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Words in this chapter: 3244 Pairings: Geoff Ramsey/Gavin Free Warnings for this chapter: Mild body horror, adult content
Notes: It is once again time for an @rtwritingcommunity secret event, and this time around it’s Secret Skeleton! I was lucky enough to get to write for my beloved bug, Caspien ( @rhymes-with-gay ), and bring new life to an old idea of ours that we’ve been kicking around for quite some time. You have no idea how hard it was to write this while being in the same room as you, and to keep it a secret (which I’m sure I did a very poor job of), so you better like it. 
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There were rumors of wolves that roamed the woods surrounding the campus. Supposedly, they were bigger than regular wolves. Fiercer, and more far more bloodthirsty. The older frat boys would send the newbies out into the forest, covered in meat and deer blood and pheromones that stunk up the dorms for weeks in an effort to scare them and lure the beasts in closer. Outside of the hazing ritual, most students never set foot into the woods. The wolves never attacked those that did, but students still swore that they were real, and that if you listened closely during a full moon, you could hear the pack howling away, hunting for their next meal.
Gavin thought it was all bullshit. He knew that wolves were real, he’d seen them in zoos and saw videos of them on trail cameras out in the wild, but he also knew that they weren’t around here. It was just a rumor, a story told as a way to scare stupid frat boys and keep students from getting drunk in the woods after class. He had much more important things to do than go exploring anyway, like homework. Or his boyfriend. 
Geoff was an interesting man to say the least, but Gavin liked interesting things. All of his friends wondered what he saw in Geoff, and anyone who saw them together most likely feared for Gavin’s safety. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with tattoos on every inch of skin on and below his neck, his nails painted a jet black, and a personality that was even bolder than the clothes he wore. Gavin was quite the opposite, with soft sweaters and short skirts and pastel painted nails. It made everyone wonder how the hell they were even together, but if they saw what went on behind closed doors, all their fears would be alleviated. 
The reality was that no one had to worry about Geoff laying a hand on Gavin, because he loved him more than anything or anyone else. He’d sooner attack someone who hurt Gavin than hurt him himself. But for all the time they spent together, Gavin still didn’t know everything about Geoff. The man had a dark secret, one that he kept close to his chest because he knew it would cost him his otherwise perfect relationship. Geoff knew that the wolves were real. He knew that because he was one of them. 
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“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” Geoff asked, moving a few stuffed animals out of the way so he could hover over Gavin, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. 
“Only every time you come over,” he said with a soft giggle as he tipped his head back, inviting Geoff to start kissing his neck. The other was more than happy to oblige, trailing his kisses down along Gavin’s jaw to his neck as he slipped a hand up beneath his shirt. 
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Geoff groaned softly against his skin, stopping for a moment so he could smile. “How do you *always manage to find the softest fuckin’ shirts in the world?” 
Everything in Gavin’s room was the softest thing in the world, in Geoff’s opinion. The fluffy blankets on the bed, the plush pillows on every surface of the room, the sweaters that hung in the closet. They were all so ridiculously soft that his brain had trouble processing that he was even touching anything when he ran his fingers across them. It was so unlike his own apartment, but he didn’t mind the change in decor in the slightest. 
“I dunno, it’s just a talent, I guess.” He shrugged a shoulder, his cheeks going pink as Geoff’s hand trailed up his stomach, raking his fingers through his thick tummy hair before brushing his thumb across the scars that sat below his pecs. 
Geoff hummed softly, putting a little more of his weight on Gavin as he trailed his kisses back up to his lips. The movie playing on the television had long been forgotten in favor of making out, by the time they remembered it the credits had long since finished rolling and they’d missed the end credits scene. 
“Aw, damn. I actually wanted to pay attention to that one,” Gavin huffed, pushing Geoff’s head away to grab the Xbox controller from his nightstand. “Next time, we’ll *actually pay attention to it.”
The other man laughed softly, rolling off of Gavin to stretch out on his back. “Yeah, you said that the last three times,” he teased, a gentle hand on his boyfriend’s thigh as he rubbed his thumb in circles. “Speaking of next time, I can’t come over tomorrow night.”
Gavin stopped messing with the controller, pouting as he turned to look at Geoff. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, sorry babe. A uh… Family thing came up, I don’t wanna get into it, but I gotta spend some time with some cousins that came into town.”
“Ugh, it’s always them.”
“Yeah, I know, I’m not too happy about it either, but you know how family is.” Gavin nodded, because he did know, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. He always hated it when he couldn’t spend time with Geoff. Geoff hated not being able to see Gavin too, and it broke his heart every time he had to lie to him. He was just lucky that the other hadn’t picked up on the pattern of when his ‘cousins’ happened to visit. 
The truth was that even though they weren’t his cousins, the people he had to spend time with were family. They were his siblings, his pack, and on the full moon they were the most important thing to him. He’d been antsy the entire week, getting anxious and restless and doing everything he could to make sure he’d be able to retreat into the woods when the night finally came. That, unfortunately, meant cancelling his date with Gavin. 
“It’s fine, I’ve got some homework I should probably do anyway… Supposed to be a clear night tomorrow, might be a good time to get started on my photography final.” He shrugged a shoulder, setting the controller down once he’d selected another Marvel movie to watch so he could cuddle up to Geoff. “Maybe I’ll finally get to hear those wolves everyone’s always on about,” he added, snorting out a laugh as he tucked his head beneath Geoff’s chin. 
He hoped Gavin couldn’t hear the way that he swallowed hard and or notice the way he tensed up. “Yeah... Maybe.” *But hopefully not*, he added in his mind. The last thing he wanted was for Gavin to see him when he was the furthest thing from himself. 
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The next morning came all too quickly, and passed even faster. By the time Geoff woke up, it was well past noon, and Gavin hadn’t even woken up yet. Still, if he wanted to make it to his pack in time, he should’ve gotten going hours ago. 
As he pulled his pants on and fished his denim jacket (whose patches had been lovingly sewn on by Gavin for him) from the pile of plushies and pillows that had been kicked to the floor, he took a look at his phone. Already there were calls and texts from his packmates, wondering where the hell he was and why he wasn’t answering. They weren’t supposed to go no-contact on a full moon, even if that was the only day they spoke. He shot back a quick text saying he was on his way, even though he still needed to locate his shoes, before pressing a kiss to Gavin’s temple and tucking his favorite stuffed animal back in his arms. Geoff had always found it funny that it was a wolf. Gavin always remarked that it was his favorite to cuddle with when his boyfriend wasn’t there. Sometimes, he even held it while Geoff *was there.
He couldn’t resist snapping a picture before he slipped away, sending it to Gavin along with the text, “You look so cute all cuddled up with that thing, I’m sorry that I had to leave.” 
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“Where the hell were you?” Michael snapped at him the second he walked through the door, and Geoff could only flinch under his gaze. 
“I already told you, I was with Gav.” His whereabouts were never exactly unknown, he hardly spent any time at his own apartment these days unless Gavin was there too. 
Michael growled in frustration, retreating further into the cabin as Geoff followed behind. “You’re so lucky Jeremy was able to cover for you, Jack was gonna kill you if you didn’t get here soon.”
“She’s always looking for some excuse.” That made Michael’s fierceness crack a little, and they both laughed. “One of these days she’ll follow through, then I’m fucked.” 
“Yeah, you are.”
On the outside, the cabin looked rather run down and small, but the inside was warm and cozy. The chill of autumn still managed to sneak through the drafty windows, but once they were all turned, the cold wasn’t much of a concern. It was far enough into the woods that there was very little chance of some random stumbling across it, but Jack always made sure to stress the importance of secrecy regardless. Geoff hated secrets, but he knew the importance of this one. If anyone found out what they were, and *where they were, at best he would be kicked out of his pack. At worst, they’d all be killed. He didn’t need that on his conscience. 
“Geoff.” Jack greeted him rather sternly from her spot on the couch, though she didn’t turn her gaze away from the television. Once again, Geoff winced. Her tone was more intense than Michael’s had been, and as the leader of the pack, her words carried more weight.. “He doesn’t know, does he?”
Geoff sighed heavily as he took a seat next to her and shook his head. “No, he probably doesn’t even know that I left yet. He was still asleep.” She nodded slowly, seeming pleased with that answer. Her first priority was, and always would be, keeping her pack safe. It was good that Geoff had found someone, but dating beyond the pack was always a risk. “I think I would like to tell him, though.” 
All action stopped then as everyone turned to look at Geoff, their eyes wide and mouths agape in a range of emotions from surprise to anger. Jack looked disappointed, above all else. “Oh, honey. You know why you can’t do that.” 
His jaw clenched. “I know I can’t, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it. You guys… You don’t know Gav. He’s cool!”
“He’s *not cool,” Jeremy scoffed, stepping in since Jack was too flabbergasted to find the words. “He’s that dude on campus who always wears skirts and shit, right? No fucking way he’s ‘cool’ enough to be *cool with a werewolf boyfriend.”
“Actually,” Michael piped up around a mouthful of chips, “Monster fucking is pretty big these days.” That statement was all it took for the attention of the pack to be off of Geoff and onto Michael, with all of Jack’s anger directed towards the poor lad instead. “What? You’re gonna look at me and tell me I’m wrong?!”
“Yes!” came the chorus of replies, and with the commotion that followed Geoff had the perfect opportunity to slip away.
He’d only meant to go for a short walk, a quick walk around their land to clear his head and let tensions die down, but he’d gotten quite distracted. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered to himself, kicking the ground in frustration. There was no way he’d be able to get back to the cabin in time, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get to his apartment either. There was only one spot between the two that would be safe for him. At least, Geoff hoped it would be safe. 
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“Geoff?” Gavin wasn’t unhappy to see his boyfriend, that much was proven by the way he threw his arms around him once he recognized that it was Geoff standing at his door, but he was confused. “I thought you had a family thing tonight?”
Geoff didn’t answer right away, hoisting Gavin up in the hug to bring him back inside the dorm room before setting him back down. “I did, they were just… They were being obnoxious. I needed a break, and your place is way closer than home.” A weak lie, but Gavin didn’t seem to notice. He really should just leave. He never should’ve even gone there in the first place. But the sun was now setting, and he had no choice but to stay. “Look, Gav, uh… Can we talk?” He turned around quickly to lock the door, guiding him towards the bedroom. 
Gavin hesitated a little, biting his lip as fear began to claw at his throat. “Oh my god, did you come all this way to break up with me?”
“What?” Geoff asked, stopping in his tracks and whirling around. “Gav, no. No! I’m not breaking up with you, I would never.” He pulled his boyfriend closer, cupping his cheek with both hands and pressing a kiss to his lips. “Never ever in a million years would I do that. I have been keeping something from you, though. And I… I think it’s about time I come clean.” The silence hung heavy in the air between them, and Gavin could feel Geoff’s palms getting sweaty against his cheeks as he mustered up the courage to continue. Geoff was hoping that Gavin would say something first, but as the quiet continued, he knew there was no choice but to spit it out. “I made a mistake in coming here tonight, but I didn’t know where else to go. I’m putting you in so much danger by being here, because… Because I’m a werewolf.”
“Are you havin’ a laugh?” Of all the things that he expected Geoff to say, *that certainly wasn’t one of them. It almost felt like a trick, like he was gearing up to say ‘sike!’ and tell him something even worse. 
“No! I’m being serious. You know those stupid urban legends, of the wolves off campus, and the hazing that all the frats do? Those wolves are real, it’s me and my pack,” Geoff explained, but Gavin didn’t seem to be taking it any more seriously. “Come on, Gavin. What do I have to do to convince you that I’m telling the truth?” 
Gavin hummed, pulling his face from Geoff’s hands so he could step back and take a seat on the bed. “Transform. It’s a full moon, innit? Shouldn’t be too hard.” 
“That’s… That’s not how it works. I can’t just *do it* on command. And it’s not gonna be a pretty sight.” 
“I don’t think it’s gonna be a sight at all.”
Geoff huffed in frustration, taking a seat next to Gavin on the bed and grabbing one of the discarded Xbox controllers. “Fine.”
“Wait, what are you doing?” 
“Killing time. It’s gonna be another hour or two before I turn, the moon’s not high enough in the sky quite yet.” He stretched forward to grab the other controller, offering it to the other man. “Care to join me?”
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Gavin felt like this was all part of some big Halloween prank on Geoff’s part. The man was no stranger to pranks, it wouldn’t have been too out of character, but he’d never seen Geoff get nervous about one before. He was constantly fidgeting, barely paying attention to the game as the minutes ticked away, and paying even less attention to Gavin than he was to the game. Just as he was about to tell Geoff that he’d had enough, that he was sick of being toyed with and he had to go home, it began. 
Beside him, Geoff began to groan in pain, gritting his teeth and gripping the controller with white knuckles until he tossed it aside. He all but sprinted to the bathroom, the door shut and locked before Gavin could follow him inside. 
“Geoff?!” he called, his concern about being messed with now fading away to utter panic. 
Inside the bathroom, Geoff was having a hell of a time. His entire body was tingling and he felt like he was burning up, and every part of him was beginning to ache in that distinctive way that told him his transformation was close. He barely had enough time to get his clothes off before it began, and he fell to his knees as he began to shift. His spine elongated and his bones shifted in position as he doubled forward, and he gripped the edge of the sink hard as his fingers and toes turned to claws. Paws couldn’t hold onto porcelain too well once he got that far into the process, so he opted to lay on the cool tile floor, whimpering in pain as he waited for the process to finish. By the time he felt okay enough to stand, the only thing he could focus on was Gavin pounding on the door. 
“Geoff? Geoff! Let me in there, right this second!” Tears streamed down the lad’s face as he pitifully tried to open the door. Geoff sounded like he was in a lot of pain, and he couldn’t stand it. 
Slowly, Geoff lifted himself up from the floor, his bones cracking in the most satisfying way as he stretched out. As he began to fumble with the lock, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. *Still as handsome as always*, he thought to himself, admiring his sleek black fur and pearly white, sharp fangs.
The instant the door was unlocked, Gavin barged in, but stopped in his tracks as he was face to face with the largest wolf he had ever seen. It was the *only wolf he had ever seen, but he still knew that they weren’t quite *that big. 
“Oh my god. You weren’t lying. You really are a werewolf. Holy shit.” It was a lot to take in all at once, but Gavin opted to go for the simplest way to prove that it was Geoff. He reached out his hand, hovering just a few inches away from the wolf’s face. Almost immediately, it pushed its face into his palm, nuzzling into it and gently licking at his skin. “It really is you,” he breathed, completely in awe of what his boyfriend had become.
“You’re not mad, are you?” Guilt twisted in Geoff’s chest at the way the other jumped when he spoke, but he had to know. “I’m sorry for keeping it a secret, I just… I couldn’t risk losing what we had because… Because I’m a monster.”
“Oh, Geoff,” Gavin murmured, his words dripping with sympathy as he brought his other hand up to cup his face. “You’re not a monster. You’re the furthest thing from it.” He smiled at him as he began to scratch behind his ears, leaning in to press a kiss between them. “Besides,” he added, his smile turning to a full-on grin as he met Geoff’s eyes. “I’ve always wanted to shag a werewolf.” He could barely get the words out without laughing, his cheeks turning a bright red. 
*Holy fucking shit*, Geoff thought as Gavin buried his face in his fur out of embarrassment. *Michael was right.*
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everamazingfe · 3 years
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Space Is A Lonely Thing (But Earth Is Even Lonelier)
Fic Summary: Back on Earth, Jacobi refuses to even think about Doug for more than a few seconds at a time. However, with a little bit of nudging, he decides to reconnect. 
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Words in this chapter: 6005 Pairings: Doug Eiffel/Daniel Jacobi Warnings for this chapter: Brief mentions of alcoholism
Notes: Spoilers for the final season and finale of Wolf 359, not totally canon compliant. To read this fic over on A03, you can check the source for a link, or search up everamazingfe on the site!
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Space was a lonely thing, Jacobi thought as he stared out the windows of the Sol. It was dark and empty, the closest thing to them was lightyears away with the closest living thing being even further away, and if you got lost out in it there was a very slim chance of returning. But sometimes, he liked the loneliness. The hollowness in his chest was familiar to him. He didn’t have to make guesses about how the hollow was feeling, what it wanted for dinner, or if the next move he was going to make towards it was the right one. The hollowness was safe, predictable, comfortable. 
He’d been in relationships back on Earth, but they’d all managed to feel lonelier than space at certain points. His first relationship had been with a much older man who had promised him the world, and then held him captive in it. The second and third weren’t much different from the first, but he’d gathered enough sense to know the signs and get out before he was a prisoner in his own home. The fourth had been okay, until a dumb mistake on the job had resulted in him having a partner who couldn’t even stomach the thought of looking at Jacobi, much less touching him. But the fifth… The fifth had been the best one of them all. 
Communications Officer Douglas Eiffel was an idiot. He had no common sense and couldn’t pick up on the subtext of anyone’s words for the life of him, which was why it had taken him far too long to realize that Jacobi’s words weren’t just playful banter or sarcastic remarks. Even when Isabel asked him point blank if he’d noticed Jacobi was flirting with him, he’d denied it. But there was a night in the communications room, just the two of them working around the clock to hone in on a signal that was nothing but static, that Eiffel managed to put the pieces together. 
Jacobi had floated over to him a little too fast, his hands out to catch himself just as Eiffel turned around so that he ended up catching himself on his chest rather than his back. The momentum had carried him forward just a little too much, and neither of them had really considered the consequences of leaning in to close the gap. They were delirious from a lack of sleep and lonely as hell, but he was fairly certain that he’d never have a kiss as good as that one again in his life. 
“I guess Isabel was right,” Eiffel had murmured once they’d parted, and Jacobi arched an eyebrow in quiet questioning. He chuckled as he caught the look, shrugging a shoulder before glancing away, his cheeks flushed pink. “She uh… She asked me if I knew that you were flirting with me… And I kinda didn’t believe her.”
“Oh my god.”
“Hey! How was I supposed to know? I just figured you talk to everyone like that!”
“When have you ever heard me talk to anyone like that?” That was a question that Doug didn’t have an answer to, and all Jacobi could do was utter, “Oh my god,” again before pulling him in for another kiss. 
The way their relationship had progressed after that had been more than a little unconventional. They didn’t broach the topic of feelings for quite some time. Speaking about anything more serious than whether the Prequels were better or the Sequels was quite difficult for the two of them, but they made sure to express them in other ways. 
Jacobi started waking Eiffel up for his shifts in person, bringing him a cup of seaweed sludge with “chocolate” powder added for a bit of extra flavor. He also took to filling him in on the plots of movies and shows he’d been missing out on during his tenure on the Hephaestus station. Eiffel helped Jacobi with his idle tinkering without an ounce of complaint, bringing him whatever tools or materials he asked for, sometimes even before he even knew he needed them. They worked together wonderfully, and got along even better. 
“Jacobi?” Hera’s voice came over the Sol’s speakers. Despite how soft it was, it cut into his reminiscing quite harshly, dragging him back into reality before he was ready. Upon hearing her speak, he flinched. “I’m sorry, I just… I wanted to check in. How are you doing?”
He gritted his teeth as he tensed, practically growling in response to the question. Hera was lucky that she was a part of the ship. If anyone had decided to ask him that in person, he would’ve attacked them. After a moment of thought, he realized that that was probably why she was the one asking in the first place. Minkowski and Lovelace were too smart to put themselves in harm’s way like that. “How do you think, Hera? How is anyone doing after all of that?”
She sighed softly, her servers running warm with sympathy in another section of the ship. “Not very good, I’d say. But you seem to be doing the worst.”
“Wow, Hera. Thanks. The increased processing power of the Sol really made you so much better at observation,” he drawled, bitter and sarcastic as he dropped his forehead to the glass. It hit with a satisfying thunk, the dull pain in his head distracting him from the pain in his heart. He closed his eyes, sighing heavily. 
‘You know, it’s not actually glass.’ Eiffel’s voice in his head spoke around a mouthful of rations, correcting his mis-description. ‘It’s a carbon-polymer blend. Actual glass would snap under the pressure of space and kill us all.’
“What I’m trying to say is… We were all close to Officer Eiffel, to Doug, but… You were the closest. It’s understandable that you’d be taking this the hardest, and I’m here for you.” There was a beat of silence and some faint musical beeps. “I have recordings of some of his audio logs. Would you like to hear them?”
That made his heart ache a little less, though he still didn’t lift his head from the window or open his eyes. “Yes. Please. I’d like that… I’d like that a lot.”
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The first time that Jacobi could bring himself to see Eiffel again was months after they landed back on Earth. They were put up in Goddard sponsored housing by Cape Canaveral, but Jacobi insisted on having a space of his own. Lovelace and Minkowski stuck together, and Doug was stuck with them because they were the only other people that he knew. They’d done their best to reacquaint him with the facts of his life during the rest of the Sol’s journey back to Earth, but because they didn’t know about his and Jacobi’s relationship, he’d stayed in the dark about it. Hera was the only one who knew, but she wasn’t going to tell anyone without Jacobi’s permission, which he certainly wasn’t going to grant. 
“He’s better off without me,” Jacobi muttered from his seat on his townhome’s balcony, staring up at the sky. “They all are.” He blamed himself for it, for everything, because Kepler wasn’t alive to blame for it all anymore. There was no one to absorb his anger, his guilt, his disgust, so he took it upon himself. 
Icy booze had become his crutch of choice again, and that made it all easier to deal with. When he was laying on the floor of the bathroom, clutching the edge of the toilet while puking his guts out and fighting off a migraine mixed with a hangover, it was very difficult to think about anything but the pain. It was a distraction that had all of the pain and punishment he felt he deserved, and it was perfect.
It was perfect, until it wasn’t. 
Jacobi wasn’t adjusting very well to life back on Earth, to life without Doug, that much was obvious. After an icy-booze related hospitalization, Goddard said that if he wished to continue staying in the housing that they so generously provided for him, he would have to quit drinking and start counseling. Isabel and Renee had done the latter and had found that it helped, or so he was told. Even Doug had as well, but he’d cut the doctor off before he could continue. 
“Fine. I’ll do it, but only if you never mention him again.”
It was only after weeks of recovery and months of counseling that the name ‘Doug Eiffel’ started to come up in his sessions, and he was the one to say it first. It was the only way he was going to be able to talk about it. When his doctor had tried before he was ready, he shut down and didn’t say a word, going catatonic until he was escorted from the building. It was almost embarrassing how many times that had to happen before the doctor learned to not bring him up. 
“How is he doing?” Jacobi asked after moments of silence at the end of the latest session. He was supposed to be leaving, their hour was up and the therapist needed to prepare for her next session, but he couldn’t bring himself to stand up from his seat.
“How is who doing?”
He scoffed, annoyed at the way the doctor played dumb, picking at a loose thread in his jeans. “Eiffel. Doug. How is he doing?”
“He’s… Better. Coping. I can’t really tell you too much, doctor-patient confidentiality you know, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind it if you wanted to ask him yourself.” 
The way that she pulled a small paper from her notebook and held it out towards him told him that she’d been planning this for a while, that this was something she’d been hoping he’d ask. But, it didn’t turn him off from the idea. 
“Yeah, okay. I’ll think about it.” Jacobi stood, hesitating for a second before reaching out to take the paper from her. 
Once he was outside of the office, he unfolded the paper. All at once, the air was sucked from his lungs. He could recognize that handwriting anywhere. The awkward chicken scratch and misshapen letters of Eiffel’s handwriting filled the paper, and he smiled as he read the note.
‘What do you expect from me? I’m the product of the public educational system, this is basically as fancy as cursive there.’
“Some things never change,” he muttered, smiling as he folded it carefully and tucked it into his pocket.
The paper came out of his pocket and onto the coffee table once Jacobi was home, and it took up a spot in his mind all night. As he turned on the television to watch a movie, his eyes never left it. As he grabbed a bottle of booze and a glass of ice to make his signature drink, it pulled his attention away long enough to convince him to fill the glass with water instead. It lived on the table for a week before he did anything with it, all the while convincing him to make small improvements to his life because what would the real Doug do if he saw him living the way he was? 
After a rather tense follow-up session where Doug wasn’t mentioned at all, Jacobi decided to pick up the phone and call him. It was hard to believe that the man hadn’t been mentioned by name once during the entire hour, but everything his therapist had said made him think of Doug, or made him think about something that made him think about Doug. It was a horrible gnawing feeling, and it wasn’t going to go away until he spoke to him.
“Hello?” 
Jacobi gasped when he heard Eiffel’s voice on the other end, gripping the edge of the couch cushions like his life depended on it. “Hey, uh… Doug? It’s Jacobi… Or Daniel, if you prefer.”
There was some quiet muttering, and then a shout of, “Oh! Jacobi! Right. I was beginning to think that Isabel and Renee were joking when they said you came back with us. I think they were too.” The voice was Doug’s, but everything else was wrong. The tone, the cadence, the lack of pop culture references. This wasn’t his Doug. It made a hollowness form in his chest, but it was much more empty than the loneliness he had felt as of late.
“Yeah, I… I kind of had some of my own shit to deal with. I couldn’t… I couldn’t see you. I couldn’t even think about you until recently. But I think I’m ready now.”
“Um…” Eiffel’s confusion was audible, he didn’t understand why Jacobi was so torn up about him, and Jacobi felt awful for giving him a riddle that he couldn’t even begin to answer. 
“Sorry, uh… Maybe you could come over? I can cook us something nice for dinner, and maybe explain some things?”
“Oh, that would be great, actually! I’ve got some questions of my own, and I think the girls either don’t know the answers or don’t want to tell me, so... Dinner sounds great.]”
After they said their goodbyes, Jacobi waited to let the other man hang up first. He didn’t want the moment to end, just in case it was the last one he got with Eiffel. He never savored the moments he had with Doug as much as he should have at the time. It ate him up inside every day. But once the line went dead, he set to work cleaning, getting his home ready and presentable for company. 
It was filthy, bordering on uninhabitable, but several days of work and what probably added up to about a hundred trash bags later, Jacobi’s place was clean. After that, came the prepwork for his dinner date with Eiffel. 
“No, wait… It’s just dinner, not a date,” he reminded himself as he looked at recipes online, a glass of juice on the table beside his laptop. “Not a date.” 
In the end, he decided on something simple, but not so simple it would look like he put no effort in. Homemade chicken parm, with a side of pasta (with homemade sauce, of course) and steamed fresh veggies from a local grocery store. Going to the store to get ingredients had been the first time he’d left his home for anything other than therapy in far too long, since his groceries usually got delivered. Goddard had him on some special ‘returning to eating real food’ meal plan for a while. After that transition had ended the food deliveries never stopped, so he never stopped making use of them. 
Getting to decide what to eat was a nice little bit of freedom, though. Getting to roam the aisles of the grocery store, to select the cuts of meat he wanted, to feel the produce and decide which was the most fresh before buying it, was something he hadn’t done in far too long, but it felt good. He decided then, as he made small talk with the cashier and commented about the weather outside, that he was going to make an attempt to get out of the house more often. TV wasn’t an adequate replacement for real human conversations, and his weekly talks with his therapist hardly counted towards that either.
Cooking ended up being just as good for him as the trip to the grocery store had been. Jacobi had forgotten just how much he’d loved it before going up into space, how much he loved dancing to his favorite music in the kitchen as he waited for water to boil on the stove or for food to cook in the oven, how much he loved the satisfaction of getting to taste test his creations and having it come out perfect on the first try. It was an artform. A lot of it was similar to bomb making because of how precise it needed to be and how delicately dishes need to be put together for it to come out exactly right. No wonder he liked it so much. It scratched an itch that hadn’t been scratched in a long time. 
There was a knock on the door right as Jacobi was putting the finishing touches on the sauce, dipping a spoon into it to taste it and letting out a satisfied hum at how utterly delicious it was.
“Oh yeah, baby. I still got it,” he self-congratulated as he tossed the spoon into the sink. It clanged against the stainless steel, possibly breaking one of hi, but he didn’t care. He was in too good a mood for anything so simple to ruin it. 
Outside the door, Doug stood awkwardly. He didn’t know much about Jacobi outside of what Isabel and Renee had told him, but that was the case for a lot of things in the past year. His world didn’t expand too far beyond the bedroom he’d been put up in. Even Hera was seemingly very selective with the information that she gave out. There was a lot they all left out of their stories. Whether it was because they didn’t want to share it or didn’t think he could handle it, he couldn’t tell. He just hoped Jacobi wasn’t the same way. Someone needed to be honest with him after all this time.
The door swung open, and there was Jacobi. He looked nothing like Doug had expected. They were almost equal in height, with Jacobi maybe an inch shorter, if that. He had beautiful green eyes (he tried not to think too much about the use of ‘beautiful’ as a descriptor for them in his mind), and messy brown hair that clearly had not been cut in ages. Jacobi wasn’t a military man like the rest of them, but with the way Kepler ran things he might as well have been, and it was obvious that he’d let himself go. The overflowing trash can out at the curb was another hint towards that, but he opted not to comment on any of it. It wasn’t like he was in any better shape himself. 
“Hey, Jacobi. Uh… Isabel mentioned you kind of have a ‘thing’ for fancy cheeses, so…” He lifted a paper bag, offering it out to the other man who had yet to look anywhere but his face. Jacobi was still too floored by the presence of Doug himself to be able to focus on anything else. 
Despite the changes he’d undergone, Doug looked largely the same. His muscles had lost some of their definition, his face was softer, and his hair had gotten longer and impossibly curlier, but he looked… Better, overall. Well-rested, healthier in every way, and lighter. He didn’t have the same burdens that the original Douglas Eiffel did, the same traumas, the same memories. That was all left behind up on the Hephaestus, most likely for the better.
“Thank you,” he said finally, taking the bag from him, his arm dropping a little from the surprising heft. “Wow, this is… A lot of cheese. Like.. A lot a lot.” He peered into the bag and chuckled, stepping out of the way to let Eiffel into his home. “Thank you.” It was a sincere thanks, not a mocking one, because going overboard on a gift was something that was so inherently Doug. He wasn’t shocked that he’d been gifted more cheese than he would be able to eat in a year or so. In fact, it made him feel relieved. Somewhere, in there, was still the same Doug that he knew. It just wasn’t up on the surface anymore. But that was okay. He didn’t mind doing a little digging.
“Wow, what smells so good?” Eiffel asked as he stepped inside, trailing along awkwardly behind Jacobi towards the kitchen. 
“Chicken parm, some veggies, a side of pasta, and sauce for it all,” he answered, his head in the fridge as he tried to make room for all of the dairy. He pulled some vegetables that weren’t used in the night’s dinner out of the drawers, shoving them onto the shelves instead so he could split the bag’s contents between them. The fridge had a little trouble closing, but that was easy enough to overcome with a hearty shove. “I kinda went overboard too, I haven’t cooked in a long time, but I guess… I guess I kinda wanted to prove that I was still good at it.”
Eiffel nodded in understanding as Jacobi stepped away from the fridge. There was an awkward few seconds of silence as the latter moved, grabbing some plates from the cabinet and passing one to Eiffel so they could dish out their own portions. His own plate had more pasta than chicken on it, with Eiffel’s being the opposite, and they both grabbed a single scoop of vegetables out of courtesy to their presence. 
They sat at the table across from each other, both of them eating quietly and taking sips of soda before Doug spoke up.
“I don’t know a lot about you.”
Jacobi blinked, lowering his fork from where it was lifted halfway to his mouth. “Well, of course you don’t. I imagine that’s the case for everybody.”
“No. No, not for Renee, not for Isabel. They’ve told me everything about themselves, their roles on the station, their lives before it, what part they played in all of the mess that happened up there. But whenever you come up, they sorta…” He trailed off, struggling for the words to say. 
“Dance around it? Yeah, I don’t blame them. I was sorta the ‘bad guy’ up there.” 
“You don’t look the type. I would’ve guessed you were on our side.”
Jacobi shook his head, taking a long sip from his soda before speaking again. “I wasn’t. Not even a little bit, not at first anyway. Towards the end, yeah, but only because I didn’t have a choice.”
Eiffel hummed softly, mulling over his words as he chewed a big bite of chicken. “Why didn’t you have a choice?”
He sighed heavily, setting the can down with a soft ‘clunk’ and staring into the liquid inside. “Because,” he started, tapping his fingers against the wood of the table. “Someone I cared a lot about was over on your side, and I wasn’t about to let anything happen to them. I had to make sure they got out of it safe.”
“Who?”
“Just eat your chicken, Doug.” The words were clipped, and Doug wanted to argue. There was and indignant look on his face as he set down his knife and fork, but the look on Jacobi’s face was nothing but sadness. That alone was enough to convince him not to push the matter more, at least for a few minutes. It was clearly a sore subject for the poor guy.
The meal passed without much more conversation. Eventually, Jacobi couldn’t stomach taking even one more bite, and pushed his plate away. He had to figure out a way to explain things to Doug, in a way that wasn’t going to be more off-putting than no explanation at all. “They didn’t make it. I did everything I could to make sure everyone got out alright, and in the end the one person I cared about didn’t make it,” he settled on after a few long moments, shaking his head at himself. “Isabel and Renee don’t want to talk about me because I’m sure they blame me, somehow, because they cared about that person a whole hell of a lot too. And honestly? I blame myself too. Every goddamn day.”
Eiffel blinked in surprise at the sudden outburst, but stopped eating to reach a hand out and place it gently on Jacobi’s shoulder. “They don’t blame you, Daniel,” he murmured, rubbing his shoulder gently with his thumb as the man slumped forward. “I’m sure they just… Don’t know. You’re a man of mystery to them, which is a problem because that just makes you all the more interesting to me. But that sucks, ‘cause they don’t really have any answers to my questions.”
Jacobi stayed silent for a few moments, sighing heavily and squeezing his eyes shut. The hand on his shoulder was warm, familiar, and the spot was going to be all too cold when it was pulled away. He was so sick of being cold. “What were your questions?”
“I don’t even remember now, I dunno. Hera just mentioned some stuff, and… I don’t know, I think I was reading into it a little too much.”
Jacobi’s eyes narrowed at that, his heart rate spiking as he tried to figure out exactly what Hera may have mentioned that Eiffel could possibly be reading into. She was the only one who knew about their relationship. That was an unfortunate side effect of her having eyes and ears everywhere on the station, though she was courteous enough to give them their privacy when they needed it. “What… What did she mention?”
“Ah, you know what? Forget it,” Eiffel said, shaking his head quickly. He saw the way that Jacobi looked, and decided that maybe now wasn’t the time to bring something that heavy up. He’d only just met the guy, technically, though from what Hera had said they’d apparently known each other very well. “This chicken is amazing, by the way. You’re an incredible cook.” 
Jacobi was quiet for a second, trying to work up the courage to insist that Eiffel tell him what Hera had said, but he didn’t want to seem like he was crazy. He wanted to make a good impression on this Doug, to make up for the absolutely terrible one he’d given the first time they met. “Oh, thank you. And thanks for giving me an excuse to cook, it was… Nice.”
Eiffel smiled, that stupidly warm smile that made his eyes crinkle at the corners and his dimples show clear as day, that stupidly warm smile that made Jacobi’s heart skip a beat and his chest tighten all at once. “Maybe I could give you another excuse some time.”
When Jacobi smiled back at Doug, it wasn’t as warm. It was forced, tight-lipped with a false warmth that no one but Alana would be able to discern. “Yeah, maybe. I’d like that.” He wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not, but he still found himself wanting to see more of Doug. 
----------------------------------------------------
They began to meet for dinner once a week, the meals almost painfully simple for Jacobi but still requiring an amount of skill that left Doug impressed. Then again, Doug was impressed with nearly everything Jacobi did. It was intentional, though. All part of a plan to slowly wear down the walls that the man had put up around himself. He was warming up to this new version of Doug, comparing him to the previous version less and less. This wasn’t his Doug anymore, but maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. 
I think I might even like this Doug more, Jacobi found himself thinking, though he shook his head quickly to get it out of his mind. It was an intrusive thought, nothing more, and he pushed any like it from his mind as fast as they popped up. 
“Hey, Daniel?” Doug spoke up around a mouthful of fettuccine, and Jacobi lifted his head. He liked that. He liked how Doug never called him ‘Jacobi’ anymore. He liked being ‘Daniel’ to him. 
“What’s up, Doug?”
“What was I like? Before, y’know.”
That made Jacobi chuckle, but then Eiffel looked at him with an earnestness that made his heart break. “You mean… You don’t know?”
He shook his head in response, swallowing the mouthful of food before continuing. “No. I mean, I can make some guesses from the logs, but I know they don’t include everything, and Renee and Isabel always say they don’t like to dwell.”
“What about Hera?”
“She just says ‘You were Doug, I don’t know how to describe you other than that.’”
Jacobi hummed softly, thinking it over for a moment. What was Doug like before he lost his memory? For a split-second, Jacobi felt a rush of panic wash over him, because he almost couldn’t remember. Almost. “Honestly? You were fucking annoying. Every other word out of your mouth was a pop culture reference, and it made everything you said so goddamn incomprehensible that it was infuriating. You were infuriating.” He stopped and took a sip of his soda, ignoring the look of confusion and hurt on Doug’s face. “But Hera’s right. You were Doug. You were someone who always tried to make the most of a shitty situation, to find the fun in the traumatizing ordeal we went through. If you didn’t make Minkowski and Hera laugh at least once a day, either at you or with you, you considered the day wasted. And you cared, so much, about everyone. Even Kepler. Even Hilbert. After everything you were put through, you still cared.” His fingers twitched, and he stood up, disappearing into the kitchen to make himself a glass of icy booze before returning. As much as he was trying to avoid drinking in front of Eiffel at Renee’s request, he needed something if this was going to be the night’s topic of conversation. “You were the most human out of any of us, Doug. Out of all of us, you deserved what happened to you the least. I’d put myself in your place a thousand times over if I could.” 
As Jacobi lifted the glass to his lips, Doug just stared at him. “Wow, I.. That is… A lot. I had no idea.” 
“Of course you didn’t. You destroyed yourself to save us.” To save me. “You’re a goddamn hero, Doug. And you don’t even know what you did to deserve the title. And if you did, you’d be too humble to accept it.” There was so much he could say about Eiffel, but he didn’t know how far he could go before the other suspected there was more to it than a little bit of friendly fondness. “And you really haven’t changed that much, either.”
“I haven’t?” He asked, blinking in confusion and furrowing his eyebrows together. He certainly didn’t feel like he was the same person he was before, and no one treated him that way either. 
“No, not at all,” Jacobi responded, smiling as he took another drink. “Sure, the things you say are actually understandable to the average human, and you don’t really remember anything, but… You’re still Doug. Your smile is the same, the same dumb shit still makes you laugh, and you’ve got the biggest appetite of anyone I’ve ever met. Not to mention that… That you’re still the most human of us all, the most caring, the sweetest.” His mind flashed back to the ten pounds of cheese he’d been gifted, most of which was still inhabiting the drawers of his fridge, and just how similar it was to the time that Jacobi mentioned that he’d like a snack and Eiffel brought him what must’ve been every available ration from the Urania to choose from. He smiled as he remembered that moment, swirling the ice around in his glass and staring into it as if it would take him back in time. “No matter what anyone tells you, you’re still the same Doug Eiffel I fell in love with.”
The words had slipped out before he could stop them, and they ground the conversation to a halt. Jacobi froze as the gears turned in Eiffel’s head, the ice in his glass clinking from the sudden stop. The silence seemed to stretch out for an eternity, and Jacobi started wishing that he would drop dead so he wouldn’t have to deal with the almost certainly heartbreaking response from Eiffel. 
“Huh,” was the response he ended up getting, and Jacobi risked taking a glance over at him. It seemed like Doug was actually putting some pieces together, but it certainly wasn’t quick enough for Jacobi’s liking. “Now that can’t be right.” He shook his head, meeting Jacobi’s eyes with an expression the other couldn’t quite read. Before he could even ask him to elaborate, Doug continued. “You are way too far out of my league to have been with me.”
The joke was meant to bring some levity to the situation, but it just reminded Jacobi of all the situations Eiffel had said those words in before. Of all the times they spent basking in a post sex glow, with Eiffel trailing his fingers along Jacobi’s arm, listing out all the reasons why they could never be together anywhere but in space, orbiting a star with nothing but time. 
“Uh, Jacobi? You there?” Doug seemed concerned, but more-so about the way his joke didn’t land than anything else. 
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m here. Look, before you say anything else, I know… I don’t expect you to have those feelings for me again, I just wanted you back in my life, in any capacity.” There was no explaining the pain he’d faced when he learned that Eiffel had forgotten everything, forgotten him. “It hurt too much to acknowledge you were even alive for a while… But I really look forward to our dinners, and I like being your friend.”
“But you’d like being my boyfriend even more?”
“No, I’m not saying that.”
“But you are thinking it.”
“Yes.” A pause. A realization. “Wait, no. Get out of my head!” Jacobi slumped forward, his hands over his ears so he wouldn’t have to hear whatever other idiotic bullshit that Eiffel decided to spew. 
Eiffel sat there for a few minutes, biting the inside of his lip as he tried to think of what to say. Clearly, Jacobi wasn’t going to be receptive to any joking about this subject, and he felt bad for pushing it too far. “Look man, I… I dunno if this is what you want to hear, but… I think I’d kinda like being your boyfriend too.”
His hands over his ears did next to nothing to muffle the words, and Jacobi lifted his head to stare at him in confusion. That had been the last thing he’d expected to hear, but then again Eiffel always knew how to be serious when it counted. “You would?” he asked dumbly, stunned by the words, but his heart threatened to leap right out of his chest. 
“Yeah. I mean… Maybe it’s old feelings coming to the surface, but… The way I feel around you isn’t the same way I feel when I’m around Renee or Isabel. I mean, something about them feels familiar in a way I can’t place, I know I can trust them, but with you that feeling is so much more. I feel safe around you, like I don’t have to hide or pretend to be someone I’m not. I can be myself, the new version of myself, without worrying about upsetting you.” He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he tried to form the next part of his sentence. “I’m not sure if that feeling’s love, not yet, but I know that it’s a whole heck of a lot more than friendship. And I’m pretty sure everyone else already thinks we’re dating anyway,” he tacked on with a slight smirk that Jacobi couldn’t help but chuckle at. 
He continued to laugh, leaning forward to wrap Eiffel in a tight hug and bury his face against his neck as those chuckles turned to cries. “I missed you so much, Doug… It’s been so lonely without you,” he whispered, fingers curling in the fabric of his shirt. 
“Well, you don’t have to be lonely anymore. I’m right here with you.” He rubbed his back slowly, holding him tight and holding him close until Jacobi decided to pull away. When he did, he gingerly wiped away his tears, meeting his teary eyes with a soft smile. “I’m not gonna leave you again, I promise.”
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everamazingfe · 3 years
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Magic in the Mundane
Fic Summary: Everyone had something special about them, their own personal bit of magic. Most found out about their abilities early, but Gavin had always been a bit of a late bloomer. Luckily, Michael comes by to help him put the pieces together. 
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Words in this chapter: 5521 Pairings: Gavin Free/Michael Jones Warnings for this chapter: None
Notes: Written for Kait (@uy8hg) for the RT Writer’s Discord Secret Sunshine event! All of her prompts were amazing and I spent far too long trying to decide between them, but I'm so glad that I decided to go with this one because it was so much fun to write. Check the source for a link to read it over on A 0 3!
Prompt: Someone discovers a new power or something that they find really cool, and they want to show it off to everyone else, with varying levels of success.
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In a world full of wonder, it wasn’t always easy to appreciate the beauty in the mundane, but those who had magic running through their veins found it quite simple. The way that magic would manifest itself in those people wasn’t always the same, though. Sometimes, the magic was in their personality. Jack had a warmth about him that could make anyone’s day better in a matter of seconds. Trevor’s charisma was off the charts, he was such a smooth talker that it was hard for anyone to dislike him unless they really tried. Other times, it was in their looks. Alfredo had a smile that could light up any room, big and beaming and bright enough to outshine the sun. Geoff had amazingly artistic tattoos that seemed to come alive if one looked at them a little too long (he would always deny this, but there was a gleam in his eye that made everyone think twice about his words). Sometimes, it was something else entirely. Their magic came in the form of special abilities, of genuine magic. Lindsay could speak to animals, using their skills for good a majority of the time, but otherwise causing mischief. Michael could create just as well as he could destroy, rendering entire buildings obsolete and creating new ones in their wake. 
There was a little bit of magic in everything, but oftentimes there were those that couldn’t see it in themselves. That was where Gavin stood. He was a smooth talker, sure, but not as smooth as Trevor. His smile wasn’t as bright as Alfredo’s. He didn’t have any magical abilities. Though he was welcomed into their group, he didn’t feel as though he belonged. He didn’t have any magic. They insisted that he was part of their crew, magic or not, and that he was welcome, but sometimes he didn’t want their comforts. He just wanted to be left alone. It was hard enough to be the lone member of the mundane in their little crew, he didn’t want their pity points on top of it. Still, it didn’t stop them from trying to help.
“Maybe you’re just a late bloomer?” Fiona suggested to him late one evening when the sun had already set, laid out on her back on the roof of a building Michael had created just for her. Her magic was her ability to be good at anything she set her mind to, with an unwavering confidence that Gavin admired (and sometimes envied), even when it was misplaced. “Or you could just be totally oblivious to it. That’s always an option.”
He let out a soft sigh, shrugging a shoulder as he turned his head to look at her. “Someone else would’ve noticed it in me by now though, I think. Everyone has something, even if they're not the ones who see it.” Those who had magic were usually pretty good at picking it out in others. It had been how those without genuine magic had discovered theirs. How Jack had discovered his warmth, how Ky had discovered her strength, and so on. 
Fiona bit her lip, going quiet. He had a point there, but she didn’t want to admit it. She hated when he was right. “Maybe your magic is just being an idiot?” There was a grin on her lips, but the way that she spoke made it sound like a genuine suggestion. Gavin couldn’t help but burst out into laughter, his and Fiona’s giggles echoing out across the landscape. 
“Kind of a shitty magic, don’t you think, Fifi?” He asked finally, when his sides ached from laughing and his lungs begged for air. “I know Michael would certainly agree with you, but… I really hope that’s not it.”
“I don’t know, Gavvy. Could be. But I hope that’s not it too. I think you’re made for something a bit better than that.” Instead of pity, or jokes, she gave him a vote of confidence, and there was a little gleam that formed in Gavin’s eyes at her words. 
“You mean that?” 
“Of course I do! 
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The day after speaking to Fiona, Gavin was still thinking about her words. Despite how good it had made him feel in the moment, they’d ended up putting him in a worse mood than usual, and it was hard for him to even begin thinking about the magic he might have held. Was he really meant for something better than the idiocy his friends assigned to him? He wasn’t sure. 
He’d set out on a hike, outside of the city that they’d made for themselves and into the woods surrounding it. Some time out in nature always made him feel better, more at ease, more connected to the magic of the world around him. The small nuances on how the ecosystem worked together to thrive always intrigued him, and he was jealous of how cohesive it all could be. 
“I’m just a bit too all over the place for it, I guess,” he muttered to himself, taking a seat on a fallen tree. The moss was soft beneath him, and he ran his fingers over it as he talked to himself. Working through his thoughts aloud always made them feel less jumbled. 
A figure sat down beside him with a heavy sigh, and a hand was placed over his. “Don’t beat yourself too much, Gav,” Geoff said quietly, wrapping his arm around Gavin and pulling himself close. “We can’t all be something special, otherwise there wouldn’t be anything special at all.”
Gavin let out a long sigh, leaning into the gent when he was pulled in. He’d stopped asking how Geoff could find him so easily long ago. It was the same answer every time, ‘I just know where to look, you assholes aren’t exactly all that hard to find,’ said with that same glint in his eye. “Yeah, I know. But it’d be nice to be able to do something more than exist.” 
Geoff hummed softly, rubbing his thumb gently over Gavin’s shoulder. It always made him feel guilty when any of his friends were upset, particularly Gavin, but he’d been so hung up on the same thing for so long. “Are you sure you don’t just want an excuse for the attention to be back on you for a change?”
The lad sat up quickly, pulling away from Geoff and cutting him a confused look. “The hell’s that supposed to mean?” 
“I’m just saying! Going around talking to everyone, being all mopey about not having magic? Pretty good way to get everyone to pay attention to you for a change, right?”
Gavin scoffed at the notion, pushing Geoff away from him. “That’s not what I’m doing at all!” 
“Are you sure?” He asked, arching an eyebrow as Gavin stood up suddenly. 
“Yes.” They’d had a few new members join their ranks, and attention was divided as they worked to expand their little city and network with others, but he hadn’t minded people paying less attention to him. If anything, he enjoyed it. It meant there was less pressure on him to perform. “Now, I’m going. And this time, you’re not allowed to search for me.” 
He didn’t even know where he was going, he just wanted to go away. He wondered if that’s what everyone thought, or if Geoff was just trying to get a rise out of him. If they all thought that way, they’d certainly never said anything of the sort, but this was how people were going to treat him, Gavin didn’t want to be around them.
“What a dick,” he muttered to himself, pulling his cloak tighter around himself as he walked deeper into the forest. It was a beautiful green and gold tapestry, the hues blending together to make a simple but pleasing pattern. The threads had been hand-woven by Matt and enchanted to protect its wearer from whatever may come their way, and it did a remarkable job. 
As he ventured deeper into the woods, the trees grew taller and thicker, blocking out the sun’s rays and sending a chill through the air. As the coldness began to creep in, the cloak kept him warm and made him feel safe. However, it couldn’t protect him from the turmoil inside his own mind. 
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In the city center, Michael was having a different sort of crisis, and his angry shouting could be heard all across the land. 
“You said what to him?!’
His relationship to Gavin was indiscernible at best, no one knew whether they were deeply in love or mortal enemies, but one thing was certain: he was fiercely protective of the fact that he was the only one allowed to bully Gavin, and anyone else could only do so with his permission. Whether they were soulmates or archnemesis, Gavin was his boi first and foremost. 
“I just suggested that maybe being an idiot was his form of magic! It was funny, we were both laughing!” Fiona said, completely oblivious to the way that Michael was shooting daggers her way. Usually Michael played along with her playful teasing of Gavin, so when he didn’t continue to make jokes, she looked over. “Don’t you give me that look, you’re thinking it too.”
“I’m not, though.” Fiona scoffed, and Michael all but growled. “I’m not. You all underestimate him, and when he does find his magic, you’re going to be blown away. All of you will be.” There was a special sort of conviction to his words, one that was usually reserved for saying the most ridiculous things completely stone-faced. 
Michael stormed off after that, ignoring Fiona’s demands for him to keep hanging out with her. Movement came from the bushes on the outskirts of their community, spotted just out of the corner of his eye, but his attention snapped towards it in an instant only to reveal that the movement was caused by Geoff. His eyebrows furrowed as the other tried to pretend like he wasn’t covered in burrs and twigs, like he wasn’t trying to sneak out of the brush and back into the city unnoticed.
“Do you know where Gavin is?” he asked instantly, lifting a hand swiftly to raise a dirt wall behind Geoff, who was trying to retreat back into the bushes as quickly as he’d come out of them. 
“Why would I know where he is?” Geoff asked, his voice pitchy and lilted like he certainly did know where Gavin was, but also that he knew that revealing that information would get him in more trouble with Michael than not at the same time. 
Michael’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped forward, the ground beneath his feet rumbling and propelling him like a moving walkway until he was nose to nose with Geoff. “Because you know where everyone is, you always know.” 
There wasn’t fear in Geoff’s eyes, but the man’s chest rose and fell rapidly with anxious breaths. The staredown was long and tense, though he eventually relented, letting out a long sigh as the wall behind him fell. He wasn’t going anywhere. “I spoke to him in the woods maybe an hour ago, he told me that I’m not allowed to look for him, but here.” He reached into his gear, pulling out a weathered piece of parchment that was rolled and tied with a thin strip of leather. A map, one that he’d made with the same magic that lived in his tattoos, that not only held the lay of the land but also markers for everyone who lived in it. Geoff offered it to Michael, who quickly swiped it from him and unrolled it. “He never said anything about you going after him.” 
The lad hummed quietly as his eyes scanned the map for the forest green marker that indicated Gavin’s name, wordlessly stepping beyond the brush and into the woods towards it. 
“I don’t even get a thank you?!” Geoff cried out behind him, annoyed by the lack of gratitude. The ground beneath his feet rose suddenly, knocking him off his feet and onto the earth. He cried out, flailing his arms in an attempt to stop himself from falling, but it was futile. Michael was already gone.
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The woods looked easy to traverse on the map, and they most likely would have been if Michael had stayed on the trails, but he opted to make a beeline towards Gavin. The terrain was rocky and there were steep cliffs off the beaten path, but it was nothing that he couldn’t handle. He could mend and mold the earth to make it easier to traverse, creating stairs along the cliff faces for an easy descent. The climate was what was really getting to him. The chill in the air was unbearable for him, only getting worse as the sun began to dip down, and he had a bear’s pelt to keep him warm. Gavin’s frame was thinner and frailer than his own, he most likely wasn’t faring any better.
He lit a torch as night fell, raising up dirt and stone walls around himself to block out the cold and keep himself safe from the nocturnal monsters around him. After jamming the torch into the wall, he unfurled his map and saw that Gavin’s marker had stopped moving and was instead spinning around in frantic circles. Evidently, he was trying to make camp for the night as well. With a swift movement of his hand, miles away on the other side of the woods, similar walls raised up around Gavin, and the marker finally stopped moving. Satisfied that his boi was safe, he settled down, wrapping his pelt around himself tightly for warmth as he laid down to sleep. 
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Gavin was startled as the dirt walls rose up around him, terrified that something was trying to trap him within them, though he quickly became at ease when he realized what it meant. Geoff had listened and wasn’t going to be searching for him, but Michael was certainly looking out for him instead. The fear that came from being alone out there dissipated as he ran his fingers down the dirt, pulling out several clumps of roots and knocking bits of earth loose. Dirt walls were less than fancy, but they were a great comfort regardless.
He slept easily through the night with a newfound sense of safety, his cloak pulled tightly around himself for warmth. It worked wonders against the cold. As the sun began to rise, it didn’t emerge from the clouds, the sky grey and dreary as rain began to fall. Gavin could hear the rain hitting the tops of the trees, but even as he began to move none of the drops ever hit him. Above him, the branches of the trees bent and molded, shielding him from the downpours as he walked. No doubt this is Michael’s doing, he thought to himself, a small smile forming on his lips. No matter how much they seemed to argue, the other lad still managed to be protective of him. It was something he was always grateful for, even when the others seemed to give him shit for it. 
His pace that day was slower, more leisurely now that he had calmed down some, but he still had no intentions of going back to the city. If Michael was the only one who cared enough to come for him, they could start their own city far, far away. Together. He quickly shook the thought from his mind, pushing his hood down and taking a look around. Though the trees were tall above him for now, he knew that if he just kept going they’d give way to a beautiful, grassy plain. He couldn’t wait to walk on grass again, the dirt and stones beneath him were starting to make his feet ache. 
Several yards from where he’d first had that thought, he had to stop, kneeling down to untie his boots so he could re-lace them tightly. Moving slowly, he bent down, not wanting to end up with another cut on his knee from landing too hard on a rock like he’d already done far too many times this trek. But the terrain beneath his knee was soft, and as he looked down at his boot, he saw that there was soft, lush grass beneath him. Not dirt. 
“What on earth?” He asked himself, brushing his fingers through it. There was some grass on the forest floor around him, but it was rough and patchy, nothing like this. “Michael’s really outdone himself this time.” With that thought, he smiled to himself before continuing to lace up his boots with deft fingers. Before he stood, he spotted a small wildflower that had bloomed among the blades , and he gently picked it and placed it behind his ear. “What a dope.”
What Gavin didn’t know was that Michael didn’t have the ability to create foliage or flowers underfoot. No one in their community did. And with each step that Gavin took, more of it sprouted up from the dirt beneath him. 
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Night fell again soon enough, and Gavin wasn’t sure where he was. He could’ve sworn that the forest gave way into plains at this point, but instead he found himself in the middle of the desert. Stupidly, he’d continued on, just in case the plains were just beyond it, though now he was too tired to turn back. 
“Maybe Fiona was right,” he muttered as he sat down in the sand, digging his toes into it and wiggling them for some amusement as he propped his cloak up over himself like an umbrella. It was nighttime now, but it would be morning again soon enough. He didn’t want to end up burnt to a crisp before he even woke up. No walls came up around Gavin this time either, so it was up to him to protect himself. 
Gavin leaned forward against his knees, peering up at the night sky for a few long moments. Jeremy had spent many long nights back in the city teaching him the constellations and the stars within them, though he could never tell which ones were real and which ones the lad had made up for his own amusement. Orion was certainly real, but Beauregard’s Chariot was almost certainly not. Almost. He picked that one out, finding comfort in its familiarity, before he decided it was time to get some rest. Toes still in the sand, he laid back, arms crossed beneath his head as he closed his eyes. He had been so focused on the sky that he was unaware of what was happening in the sand beneath him. 
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With Gavin’s slowed pace, Michael was able to start gaining on him. He raced through the trees with even greater speed now that he was beyond the craggy cliffs and difficult landscape, the earth moving beneath him to propel him along. By nighttime, he’d closed in on Gavin’s position, and he was stunned by what he saw.
Smack dab in the middle of the desert, where not even cacti could manage to survive due to the horrible heat and scorching sunbeams, Gavin found himself within an oasis. That same lush grass and wildflowers were no longer just underfoot, but in a wide circle around the lad, almost tall enough to completely hide him from Michael’s view. Small trees were even beginning to grow, supporting Gavin’s cloak above him in place of the flimsy sticks he’d set up before. 
“Gavin?” Michael called softly, stepping forward with caution in case it was a facade, a trap of some sort. The desert was known for causing hallucinations, for preying on the hope of the desperate. That was the kind of magic it held, and it was very skillful at using it. But as he knelt down at the edge of the circle and reached forward to feel the greenery, sure enough, it was real. “What the hell? Gavin! Wake the fuck up!”
The lad sat bolt upright with a start, catching himself in his cloak and fighting it off with all the fierceness of a kitten. Sleep was still gripping him, catching him somewhere between being wide awake and deep asleep, but he was quickly coming to. “Who’s there?!” He shouted, finally tossing his cape away from himself and looking around in confusion. “Michael?” That wasn’t the last thing he expected to see out there, but it wasn’t the first either. “What are you doing here, Michael?”
It had taken everything in Michael not to laugh at the display in front of him, but he quickly wiped the smirk off his face to look offended when Gavin addressed him so incredulously. “Jeez, don’t sound so happy to see me,” he drawled, rolling his eyes before shuffling forward on his knees. “Mind telling me what all this is?” He arched an eyebrow, gesturing to the small haven among the sand. 
However, Gavin had no more answers than Michael did. “I’m not… I’m not sure what it is,” he responded earnestly, glancing between it and the other lad before reaching for his cloak. “I thought you were doing it. You’re not?” Michael shook his head fervently, and Gavin only frowned as he pulled the garment on. “Then who is?”
Michael shrugged a shoulder, humming a soft ‘I don’t know’ before standing, stalking around the mysterious growth. This wasn’t anything that anyone he knew could do, and when he tried to make it happen himself, all he could do was raise the earth itself. He couldn’t make anything grow from it. Which left only one option…
“Come here,” he said suddenly, and Gavin looked at him like he’d asked him to do something insane. “Stand up! Get the hell over here!” When there was still no movement from him, Michael reached forward, hauling Gavin to his feet and yanking him out of the circle. Sure enough, grass sprouted up beneath the lad’s feet, extending the circle and connecting it to wherever he stepped. “Holy shit… Gavin! Look!”
Gavin had thought that Michael was angry at him, scolding him, but the tone of his voice was nothing but excited. Thrilled, even. He followed Michael’s gaze down to his feet, but he wasn’t quick enough to put the pieces together like the other had. “This happened to me back in the forest too! I don’t know what’s going on!”
“You’ve found your magic, that’s what’s going on!” Michael was practically screaming, bouncing on the balls of his feet and looking at Gavin with a big beaming grin. “You can make stuff grow! That’s incredible!” 
That made things click for Gavin, finally, and his grin ended up matching Michael’s. “I can make stuff grow!” Geoff was going to be blown away, everyone was. He wondered if Michael would be okay with them going back to the city immediately, they’d be able to get there by morning thanks to his abilities. “Fiona was right!”
The other bristled immediately, his grin turning to a frown in a fraction of a second. “Fiona was… Right?” She’d told Gavin that his magic was being stupid, that his special ability was being an idiot. This certainly wasn’t that, not by a long shot. “Gavin, this isn’t stupid. This is awesome! Fiona wasn’t right.”
“What? What are you on about? No, she… She said I was made for something better than what everyone else thought. And she was right! Oh, and she’s had such shit luck getting flowers to grow at her place too, no wonder!” Gavin threw his arms around Michael’s neck, wrapping him in a tight hug that was fueled by nothing but pure glee, and he could only hug him back just as tight. “We have to get back there, immediately. Everyone is going to be so jealous, Michael-boi.”
----------------------------------------------------
Some proper rest would’ve been a great benefit to them both, but Gavin had insisted that they return to the city as quickly as possible. The moving ground beneath their feet made it a relatively quick task, and Michael had managed to find a well-worn trail that made it even easier. They were back in the city by sunrise, and while the excitement had died down in Michael to give way to sleepiness, Gavin was no less giddy. Probably because he’d climbed on Michael’s back at one point and managed a small nap. Lucky bastard, Michael had thought to himself when he’d heard the soft snoring in his ear, but he hadn’t woken him up. 
“Michael. Stop here, Michael,” Gavin urged, nearly losing his balance as the dirt beneath him ground to a halt suddenly. They were just outside the city, inside the same bushes that Geoff had attempted to sneak out of a few days prior, hidden from view as residents began to leave their houses to begin their tasks for the day. “I’m gonna get on your back-“
“You’re not taking another fucking nap,” Michael interjected, and the other huffed and waved him off. 
“No! I’m gonna get on your back so I can do a grand reveal, you dolt. The flowers appear when I step, and if I step too soon the surprise will be ruined!”
“Hey, assholes!” Jeremy’s voice boomed across the city center, no doubt hearing the commotion, and Gavin quickly began to scramble onto Michael’s back. 
“Ow! Watch it, you’re gonna knock off my glasses! Stop!” Michael huffed, swatting at Gavin’s hands as they reached for purchase anywhere they could. He stepped out of the bushes once he was settled, looking annoyed while the lad on his back was nothing but gleeful. “Hey, Lil J! I rescued our favorite dumbass. You’re welcome.”
Jeremy couldn’t help but laugh as Gavin let out a little ‘hello!’ and waved, though he was curious about why the other was on Michael’s back. It wasn’t unlike Gavin to demand piggy-back rides. Though normally once Jeremy was in view, he made it his mission to climb onto his shoulders instead. “Gav, are you hurt? What’s going on?” He stepped up with caution, ready to call for help if needed. Injuries weren’t uncommon, but if Gavin needed to be carried, it must’ve been serious. 
“No, the asshole’s not hurt. Not yet, at least. He’s just got a surprise for you,” Michael assured, rolling his eyes. “For everyone, actually. Do me a favor and ring the bell? They’re gonna want to be here for this.”
An eyebrow shot up, but Jeremy was quick to comply with the request. He crossed the city center, grabbing the rope and pulling it once, twice, three times to signal that it was a meeting of utmost importance, but not one that brought bad news. When the bell rang three times, it meant that there were good things to come.
Soon, all of the residents of the city were there, eagerly awaiting to learn the reason for this meeting. Very rarely did the bell ring thrice, and there were hushed whispers and guesses of what was to come. They all fell silent when Michael, with Gavin still on his back, stepped forward.
“I’ve found my magic,” Gavin announced, savoring the look on everyone’s faces as they processed that announcement. Particularly Geoff’s, whose face was twisted into one of apologetic guilt. A sense of satisfaction bubbled up inside of him at that. And of course Fiona was delighted, jumping up and down and pumping her fists, shouting ‘I knew it!’ before she even knew what Gavin’s magic was. It didn’t matter to her. Alfredo and Trevor were also excited, but only because their beloved Dusk Boy had finally joined their ranks, though Jack and Matt simply looked skeptical. He couldn’t blame them, really. Why now? Why did it take so long for him to find it? Those were the questions behind their eyes, and Gavin wished that he had answers for them.
When he felt like he’d let the suspense hang in there air for long enough, he stepped down. For a moment, nothing happened. Matt was about to open his mouth to complain about being dragged out of bed for a grand display of nothing. And then, all at once, a beautiful display of lush grass and flowers appeared at his feet. The more he focused on it, the bigger it grew and the more beautiful it became. No longer was it simply wildflowers, either. In the hours of their journey, he realized he could control the types of flowers that grew. He opted for sunflowers this time. Everyone knew that they were his favorite. It was proof that the magic was his, and not anyone else’s pretending to be his. 
The reactions were mixed, and Gavin deflated a little as several people seemed unimpressed and walked off to return to their duties. It wasn’t the most spectacular power in the world, he knew that, but it was his and he liked it. That was what mattered to him. There wasn’t much time for him to mope though, as Fiona quickly rushed him, wrapping him in a hug and lifting him off his feet. 
“Gavin!” she shouted, stepping back to inspect the flowers closer. She plucked a few blades of grass, feeling them between her fingers. After a few seconds, she gasped, her eyes lighting up. “You can help me grow flowers at my place!”
Gavin laughed, nodding quickly and beaming at her. He could always trust her to cheer him up. “I can, yeah. No wonder you’ve not been able to grow anything.”
“Yeah, cause you stole my green thumb! That’s hardly my fault.”
“Oh, I dunno about that. You should’ve been keeping a closer eye on it.”
They bickered back and forth, Michael watching with a tired but fond smile, until Fiona decided that she’d had enough and thumped Gavin on the side of the head before racing off. The lad was too exhausted to follow, so he just stepped over to Michael, the foliage underfoot following him as he went. Everyone else came up to congratulate him in time, Geoff doing that and apologizing for the harshness of his words in one awkward convoluted mess that Michael wasn’t even sure was an apology, but Gavin understood what the gent was trying to say. He’d learned to decode Geoff Speak over the years. 
Still, the person whose opinion Gavin valued the most was Michael’s, and once the excitement had died down and they’d retreated to their homes to rest, Michael stopped by to give it. 
“I’m real proud of you, Gav,” he said, making himself comfortable on the bed next to the lad without a second thought. 
“Proud of me?” he asked, snatching his blankets back from the lad as he tried to steal them. Michael always did this to him. 
“Yeah. Proud of you. For putting up with the bullshit and finding your magic. Even if it was a total accident.” Michael snorted out a soft laugh and smiled, crossing his arms beneath his head and looking over at the other. “You just lucked into it, just like you lucked into everything else.” 
“Including you?” Gavin arched an eyebrow as he met the other’s gaze, desperately wanting to wipe that smug look off his face.”
“Especially me, are you kidding?” That comment earned him a gentle smack to the chest, a kiss to the cheek, and a mutter of ‘I’m going to make a tree grow through your damn house.’
To everyone else, their relationship was indiscernible at best. But Michael and Gavin knew exactly what they were to each other, they didn’t need anyone else in their business about it. They were partners. Not just in life and love, but in their magic as well. As he learned how to hone and control his abilities, Gavin would decorate the city and beautify the buildings that Michael had created. And once he had mastered his skills, Michael began to create buildings specifically for Gavin to embellish. Dirt roofs became his signature style, the gravity-defying feature held together by the roots of the flowers that Gavin planted into them. The city had never looked better, and even those who were initially unimpressed by Gavin’s abilities had to admit that it was perfectly suited to him. He took great pride in rubbing it in their faces. 
Gavin was happy to not be a member of the mundane anymore. His spirits were higher, and he felt more useful to the city. His abilities, with more practice, extended beyond flowers and grass and into fruit and vegetable plants. The magic that Gavin held could sustain them all. 
But Gavin had always held magic within him, in Michael’s eyes. He had never been mundane. That gleam in his eye when he got another crazy idea to cause chaos was nothing if not supernatural, and his ability to find the fun in even the most boring of situations had proven to be valuable time and time again. It just hadn’t been the form of magic that Gavin had always desired, so he never took note of it despite it always being there. Michael was just glad he could finally see it in himself too. 
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everamazingfe · 3 years
Text
A Close Shave
Fic Summary: After being picked up by the Urania and brought back to the Hephaestus station, Communications Officer Doug Eiffel tries to come to terms with his new look. It doesn’t go well. Luckily, Jacobi comes along to save the day. 
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Words in this fic: 2082 Pairings: Doug Eiffel/Daniel Jacobi Warnings for this fic: Brief mentions of abuse
Notes: I got into Wolf 359 at the start of this year, and after relistening to it recently I decided to start writing some fics. I was pretty nervous about posting this, but I couldn't keep it in my drafts forever, so here it is! There’s also a link to this fic over on A O 3 as the source of this post! Click it to go read it over there, or you can search up the title or ‘everamazingfe’ on the site.
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There was something about him, Eiffel had decided within the first few seconds of seeing him for the first time. His face was mostly blank unless he had some sly comment to say, some sarcastic remark, and then that stony expression was replaced by something cockier, more smug. Sometimes there was a flash of softness to it, usually when Maxwell was speaking. But even when his face was at its blankest, there was a mischievous gleam in those bright green eyes of his.
Eiffel had never really noticed anyone’s eyes before. He didn’t know Minkowski’s eye color, or Lovelace’s for that matter. Hell, Eiffel didn’t even know if he knew his own eye color at this point, he avoided looking in mirrors at all costs. But for some reason, he’d noticed Jacobi’s. Not only had he noticed it, but he had committed it to memory as well. 
For a moment, he was convinced he could picture them clearly as he stared out the window above his comms panel, making eye contact with them in the reflection of the glass. Somehow, he was able to picture his face with perfect clarity too, despite only seeing it a handful of times while he was in sound mind. 
“Feel good to be home?” The Jacobi that Eiffel thought he was picturing in his mind so clearly spoke, startling him out of his trance and making him jump because it wasn’t his imagination, it was the real deal. It made sense, he’d never had a very visual imagination anyway, but there was always hope for a change of mind. “Wow, I didn’t think I was all that scary, Officer Eiffel.”
“You’re not,” he grumbled with a huff of indignation, grabbing the edge of his station and pulling himself back to it, hooking his knees beneath it to keep himself there. “I just… Got lost in thought.”
“You? Capable of thought? Now that’s something that wasn’t included in your file.” There it was, that stupid sly grin that Jacobi always had when he thought he was being oh-so-clever. Usually, he was. But that joke had become played out within the first month on the station.
Eiffel responded with mock laughter, trying to ignore the way that comment made an invisible knife twist in his chest. After all he’d done, no one thought he was good at anything. What a surprise. But he didn’t have time to unpack all of that right then. “Get some new material, I’ve heard it all before,” he drawled, hoping he looked as bored as he sounded. “I’m a slacker, I’m an idiot, I’m a motormouth. Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Your shoe’s untied.” 
Maybe there was some truth to one of those three things, because like the idiot he was, Eiffel had that brief moment of panic everyone had when someone told them that their shoe was untied, or their fly was down, or there was something on their shirt. And because of that panic, he looked down. It had completely slipped his mind that he hadn’t even worn shoes in the two (Three? Did those hundred days hurtling through space count? He didn’t know.) years he had been on the Hephaestus. “Oh, goddammit!” He groaned as he stared down at his socked feet in dismay, trying to tune out the cackling laughter Jacobi let out behind him that sent him halfway across the room. 
“You’re also gullible, apparently!” He let himself continue his path across the room so he could push off the back wall, still in a fit of giggles as he sailed back to the console. “You actually fell for it! I can’t believe it! I’ve never gotten anyone with that before.” Jacobi’s grin was bigger than it had ever been, and he wiped the tears from his eyes before they wreaked havoc on the station’s internal systems. Maxwell was too smart to fall for a simple trick like that, and Kepler… Well, Kepler didn’t like being pranked. 
Eiffel grumbled something incoherently, waiting patiently for Jacobi to get over himself before he spoke again. “Was there a real reason you came down here?”
“No, not really. Kepler’s giving Minkowski an orientation for her new role and then he needed to discuss… something with Hilbert, I don’t even wanna know. And Ala- Maxwell’s busy with Hera. So, I was bored.”
“What about Lovelace?”
“Dunno. Didn’t ask. Didn’t care.”
“Right… So you came to interrupt my very important work?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Lucky me.”
“Lucky you.” Jacobi made himself comfortable, lounging in the free-floating bliss that was zero-g as Eiffel pretended to look busy, though his eyes were fixed on the reflection of the man in the glass. The bright light of Wolf 359 backlit him beautifully, and the color in the star seemed to desaturate everything else in the reflection, except for those damn eyes. 
Eiffel let out a sigh, bringing a hand up to run it through his hair, his fingers brushing through the empty space where his long curls used to be. He let out a frustrated growl, moving his hand up to his scalp. The little hair that was left was scraggly and damaged as hell. It was coarse and patchy, and it scratched his hand uncomfortably when he ran his hand over it. “Actually. I have an idea of something we can do.” He turned around to look at the real Jacobi, who arched an eyebrow in silent encouragement for him to go on. “Come with me.”
He’d had his head shaved a handful of times, and it was usually under duress. The first time was as a punishment for getting gum stuck in it, even though he hadn’t been the one to put gum there, and it would’ve been much easier to just cut the chunk out rather than shave his whole head. The second time had been when he’d joined the military. This would make number three, but this time it was necessary, despite the fact that his goal had really been to never cut his hair again. All that length had meant a lot to him, it meant that he had control over something in his life, finally, but the cryofreeze had, apparently, had other plans for it.
Additionally, most of the shaving kits, particularly their razors, had been dismantled for Minkowski’s crusade against Blessie. God only knew where all of those had ended up, or if they were still even on the station, but he knew there was one that was still safely tucked away. 
“Wow, Eiffel. I thought you would’ve liked to wine and dine your dates before bringing them home. You always struck me as more of a gentleman than that.”
“Shut up.” He rooted around in his locker, letting various pieces of uniform and whatever else had been shoved in there float freely around them as he did so. Most of it was contraband that he should’ve been more careful about getting seen, but he was too focused. Once he found the kit, he let out a soft, ‘a ha!’ And underhand tossed it to Jacobi. “You’re shaving my head.”
For once, Jacobi didn’t have some sort of sarcastic remark to make in response. He was just confused. “Sorry?”
“I can’t… I can’t stand it being like this. I can’t. And it’ll never grow back right with the ends this damaged, and I don’t really feel like cutting myself a thousand times in the process. So you’re doing it for me.” He tried to make his voice sound commanding, authoritative, but instead he just sounded desperate, irritated, upset. His hair meant so much to him, but he could stand to be without it for a little bit. He’d done it before, he could do it again. What he couldn’t stand was the sorry excuse for hair that he’d been left with. 
“You don’t think I’d use the razor to kill you? It’d be the perfect opportunity.”
“If you wanted to kill me, you could’ve done it back on the Urania when I was half dead.” 
“You hadn’t annoyed me as much back then.”
“I mean, if you really want to, I guess you can, but… I’d really just like my head shaved, please.”
A dramatic sigh filled the silence, and then: “Ugh, fine. But you owe me.”
That was good enough for Eiffel, and he trailed along behind Jacobi to the Hephaestus’ bathroom. Gravity was a little different in there, as in it was actually present in order to make showering and other general acts of hygiene (that Eiffel didn’t really partake in) a little easier. So he was able to sit on the counter and stare their reflections down as Jacobi stood behind him, setting the kit beside him on the counter. 
Jacobi wasn’t a friend, not by a longshot. In Minkowski’s book, he was part of ‘the enemy.’ But they’d spent a decent amount of time together after he’d been picked up by the Urania, and even a little bit of time before that over the comms. Someone had to keep in touch with him and keep up-to-date on his coordinates so the ship could get a lock on his location, and Kepler had felt like that work was beneath the highly intellectual minds of himself and Maxwell, so it had fallen to Jacobi. And Eiffel hadn’t minded, because beneath all the smart remarks, the guy was alright to talk to. A little stilted, maybe, but that wasn’t anything he couldn’t work with. It was better on the Urania. Easier, at least, because Jacobi’s body language did a lot of the talking for him. Once again, helping Eiffel was deemed grunt work, so Jacobi had been the one stuck tending to his wounds, helping him get around when he was too weak to even keep his eyes open, and adjust to eating again after not doing it for a hundred days (though with all of the substitutes for rations Hilbert dared to call food, one could argue it had been even longer since he’d really eaten). 
Long story short, Eiffel liked Jacobi to some degree. The guy was alright in his book, and he was sure the feeling was mutual, because he could’ve easily said no, or done a hackjob of it, or killed him. But instead, he took his time and made sure that he didn’t miss any spots, his other hand resting gently on Eiffel’s head to keep it steady despite all the fidgeting. 
After the first pass, Eiffel moved to get off the counter, to turn around and thank Jacobi, but a firm hand on his shoulder pushed him back down. 
“I gotta go again, make sure I didn’t miss a spot. It looked awful before, but it’ll look even worse if there’s just a tiny patch with a few hairs left.”
Eiffel furrowed his eyebrows together, but nodded and got comfortable again. As comfortable as he could, at least. His ass was already numb and the feeling was starting to spread down to his legs, but hopefully the second pass would go quicker. 
And it did, kind of. Jacobi didn’t need to clean the hair from the razor as often because there was barely any left, but he still took that same slow and gentle care as he had the first time. When he was done, he wiped off the leftover shaving cream with a nearby towel, smiling genuinely as Eiffel lifted a hand to feel over his scalp. “Well? How does it feel?”
“It feels great,” he answered earnestly, laughing in relief. He didn’t hate the way his reflection looked anymore, and now he could actually believe everyone when they told him to pull it together because it would grow back eventually. Hopefully this made the process easier. His eyes drifted to Jacobi’s in the mirror, mirroring that same smile. “Thank you... I really do owe you.”
“Yeah, you do.” The genuine smile faded to his usual cocky grin, and Eiffel threw the towel at him. It hit him square in the face, but it didn’t wipe away that look. “But… You’re welcome.” He offered him a hand to help him off the counter, steadying him with a chuckle when he nearly lost his balance. “Gravity that hard on you, Doug?”
“No! It’s just… That counter was not very comfortable to sit for that long on. And yeah, I guess gravity’s pretty hard to adjust to too.” 
“Well then we’d better get you back to the lazy embrace of zero-g.”
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everamazingfe · 3 years
Text
You Can Ride On My Rocket 69 - Chapter 14
A Song About Falling
Fic Summary: Jeremy has recently awoken in this strange world, 210 ten years after he was put to sleep, and is now the lone survivor from his vault. Trevor's a radio host from Diamond City who's barely left the station, lonely in his own right and isolated from the rest of the Wastes. When they meet, Trevor finally gets a chance to see the rest of the wasteland like he's always wanted, though Jeremy becomes more of his bodyguard than Trevor does his companion. They meet various people along the way, some being friends like the odd throuple they meet in one of the neighboring city, or foe like a certain Diamond City guard. Both are wary about bringing up their pasts, but the wasteland has a strange way of bringing people together.
Chapter Summary: Gavin lets a secret slip, and Trevor makes a confession. Alternatively: Jeremy and Trevor can have a little tenderness, as a treat. This chapter's song is "A Wonderful Guy" by Tex Beneke. 
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Words in this chapter: 3511 Pairings: Jeremy/Trevor, Michael/Gavin/Lindsay, Jeremy/Matt Warnings for this chapter: Brief description of injuries
Notes: There’s a link to the first chapter of this fic as the source of this post! Click it to go read this fic over on A O 3, or you can search up the title or ‘everamazingfe’ on the site!
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Jeremy was glad that he’d settled for sodas at the bar, because it was the first time he’d really gotten a chance to watch Lindsay perform. They were really talented, and their voice had a way of making everyone in the room swoon. Everyone except Gavin, he’d heard enough of their voice to be able to just enjoy its perfect quality as background music. He also knew that Trevor and them had started to get along pretty well, but he didn’t really know the extent of their friendship. Still, it would be nice to get the chance to talk to them instead of staring down a glass like he had done in his previous visits. 
“Oh! Lindsay!” Trevor piped up as they approached the bar for their usual between-song drink. Some horrendous mix of about seven different alcohols and two different sodas, topped off with whatever ‘fruit’ Gavin had sliced up behind the counter and served in a martini glass. It was weird, and looked like poison. Jeremy wondered what it tasted like. “I managed to swipe my recording equipment from my trailer and bring it with me, do you… Do you maybe think I could record a few of your songs while I’m in town?”
They smiled brightly at him, nodding eagerly as they took the glass from Gavin before knocking half of it back in one go. Once the grimace had left their face, they spoke. “Well of course you can! I’ve been waiting for you to offer for ages now.” Getting their music was great for them, for the bar, for Trevor, for everyone, really. They were excited to have the chance to be on radio. “Why don’t you swing by my room at the Rex tomorrow? Same one as last time.”
“Last time?” Jeremy asked, arching an eyebrow as he looked at them. It was a completely innocent question on his part, but the way that Trevor’s face went bright red and he stammered a little bit told him that it didn’t have such an innocent answer. 
“Oh, honey… You don’t know?” There was a glint in their eye, one of mischief and curiosity but still they played innocent. They wanted to see how much they had to hint before either Jeremy caught on, or Trevor imploded from embarrassment. Gavin watched the situation carefully, pretending to clean glasses nearby.
“Know what?”
“You know,” Trevor cut in, his voice cracking as he spoke, “It’s really not all that big a deal, we don’t have to get into it.” 
“No one’s making a big deal about it other than you, Trevor,” Jeremy pointed out, chuckling softly as he shook his head. “Just chill out, I don’t care whether you hang out with Lindsay or not.” He patted Trevor on his shoulder gently before taking a sip of his soda, fully intending to leave it at that. The tension was broken when Lindsay made some teasing remark and pinched Trevor’s cheek, knocking back the rest of their drink at the same time. 
But of course, in the way that Gavin always did, he added on and extended the conversation right when Trevor was most grateful for it to die down. Jeremy and Lindsay were both happy to do the same, because Jeremy didn’t really care whether he hung out with Lindsay or not and they weren’t about to outright tell Jeremy something he clearly wasn’t aware of. 
“They weren’t just ‘hanging out’, you dope. They were shagging. No one goes back to Bluebonnet’s room for anything innocent, I’ll tell you that right now.” 
There was very little liquid left in Lindsay’s glass, so instead of splashing him they settled for throwing the object in its entirety at him. It hit him square in the chest and made him stagger back, and all Gavin could do was whine about how it shattered when it hit the floor. 
Jeremy blinked in surprise and just looked at Trevor, who kept glancing between Jeremy and Gavin before he got up from his seat and bolted. 
“Trevor, wait!” He tried to reach out for him, to grab him, to pull him back, to do something, but Trevor was too quick. “What the fuck, man? Why’d you have to say shit like that?” It never crossed his mind that Gavin was telling the truth, that Trevor and Lindsay had actually slept together. He only thought it was a cruel joke. 
After smacking some caps down on the counter (and he was sure to not leave a tip, too), Jeremy was off the stool and bolting up the stairs. 
“Where’d he go?” 
“Trevor? He looked like he was going towards the Rex, but I don’t know. What the hell happened?” Michael was usually one for cracking jokes, but the tears in one man’s eyes and the concern on this one’s face told him it wasn’t the time. 
“Gavin. Gavin happened,” Jeremy stated in what was nearly a growl before marching towards the door, not knowing where the hell Trevor could’ve gone. Daisy told him that she hadn’t seen him, which meant he was still in Good Neighbor, but despite appearances, the town wasn’t all that small. 
After some searching and asking around, Jeremy found him. He was at the very end of some twisting dead-end alley, knees pulled to his chest and face hidden against them. He didn’t know why the hell what Gavin had said had struck such a chord with him, had made him react so extremely, and he was concerned. 
“Hey, Trev,” he said softly, kneeling beside him and trailing a hand down his arm until he was holding Trevor’s hand in his. “What… I don’t… Are you okay?”
Trevor was quiet for a moment, a look on his face like he was told to solve some complicated equation without a piece of scrap paper to do the math on as he lifted his head to look at Jeremy. “You’re not mad?”
“Mad? Why the hell would I be mad? Gavin was being a dick, you really shouldn’t let him bug you so much.”
He shook his head quickly. “No, he wasn’t. Well, okay. He was, but. He was also telling the truth.”
Jeremy blinked, and it was his turn to give that same equation a try. “Wait, what? When the hell did that happen?” His tone sounded harsh, and Trevor flinched. “Sorry, I’m not mad, just… What?” It was true, he wasn’t mad, but there was something churning in his stomach, a feeling that he didn’t quite understand. Anger was hot, sadness was heavy, and this was neither of those. 
“I don’t know, the first time we came through. You were drunk as hell, I got you into a room and you passed out in the bathtub, I couldn’t sleep so I… I went back to the bar. And Lindsay, we… We started talking at the bar, and then we kept talking at the Rex, and then… Y’know.” He took a long breath, uncurling a little to lean against the wall, but he didn’t take his hand from Jeremy’s. “I didn’t tell you, because… Well, at first there was no reason for you to know. I still didn’t know you very well at that point. But then we got talking and travelling and starting to know each other, and I still didn’t say anything ‘cause… I started really liking you, and… I thought it would complicate things. Not that you having a husband didn’t already, but… I don’t know.” He lost whatever momentum he’d had and let out a heavy sigh, slumping forward and shaking his head at himself. “It only happened once. Just once, and then I realized I didn’t want it to happen again.”
“Why not?”
“I already said. I started really liking you. And when you kissed me? I thought ‘maybe I have a chance,’ you know? But Gavin had to go and fuck it up for me.” 
The silence hung heavy between them, and Trevor couldn’t bring himself to look at Jeremy, while Trevor was the only thing Jeremy could look at. He eventually broke the silence, turning the other’s hand over to lace their fingers together. “He didn’t fuck it up.” 
“He didn’t?”
“No.” Jeremy had been wrestling with his feelings for a while, and while he wouldn’t exactly call it ‘love’ just yet, he knew this feeling. It was exactly what he’d felt after he’d met his husband back in the army, and that made him realize that churning feeling earlier had been jealousy. “I know we’re in… A very weird situation, and that you said that the wastes weren’t meant for finding love, but I care about you. I care about you a lot, Trevor.” He brought his other hand up, cupping his cheek gently and leaning in a little. “I care about you so goddamn much, and Gavin being a dumbass is not going to change that.”
Trevor snorted out a laugh, and all at once the tension was watched away. They smiled at each other for a few long moments, looking into each other’s eyes before Jeremy closed his and closed the distance. Trevor’s lips were just as soft as he remembered, and he couldn’t help the hum he let out as they kissed, he was just so happy. The radio host was just as elated, his free hand finding a loose bit of vault suit fabric beneath all the armor to curl his fingers in to keep him close. 
They stayed there, just holding and kissing each other for several long moments, before Jeremy pulled away, albeit very reluctantly. “We should probably not just make out in an alley, as nice as it would be to keep going.”
“Yeah, it’s not very romantic is it?” Trevor asked, chuckling softly as he let go of the vault suit. Jeremy stood, offering Trevor a hand to help him to his feet. It wasn’t a terribly long walk to the hotel, but neither of them let go of the other’s hand during it. 
----------------------------------------------------
Back at the Rexford, things were nice. They didn’t start kissing again, but there was a pleasant feeling hanging in the air, instead of awkwardness and fear. They were relaxed, happy even, but still, Trevor had gone quiet.
“Hey,” Jeremy said softly once his armor was discarded on the floor. “You alright over there?” 
“Yeah, I just… I feel like I need a bath,” Trevor answered, dropping his own gear with a soft clunk. “Like I need a hundred baths, but none of them will get me clean enough.” 
Jeremy opened and closed his mouth a few times, struggling to find an answer that was more than the dumb, “Yeah,” he let out. He knew what the other man wanted to wash away, and it certainly hadn’t been their kiss. Trevor sat down on the edge of the bed, with that same look on his face as he’d had back at the Home Plate. But this time, there were tears in his eyes. “Trevor?” He didn’t know what had changed, what he’d done, so he sat on the other side of the bed, wringing his hands. 
It was easy to ignore that creeping feeling in the back of his mind when there were distractions: The music of the bar, the conversations that were so interesting to eavesdrop on, Jeremy himself. But there wasn’t much of that in the hotel room. It was just the two of them. And that made things harder to ignore. “Why’d you make me come along?” His voice was somewhat strained, and he turned around to face Jeremy with a red face. “Like… I’m glad it led to what it did, but those bags were so heavy.” Trevor hoped that he knew it wasn’t a physical weight. 
He was taken aback by the sudden question, and he had no better of a response than he did before, gaping his mouth like a fish before clearing his throat and trying to speak. “Geoff… Geoff suggested it.” He couldn’t remember whether he really had or not, but he knew it was the only answer that Trevor would accept. “He thought it would look more suspicious if I left for a ‘job’ without you, and I couldn’t risk the bags getting searched.” He scooted forward, wrapping his arms firmly around Trevor and hugging him to his chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think that… I didn’t know it would hurt you this much.”
Trevor had done a rather good job at hiding it, but inside he was coming undone. He couldn’t believe that he’d actually killed them, he didn’t think he had it in him to do that to anyone, but now that he had his mind kept wandering to all the possibilities. Even if most of them were absurd, they made his chest tighten and his heart beat fast. “I didn’t either,” he confessed in a whisper, burying his face in Jeremy’s chest and curling his fingers in the fabric of his vault suit.
They stayed like that for a while, just holding each other, and it did help make them both feel a little better. The guilt was still eating Trevor alive, but at least he knew he didn’t have to shoulder that burden alone. 
“I think that bath may be a good idea, actually,” Jeremy suggested, dropping his arms from around him after a few minutes so he could stand, but not before pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “C’mon,” he said, motioning for Trevor to follow as he went towards the bathroom. 
“What, are we… Together?” The question was fragmented, but he hoped that Jeremy understood what he meant. 
“I mean… If you want that? I was just gonna run the water for you, and I think I found some pre-war bubble bath that was still sealed last time we were in Sanctuary.” He paused, turning around to look at Trevor. “Do you want that?”
He chewed his lip and thought it over for a moment before he nodded slowly, continuing to walk forward into the bathroom with Jeremy. “Yeah, I do.” There wasn’t anything to it, it was just a bath with Jeremy, but it sounded so nice after the whirlwind that the past few days had been. “I think I’d really like to kiss you some more, too.” 
“Your wish is my command.” 
The water took a long time to get hot, and the tub took even longer to fill while the bubbles formed, but there was an easy enough way for the two of them to keep busy while they waited. The counter was at an awkward height, neither of them could sit on it or even lean against it while they kissed, so instead Trevor closed the lid of the toilet and sat on that with Jeremy in his lap. That was perfect. Jeremy’s arms draped over Trevor’s shoulders while Trevor’s wrapped around his waist, and while it was hardly more romantic than the alley, they found themselves not really caring. They were reluctant to pull away, but they would actually have to get in the bath to take it together. 
Jeremy got off Trevor’s lap with a soft sigh, starting to unzip his jumpsuit and step out of it. He was already down to his boxers while Trevor was still fiddling with the buttons of his shirt, taking his sweet time. 
“Need some help there, Trevor?”
He hadn’t realized how long he’d been taking until he saw Jeremy, already mostly naked while he was still fully dressed. “Yes, please. These damn buttons are being a pain, I can’t get ‘em to come undone.” Jeremy chuckled, politely ignoring the way that Trevor’s hands trembled as he nudged them out of the way and started to undo them for him. 
They were both filthy beneath their clothes. Bathing had become an optional task in the wastelands, and it was clear that they’d both taken that a little too seriously. But still, all the dirt and grime did nothing to hide their injuries. Jeremy had a fair share of new and old ones, scars from war that were either well healed or still looked like they could split open at any moment. The ones that weren’t from gunshot wounds were all clean and straight. Trevor’s scars were hardly as neat, but he had much fewer of them. Two jagged, pink lines ran underneath each side of his chest, and Jeremy brushed his fingers over them as lightly as he could before moving on and pushing Trevor’s shirt off his shoulders. It was a silent gesture of acceptance, of understanding, and Trevor had no issues undressing himself after that. 
A loud, content sigh escaped them both as they sunk into the warm water, the bubbles letting out a strong bubblegum-mixed-with-radiation scent as they popped. Jeremy leaned back against the wall, pulling Trevor against his chest and letting him settle between his legs. “This,” he started, letting the word linger in the air as he wrapped his arms around the other and hooked his chin over his shoulder. “Was a brilliant idea.”
Trevor hummed in agreement, letting himself settle against Jeremy’s chest and closing his eyes. “It really was.” They could worry about washing the dirt off later, right then this bath was about relaxing, and relaxing together, not about getting clean. “I haven’t taken a bath in ages.” And he hadn’t exactly been a fan of showers lately, either. But this was nice. Being with Jeremy was nice. It was even better that there were no expectations behind it, because this was all that both of them wanted. 
After a long while of relaxing, Jeremy shifted, encouraging Trevor to sit up. He thought he was going to tell him that it was time to get out, so he started moving to do so, but Jeremy laughed and pulled him back down, calling him an ‘idiot’ with the most affection he’d ever heard in anyone’s voice. Jeremy grabbed a washcloth, wetting it in the soapy water before starting to wipe away the dirt from Trevor’s arms and chest. 
“Doesn’t it sorta defeat the purpose of washing up if we’re just gonna get back into our dirty clothes?” he asked with a grin, and Jeremy just rolled his eyes. 
“Shut up,” he stated, kissing him slowly to make sure he would actually follow the order as he pulled the plug to let some of the dirty water drain out. He refilled it again and topped up the bubbles, passing the washcloth to Trevor with the expectation for him to wash his own bottom half. It caught him by surprise when instead he started to clean off Jeremy’s arms and chest, and he froze stiff as he watched him for a moment before letting himself relax into the gentle touches. “Thank you.”
Trevor smiled softly at him, murmuring a soft, “You’re welcome,” before continuing on. 
The water was drained and refilled once more so they could do a little more relaxing, but Trevor began to whine about how prune-y his fingers were and how cold the water was getting, so they opted to get out. They dried off with dirty towels and put on dirty pajamas looted from some home ages ago, shoving the last of their gear off the bed so they could actually get in it. 
Jeremy was no stranger to sleeping shirtless, but it was the first time Trevor had opted to do so as well, and he really had no complaints as they laid down together and he could put his chest to Trevor’s back, feeling the warmth of his skin against his as he pulled him close. 
“Goodnight, Jeremy,” he murmured, putting a hand over Jeremy’s and lacing their fingers together. He smiled as he felt a kiss get pressed to the back of his neck, and he squeezed his hand gently in return. “You have… no idea how much I needed this.” The bath had done exactly what he’d wanted it to: It had washed away every yucky feeling from the day before’s events, it had washed away the feeling of everything Ian had done to him, and most importantly, it made him feel clean again. 
“Yeah, I think… I think I needed this too,” Jeremy whispered, letting out a soft sigh and pressing another kiss to Trevor’s neck. He was still going to search for his husband, but… He had more to care about now, and he needed that in order to not feel hopeless. His life didn’t revolve around his husband, who may or may not even still be alive. If he wanted his life to continue, he’d have to move on, and this had been an excellent first step. He already felt better, lighter, happier.
It was the easiest either of them had been able to fall asleep in quite a while, especially once Trevor decided that he wanted to turn over and wrap his arms around Jeremy as well. They drifted off tangled up in each other, completely relaxed and happier than they’d been in a long time.
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everamazingfe · 3 years
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New chapter goes up tomorrow for Rocket 69! It’s a little shorter than the last few chapters have been, but that’s okay!
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everamazingfe · 3 years
Text
All Work and No Sleep Makes Jeremy A Shaky Boy
Fic Summary: Jeremy had a fear of taking time off due to an awful past experience, but when he got too sick to help out, he knew that he had to. Luckily, his crew is there to help take care of him. Prompts: “You’re trembling.” “ I can take care of myself just fine.” “It’s three in the morning.” 
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Words in this chapter: 1081 Pairings: OT5, Jeremy/Everyone Warnings for this chapter: None
Notes: A rewrite of an old fic that was previously a prompt request. I know there’s way more members of the crew now, but I’m just so soft for OT5, and I’ve never really written it before so this was nice. 
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When Jeremy overworked himself, he always did his best to hide it. At the first job he’d ever had, he'd worked himself sick and took a day off. He was fired the next day not even ten minutes after walking through the door. That was the last time he ever took a sick day. He'd only been eighteen, and the fear of getting fired followed him into every job he had after that shitty grocery store gig. 
A little over a decade later, Jeremy was working a job he liked. In fact, he might even say that he loved it. But still, he had never taken a sick day, or a vacation, or even time to rest. He'd done heists running fevers and sporting broken bones, he’d stayed up for nearly twenty four hours doing prep work and scouting sites. Sure, there was no rest for the wicked, but surely even the devil himself took a day off. Not Jeremy, though. He was scared of losing his job again. Money was hard to come by for someone like him without one, and these people... He loved and cared for them so much, he didn’t want to let them down. Working hard was how he proved that love, but everyone had a breaking point.
It came after nearly 48 hours of no sleep, barely any food, and some dehydration as he stumbled out of his room. He’d been so focused on the job ahead that he’d forgotten to take care of himself. Normally he was able to at least do the bare minimum, but it had just slipped his mind. But even then, all that wasn't what was making him so shaky. "I... I can't do the job today." He took a pause as he tried to compose himself, swallowing hard and taking a deep breath and squeezing his eyes shut. "I don’t wanna let you guys down and I know you need me, but I can’t do it. I’m sorry."
There was a beat of silence, then: "What, you think you can just take a day off?!" Geoff cried, but he hadn’t turned around just yet. 
Oh boy, here it comes, Jeremy thought to himself as he braced for the dismissal he was certain he was going to receive. 
“Jeremy, we're criminals. You can't just 'take a day off' or whatever bullshit you’re trying to pul-...” Geoff turned around as he spoke, cutting himself off with his face softening from the ‘stern boss’ expression to one of pure concern the moment he laid eyes on Jeremy. “Oh, shit, Jer, you're trembling." He spoke as he moved, going over to the poor lad and feeling his forehead. "You're running a hell of a fever, too." How had he allowed Jeremy to get so sick? How had he not noticed? He was supposed to look out for his crew, and yet it was apparent he’d failed at that. 
"I'm fine, Geoff. I swear, I'm fine, I just need some rest. I'm sorry." His voice was shaking as much as his body was, and he was only able to relax when Geoff sternly told him to get some rest instead of telling him to pack his things and go.
Little did he know that plans for the day were halted, because Geoff could just tell that when he said he was fine that it was bullshit. Jack was now helping him make soup, and the rest of the lads were gathering up pillows and preparing to move a TV into Jeremy's room so they could have a movie marathon. Fortunately, he slept through the rather noisy installation.  
Bleary-eyed, Jeremy eventually woke up to the opening scene of Tangled and the two lads wrapping him up in blankets. "Wha-?" he asked, still too groggy to form actual thoughts. 
"The lads are here to help you relax!" Gavin cheered as he nestled himself into bed next to Jeremy, kissing his cheek before he tucked his face against his neck. Gavin’s breath was warm against his skin, and focusing on his rhythmic breathing worked like a charm to get him to relax. 
Michael tucked himself in on the other side of Jeremy, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him so that he was laying on his chest. "It's a movie marathon. Doctor's orders," he said, eyes fixed on the screen as Gavin draped an arm over his two boys.
He let himself soak up the affection for a few moments, before he remembered that there was a job today that they really needed to start getting ready for. They couldn’t be wasting their time hanging out in bed with him. "Guys, that's sweet," he started to say as he shifted to sit up, to get away from the boys, but they held him firmly in place. "But I can take care of myself just fine." 
Michael hummed skeptically, squirming a little to free his arm from between them and Gavin so he could feel Jeremy's forehead. His fever was still pretty bad even after his nap, not to mention how sweaty he was because of it. "Hmm... Nope, don’t think you can. You definitely need a doctor. Or four of them, specifically. Just don't question their medical licenses, got it?"
Gavin snickered and lifted his head to look at Jeremy, frowning a little bit when he didn't lay back down right away and kept trying to break free. He leaned in to kiss his cheek, cooing softly and taking hold of his shoulder to urge him to lay back down. "Relax, Jer," he murmured, "let us help you." The lad whined, but he realized there was no room for argument as Jack and Geoff quietly burst through the door and joined the cuddle pile, bowls of soup in hand for everyone, so he laid back down against Michael. 
Five bowls of soup and two movies later, Jeremy was dead asleep once again, though he wasn’t any less shaky. Regardless, he was happy to feel so loved and cared for, even when he'd been so scared. It made him feel so stupid now, though later Geoff would tell him his fears were justified, that what had happened to him was terrible, and he shouldn’t blame himself for not reaching out sooner. They were all just happy that he had at all. 
It was three in the morning when Jeremy's fever finally broke, and everyone just cuddled in closer, relieved that he was starting to feel better again. 
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everamazingfe · 3 years
Text
You Can Ride On My Rocket 69 - Chapter 13
A Song About Hacking And Slashing
Fic Summary: Jeremy has recently awoken in this strange world, 210 ten years after he was put to sleep, and is now the lone survivor from his vault. Trevor's a radio host from Diamond City who's barely left the station, lonely in his own right and isolated from the rest of the Wastes. When they meet, Trevor finally gets a chance to see the rest of the wasteland like he's always wanted, though Jeremy becomes more of his bodyguard than Trevor does his companion. They meet various people along the way, some being friends like the odd throuple they meet in one of the neighboring city, or foe like a certain Diamond City guard. Both are wary about bringing up their pasts, but the wasteland has a strange way of bringing people together.
Chapter Summary:  Geoff helps Jeremy clean up a hell of a mess, Jeremy and Trevor take a detour to Good Neighbor (again), and Gavin starts scheming.
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Words in this chapter: 2832 Pairings: Jeremy/Trevor, Michael/Gavin/Lindsay, Jeremy/Matt Warnings for this chapter: Mentions of blood
Notes: There’s a link to the first chapter of this fic as the source of this post! Click it to go read this fic over on A O 3, or you can search up the title or ‘everamazingfe’ on the site!
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It was hard for Jeremy to ignore the floor around him as he packed up the last of Trevor’s precious cds, but he knew that he wouldn’t want these left behind in case something happened to his trailer. In case anyone found what was inside of it. The thought made him shudder, and he decided then that it was about time he wrap things up. He took the box with him as he left, locking the door up tight. So far, it seemed like the coast was clear, but his luck had been all over the place lately. There was no way of knowing what would happen next.
Back in the Home Plate, things were… Quiet. Trevor was sitting on his bed, staring straight forward as he tried to process everything. There was a lot going on his head, but he couldn’t make sense of any of it. He hadn’t just killed one person, he’d killed two, and that made him twice as bad as the normal person. He didn’t think he was quite as bad as Ian, but he’d still done a terrible thing. A terrible thing that was all too common in the wastes. He didn’t look over at Jeremy as he walked through the door, fumbling the box of discs as he tried to lock it behind him and swearing as they tumbled out of the box and onto the floor. It was when he bent down to pick up the discs that he spotted Trevor, and the look on his face made him abandon the task at hand.
“Trevor?” He asked, frowning in concern as he stepped over the pile to approach him slowly, a hand out in front of him with an open palm in case he got spooked. “Trevor, are you alright?” He’d seen this before, back in the war. It was always the same way, whether they’d joined by choice because of the promised thrills of defending their country or if they’d been drafted and forced to join. When they took their first life, they always had the same look that Trevor had on his: Blank, emotionless, but somehow with a pile of guilt built up behind their eyes as tears streamed down their cheeks. He knelt down in front of the bed, looking up at Trevor as he took his hands in his own. “C’mon, talk to me, buddy. It’s not good to keep all that bottled up.” 
“I killed them,” he whispered finally, after a minute of silence that stretched out all too long. His words hung heavy in the air, and Jeremy could only nod slowly in response. There was no denying it, the mayor and Ian were dead, and it had been Trevor’s hand that had done it. “I thought… I thought I’d be happy, that I’d be relieved to be rid of them, but…” He sighed heavily and shook his head, pulling a hand from Jeremy’s to wipe his face. “I just feel terrible.” 
Jeremy bit his lip, shifting to sit on the bed next to Trevor, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close. “I know, I know what you mean,” he murmured, hugging him tightly. “But… It fades. Eventually it fades, I promise.” He swallowed hard, scooting back on the bed so he could lean against the wall, bringing Trevor with him. “Sometimes it still comes back full force and haunts you, but… It gets easier to stomach, over time.”
Trevor sniffled softly, resting his head against Jeremy’s chest and curling his fingers in the hem of his shirt. There was still blood on the fabric, but if he closed his eyes, he couldn’t see it and it wouldn’t bother him. “You promise?”
“I promise,” Jeremy whispered, hoping that Trevor knew that he wouldn’t ever lie to him. His squad had put the same amount of trust in him, and he never once let them down. He wasn’t about to let Trevor down, either. “We should get changed and clean up a bit,” he suggested quietly. 
The other man let out a soft sigh, but he didn’t make any attempts to move. Instead, he just held onto his shirt tighter, clinging to him. “Can we stay here for a bit? Please?”
“Yeah, of course… Of course. We can stay here for as long as you’d like.”
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It was later in the same day when Jeremy decided that they couldn’t hide out in the Home Plate forever, and they had to get things cleaned up before anyone happened upon the trailer. Trevor suggested going to Geoff for help, which seemed like the wise thing to do, but he himself couldn’t bring himself to go with Jeremy. It was hard for him to want to do anything, and Jeremy understood. However, he doubted that Geoff would take the news very well without Trevor there to explain it. 
He was right.
Geoff couldn’t believe his ears as Jeremy told him everything that had happened, his eyes wide and mouth hung open. Geneva had her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with shock as well. When he finally finished talking, all he could do was shout, “You did what?!” 
“I didn’t do anything, Trevor’s the one who shot. It was Trevor.” 
“But you didn’t stop him.” 
Jeremy scoffed in indignation, rolling his eyes. “What the fuck was I gonna do? Ian had a gun to my head, I couldn’t do anything.” 
“You could have stopped him, do you have any idea what that sort of thing does to a kid?” 
“Oh, I have a pretty good idea. I know exactly how badly that sort of thing fucks a kid up, but Trevor’s not a kid. He’s an adult, and he can make his own decisions, and he decided to pull the trigger. That’s not on me.” He’d taken a lot of responsibility for Trevor, and he’d take the fall for him in a heartbeat if anything came of this, but there was nothing he could have done to stop it. And even if there was, he wouldn’t have done it. “I know you just wanna look out for him, and I do too, but… You gotta let him grow up sometime, man. Now, are you gonna help me clean up the mess or not?” 
Geoff let out a long, shaky sigh, not even able to bring himself to look at Jeremy for a long time. He didn’t like being told what to do or how to feel, it felt too much like someone was trying to reprogram him, but he knew that, ultimately, Jeremy was right. Trevor wasn’t the same scared little kid, running around the streets of Diamond City alone anymore. “Fine. Yes. I’ll help. But I better not catch any heat from this, and he better not either.” 
“Don’t worry, nothing’s gonna happen.” He’d made a promise a long time ago that he’d protect Trevor no matter what, and he didn’t intend on breaking it. “If anyone’s gonna be catching any heat, it’ll be me. But I need your help making sure that it doesn’t connect to him in any way. I can’t do this alone, man.”
That was enough reassurance for Geoff, and he motioned for Jeremy to follow him as he walked past him to grab his jacket and his hat. “Geneva, if anyone asks for me, tell ‘em I’ll be back in the morning.”
----------------------------------------------------
Cleaning the trailer was more work than Jeremy had anticipated, mostly because all Geoff did was sit back in Trevor’s chair with his feet on the soundboard and give instructions while Jeremy did all the handiwork. The stench was so bad that he had to put his gasmask on, and it was pretty hard to not throw up while he cut up the bodies and stashed the pieces in duffel bags. There were plenty of feral dogs and super mutants roaming outside the Fens that were looking for an easy meal, it wasn’t going to be hard to get rid of the pieces. The hardest part was going to be getting the duffel bags out of the city itself. 
“Now, I’m gonna finish up here. Blood’s a bitch to get out of all those grooves and you’ve done enough work already. But what do you say if anyone stops you?” Geoff quizzed, adjusting the straps of the bags for Jeremy as he arched an eyebrow at him. 
“That I’m running a delivery for Polly to one of the settlements.” 
“Good. She’s already filled in on the plan, had to buy about a dozen Brahmin steaks I don’t even need to get her to agree to it, but that’s business, I guess,” he laughed, but quieted quickly when the other man didn’t laugh as well and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Grab Trevor on your way out, too. It’ll look weird if you start running jobs without him. Just about the whole city knows you two are a team now, you can’t leave him behind.” 
Jeremy nodded in agreement, hoisting the last duffel bag onto his shoulder and pulling the door open. Had it really been that obvious to everyone? But he figured that it probably was, given that they now shared a home and hardly went out and about without the other, even when they were just grabbing some ramen. “Thanks, Geoff.”
The synth waved a hand to dismiss the gratitude, shaking his head. “I didn’t do this for you, I did it for him. Just keep that in mind.”
“Don’t worry,” Jeremy assured as he stepped out the door and let it shut behind him. “I did it for the same reason.” He didn’t know if Geoff thought he didn’t give a shit about Trevor or if he just didn’t trust him, but he would’ve appreciated just a little bit less hostility about it. They both cared about the guy a lot, it wasn’t a competition.
He sighed heavily as he trudged through Diamond City, the duffel bags weighing him down not just physically, but emotionally as well. There was a lot riding on his ability to get rid of these, but luckily it seemed like no one noticed that something was off quite yet. Part of him wondered what would happen, if the city would descend into chaos without a corrupt mayor and a power-hungry head guard to keep the fear in everyone, or if someone new would step up into both spots without any fuss at all. There was always a spot for himself and Trevor in Good Neighbor if the former happened, at least.
When he reached the Home Plate, Jeremy didn’t go inside. He just knocked on the door and called to the man inside. “Trevor! We got a job to run, c’mon.” There was some noise inside, some shuffling around and clattering, then the door swung open. “C’mon, take a bag. We gotta go make a delivery.” 
Trevor furrowed his eyebrows together, confused because he didn’t think that they were going to be doing jobs for a while, and wasn’t Jeremy supposed to be cleaning up the trailer? After that thought, it only took a few seconds for the pieces to come together, and Jeremy watched as the gears turned in his head. “Alright, yeah,” he said finally, taking the strap that was offered to him and slinging the bag over his shoulder. “Where we going?”
“One of the settlements up north. They’re running low on food, so we’re bringing them some.”
It was all lies and they both knew it, but neither of them let on. They just held their heads high as usual and walked out of the city like nothing was wrong. One of the guards questioned them on their way out, but they were lucky enough that no one asked to look inside the bags. 
Once they were out of earshot of the city, Trevor cleared his throat and spoke up. “We’re not really delivering meat, are we?” he asked, looking at him skeptically. 
“Well, in a way, we are.”
Trevor shook his head, unamused by the little joke. “You know what I mean.”
“No,” he relented, sighing heavily. “We’re not. We’re-”
“- I know what we’re doing. I’m just… I wish I wasn’t involved.”
“I know. But it’d look suspicious if I left the city without you, so this is how it has to be.” Jeremy wished that it could be different, that Trevor didn’t have to be involved, but this was how it was. “I can go the rest of the way on my own, if you wanna find a spot to wait.” He might as well give him an out, there were plenty of safe spots to hunker down until Jeremy was able to dump the bags and go back. 
“No,” he responded, shaking his head again. There was a look in his eyes that Jeremy didn’t quite recognize, but he was glad to see that the guilt was gone. “I started this, I’m gonna finish it.” 
----------------------------------------------------
It’d taken them a few hours to walk far enough out that they could get rid of them without any Diamond City guards being able to happen across them, but it took them half that to go back the other way. Without the duffel bags weighing them down, travel was a lot faster and a lot easier. Or at least it would have been, if they decided to go back to the city right away. Instead, they detoured to their favorite place, Good Neighbor, since they were already mostly there anyway. It’d be a good way to kill time because they were meant to be heading to a settlement way up north, and it’d be impossible for them to get there and back in such a short amount of time. If it was a real trip, encumbered the way they were, they probably wouldn’t get back until the next day. Hell, it may have even taken them longer. 
“Back again, eh? We can’t keep you two away from this place!” Michael laughed as the pair walked through the door, a grin on his face. “But good thing you did, Gav’s got some work for you.”
Jeremy shook his head quickly. “Nah, we’re not looking for work, sorry.” 
One of Michael’s eyebrows shot up, and he hummed. “You sure? It’s a good job.”
“We’re not interested,” Trevor said firmly, and Michael blinked in surprise before putting his hands up, palms open towards him. 
“Okay, okay, jeez. Message received, loud and clear.” He lowered his hands, smoothing out his suit. “Enjoy your drinks, boys.”
The pair nodded back at him and made their way downstairs, and Trevor grinned as the comfortable atmosphere of the Third Rail washed over them. The dim lights, Lindsay’s voice filling the room, the gentle clinking of glasses as Gavin made drinks, and the sweet smell of alcohol made it feel right at home. They took a seat at the bar and the Brit was quick to serve them. 
“What’ll it be tonight?” Jeremy got himself a whiskey, he needed something stronger after the day they’d had, but Trevor just got himself a soda. A Nuka Cherry, because he needed the comfort his favorite soda provided. 
“Hey, Jer, can you… Can you try not to overdo it this time?” Trevor asked softly, and Jeremy paused. “The last few times we’ve been here, either you or the both of us have gotten… Considerably drunk. I just wanna have a nice night with you.”
He swallowed hard, but nodded after a few long moments. The way Trevor was looking at him made it hard to do anything but agree. “I wanna have a nice night with you too, Trev.” Gavin looked between them, a knowing grin on his face as he did, but he wiped it off quickly when Jeremy turned to him. “What?”
“Nothing! Nothing at all.” He was met with skeptical hums, and he simply turned around to serve another patron instead of dignifying them with a response. But Gavin simply wondered if Jeremy and Trevor were the only ones who didn’t see it. The way they looked at each other and talked to each other had a level of fondness that he’d only seen between himself and Lindsay and Michael before, and yet… Nothing happened. Each time they passed through, they seemed to be exactly the same. 
Michael had lost his bet weeks ago, and it was starting to look like Gavin and Lindsay were going to lose theirs soon too. A bet wasn’t fun when no one won, so they needed a little nudge. Would Michael get mad at him for interfering? Probably, but Gavin wasn’t about to lose. He’d have to be careful, though. Jeremy and Trevor both seemed rather skittish, and he didn’t want to ruin things by meddling too much. That was going to be a problem for another day, because they seemed to be enjoying each other’s company too much for him to want to step in quite yet. However, there was always next time. 
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everamazingfe · 3 years
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The Kumbaya Approach
Fic Summary: Trevor is the captain of his own ship and is in need of a new pilot when his old one abandons the crew. Fortunately, his trusty engineer Gavin knows of a good one. Unfortunately, the cargo he brings along with him is a little more dangerous than they anticipated. 
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Words: 15113 Pairings: Michael/Jeremy, Trevor/Alfredo Warnings: Mild descriptions of violence and blood
Notes: This was written for the Secret Springfairy fic exchange in the @rtwritingcommunity discord for @doolray! This was a ton of fun to write, I hope you enjoy, and big thanks to @fornhaus for proofreading/editing! Check the source for a link to read it on A 0 3!
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“What do you mean you quit?” 
“I mean I quit. I’m done with this bucket of bolts. Every day there’s a new problem, a new critical failure, a new busted part, and I’m sick of it! What kind of commander can’t get a handle on his own ship?”
“Hey! Those problems aren’t my fault, it’s the-”
“-The ship’s AI, right. Heard that one a thousand times. But they’re part of the crew, too. Which means they’re your responsibility. And if you can’t keep them under control and keep your ship in shape, I’m out of here at the next port.” 
The arguments had gone on like this for several days, nearly a week now, and it was the same thing every time. Jeremy would yell about how he was sick of being on the ship and lay down blame for its problems, and Trevor would defend himself against the barrage of insults instead of trying to change the other’s mind. He knew that was a futile effort, and he knew better than to fight losing battles.
The pair were silent for a long time, staring each other down. Jeremy was looking for a reason to get more wound up, to start yelling all over again. Telling off his commander for mistakes that everyone had seemingly let slide for far too long felt really good, and he wanted to keep going. Meanwhile, Trevor was calming down and calculating his next move very carefully. It was fine if his crew wanted to question his authority, they did it plenty and he never took it personally. But as far as he was concerned, Jeremy was no longer crew and no longer privy to that same mercy. After all, he’d quit.
“Fine. You can empty your quarters out and sleep in the observation deck, then. You’re no longer a member of this crew, so you no longer get to stay in crew cabins,” he stated after a few long moments, his tone cold. 
Jeremy blinked in surprise, not expecting Trevor to actually do anything about it. “Wait, what?”
“You heard me. You don’t get a room anymore, those are reserved for the crew. If you’re unhappy with that arrangement, I can tell Lindsay to get the airlock open for you.” 
“You know... If I leave, Michael’s gonna go with me. He goes where I go,” he reminded, though he was no longer yelling confidently. He was stumbling and faltering. Trevor had called his bluff effectively, and it was hard to keep up steam. 
“Then you can help each other clean out your quarters and keep each other warm on the deck,” he responded, shrugging casually. “Finding a new science officer will be just as easy as finding a new pilot.”
“And just how do you expect to get to the next port safely?”
Trevor chuckled softly, smiling. “Lindsay is more than equipped with satisfactory navigational skills, isn’t that right Linds?”
The comms system beeped to life, and a cheerful voice was heard over the speakers. “That’s right, Commander! Jack’s charting us a course as we speak. We’ll be on our way shortly.”
----------------------------------------------------
There was some truth to Lindsay’s words. They were equipped with the best-in-the-market autopilot functionality, but Jack was not charting a course. The entirety of the crew was gathered around a large monitor in the communications bay, watching the whole ordeal unfold through Lindsay’s eyes. There were bets on how it would end. Most of the money was on it ending in blows at this point. 
“Like hell I’m going with him!” Michael shouted, waving his hands and scoffing in disbelief as he looked at the screen. “I’m not idiot enough to throw away a good job when I’ve got it. I mean, sure the place is a shithole, no offense Linds-” 
“None taken.”
“-But like… It’s not like we have to do anything. If I try and find another crew, they may make me do actual work! Can you imagine? I am not going anywhere.”
“I don’t think he’s going to give you a choice,” Jack said from beside him, the others all nodding in agreement. “I think you’re gonna have to go with him.” 
Michael huffed, rolling his eyes and turning up the volume on the terminal. “If there’s one thing you fuckers should’ve learned about me right now, it’s this: I don’t have to do shit. Especially not for my boyfriend.” 
----------------------------------------------------
Jeremy grumbled to himself as he packed up his things. Michael was, of course, no help. He just stood in the doorway and spectated, making snide remarks when he saw fit. 
“You know, I’d really appreciate it if you could be on my side with this,” Jeremy said, balling up a shirt and throwing it at him. “Or at the very least, help me pack.”
Michael laughed, knocking away the shirt before it hit him in the face. “Fuck no, you dug this hole yourself. I’m not the moron who quit.”
“This place is a shithole and you know it.”
“Yeah, but you never have to fix any of it! You just have to sit there in your comfy pilot chair and wait for Gavin to do it.” Had Michael always been a little jealous of his boyfriend’s job? A little bit. The med bay was cold and unwelcoming, but the cockpit was cushy and warm. Plus, with Lindsay on board, the pilot didn’t really have to do much at all unless their systems went down. Which, to be fair, did happen a lot. “You pilots are always so snooty. You knew what you were getting into when you took this gig, you can’t expect it to be like the Ritz now.”
“Just fucking go,” Jeremy muttered, swiping up the last of his clothes from the floor. “Don’t even bother visiting, either.” The comment hurt them both, but that didn’t make him mean it any less. He didn’t want Michael to visit, he wanted him to stay at the port with him. 
The other just laughed heartily and shook his head, turning on his heel to leave. “Wasn’t planning on it.”
----------------------------------------------------
The observation deck was, as it always was, cold and lonely. The warm blankets and fluffy pillows that were on his bed were technically part of the quarters he had previously taken residence in, so all Jeremy had to sleep on was the metal floor, cushioned by his clothing and a few other soft belongings. The things that he owned that were unfit for laying on were stacked around him. The observation deck’s window was huge, and as he laid there unable to sleep, the vastness of space no longer brought him the same comfort it had when he was in the pilot’s seat. 
“Hey, Lindsay?”
The comms beeped to life once more. “Yes, Jeremy?”
“Am I making a mistake?” He asked, sitting up and leaning back against the stack. 
There were a few long seconds of contemplative silence before they spoke again. “Yeah, you are. A huge one, I’d say.”
“That’s not really comforting... I don’t suppose Trevor would be willing to… Reconsider?”
“No, I don’t think so. You insulted the ship. The commander takes that personally.” Lindsay did too, but they figured that Jeremy already felt guilty enough without them piling on as well. 
“C’mon, you know I didn’t mean it.” 
“Do I, though? Because I really don’t think I do,” they stated. Maybe Jeremy didn’t feel as guilty as they had hoped, so their politeness parameters were temporarily suspended. “This is a ship made from stolen parts, what do you expect? For everything to run perfectly all the time? If you wanted that, you should’ve signed up for one of the legal spacefarers out there,” they quipped. If they had eyes, they would have rolled them. 
Jeremy sighed heavily, sinking down the wall and burying his face in his hands. Maybe it wasn’t too late to take Trevor up on that airlock offer, he was sure he’d be happy to oblige.
“Is Michael going with you?” Lindsay asked after a few minutes, breaking the silence and sounding innocent enough. Jeremy couldn’t tell whether they wanted a yes or a no, but there was no use lying to them. They’d seen Jeremy packing alone, his quarters empty while Michael’s were still very much full. 
“No,” he responded, shaking his head, “No, he’s not. He’s gonna be staying on board.”
“Oh, good. I like him. I’d be sad if he left.”
“But you’re not sad that I’m leaving?” There was no response to his words, just the comms beeping to signal that Lindsay wouldn’t be answering more of his questions. Jeremy sighed again and lowered his hands, staring back out at the stars. “I don’t even think that Michael’s sad that I’m leaving,” he muttered to himself, laying back down in his pile of clothes and shoving an old jacket under his head for a makeshift pillow.
He couldn’t exactly blame him for it, either. Maybe he could’ve been a better boyfriend, maybe he should’ve just bitten his tongue and held back whatever criticisms he had of Trevor and the ship. But part of this felt like it was inevitable, like he was always going to blow up like this. The worst part was that he didn’t even feel guilty about any of it, he was only sorry that speaking up had the consequences that it had. It was hard to have any regrets about it when he fully believed he was doing the right thing, though.
----------------------------------------------------
It only took them another week to reach the nearest spaceport, some podunk trading and tourist hub located pretty centrally to all the bigger colonies. Trevor liked it because they’d be able to stock up on supplies without having to scrounge or overpay. That was something that desperately needed doing, the last few ports had single rations sold for thousands of credits or reasonably priced ones that were nearly a century past date. Plus, they’d have pretty good odds at finding a replacement pilot there too. Jeremy liked it because it didn’t seem like the worst place to be booted onto, he could find work with another crew or in the port pretty easily. Everyone else liked it because being at port meant a few days of rest. Lindsay didn’t have to worry about some of the more power-hungry systems that came with flying a ship, which meant that Gavin didn’t have to run around making patchwork repairs at every hour of the day. But for some, their work didn’t stop. Matt always had to keep his ear to the radio for any incoming transmissions, and Michael and Fiona could only leave their experiments and samples unattended for so long before there were catastrophic results.
Reaching port this time was different this time around, though. They’d never had to say goodbye to one of their own before. Jeremy had been permitted one last night on the ship, but in the morning he’d have to go. To honor that last night, Gavin and Michael decided to organize a going away party for their fellow lad, complete with drinks and proper food (not just freeze-dried rations that pretended to be edible) and parting gifts. 
It made Jeremy feel better about going when he saw how sad everyone seemed to be, how sincere they were in expressing how much they would miss him. He’d convinced himself that they all hated him for speaking out the way that he had, no one had come to speak to him in the observation deck and the only time he saw anyone was when he was brought his rations, but the party was a good indication that they didn’t hate him: they just pitied him. 
Michael was certainly the most upset, despite the fact that he’d pretended to be unbothered only a week prior. Even if they had to do it from lightyears away, they promised each other they’d find a way to make things work. The communication technology was there, they’d still be able to talk. Michael was just glad that he wouldn’t have to worry too much about Jeremy while he was gone. It was a busy port, there’d be plenty of people around looking to hire a skilled pilot. And even if he couldn’t find work right away, it was safe enough that he could stay there for a while without running into any trouble unless he went looking. 
Despite all the fun of the festivities, Trevor’s absence was hard to miss. Jeremy had to admit that he’d been foolish for expecting it, but not getting a final goodbye from his former commander stung. 
However, Trevor had decided that his day was best spent working instead of partying, arranging for fresh shipments of supplies to be loaded into the cargo bay and beginning his search for a new pilot. The first task was successful, the latter one… Not so much. No one was really giving him the time of day, not believing him when he told them he captained his own ship and could afford to pay handsomely for work. Or they simply weren’t interested in the cargo that would need to be transported. After he was fed a lot of bullshit from people who clearly didn’t know anything trying to weasel their way onto his ship, he reached his limit and returned to the ship, thoroughly disheartened by the end of the night.
Trevor spent the evening in his quarters, agonizing over the situation for a few hours. There were a few solid candidates when he looked past all their unfavorable qualities, but he still wasn’t thrilled about any of them. Everyone was busy partying with Jeremy, he was grateful for the peace while he tried to work something out. The only thing that pulled him out of his thoughts was Lindsay’s chime. Usually that signaled that he’d been working for too long and it was time to get some rest, so he began to stand up, stretching his arms out over his head to ease away the stiffness.
“Commander, Gavin’s outside the door. Should I let him in?” They asked, sending a feed to his terminal of the lad standing outside the doors. He sat back down slowly, squinting as he looked at the grainy footage on the screen. 
“Does he look like he’s carrying any stink bombs? I can’t tell.” 
There were a few moments of silent examination before the comms beeped to life again. “Nope, he’s clear.” 
Trevor waved in approval then, twisting around in his chair to face the door. “Let him in, then.” 
The doors slid open to reveal Gavin standing there, fortunately empty-handed, with a smile on his face. “Commander! Missed you at the party, you should’ve been there! I saved you a bev, if you want it.” 
“No thanks. Some of us had actual work to do, y’know.” He paused, looking the other up and down. It was always hard to read Gavin, he was always brimming with so much energy, it was hard to tell if his fidgeting was excited stimming or covering up for anxious nerves. There was no telling what he wanted to share. “I really hope you didn’t come here just to chastise me for not going to a party for someone who couldn’t stop insulting the ship every chance he got.”
“Nah, I get it. No one insults our Lindsay and gets away with it. But… I do think I can help with some of your problems.” Trevor arched an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to continue. “I know a pilot at this port. He’s one of the best. Well, actually, he is the best. And! He owes me a favor! So he’ll definitely be taking the job.”
“If he’s the best, how can you be sure he’s not currently in a crew?”
Gavin laughed at that, and Trevor’s face turned to one of confusion. “He’s rather picky about the jobs he takes. And, like I said: He owes me.”
He was quiet for a few moments, biting his lip as he thought it over. Gavin hadn’t led him astray before, it was how they’d ended up with Michael and Fiona on the crew, but it all felt a little too good to be true. Coincidences made him uneasy, but what choice did he have? “How soon can I meet him?”
“Tomorrow, if you’d like.”
“I’d like to, yeah. After breakfast. Lindsay, set an alarm for the engineering bay to make sure Gavin wakes up in time.”
“Yes, commander.”
“Hey!”
Trevor grinned as the other pouted. “Anything else, Gav?”
Gavin flipped him off before breaking out into a grin of his own. “Nope! That’s it. I should get back to the engines ‘case they bust again, but I’m happy to be of service. See you tomorrow, Trev.”
“See you tomorrow, Gavin. Get some rest, don’t stay up too late pestering Matt.”
“Will do, won’t do, goodnight!”
----------------------------------------------------
The next morning came soon enough, the crew having breakfast together for a change since Michael had been kind enough to grab some fresh ingredients and cook them a nice meal. It was refreshing to have real food, not just the usual freeze-dried rations or nutrient slurries they normally relied on. And real coffee was always a treat, though no one would dare insult Fiona’s synthesized seaweed coffee replacement for fear of losing the one caffeine source they had between stops. 
After the meal, Gavin and Trevor set out as planned. They had a pilot to search for, and the lad wouldn’t stop ranting and raving about how great this guy was supposed to be. Trevor just hoped that he was going to live up to all the hype.
“When you said this guy is picky about the jobs he takes, just how picky did you mean?” He asked as they searched through the first hotspot. There were a few places this mysterious pilot liked to hang out in apparently, and there was no telling which one he’d be at. 
Gavin chuckled softly, glancing over at Trevor with a smile until he realized he was being serious. Then, he just shrugged a shoulder. “I dunno. He won’t complain about the ship, if that’s what you mean.”
“Kind of. I just want to make sure he’s not too high class to run the sort of jobs we run.”
“Oh, trust me. He’s not. He is exactly low class enough to run these sort of jobs. But, y’know, like everyone else he wants to make sure the money’s real, and that he’s not gonna end up space dust.” 
“Fair enough.” Those were reasonable requests, and ones that were easy enough for Trevor to guarantee. No one on his crew ever ran out of credits, and no one had gotten seriously injured on a job. The ‘on the job’ part was the most important part of that sentence, because injuries did still happen around the ship, despite everyone’s best efforts. 
Spots two and three were as equally bust as the first one, but Gavin was just as determined as he’d been at breakfast. Trevor, not so much. It was well past mid-day by the time they reached the fifth spot, some sort of hotel and lounge for people to catch their breath and put their feet up. 
The moment they stepped in the door, there was a big beaming grin on Gavin’s face. “Fredo!” He shouted, raising his arms as he cheered. “Took us long enough to find you!”
The man in question was seated casually on a sofa, nose buried in a magazine, though his attention was broken by Gavin’s shouting cutting through the ambiance. “Gavin?” He asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion as he set his magazine aside and stood. “What the hell are you doing so far out?”
“Ah, well, that’s a bit of a long story,” he said, waving a hand to dismiss the question as he walked up to the man and wrapped an arm around him. He dragged him over to Trevor, still beaming. “Trevor, this is Alfredo. Best pilot on this side of the universe. On both sides, probably, but he doesn’t like to brag. And Alfredo, this is Trevor. He’s the big boss of the Morrigan.”
“I, uh… Yeah, that’s me. I’m the cap- The commander.”
“Cat got your tongue, Commander?” Alfredo asked, smirking as the other’s face tinted red. “C’mon, let’s go somewhere else and chat. There’s way too many people listening in out here.”
----------------------------------------------------
They ended up in Alfredo’s room, crowded around the small table underneath a dim light. However, Trevor didn’t need a lot of light to get a read on someone, and he noticed a lot of things about their potential new pilot in a short time. He didn’t fidget like Gavin did, each movement seemed like it was with purpose, but sometimes he’d flex his fingers and roll his wrists. It told him that he was as experienced as Gavin said, because Jeremy had started to do the same thing after a long time behind the helm. His jacket was well worn, the red still bright in some spots but faded in others, and patched in places where it’d been damaged. That told him that Alfredo wasn’t afraid of a fight, and he was resourceful enough to not let good things go to waste. All good things, in his book. 
“So, what’s your offer?” Alfredo asked, breaking the silence once they’d all gotten settled around the table. 
“My… Offer?” 
“Yeah. If I work for you, what do I get?”
Trevor and Gavin looked at each other for a moment, the latter stunned by the bluntness of the question, but the former was used to unprofessionalism like that. In fact, he preferred it. “Well, for starters, a spot on the ship. You get your own private quarters. However, you really are there as a backup to our ship’s computer in case things get extra… Challenging. They’re good, but there’s limits to every AI.”
Alfredo’s eyebrows raised at that. He’d never been on a ship that had a computer like that on it before. “Sounds like a fancy ship.”
Gavin snorted out a laugh, shaking his head quickly. “Trust me, it’s not. It’s all cobbled together, and the only reason we ended up with Lindsay was because their system was gonna be salvage otherwise.” 
“Right…” He cleared his throat, looking back to Trevor. “What about money?”
“We all get an equal cut of the credits. We’re all important on the Morrigan, no one gets more or less than anyone else.” Everyone put in a lot of work to keep the ship running smoothly, sometimes Trevor felt like he wasn’t doing enough in comparison. Every now and then, he’d take less from his own cut to give everyone else a little more. It felt fair. “And we kind of just go wherever when we’re not running jobs.”
Alfredo was quiet for a few moments, thinking things over. He knew he owed Gavin a favor, but at the same time this whole deal seemed too good to be true. No commander was ever this reasonable, this good to his crew. “Can you go wait outside for a minute? I’d like to talk to Gavin,” he said finally, and Trevor was happy to oblige. He didn’t take his eyes off the other man until the door closing forced him too, then they were fixed on Gavin. “This smells like bullshit.”
“I’m telling you Fredy, it’s not. We all get an equal cut, the rooms are pretty damn lush, and the jobs are alright. I don’t do much but patch up the ship after them, but we haven’t had any major hull breaches yet.” He seemed quite proud of himself for that, but deflated when Alfredo didn’t respond in kind. 
“Yeah, but what about your last pilot? What happened to them? No one just leaves a gig this good.”
“Ah, well… Actually, some do. There were a few… Disagreements. He wasn’t happy on the ship, and Trevor doesn’t like when people insult the Morrigan, or Lindsay,” he explained, choosing his words carefully. He wasn’t sure either of the men involved would be happy if the story started to get spread. “But it’s a good ship, a good crew, and Trevor’s a good man. Plus, you owe me.”
“I know, and that’s the worst part!” He groaned, slumping forward with his face in his hands. “I hate owing you, you always make people pay you back in the worst possible ways!”
“Oi! I’m getting you a job!”
“Yeah, and it all sounds shady as shit! I know you’re smugglers, but damn. Trevor’s cold.”
Gavin just chuckled softly, because he couldn’t exactly disagree with him. The commander had his moments, but didn’t everyone? “Look, Fredo. You need this, and we need you. So just… Take the job, would you?” 
Alfredo chewed the inside his lip as he thought it over, letting out a long sigh after a minute. “Alright, I’ll do it.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear,” Gavin said with a grin, clapping Alfredo on the shoulder before yelling for Trevor to come back inside. 
He genuinely couldn’t guess what they had been talking about in there, but judging by the look on Gavin’s face it was something good. “You’ve decided, then?” He asked Alfredo as he took his seat again.
“He has! He said that he’d joi-“
“-Gavin, dude. Let me talk,” he said, swatting at the other man to get him to shut up. “I’ll join your crew, on one condition…” He trailed off, wanting to gauge the other’s response before he continued.
“And that is?” Trevor asked, arching an eyebrow and waiting for him to go on. 
“I have some cargo I need to get off this asteroid. It’ll be a win/win for the both of us: You get to see how good I fly, I get this job off my back, and you, me, and your crew get to split the money.”
It’d be a good reason to get out of the spaceport faster too. Trevor wasn’t planning on leaving until they had a job anyway and now one had fallen right into their laps with a new pilot in hand. “Sounds like a deal to me,” he said, reaching a hand out for Alfredo to shake and smiling across the table at him. It was a genuine smile, the facade of the stern negotiator falling away. 
Alfredo grinned right back at him, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake. “Hell yes.”
“We can get into the details of the job back on the ship, but I wanna introduce you to your new crew first.”
“Oh, you’re gonna love them, Fredo. They’re all brilliant.” 
----------------------------------------------------
The Morrigan welcomed its commander back onto the ship with a cheerful musical tone, the doors sliding open as he approached with Gavin and Alfredo in tow. 
“Oh, now who’s this?” Lindsay asked, curious about the new arrival. If they were being honest, they hadn’t expected Gavin to be telling the truth about knowing a pilot, or for Trevor to be convincing enough to get him to join. Their expectations weren’t pessimistic, just realistic. They knew their crew.
“Lindsay! Hey there, perfect timing,” Trevor said with a grin as Gavin scurried off to go gather the rest of the crew. “This is Alfredo, he’s gonna be our new pilot! And Alfredo, this is Lindsay, our ship's computer, and your co-pilot. If you have any questions about the ship, they’ll be the one to ask.”
“That’s right!” They chirped, “Not to brag or anything, but I know more about this ship than anyone, except maybe Gavin. We’re about equal, but don’t tell him I said that!”
Alfredo chuckled, amused by just how much personality this supposed AI had. “Are you sure there’s not a person on the other side of those comms, commander?”
Trevor simply shook his head. “Nope, just a Lindsay!” He answered, motioning for Alfredo to follow him as he led him further into the ship. Doors opened and shut behind them automatically as they went, which meant that Lindsay was keeping a close eye on them. They’d really taken Jeremy’s comments about the ship to heart, and they had to make sure the new guy wasn’t going to say the same thing. 
“No offense, but… How does a ship like this afford a computer like that? I know how much these jobs make, and how much those things cost, and… The math just isn’t adding up.”
The speakers beeped to life with a gentle tone, and Lindsay spoke up for themselves. “I was a rejected version of an even more advanced system, but because of how advanced I still was, they couldn’t just shut me down and wipe out all my data. So, they put me up for sale instead.”
“We got a pretty good deal on them, actually. No one really wants a buggy AI, too much of a risk or whatever, but for a smuggling crew who doesn’t care about perfection, they’re perfect.” The bugs that the programmers had rejected Lindsay for were hardly even bugs in Trevor’s eyes, they were just things that made them too hard to control. There was no speech filter, no way to control them or make them do whatever you wanted, which is why they’d been rejected. You had to treat them like a person, and their programmers had hated that. 
Alfredo was genuinely impressed by the state of the ship, and how smoothly things seemed to run on the surface. Lindsay gave him a quick brief on the engine the ship was powered by and some tips for when he was at the controls to help work around some of its quirks. By the time their spiel was done, they’d reached the bridge where everyone had been gathered so they could get introductions out of the way all at once instead of hunting people down one by one.
The Morrigan was no small ship, and its crew matched it. It was, by far, the largest smuggling ship that Alfredo had ever stepped foot in. Probably the happiest as well. Every role had a person to fill it, and none of them seemed to have many complaints either. 
The first person to speak up and introduce herself was Jack, the ship’s navigations officer. She worked with Lindsay to chart their courses, keeping in mind everything that they’d have to avoid ranging from rogue space debris to the ever annoying authorities. The three of them would be working very closely together, so Alfredo was glad that she spoke up first. 
Michael and Fiona introduced themselves next, the former being the ship’s medical officer and physician while the latter was a scientist. She had her own experiments to run, but she also spent a lot of time helping Michael keep everyone on board the ship healthy. It was a much more difficult task than one would expect, apparently. Alfredo asked Fiona what she was doing on the ship, but she refused to say anything more than “nunya business,” and Trevor insisted that it was better if he didn’t know, so he dropped the subject. 
The communications officer introduced himself after that. Matt was more quiet and reserved than everyone else seemed to be, but he still seemed quite content in his role. It seemed like there wasn’t much to do - there were no aliens trying to make contact, or even that many other ships for that matter - so he spent a lot of his time misusing the comms to catch up on radio shows from Earth or the other space outposts. 
“Alright! Well, feel free to hang out with everyone for a bit,” Trevor said, noticeably relieved that everyone seemed to like Alfredo, and vice-versa. It was a good first step. Gavin was usually a pretty good judge of character, but one could never be too careful. 
“You’re not gonna stick around?” Alfredo asked, frowning a little. “You can’t just leave me alone with these guys.” That comment was hushed, he didn’t want anyone else to hear. 
“Sure I can. I’ve got some work to do, and besides, they don’t bite.” He looked pointedly at Michael. “Usually.” Alfredo whirled around to follow Trevor’s gaze, eyes going wide as Michael snarled at him. The pair broke out into laughter, making Alfredo huff in displeasure.
“That’s not funny, man.”
“Sorry, sorry, couldn’t resist. Just… Relax.” He put his hands on the other’s shoulders, giving him a little shake. “Everyone here is great, they’re the nicest people on this side of the galaxy. You’re gonna have to get to know them eventually, so you might as well start now. I got some work I gotta do to get us loaded up, but come up to my quarters later. We need to hammer out the details of that job so we can get outta here soon.”
Alfredo nodded slowly, mumbling a confirmation and watching as Trevor turned on his heel and walked out of the room. Michael and Gavin slammed a hand down onto each of his shoulders, snapping him out of his trance as they whirled him around. 
“C’mon, Alfredo! We’ve still got some booze leftover from Jeremy’s going away party,” Michael told him with a wicked grin, “Jack makes the best drinks, you gotta try one.”
“I dunno... I just joined, is that really smart?”
“Is what smart?” 
“Drinking.”
“Nah,” Gavin scoffed, shaking his head quickly. “Drinking’s always smart, trust me.”
Alfredo rolled his eyes. He knew firsthand that trusting Gavin was a bad idea when it came to alcohol, but on the other hand… Maybe it’d be a good way to get more comfortable around everyone. He was still a little wary, and a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of the crew, some help feeling more at ease was definitely welcome. It was called liquid courage for a reason. 
And after a few drinks, he certainly felt more at ease. At the same time, it was weird being accepted so quickly. Sometimes he was stuck on his own, even when he was on a crew. Space had a tendency to be a very lonely and isolating place, it seemed like these people were well aware of the fact, and worked hard to make sure no one fell victim to its clutches. Fiona saw him standing off to the side, trying to edge away from all the excitement, and dragged him right into it. Jack gave him drinks when she spotted an empty cup, alternating between alcoholic and not to make sure he didn’t end up too far gone. And Michael and Gavin were something else entirely, wasting no time in filling him in on the latest ship gossip and ongoing pranks. Ultimately, he decided that he’d made a good choice in trusting Gavin and joining the Morrigan. 
When the festivities died down and everyone began to clean up and retreat to their quarters, Alfredo took it as his sign to go and find Trevor and discuss the job with him. Finding his quarters was easy enough, but he hesitated outside. 
“He already knows you’re there, you know,” Lindsay piped up, giggling when they saw Alfredo jump and search around for the source of their voice. It was all around them, coming through every speaker in that part of the hall. “He’s got a video feed that shows the hall outside of his door. Put it in after Gavin pranked him a few too many times,” they added, this time only speaking from the nearest speaker. 
“Yeah, Gavin’s always been one for pranks.” He stepped closer to the door, but still didn’t go in.
They hummed softly, some sensors whirring in a far off room of the Morrigan. “Why are you hesitating?”
“Because.”
“Because why?”
“Because!” Alfredo gestured in exasperation, activating the door’s motion sensor. He jumped again as it slid open, staring through it and making eye contact with Trevor, who was seated at his desk and smiling knowingly. 
“Thank you, Lindsay.”
“Any time, commander! That trick never fails.”
Alfredo looked at Trevor with wide eyes, stammering out an excuse that was immediately waved off. “Just come on in, there’s no use putting it off,” he told him. “The sooner we get things sorted, the sooner we can get out of the port.”
“Why the rush?” He asked as he stepped inside, the door sliding shut behind him with a loud thunk. “It’s pretty nice, as far as spaceports go.”
“Yeah, but I’ve got a disgruntled former pilot hanging around here now, and I really don’t want him deciding that he wants to get revenge.”
“Fair enough.” Alfredo sat down in the chair across from Trevor, watching him from across the desk. When the other didn’t speak right away, he took it as an opportunity to do so instead. “So, the job. It’s several crates of cargo, will you have enough space in the hold for all of that?”
“How many is several, exactly?”
“About ten, all pretty decently sized. A yard or two each way, at least.”
Trevor chuckled, nodding as he made a note. “Oh yeah, we’ll have plenty of room. I’ve got some supplies getting loaded up tomorrow, if you talk to a man named Geoff at the mercantile he’ll be sure to slip ‘em in, make sure no one suspects anything.”
Alfredo raised his eyebrows, impressed. “That’s it? No questions about the cargo?”
Trevor let out a long sigh at that, lifting his eyes from his notebook to look at him. “Usually, I don’t want to know. It’s not my business to know. I’m not paid to know,” he explained, waiting until the other nodded in understanding to carry on. “But, since you brought it up, I feel like I should ask… Is it alive?”
“Uh… Yeah, it is.”
“Is it people? Cause I don’t do that shit.”
“What? No. No! It’s… Well, it’s-“
“Is it gonna break out of the crates and kill us in our sleep?”
Alfredo didn’t have an immediate answer to that one. Trevor didn’t find that comforting. 
“Probably not?”
They stared at each other for a few moments, gauging each other’s reactions until Trevor broke the silence. “Works for me! Like I said, talk to Geoff at the mercantile, let him know where you keep everything, he’ll get it all worked out.” He extended his hand, offering it to Alfredo for him to shake. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Alfredo.”
“Likewise,” the other man said, reaching out and giving Trevor’s hand a firm shake. “The Morrigan seems like a real nice ship, I can’t wait to see how they fly.”
With that, Alfredo took his leave, but Trevor kept his eyes on the door long after he walked out. 
The comms beeped to life, and Lindsay spoke from a speaker on Trevor’s desk. “I like him already.”
“Yeah, I do too,” he said whimsically before shaking his head to clear the thoughts from his mind and pointing a finger at the speaker. “I never said that. You didn’t hear that.”
“Of course, Commander. I heard nothing.”
----------------------------------------------------
The cargo was loaded up without issue the following day. All Alfredo had to do was give the boxes a small mark once they were in the hold, that way they’d know what was the smuggled cargo, but that was an easy enough task. They spent a few more hours at the port, letting everyone do a small tour around for some shopping and giving Michael a chance to say some goodbyes to Jeremy before they set out. 
“Alright, let’s see how this baby flies,” Alfredo said with a grin once he was in the pilot’s seat, cracking his knuckles. This was the one place where he truly felt confident and in his element, and it was so good to be back where he belonged. “Jack, we got a course set?”
“Yup, Lindsay’s got all the info, and there should be a copy of it there on your terminal,” Jack said from her station, turning in her seat to look at Alfredo and give him a thumbs up. She grinned as she got one in return. 
“Sweet. Lindsay, you ready to take off?” 
A few melodic beeps came through the speakers as they checked in with Gavin to make sure the engines were all in working order, then they spoke. “I am! Gavin’s on standby in case anything goes wrong, too.”
“Perfect, start the launch sequence for me, please?”
“Ooh, how polite! I like this one,” they hummed, and Jack laughed softly from her station at the way Alfredo’s cheeks tinged pink. “Sure thing, Fredo. One launch sequence, coming right up!”
The Morrigan shook and creaked as the engines fired up, groaning with effort as the sound roared through the engineering bay and echoed around the spaceport. It was a big ship that required a lot of power to get going, even more so to break away from the gravitational field surrounding the port, and every time they took the crew was terrified that it would come apart at the seams under the pressure. But, like it did every time before, it pulled through, and it wasn’t long until they were up in the atmosphere and out into space. 
“Wow,” Alfredo breathed, slumping back in his chair once things had stabilized. He hadn’t even realized he’d been holding his breath. “Is it always like that?”
Trevor chuckled from behind him, smiling and nodding. “Yeah, pretty much.” He walked up and patted Alfredo on the shoulder, making eye contact with him in the window’s reflection before looking past it at the stars. “Get used to it, buddy.” The clanking of the ship he’d long since learned to tune out, but seeing the stars? It never got old to him. They were just as beautiful every time he saw them, and it was easy to get lost looking at them as they went by. 
“Guess I’m gonna have to.” It was clear that Trevor was lost in thought, so Alfredo just nudged his hand from his shoulder and leaned to look around him at Jack. “How we lookin’? Smooth sailing?”
“Smooth sailing. No asteroids, no authorities, no other ships if we’re lucky. I’ll let you know if that changes, though. It’ll take us a while to get to our next stop, few days at the most.”
“Can this thing handle lightspeed?”
Jack and Lindsay both broke out into laughter, and even Trevor snapped out of his trance to join in. 
“Absolutely not,” Lindsay told him, laughing brightly. They took great pride in the Morrigan, but even they knew its limits. “We’ve been trying to get our hands on a new warp drive for a while now, but no such luck. We’re stuck inside this solar system for the time being, unfortunately.”
“Put my cut from the job towards one, then.” Trevor’s eyebrows shot up, and he met Alfredo’s eyes through the reflection once more. “I’m serious. The further you can travel, the better jobs you can get.” And even for short distances, Alfredo wasn’t really one for travelling at a space snail’s pace. “The better jobs you get, the more money you make.” 
Trevor couldn’t disagree with that logic, so he simply just nodded in approval. “I’ll start putting my cut towards one too, then.” 
“Seriously?” Jack piped up, “like Gavin doesn’t have enough to fix around here?”
The commander turned towards her, arching an eyebrow. “Everyone’s free to spend their cut on whatever they like, and that’s how Alfredo and I are choosing to use ours. Do I say anything when you spend it on baseball cards just cause Geoff and Gav talked about ‘em?”
“No…”
“No, I don’t. So, you mind your business, and I’ll mind mine.” Trevor could take a ribbing as good as the rest of the ship’s crew, but there were some things he just wouldn’t take. The ship was still a very sore subject for him. Jack let out a long sigh but nodded, knowing that there was no use in pushing the matter further. “So, Alfredo. You don’t have to stay here all the time, Lindsay’ll put an alarm out if there’s any immediate threats you’re needed for. I don’t expect you to be sitting here all day, every day. That’d just be mean.”
Alfredo nodded in understanding, spinning around in the chair to get a look at Trevor. “I’ll probably hang out here most of the day, though. Nice view, y’know? Plus I wouldn’t want Lindsay and Jack to get bored,” he joked, cracking a smile. 
“Good plan.” Trevor nodded in approval before he spun around to leave, though he lingered just out of sight. Alfredo was agreeable, almost too agreeable. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the guy, or that he cared if he was a troublemaker, but it was certainly an oddity to have a crewmember that actually wanted to do their job. There had to be a catch. There was always a catch. 
Jack scoffed from her seat once she thought Trevor was gone, glancing over at Alfredo from her terminal. “You let him walk all over you, dude.”
“He’s the boss, I’m gonna listen to him,” he responded simply, looking to her for barely a second before his eyes were back on the stars. 
“Yeah, but you can push back a little, he’s not gonna bite your head off for it.”
“He gets enough of that from the rest of you assholes.”
“Whoa, okay. Just trying to help.” 
Alfredo turned in his chair then, meeting Jack’s eyes. “I don’t need your help. Did you hear what Trevor said? ‘You mind your business, I’ll mind mine?’ That goes for me too.” He’d put up with enough bullshit from the other crews he’d been a part of and jobs he’d taken, and he wasn’t going to let this be like the rest of them. He knew the difference between letting himself get pushed over and keeping his head below the fenceline so he didn’t end up losing it. 
They stared each other down for a few long moments, sizing each other up. Jack realized then that she’d misjudged Alfredo. He wasn’t some rookie pilot pulled off the streets, he was the real deal, and he wasn’t going to take any shit from anyone. On the other hand, Alfredo realized that he’d judged Jack correctly, and he didn’t like antagonists much. He knew he’d warm up to her eventually, he had to if he didn’t want this whole thing to fall through, but that was an awfully bad start. 
Lindsay couldn’t stand the tension that was building in the room, making the air so thick that the vent system was having a hard time sucking it up for purification. So they did the only thing they could to break it: Sound a station-wide alarm. Trevor had to come out of his hiding spot then, running up to the main console to check the system. 
“Lindsay, what the hell’s going on?!” He asked, having to shout over the blaring alarm. 
“I don’t know, the alarm just started going off!” They shouted back, sounding panicked, although it was all an act. They pretended to flounder for a moment, making sure that there was enough time for the tension to fade entirely and that Alfredo and Jack had forgotten about their spat before they killed the alarm. “There! All sorted, I think it was just a crossed wire or something. Crazy, huh?” They could tell that Trevor didn’t quite believe them, but at least Jack and Alfredo had gotten back to work. “Maybe you should stick around for a bit, commander. Just to make sure nothing like that happens again.”
“Hm.” He hummed as he took a seat in the commander’s chair, kicking his feet up onto the console in front of him. There was no way to tell what they were playing at, but keeping an eye on the new recruit wasn’t exactly a bad idea, especially if Jack was going to be giving him trouble. “I think you’re right, Lindsay. Can’t be having any trouble on the bridge now, can we? Good call.”
“No commander, we can’t. And thank you.”
----------------------------------------------------
Things were quiet for a few days. Too quiet. There were the usual pranks and fights and other nonsense, but there were no large scale problems. Any commander would be happy about that and proud of their crew for avoiding disaster, but not Trevor. On the Morrigan, that meant there was a ticking time bomb hidden somewhere on the ship, and it was only a matter of time until it blew. He allowed himself to sleep, but only for a few hours at a time, and when he was awake he was on constant patrol. The previous longest record for going without a major incident was about three days, and it was now encroaching on a week. He wasn’t counting the detour they’d had to make to avoid some random authorities patrolling the system as a major incident, just a minor setback, so they were still due for something. 
When it hit a week since their last incident, he was almost convinced that he could relax, that he could let his guard down and accept that there was nothing waiting just around the bend for him. Almost. Barely a second after that thought crossed his mind, he heard footsteps quickly approaching from behind him.
“Hey, Trevor-boy!” Gavin called out for him, making him spin on his heels. “So, got a bit of a problem for you.” It was weird seeing someone relieved to learn there was a problem, but Trevor certainly looked that way. “There’s a lot of uh… Banging, coming from the storage deck.”
“Have you gone down there to check it out?” He asked, already knowing the answer before he even asked. 
“Absolutely not! Are you insane? Michael won’t go either, before you ask, you’re gonna have to go down there and look,” he informed him, and Trevor pinched the bridge of his nose. “Hey, don’t give me that! We don’t know what Alfredo brought on board, and I’m not trying to get eaten.”
“He promised me it wouldn’t kill us in our sleep.”
“That doesn’t mean it won’t kill us when we’re awake, though.”
Trevor sucked in a breath, holding it for a moment as he thought his next words over carefully. “Lindsay?” He called, his attention no longer on Gavin as he began to walk
The speaker system chimed to life, and Lindsay greeted the two of them cheerfully. “Yes, commander?”
“Where’s Alfredo?” 
There was a beat of silence as they checked all of their ocular systems. “He’s in the bridge, why?”
“Have him meet me down by the storage bay, would you? And have Michael bring down a few weapons, I don’t know what we’re dealing with. Can you tell if anything’s started moving down there?”
“There is a lot of movement down there, but I think whatever it is, it’s still in the crates.” The comms system buzzed as they went quiet, searching the cargo bay to make sure they weren’t sending their crew down into certain death. “Yeah, no, it’s definitely still contained.” There was a beat of silence before they whispered, “for now.”
That brought some relief, at least. Still, he didn’t want to go in there with nothing, just in case. At least they managed to hit a new record. He’d have to mark it on his calendar when he got back up to his quarters. 
He let Gavin get back to work somewhere along the way down to the bottom of the ship, waiting outside the door to the hold and tapping his foot as he waited for Alfredo and Michael to join him. As he opened his mouth to ask Lindsay to let them know he was waiting, he heard the telltale sound of yelling that signalled Michael’s approach. Alfredo was much quieter, but he had no doubt that he was in tow.
Still, he was impatient. Trevor always was when it came to the safety of his crew. If there was anything that had the potential to harm them, he wanted it dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible. There was no room for wasting time. He already had his hand out as Michael rounded the corner, and he didn’t lower it until he felt the weight of a gun settled in it. 
“Gave you your usual rifle, boss. Figured you’d want something reliable,” he explained, watching as Trevor inspected the rifle to make sure it was up to his standards. “Gave Fredo the harpoon gun, figured it might be handy and he said he’s used one of those before. Plus pistols for the both of you. Try not to miss your shots, though. Gavin’ll be pissed if he has to do a hull repair.” 
“Thank you, Michael. We’ll take it from here, but…” He trailed off, noticing that Michael himself was also armed with a variety of weapons. “Standby out here, just in case. Lindsay’ll let you know if we run into trouble.” They nodded at each other in understanding, the doors to the cargo bay sliding open in front of them. “Let’s go.”
Alfredo could only give a tiny nod himself, following behind the commander as they stepped into the hold. It was bright, the lights at full blast to make sure there weren’t any shadows to hide in. But that wasn’t enough to stop him from being nervous. His hands didn’t shake, but he was chewing on his bottom lip so much that it was starting to bleed, and every little noise made him raise the harpoon gun and aim. 
“You wanna tell me what’s in those crates?” Trevor asked as they worked their way towards the center of the hold, checking every nook and cranny as Lindsay kept them updated on any movement around them that was out of the ordinary. “I was fine with not knowing before, but-“ He was cut off by the sound of wood scraping against metal, dull thuds as whatever was inside of them grew restless. “But because of things like that, I can’t let things slide anymore.”
The other man hesitated, continuing to bite at his lip, but Trevor’s gaze was piercing and it made his blood run cold against his tongue. Nothing got past the commander, even the smallest of lies. “Plants. It’s plants.”
“Plants don’t move like that,” Trevor pointed out, and Alfredo couldn’t exactly refute his claim. “Now, what the hell is actually in these crates?”
“I’m being serious. It’s plants.” A beat of silence, more piercing stares, before he continued. “Mutant plants that were definitely overfed a ton of fertilizer and who only knows what else, but… Yeah. Plants.”
“Mutant… Plants?” The words fell slowly off of Trevor’s tongue, processing what they meant at the same time they left his mouth. “Just how mutant, exactly?”
“Depends. Some of ‘em are still pretty plant-like, but… Others are getting pretty close to Audrey II territory.” 
“As much as I appreciate the comparison, I’d appreciate a little more seriousness even more.” Alfredo murmured an apology, but Trevor’s silence made it clear that the time for talking was over. 
After a few more paces they reached the crates, specially marked to make it stand out from all of the other similar crates, but only to the trained eye. Sure enough, there was some banging coming from inside the crate, as well as some angry hissing, but it wasn’t exactly loud enough to be heard from the engineering deck, especially not over the roar of the engines either. If Gavin was able to hear it, it had to be something much bigger, much louder. 
They began to inspect the crates one by one, making sure each one was intact and tightening whatever screws had started to get knocked loose by the thrashing within. All the noise and movement had Trevor on edge, his heart racing and normally steady hands shaking each time he had to touch one of the boxes. 
“That’s all of them. Nine crates, all secure.”
Alfredo frowned, eyebrows furrowed together as his eyes flicked from crate to crate. “There should be ten here.” They both counted, and re-counted, and counted one last time for good measure. Sure enough, there were only nine crates with no sign of a tenth. 
“Lindsay, double-check the manifest for me?” They did, which only confirmed that there was a crate missing. Trevor’s face mirrored the pilot’s then, concern etched deep into their features. “Alfredo? Any explanations?” 
“Alright, this isn’t my fault.”
“I’m not saying it is, but I would still like an explanation. Or at least some way to make sense of… This.”
Alfredo shifted, uncomfortable under Trevor’s gaze. “Well… Best guess is that… Either Geoff miscounted or left one off the ship, or-“
“-Which is pretty likely-“
“-Or one of the plants escaped. Which is also pretty likely. Maybe even more likely.”
“Well. Shit.” They both hoisted up their weapons simultaneously, knowing that they couldn’t afford to get caught off guard by anything. “Lindsay, lock down the cargo bay! Nothing gets in or out of here, not even the two of us. If anything starts moving other than us or those crates, you tell us immediately, got it?”
“Sure thing, commander. There’s just… One teensy-tiny problem.”
Trevor groaned loudly, looking up at the speaker. “And that is what, exactly?”
“Well, you see… There’s so much movement in those crates that… I kinda can’t see any movement anywhere else in the ship, and especially not in the cargo bay. It throws my whole system off, I can’t see anything.”
He whirled around to look at Alfredo upon hearing that, rifle still raised, and for a second he thought that the commander was going to shoot him right where he stood. The thought crossed Trevor’s mind, he wasn’t going to lie about that, but he decided that it would be unwise. He needed someone to watch his back, even if that someone was the one who got him into this mess. Turning back around and marching on, he let out a very slow, very shaky breath as he tried to control his anger. 
“Alfredo?”
“Yes, sir?”
“You and I are going to stay in here and keep watch on the rest of these crates to make sure no more of these…” He trailed off, glaring back at the crates before his gaze was back on Alfredo. “Things escape before we reach our destination. Michael and Jack are going to be patrolling the rest of the ship to keep everyone else safe. I don’t know what the hell these things are capable of, and I’m assuming you don’t either, so we need to be on high alert. Got it?” 
Alfredo nodded quickly. “Yes sir.”
“Good. Now… Lindsay, how far away are we?”
“We’re about a day out. I’ll try and push the engines so we can get there faster but-”
“Don’t bother, I’d rather not blow the ship. Alfredo and I are just going to have to find some way to keep ourselves occupied.” 
A day stuck in the cargo hold with the commander, who was very armed and very angry, really wasn’t ideal for Alfredo, but he acknowledged that there were worse punishments he could be given. He was just glad that he’d already opted to put his cut towards the ship, because there was no way he’d be given all of it after this. 
----------------------------------------------------
“Got any sevens?”
“No, go fish. Got any threes?”
“Nope, go fishin’! Got any… Got any aces?”
There was a long moment of silence, and then: “This would be easier with cards. I don’t remember what I have or don’t have anymore.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
It had been several hours since the start of the cargo bay lockdown, and they were already running out of things to do. They’d searched the hold over and over until they found scrapes in the floor that lead to a splintered crate at the far end, but nothing that told them where the plant monster had run off to. Then, they reinforced all the remaining crates, doing what they could to make sure nothing else would try to escape and end up succeeding in their attempt. After that, they’d sort of run out of things to do to keep busy. “Imaginary Go Fish” was only entertaining the first time (though Trevor would disagree), and Lindsay had shut off all their sensors in the hold in an attempt to get everything else back in working order so they could help Michael and Jack. Not only were they cut off from the rest of the crew, but they were alone for the next twenty or so hours. 
“At least we’re down here with the supplies so we don’t starve,” Alfredo muttered, trying to find any possible brightside to the situation. 
Trevor hummed in agreement, standing up and shaking out his arms. “Yeah, at least we won’t starve,” he agreed, the slightest hint of mockery in his tone. He had yet to outright voice his displeasure, but he was sure Alfredo could put the pieces together. After stretching, he checked his watch. “Time for another walk around. You stay put.” 
Slumping against a crate, Alfredo nodded, making sure he had his own weapon in hand as Trevor readied his own and walked off. They did this every half hour or so. Trevor made him do the first few, but he must’ve gotten tired of sitting around because it was the first time he’d offered to go. 
His footsteps echoed off the thick metal walls of the hold, and Alfredo listened intently to them. The only other sounds were the dull thuds of the contained plant monsters and the usual creaks and groans of the Morrigan itself, but those were easy to tune out once they droned on long enough. When the footsteps stopped, it was like the hold went completely silent. 
He was immediately on edge, standing up quickly and hoisting the harpoon gun up as he went. “Trevor?” he called, taking a few hesitant steps forward. When there wasn’t an immediate response, he took a few more, heading towards where he’d last heard the other’s footsteps come from. 
“I’m fine,” Trevor called back after a minute, “Just stay there, everything’s fine!”
“You don’t sound too sure,” was the response he got, and he just let out a huff. 
It was true, he wasn’t too sure, because in a corner Alfredo had surely overlooked on his previous patrols, the plant had taken over. Its thorny vines stretched across the floors and up the walls, writhing and squirming as it supported the weight of what looked like a giant flower bud but… Flowers weren’t supposed to have teeth. That was the one thing that had been consistent across the planets he’d been to. Plants didn’t have teeth. “I’m not,” he muttered to himself, wondering why the hell he’d agreed to take this job in the first place. You needed a pilot, he reminded himself as he took slow, careful steps back in an effort not to startle the thing. But I don’t think we needed one this badly.
“What’s going on? I’m coming over there.”
Trevor turned around slowly, carefully, just in time to see Alfredo running up. “No, don’t!” he shouted, putting a hand up to stop him, but something stopped him instead. 
A vine wrapped itself tight around his arm, the thorns digging in deep and latching on. It had been resting peacefully before, able to slumber without being disturbed by the occasional movement and noise from the two men, but Trevor’s sudden shouting had woken it up. And it was not pleased. 
He cried out in pain, instinctively trying to pull his arm free, but it only made the vine hold on even tighter. It reminded him of those finger traps Jeremy had brought on board one time: the more he pulled, the more it constricted his arm. But unlike those finger traps, it had no intentions of letting go once Trevor relaxed. 
Alfredo stood there in shock, eyes wide and frozen in place until the commander barked out an order. He didn’t even register the words, just that he needed to move, and he needed to move now. Gavin was going to kill him for the damage later, but there was no time to aim the harpoon gun properly before he was pulling the trigger. Though it missed the bud by a few feet, the harpoon did manage to sever a few of its tendrils. The plant monster let out an ear-piercing shriek, untangling itself from Trevor in order to start scaling the wall and worming its way into an air vent. The metal of the grate covering it bent and snapped from the force, and the ends of several vines hung out through the remaining slats. 
“Nice work,” Trevor managed through gritted teeth, trying to pretend like his arm wasn’t bleeding as badly as it was and didn’t hurt nearly as much as it did. Alfredo saw through the act in less than a second, retrieving the harpoon before dropping the gun and approaching Trevor. 
“That looks… Bad. I should’ve given you my jacket,” he muttered, pushing his sleeve up to get a better look at the damage. Bruises were already starting to form where the vine itself had been, and there were several grisly cuts from the thorns, all bleeding pretty badly. “Fuck… Lindsay! We need Michael down here, now!”
Trevor pushed Alfredo’s hands off him before sinking to his knees and gripping his arm, trying to cover at least one of the cuts in an effort to stop the flow of blood. Whatever wasn’t soaked up by his shirt dripped down to the floor, creating a pretty sizable puddle beneath him that began to soak into the knees of his pants as well. “They can’t hear you… They shut down all their sensors for this room, remember?” There were a lot of flaws in their plan, he saw that now. But at least he knew that the beast was for sure in the cargo bay, not that there was anything that could be done about that right then. “There’s… There may be some emergency supplies by the door, Michael makes sure there’s some in every room.” Accidents happened everywhere, and the lad hated having to run all the way back to the medbay for a bandage every time someone got hurt. 
Once Alfredo had retrieved the medkit, he helped Trevor to his feet and guided him back to their makeshift campsite. The further they were from that vent, the better off they were, though the plant monster would easily be able to follow the trail of blood Trevor left behind right to them. They sat down together there, Trevor still clutching his arm as he leaned back against the crates with a soft groan. He was feeling a bit woozy, 
“I’m gonna… I’m gonna bandage this up for now, hopefully that stops the bleeding, or at least slows it,” Alfredo murmured, popping the kit open and breathing out an audible sigh of relief when he saw that it was fully stocked. “Thank the stars,” he breathed, almost smiling as he grabbed a roll of gauze and began to wrap up Trevor’s arm. He was silent as he worked, faltering when the other spoke up. 
“Can we please talk?” he asked softly, eyes meeting Alfredo’s when he looked up. “I’d really like something else to focus on other than the pain.” 
“I thought you were mad at me?”
“I was… I am, but… I’d still rather talk than sit in silence.”
“Oh.” He continued to wrap his arm, securing it with some tape once he was done. “What would you like to talk about?”
“Anything. Something. I really don’t care.” He held his arm to his chest, cradling it in an effort to soothe the pain. 
“Well, how’d you become in charge of your own ship?” Alfredo asked, settling in beside him and leaning against the crate as he began to rummage through the medkit. 
Trevor chuckled quietly, turning his head to look over at the other. “Now that is a very long story, but… I guess we’ve got the time.” He checked his watch, taking a deep breath. “I worked on a lot of ships that treated their crews like shit. Treated their ships like shit too, honestly. I bailed on one before my contract was up once I had enough credits saved up, hid at one of the starports until they stopped searching for me, and then… I bought a ship of my own. It was small at first, real small. Couldn’t do much with it, couldn’t really go anywhere with it either, but I managed to swing a few small jobs.” He stared off into the distance as he spoke, looking out the small port windows at the stars outside the ship. It had been a while since he’d thought about any of this, even longer since he’d talked about it, but there was a fond smile as he did. “I don’t miss any of the bullshit at the start.”
Alfredo listened intently, a small stack of things from the kit forming in front of him. More gauze, disinfectant, rags, a suture and thread. He wasn’t really thrilled about the prospect of stitching up Trevor, but those wounds were so deep that something more needed to be done. “I don’t think anyone here misses the bullshit at the start. I sure had my fair share.” 
“How did you get started, then?”
“I used to be a pilot back on Earth. I was good at my job, really good, so they bumped me up to piloting shuttles between the colonies. After a while, I guess I got sick of seeing the same places over and over again,” he explained, letting out a soft ‘a ha!’ as he pulled a bottle of painkillers from the bottom of the kit. “Lotta ships need good pilots, and they paid better than the other gig, so I jumped ship, so to speak.” Shaking out a few pills, he passed them to Trevor who swallowed them down dry with a grimace. Anything to help the pain. “Never really wanted to own my ship, seemed like too much work, but… I was cool with piloting them. I get paid to see space, how cool is that?”
“It is a lot of work,” he agreed, still trying to get the pills down. “Sometimes, it’s too much work. But at the end of the day, it’s all worth it.” 
Alfredo was quiet for a few long moments, the silence hanging heavy between them. “Will this be worth it?” 
“Yes.” Trevor didn’t need to think about his answer as much as Alfredo had needed to think about his question. “Absolutely. You seem surprised.”
“But you got hurt. That thing could have killed you!”
“But it’s still in the cargo bay, and it didn’t hurt anyone in my crew. Better me than anyone else.” His crew was his family, and if he had to get hurt to keep them safe, so be it. It was a small price he was willing to pay. 
Alfredo scoffed and shook his head. “I don’t get you.”
“What?”
“No commander gives this much of a shit about their crew.” No captain gave their crew an equal cut, they always took more for themselves. No captain would sacrifice themself for their crew, they always forced their crew to do the sacrificing for them. No captain would adopt a broken AI like one would a stray cat. It just didn’t happen. “Not a single one. I’ve been trying to figure out your game from the start, and I just… I can’t.” The laughing only added to his confusion. 
“I know. No other commander does, but I do. And you’re gonna have to get used to it, Alfredo. All those assholes on the other side of the door are my family, and I’d sooner die for them than let anything bad happen to them,” he stated firmly, making sure the other was looking at him and meeting his eyes as he spoke. “There’s no game, no ulterior motive. You’re part of that family now too, so you’re just gonna have to learn to live with it.”
It had been a long time since Alfredo had been a part of any family, since anyone had accepted him so completely so quickly. While he didn’t fully trust Trevor just yet, he trusted him more than he had a few minutes ago. “Alright. I’ll learn to live with it.”
----------------------------------------------------
Alfredo was silent as he worked to stitch up Trevor’s arm, hands steady as he did so. He’d spent some time cleaning up the now dried blood, disinfecting the wounds and getting a better look at them. Some of the cuts were only surface wounds, already scabbed over and barely noticeable, but others were pretty gruesome. He didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to freak Trevor out, but he was pretty sure that he could see bone in a few of them. “Michael’s gonna have to redo these, but they’ll hold for now,” he murmured, tying off the last one and bandaging him up again before things got too bloody again. 
“How bad am I, doc? Am I gonna make it?” Trevor asked, really glad that he’d taken some more painkillers because he couldn’t imagine all of those stitches would feel great in a few minutes. 
“Yeah,” Alfredo said with a soft smile, taping down the end of the gauze. “You’ll make it.” I hope. 
----------------------------------------------------
As hour six rolled around, the comms hissed with static and a few musical beeps, surprising Alfredo and making him lift his head. He and Trevor had decided that sleeping was a pretty good way to kill time, so the commander had ended up fast asleep and slumped with his head on Alfredo’s shoulder. The other man hadn’t been so lucky, wide awake and checking every few minutes to make sure that he hadn’t gone and died on him. 
“Lindsay?” he asked softly, hoping they’d see the situation and match his tone. 
“Alfredo! What the hell happened?” They could see everything the second their cameras were back online: The broken vent grate, the vines coming out of the grate, the severed tendrils on the floor, the puddle and trail of brown dried blood leading to Alfredo and a very injured Trevor. “Is he… He’s not dead, is he?”
“No, he’s alive. We found the plant, and it… It got him good,” he explained, tipping his head forward to make sure Trevor was still asleep. “I patched him up, but… He’s gonna need a lot more than some stitches.”
“I’ll get Michael to come down-”
“No,” he stated, and Lindsay let out a soft scoff of indignation. “No one else comes down here. If you lift the lockdown, that thing’ll get free run of the station through the vents. We’ll be fine… We’ve got food and water, this kit’s got enough supplies to last us, and… I think as long as we leave it alone, it’ll leave us alone.” 
Lindsay hummed as they scanned the room. The plants in the crates had calmed down a little bit, and as far as they could tell the one in the vents was perfectly still, only shifting every now and then but not making any grand movements. “What should we do, then?”
“Make sure everyone else evacuates the ship the second we touch down and send Michael down here with a flamethrower. We’ll take a bit of a hit to our pay because we’ll be short a crate, but I don’t care. I want that thing dead.” 
“I’m sure the commander feels the same way… Are you sure he’s gonna be okay?” They asked, dimming the lights a little. If it was dark, the plants would probably stay calmer. It would make sleeping a little easier for the pair as well. 
Alfredo bit his lip, shrugging a shoulder before shaking his head. “No, but I’m trying to be optimistic.” He leaned his head back against the crate and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh of relief he’d been holding for far too long. With Lindsay back, it meant he wasn’t alone. There was a buffer between him and the commander, someone to help fill the silence. 
They were quiet for a few minutes as they relayed information to the rest of the crew, before the comms crackled in the hold once more. “You should try and sleep too, ‘Fredo. Now that we know where it is, I can keep an eye on it.” 
“No, I gotta make sure he’s still breathing.”
“I can keep an eye on him too. The crates are quiet, so all my sensors are in working order. His heart rate is normal, if a bit weak, but he’s breathing fine. You should rest.”
He didn’t really have the energy to argue with them further, so he relented. “Wake us in a few hours. I’m gonna have to change his bandages and clean those wounds. Michael’ll kill me if I let those get infected.”
“Yes, he will.”
----------------------------------------------------
As hour twelve rolled around, Lindsay brightened the lights slowly and chimed softly to wake the pilot and the commander. They hoped that the plants wouldn’t be disturbed as well, but considering how long it took the pair to wake up, they weren’t really too concerned. 
“Trevor,” Alfredo said softly, jostling him gently with his shoulder. His ass and his neck ached from sleeping on the hard metal floor in such an awkward position, and he was sure that the other man would need another round of painkillers too. “Trevor, c’mon man. Wake up.” 
He did so with great reluctance, groaning softly as he registered several different aches and pains. “Was this really necessary?”
“Yeah, it was. Gotta change your bandages so Michael won’t have to cut off your arm,” he said, encouraging him to sit up before reaching for the supplies in front of him. “Or my head.”
Trevor laughed softly, starting to stretch his arms out over his head before he stopped short, wincing and clutching his bandaged arm to his chest. “Fuck… I thought that was a dream,” he muttered, eyes squeezed shut. 
“I wish it was,” Alfredo sighed, “But while you were sleeping, we got Lindsay back. So that’s good, at least. Told them everything. They wanted to send Michael down here, but I told them not to.”
“And why the hell did you do that?” Trevor winced as Alfredo started to unwrap the gauze. Despite how careful he was being, it still pulled at the cuts uncomfortably. 
“Because,” he started, murmuring an apology when he saw him wince and trying to go slower. “If the lockdown gets lifted, that thing can go through the vents and go anywhere it wants, which is bad.”
Trevor hummed in agreement, but it was reluctant. He didn’t like knowing Alfredo had been giving orders while he’d been asleep, even if they were the same ones he would’ve given. “What’d you tell them to do, then?”
“Keep the lockdown going, evacuate everyone once we land, and then send Michael down here. With a flamethrower.”
“Good thinking.”
“Why, thank you.” 
They fell into a comfortable silence then, Alfredo removing the last of the gauze and cleaning up his arm. The bleeding had stopped, thankfully, so now it was just a focus on preventing infection, which he hoped would be easy enough. It would be even easier once they got back on solid ground, when Michael could actually get in here and kill the thing. Bullets probably wouldn’t do the trick, they’d just piss Gavin off by causing damage to the ship, but fire was pretty damn effective in every circumstance. 
“Lindsay?” Trevor called softly, feeling instantly comforted when he heard their voice over the speakers. “Where is the thing? Still in the vent?”
“Yep. Still in the vent. It’s almost cute like this, even if it did try to eat you.”
“It didn’t… It didn’t try to eat me.”
“Sure, sure. Whatever you say, commander. Oh, and Matt would like me to tell you that he thinks it’s hilarious you got your ass kicked by a plant.”
Trevor huffed, rolling his eyes and sinking back against the crates. Even when he was isolated from his crew, they still found a way to pester him. 
Beside him, Alfredo shrugged off his jacket, flipping it inside out so the soft lining was visible before balling it up. “You should get some more rest,” he said as he held it out to Trevor. “It’s not much, but it’ll be better for your neck than the crate.”
He hesitated a moment before taking it, sinking right down to the floor to lay flat since he had a pillow now. “It’s weird seeing you without your jacket on.” Alfredo had been wearing it from the moment he’d met him until now, he hadn’t seen him with it off once. 
“He even wears it to bed,” Lindsay piped up, laughing as Alfredo’s face went as red as the leather. 
“I do not!” He shouted defensively, glaring up at the ceiling.  “It’s just part of my style, that’s all.” 
“Relax,” Trevor chuckled, reaching out blindly to pat Alfredo’s arm. He missed and hit leg instead, but neither of them said anything. “I wasn’t making fun of you. It’s a good style, I like it.” He turned his head, looking up at Alfredo with a small smile. 
The other couldn’t help but smile back, getting comfortable against the box behind him. He didn’t know why that compliment made him feel so warm, but he was lucky that his face was already red from Lindsay’s teasing so it didn’t give him away. “Thanks, Trev.”
“Anytime, Fredo.” 
----------------------------------------------------
The hours rolled by easily, the pair spending most of them asleep because there wasn’t much else to do. They woke up a few times so Alfredo could change the bandages, munching on some rations at one point since the last meal they’d had was breakfast that morning. Chatting with Lindsay was another good way to pass the time, too. They were able to keep the crew updated on the situation down in the hold, and keep the commander updated on things going on on the other side of the door. There wasn’t much going on, just a lot of worry, but Trevor still didn’t want to be out of the loop. 
Once they’d slept as much as they could and talked to Lindsay until there was nothing more to talk about, they decided to do the only thing they could to pass the final few hours before the ship landed: Talk to each other. 
“You said you used to work on Earth. What was that like?” Trevor asked, looking down at Alfredo. They swapped who got to use the jacket-pillow every couple of hours, and since they weren’t going to be sleeping anymore Trevor had decided to surrender it back to its original owner (even though it was still technically his turn for another thirty minutes). 
“You’ve never been?” he asked, sticking an arm beneath his head to prop himself up as he looked back at the commander, who shook his head. “I mean, it was fine? I guess? Kinda boring compared to space. The sky was always the same, and there were way too many people. Have you seriously never been to Earth?”
“No, I grew up out in the Terra 2 colony. Then I got sucked up into a spacer crew, and that was it. Never saw any reason to go once I got the Morrigan, and now without a warp drive we’re too far out.”
“I’m shocked a job hasn’t taken you there, people there are always looking for stuff smuggled in from the far reaches,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. Customs was a bitch to get by, but he still had a few buddies down there who’d be willing to let them through. He was sure of it. “Once we get that drive, we’ll pick up a few jobs that’ll take us there.”
“Whatever you say, man. But you didn’t exactly make it sound worth the hype.”
“Oh, it’s absolutely not, but still. I can’t believe you’ve never been!” 
Talking to Trevor was a lot easier than it had been before. He wasn’t as scared of him, and a lot of the distrust had faded. The feeling was mutual, as well. The commander wasn’t angry at Alfredo anymore, because ultimately, none of this was his fault. He was the one who hadn’t checked in on the cargo sooner, he was the one who’d startled the monster, all of this fell on his shoulders because it was his ship and he was responsible for everything that happened on it.
“I’m sorry,” Trevor said out of nowhere, almost startling Alfredo with the suddenness of it. “I’m sorry I blamed all this on you.”
“It’s fine.” He hadn’t been expecting an apology from the commander. Maybe a month or two on bathroom cleaning duty, sure, but not an apology. “We both had our fuckups in this mess.”
“We did, but it’s unfair to blame the whole thing on you. Most of it, sure?” Alfredo cut him a look, and he just laughed. “Kidding. I’m kidding! Don’t give me that. It’s really more like… Fifty/fifty.”
“Sixty/forty. You’re the sixty.”
“Yeah, okay. Fair enough.” 
They grinned at each other, oblivious to the way the ship began to creak and groan around them as Lindsay initiated the landing sequence. The plants in the crates kicked up again, but the one in the vents was still. 
“You know what? You’re alright, Fredo. Gavin was right about you.” 
Alfredo’s face matched his jacket all over again, and he had to fight hard to get the words out despite how flustered he was. Trevor hadn’t called him by any sort of nickname until now, it made him feel good to know that the commander was finally warming up to him. “What… What did he say about me, exactly?”
“That you were the best of the best. And he was right. Normally he’s not right about these things, but… He nailed it with you.”
“You sure you’re not still woozy from blood loss?” Alfredo asked, arching an eyebrow as he sat up, meeting Trevor’s eyes. “Because I know we just did that whole heartfelt apology thing, but… I definitely almost got you killed.”
He shook his head fervently. “No, you didn’t. You saved my life.” 
“Well, I wasn’t going to let you die.” 
“And I owe you big time for that.”
The ship jostled as it landed on uneven earth, and Alfredo grabbed onto Trevor quickly to prevent him from sliding around with the crates around them. Even as things settled, he didn’t let go, hearing something hiss in annoyance from the far end of the cargo hold. 
“Lindsay… Please tell us Michael’s on his way,” Trevor said, sinking back into the pilot in an effort to hide as he scrambled to grab the harpoon gun. 
“He’s outside the door, we’re just waiting for everyone to be off the ship so I can lift the lockdown. I suggest staying out of his way… He’s been wanting to use that thing for the last eighteen hours, and I don’t think anything’s gonna get in his way.”
“If he dies, Alfredo’s the new medical officer.”
“Noted.”
Using a flamethrower while they were in flight was unwise because of the oxygen rich environment, but back on terra firma it was the perfect weapon for dealing with unruly plant monsters. Michael’s cackles of delight echoed off the walls, mixing with the roar of the weapon and the shrieks of the plant as it burned. The noises kicked off another escape attempt in the other crates, but the reinforcements they’d made held firm. Only a few crates of supplies got caught up in the crossfire, and Michael was relatively unharmed aside from the ash staining his lab coat. 
Alfredo let the harpoon drop from his hands once he realized he wouldn’t be needing it, instead helping Trevor to his feet and keeping him steady as they made their way to the bay doors. “Michael,” he said, watching as the man kept scorching the charred remains. “Michael!” He stopped firing quickly, whirling around with wide eyes. “Stop dicking around, Trevor needs help.” 
“A thank you would’ve been nice,” Michael muttered as he dropped the weapon, knowing he’d need his hands free to help Trevor. 
“Thank you, Michael. Now help him, please?”
“Yeah, yeah. Lindsay told me that you were trying to steal my job, I just hope you didn’t make things worse,” he said as he swapped places with Alfredo, supporting Trevor’s weight to make sure he wouldn’t fall. “Alright, Trevor-boy, let’s get you to the infirmary.” He started to lead him out of the cargo hold, and Alfredo watched them go for a second before turning to start cleaning the mess they’d left behind up. 
Trevor stopped after a few paces, glancing over his shoulder. “You’re not coming?” he asked, the smallest hint of a frown etched into his features. 
“Uh.” Alfredo blinked, not sure how to answer. “No?”
“Yes, you are. C’mon.”
“Why?”
“I need someone there for moral support. Michael’s not as gentle as you are and I need someone’s hand to hold while he patches me up.” Trevor cracked a grin despite the fact that he wasn’t telling a joke, and Alfredo mirrored the expression after a moment to process exactly what he’d said. “Come on, I don’t have all day,” he insisted, holding out his hand towards him as Michael began to pull him along. 
Alfredo jogged to catch up to them, abandoning the task at hand in favor of taking Trevor’s hand. He was happy to have escaped the cargo bay alive, and even happier to know that he was back in the commander’s good graces. Their relationship was different, stronger and a lot friendlier than it had been now that they were no longer wary of each other. Trevor couldn’t think of a single member of the crew that he would’ve rather gone through that ordeal with, either. 
“Thanks for not letting the boss die, Fredo,” Michael said, cutting into the silence once they reached the infirmary. 
“Yeah, thanks for not letting me die, Fredo,” Trevor agreed, smiling kindly at him and giving his hand a squeeze. 
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
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everamazingfe · 3 years
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You Can Ride On My Rocket 69 - Chapter Twelve
A Song About Strength
Fic Summary: Jeremy has recently awoken in this strange world, 210 ten years after he was put to sleep, and is now the lone survivor from his vault. Trevor's a radio host from Diamond City who's barely left the station, lonely in his own right and isolated from the rest of the Wastes. When they meet, Trevor finally gets a chance to see the rest of the wasteland like he's always wanted, though Jeremy becomes more of his bodyguard than Trevor does his companion. They meet various people along the way, some being friends like the odd throuple they meet in one of the neighboring city, or foe like a certain Diamond City guard. Both are wary about bringing up their pasts, but the wasteland has a strange way of bringing people together.
Chapter Summary: Jeremy faces a setback in the search for his husband, but Trevor finds some courage. This chapter's song is "Mighty Mighty Man" by Roy Brown. 
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Words in this chapter: Pairings: Jeremy/Trevor, Michael/Gavin/Lindsay, Jeremy/Matt Warnings for this chapter: Threats of violence, blood, gun violence, gore. The end of this chapter gets a little violent/graphic.
Notes: There’s a link to the first chapter of this fic as the source of this post! Click it to go read this fic over on A O 3, or you can search up the title or ‘everamazingfe’ on the site! 
Also, I won't be posting a new chapter on the 1st/2nd of April because I've been getting very bogged down by schoolwork, and I just don't have the energy for everything I want to do. The next chapter will be posted on the 15th/16th of April. See you then!
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When Trevor woke up the next morning, there was a moment of confusion before he realized where he was, and who he was next to. He was much warmer than he was used to being, but it wasn’t the unpleasant and sweaty warmth that came after a nightmare. It was comfortable and made him feel safe. Until he cracked an eye open, he had no idea that the source of it was Jeremy. They had their arms wrapped around each other loosely and their legs tangled together, the other man’s head tucked beneath his chin as he snored softly. The sight made him smile, though the sound kicked off a headache. He squeezed his eyes shut with a soft groan, holding Jeremy tighter. Maybe if he just ignored the pain, he’d be able to go back to sleep. The sun was only just starting to rise, Diamond City wasn’t far, and Geoff probably wasn’t going to be expecting them for a while. He had time.
Besides, Jeremy was still sound asleep. As far as he knew, it was the first restful sleep either of them had gotten in months. He wasn’t about to do anything to disturb that. So he settled in again with ease, pulling the blankets up over their heads to block out the beams of sunlight shining through the cracks in the plywood.
The Rexford was still quiet in the early hours of the morning, the only residents bothering to be awake at this hour were some of the ghouls getting ready for early morning patrol shifts. They had enough common courtesy to keep quiet, though. As quiet as they could manage in a centuries old building that creaked with each minute movement, at least. The wood was half rotten and the glass had been knocked out of the windows by the bomb and by the weather, that was the case with every building in town, but the residents of Good Neighbor had worked hard to try and keep everything sturdy and functional. It was a good place to be. Some might even say it was more welcoming than Diamond City, particularly a certain radio host. 
In addition to the neighborhood watch, another small group of people were awake in those early hours. But they hadn’t even gone to sleep yet, to be fair. 
“I hope everything went well at the Den, Trevor seemed a little… I don’t know. Worked up when he came by?” Gavin asked, both Michael and Lindsay nodding in agreement as they lay together on the bed, tangled together and sprawled over each other in various ways. “Picked up a lot of beers for someone who doesn’t usually drink.”
“Maybe they were for Jeremy?” Lindsay pitched, lifting their head from Michael’s chest to look over at the other. 
The bartender shrugged, sighing softly. “Hopefully not. Even for someone who does drink on the reg, that was a lot.”
“Would you both please… Shut up? They probably split them,” Michael muttered, running his fingers through Lindsay’s hair to get them to relax and lay back down. “We can ask tomorrow, right now some of us are trying to sleep.” He still tried to maintain some semblance of a sleep schedule, without one he got rather cranky, but his two partners loved to work against him on that front. Despite the two of them being regular humans, a lack of sleep didn’t seem to affect them. 
Lindsay giggled, planting a kiss to his cheek before pulling their boyfriends close. “He’s right. We should. Bar’s gonna be busy tonight.” That wasn’t anything unusual, it was busy every night, but reminding Gavin that they had actual work to do usually did the trick with settling him down. Otherwise, he’d be throwing around hypothetical questions all morning long without anyone getting a wink of sleep. Michael had learned how to tune them out years ago, but Lindsay didn’t quite have that luck yet. 
As the trio managed to go to sleep, a few floors away it was Jeremy’s turn to wake up. Instead of confusion greeting him, there was a moment of excitement as he thought he was waking up in his husband’s arms. The shitty old beds of the hotel felt exactly like the bunks they’d had to sleep in when they were deployed, the two of them squeezing onto a twin-sized mattress with springs that dug into their sides and creaked with every movement. There was even a fleeting thought, a hint of a memory that came to the surface in the moment of semi-consciousness before he was fully awake. 
“Matt?” He asked, voice low and gravelly as he lifted his head only to see that the man who he was wrapped up in wasn’t his husband. It was Trevor. That realization was only somewhat disappointing. Still, he let out a sigh and laid his head back down on the pillows, pulling back from the other a little bit. If Trevor woke up, he didn’t want him to be uncomfortable. He didn’t know that the other had already woken up and was more than okay with their sleeping arrangement. 
Jeremy stayed there for a while, alternating between looking at Trevor and the hints of sunlight peeking through the old wood that covered the windows. The dust danced around in the beams and made him dizzy. After a few minutes of that he sat up, gently reaching a hand out to touch Trevor’s shoulder and gently shake him awake. “Trev, wake up,” he murmured, smiling fondly as the other whined and stirred. “C’mon, got a busy day ahead of us. Can’t spend it all in bed.” Oh how he wished they could, though. 
Trevor put up with the shaking for a few moments before he got fed up, knowing that Jeremy wasn’t going to be relenting and that there was no chance he was going to be able to sleep for even a few more minutes. “Okay! I’m up.” He swatted at the other’s hand, rolling onto his back and trying to adjust to the headache and the brightness of the room all over again. It was a lot more difficult the second time around. He groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to wipe away the headache. “Does this happen every time you drink?” He asked him, peeking up at him through his fingers. 
He chuckled softly, shrugging a shoulder. “Kinda? You learn to ignore it after a while. Med-X usually helps some too, if I’m honest.” He had a bit of a headache, but nothing too bad though. “Water too, but… That’s in short supply these days.”
“When we get back to the city, we can stock up at Shen’s. But in the meantime, I’ll take that Med-X.”
----------------------------------------------------
Diamond City was the same as it always was: the market was bustling and full of people, guards patrolled the streets or hung out at their posts, and the mayor looked out at it all from his office. Trevor noticed one very important thing once they were inside the city limits, though. Even with all the guards and people around, he just didn’t feel safe there, and it didn’t feel like home. Inside the Home Plate was a little different. The mayor couldn’t glare holes into the back of his head there and Ian, if he was even still alive, couldn’t get to him either. Out in the open he felt way too exposed. 
Jeremy didn’t exactly feel safe there anymore either, constantly on high alert and keeping an ear out for the first sign of trouble. He was less concerned about his own safety, and more about Trevor’s. 
With how busy the city was during the middle of the day, Jeremy was extra conscious of making sure Trevor didn’t end up lost in the crowd. He hadn’t even given it a second thought when he’d grabbed the other’s hand, guiding him through the crowd and keeping him close, not noticing what he’d done until they’d reached the detective agency. 
“Hey there, boys!” Geoff greeted, clapping his hands together and grinning as the two walked through the door. He glanced at their joined hands and shared a look with Ellie, his grin turning to a knowing smirk before he steeled himself and cleared his throat. “You ready to go check out Kellogg’s place?” 
Jeremy quickly took his hand out of Trevor’s, clearing his throat as well and wiping it on his pants. “Uh, yeah. Ready.” He knew that it wasn’t really anything to be embarrassed over, but that didn’t stop a light flush from rising to his cheeks. “I remembered something else, too… In case it’s helpful,” he added, and Geoff’s eyebrows rose as he waited for Jeremy to continue. “His name was-... Is Matt. My husband. His name is Matt.” 
Geoff grinned at that, pulling out his notebook. “That is very helpful, Jeremy. It confirms that Kellogg’s our guy. That’s what he said his friend was named when he passed through, right Ellie?”
She nodded, typing something up on her typewriter and nodding. “That’s right, Matt Bragg. And he certainly matches the description you gave.” 
“Then we’re on the right track. Let’s get going.”
----------------------------------------------------
As far as Jeremy was concerned, Kellogg’s house was a bust. First, it had been locked up tight and virtually impossible to break into. The lock on the door was more complicated than any one he’d encountered in the wastes before. The only reason they’d gotten in was because of Trevor, and he didn’t want to know where he’d gotten that skill from. Then, anything useful was hidden behind a secret room that had been a real pain to get into, and there turned out to be nothing useful there at all. Some half burned cigars and empty beer bottles, but nothing that would actually tell them where he’d gone. 
“San Francisco Sunlights… Kind of a rare brand around these days, they’re pre-war, but…” Geoff trailed off, picking up the cigar box and turning it over in his hands a few times. 
“But?” Trevor asked, arching an eyebrow and looking towards Jeremy. The man was leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, eyes on the floor. His frustration was palpable and intense, and Trevor just felt bad for him. 
 “But unless you’ve got a sniffer dog, there’s not much more I can do for you.” Geoff sighed, passing Jeremy the box. “I’m sorry, Jeremy.” 
He took the box, staring at it wordlessly. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he let out a huff as he shoved it away with the rest of his junk. “So that’s it?” He asked, lifting his gaze to meet Geoff’s eyes. “This is the end of the line? After all of that, after what I’ve been through, we’re just… Done?”
“There’s nothing else to be done, kid. You could ask one of the guards if they’d be willing to spare one of their dogs,” Geoff said, pausing and glancing at Trevor for a split second before his eyes were back on Jeremy’s. “But I don’t know if anyone would be willing.” 
Jeremy balled up his fists at his side, closing his eyes and breathing hard. “Great. Just… Just great. Thanks for your help, Geoff. I’ll let you know if I find out anything else.” 
“Happy to help,” he assured, waving the comment off before turning to leave. He paused next to Trevor, leaning in and whispering, “Don’t let him do anything stupid,” before walking out of the door.
It took Jeremy a few minutes to compose himself, but that didn’t happen before he punched the wall. “It’s not fair!” He shouted, oblivious to the way Trevor had backed away as the drywall dust clouded his vision. “We’ve been through so much! You put up with so much of my shit, we walked so far, and… And for what?” Shaking out his hand, he let out a frustrated huff. The outburst had helped, all of his anger fizzling away all at once into something heavier and harder to deal with. “Let’s just go home. Figure out what to do. Maybe find a dog.”
Trevor nodded, hesitating before stepping forward and offering Jeremy his hand. “Diamond City has a lot of strays,” he told him, giving his hand a squeeze when the other took it. He hated those sudden fits of anger, those moments where Jeremy lost his temper, but he didn’t know how to help other than being there for him. That was starting to get harder, though. “But going home sounds nice.”
They walked out of Kellogg’s house together, walking quickly away from the stands and back towards the market. The crowds had started to clear out, but there weren’t any less guards around. Diamond City took safety seriously, for some of its citizens at least. The rest were left to fend for themselves.
As Jeremy dug through his pockets for the key to the Home Plate, Trevor scanned the market. They’d have to stock up on supplies before they set up again, but who knew when that would be. Without being on the hunt for Jeremy’s husband, they didn’t have much reason to go out. As Trevor looked over the people, he locked eyes with someone through Takahashi’s stand. “Uh, Jeremy? Can you maybe… Find your keys a little bit faster?”
“I’m working on it, Trev, just… Give me a sec, I’ve got a lot of shit in my pockets.”
Trevor swallowed hard, not looking away from the man who was staring right back at him. He couldn’t. “Jeremy,” he said through gritted teeth, nudging him roughly with his elbow to get his attention. 
“Trevor, what?” He snapped, whirling around to cut him a glare. But Trevor wasn’t looking at him. He followed the other’s gaze with a deep frown, letting out an, “oh fuck,” when he saw what had attracted his attention. “Shit. Okay, hang on.” He turned back to the door, pulling out his keys right as the man began to take steps towards them. 
“‘Ey, Trevor! Jer’my!” 
Jeremy rushed to unlock the door once he had his keys in hand, shoving Trevor inside. “You get anywhere within ten feet of his door, and I’ll blow your head off right where you stand!” He shouted, pulling out his pistol and aiming it at him for added effect. 
“I just wan’ t’ talk!”
“Fuck you, Ian. You don’t deserve to even look at him, let alone talk to him,” he spat before slamming the door, locking it and shoving some furniture in front of it for good measure. “God, I wish I could set up turrets in here.”
Trevor was already sitting on his bed, pulling off his armor to tuck it away in the trunk at the foot of it. “You told me he was dead,” he stated simply, looking up at Jeremy before he got back to untying his boots. “Why did you lie?”
“I didn’t lie, I just… Didn’t know. I thought he was dead! I had hoped he was dead,” he confessed, sitting down on his own bed to start doing the same. He was quiet for a few moments, biting his lip in thought before he spoke again. “Do you want him to be?” He asked in a murmur. 
Trevor paused, frowning. “I really can’t talk about this right now, Jeremy.” 
“Right, right. Sorry. But the offer’s still there.” Maybe he should have some reservations about killing someone, but his time in the army had desensitized him to that, even two hundred years after the fact. Plus, in his eyes, it was worth it. It was only fair after what he’d done to Trevor.
“Maybe another time... You got anymore of those yao guai steaks? I’m starving.”
Jeremy chuckled and nodded, shucking off the last of his gear and throwing it into his trunk. “Yeah, lemme cook them up so you don’t get rad poisoning again.”
“It was one time! And you’re the one who didn’t tell me that it was pre-war food!” Trevor wrinkled his nose and grimaced. “That was the worst thing I’d ever eaten, though. I should’ve stopped after the first bite, but I was just so hungry.”
“Don’t worry, that’s not gonna happen again.”
----------------------------------------------------
In the morning as he sat on the edge of his bed, halfway through putting his boots on, Jeremy realized that priorities had shifted. Finding his husband was still very important to him, that hadn’t changed, but keeping Trevor safe had bumped that down to second place. Trevor was his first priority now. It felt like the shift had happened overnight because of how sudden the realization was, though in reality it had slowly been happening over the course of their time together. The latest setback had just been the catalyst. 
“Do you have any plans for that loft up there?” Trevor asked, nodding towards the staircase from his own bed. When he’d been laid up from his head injury, Jeremy had worked on furnishing the place and making repairs, but the second floor loft had remained empty. Right then it served as a stopping point on the way up to the third level’s bathroom, but it felt weird empty like that. 
The question pulled Jeremy out of his thoughts, and he hummed softly. “No, not really. Maybe just storage? I dunno.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Why?”
“I wanna move some of my radio equipment here. That space is bigger than my trailer, probably. It’d be perfect. But I don’t wanna impose.” 
Jeremy shook his head quickly, putting a hand up to stop him. “Trevor, I got this place for us. You can do whatever the hell you want with it, alright? It’s just as much your place as it is mine. I’ll even help you move the stuff.”
“Really?” Trevor asked, his face lighting up. “Thanks, Jer.”
“Of course, Trev. Anything for you.”
He knew that was just a thing that people say when the favor wasn’t a big inconvenience to them, but for some reason Trevor felt like Jeremy genuinely meant it when he said that. It made him smile despite the butterflies in his stomach. 
----------------------------------------------------
“Oh, this one’s a good one too! As soon as this song’s done, we have to listen to this one,” Trevor said, pulling a disc out of the filing cabinet and waving it around for Jeremy to see before setting it down on top of it. “Actually, fuck it, I’m putting it on now.”
Moving the equipment from the trailer to the Home Plate hadn’t really taken much time, but packing the discs away into boxes to bring them over too was taking forever. Each time he found a CD that had a track on it that he liked, Trevor had to stop and explain to him exactly why he liked it and all of the nuances of each lyric. As endearing as it was, Jeremy had really been hoping to get this done before sundown. 
“Trev-” He’d started to speak, about to ask him to speed things up a little, but a knock on the door interrupted him. Both he and Trevor frowned, looking at each other in confusion, though the latter was frozen in place. He set down the box on the bed, shutting off the music and opening the door a little. “Oh, fuck no. No. Get the fuck out of here,” Jeremy spat, slamming the door shut, but a heavy boot jammed between it and the frame stopped it short. 
Ian met his eyes with a wicked grin, and at the foot of the steps stood Mayor McDonough. The sight of Ian alone had made his blood boil, but realizing that the mayor was there with him had it running cold instead. 
“Now now, Jeremy. We just want to talk,” the mayor said, his gaze going right through the man to look at Trevor who was peering out from behind him. “I thought I told you that Diamond City didn’t like troublemakers. But it seems like you’ve been causing more incidents than I originally thought.” 
Ian shoved the door, making Jeremy stagger back. He used that opportunity to get the door open, letting himself and McDonough into the already cramped trailer. There had barely been enough room for himself and Trevor in there, but the space felt even smaller now. It made Jeremy’s breathing pick up, his heart pounding in his ears. 
“Do you remember what I told you when you first showed up in my office, Mr. Dooley? I told you that you’d be escorted out of the city if you caused any more trouble. And what did you do? You went and hurt my favorite guard.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, shaking his head and clicking his tongue. “Such a serious crime cannot go unpunished, Mr. Dooley. And Trevor, I thought you knew better than to make any waves.”
“It’s not his fault,” Jeremy said, balling up his fists as he began to calm down enough to speak. The walls were still closing in around him, but he couldn’t afford to stay silent. Trevor couldn’t, either. He really wished that he’d thought to bring a gun. “Look, McDonough, whatever you’re gonna do, don’t loop him into this.”
“But he’s the whole cause of it. You both are a pox on this city, and if you don’t decide to leave it quietly, I’ll be forced to put my foot down and have you forcibly removed.” 
“Aw, c’mon Mayor. I think tha’ we should let Trevor stay,” Ian laughed, and the mayor seemed to be considering it. 
Neither of the men were looking at Trevor, they were hardly even thinking about him, he was just a way to taunt and torture Jeremy. But behind them, he could see the radio host moving towards his desk, and he had to work hard to bite back a grin. Though he’d been convinced that Jeremy wasn’t a synth, he knew that keeping a gun around for extra protection was still a smart idea. And what neither Ian nor the mayor knew was that Trevor had become a hell of a shot during his time in the wastelands. 
“Nuh uh. Where I go, he goes. Either we both stay, or we both go. And since we’re so much trouble, I think we’ll both be going,” he stated, turning around to pick up the box and start packing away Trevor’s CDs again. It almost seemed like they were going to let him continue, but he huffed when he felt cold metal against his temple. 
“Those are Diamond Ci’y property, mate. I suggest you put the box down and go, ‘fore we have t’ do anything rash. And take your pet radroach with you.” 
A gunshot rang out then, the foam on the walls muffling the sound to the world outside, but not doing nearly enough to stop it from making everyone’s ears inside ring. McDonough shouted out in surprise and covered his ears, and Jeremy dropped the box to do the same. As he looked down to see where it landed, his eyes widened in surprise. Although he knew that this was going to happen, he still wasn’t prepared for what he saw.
Ian was nothing more than a crumpled heap on the floor, his face completely unrecognizable now. Jeremy could look through it and see the cracked tile beneath his head, and if he had any weaker of a stomach he probably would have thrown up. Already he was pretty close. Blood and brains were splattered along the wall and cabinets, some of it getting onto Jeremy’s clothing, but the majority of it had landed on the mayor, staining his tan suit red.  
“I am not a radroach,” Trevor spat, the barrel of his pistol still smoking as he aimed it towards the mayor. “And we aren’t leaving Diamond City.” 
McDonough began to beg, but Trevor no longer had his focus on him. Instead, he looked past him to Jeremy, who only gave a small nod of approval and stepped out of the way so he wouldn’t get splattered again. Another shot rang out, and the mayor joined Ian on the floor, the pair of them a mess of blood and limp limbs. 
Jeremy stepped over the bodies, gently pulling the gun from Trevor’s hands and setting it down on the desk. “Are you okay?” The other man nodded slowly, though he began to tremble. “Go home. I’ll get the rest of your stuff. Do you have the key?” Trevor nodded again, digging it out of his pocket and passing it to Jeremy. 
“We’re so fucked,” he whispered, laughing and running a hand through his hair. “Jeremy, what the fuck did I do?”
“You protected yourself.” He’d done what Jeremy himself had been too much of a coward to do, he was righting a very long series of wrongs. “I’ll take care of this, okay? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Trevor wasn’t so sure he agreed. Although at the same time, he didn’t feel like he’d done anything wrong. In fact, he was kind of happy about it. But the fear of getting caught and ending up like the pair on the floor was more overwhelming than anything else he was feeling, so he just nodded dumbly and walked carefully out of the trailer, trying hard not to step in any of the blood that was now pooling in the cracks of the tile. 
Once the door was shut again, Jeremy pocketed the keys and hit play on the CD player, letting Roy Brown play in the background as he packed up the rest of the discs. The cabinets themselves would just have to wait there, he needed to get back to Trevor as soon as possible. 
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everamazingfe · 3 years
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You Can Ride On My Rocket 69 - Chapter Eleven
A Song About Memories
Fic Summary: Jeremy has recently awoken in this strange world, 210 ten years after he was put to sleep, and is now the lone survivor from his vault. Trevor's a radio host from Diamond City who's barely left the station, lonely in his own right and isolated from the rest of the Wastes. When they meet, Trevor finally gets a chance to see the rest of the wasteland like he's always wanted, though Jeremy becomes more of his bodyguard than Trevor does his companion. They meet various people along the way, some being friends like the odd throuple they meet in one of the neighboring city, or foe like a certain Diamond City guard. Both are wary about bringing up their pasts, but the wasteland has a strange way of bringing people together.
Chapter Summary: Jeremy remembers something he immediately wishes he could forget about all over again. Trevor gains a memory he never wants to forget. This chapter's song is "Happy Times" by Bob Crosby.
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Words in this chapter: 4817 Pairings: Jeremy/Trevor, Michael/Gavin/Lindsay, Jeremy/Matt Warnings for this chapter: Minor violence, references to Ian
Notes: There’s a link to the first chapter of this fic as the source of this post! Click it to go read this fic over on A O 3, or you can search up the title or ‘everamazingfe’ on the site! Also, I still need to go back and edit chapter 10, however I have made the decision to change Detective Nick Valentine into Geoff for this fic.
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Convincing Jeremy to leave the Third Rail and actually go to the Memory Den was a hell of an undertaking, even though he had only had a single drink. He simply did not want to relive any parts of his past, and he wasn’t sure that there was anything *to remember while he was on ice. As far as he was concerned, it was the longest shot in the world, and his aim had never been that good. But the bar eventually had to open up, and the crowd began to file in for Lindsay’s show. He could no longer sit in quiet contemplation as Trevor talked to the trio, so decided to finally listen to the man’s pleading and go. Ultimately, what choice did he have? If he couldn’t remember anything else, Geoff wouldn’t be able to help him and he’d just be back at square one.
“I’m really not sure how I feel about this, Trev.” They were standing inside the entry hall of the Memory Den now, and even in the dim mood lighting Jeremy looked visibly nervous. His hands shook and he was starting to draw blood from how hard he was biting his lip.
“I know. I’m not sure I feel that good about it either, but… What else is there to do?” Trevor asked, leaning back against the wall as he looked over at the other. He was sympathetic, he certainly wouldn’t want to go reliving his own past either, but this had all been Jeremy’s idea in the first place. What had been the point of it all if it just amounted to nothing? “If we learn anything, we’ll know where to go from here.”
Jeremy scoffed quietly, shaking his head. “Where we’ll go is back out into the wastes for days and days of wandering.” That’s all this journey had been so far, and it was wearing Jeremy out. His eyes were gaunt and dark from a lack of restful sleep, and his body ached all over. Trevor wasn’t in much better condition either, even after his week of rest. He could just tell that he was starting to get tired of all of this, and honestly he couldn’t blame him for it. “Okay, you know what? I’ll do this, on one condition.”
Trevor frowned, crossing his arms as he looked down at Jeremy. “What’s that?”
“You do it too.”
The suggestion made Trevor’s frown turn into open-mouthed surprise, and he looked downright offended by the suggestion. “Absolutely not!”
“Then I guess I’m not doing it,” Jeremy said after a moment of contemplation, seemingly unbothered, but Trevor was less than pleased. 
“Why should I have to? I’m not looking for anyone, he’s your husband, and I don’t have some cushy pre-war life to look back on.” Trevor was a child of the wasteland, born and raised in a world that had actively tried to take him out of it from day one. He didn’t have any happy memories to remember, and he made sure to let Jeremy know it. The rant continued for several moments before he was interrupted, cut off by Jeremy turning away and walking down the hall. “Where are you going?”
He paused, letting Trevor catch up to him before speaking quietly. “I was only fucking with you. I wasn’t actually going to make you do it.” It was a poorly executed joke, he should have known that the past was a sore subject for him. 
“How was I supposed to know that?” 
“I don’t know, I just-... You know what? Nevermind, it was stupid. It was a stupid joke.” He paused and took a few breaths, counting to ten. “I’m sorry. Let’s just get this over with so we can get the fuck out of here.”
“Finally, a plan I can get on board with.”
They turned the corner into the Memory Den proper together, surprised to see Geoff already there, speaking to a woman lounging luxuriously on a couch in the back of the room. Her dress was beautiful and clean, something that was rare these days. It came in stark contrast to Geoff’s dingy and tattered trench coat. She waved as they approached, the detective turning to face them as she acknowledged their presence. 
“Well, look what the cat dragged in. Geoff here was just telling me all about you two.” Her eyes scanned Jeremy up and down, and she let out a soft laugh at the way he squirmed. “I was most interested to hear about you, though.” Her voice was sultry and sweet, but she had no interest in seducing anyone into anything but sitting in one of her chairs.
It was Geoff’s turn to wave her off now, hissing a quiet, “Knock it off,” before clearing his throat. “It’s about time you two showed up, what kept you for so long?” he asked, trying to hide his displeasure, but it was hard to do. Early models of synths didn’t have a great handle on hiding their feelings like humans did, they weren’t quite that advanced yet. When they felt something, it showed, and seeing Geoff look so displeased made both Jeremy and Trevor hang their heads in shame.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t think you were gonna be here, it kinda seemed like I was on my own until I could remember more about what happened. Plus, I stopped at the Rail to pick up Trevor, and you know how Gavin likes to talk.” The beady and bright eyes of the synth made it very easy to feel like Geoff could see right through his story, like he could just tell that that wasn’t all of it. “And I was uh… I was having some doubts,” Jeremy confessed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he turned his gaze to the floor. 
“Doubts?”
“Like… What if I can’t remember anything? What if this was just a big waste of time?”
The woman behind Geoff laughed again as she stood, approaching Jeremy with swaying hips and tipping his chin up to make him meet her eyes. “With the amount of caps I’m paying her, Dr. Amari better be able to make you remember something. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” She patted his cheek. “You’ll find her downstairs, Geoff’ll show you the way and make the introduction.”
“Yeah, c’mon boys. Let’s leave Irma to her very important work of watching over empty loungers. We’ve got a man to find.” He walked off before the woman could retort, Jeremy and Trevor hurrying to follow.
The basement wasn’t nearly as posh as the main area, furnished with some big computer equipment along the walls and two loungers in the middle of the room. There were some items that made it look like a sort of living area, a bathtub that seemed out of place and a couch held up by burned books, but ultimately it was dingy and dank. Dr. Amari herself was standing at a terminal in the back of the room, looking very professional in a lab coat and slacks, and too focused on her work to even notice them until Geoff started to speak. 
“Amari, I’ve got two new clients for you, but this one,” he paused and clapped a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder, “Is gonna be a tough nut to crack.”
“Oh? Is he now? Please, the two of you, have a seat.” Dr. Amari motioned to the pair of loungers, but Trevor just shook his head quickly, hiding himself behind Geoff. Jeremy himself wasn’t as resistant, walking over to one of the open chairs and walking circles around it to inspect it. Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t figure out how it worked, but it looked complex. “Do you not want to?”
“Uh, no, not really,” he answered, following behind Geoff as he moved towards the couch. He sat down next to the synth, hands folded in his lap and eyes on the pods. “Remembering the past… It’s not really my thing.” 
Dr. Amari frowned, but nodded in understanding. “It’s not for everyone. Remembering can be painful, if you have things you’d prefer to leave buried.” She was used to stumbling across rather surprising and upsetting memories, it came with the territory of poking around in people’s heads. But if someone didn’t want those memories to be stumbled upon in the first place, who was she to argue? 
Jeremy gave Trevor a quick smile after he gave up on his inspection of the pods, taking a seat in one of the loungers. The seat was old and worn in from many people sitting in that same position, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Still, he didn’t know what the remembering process itself was going to be like. “This isn’t going to hurt at all, right?”
She chuckled, shaking her head as she began to tap at the keyboard. “No, not at all. You won’t feel anything. Maybe a slight headache, I am probing around in your brain after all, but no worse than a mild hangover. It will fade fast.” With that, the hydraulics hissed and the cover to the pod shut overtop of Jeremy. There was a small television in front of his face showing the ‘please stand by’ symbol that lingered on every channel now, and every sound that came from outside the chamber sounded muffled. Trevor was speaking to Geoff, he could see their lips moving, but he couldn’t make out what was being said. The only voice that came through clearly was Dr. Amari’s, and that was only because she had a mic that broadcast right into the chamber. “How are you feeling?”
Jeremy shifted a little, uncomfortable as he looked out of the chamber at her. “A little cramped… I didn’t know this was part of it.” It reminded him too much of the cryopods, and he’d just never been a fan of tight, enclosed spaces in general. At least he had hope that he would come out from the other side of this having found some answers, though. “I didn’t think it would close like this, I sorta hoped it was just… Not part of it.”
Geoff said something and Trevor laughed, but Dr. Amari cut them a look that had both of them shutting up. “I apologize. I did not realize that you would be claustrophobic, but that should not matter soon.” 
Before he could even ask what that meant, Jeremy’s vision was filled with a white light. It was so blindingly bright that he thought it should hurt, but it didn’t. It was just like if he’d closed his eyes, but instead of black, the back of his eyelids were pure white. When his vision cleared again, he was inside Vault 111.
“Can you hear me?” Dr. Amari’s voice seemingly came from all around him, and he turned around to search for her. “Ah, good. You can. The simulation seems to be stable, but the memories are quite fragmentary. This is the best I could do. Geoff told me what to look for, it only took a little digging. We got lucky with this one.” It felt weird and disorienting to be seeing a memory he hadn’t even known that he had, and Jeremy was certain that when he came out of this he would be feeling a lot worse than if he just had a hangover. “You weren’t awake for long, and the failure of your life support made certain that your conscious mind could not remember it, but your subconscious? There was quite a bit to find in there. You are very lucky.” 
He could see the pods, he could see himself and his husband inside of them, but most importantly, he could see a trio of people standing in front of his husband’s cryopod. “What the fuck?” There were two people, presumably scientists, dressed in lab coats and other protective gear. One of them was a woman, the other a man. There was another man as well, who wasn’t dressed like the two scientists he had with him. He wore something akin to raider leathers and was bald, like Jeremy. The most distinct feature was a scar across his left eye, clear as day. Over the speakers, Jeremy could just barely hear Geoff say, “That’s Kellogg,” but he was far too focused on the man himself for his ears to properly register it. 
The man, Kellogg, pointed at the pod that Jeremy knew held his husband. “This is the one, here. Open it.” The scientists didn’t hesitate in following their orders, the man hitting the manual override as the other got ready for... something. Jeremy couldn’t quite tell what she was doing.
As the pod opened, the man inside coughed as he came back to life. But as one pod thawed, so did some of the others. “Is it over?” he asked, gruff and confused. Hearing his husband’s voice knocked the air right out of Jeremy’s chest. He hadn’t heard it in so long. “Are we okay?” The man stepped out from the pod slowly, and Jeremy could only stare. It really was him, probably in the last moments he was alive. His hair was still as long as the day they’d gone into the pods though the colorful streaks of dye had long faded, and his glasses fogged up from the sudden temperature change causing him to squint behind the glass. His beard had small icicles hanging from it, but they quickly began to thaw and drip water down the front of the vault suit.
The woman smiled kindly, offering a hand of help out to him. “Almost, everything’s going to be fine.”
“Come with us,” Kellogg ordered, his voice considerably less kind than hers. He sounded annoyed and impatient, though he had only just arrived in the vault. 
“What? No, I’m not leaving. I can’t go.” The man looked at the pod across from him in panic, where Jeremy remained in stasis, frozen solid. Or so he thought. “I can’t leave without Jeremy.”
“You don’t really get a choice in that. Now, come with us.” Kellogg spoke as the other scientist reached out, her hand of assistance now firmly on his arm to start pulling him away from the pod despite the insistent protests that only grew louder. “We’re only gonna tell you once.”
“And I’m only going to tell you once. I. Am. Not. Going. With. You.” 
There was no verbal retort from Kellogg, he instead only huffed in frustration before he hit the man over the head with a stun baton. He crumpled in an instant, knocked out cold and bleeding from the impact. Luckily, the scientists managed to catch him before he hit the floor, but only just.
“Let’s go,” the one said, glaring at Kellogg as he adjusted his hold to help support his weight. “At least we have a backup in case you hit him too hard. We weren’t supposed to hurt him, you know.”
Kellogg only shrugged, turning around now to look at Jeremy that was still in the pod. “Doesn’t matter now. Like you said, at least we have a backup. Let’s get out of here. And when’s that other team coming in?” 
“You might as well be one of them, god.” They both cast him looks of disgust before turning, slowly making their way from the cryo-room with the unconscious man in tow.
The scientists were no longer paying any mind to Kellogg, but he didn’t seem to care. He was just as done with them as they were with him. His eyes were also no longer on the empty pod, instead he’d turned around to look at the one across the way. “You… You’re going to come in handy someday, I’m sure. Or you’ll just be another thorn in my side.” He tapped on the glass with the stun baton, tilting his head to meet Jeremy’s eyes. “Let’s make sure you go back to sleep, shall we?”
The robotic voice saying ‘Cryogenic sequence re-initialized’ echoed loudly in Jeremy’s head, and he closed his eyes and covered his ears to try blocking the sound of the pod re-freezing out, though it was unsuccessful. The sounds weren’t really coming from around him, they were coming from inside of his head.
“That’s the end of the memory. But… Wait, there’s something else here.” Dr. Amari spoke now, and when he opened his eyes back up, he was still in the vault. 
There were two scientists at his husband’s pod again, but instead of opening it up to take him out, they were now putting him back in. But he knew now that it wasn’t him. It was a decoy. A fake to convince anyone who came searching that he was still in there. 
That same robotic voice came over the loudspeakers again as the pod sealed back up, but it wasn’t saying the same thing. This time, it was saying ‘Critical failure in cryogenic array. All vault residents must vacate immediately.” 
Jeremy watched as the two scientists looked at each other in confusion, about to write off the announcement as just another piece of vault weirdness, until the pod behind them hissed and clunked as it began to open up. 
“That… That wasn’t supposed to happen, he told us everyone in this vault was dead!” the one said, watching as a cloud of fog covered the floor, the ice hitting the warm air of the vault and instantly thawing much faster than anticipated. She looked to the other in fear, trying to figure out what to do, but this was the only pod that was opening.
“They are,” the other one hissed, busting the manual controls to ensure that the now sealed pod could never be reopened. It didn’t take him too long to regret his words though, as Jeremy fell forward onto the floor, barely able to catch himself in time before his face hit the concrete. He coughed and heaved, lungs suddenly filling with air and every system in his body forced to jump-start all at once. “Shit, go, go!” He grabbed the arm of the other scientist, all but dragging her out of there before Jeremy could get his bearings and stand up. 
“Get me out of here,” the real Jeremy said, his voice strained as he fought back tears. “Doctor, please… Get me out of here.” Trying to process everything that he’d just seen, the truth of everything that had happened in the vault to him, to his husband, but he didn’t feel any better for knowing it. Instead, he just felt worse.
“Are you sure? If there’s something else you’d like to see-”
“Get me out!”
“Amari, please. Just get him out of there.” Trevor’s voice was in his ear now, and he sounded concerned. Scared, even. It made Jeremy’s heart ache as much as his head.
Outside of Jeremy’s brain and outside of the memory chamber, the three of them had been watching the memories unfold through his eyes on Amari’s terminal screen. Geoff had a notepad out and had been jotting down thoughts and observations on the whole ordeal, unphased by Kellogg’s cruelty, but Trevor was quite the opposite. He was in a similar boat as Jeremy, unable to process what he’d just seen but knowing that it made him uneasy. He bit his nails as he listened to keys clacking on the keyboard beneath Amari’s nails, eyes fixed on Jeremy's face to make sure he would actually wake up. The second the pod was open and Jeremy could sit up, Trevor all but launched himself at the other, wrapping his arms around him. Jeremy was in no shape to push him away, just clinging to him and hiding his face as his body began to tremble. 
“That was… That was horrible,” Trevor whispered, hugging him tightly. “I’m so sorry.”
Jeremy just laughed, but it was dry and without any humor. “Yeah, I… I wish I didn’t remember now.” He lifted his head to look at Geoff, who was still jotting down notes. “Did you find out everything you needed?”
“More than,” Geoff said, flipping his notepad shut and meeting Jeremy’s tear-filled eyes with a smile. “I know exactly what our next step is. Kellogg, he used to own a house back in Diamond City. It’s been abandoned for a while now, but… I think if we can get ourselves in there, we can figure out where he went.”
Trevor stood up then with a soft huff, offering a hand to Jeremy to help him stand as well, pulling him close once they both had. “Doubt it. It’s probably been picked clean by Crazy Myrna by now,” he muttered, “She’s always looking for stuff to sell.”
“Maybe so, but I know he had someone with him when he stayed there that fits the bill of the missing husband. Pretty tall, long hair… Most guys tend to keep it cropped pretty short these days, and no one that tall has come through the city in a long time.” Geoff laughed quietly. “Trust me, it’s always a spectacle when they do. I’ll meet you back there. You two… You two take your time. I’ll talk to security, make sure someone gets stationed there to keep Myrna, and everyone else, out until we can get a look.” He waved at the three of them and thanked Dr. Amari before heading out. 
Diamond City wasn’t exactly far from Goodneighbor, but Jeremy felt like garbage after all of that, and he was sure that Trevor wasn’t exactly up for the journey after all of that either. All he wanted to do was curl up in bed, or maybe get another few drinks at the Third Rail. He couldn’t make up his mind, so he settled on both. “I’m gonna go get us a room at the Rex, can you go get us a few bottles to go from Gav?” he asked, fishing a small pouch of caps from his armor and offering it to Trevor, who swiped it from him without hesitation. They both could use a few drinks.
“Gladly.”
---------------------------------------------------
They were several beers in each before they decided to call it quits, pocketing the caps and dropping the empty bottles to the floor to join their discarded armor with satisfying clinks. Jeremy wasn’t really feeling much better, his head was still swimming and now his stomach was churning from the alcohol, but at least it was harder to focus on the day’s events and on the newly uncovered memories. And Trevor was definitely having a good time, singing along to the songs on the radio that he knew every beat of by heart. He could’ve listened to that forever without complaint, elbow resting on his knee and chin on his hand as he sat cross-legged on the creaky old bed, eyes closed as he listened to him. 
“Hey Trevor?” he asked softly, opening his eyes slowly. The singing stopped, and Jeremy almost felt bad for interrupting it, but he felt like he had to say what he had on his mind. “I know… I know I was kind of a dick when we first met, and even earlier today, and I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay-”
“No, it’s not. It’s not okay. You said before that you have no happy memories, that you have nothing you want to remember, and… And I’ve definitely contributed to that, but I also want to change that. Everyone deserves happy memories.” 
Trevor smiled softly, though the words would have been a lot more endearing if they weren’t half-slurred together. But Geoff had always taught him that it was the thought that counts. “What’s your happiest memory, then? I gotta know what to strive for here.” 
“My happiest memory? Shit, I don’t know. Probably… Probably my first kiss? It happened later than it should’ve, not ‘til I met my husband and I was *old by then. Not as old as I am now, but… Older than most people have their first kiss. And he was a real shit kisser at the start too, but… It was still sweet.” Jeremy smiled fondly as he thought about it, swaying back and forth from the good feelings it filled him with. “Pretty much any memory I’ve got with him is my happiest… ‘Til the end, at least.”
He nodded slowly, letting out a soft sigh. “Should’ve seen that coming. Dunno why I even asked.” 
That made Jeremy frown. Trevor never seemed to like it when he talked about his husband like that, but it wasn’t like he was going to stop. His life pre-war was still something near and dear to his heart. “You’ll have that too, one day.”
“Doubt it. Best I can do so far is Ian, and… He’s not really a catch,” he muttered, huffing as he laid down on the bed. It groaned under the shift in weight, and the pillow smelled musty beneath his head. It was a miracle this place didn’t have bed bugs. “But it’s fine, you know? Not like the wastes are meant for finding love. If you make it past twenty without getting bit in half by a Deathclaw or beat down by raiders, you’re doing pretty good. And I think I’m doing pretty good.”
“People aren’t meant to just do ‘pretty good’ though. You can’t survive off of just ‘pretty good.’”
“Can’t I, though?” Trevor asked, propping himself up on an elbow to meet Jeremy’s eyes. “I’m doing fine. I don’t need some pre-war ghoul telling me how I should live my life. Things are different now, Jeremy. If someone’s doing ‘pretty good,’ it means they’re a hell of a lot better than everyone else.” 
They stared each other down for a few minutes, the tension building until Jeremy was the first to look away, reaching down to the floor and grab one last beer. He popped the cap, holding it out for Trevor. “I’m sorry.” The peace offering was rejected, and Jeremy just tucked it into his own pocket instead. “But I still meant what I said. Everyone deserves happy memories, even you.”
“Maybe. But saying that won’t magically give me any.” 
Doing and saying stupid things while he was drinking was a staple of Jeremy’s personality, whatever thought processes that made him only do slightly dumb things while he was sober seemed to disintegrate after a few beers. After four in quick succession, it was just gone entirely. So maybe that was why he set the bottle aside and leaned in, a rough and calloused hand cupping Trevor’s cheek oh so gently as he leaned in and pressed their lips together in the softest kiss he could muster. It lasted for only a moment before he pulled away, smirking a little. “Won’t it, though?”
“God, Jeremy, just… Shut up,” Trevor stammered, sitting up fully now and leaning in to kiss him again. He let his eyes slip shut as Jeremy held his face with both hands, not to forcefully keep him in the kiss but to just hold him, to give him the soft and loving touch that he didn’t even know he’d needed as badly as he did. 
The kiss lasted for quite a while, but it didn’t go further than that. Neither of them wanted, or needed, more than that. Trevor got his happy memory, Jeremy got the satisfaction of knowing the other man now had at least one to look back on, and they both got the affection that they’d desperately craved.
“We should get some sleep,” Jeremy whispered, his forehead against Trevor’s as he reluctantly broke the kiss. He could feel the other’s breath fanning over his face and could see that his cheeks were now bright red, and he was sure that his own were the same way. “C’mon,” he urged gently, moving to lay down and guiding Trevor to lay down with him. 
Trevor was practically in a daze, his mind had begun to shut down as he waited for the kiss to turn forceful and for the other to start pushing him for more, but it never came. Jeremy was nothing but gentle, even as he made him lay down, and they shared a few more sweet kisses before agreeing that it was time to get some sleep. Jeremy’s arms wrapped around the other securely, holding him close and making him feel safe, and Trevor had an arm slung over Jeremy’s middle, face tucked into his chest. It was, hands down, the best sleep either of them had gotten in a long time, the bags under their eyes receding and bodies aching a lot less than they had the night before. Neither of them would acknowledge the other’s reluctance to move away in the morning either, because they both just wanted to stay put. They’d needed this. Better yet, they’d earned it.
“Geoff’s just gonna have to deal with us showing up late again.”
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everamazingfe · 3 years
Text
All Hail West Texas
Fic Summary: One fic about two people, one house, a motorcycle, and an evening spent under the stars.  A songfic based on the song “Jenny” by The Mountain Goats.
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Words in this fic: 1306 Pairings: Geoff / Jack Warnings for this fic: None
Notes: This is a rewrite of a previously posted fic from 2018. Check the content source to read it over on A 0 3!
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Before the crew had begun, before the infamous Fake AH Crew had taken hold of Los Santos in a death grip and never let go, there was just Geoff. And by his side, there was just Jack. No crime, no stress, no Kingpin, and no life on the run. Life was simple and sweet for them. Their house faced west, and the sunset hit the front porch each evening. Watching it together was always a treat, it was Geoff’s favorite time of day, perhaps only second to waking up each morning next to Jack. Sometimes she would make sweet tea, but usually they just drank in the sight of the sun and of each other. While their evenings were spent together in the fading sunlight, their days were filled with work. Honest work. 
Geoff had an office job that he swore was going to kill him one day, though whether it’d be from stress or boredom he wasn’t quite sure. Jack’s work was a little more fulfilling, a freelance artist who alternated between painting big beautiful murals and small humble canvases. She went wherever the work took her, and Geoff was more than happy to follow. The work had taken them to Texas, and had kept them there for a while. Eventually it would take them to California, and that’s where things would all go wrong. But they hadn’t gotten there yet. 
It was one evening where Geoff was out on the porch without Jack, staring out into the horizon and waiting for her to return. The sun was starting to sink lower in the sky, and she never missed a sunset. Worry began to grip his chest, until he heard the roar of an engine and saw a small silhouette in the distance rapidly growing bigger, and louder. It wasn't the roar of the engine of the car she usually drove, but it was the silhouette of his partner. He could recognize her anywhere. The sun was at Jack's back as she roared into the driveway, the early evening sun illuminating her from behind to give her an angel-like glow, the beams shining through her hair to make it burn a fiery red. That was Jack. There was a new Kawasaki beneath her, bright yellow and black and not yet dirtied by the dirt kicked up from the road. 
Geoff stood slowly, a hand shielding his eyes so that he could hope to see the other and what he'd ridden home on. "What the hell is that? When did you get this?!" he questioned, the tone not as angry as Jack had been expecting it to be. If anything, he almost sounded excited. Though she’d been saving for one for quite some time, it still almost felt like an impulse purchase that she shouldn’t have made. But she had no regrets just yet, especially not after hearing the glee in Geoff’s voice when he asked her about it.
"What does it look like it is, dumbass? It’s a motorcycle," Jack responded with a grin, nodding for Geoff to get on behind her. She really wanted to take advantage of the clear sky and bright stars that were on display that night now that she had something that could navigate the rough terrain. Sitting on their front porch couldn't ever give the same feeling as actually being out in the desert underneath it all, far away from any light source.
Geoff let out a relenting sigh as he hopped on the back of the bike, arms wrapped tight around Jack's middle and cheek pressed between her shoulder blades. Unable to help himself, he took a deep breath, inhaling as deeply as he possibly could. The fabric of her shirt was soft beneath his skin and still smelled faintly like detergent, and the smell of her hair combined with that to make something that smelled so inherently Jack that he couldn’t help but smile. It was sweet and delicious, like the warm desert air that surrounded them. "Alright then, smartass. Let's see what this baby can do then."
"Oh, this baby can do a lot, Geoff. Nine hundred cc’s of raw power. It doesn't get much better than that." With that said, Jack turned the bike around in the driveway, kicking up a cloud of dust. She pointed the headlamp toward the horizon and gave only a single warning to hold on before they were off, flying fast away from their home and into the sunset.
While the desert was usually huge and daunting, with their drives into work feeling endless and lonely, but right then it didn't feel like it could ever be big enough. The raw, whining power of the bike and the expert navigator at the handles made it seem so small. Their car could never navigate the dirt like this, it was too big and clunky and slow. They rode for what seemed like hours, and it was dark when Jack finally stopped the bike, and when she did they ended up being so far from their home that it wasn't even a speck on the horizon. The porchlights were out of sight, if they’d even bothered to turn on when it got dark. Geoff didn't drop his arms from the other's waist right away, though. Instead, he lifted his hand and pressed gentle kisses to the back of Jack's neck, smirking against her skin as she leaned back against him with a soft hum. She reached a hand back to run her fingers through Geoff’s hair affectionately, pulling him ever closer. 
"You know..." He trailed off, a kiss punctuating the statement. "I'm not sure why you bought this, but I'm so glad you did.” She only laughed, pulling herself free from Geoff's arms to get off the bike. The older man had no choice but to follow, grabbing onto Jack's hand and pulling her in for a proper kiss now that they were standing. The reason why she’d bought it was purely that she’d wanted to. And now she definitely didn’t have any regrets.  
The night was clearer than any other, but the stars weren't the focus of their eyes as they sat down together on the dirt, Jack's hand held gently in Geoff's. They shared kisses and talked, just like they would if they were still on the porch, only now they were laid beneath the endless summer sky. It had a way of bringing out an honesty between them that didn’t show up on the porch, because it was just the two of them out there, and it felt like the rest of the world didn't exist. They were the one thing in the galaxy God didn't have his eyes on, and the only thought that could cross Geoff's mind was how could his life possibly get any better? 
If only he knew.
Just a few short months later, the house would be traded for a small one bedroom apartment in Los Santos, most of their belongings and the Kawasaki left to collect dust in a storage unit while they found their footing. But jobs fall through, the honest ones always do in Los Santos, and they ended up like everyone else. But as they found their footing and found their crew, they had one advantage over the other crews that littered the city: A love that ran so deep it was bigger than the west Texas sky. 
Jack was always the best at what she did, no matter what it was she was doing, and Geoff was always willing to follow her lead and support her. And once they settled into their new life, they found themselves stepping away from it every now and then to go back to that house and brush the dust off that motorcycle, taking it back out into the desert to find themselves again. 
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everamazingfe · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Jeremy and Trevor in their ‘base outfits’ from my Fallout 4 AU as Fallout Shelter sprites!
Sprite bases by nihilnovisubsole on tumblr. 
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everamazingfe · 3 years
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You Can Ride On My Rocket 69 - Chapter Ten
Fic Summary: Jeremy has recently awoken in this strange world, 210 ten years after he was put to sleep, and is now the lone survivor from his vault. Trevor's a radio host from Diamond City who's barely left the station, lonely in his own right and isolated from the rest of the Wastes. When they meet, Trevor finally gets a chance to see the rest of the wasteland like he's always wanted, though Jeremy becomes more of his bodyguard than Trevor does his companion. They meet various people along the way, some being friends like the odd throuple they meet in one of the neighboring city, or foe like a certain Diamond City guard. Both are wary about bringing up their pasts, but the wasteland has a strange way of bringing people together.
Chapter Summary:  Jeremy and Trevor learn the truth about Vault 111, and Trevor takes a little vacation to Good Neighbor and makes some strange bedfellows. This chapter's song is "Maybe" by The Ink Spots.
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Words in this chapter: 4296 Pairings: Jeremy/Trevor, Michael/Gavin/Lindsay, Jeremy/OC Warnings for this chapter: Mentions of death, minor character injury, alcohol use
Notes: There's a link to the first chapter of this fic as the source of this post! Click it to go read this fic over on A O 3, or you can search up the title or ‘everamazingfe’ on the site! This is also my longest chapter ever, and there’s some art to go along with it, but that’s in a separate post.
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The vault had clearly remained untouched since the pair had last been there, the dust that coated everything undisturbed aside from handprints on the cryopod and dust wiped from the terminal's keyboard. Trevor was back at that terminal, typing and clicking away as if it would get him any closer to accessing the menus hidden behind the password screen. Jeremy stood at the pod, his forehead and hand pressed on the glass. 
A groan of frustration came from the computer, followed by a soft thud as the side of the monitor was hit, and Jeremy turned his head. "No good?"
"Nope. No good," Trevor muttered, shaking his head and huffing in frustration. "I'm gonna try and find another terminal, maybe one of the others won't be so broken. Just... Hang out here." He let out another huff as he picked up his bat, leaving the room to explore the vault more. There were radroaches everywhere, but with the mods Jeremy had made to the swatter in his hands, it killed them in one swift hit. He didn't remember there being so many the last time they were there, but maybe they were just getting bold. 
Trevor figured his best bet would be the overseer's office, maybe the computer there would have some sort of master control system. He didn't know. Computers weren't really his thing, but he was trying his best to be helpful. He made his way down the hall towards where he figured the overseer's office, but before he reached it, he found another room full of those same pods. That terminal was unharmed, and though he wasn't sure he wanted to know what it held, he looked anyway. 
What it held was rather appalling. Whatever malfunction had caused Jeremy's pod to open had shown mercy on him, because he was the only one to make it out of there alive. The cryogenic array and life support systems had long gone offline, and everyone left in the pods had thawed and begun to rot. It was easy to figure out that something similar had happened in the room that held Jeremy's husband's pod, and in every other room in the vault. The realization that he was standing in a room full of corpses, already entombed with their family and friends, made him stagger back, bile rising in his throat. He'd suspected it, but the confirmation was something he wasn't ready for. 
The overseer's terminal didn't bring Trevor much better news either. The all-clear that was supposed to come from Vault-Tec never did. The resulting incident, as staff of the vault rioted and overthrew the overseer, was one of chaos and horror. The skeletons littered about the vault had made that clear, but somehow those were easier to stomach. They didn't still look like people, and from the sound of the memos he found, they weren't meant to make it out of the vault alive either. 
Trevor let out a long sigh, scrubbing his hands over his face as he tried to process what he'd learned. It was all so much. Vault-Tec was pure evil, that much was certain, and he was glad he never had had to deal with them. The Institute was bad enough as it was. He slid down the desk until he was sitting on the floor, looking over at the skeleton of the overseer nearby. "Were any of these people ever supposed to leave? Were you?" 
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Jeremy hadn't budged from the pod since Trevor had left. His eyes were still fixed on it, on his husband inside. The harsh reality of the situation was all around him, but he refused to accept it without concrete proof. The man couldn't be dead. He had fought for years in The Great War, only to die a week after getting home? It just seemed too cruel, Jeremy couldn't accept that as the truth. But he knew that the man inside didn't deserve a life out in the wastes, either. Maybe he was better off in the pod. 
"I wish I was still in mine," he whispered, examining the lines of the other man's face. "I wish I could remember you." He put his palm flat on the glass, his fingers curling against it. "I remember us. I remember... Our life. But not you."
Something about coming out of cryofreeze must have fucked his brain up, maybe he'd gone without the life support functions for just a little too long after thawing, before his pod had opened. Or maybe his mind was protecting him from something bad. Jeremy didn't know. But luckily, his eyes still worked fine. At least he could still see him clearly. He inspected him closely, committing his face to memory and filling in the gaps where decay had caused the skin to fade away. The man inside the pod still looked as handsome as he did in all those photos from before the war, in Jeremy's mind. But what was underneath wasn't muscle, or bone. 
Jeremy pressed his nose right up against the glass, almost like he was trying to push through it to see better, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. 
"What the hell?" He squinted and looked even closer, and all at once his breath was ripped from his chest. 
When he got it back, all he could do was scream. 
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"Trevor!" 
The pained cry echoed off the walls of the vault, and Trevor's head snapped to attention. It was Jeremy. For a moment, he was excited, thinking that maybe he'd finally gotten the manual release switch to work, but as the other man screamed again, he knew that it was anything but joy in his voice. He'd never run faster, but the vault was maze like and confusing. When he found Jeremy, the man was no longer standing calmly and staring pensively into the pod, but repeatedly punching the glass. 
"Jeremy, what-"
"-He's a fucking synth!" Despite Jeremy punching the glass again and again, his knuckles bloodied and bruised, there wasn't a single crack in the surface. "That's not my husband, that's a fucking synth!" Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he hit the glass one last time before he turned to face Trevor. "He's... Trevor, he's..." He choked on his words, covering his face with his hands as he dropped to his knees. "This is worse than him being dead."
Trevor approached slowly, kneeling down in front of him and tentatively putting a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. It was shrugged off, so he decided not to push it. Looking towards the pod, he saw that Jeremy was right. How had they missed it? Wires and metal, all on display. A false bone faceplate and synthetic skin that didn't look quite right upon close inspection. One of the earlier models for sure, the newest ones had no differences from their human counterparts, but he didn't think that they existed before the drop. "That's sick. That's... That's downright disturbing." What business did the Institute have with a Pre-War corpse? "I don't even know what to say." What was there to say? 'Sorry that the man you love turns out not to be a man at all?' Bones were easier to break than that thick glass, especially when Jeremy was the one throwing the punch. 
"Was my whole life a lie?" Jeremy took a shuddering breath, trying to keep everything from fading to black around him. "Was he even real? Did he ever even love me?"
"No, no... The Institute... It wasn't around before the bombs. There's no way." Either the man was somehow always a synth, or they came and swapped his body out. But that didn't answer the question of why? What was so special about him that they'd sentence everyone else to death? He realized now that this was probably the source of the malfunction that had doomed the other pods, and they'd probably cut off the manual release to keep anyone from finding out. "He was real when you knew him. I'm sure of that." 
Jeremy scoffed. "Great, so then the Institute is a bunch of graverobbers. What are they, the fucking Resurrection Men?" 
"I don't know who that is."
"They're... Fuck it, nevermind. We need to find those fuckers." His tears had gone from distraught to furious, his whole body running red hot with anger as his fists clenched at his sides again. The Institute had taken so much from him. They'd taken a peaceful death from him, and now they'd gone and taken away the only thing that had ever made his existence bearable. That hurt more than all the hits he'd taken out in the Commonwealth combined. 
"No one knows where they are, Jeremy. Otherwise they would've been taken out decades ago."
"Even better, we'll be the first!"
"Where would we even start?" 
"I don't know!" Jeremy was shouting now, standing up abruptly and startling Trevor in the process. Pointing at the pod, Jeremy continued. "He might still be out there! He could be out there, alone and scared and wandering the wastes like I was before I met you, or the Institute could be doing shit to him, and I don't know which is a worse fate. We have to find him." He lowered his hand, hauling Trevor up. "I have to find him."
Trevor just stared down at Jeremy, finding his footing and freeing his arm from his grip. "I don't know if I'm gonna be able to help you."
"Then forget you, I'll do it myself." He started to walk away, but Trevor grabbed him by the shoulders to stop him, and Jeremy met his eyes with a flare. 
"Stop! Wait. I meant I don't know how to help you. But... Remember how I told you 'bout how I was brought up by Nick Valentine?" Jeremy nodded, though he was uncertain. "He's a detective, back in Diamond City. He can help you." 
"Oh." Jeremy instantly relaxed, his glare being replaced with a softer expression. He'd thought that Trevor meant that he wouldn't help him. "Well, I guess we're going back to the city, then." 
"Guess so," Trevor agreed, letting out a sigh. At least Jeremy seemed a bit less worked up now, but he still felt a bit on edge. "All this back and forth is fucking exhausting."
Jeremy nodded in agreement, shaking out his hand and pulling a bundle of gauze from his pocket to wrap it with. "Hey, Trev?" He said once they were back on the elevator platform, looking at the other man for a few long moments before he actually hit the button to take them back up. 
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry. And... Thanks."
Trevor shrugged, looking down at his feet. "That's what friends do, right? Help each other?" He looked back up at Jeremy now, a soft smile on his face. "And when they can't, they point them in the right direction."
"Yeah, exactly. But, uh... We gotta be careful out there, alright? I can't lose you too."
----------------------------------------------------
"I can't lose you too."
The words echoed in Trevor's head as he stared up at the sky. They were camped out in some abandoned house somewhere halfway between Sanctuary Hills and Diamond City, Trevor's own exhaustion nearly making him collapse and Jeremy's injured hand making it hard for him to hold a gun well enough to protect them. The roof was long gone, but the walls were intact enough that they could barricade the holes, and there were some mattresses left on the floor that were perfect for sleeping on. Only, Trevor couldn't sleep. Jeremy was snoring way too loudly beside him for that, and his armor was uncomfortable. 
The sky was always so clear, aside from the occasional radiation storm that rolled through, and he wondered if people before the war ever got the chance to appreciate it like this. Jeremy had said no, that the lights of the cities were so bright that you couldn't see the sky anymore, when he'd asked. He couldn't imagine living without being able to see the stars. They'd always brought him some sense of comfort, and if he was a smarter man maybe he would've taken the time to learn their names. But he wasn't, and that information wasn't available to him anymore even if he was. 
Trevor let out a sigh and rolled over, his eyes on Jeremy now. The words still replayed in his head, over and over. They had since he'd said them. Maybe he was putting too much meaning into them, but to him it felt like proof that someone finally cared about him. No one ever had before. His parents had abandoned him, leaving him to end up just another Diamond City orphan until Nick took pity on him. Nick had cared for him as much as a synth could, but he'd still said, "My hands are tied," when Trevor had gone to him with complaints about Ian. Everyone in Diamond City shunned him and didn't do anything to protect him, that had all been Jeremy. Because he actually cared about him. And he realized, as he lay there listening to the ambient noise of the wastes and the loud snoring, that he cared about Jeremy too. 
----------------------------------------------------
"I'm not going back to Sanctuary again."
"Not asking you to, Trevor."
"But Nick said he wants to go look at the vault, take a look around. So we gotta go back." 
"You don't have to go."
"Yes, I do." 
The conversation had been going on like this for around ten minutes now, Nick and his assistant Ellie standing by and politely pretending that they weren't eavesdropping. Trevor was reluctant to let Jeremy leave without him, despite being in no shape to travel. Whether it was because he was too scared to be on his own, or too scared that he wouldn't be there to help Jeremy in case things went bad, Trevor didn't know. But regardless, staying in Diamond City without Jeremy sounded terrifying. For all he knew, Ian could be back on duty, just waiting for a chance to catch Trevor alone. 
"Look, Trev... You're exhausted. I am too, but... I gotta go back there with him, I have to start trying to get this figured out. And you? You need to rest, I'm sorry but you look awful." Jeremy didn't like the sound of leaving Trevor alone either, but there was really no other choice. He at least had army training under his belt, he could run of too little sleep for far too long if he needed to, but Trevor didn't have that. And, admittedly, he'd been pushing the other man a bit too hard since they'd gotten back out in the Commonwealth. "Look, I'll take you to Goodneighbor, how about that? I'll bribe Michael to keep an eye on you, set you up with enough caps for a room at the Rex. How's that sound?" 
"Sounds a lot better than staying here."
Jeremy smiled at that, clapping Trevor on the shoulder. "Great. Nick, I'm gonna go do that, then I'll be back." 
"Don't worry about it. Take your time," Nick assured, waving them off. Both he and Ellie watched them as they left, the pair still bickering quietly. When the door shut, he turned to her and spoke. "I'm glad the kid's found a friend, but I thought he had a better head on his shoulders than that." 
Ellie shrugged, returning to her desk and writing up a report to go into the case file. "I dunno, Nick. Seemed like they're more than that to me."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, nothing, it's just..." She smiled. "Intuition, I guess."
"Right. 'Intuition.' Just be careful you don't end up like Piper, sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."
----------------------------------------------------
Good Neighbor without Jeremy was just boring, Trevor decided. It wasn't the comforting retreat he thought it would be either. Instead of worrying about the people around him, he was just worried about Jeremy. Spending time with Lindsay, Michael, and Gavin at the Third Rail was a decent distraction during the day, but there was nothing like that when he had to go back to the hotel alone. 
"You should check out the Memory Den some time," Gavin said one afternoon a few days into his stay, passing Trevor a Nuka Cherry with the cap already off. "Some people like taking a trip down memory lane when the real world stops being interesting enough for them."
Trevor scoffed quietly, taking a long sip from the soda. "Yeah, I'll pass. Most of the memories I've got, I don't wanna revisit."
"Not even your night with Lindsay?"
Trevor spluttered, nearly spilling his drink all over himself as he stared at Gavin in shock, who could only grin wryly back at him. "You know about that?"
"Course I do, it's not like I don't talk to them," he said, chuckling as he popped the top on a Gwinnet Stout for himself. "We're quite close, y'know. The three of us are. We talk. And Lindsay loves to talk about you, they'd been dying for you to some back ever since you left."
"I don't think that's true at all." His cheeks were as red as his soda now, and he just wanted to run away and hide. 
"Oh, but it is. You really impressed them." Gavin was getting a great deal of joy out of making Trevor squirm the way he was, and he glanced behind him towards the stairs that Lindsay was coming down right then. He winked at them, putting a finger to his lips when he made eye contact, quickly lowering his hand when Trevor was looking his way again. "So, tell me Trevor-boy. Were they as good of a neighbor as their songs claim? Oh, come on! Don't be shy now." 
"Okay, well... Honestly? They were great. I mean, just... So sweet, and so perfect, but... I don't think that's gonna be happening again." 
Both Gavin and Lindsay's face fell, and he leaned in close. "Why not?" 
Trevor bit his lip nervously, hoping he hadn't upset the other with his response. He swirled his soda around in the bottle, staring down into it before he looked up at him. "I don't think I was that good of a neighbor." Saying that he was dealing with some complicated feelings about Jeremy felt like he'd be confessing too much to someone he barely knew, and it wasn't Lindsay's fault that those feelings had only gotten more complicated since the last time he'd been around. 
"Oh, Trevor." Lindsay's voice came from behind him, and they wrapped their arms around him from behind him, making him bristle. "Don't be so hard on yourself. I think you were the best neighbor, but... I'm not against giving you a chance to redeem yourself." 
"You... You set me up!" He cried, pointing at Gavin accusingly, but the only response he got was a wink as he knocked back the beer. "This is the worst. You're the worst, Gavin." 
Lindsay laughed and unwrapped their arms around him so they could sit on a stool beside him, asking Gavin for a glass of wine when he was done being a dick. "I'm sorry, darlin', but it was just too cute watching you get all flustered like that." 
Some version of the same antic happened every day, and he didn't know how he hadn't gotten wise to it at that point. After the fifth day of being in Good Neighbor, he took Lindsay up on their offer of redeeming himself because he just couldn't stand how lonely his hotel room was anymore. It was much the same as the first time they had spent the night together, and it didn't really fill the void. 
The next night, Lindsay invited Trevor back to the apartment they shared with Gavin and Michael. Not for sex, but just so he wouldn't be alone at night anymore, because it really seemed to be getting to him. He'd swapped his Nuka Cherry for whatever beer Gavin had on hand, and they'd all started to get concerned. They all considered him a friend, they thought he was sweet and fun to talk to, and he had good choice in music, and they weren't going to let their friend be miserable if they could help it. Trevor was better after that, switching back to soda after his nights were filled with games of Blast Radius instead of listening to his own voice on the radio, staring up at the ceiling because he couldn't see the sky from the window. 
----------------------------------------------------
Jeremy wasn't doing much better, either. Nick Valentine, as nice as he was, just wasn't as good company as Trevor. That was his biggest problem with the synth, really. That he wasn't Trevor. The man's voice did play over the radio, but he knew it wasn't the real deal. The real deal was, hopefully, safe in Good Neighbor. 
The trip back to Sanctuary had been easy enough, but a tour of the vault didn't really tell Nick anything that Jeremy hadn't already told him about the situation. He'd expected as much, but it didn't hurt to look for any sort of calling card that may have been left behind. Their trip had taken quite a few detours, too, because of Nick wanting some help looking into other cases that he had on the docket. Jeremy had been reluctant to help, but he figured since he was being helped for free, it was the least he could do to pay him back. Once they were back in Nick's office in Diamond City, he relayed the information to Ellie for her to write up and add to the case file, and spoke with her to try and figure out the next step. She said something, and Nick's face lit up, knocking on the desk to get Jeremy's attention.
"Lucky for you, where you're gonna want to go next is where you have to go anyway," Nick said finally, turning to Jeremy, who'd nearly fallen asleep in the chair he was seated in. "In Good Neighbor, there's a place called the Memory Den. People usually use it to try and look back on fond memories, but I think in your case, it may be the key to figuring out what happened while you were on ice." 
Jeremy was glad to not have to roam all over the Commonwealth again, and even more excited that he'd get to see Trevor again. Next time, he wasn't going to be leaving him behind. "Great, I'll look into it."
"Come back to me if you get anything useful." 
----------------------------------------------------
It was another day at the bar for Trevor, another day wishing that there was something he could use to get in touch with Jeremy somehow. Letters were useless, and he was pretty sure that a Pip-Boy couldn't receive any messages from terminals without being hooked into it.
As usual, he was leaned against the bar, chatting with Gavin who stood next to him, and Michael and Lindsay who were seated on the other side on the stools. The Third Rail wasn't open just yet, but Trevor had taken to helping Gavin get the bar set up and keeping the other two company as they waited for opening time. And though it wasn't open, it seemed like Michael had forgotten to lock the door back up behind them, because heavy footsteps started coming down the steps. The conversation immediately stopped, Trevor and Gavin ducking down below the bar as Michael moved to stand in front of Lindsay. 
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Trevor heard Michael say, but it wasn't in anger like he'd been expecting. He and Gavin glanced at each other in confusion, the Brit silently reaching to grab a pistol that was stored beneath the counter just in case. 
"I'm here for Trevor. Guy at the Rex said he'd been hanging out with you guys lately."
He recognized that voice, and he knocked the gun out of Gavin's hands before popping his head up to confirm what his ears had heard. "Jeremy! You're back." 
"You didn't think I'd forgotten about you, did you?" Jeremy asked, a grin spreading across his face when he saw Trevor stand up from behind the bar. Barely a moment passed before Trevor was stepping out from behind the bar, running up to Jeremy and wrapping him in a hug. "Whoa, okay... Guess you did," he laughed, awkwardly raising and lowering his arms a few times before he settled for wrapping them around Trevor, hugging him back tightly. 
"No, I didn't, I just... Missed you." The confession made Trevor's cheeks go red, and after a minute he pulled away from the hug. "But... I'm glad you're back. How'd the search go?" 
Jeremy made a noncommittal noise, gesturing vaguely. "It was kinda pointless, to be honest. But I know where to go next. Some place called the Memory Den?"
"Oh, well I could have told you that! You didn't need some crackpot gumshoe for that," Gavin said, "That's where I told Trevor he should go when he started getting bored." Michael reached across the counter to thump him across the head. "What? I did!" The ghoul just cut him a look, and Gavin stuck his tongue out at him in response before quieting down. 
Trevor cleared his throat, turning back towards Jeremy with a smile. "Hey, at least we know where to go. And it's not very far, either. I bet you're even more sick of wandering around the wastes than I am at this point."
"You've got that right," Jeremy said with a chuckle, heading over to the bar to take a seat and motioning for Trevor to join him. "Mhm. But we're not going there right now. First, I need a drink."
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everamazingfe · 3 years
Text
When The (Pent) House Goes Up In Flames
Fic Summary: Gavin stays behind in the crew's penthouse to get some work done, but things very quickly go awry. Inspired by the song "Michael Myers Resplendent" by The Mountain Goats.
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Words in this fic: 927 Pairings: Gavin/Geoff Warnings for this fic: Mild character injury
Notes: Click the content source to go read it over on A03!
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When the house goes in flames, no one emerges triumphantly from it. When the scum begins to circle the drain, everybody loves a winner.
The smoke was suffocating. The sound of the flames licking at the support beams around him was deafening. A stunt gone wrong, one that went too big too fast and led to a disaster. Gavin was stuck and alone, his two biggest fears being melded with his third. A fear of fire.
"Guys?" His voice was pitiful and weak, looking around frantically for an exit that wouldn't come. A window, twenty stories up. An elevator shaft, with the top of the elevator five stories below. The cable would shred his hands, tear up his fingers, he might live, but he whimpered at the thought. "Michael! Geoff! Anybody!" He cried out, the desperation hitting him hard as he tried to pry the window open. He punched the glass once, twice, three times before it shattered and he could clear it from the frame.
Sticking his head out, he could barely see the ground below. Fire trucks were circling, and he tried screaming for them. "I'm up here! Someone help!" He screamed, but his voice was lost on the wind and the sirens.
Gavin whimpered again, the smoke making him hack and cough. Finding a blanket that hadn't yet been set ablaze, he tore it and wrapped his hands with it. Then, he ran, jumped, grabbed onto the elevator cable and slid down with a screech. It groaned under his weight as he landed down hard on it, his hands bloodied from where the blanket had either been shredded through or not covering his skin enough.
Always the lucky one, the elevator doors were open when he kicked in the emergency hatch, and the fire hadn't spread down too far yet. It was coming though, and fast, so he climbed onto the floor and started running down the stairs, hopping rails when he could to save time.
Above him, the top three floors lost their supports entirely and collapsed, bringing down six more floors with their weight. Floor 11 bowed above Gavin's head, and the roaring of the flames pushed him to go even faster. The smoke he'd breathed in was making him hack and cough, his lungs feeling like they were going to burst, but he kept going.
Four more floors collapsed from above him and brought the flames ever closer to him. The building was engulfed in the flames by now, the firefighters not able to keep up with how fast the building was tearing itself apart with the flames. When he finally burst through the lobby doors onto the street, he nearly collapsed right there, feeling like it was impossible to catch his breath. EMTs swarmed him, and not far behind, Geoff emerged from the fascinated crowd.
"Sir, I'm going to need you to step back and stay out of our way, this man needs to go to the hospital right away," one of them scolded, holding Geoff back as two others led Gavin away.
"That's my boyfriend, I'm his boyfriend!" Geoff shouted, pushing past the woman without much regard and slipping into the ambulance before the doors were slammed shut. "Fuck, Gav. I don't know how the hell you made it out of there." Geoff's voice was rough and raw from the amount he'd been screaming, trying to get someone's, anyone's, attention that Gavin was in there and he was stuck and he was going to die and why was no one listening to him?
"Me neither," Gavin whispered, coughing hard as they slipped an oxygen mask over his face. They asked about his hands, which were bloodied and had some fabric embedded into the wounds. "I... I climbed down the elevator cable so I could get to some stairs. The top floor didn't have stairs, just the elevator, and the whole floor is the apartment."
"And what were you doing there by yourself?" They asked incredulously, as if Gavin was a criminal who had broken in and set the fire himself. He wasn't one for cat burglary or arson.
"We live... lived there," Geoff spoke up, his face twisting into a frown as Gavin continued to cough. "Gav and I, some of our friends, their partners. The rest of us were out, and Gav had some work he wanted to get done so he stayed back."
The EMTS nodded and then were silent as they fixed up Gavin's hands, the drive to the hospital feeling far too drawn out.
"Geoff," Gavin whimpered after a few minutes, and he jumped into action, smoothing the lad's hair back and doing what he could to be soothing. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, buddy... All I care about is that you're alive. The rest of that shit can be replaced, that's not an issue," he promised, leaning to press a kiss to his temple. "I will say, you showed some bravery none of us expected out of you. Fucking sliding down an elevator cable like some sort of action hero? Michael's gonna love hearing about that."
Gavin laughed, feeling like he could breathe a little easier as the heavy smoke was pushed from his lungs. "I didn't have as triumphant of an exit as I wanted, though."
"No one emerges triumphantly from that sorta thing, Gav," Geoff chuckled, shaking his head fondly. "It's okay. You're okay." Another kiss to the lad's temple, and then he was following the gurney to the ER room where Gavin would be staying until they were sure he was better.
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everamazingfe · 3 years
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Michael for the headcanon post! any au you’re feeling!
Oooooooh okay! This is a toughie to decide on, but fuck it I'm gonna do my Fallout AU because I can and I love it even if no one knows about it. (Going back to add this after I wrote them all: this was super fun to do!!! I love getting to flesh out characters more.)
Headcanon A: Realistic:
Before he ended up as a ghoul in Goodneighbor, he worked as an electrician in Jersey. After the bombs fell and he realized he didn't (and almost kind of couldn't) die, he just began to tour around the Northeast. After a few decades, he settled in Boston because that's where some cities started to be put together, and he took a liking to Goodneighbor since it accepted ghouls like him with open arms.
Headcanon B: While it may not be realistic it is hilarious:
Michael is the subject of a great many stories and tall tales because of his time spent touring around the northeast, becoming something of a cryptid. Those stories still pass through, even a century later, and no one ever believes him when he tells them they're about him.
Headcanon C: Heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends:
Tying into Headcanon A, when Michael realized what the radiation had done to him and that he wasn't dead, he was hopeful that it had done the same to his parents and friends. He spent months going through the rubble of his town searching for them, and spent weeks just sitting in his childhood home, but in the end he found nothing. That's ultimately why he left New Jersey to roam around, it was just too unbearable to stay.
Headcanon D: Unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own:
I'm rejecting my own canon here, but if Michael weren't a ghoul and instead were a vault-dweller, he probably would've ended up as an Overseer due to his loudness and the fact that other people find him rather intimidating. He'd be a hard one to go up against, as many vaults revolted against their Overseers because they usually sucked, but he'd try and do everything he could to make life in the vaults tolerable while still keeping everyone in line.
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everamazingfe · 3 years
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Jeremiah Doolson for the character ask meme, s'il vous plait?
You didn't specify an au, so I am once again gonna go with my Fallout AU just 'cause I can and it's fun! All of his are a little bit sad but hey, that's what happens when you're frozen in a vault for two centuries.
Headcanon A: Realistic:
Every animal that Jeremy sees out in the wastes, he has to pet it. The only exception to that are Deathclaws, but he can manage to get even the angriest Yao Guai to calm down long enough for him to give it some pets. Trevor hates this and it scares the shit out of him every time.
Headcanon B: While it may not be realistic, it is hilarious:
Jeremy meets up with Michael in Goodneighbor every now and then to just fuck around and cause trouble. Lindsay does Jeremy's makeup to make him look like a ghoul, and they go around terrorizing whoever they see outside in the streets. This is the Fallout AU's version of the old men. The Mayor of Goodneighbor really hates this, but short of killing the pair he knows there's nothing he can do to stop it.
Headcanon C: Heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends:
Because Diamond City is set up in the baseball stadium he would go see games at with his family and friends before the bombs dropped, it's a very sentimental place for him. A lot of what he knew about it is long gone and torn down to be repurposed for homes, but the seats that he used to sit in in the stands are still there. Whenever things get too much for him, Trevor can always find him there. He sits in his dad's usual seat.
Headcanon D: Unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own:
If Jeremy weren't a vault dweller from before the war, he'd be someone kind of like Cait. Fighting raiders in the Combat Zone without any break and hooked on Buffout and Jet without an ounce of Addictol in sight, until a benevolent wanderer of the wastes decides to bust him out.
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