Alternative Methods.

[doubletap]

Has sex become repetitious? Feeling sore in certain areas? Well, good news! Your boyfriend has sent you on a quest to find different ways of having fun gay sex. Yay!

Find the following people and seek out their knowledge:

• Arcade Israel Gannon (=D)
  
• Jimmy (Westside)
  
• Old Ben (Freeside)
  
• Doctor Alex Richards (Novac)
  
• Ignacio Rivas (Helios One)

Good luck, Wanderer!

Comments

[goodfight]

Blatancy, Neil Park. Digression and blatancy, speaks Arcade in his head.

"I was talking to Ignacio," he begins quietly. "I kinda broke down. Told him this was my first relationship, and I was getting overwhelmed. That my usual methods of reading up on things weren't gonna cut it."

There is an imbalance, as he had mentioned to Rivas, between Neil and Alex. Between the Lone Wanderer and the Courier.

"We talked about it for a bit. He helped me sort some of it out."

[doubletap]

Rivas, huh.

Alex's expression sobers. He stays where he is. "He's a good guy," he states. "Got me to start working for everyone in the Mojave and not just the big fishes. He cares about people. Actually cares."

The Followers, all of them. They seemed to be those people who care.

"...I'm glad he helped you. Am I allowed to ask how? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

[goodfight]

Good guy, yes. Rivas, The Followers, people who actually gave a shit even when they had every right not to.

Such as one guy's concerns.

"He listened. Asked questions. I told him that I wanted to balance things between us. Instead of just reacting passively to you, waiting for this relationship to pass, I--"

Neil breathes. Just breathes.

"...I wanted to make it grow."

[doubletap]

Neil is serious. And here is somewhere where Alex needs lightness. Not to lessen anything. But because for it to grow there needs to be that, too. Not everything needs to be heavy and impactful. Sometimes it can just be corny and laidback.

He nudges Neil's head with his own, smiling at him. "You asking me to have your babies? Start a family together?"

[goodfight]

Oh, god. How Neil Park blushes at the question.

"E-Even if you were a woman," Neil stammers, attempting to regulate the effect of that joke, "we wouldn't be ready for babies. We'd be bad for babies."

[doubletap]

"Oh, so you do want babies? Well, I'd be okay being your wife, Neil Park." The smile stays, the nudging continues.

"You're my man, after all."

[goodfight]

Shit, what the fuck is this?

"What is this?" Neil says, bewildered. "Is this like a weird-ass way of asking me to propose to you?"

[doubletap]

His lips find Neil's ear, closing over it gently. He stays there, sucking, then releases to reply. "...Are you going to?" he murmurs. "I hope you know it's a sure thing."

[goodfight]

A sound falls from Neil's lips that he's completely ashamed of making, but he's too busy shivering under Alex and the bundle of blankets. Yet he tries for lightness. Tries for a truth in the guise of banter. "I haven't even gotten around to looking for rings yet," he manages. "I don't even know--"

Right, that thought. That request. "--your birthday, let alone your ring size."

[doubletap]

Alex pulls back, still staying there but enough to look in Neil's eyes. "Is it really that important to you?" he wonders. "My birthday?

"It's something I made up, after all. Just something to count the years. No way of knowing when I was actually born without parents to ask."

[goodfight]

Neil watches him, eyes shifting from embarrassment to affection.

"It's your years so it matters to me," he says. "Made up or otherwise, it's another facet of you, and I really--"

Really. "--love you."

[doubletap]

Alex leans forward to touch Neil's head with his own. He stays there, then pulls back entirely, shifting to sit in front of Neil cross-legged. "November," he states.

"November 3rd, 2248."

[goodfight]

There exists some distance, allowing Neil to think. To mull over the date given, pondering at its meaning. "Could I ask why you chose that date?"

[doubletap]

Alex shrugs, an absence in his expression. "Town told me they guessed I was born in fall. An old lady there said I had that kind of annoying personality." Of someone who was dying on the vine, too late to life.

"Paid a lot of money in my early twenties for a doctor to look at my teeth and get the exact year. November 2nd? In the Mexican territory they had Day of the Dead. So I thought the 3rd would be a day to come back. Picked a birthday after a day of celebrating death, gave myself a better name, and started over. Started for real.

"Guess that was the start of my third life. First was with my mother. Second with the Four Corners tribe. And when I was dragged from that grave in Goodsprings, that was the start of my fourth. I keep starting over. It's a little depressing."

[goodfight]

Neil watches the subdued expression with care as Alex relates his early years and the path he took to reach a date. The young man listens, absorbing every syllable, word, and sentence uttered, saying nothing until everything was said.

Once complete, Neil rises to sit up, eyes still locked on the other.

"It is, yeah," he agrees. "I'd imagine there were things you lost along the way."

[doubletap]

"...Hmm." That makes it more depressing, actually. He glances down.

"Yeah."

[goodfight]

That has Neil reaching, hand cupping Alex's cheek.

"Sorry," he murmurs. "Didn't mean to remind you." Of things that are not known by Neil.

[doubletap]

He leans against the hand. "...It's yours, too. It's part of me."

[goodfight]

His eyes widen in surprise, easing into a small smile when it hits him. The truth that Alex belongs to him as he does to Alex.

"I wanted to say," he continues. "Starting over isn't so bad in and of itself. Most wouldn't even get that chance; they'd die when their years run out while you-- You got back up."

Continued walking.

[doubletap]

"It's what I do," he says. "I continue." As he's told Neil time and again. Alex Seattle Geer will keep existing, despite everything thrown at him. "Now, though. With you, I want to learn to actually live."

[goodfight]

Neil again watches Alex, dark eyes locked on the other's grey and blue.

"Yeah. I get that." Wanting to live. Actually thrive. "Even as it's hard to believe sometimes. To me, to others, you're probably the most alive person to ever walk the wastelands."

[doubletap]

He leans forward, elbows on his knees, smiling slightly. "You've said that," he mentions. "That I love life more than anything."

[goodfight]

"That's right." Life is Alex's Number One, capitals and all. "More than even me."

[doubletap]

He raises an eyebrow. "You do know, darling, that you're my reason for living?"

[goodfight]

Neil softens. "I know. And I hope you continue to have that reason, whether or not it's me."