the story in which Alex Seattle Geer is right for hating enclosed spaces,

[doubletap]

and Neil Park is blamed for his knowledge of vaults.

---

Terminal Entries:

1st Floor, Vault Entry-Room Computer:
- Data Entry 1: Year 20XX, Month XX; There's no escape.
- Holotape Entry 1: Y#4@ SDhig^8705 H98 [data corrupted]; This is hell and I want out of it.

1st Floor, Cafeteria Luncheon:
- Holotape Entry 2: Private Recording; I've had better?

1st Floor, Cafeteria Supply Room:
- Inventory List: Inventory List; A list of food....
- Data Entry 2: Shift Notes; Maybe I should tear the walls down.

1st Floor, Broken Cave:
- Data Entry 3: Preparations; Everything's fine.
- Data Entry 4: Near the End; I'll tell you the truth, but I won't give up my soul.
- Data Entry 5: Finally, the End is at Hand.; This is far enough.

1st Floor, Office:
- Data Entry 6: Vault-Wide Public Service Announcement; Get back to work everyone.
- Data Entry 7: Locked Administrative Reply; You're reaching for straws.

1st Floor, Administrative Secretary's Office:
- Data Entry 8: Drama Hoes; It is sort of funny that people aren't able to lie, though.
- Holotape Entry 3: Bill Self-Log; Byron's access still works everywhere.

Comments

[goodfight]

[The nickname causes Neil to expel a groan as he tightens his hold around the other. With Alex's echoing the motion, they are caught in an awkward embrace.]

Depends on you. Are you going to change your opinion of me?

[doubletap]

What do you mean?

[goodfight]

Whatever might happen, whether in this vault or outside, don't change how you see me.

[Otherwise, it may be the final nail in the coffin.]

Please.

[doubletap]

[ He doesn't move to break away. He only tilts his head, trying to keep eye contact--as if that would provoke understanding. ]

...How do I see you?

[goodfight]

[For once, this is an easy answer. This is a response he will gladly give as Alex looks on.]

A person. Not your unwanted obligation. Not something for you to use.

[doubletap]

[ He is taken aback.

There is something intimate in the easy confession. Something previously untouched in the words.

Alex, for once, has nothing to say.

He responds, then, in easier ways. He leans his head down, and kisses Neil almost gently. ]

[goodfight]

[A part of him might have sparked into life, then, screaming at Neil for casting away his pearls so easily. That part, however, lies dead--whether by the vault's influence or the missing chunk in his brain--and he accepts the kiss in full.

In a beat, he even reciprocates strongly, an intensity unheard of from a man who would claim himself as uninterested.]

[doubletap]

[ Neil kisses back, and Alex adjusts--the hand around Neil holding tightly, and his other hand coming up to touch the other man's jaw.

When he speaks, there is nothing of lightness or joking. Inches away, he stares into Neil's eyes. ]

I wouldn't use you. You're not my obligation. You're you.

[ He means to stop there, but impulse and influence has other ideas. ]

The man that I love.

[goodfight]

[The words weigh heavy on his chest. They free an aspect he hadn't known was still existing.

Neil exhales, dark eyes locked onto the other's.]

Then I won't withhold what I feel about you.

[doubletap]

[ Something jumps in his chest at that gaze, and he is subtly aware of his heartbeat speeding up in a way he hasn't been aware of.

Alex glances to the side, the faintest flush along his cheekbones, and lets out a shaky chuckle. Tries to lighten it. ]

I thought you've been telling me how you feel this whole time whenever you're annoyed enough to hate me.

[goodfight]

Oh.

[This reaction speaks volumes more than perhaps what Alex intends, but Neil can only be intrigued. And saddened.

He clears his throat awkwardly.]

I never hated you. I was just afraid of... You just seemed to be becoming more distant the more my family issues came out.

[doubletap]

[ Alex raises his eyebrows. ]

...You...were worried about me taking off?

[goodfight]

[Shame suddenly overwhelms him, and Neil looks to a dilapidated wall.]

...Mom died. Dad took off. My vault kicked me out. Abandonment issues, remember?

[doubletap]

[ Alex twists to lean a hip against the desk Neil was working at, keeping the kid with him so he's resting against Alex's hips. The hand on Neil's jaw traces from eye to chin. ]

...And here I thought you were this close to telling me off and making me leave because of what I was saying.

[ It's heavy in the air. ]

Maybe I was distant because I was waiting for you to make me leave.

[goodfight]

[They've shifted to a closer position, close enough to bring attention to more than hands pressing together. Neil spares Alex a glance, his cheeks flushing pink at the attention.]

Sometimes...

[This is hard. There is the briefest desire to stifle the words, but it disappears under the influence of Vault 7.]

Sometimes it seems like I'm too much for you. Too young, too stupid, and too angst-ridden to hang around for very long. So I thought to hasten the inevitable.

[doubletap]

[ The hand on Neil's back slips lower, pulls Neil in pressing in very particular places. Alex blinks at him sedately; smiles. ]

The young, stupid, and angst-ridden will pass. You're worth hanging around for.

[goodfight]

Hm.

[It grows harder to process his thoughts as Alex presses closer. More difficult to remember their task of clearing the floor as the other smiles fondly at Neil.

There exists something that is drawing the entirety of his attention to the man called the Courier.]

Guess we shouldn't have assumed the other's intentions.

[doubletap]

[ He laughs, amused, then pulls Neil in to kiss him again. ]

[goodfight]

[Again, beneath the invisible hold and in the arms of someone fast becoming (already) beloved, Neil welcomes the affection. Accepts the already favored gesture with enthusiasm. His hands slip lower, pressing fingertips against the curve of the other's back.

The moan from his lips, however, shocks him out of the kiss, and Neil pulls his head back to blink tiredly at the other, his mind wondering if he had simply imagine the noise.]

[doubletap]

[ The holding, touching--the hand moving downward along Alex's spine--

He wonders if he's going crazy. Not in any facetious way, but in truth. Because none of this, any of it, are things he would ever dream of expecting from this source. Simple affection proves nearly an overwhelm, and when Neil pulling back, blinking, the sound that had been made is reverberating in Alex's ears.

He thinks to smile, to reassure. Understands in a moment that he has less control than needed for that.

He pulls the other hard enough to press, to show want and demonstrate need. Alex kisses his way to Neil's ear, murmuring into it.]

...Is this you, then? Not the hard-edged nonchalant guy, but this person? Do you want me, Neil?

[goodfight]

[The next minute feels like an eternal, like he's deep into the rabbit hole. Neil feels the other against him, the kisses on his skin, and although they have done this many times before, the man languidly thinks that he might have finally lost his mind.

He buries his head against Alex's neck, breathing in his scent. There is dust with a metallic edge, sulfur and powder and all the aspects Neil remembers about this existence.]

I am...what I am. [Both, neither, something that eludes him.] And only if you'll have me.

[doubletap]

[ There's something delicate here, something Alex is unused to. Not from Neil, of all existences. It's alluring and frightening and strange, and Alex wants him. Wants more than Neil has previously given him.

He presses a kiss to Neil's neck, than hefts him onto the empty desk next to the one they were leaning against. ]

...We're camping here for the night.

[ Then moves to the door they came through and closes it, taking the extra moment to relock it. ]

[goodfight]

[Alex declares their intentions for the night and goes to prepare when Neil remembers their original objective. As he watches the other work on the door, he thinks to voice his thoughts.]

Weren't we supposed to clear out this floor?

[doubletap]

[ The sound of a lock clicking is the only answer to Neil's question.

Alex returns to the other, slipping a hand to spread Neil's legs so Alex can lean between them. Not allowing an objection to be voiced, his other hand takes Neil's chin, and Alex takes his mouth. ]

[goodfight]

[The answer to his question comes in the form of a lock sliding into place. It is further elaborated when Alex returns, his hand and body forcing near overwhelming closeness and his mouth swallowing whatever objections Neil might have given.

Except, in reality, the Lone Wanderer has nothing to say. Nothing that he would offer up as a reject. He only falls back into his emotions and murmurs Alex's name against the other's lips, his hands now slipping into the other's hair.]