the pier.

[doubletap]

Let him just say it now--the kid had a lot of problems.

I mean, not really a surprise or anything--Alex had found him dried out in a desert, for crying out loud--but god damn.

Let’s recap.

Alex Seattle Geer found himself in love with a Vault brat from the Capital Wasteland with a daddy complex the size of Hoover Dam. Said kid loves him back--sometimes. Said kid would probably rather put another bullet between Alex’s eyes rather than spend time with him, and didn’t this just go to show it. Neil leaves to check up a rumor, said he’d be back shortly--shortly became two days and by then Dogmeat was back, meaning Neil took off somewhere he was worried the dog would get hurt at. Two days turn into two weeks and counting, and by then, Alex has tracked Neil’s steps, found the fucking pier, the fucking tool of a woman looking for her child, and all of the pieces are too easily placed.

Neil left for Point Lookout. And Alex, ED-E, and Dogmeat are left hanging in the wind.

Alex has been fucking camping on the dirty sand and shit next to that pier, waiting for that stupid kid to come back on that stupid ferry the woman told him about. Tobar the fucking Ferryman, and Alex feels like shooting the asshole just for submitting to Neil’s request. Probably not the guy’s fault, but-- Hell. Yeah. He didn’t traipse all over the goddamn country just to be left in the dust. Is the kid even coming back? Who fucking knows.

Alex will just.

Wait here.

Until Neil comes back.

Yeah, that’s not pathetic at all.

Comments

[doubletap]

Despite everything, Alex smiles at the kid in his arms. "Your idiot," he pronounces. "Only yours."

[goodfight]

His head hurts like hell. His ears are overtaken by the pounding in his chest. Neil thinks he could step aside the room to seek for a bucket and empty the remaining contents of his stomach into that bucket. Somehow, all of that is made better with that declaration. That dumb, stupid declaration.

Time again flows as it should. He again finds himself in the present, in the thick of reality, and he chokes back a sob at the sight of it.

"Awesome," he says wretchedly. "I've always wanted a forever companion."

[doubletap]

Alex reaches his hand up again, to touch black hair (getting longer), and tuck it behind Neil's ear. Alex's smile turns bittersweet without his knowing. "Sorry. I'm not making anything better, am I?"

He swallows, exhales. "...Want me to leave you alone?"

[goodfight]

That's not the meaning he wanted to convey to Alex, who is only doing Neil a favor. Who still offers affectionate gestures without prompting. The younger man forces himself to take in a deep breath, closing his eyes at the hand against his hair, and try once again.

"You're good. Promise." The sarcasm from before has scattered to the air. In its place, Neil offers another regret. "I should be the one apologizing. This probably was--" Awkward begs to be inconsiderate. "--difficult for you to tell me."

A pause. "Doesn't matter. I just need fresh air. Know you wanted me to stay down below, but--" Here, Neil grins, the expression strained and disquieting. "Ten minutes outside is all I'm asking for."

But he wouldn't fight if Alex disagreed with the request.

[doubletap]

He watches as Neil rambles, as the man continues to speak. When the flow ceases, he moves to speak opposite. To expand where he wouldn't otherwise. "'s not difficult," he mentions. "I'll repeat it as much as you like. Going up would be difficult, though, what with our friends upstairs. I understand, yeah, but--"

--But nothing, actually. Now that he thinks about it.

"You trust me, right? You wanna wait here a sec and I'll see what I can do?"

[goodfight]

At the prospect of a repeat, Neil visibly shudders, head angling toward the floor in shame. He's acting like a trauma victim, like a frail old thing that will crumble at the slightest touch. Fucking worthless.

"Right," he confirms quietly. The man starts to move off of Alex's lap. "Yeah, I'll wait here."

[doubletap]

As Neil moves, Alex can't help it. He grabs for him, holds him there. For a moment, Alex doesn't know why he did it.

Then the answer, selfish as it is, makes itself known. He moves to cup Neil's cheek. "...Do you still love me?"

[goodfight]

Something restricts his motions, and Neil is surprised to find that the source of it is Alex. He turns his head to watch the other, to silently question the reason.

When Alex touches his cheek and utters a question (that question), Neil freezes. Head, heart, and gut scream their answer in unison, but he can't. He can't say what everything in him wants him to say.

So he gives the next best thing. A truth, of course, but still very lacking. "My feelings for you haven't changed," he answers carefully.

[doubletap]

He doesn't try to kiss him again. Not right now. Instead he raises a hand to his lips, kissing the knuckles. "Wait here for me, then."

[goodfight]

Of course, Neil would wait for Alex. Of course, after everything-- After the Courier waited five weeks for the Lone Wanderer to return from an ill-fated trip up to Point Lookout, how could the younger man say otherwise?

"Okay." The lips against his hand affects him more than he can properly say. Neil looks to a wayward wall as he shifts from Alex's lap onto the mattress.