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]

The slip is annoying, but he doesn't really care. To Neil's return fire, Alex only turns to watch him again.

Reaches out to run a hand along Neil's side. "The only thing I want to look at is you," he says, gaze intent on Neil Park. After a moment, he gives a half-smile. "That better? Let me be your bodyguard for a while. I'm having issues with knowing you're not up to speed."

That Neil is more vulnerable to any threats. Not like Alex wouldn't intersect them. Like in the basement below.

[goodfight]

The affectionate gesture, the sentences given in sincerity, the gaze and the half-smile-- They threaten to dispel the pair's previous talk and the truth that's rotting inside the cage of his subconscious, and Neil drops the humor. He glances away to the kids playing chase, his eyes following their movements.

His body leans slightly against the hand at his side, a detail Neil does not pick up on. Instead, he wonders how far he has slipped away from himself. Considers how weak he appears when Alex is broken up over his current state.

Neil frowns heavily. "Do I," he begins, "really look that bad to you?" Like shit, as was mentioned twice before.

[doubletap]

Alex blinks at Neil's weight on his hand, wondering if the kid is still having trouble being upright. With that in mind, Alex moves to lean next to him against the wall, body flush against Neil for support-- And contact. Maybe for both of them.

Like Neil requests, Alex looks to the scenery. Watches the place that is nothing like where he's from. "Not anymore," he replies truthfully. "Not as much. That first day... You fucking scared the shit out of me." But Neil likely remembers Alex saying much of the same, on his knees in that med room, his face pressed into Neil's stomach. "I was in high alert, I think," he says, and tries to laugh, to lighten it. He doesn't quite succeed. "Ever since you started slurring on that pier. When you leaned against me without any pride attached."

When you could barely eat. When your head was red and burning. When you feared being asleep, and when you've been having nightmares. Alex could go on and on. But he stops there. "...But you're standing now. Walking and alert. It's like a weight's been lifted, I think. That make sense?"

[goodfight]

They lean against each other, the contact proving to be comforting. It stabilizes the chaotic rhythm of his heart, convincing the organ to not beat uselessly against the bars of its cage. Neil exhales, his breath coming out in a slow fog, and he shoves his hands into his pant pockets.

Alex provides the facts. He details the oddities that drove the man to extreme protectiveness, and Neil recalls the fear in Alex's voice, the desperate manner in which the Courier pressed against his stomach. Alex was afraid, Neil realizes. Scared of losing something he may never regain.

Neil shifts, disquieted. Uncomfortable. "Makes sense," he answers, kindness in his voice. "The worst is over. I'm going to recover. If not completely, as much as I can. I hope--" He blinks. "--that reassures you somewhat."

[doubletap]

Alex snorts to Neil's reply, reaching up and out to wrap an arm around Neil's shoulders and draw him closer. "That was never in doubt. 'member? You get through anything. You and me bounce back." Though admittedly, Alex shakes things off quicker. Likely a trade for the lack of radiation....

"I just don't want you to have to deal with stuff when you can't react the way you're used to. I'm here, and you can rely on me to make up for that-- Or if you're going to turn me down, per usual--" As when Alex offers nearly anything. "--You can just take me up on that roleplay offer. I can be your servant again." He waggles his eyebrows at Neil, calling back to the Republic of Dave again.

[goodfight]

They're close. There's warmth between them. Change. Alex was correct, Neil cannot stop thinking. They are not the same people they were over a month prior. They are something Neil cannot recognize.

The thought proves enough, just enough, for Neil to speak his mind. Spill his thoughts onto a simple little phrase. "I will," he says quietly. "I'm not going to turn you down."

Not anymore. Not how he used to.

[doubletap]

It's enough to make Alex half turn toward Neil before he realizes the motion, staring outright for a beat.

He blinks, and tears his gaze away, back to the scenery. In the chase scene, ED-E pauses, turning toward Alex. The man waves. Watches. Doesn't look away as he speaks. "Is it because you feel indebted to me? I didn't do this to push you into a cage."

[goodfight]

Neil catches the stare but keeps the observation to himself, content with the cold and the quiet. He leans his head back, pressing damp hair against the cement, and closes his eyes.

As stated aloud, it's nice. The sensation is pleasant enough that he doesn't respond to Alex immediately.

Finally-- "Yes, if you had asked me before all this," he murmurs. "Now, I don't think that's the reason. I don't actually know the reason."

[doubletap]

A moment. He lets it pass. He continues.

"Downstairs." In the bed. "You said you wouldn't tell me no, then, either. When that's what you lived and breathed for."

[goodfight]

"Hm."

That moment, when Alex had presented an actual choice, Neil had spoken much the same. He finds humor somewhere in that thought, and the man chuckles lowly. "Guess I've changed." To become something he can't recognize.

Neil breathes deep and opens his eyes. "You probably think this is weird as shit."

[doubletap]

"I think it's different," Alex clarifies. "And I just want to make sure it's not from some fucked up sense of paying me back."

It's not something he can say. Not like this. If it was like that, just obligation and paying a debt. He thinks he might be hurt too much from that. But he can't... That's not something he can let himself say.

[goodfight]

"Different," is his repeat. "I suppose you're entitled to that." Alex has the right to ensure that Neil's priorities are in the correct mindset, whatever that happens to be.

The sensation of glass grinds beneath the sealed scar on his forehead. His heart pounds hard against its cage. Neil makes a small noise before biting his lip, swallowing down the agony.

[doubletap]

At the noise, Alex shifts in front of Neil, hand hovering over Neil's head as the other hand reaches for Neil's hip to keep him steady. "Hey, you okay? Talk to me."

[goodfight]

Somewhere in that, Neil loses a minute. He comes to Alex standing close, concern dripping heavily in his voice, and it somehow hurts more to hear that.

"Medicine's wearing off," Neil gives immediately. "That's all."

[doubletap]

Alex's hand goes to his own hip, to one of the numerous pouches on his assassin suit, and comes back with a stimpack and med-x between his fingers. He touches Neil's cheek, then moves to push up one of the kid's sleeves, injecting the pain med before the immune booster.

[goodfight]

Needles come and needles go, and Neil's just a bundle of burdens on another man's shoulders. A weakness in another man's hand. He looks ahead to the kids playing tag as Alex administers one after the other.

"I pushed you away," says Neil without prompting. "I fought you. I caused melodrama when it wasn't needed. I know you're going to tell me that's just me being a kid, but I'm sorry."

[doubletap]

Alex continues as Neil speaks, pulls his sleeve back down even as he moves to cover Neil with his body, pressing him into the wall. He leans to nuzzle Neil's jawline, then kisses there once, murmuring close. "If I'm not what you want, you can push me away. You can fight me. I'm not going to force you--"

His brain stutters, freezes. He continues.

"--Force you to stay with me. Don't feel like you have to."

[goodfight]

But where would I go?

It's a thought that strikes and strikes hard, overpowering everything. Rising above the medication, even the lips on his skin, the body pressing close, Neil only thinks he would be alone. If they parted ways, separated permanently--

He exhales, his breath trembling. "What I want..." ...is what's here. Isn't it? Is that the god-given truth?

"...I don't know what I want. But I'm not going to fight against you."

[doubletap]

Alex pulls back, enough to cup Neil's cheek. Enough to look him in the eye and have his own emotions shown easily across his visage.

Concern. Pain. Worry. Something deeper aching inside of him.

"And I'm not going to take advantage of that. I'm not going to do anything to mistreat you, kid."

[goodfight]

They watch each other, eye to eye, and Neil crumbles at the affect shown in the other's grey-blue eyes. He reaches to grab Alex's shoulder, fingers pressing into the suit.

Somewhere, Neil gets it. Understands what's being unsaid.

"You've never mistreated me, old man," he says in a rush. "Don't think you've ever done wrong by me."

[doubletap]

This is a repeat. A repeat from down below, and Alex is not going to fight the points again. It's enough. Enough that Neil is grabbing him tightly, speaking with emotion. Things changed while Neil was gone. But it's possible that not all of them were bad.

He moves into Neil's grasp, dips down to cover Neil's lips with his own; giving this without being a prelude to sex or something for fun, but only a fucking manner of devotion--

There's a sound like a squeak, something choked, and Alex spins without thinking, one arm back to hold Neil against his back and the other out straight, Plasma Defender aimed at--

ED-E beeps behind Drew, Dogmeat sniffing at the kid's pants. Alex doesn't lower his arm. "...You just have to keep fucking up, don't you, kid?"

Mouth agape in shock, Drew makes no motion of response. Dogmeat takes this as some kind of sign, and lifts his leg to let a stream of piss arc up against Drew's leg. This is enough to knock him out of his reverie, and he leaps away with a curse. Alex lowers his arm slowly, muttering about stupid kids and their timing.

[goodfight]

It is a repeat, and Alex seemingly accepts. He ducks down to kiss Neil, pressing lips together in a deeper meaning than a mere opening to something else. And Neil--

And Neil would accept if not for an interruption, and it's a beat too late that he recognizes another's presence. By then, he's pressed against Alex's back, confusion settling on his expression. At least until his perception catches up to him.

Neil peeks over the lumbering Courier to find a gangly guy in a Rivet City guard uniform. The guy appears young, likely younger than even Neil. This detail is further cemented by Alex's words. Another kid, huh?

And this kid appears shocked, like he just saw a damn ghost. Neil squints at him, attempting to figure out the source, until everything hits him with the force of a fistful of pre-war coins. Another, no one who knows the nature of their relationship, had just seen them fucking smooching against a wall. And Neil remembers what Alex had once said. About how the general public feels about males loving males.

"Oh, Lord," he says as Dogmeat lets off his glorious stream of piss. "This is one of those bad things, right?"

[doubletap]

See, Drew had been delivering notices to Rivet City. Therefore, when Cooper went to find him, and saw the kid wasn't back yet, he thought things were fine as they were. Drew Marion, always late and fucking up, decides this may be the worst time to realize his errors.

Alex lets go of Neil and slips the Plasma Defender back into its over-sized pouch. His hand goes to his shoulder, then, for a most intimidating weapon of choice: La Longue Carabine, a beauty with history. Just as he likes them. He smiles angrily at Drew, and moves to step forward.

[goodfight]

Like a raging bighorner on the cusp of a rampage, Alex holsters his weapon to grab another at his shoulder, the scoped level-action rifle with something of a story (or so Neil assumes). There's a dangerous expression on his lover/friend/complication's face, and if this wasn't aimed at an already terrified guy, Neil might have prepared to watch a beautiful disaster.

As the intruder's from Rivet City and, well, very much terrified, Neil has the obligation to stop the disaster before it starts.

He reaches to hook Alex's arm with his own, using his unwieldy strength to keep it (and the owner) in place. "Dude, wait," he says, exasperated. "Is that really necessary? He looks like he's going to shit his own pants."

[doubletap]

In an instant, Alex sees an opportunity. The anger slips to cleverness instead.

He whips his head around as if angry, then makes a face at Neil, smiling to show all is fine. "This kid's been a thorn in my side since we got here."

Play along, Neil Park. This kid doesn't know you personally--and he doesn't like Alex. Let Alex be the bad cop, and Neil be the good-- And show Drew Marion that the Lone Wanderer is still the fair protector that Washington hero worships or something.