rocky mate fine as HELL, statement

But this was… different, to say the least - the first night of the rest of your life on the Hail Mary. You’d clambered into your bed not long after Olesya’s make-shift funeral; the grief of burying one of your closest friends had left you without the capacity for any emotion apart from the overbearing exhaustion currently weighing you down. Tonight was likely the only inaugural night in a new place where you should be able to pass out before your head hit the pillow.

However, trying to sleep in space was a stark contrast to the pleasure of burying yourself under the mountains of blankets like you did at home, and not just due to the excess gravity. The mattress was far too thin, the air was far too cold, and the sounds rattling around you were far too loud for any semblance of comfort. And that’s discounting the incessant, heavy breathing coming from the biologist-shaped lump in the closest corner of the dormitory: Dr Ryland Grace. He was affectionately known by the crew exclusively for his occasional unbearable awkwardness, easy-going personality and impressive intellect. Decidedly not his deafening breathing, which you now wish you’d known about before coercing him to join the mission. Maybe you’d have tried to persuade Stratt to find another science officer if you did – purely for the chance at having a good night’s sleep.

After another drawn out stretch of suffering at Ryland’s lung’s hands, you decided enough was enough. You had to do something if you wanted to remain somewhat sane tomorrow.

“GRACE!” You whisper-shouted at the pile of blankets you assumed was the microbiologist. “Will you PLEASE shut up? I can’t hear myself think, dude.”

As he turned to face you in the dimly lit room, you expected to see a potentially groggy face, maybe a spot of mussed up hair, but instead you were greeted by tear tracks and shaking hands. Oh, shit. He was not acclimating well to space, probably due to the amnesia that he was currently suffering from. You had a choice before you: do you got to sleep and appreciate the silence finally afforded to you, or do you help your friend? Reluctantly, you supposed you should choose the obvious option and opened your mouth to speak.

“Are you okay, Grace?” you asked, slowly shuffling to the foot of your bed, beckoning him to come over to your bed, which you were now sat on the end of, feet brushing the cold, steel floors. If you were going to make the sacrifice to help him, he could at least meet you halfway, or all the way, you supposed. As he tentatively stood up and tentatively inched across the room to join you, you reached out your hand towards him, before gently laying your palm on his forearm. “If you were so panicked about something, why didn’t you talk to me about it?”

At this, his gaze shifted from where it was trained on the floor to your face, very briefly scanning your featured before retreating to the floor.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to say.” He whispered. His voice was still a little gravelly from disuse. You liked it; it suited him somewhat. “This whole ‘being in space’ thing is really freaking me out.”

Another beat.

“Too loud.”

You smiled slightly at that. Too damn right. The noise was the one thing that hours of training and simulators never trained you for. You let your hand fall from his arm, grazing his bare skin as you did so. He’s so warm, you noted.

“I could say the exact same thing.” Both of you huffed a quiet laugh as you scooted backwards to make some room for him on the bed. There was one last moment of awkward silence before you spoke again “Do you want to stay here with me tonight? Might be easier for you to sleep if I’m closer. I know it would work for me if I were you.”

His body accepted before he could, slumping down next to you on the bed, though his back was the only part of his body that faced you. Not that you cared, it was a very good back, but he couldn’t sleep like this if he’d decided to accept your offer. He seemed more closed off and quiet than you’d ever seen him, even during long days pre-launch. This was really getting to him, you thought.

Your hand had reached his shoulder before you realised it – almost as if you were drawn to him. His only reaction to the touch was to turn his head and look into your eyes. Properly, this time, not like the fleeting glance over your features like before.

“You can lie down if you want. It’s definitely going to be easier sleeping that way than if you’re sitting up like you are now. Come on, I don’t bite” You stuck what you hoped was an endearing smile onto the end of your request, in hope that he’d be more inclined to acquiesce.

It must have worked wonders, for as soon as you laid back onto your pillow, a heavy head fell onto your shoulder, and a warm body wasn’t too much farther away.

CAIT: They were both sitting next to each other, on the roof of one of the houses in sanctuary. The sun was sinking below the horizon; oranges and pinks sailing across the twighlight sky. The bottles in their hands clinked against each other as Sole moved in closer to her.

This was as good as it was ever going to get, Sole realised, the residual warmth from the setting sun calming the two beyond anything either had experienced in the Commonwealth.

´You know, I wish we could stay here forever,’ Sole murmured, moving even closer into their girlfriend, resting their head on her soldier.

Cait turned to look at Sole, almost in disbelief that someone like Sole could ever love her. The more she thought about it, the more she started to agree with her partner. This was the happiest she had been in a while.

´Yeah,’ was the reply, ‘Me too.’

CURIE: Curie was working on some experiment or other, like usual; Sole watching from the other side of the room. Equipment that Sole had scavenged for their partner was strewn across the table, and Curie hadn’t looked at Sole in a good half an hour. She hadn’t said anything in even longer.

Sole was surprisingly okay with it. It meant that they could work on plans for The Castle’s new artillery defences that they had been meaning to get done for ages.

It struck them then that this was what they loved most about being with Curie: the way they were able to do their own things in complete, yet comfortable silence.

It was quite daunting to break that silence, but a whisper of ‘I could stay like this forever,’ was all that was needed for Curie to break into a smile.

‘Yes, I think so too.’

DANSE: Danse and Sole were having a slow afternoon, one of the first that Danse has had. The pair were working on their power armour, so Danse couldn’t complain.

It was a relatively cool day, but the nature of the work they were doing meant they were both getting hot and sweaty. Sole was haphazardly covering the armour peices with a new lick of paint, and Danse was adding some extra modifications to his.

They stayed there working in comfortable silence, until the Sole was finished. Looking over at their boyfriend, Sole realised that they could spend all their days like this. Screw the brotherhood, screw the stupid Minutemen for all they care, this was all they needed.

Their feet started moving before they knew it, and suddenly they were behind Danse, their arms wrapped around their his sturdy frame.

‘I could stay like this forever,’ they said into his neck.

Danse turned around in Sole’s grasp, and captured their lips in a kiss.

‘I think I could too’ he said with a smile.

HANCOCK: Hancock was sprawled out on his favourite sofa in the statehouse, still spaced out with the high that was lingering from hours earlier. Sole was next to him, curled under his arm, even higher than their partner - if that was possible.

Jet inhalers were strewn across the table across from the pair. Ever since Hancock and Sole had first confessed their feelings, they had been passing their days much like this.

Sole lifted their head from Hancock’s shoulder, and settled themself onto his lap. The world started to spin; Sole buried himself into their boyfriend. His torso was sturdy, and arms began to snake themselves around Sole’s torso, holding them close.

A murmur escaped Sole’s mouth, losing itself in Hancock’s old coat.

‘What’s that?’ he asked, curiosity taking over.

‘I could stay like this forever,’ was the reply.

A smile broke istelf over the ghoul’s face.

‘We can do that quite easily, sweetheart.’

MACCREADY: The sun was setting over the commonwealth, sending pastels rippling over the sky. MacCready and Sole had just settled themselves down for rhe night; a small fire burning in front of the pair, cooking their food for the night.

Sole glanced over at the man on the opposite side of the fire. Busy working on cleaning his rifle, the fire lit up MacCready’s face in warm orange hues that practically made Sole melt.

Without warning, Sole stood up and moved himself next to their boyfriend. Mac looked up at Sole, the fire reflecting in his eyes turning the steely blue irises to flickering reds.

Mac brought his hand up to Sole’s cheek before kissing them softly. He turned back to the fire, but not before putting his arm around Sole and bringing them closer.

There was a few minutes of comfortable silence before Sole whispered: ‘I could stay like this forever’.

MacCready only smiled, seemingly very impressed with himself.

PIPER: The pair were sat in comfortable silence in the Publick Occurrances office. Piper was working on her newest article, resulting in a few questions every so often, like ‘How do you spell amnesiac?’ or ‘What does garish mean?’

Sole was working on some plans for the Minutemen, something that Preston had asked them to do far too long ago, when they realised that this was the happiest they had been since they left the vault. Living here in Diamond City wasn’t as safe Sanctuary pre-war, but it was pretty much made up for due to the intrepid reporter sat on the other side of the table.

Sole stood up to move behind Piper, and slink their arms around her from behind.

The words ‘I could stay like this forever,’ were whispered into the back of Piper’s neck.