#aries x reader

You looked at his mask a little startled by the unexpected question. He rarely asked you anything about yourself. To respect you privacy, you always figured. Or hoped, if you were completely honest with yourself, because the alternative would just be indifference.

"Didn't you live here after the war?" you asked confused.

"Well, yes, but I left before everything went..."

"-tits up?" you interrupted him with a smirk.

"Yeah." he chuckled, continueing to stare into the fire. "Come on, quit stalling. The information imbalance here is still in your favor. You owe me a few good stories."

You don't know if it was the booze or the safety of the warm fire but you sighed and relented. He was right. With everything you knew about him and his family, it was only fair to share some stuff about yourself, too.

"It was... oddly peaceful, believe it or not. There was this reverend silence surrounding everything. Like back in the day on early sunday mornings after a big snow storm, right before christmas, you know?"

Aries hummed knowingly. He shifted his gaze to your face intent to listen carefully. Now it was your turn to stare into the fire. To help focus and remember, you tell yourself. Not because, even with the mask, prolonged "eye contact" with him was nearly impossible for you.

"It was hopeful, even. For a time. Following every little lead for any little scrap left of civilisation. Waking up every day thinking 'maybe today there will be someone waiting to be found and rescued'.

But... ", you sighed again, "there's only so many bodies, skeletons and ghouls you can find at the end of tattered journal pages until it starts to get to you."

"What about those fellow dwellers of yours? Did you never band together like a merry band of settling misfits?"

A scowl was beginning to form on your forehead. You were starting to remember more clearly now. "No. They started to grow bitter and... bored. Dangerously so. I think more of us fell victim to other vault dwellers than to the scorched or anything else the wasteland threw at them. Things were looking pretty grim until those folks from Foundation showed up. That changed a lot. Changed people a lot. Although, I actually do miss the quiet sometimes." You ended with a nervous laugh and another big swig of your whiskey mix, barely tasting like anything other than old Nuka-Cola.

"Yeah, some of you seem like straight psychopaths, scary dudes." Aries leaned forward a bit, resting his elbows on his legs. "No offence, Jack."

You rolled your eyes at the nickname but laughed with him. "You know, one of these days you are going to tell me where you got that name from."

"What are you talking about? You know where I got it from, it's obvious!"

"Is it now?" You raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yeah! Jack, Jackalope, it's obvious!"

"Jackalope?" Of course it would relate to some kind of cryptid. What else did you expect?

"You know, because you're just like a bunny, but weird." He took another drag of his cigarette with a barely visible chuckle. He appeared almost nervous. "All cute and adorable with a death stare and a penchant for violence."

That did get an honest smile out of you. "Well, in that case, I take it as a compliment!"

Silence settled again. Both of you lost in your own thoughts of what-ifs, could-have-beens and silent maybes. This time it was your turn to break it, now definitely emboldened by cheap alcohol.

"I don't think I ever properly thanked you..."

Even though you couldn't see his face you could tell the look Aries gave you was one of confusion. "Thanked me for what? That brotherhood business? Pretty sure-"

"No." You cut him off before you lost the courage to explain yourself. "Back then, when I was just about to give up... that's when I arrived in Lewisburg and stumbled onto those posters your sister made. It was shaping up to be just another thing that lead nowhere. I found your colleagues, your... friends. But not you. No matter where I looked. Every nook and cranny. Nothing, not even a tiny piece. Do you have any idea how much time I spent in that cellar looking for another secret door?" You interrupted your monologue with laugh, this time Aries didn't join in.

"But I couldn't find you. And... that... gave me hope again. Maybe someone really did make it. Maybe someone really is still out there. Maybe, some day, I can even talk to him. I even took one of those posters as a reminder. So... thank you. Really."

For once, Aries was speechless. And just stared at you for a little while before he found is composure again. "Well, I hope I didn't dissappoint too much!" He chuckled nervously, "Come on, time to hit the hay. I'll take the first shift."

You had crashed for the night in the tent that the Blue Ridge Caravan Company guards and merchants used, courtesy of Aries letting you borrow his cot. You had tried to turn down his offer, told him that you were fine making the walk back to your camp, but he wasn't having any of it so you didn't argue. Truth be told you were too tired to work out a compromise with him anyway. A few minutes past and the ruckus outside the tent calmed down, you laid on the bed and Aries took up guard at the threshold between the tent and outside. You sighed, rolled over, and fell asleep. 

There were no sweet dreams for you, however. Ever since you had explored the Van Lowe Taxidermy shop down in Lewisburg and found that holotape that had recorded Calvin Van Lowe’s last moments down in that basement you couldn’t get the sound of his scream out of your head. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Clavin’s story and Aries’s story were one and the same, which made the holotape even more sickening to you. 

No matter what you did you couldn’t close your eyes without seeing the events from the tape unfold, unable to stop any of it. The way he had seemed so confident in his skills to reprogram the assaultron, the panic in his voice when he had realized the thing had misheard him, and the bloodcurdling scream that followed as the robot clawed and ripped away at him. The echoing “Baa” at the end always waking you up from the horror scene. The horrific and gory nightmare followed you around like an angry ghost, haunting your dreams and making it hard for you to get any sleep. 

The same nightmare plagued you tonight as well, making you toss and turn on the mattress. Aries didn't notice the way you flopped around or how your face twisted in fear, he had fallen asleep standing up, something he had learned from staying with the caravaners for a while. 

The dream unfolded the same way it always did, the insane assaultron slicing into Aries followed by his screams. Screams that sent a shiver down your spine and made your skin crawl with agony. The machine noises stopped and the imposter sheepsquatch, satisfied that Calvin was now down for the count, let out a low rumbling “BAA” that echoed in your ears, and that was when you startled awake, bolting upright in the bed.

“ARIES!” you screamed out, breathing in raggedly. Your hands wouldn't stop shaking and your vision blurred up with hot tears that threatened to fall down your face. 

“What?! What's happening?” he asked in a panic, shoving himself off of the wall of the tent. “Y/n? Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He asked you, rushing towards you. 

“I...um...you...I...oh god…” your tears began to overflow and you pulled your hands up to cover your face. 

“Hey, everything’s okay.” He told you as he sat down on the cot, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you closer to him. “Nightmare?” He asked. And even though he couldn’t see your face anymore he could feel you moving your head in a nod against his chest. He gently ran one hand through your hair while you continued to cry, using the other to hold on to you tightly in an attempt to make you feel safe. He could feel your whole body shaking now and it made his heartache to see you so scared, so frightened by something he had no control over. But soon the sobs turned into heavy breaths with the occasional sniffle and the shaking had lessened. 

You pulled away from him, running the sleeve of your shirt over your eyes, clearing any leftover tears. You opened your mouth to say something, but when you looked up and saw the blue gas mask that covered his face, you bit your lip in an attempt to stop the waterworks from starting up again. You focused your gaze on your hands instead. Aries noticed, however. 

“Somethin' wrong? I mean, besides the whole bad dream thing. You almost seem like you’re scared of me.” He reached for one of your hands and you let him take it, still refusing to look him in the face. He ran his thumb over your knuckles. You took a deep breath before trying to respond. 

“I...no, it’s just…” you took another deep breath, trying to find the right words, thankful that he was a fairly patient person when it came to things like this. “What do you know about a Calvin Van Lowe?” You asked. 

“You mean the guy who those dumb sheepsquatch posters talk about? Heard he died in some robot accident. Nasty stuff. What does he have to do about any of this, though? Did you know him before the war or somethin'?” 

You couldn’t help but smile a little bit. His attempt at trying to cover up his past was kinda cute, if albeit worthless. Anyone with half a brain could easily spot the similarities between the scene at the taxidermy shop and the story that Aries told people whenever they asked about his past. 

“Not exactly. I went to that taxidermy shop a while back, the one that’s described on those posters, and found a lot of...interesting things. A lot of blood, no Calvin though. Felt awful about the whole thing, poor guy must’ve been in a world of hurt what with how much blood there was...Found a holotape too, his damn terminal recorded the scene. Calvin was nowhere to be found though. Worst part was I could swear I had heard his voice somewhere before, it sounded so familiar.” You finally had the strength to look at him without fear of crying again, and even with his mask on you could tell he was a little bewildered. Suppose he thought no one would’ve pieced the two stories together and figured it out. 

“You know you’re a lot smarter than you lead on.” He said, tilting his head a little to the side out of admiration. 

“Suppose it helps to keep some things hidden, although...I’m sure you know all about that...Van Lowe.” 

He chuckled softly at the sound of his old name. “Think I see what’s going on now.” His tone fell serious. “This holotape...scares you, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t blame you, Bet it doesn’t sound all that pleasant…” 

The memory of the horrific sounds hit you again, forcing you to look back down at your hands. You twisted and turned your fingers around in an attempt to distract yourself from the screams and mechanical noises that rang through your head. But Aries slipped his hand into one of your own, lacing his fingers with yours and squeezing gently. 

“But look, I’m still here, aren’t I? Even after you found a second one of those bastards over in Harpers Ferry, I’m still alright. And trust me, what happened in that basement isn’t something that’ll happen again. It’ll get more of a fight next time one of them decides to poke their head out.” 

You smiled weakly. His reassurance wasn’t comforting, you didn’t want to think about if, or when, there would be a “next time”. Unconsciously you bit your lip, but Aries was quick to notice your nervousness. He reached down to untie the laces on his boots, taking them off and throwing them to the side. 

“What are you…?” 

“Come here.” Was all he said as he held out his open arms, not even letting you finish your question. You did as he asked and scooted closer to him. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you to lay down with him. The bed was small, not made for two people, but Aries’s small frame made it so that it wasn’t an uncomfortably tight fit. You had to admit, feeling the warmth from his arms wrapped around you did make you feel a bit calmer. 

You tried to focus on your breathing, seeing if the rhythm of it could put you to sleep, but instead, all you could focus on was the sound of his breathing. The way the gas mask muffled the sounds when he inhaled and the way he choked out an exhale, hearing his breaths rattle up and out of his body. It was slightly unsettling, making a shiver run up your spine, but it also made your heartache. How painful was the simple task of breathing for him? You could feel your heart rise up in your throat just from thinking about it and you shakedly inhaled, trying to stop a sob from escaping. 

Aries heard all of this though, even if he was half asleep by now. He used his arm that was still wrapped around you to gently and reassuringly give you a small squeeze, running his fingers up and down your exposed forearm. 

“Everything’s alright,” he whispered in your ear, and in your tired state, you wanted to believe him. Maybe he was right, maybe even after all that had happened he had learned to deal with it, he was probably used to some of the pain by now anyway. 

“...Promise?” You kept your voice soft and quiet. You could hear him breathe out in a way that suggested he was smiling under his mask. 

“Promise. You know I wouldn't lie to you.” He moved his head closer to you, burying his face, well, the face of the gas mask he always wore, into your hair, his chin falling near your shoulder. 

You had to agree with him, throughout the few months that the two of you had been together he hadn’t lied once. Well except for the whole Calvin-secret-identity thing. But you supposed keeping that secret was justifiable. 

The more you thought about it the more tired you got and soon fighting sleep off became a losing battle for you. This time in your dreams though there were no imposter sheepsquatches, no blood, no screams. There was only you and Aries, together, safe and sound.

Taurus

They look at you with their cheeks slightly red, if you point it out they would deny it.

Would ask if you need help with anything.

Oh you just wanted attention? Congrats, you've created tomato Taurus!

They would playfully pinch your cheek to hide their embarrassed face.

"Shut up dumb*ss" *softly smiles while pinching your cheeks*

Gemini

Didn't move at all when you kissed their cheek.

Looks at you confused and be like "can I help you?"

You want attention you say? Say no more! They will grab your hand, pull you next to them and let you snuggle up to them as they continue their work.

You trying to distract them from their work? Fine, cuddle time it is.

"That's enough kisses, I need to finish my work. You wont let me finish you say? *Sigh* Alright fine." *Small giggles*

Cancer

Honey what are you doing? You trying to break them or something??

This bean would look at you with the 'did-you-just-do-that?!' look

Shyly smiles and thanked you for your affection.

Want them to kiss your cheek back? Yeah it might need a while for them to do that darling.

"T-Thank you, I appriciate you too."

Leo

Look at you like :O and then :D

Their dear kitty just kissed their cheek?! Oh gosh they are so DAMN happy.

Give you hugssssssssss.

You want them to kiss you back? NO PROBLEM! CHEEK KISSES FOR DAYSSSSSSS.

"Awwwww I love you too, my dear kitty!!!"

Virgo

Didn't even react to it, literally ignores it.

You kisses their cheek again? They ignores it again.

They could care less if you kiss their cheek, they just wanna read their book. Damn bookworm

But if you whine a bit and ask them to give you attention, they just give in.

"What? Attention? Really [Name]? Fine, come here"

Libra

Giggles and looks at you with their sweet smile. SWEETIE PIEEEE

Kisses your cheek back immediately before you can even say anything

What blush? Oh that's just their make up, don't worry!

Oh great now you have Libra showering you with kisses.

"You shall drown from my affection!!"

Scorpio

Immediately looks at you with wide eyes

You've caught them off guard.

Oh they're frozen

Oh gosh I think you broke them

Scorpio.exe has stopped working

"U-uhm........yes [Name]?"

Sagittarius

Gasps and looks at you with their adorable dorky smile :D

Kisses your cheek back immediately

Asks you to kiss their cheek again

You kisses their cheek again, but they want more

Oh you ain't giving any cheek kisses anymore?

Well goodluck dealing with whiny Sagittarius clinging onto you like a baby koala for a whole day!

"Ow c'mon do that again! Pleaseeeee??"

Capricorn

Didn't react at all

No small smiles, no soft chuckles, didn't even bother to look at you, nothing

You kissed their cheek again but still no reactions from them

Oh wait hang on, is that a small smirk on their face?

You realised they are ignoring you on purpose so you can keep kissing their cheek

You decided to leave the room- oh wait Capricorn wants you to stay after all

"Hey wait! I was just kidding, come baaaack!"

Aquarius

Literally stopped whatever they were doing and stays frozen for about 10 seconds

Slowly looks at you, you can clearly see they are trying SO HARD to keep their cool while their cheeks are slowly getting pink

Clears their throat and gently tell you to not do that without their consent

Gently ruffles your hair

Oh mah gahd they are so gentle like a feather

"You almost caught me off guard, you know that?"

Pisces

Just like I said, honey what are you doing??

Stop killing people with your lovely affection!

How great, first it was broken Scorpio, now it's broken Pisces

Wait Pisces gave you a hug? Oh they're trying to hide their embarrassed face

Aww how cute!

"Why would you do that in public?..."

Uploaded on : 30/05/2022

Nagivation

There was another path forward but in the meantime, you had to cool your nerves. You pulled a pack of cigarettes from your back pocket and lit one, taking a large inhale before letting it free. Leaning against the brick wall, you could still hear (and feel, for that matter) the music in the club but were unbothered by it now. A few minutes passed by quickly as you smoked before you were surprised to see the door open again.

Out strode a large figure who didn’t immediately notice you as he stepped out. However, as you blew out another cloud of smoke, he turned to face you. You looked up briefly from your phone to meet his gaze. He looked vaguely familiar, but you couldn’t place it. He also looked like he was up to no good, so after a moment you returned to scrolling on your phone. It was just your luck that he spoke up.

“You aren’t supposed to be out here,” He leaned his right forearm over the wall just above your head, cocking his head as red hair pushed in front of his eyes. “Employees only.”

“Oh no,” Your voice is flat as you take a moment to adjust your glasses, looking up into his brown eyes with obvious distaste. “I’m so scared.” You raise your cigarette to your lips with delicate fingers, only to have it plucked from your grasp; the man looming above you takes a puff of it instead, blowing the smoke right in your face. You just frown at him as his smile only seems to grow.

You get the growing sense he’s not someone you want to be alone with.

“Just trying to help you out angel,” He clicks his tongue as he leans in farther to you, whispering. “Pretty thing like you shouldn’t be alone on a night like this.” His smirk is nothing but devious. You’re able to take your cigarette back (well aware that he could have kept it from you if he wanted to) and take another puff yourself. “It can get dangerous around here.”

“Is that so?” You flick off ashes, still not looking away from him. “Because the way I see it, I was doing just fine until you came along.”

“You know,” His free hand finds way to your hip, roughly grabbing at the skin there. “Maybe you should be scared of me.” You want to believe he’s just teasing but the way your heartbeat picks up has you wondering if you’ve made a mistake.

“After all, you don’t know me. Don’t know what I’m capable of angel.” There’s an edge to his voice that sends a sinking feeling falling through you. You really don’t feel like gambling tonight, so you’re no going to risk it.

“Could say the same asshole!” You waist no time in raising your knee to his crotch and ducking away from him as he crumbles. You don’t stay to witness him squirm, turning away from the fence to the unknown, dark alley opposite of it.

You hear him groan as you set off, only to hear it die down to a chuckle. That only makes you book it faster, turning the corner left to the back of the club. This side is fenced as well, but you can see the shape of the door not far from you. If you made it to the street surely there would be other people out in the area you could run too.

“Oh you’re going to be more fun then I thought!” You didn’t think you could push yourself any harder as you run towards the exit. You can feel your damn skirt rising as you run and you swear one of the fucking buttons in the front just flew off, but there could be time to worry about that later.

You hit the iron fence running, panting as your hand flies to the handle. It was just your luck the door opened in and not out because before you could open it, the man you had previously incapacitated slams into you, ramming you hard into the iron fence. You groan as you’re pressed roughly into it and hear as he breaths into your ear.

“Is that all you got? You really gonna let it end here bitch?” His words make you so angry you almost forget how scared you are. But pinned as you are, there isn’t much you can do against him.

“Fuck off!” You yell though the both of you know your voice wouldn’t be heard over the club beside you. He’s very obviously stronger than you but that doesn’t stop you from struggling against him, trying in vain to jam your elbow into something vulnerable. However, the man behind you is all hard muscles and toned skin, and your hits do little more than make him laugh.

“Aww you’re going to keep fighting angel? Just for me?” One of his hands sneaks to the back of your thighs, where your traitorous skirt has managed to ride just below the curve of your ass. He wastes no time pulling it up fully over you, unbothered by the sound of some of the buttons snapping off and instead cupping one of your ass cheeks. Your soft skin gives way under his rough touch and he can’t help but groan out in satisfaction.

“But god if you don’t feel divine…” He leans against you more now, using his other hand to reach around to your front and thumb at the thin lace of your thong. You don’t think you’ve ever felt more embarrassed than you did now with his thumb rubbing haphazard circles on your clothed clit.

“Leave me alone! G-get off!” Even as you say the words you’re not sure how you’re going to shake him off. The hand that was on your ass moves up, taking its time to run along every curve and fold of your sides and hips before settling on you right breast. You can’t help but hitch your breath at the combined sensations.

You’re not about to let this happen to you.

You take a deep breath to ready yourself and ram your head back with force. You aren’t sure if you hit his chin or something else but its enough to get him to fall back from you and for you to shake off your head and get moving.

Again, you go for the handle of the iron wrought door only for it to not move you your grasp. Shake and wiggle it as you might, it doesn’t moved. Its locked on both sides, needing a key. You turn to face your attacker, seeing that you actually managed to hit his nose; its bleeding from your impact, but doesn’t look broken. In fact, the man before merely wipes the blood from his nose with a wicked grin.

Knowing now that you were truly stuck with him has you taking in a deep breath.

“You’re pretty good at this. I’m lucky tonight.” He swipes his tongue quickly across his lips as he encroaches upon you, tasting his own blood. You have nowhere left to run and you’re both well aware of the fact now. “Are you gonna keep fighting this? Or will you just let it happen angel?” You still have one last trick, but you didn’t want to have to use it.

“B-back off!” While there’s still distance between you, you pull the knife from your boot. Its nothing significant, especially in your shaking hands but maybe it would be enough to get him to back off. “I’m… I’m not afraid to use this!”

You don’t know how he can keep smiling like this. It unnerves you.

“Then do it.” He doesn’t stop approaching you, not until his chest is touching the tip of your

blade. It digs into his chest a little bit, but not enough to break his skin or his shirt. “Hurt me. Make me bleed even more.”

You can’t stop shaking. If you didn’t have a death grip on the knife, it likely would have fallen from your hands long ago. You can’t help but look and meet his piercing gaze.

It’s clear to the both of you he’s already won.

Tears well up in your eyes, making it hard to see him. He’s still grinning, something wicked working way on his features as your clammy hands finally drop the knife. It falls to the ground with such a loud sound you can’t help but flinch.

“What happened to all that fight from before?” In a facsimile of sweetness, he cups your chin. You tremble in his grasp, knowing well what was to come.

If only you knew what he had in mind was far worse.

“I think I like you.” He leans in close to your face. You still have some sort of self preservation as you lean away from him. Your head hits the iron bars as he just stares into your eyes. “What do you say slut? Coming home with me tonight?” You stiffen at a pressure on your side.

You look to your waist; he holds a knife of his own, far more intimidating than the little one you had. You don’t know where he pulled it from but it only serves to let you know this was a losing battle from the start.

He squeezes your chin when you don’t immediately respond. You don’t dare speak, merely nod your head at his words.

He smiles.

“Good.” The hand that holds the knife slots against your waist, pulling you snug against him. He drops your chin and produces a key—the very one that could grant your freedom. “Don’t even think about running.”

Slowly, carefully, he opens the door towards the both of you. You found you had two choices before you.

Escape from his grasp, risk getting hurt or worse as you run into the unforgiving night. Or… Let him take you away, to fate unknown. With a knife like that in his hand, the choice seemed pretty obvious.

Aries:

• Dating Aries would be the cutest thing ever!

• She’s super shy but when she’s around you she tends to open up a little more!

• She tries to go out on dates with you as much as she can, but prefers eating at home since she’s so shy!

• She likes spoiling you, and always gets nervous and shy when you decide to spoil her for a change!

• She loves cuddling, even though she’s a little too shy to ask sometimes! She’ll make a small cloud out of her cotton for you two to sit and cuddle!

• Loves it when you hold her and tell her about your day!

• She’s always thankful the others don’t tease her about your relationship, it upsets her so they always praise and encourage you two!

• Probably has asked Aquarius for advice on love and dating, she maybe even asks Lucy too!

• Lucy is very happy seeing you two together, especially since you made Aries come out of her shell a little bit!

• She is protective as well, but usually it's you who does the protecting. She gets worried and upset whenever one of you is summoned, but she knows Lucy will make sure you come home safely!

Virgo:

• Is one of the most loyal and sweetest girlfriends ever!

• She’ll do whatever you ask, although you don’t take advantage of it though! Plus she does have lines she won’t cross!

• She loves going on dates with you, although you sometimes have to make her pick a place to go because otherwise she’ll just agree to wherever you wanna go!

• She loves spoiling you! She does it almost everyday and you try to spoil her just as much!

• You both love cuddling, Virgo likes holding you in her arms and running her fingers through your hair.

• She tries to take care of you as much as she can, that's just how she is!

• She doesn’t really like it when Lucy summons her and interrupts your time together, but like a good maid she does what her Princess tells her!

• It makes Lucy very happy seeing you two together; she absolutely loves it when any of her spirits are happy!

• She really loves and adores you, Virgo would do anything and everything for you and vice versa. She only wants you to be happy!