Vault Hunter AU: Troy’s New Arm - Part 3
Okay, I decided to split it into four parts. I know, it’s getting ridiculous, but I promise the fourth part will be the last (and then I’ll go back to GYF). I wish I had a more defined backstory for this AU, but since it’ll be rewritten once the game’s released, I guess it can stay vague for now.
(Link to Part 2)
******
“I got that one!”
“No, you winged it. I brought it down.” Gaige tossed her gun into the flatbed of the technical and clambered up after it. “You just gotta admit that you lost, dude.”
Troy heaved an exaggerated sigh, following her. They wouldn’t have even needed this technical if they hadn’t driven both of their runners into literal flames… Somehow, he’d still lost the race. He blamed it on adjusting to the new arm.
“It’s only fair,” Gaige continued, turning a smug grin toward Troy. “You’re still the newbie around here.”
He snorted. “Hardly.”
“Eh...new enough. Don’t get cocky.”
“Me?” He pressed a hand to his chest in mock offense. “Never…”
An incredulous laugh was her only response before a comfortable silence settled between them. Troy settled back against the railing of the technical’s bed. A lazy breeze ruffled his hair. He didn’t bother to brush it out of his eyes. Pandora was a shithole, but it had its moments. Quiet desert nights counted as some of them.
“I don’t hate you guys, you know.”
He glanced at her. Her head was back, her eyes were closed. “I figured. Kinda surprising, given we tried to murder all of you, but…”
“Well, yeah, I totally get where the other guys are coming from. But I still don’t hate you.” A strange smile formed on her lips; it was almost sad. “Maybe I’m just naive.”
Troy stayed quiet, running his tongue across the back of his teeth. This had never been his strong point, the whole...empathy thing. That was Tyreen's arena. Made sense, given that he'd needed a hell of a lot of comforting throughout his life, between the sickness and...everything else. “Naive or not, I appreciate the good faith. Even if I don’t deserve it.”
“I’m not here to judge, dude. I learned that lesson. None of us are perfect people. Hell, half of us aren’t even good people.”
“Which one am I?”
She finally turned to study him, green eyes soft but contemplating. “Honestly? Not sure yet.”
“So the whole ‘trying to kill you’ thing doesn’t automatically land me in the ‘bad’ category?”
She didn’t say anything to that and Troy felt a brief twinge of worry that he’d somehow crossed a line. It was true, he felt out of place here. Subconsciously, his fight or flight response was still trying to convince him that it was all a trap. But...he’d been in a trap before and this didn’t feel like one, no matter how strange it was.
Gaige’s voice, although barely above a whisper, startled him out of his thoughts. “We'll worry about it later.” And then she was moving. Sliding into his lap, straddling his hips, cradling his jaw in her hands. “You wanna use that arm?” Her lips were mere inches from his own. “Use it on me.”
(Link to Part 4 - lemonsssss)
