may I request a cooper howard x fem reader, the reader was from the same vault as lucy and they’re close friends and she even joined lucy on finding her dad and eventually traveled along with lucy and the ghoul. the reader and lucy watched a lot of coopers films in the vaults together while growing up and during one of their travels they spot a poster with him on it and the reader starts to basically fangirl (ig) about attractive she thought he was and blah blah, right in front of the ghoul not knowing it’s him. thanks (I hope this makes sense I’m awful at explaining things when typing them out.)
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Welcome to Atomic Ghoul Radio BABEHHHHH <333
Masterlist mwahhh xx
Pairing: The Ghoul / Cooper Howard x FemReader
Trigger warnings: drug/chem/alcohol use/misuse, swearing, guns mentioned, grammar choices are always questionable ofc xx
Words: 2,901
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‘Lucy?’ you yell out seeing her in a crowd of people. Her bright eyes find you and with a look a shock she yells your name too, ‘Vera!’ she runs up to you and you both embrace.
You grab her face, tears building up in your eyes. You hug her harder. ‘What are you doing out of the vault?’ you asked concerned. Before she could continue, you feel someone else staring at you both, you see a figure in the distance behind Lucy. A ghoul?, you thought. His eyes glared right back at you.
Lucy catches you looking, ‘don’t worry, he’s with me. And it is a very long story’ she says grabbing your attention back.
Your eyes find hers again and you give an uneasy nod, ‘well looks like we have some catching up to do! Come!’ you pull her along through the town.
You and Lucy had grown up in the vault together. It was an unlikely friendship, she always followed the rules, she truly was an upstanding vault member. You, on the other hand, struggled to cope with the rules and regulations.
You would have rather died out in the Wasteland than wait for reclamation day. Your parents had died long ago, it was Lucy’s family that had taken you in. You were thankful for that. But it couldn’t stop the suffocating feeling that was the vault.
You never thought you would see her again that day you left. Lucy had helped you escape, something you never thought she would do, ‘but that is what best friends are for, right?’ she said to you the day you escaped.
As you pulled Lucy along you felt that Ghoul trailing behind you both. You pulled her into one of your friends shop. Your eyes scanned for Lucys new friend through the glass on the shops door, and once you locked onto him, you gave him a look that told him to stay out.
Unbothered, he gave you a nod and disappeared amongst the people outside the store. ‘You know how I feel about you bringing your friends here’ the owner of the gun shop says as he tinkers at his desk.
‘My name is Lucy! Nice guns you have here’ she says with a big smile on her face, looking awkwardly around. ‘You nerd. Sorry Danny, she’s a friend, can we please use your office to catch up? Promise we won’t be too long’ you give him a pleading look.
He looks up at you both and rolls his eyes. That was enough of an approval for you to drag Lucy to the back room.
You sat Lucy at the desk chair and asked her to start from the very beginning. As she speaks, your face shows complete confusion to then being in awe that she managed to survive what she did.
When she showed you here finger you almost squealed, ‘now that is hardcore Lucy! Who even are you?’ you exclaim playfully.
She continued with her story, getting to the part where she had found her dad, then finding out what he had done. Her voice cracked when she explained what happened to her mother.
You came closer to her, you cupped your hands around her face. She had been through so much already. She tried so hard to be strong and unbreakable, yet you saw the exhaustion in her eyes. ‘Let me help you’ is all you said. She hugged you tightly, your arms wrapped around her muffling the sounds of her quiet sobs.
She was thankful you had found her. She finally had a piece of of her old life with her now and that gave her great comfort. But she knew she didn’t have a lot of time to dwell.
Lucy gathered herself quickly and said ‘we shouldn’t keep him waiting long. He isn’t the most patient fellow’ she chuckles whilst drying her tears and continues, ‘kind of like you’ she then giggles a bit harder.
‘Rude’ you push her shoulder, ‘now lets get a few goodies before we go’ you say as you exit the room and Lucy follows along.
You grab the essentials; ammo, meds, and chems. Lucy watched, curious about how you knew what you needed. ‘Thanks Danny boy’ you say, he responds back with a huff as he counts the caps you just gave him.
The Ghoul was the first thing that caught your attention when you both leave the store. You see him across the street. Waiting. You don’t walk any further, wary of his presence. Sensing the tension, Lucy takes the lead and pulls you to him.
‘Vera, this is my partner’ she says enthusiastically, ‘she’s going to help us find my dad again’ she continues trying to keep the energy light. You nod to him, he slightly returns it.
He then pushes past the both of you. You scoff and look at Lucy, who gives a pleading look to just go along with it.
You give her a smile to reassure her that you weren’t going anywhere. You did not trust that Ghoul.
As the three of you travelled along, he would not say much to you, often only responding in short sentences. You would side eye Lucy who would just laugh it off, ‘wastelanders, am I right?’ she would say.
Occasionally you would stop at different abandoned places, taking refuge to rest.
The Ghoul would watch how you two acted with one another. Though you both were grown, you carried on like a bunch of high school girls.
One night you talked about her wedding and the disaster it was. ‘When Chet told me not to marry him, I really should’ve listened!’ she laughs. ‘I can’t believe you did cousin stuff with him’ you poke fun at her.
She scoffs, ‘just because you were in love with the cowboy from those movies we used to watch and no one was ever good enough for you!’ she teases back.
‘Excuse me, Cooper Howard was the hottie, you can’t blame me!’ you say pretending to be offended.
The Ghoul’s eyes flickered at you and then back to his gun he was cleaning. He hadn’t heard someone else say that name in so long. Especially like that.
‘We gotta help her find her cowboy!’ Lucy yells out to the Ghoul. He smacks his lips, dismissing the pair of you. ‘One thing at a time, girls’ he mutters under his breath. You push Lucy and tell her to stop bothering ‘the old man’ you say obnoxiously.
You both had inside jokes for everything. One day you both got so unbearable the Ghoul had to yell at you, ‘would you two please shut the fuck up for once!’ he said in his heavy accent.
You both tried not to look at each other as you knew it would make you both erupt into more laughter.
He also noticed how you did not wear your vault suit. Even though you were in outsider clothing and looked like a Wastelander, your Pipboy on your wrist felt so out of place.
You used it well however, often helping them navigate as you had gained much information on the Wasteland and knew where many things were.
During a gruelling day of walking an open desert, you all stumble across an old cinema. You gasp loudly, startling the Ghoul enough that he thought you must have seen a Deathclaw.
‘No way this place used to show The Man from Deadhorse!’ you exclaim. You pull Lucy along and take her to the movie poster near the front entrance to the cinema. It was above the main entrance doors, along with three other posters to the left of it.
‘Lucy! Imagine what it would’ve been like to see the movie in a real cinema! I truly was born in the wrong generation’ you say.
The Ghoul leans against the wall nearby, fascinated by your enthusiasm. For a moment he was taken back to his human life. Seeing your face light up talking about the movies he once starred in took him back to his own golden years.
‘Surely we can just take that’ you say looking up at the poster tapping your chin, trying to figure out the best way to get it.
‘Let’s do it’ Lucy says without hesitation. The Ghoul couldn’t believe what he was watching. He was wondering if he was just really high, but when he sees you putting Lucy on your shoulders and stumbling around to get your balance, he almost moved to help but he remains in place. He wanted to see this play out.
‘FOR COOPER’ you yell from under Lucy, ‘FOR COOPER!’ she says back, smashing the glass with the handle of her gun and then pulling the poster out.
The Ghoul couldn’t help but smirk. He was trying not to show the either of you an ounce of emotion, this time was an exception.
You both holler with excitement, impressed that you both had gotten it down. You lay it out on the ground and go on your knees to get a closer look.
‘I would’ve totally hung this on my wall in the vault’ you said mesmerised that this piece of paper had survived for as long as it did.
‘And you would’ve stared at it for hours’ Lucy says as she wipes her hands on her vault suit. ‘I would’ve done a lot of things if I had a chance to meet Cooper’ you say, touching the face on the poster and looking back up Lucy, who returned your look with a cackle.
Lucy sees the Ghoul watching and decides to make him join in on the fun, ‘Vera and I watched a lot of movies with Cooper Howard in it. He was this big movie star before the bombs dropped’ she said. The Ghoul slowly nods, ‘is that right’ he says.
‘He really was stunning. I loved his cowboy accent. Gets me every time’ you say fondly. ‘She would make me watch the movies over and over again!’ Lucy says, ‘shut up you enjoyed it too!’ you bite back.
‘Dad got so concerned he banned her from watching it for a while’ she says, ‘didn’t stop me’ you say frowning.
The Ghoul actually lets out a small laugh, ‘fan girl I guess’ he says, ‘an understatement’ Lucy responds, you finally get up, still taking in the beauty of the poster.
‘Oh man if you got to watch it you would understand what I’m saying’ you say, he plays along and nods at you.
You then stand in front of the Ghoul and pretend to pull out a gun from your holster, but instead it is a finger gun pointing directly at him.
‘Oh no here she goes’ Lucy face palms, clearly knowing what was about to come.
You stare directly at the Ghoul, who returns it with a tilt of his head, wondering what you were about to do next.
In a very theatrical western accent, you say, ‘there’s an old Mexican eulogy; Feo, fuerte y formal’ you say with a smirk on your face. This time the Ghoul returns it.
You continue, ‘means he was ugly-’ you emphasise that word and wink at the Ghoul, ‘-strong and had dignity. Well Joey…’ you pause, mostly for the drama of it all.
‘I’ll give you two out of three on that front’ you then imitate the sound of a gun shooting right at the Ghoul.
He scoffs, you then bow, Lucy clapping and cheering for you playfully. ‘Thank you thank you, I am here every night’ you say jokingly.
‘How ‘bout we rest here’ the Ghoul says. You and Lucy both cheer, you guys had been walking for almost three days straight and that was exactly what you needed. He rolled his eyes at your theatrics.
He then told you both to wait outside whilst he checked the building. Once inside, the shadows of the old movie theatre made the thumps in his chest feel like they echoed around him.
You weren’t just a fan of Cooper Howard, you genuinely knew the movies. He found himself strangely impressed.
For a long while he was plagued by this apathetic nature and warped moral code, so these emotions he felt now was almost unknown to him.
The first thing the Ghoul noticed was that there was still some power in the building. He decided to go down to the basement first. It was damp and dark but he saw the soft glow of a generator and turned it on.
The building had come alive and he could feel the familiar hum of a live cinema. He then made his way up to the projector room, he scanned around and saw the film holotapes with titles he knew all too well. He smiled.
The Ghoul scanned the cinema below, seeing nothing but empty chairs, he made his way back out to you two.
Neither of you heard him coming up behind you. ‘Looks even better in the sunset’ you say holding the poster of Cooper up, ‘whatever you say, Vera’ Lucy replies back nonchalantly.
‘All good for you two to come in. Find a good seat’ he says, the both of you jump, now realising he was there behind you.
Before you could even respond, the Ghoul had already turned his back on you both making his way back into the old cinema.
Both of your eyes lit up walking inside, though everything was aged and covered in dust, the warm glow filled the room.
You could still smell the stale butter popcorn. You pull Lucy to the confectionary bar. There were still old nuka colas and crisps. The both of you grab as much snacks as you could, giggling as you go towards the auditorium.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, the rows of chairs put your jaws on the floor. ‘Can you believe that there was a time where there were enough people to fill this whole room?’ you say in awe.
‘The usual seats?’ Lucy says, ‘absolutely’ you say. Like children you both run to the middle centre of the seats, just like you did when you were in the vault.
The Ghoul watched from above, watching you both yap about how cool it was to be in here. He then put in the holotape. The scream that came from you made Lucy laugh so hard she nearly pissed in her vault suit.
‘No way!’ is all you could say over and over again. Lucy then tried to get you to quiet down so that you could actually watch the movie. ‘No one is even here why are you shushin’ me!’ she couldn’t help but laugh even more.
You had read books about cinemas, seeing old pictures of theatres. Actually witnessing this almost brought you to tears.
You then locked in once you saw him. You never thought in your life you could experience seeing a movie let alone one that had Cooper in it.
’Lucy, I’m so glad I found you’ you say holding her hand, she squeezes your hand back, ‘I am so glad you came with me’ she said earnestly.
Each time the film ended, you both would scream ‘another!’ and the Ghoul would find a movie and put it on. Each one of them being one of his own films.
The both of you felt the most free you had in months. The Ghoul never thought he would ever see the excitement of people watching films ever again. Yet here he was and there you both were.
Existing as if the world was what it used to be. It was refreshing, even for the Ghoul.
After a few hours, Lucy had fallen asleep in the cinema chair. You decided to go and find the Ghoul while she rested.
As you made your way up to the projectors balcony, you see him sitting at one of the chairs, watching the movie.
He knew you were behind him, but he did not turn to you. You walked up and sat next to him.
‘Thank you’ you say as you sit down. He doesn’t respond, instead he hands you a bottle of whiskey he was drinking. You took a few large gulps, you didn’t hide your face of disgust, which made the Ghoul let out a low huff, almost like he was laughing.
‘Sorry radiation has yet to burn my taste buds’ you say sarcastically. ‘Some call it an advanced palate’ he says back, ‘funny way of saying you’re fucking old’ you respond as you take another few gulps of the bottle before handing it back to him.
He then drinks the rest of it. ‘Show off’ you poke your tongue at him. ‘Baby’ he says in a his deep voice, sending a shiver down your spine.
You try and focus on the movie, but you were so tired and the exhaustion was taking over you. The chug of alcohol didn’t help you either. He had put on A Man and his Dog, one of your favourites. Without turning his head, he watches how desperate you were trying to stay awake.
There was mostly silence between the two of you but then you broke it with; ’Do you think Cooper would’ve given me a chance?’ you say so innocently followed by a yawn.
He takes a breath in.
‘Maybe’ he replies in a low voice.
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um hi WOW I loved writing this one.
sorry anon it took me a hot second to finally post this - YA GHOULIE JUST FINISHED A SEMESTER FOR UNI ! how dare my chosen academic studies INTERRUPT MY ME TIME
I hope this is the vibe u wanted! <3333 I really love it, Vera and Lucy MWAH I LOVE U TWO
I would honestly continue this plot because IT IS MWAH HOT AND GOGGIN I love it
