@officialmoonknightbrainrot is correct. the fact there is only 27 vaultknight fics on ao3 is absolutely criminal.
so, whelp, guess i'm writing again too...
“Hey, can you come over here? I think I found something…” Her voice trailed off as she sank down into a squat. She peeled the rug back to reveal a glossy black metal surface, boxed in between the wooden pegs of the dresser.
Maximus put his body weight behind the closet, shoving until his knees started shaking and his left shoulder ached in exertion. Sweat beaded across his forehead, irritating the gash there. At first the dresser refused to budge, but when Lucy pressed her back against the wooden paneling and helped pushing, the furniture slid to the side, scraping the floorboards with a high-pitched squeak. Maximus strained his ears for the telltale skitter of a radroach, but the farmhouse remained dead silent. No bugs then. Sinking down against the wall, he heaved a sigh of relief and knocked his head back.
“Oh! Wow, this is a… This is a prewar safe!” She exclaimed with more enthusiasm than she ought to have after a whole day of walking in the New California sun. “My dad has one of these in the overseer’s office.”
He wiped his forehead with the back of his sleeve and deadpanned, “That’s nice. I guess.”
“Let me take a crack at it. I’m pretty sure I can get it open.”
After just one failed attempt, where she accidentally applied too much pressure and snapped a bobby pin in half, the blue light of the safe stopped blinking, and the door swung upwards. Maximus scrambled onto his knees when he heard the click. The previous owners had stashed away some emergency supplies, consisting of canned peaches and several containers of Cram, two pairs of battery cells, a storm lantern and three bottles of distilled water. Radfree. His Brotherhood upbringing kicked in, and he’d calculated that if they rationed the food wisely, they’d even have some peaches and marmalade left for breakfast. Lucy beamed at him; her hair framing her face haphazardly, and he barely squashed the urge to hug her, crush his chest to hers.
