Sweet pea + Piper & Ruby if you feel like it C:
Sweet pea - delicate pleasuresUnapologetic Piper/Ruby fluff, featuring synth!Shaun, Nat, and Dogmeat.
As she woke, Piper’s nose twitched at the familiar scent of wet paint. She could almost smell the freshly painted green walls of Diamond City - of home - here in Ruby’s house. Groggily, she propped herself up on one arm and reached for the chipped teacup on the nightstand. Peppermint. Shaun and Nat laughed in the hallway.
“Nat, you’ve got paint all over your face.”
“Quieten down you two,” Ruby said gently. “Or you’ll wake Piper before we’re done.” As if to emphasise the sentiment, Dogmeat gave a very soft bark.
Piper chuckled as she sipped the tea, just cool enough that it wouldn’t burn her tongue, wondering who had slipped into the bedroom with it so quietly as not to wake her. “Shaun,” she mumbled to herself, thinking of Ruby and Nat with their heavy boots and clumsy footsteps. “Had to be.”
She fiddled with her lighter, watching the flame flicker and fade, before lighting her first cigarette of the day. The smell of the paint, while not unpleasant, was so overwhelming that it would mute the smoke and ash - let them think she was still sleeping. At least, until her curiosity got the better of her.
The thing was, like any investigative journalist worth their salt, Piper had a good deal of curiosity. The remains of her cigarette still burned red in the ashtray as she rose, smoothing her pyjamas. “Bubblegum pink,” Ruby had called them with a grin, as she’d handed her the soft, thick cotton bundle. Piper still had no idea where she’d found them.
“Hey there, trouble,” she said, catching Shaun in a headlock from behind. “No school today?”
“Piper!” He jumped, and tried to hide it with a sidestep. “It’s Sunday. I thought that was why you were having a lie in.”
“Oh, um, that’s right. I was just testing you - making sure you stay sharp. So, what mischief are you getting up to this time?” He grinned. His mother’s grin.
“I can see that, well…smell it at any rate,” she said, messing his hair up the way he said he hated. “What are you painting?”
“Come and see,” Nat yelled from the study. Shaun took the opportunity to escape his captor, wriggling out of her headlock and scampering back to the study. She followed him, yawning. Peppermint tea was refreshing, but it had nothing on the coffee-drenched sugar that, according to Ruby, was an abomination. Well, it wouldn’t be fair if she had good taste in everythi-
The study’s previously drab walls were adorned with emerald calligraphy, some of which had spilled over onto Nat’s cheeks. PUBLICK OCCURRENCES. Beneath, painted typewriter keys that spelled out ‘Story of the Year!’ and on the desk itself - a brand new, baby-blue typewriter. Piper dabbed at her eyes as the letters in front of her blurred, until she noticed Ruby’s entrance. She leaned against the doorframe, a cup of coffee in each hand.