❝ Visiting ❞ ✧ ೃ༄
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SUMMARY: "Sledge went M.I.A for a bit, of course Luciano is gonna show up at her door unprompted."
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Book/fandom: Wake the Dead, Choices
Characters: Luciano Almirón, Sledge-Hammer.
Word count: 3288 (I write a lot... Lol).
Warnings: Nothing I can think of, besides this has a tiny dirty moment in it.
Extra: I'm not looking for criticism rn, I'm writing for fun. Also this had no beta, we die like real men.
Drabble Type: Romantical, soft, just a nice feel-good oneshot.
*ੈ°✩‧₊˚༺.☆༻*★₊˚*ੈ☆°༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚.*ੈ✩‧₊༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚•
"Just knock on the door... It's not that difficult..." Luciano muttered to herself.
But it was that difficult, actually.
Luciano here was currently visiting the wastelands in which the Raiders (in Nevada USA, anyway) lived. Tall crumbling buildings are covered in graffiti from the olden days, it always smelt of concrete and gasoline and its floors were either dusty brown dirt or covered in old sewer water. Its most notable feature as a location was the fleet of armoured cars that remained parked there, you couldn't go 3 minutes walking around without seeing a vehicle of destruction, and the skulls that hung around the place were screaming danger (though some regard it as trying too much or tacky...).
She had made an alliance with them, and it's kept things friendly between them and her people of Firelights for exactly 5 months. And counting.
So friendly in fact, she grew into a romantic relationship with the Raiders' leader, Sledge. A cold serious woman with a stone face so hard you'd have to chisel into it with a drill if you wanted to see any new emotions, or at least if you weren't a friend of hers.
And that's whose door she was standing at.
She could hear shuffling inside and the sound of metal clacking reverberating through the room and reaching her ears. Someone was inside that room, hopefully it was Sledge. It should've been anyway, who the fuck would there if not Sledge?
It didn't help that it was her first time visiting the wastelands either, and that she was relatively new as a raider herself (She had to become one to ensure this alliance anyway) so no one really knew her well...
Actually, no, everyone knew her. She's tall, has a 'pretty face' some would say and passed her trial with such a flair that she became almost revered with some. She's known as Slugger, or Slug, and she heard that almost every time she passed by a raider.
But still, can't a girl be anxious?
She took a deep breath in through her nose, holding it for 10 seconds before exhaling slowly through her mouth. Her mind was a mess of "Will Sledge be okay with me here?" "I really need to see her face!" "What if she's doing something important??" "Keep cool!" "AHHHHHH-", full of so many trains of thoughts that her mental subway was PACKED and she couldn't choose which one to jump on.
Her eyes were wide as she pursed her lips, hands instinctively going to mess a little with the soft fabric of her handmade cloak she was wearing.
It smelt a little of flowers as she chucked it in hot water infused with flowers for a whole hour, and it was a pretty dark brown colour. She looked at the ground before she sucked in another breath.
Abruptly stopping her fidgeting, she brought a hand up and placed it against the door. Closing her eyes, she slowly pulled it back and made a claw with her hand as she knocked with the ends of her hard fingernails.
*Knock knock*
...
There was a moment of silence, and the sounds inside the room stopped for a brief moment. She could hear a faint huff before a loud response came back to her.
"Come in."
Okay. Okay. Hopefully Sledge was okay with seeing her after a whole month.
Sledge would at least visit for a few days when it hits the middle of a month to discuss alliance agreements, conditions and negations with the other colonies Firelights gained as allies. She didn't visit this month, sent a letter about dealing with someone ambushing the wastelands and needing to recover.
Hopefully she was okay.
Grabbing the rusted door handle, it shook in her grasp as the metal nails securing it to the door had come undone. She twisted it and it let out a tiny screech, opening the door and pushing it forward made it whine as she stepped inside.
*Creaaaaaaaaaaak...*
Immediately closing the door behind her, her hands went to fiddle with the makeshift clasp of her cloak that was resting on her collarbone, looking at the familiar tight black manbun and warm chestnut brown skin covered in scars that she knew.
Facing the table, Sledge had her back turned from Luciano as she was reloading ammo into various guns. She currently had a pistol in her hand as she entered a cartridge into it. Her hands worked fast and she threw it down on the table on her left as she picked another gun from the tiny pile of various weapons on her right. There was all sorts of ammo from what it looked like in front of Sledge as she held another pistol.
She was wearing a tank top. It was beige, dirty with oil and muck, and small tears and wear on the edges of the sleeves and back of the neck. She had her weathered dark camo pants on, and her feet were covered in black combat boots.
Her biceps lightly flexed when she was emptying the gun in her hands.
The room was simple. The calling was concrete, the walls concrete, and the floor concrete. There was the aforementioned table in front of Sledge, right by the window that steamed daylight inside. On the left side of the room, closest to Luciano was a few crates and some clothes on the floor next to a broken basket of sorts. Then there was a couch closest to Sledge that was a dull grey leather. On the right side of the room, a dartboard with 3 darts all on the bullseye, a hanging punching bag, a bunch of kitchen knives in a chipped wooden holder of some sort that was on the floor and a green trunk. In the right side corner was a blanket on the floor with a throw rug on-top, some pillows, and an uncapped brown bottle.
"What is it." She asked, coldly. Her voice was as stony as always.
"Hey, Sledge..." In contrast, Luciano's voice was soft and honeyed as she responded.
Her hands had unfastened the clasp on her cloak, taking it off and holding it in her arms as she took a few steps closer to her.
At the sound of her voice, Sledge stopped what she was doing. Lowering the pistol in her hands, and turning her head ever so slightly. Luciano could see the outline of the long scar that ran from Sledge's temple to her cheek, and she could faintly see her eyebrows furrowing a little from where she was standing.
"Slug?"
"All I interrupting something?"
Hearing Luciano again, Sledge fully turned her head around to actually look at her. Her face was stony, yet her black eyes had this softness in them that would be hard to catch if you didn't look close enough.
Luciano tentatively walked over to her as Sledge fully turned around. Eyes flitting over Luciano's form as she came closer to Sledge and dropped her cloak on the armrest of the couch.
In Sledge's eyes, she saw Luciano's appearance. Under that cloak, she was wearing a fully dark brown outfit with a beautiful white flower behind her right ear with her hair in a high ponytail that showed her long curly locks, and a see-through cream crochet shawl resting over her shoulders.
Wearing a tiny scarf in a bandeau style that was tied at the front with a tiny bow which rested directly in the middle of her chest, a pretty long skirt that went down to her ankles that had two massive leg slits in the sides and was tied up with shoelaces in 2 bows low on her hips, showing off her small pudgy stomach and thick legs and the brown bikini bottom that rested a big high above said hips. She had weathered converses on her feet with shin-high socks on... She looked ready for a day on the riverbank or by a lake drawing bugs in her journal and recounting her week, having a day off. A well deserved day off.
The amount of skin she showed was not lost on Sledge. She looked over her form once, then twice, before focusing on Luciano's face.
In return, Luciano's eyes darted all over Sledge's body. She couldn't see any bandages, any new scars, no huge rips on clothing that could be from a sharp blade, and Sledge's face had exactly the same amount of scars that she remembered. 6: one of her top lip, her big scar on the right of Sledge's face, a cut on the bridge of nose, on her left cheek, on her left eyebrow, and on her left temple.
Good. She was safe. And her arms were still as strong looking as ever, or were they a big bigger? Luciano couldn't really tell, she didn't want to ogle at her biceps too much or else she worried she might drool...
But most importantly, Sledge was okay. Safe.
"You alright?" Luciano asked, looking over Sledge just one more time before her mind settled down from her original worry.
"I'm fine." She looked into Luciano's eyes, before turning her head back to the table behind her,
"Whatcha doing? That's a fuck ton of artillery right there..." She pointed to the pile of guns on the table.
Sledge looked over at said pile. Before looking over down at the pistol still in her hands, entering a cartridge before placing it down on the small pile on the left.
"Guns from my car. Need to reload them after what happened..."
"The ambush?"
"Yep."
Luciano's hands instinctively raised to rest on Sledge's shoulders, but she instead folded them. Sledge never liked telling people what she felt, Luciano knew that, but no matter what Sledge did her gaze always told on her.
The inky depth of her eyes looked... Distant. Troubled? Maybe, but certainly she looked as if she wanted to get away.
Luciano went and leaned a little on the table, arms still crossed as she watched Sledge efficiently empty and reload her shit.
"I'm glad you're okay... I could've helped you know." Almost whispering, Luciano's eyebrows had softened as she shifted a little.
"I could handle it."
"I know you can. But, just in case... I've got you. Whether it's bandits, military forces, or even a bear, I'd drop everything if it means helping you and your people..."
Sledge looked up, seeing Luciano's soft smile and her kind honey eyes, and she didn't seem distant. Well, not as much as before.
They looked at eachother for a moment, before Sledge looked back at the table.
"Got it." She nodded swiftly, before grabbing another gun.
It was a muzzleloader. It had a beautiful dark oakwood handle and scratched steel. It could use some oil, but it looked gorgeous.
Luciano hadn't even seen one before. She knew they existed as some Ths Tower ™ guards talked about it once, but wow was it so pretty to her...
She was staring at it. Maybe a bit too intently as Sledge asked her why she was looking at the gun so deeply with a raised eyebrow. Looking back at Sledge for a moment and then the gun, she hummed.
"It's really pretty... I like it." Luciano explained softly.
She got a small hum out of Sledge as she loaded it through it's muzzle, and placed it gently on the table next to Luciano.
"Take it."
Luciano's eyes lit up like glittering jewels at that.
"Really?"
"You're eyeing it. If you want it, Take it." She said.
"But it's yours?" Luciano tilted her head at Sledge.
"I have enough in my car. Take it."
"... But I don't know how to use it."
Sledge simply looked at her, eyes slightly squinted as she grabbed another gun. She had about 4 left to reload.
"Then I'll teach you. Take. The damn gun." Her voice grew a small edge to it, but probably because it was annoying being with someone who just never knew when to accept a gift of any sort.
...
Luciano grabbed the gun by its handle, gently wiping her thumb over the wood before smiling a little at Sledge.
The room became quiet again as Sledge went back to her work. Unloading used clips, loading full ones, throwing them on the reloaded pile near Luciano's spot on the table.
Luciano got up, holding the muzzleloader and wrapping it in her cloak on the couch, gently placing it there before looking around Sledge's room again.
The small tension in Sledge's body had slowly eased. Whether it was Luciano, or otherwise, she didn't feel as on edge as before.
She could smell the faint hint of flowers and smoke from here as she heard Luciano's footsteps fade in and it from faint to loud as she walked around the room. Luciano's signature scent, as her clothes were always washed in flower-infused water, and she liked 'cleansing' her energy with waving a smoking branch of leaves over her form.
Sledge had grown to, whether she wanted to admit it or not, feel a bit at ease with the scent. Whether it was from Luciano directly, or when she caught whiffs of smoke on the air from the bonfires her Raiders would make, or the floral scent of blooming wildflowers near the river of Firelights she always spent time at.
She never knew she liked smoke fire and flowers, until Luciano came along. Huh.
For Luciano, Sledge's room made so much sense. It was quite... Practical. Full of weapons, things to train with with only a single dartboard for leisure, no wonder Sledge was so serious. She was never unserious.
In contrast, Luciano's room was full of books both informal and novels, vinyls and a record player, cassette tapes, paints and paintbrushes, a makeshift mannequin, a trunk full of yarns of various sizes and colours and crochet hooks, coloured pencils and pages, her bed was full of blankets and pillows and she had only her baseball bat and crossbow in her room as "practical" items.
Luciano was always unserious, always drowning herself in recreational activities and rarely any serious things like training.
Maybe that's why they worked in a way. Sledge helped her become serious, Luciano helped her become relaxed.
As Luciano came back from her quiet observation of Sledge's room, sitting on the table Sledge was still at, Sledge looked over her again.
"You look Interesting." She muttered, her gaze resting on Luciano's legs before looking back at what she was doing.
Luciano briefly looked down at herself and then up at Sledge, an eyebrow raised.
"Well yeah... I was actually gonna spend the entire day by the river, and sun tanning on the lawn. It's my day off..." Luciano walked over and stood right next to Sledge on her left, looking at her, "But I couldn't resist the urge to see you when I was making my way down... So..."
"Right."
Sledge grabbed her 2nd last gun which was a large shotgun.
"Why? You think I look weird?"
"If you're wearing just that around, you may as well walk around in your underwear."
Luciano was about to retort, but a better answer popped up in her mind before she could defend herself. She felt a wide smile on her lips as she squinted her eyes at Sledge, letting out a little chuckle.
There was a small snap as Sledge opened the shotgun and put 2 shells inside.
"Alright then. Next time I visit, I'll wear a big trenchcoat with only a bikini underneath, just for you," she flirted, her eyes widened for a moment as she thought of something else, "maybe even some thigh highs too."
There was a giant snap as Sledge abruptly closed the shotgun. Maybe a bit too abrupt, as Sledge was staring down at the gun in her hands. That was a sinful image that entered Sledge's mind.
God damn.
God damn...
God dammit! This fucking woman and her random flirting.
Sledge cleared her throat, tossing the shotgun down on the reloaded pile before grabbing the last gun, a rifle, and emptying it. Though her face was unfazed, her hands did a small slip up of handling her gun. Not holding it properly, it almost fumbled onto the table. She let out a curse under her breath as she picked it back up, properly this time, and started unloading it.
Seeing this, Luciano let out a small giggle before looking away from Sledge.
Another bout of silence passed them, and the only sounds that could be heard was the machinery in the rifle as Sledge reloaded it and put it down.
Sledge flexed her fingers for a few seconds before going to crack her knuckles. Her gaze on the table shifted back to the woman sitting on it, eyeing her outfit once again...
She wouldn't lie to herself and say Luciano didn't look nice. As impractical as it was, she looked quite eye catching. She had looked at her several times this hour already didn't she? Or maybe she just liked seeing Luciano's skin, considering each time they were alone together they couldn't help themselves and would kiss eachother into exhaustion and that extended from their lips to neck, shoulders, collarbone...
Get that thought out of your head right now.
She let out a tiny huff as she started speaking again.
"You know what you're doing."
Luciano looked over at her, and she batted her blonde eyelashes at Sledge.
"What're you talking about?"
"I know damn well you don't dress that like to hang by the river all day." Sledge squinted her eyes a little at Luciano, "You wear oversized t-shirts with a bikini underneath and bring a large jacket in case you get cold."
Luciano simply smiled at her as she got off the table.
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying get over here."
Sledge emphasised this by reaching out and slipping her index finger under the bikini straps resting high on Luciano's hips and gently tugging her closer. Causing Luciano to squeak a little, as she stepped closer to Sledge. Their bodies were almost touching, almost chest to chest, and Luciano brought herself closer by casually wrapping her arms around Sledge's neck.
Being so close, Sledge had to look up at the tall woman in front of her, back of her neck feeling strained as she had to raise her head so high just to make eye contact.
Her hands then went to firmly hold Luciano's waist, giving it a small squeeze when her fingers clamped around it as she felt her soft pudgy skin in her calloused palms. She felt Luciano slightly shiver at the contact.
Luciano simply looked down at her, light brown eyes bright as a soft smile stuck on her face.
"You like me, don't you~" Luciano teased, giggling.
"You're a pain in my ass." Sledge's face stayed stony, though her gaze was soft.
"That's practically a love confession coming from you..." Luciano leaned down and gave the bridge of Sledge's nose a peck, "hmm..."
Sledge's eyes closed the second Luciano's soft lips touched her rough skin. Afterwards, she opened an eye and stared at Luciano face.
So gentle, Luciano was, so soft and calm... Usually.
She eyed the flower that was behind Luciano's right ear, and in a silent gesture she raised her right hand and grabbed it out, holding it between her fingers as she delicately put it behind Luciano's left ear.
Putting her hand back on Luciano's waist, it was a wordless interaction as they stared at eachother for a few moments. The only sound in the room was their breaths mingling, the sound of faint yelling outside faded into nothing, and right here and right now? The only important thing there was.
Eachother.
(Fin~)
*ੈ°✩‧₊˚༺.☆༻*★₊˚*ੈ☆°༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚.*ੈ✩‧₊༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚•
Tags: @choicesmc @cadybear420 @lover-also-fighter-also @aces-and-angels
+ @cassiusadalhard because you like writing and maybe you'd like to see mine for once (I'm incredibly unserious 👽).
This was slightly inspired by a TT I saw that was about Neytiri wearing her little outfit when showing Jake around in Avatar 1, and honestly yeah. Lmao.
