This man has like NOTHING written about him, which is a shame because I LOVE him. So I guess I'll just have to do it myself </3
Oh man he’s such a cutie batootie
He's so awkward about everything relationship wise
Bad kisser. I’m sorry. He has absolutely no experience with that kind of thing so you have to take the lead and teach him how to do most relationship things
Can’t really take you out anywhere cause y'know, the wasteland (this only becomes worse after he starts turning into a ghoul)
He’s so nervous around you and definitely still stutters sometimes when he's talking to you
Can’t believe that he pulled anyone, let alone you
Will share pretty much anything with you
Food, drinks, caps, beds, shit even clothes are all split 50/50
If you’re around when he was running that little cap business thing with the kids, he LOVED it
Loved watching you interact with and help the kids
Definitely caused him to have thoughts about having kids with you
He knew that not only was it not possible physically, but neither of you would be able to take care of any kids of your own cause the wasteland fucking sucks
But it didn’t stop him from fantasising about it
Talks about you to anyone who will listen. Maximus knows more about you than he’d like
Tries to remember all the little things about you; favourite foods and drinks, what part of the wasteland you’re from, plans for the future, even little things like what side of the bed you prefer to sleep on
Keeps them in a little journal that he keeps on his person at all times
It also has little sketches of you. They aren’t very good but the effort is there
He’d DIE if you ever found it
Pretty clingy but more out of a fear of you leaving
Almost always has a hand on you or is touching you in some kind of way
And if he's not touching you, you’re in his eyesight and within arms reach
“I’ll protect you” then gets scared over a radroach
Unless you met in the brotherhood, he tries to keep you away from it as much as possible
Not only to keep himself safe, but he knows how fucked up they can be sometimes and would hate for anything to happen to you (no hate to the brother hood tho, I love them)
Tells you he loves you so often
Leaving to go to a nearby town to pick up supplies? I love you
Going to bed? I love you
Handing him something? I love you
Sneezing? Bless you, I love you
LITTLE SPOON 100%
Anyone who disagrees is wrong and I do not take criticism
Loves being babied a little bit
Also loves compliments
If you hit him with a little “wow, you’re so strong” after he’s picked something up he’ll melt into the floor
Validation and praise is his weakness
CRAVES it like a thirsty man craves water
He loves you sososososoosososo much and will never let you forget it
Disclaimers: fem reader! She/her. Pretending to be a man. Non descriptive appearance aside from being called smaller then the bigger men and nicknamed runt and having her hair cut off short horribly so by max. Big brother Maximus! X reader! Thaddeus x reader! (Romantic/lovers) Slightly off script from the show. Slightly inaccurate (I’m just having fun guys)
Warmings: slow burn! strong Language! Violence! Mentions of death, mild gore i suppose. Nudity! Dry humping. Coming Prematurely. Inexperienced Thaddeus and reader. Penetration! Coming inside reader I guess? And uh…it’s horrible and short smut?
Summary: found as orphans by the Brotherhood, Maximus refused to be separated from you or let you be hurt so he disguised you as a boy to keep you by his side safe. Now the both of you find yourselves trying to survive the wasteland, separated and on your own journeys…
The room is quiet, boiling sun bleeding through the windows as you sit on the edge of the cot. Your eyes tiredly gazing at the floor, nose busted as your brother paced the floor lecturing you.
“I’ve told you! I’ve told you a million times not to do that, don’t put yourself between me and them!” He hits his chest then gestured towards the closed door as he looks away from you with a scowl.
“They were beating the shit out of you, Max…i couldn’t just stand there and let them do that!” You argue, looking up at him with a glare, annoyed by this whole conversation.
He glares back, harder than before as he crouches down to your level. You’ve never seen him this angry, especially at you and it has your attitude ebbing away.
“And now you have a busted nose and black eye because you didn’t listen to me…I can handle myself with these men. You can’t…” He stands and shakes his head, your reckless streak has been pissing him off.
And you stand as he dares say you can’t handle yourself, you damn well could and you both knew it. “I can handle myself…i don’t need you constantly hovering over me trying to protect me!” You yell at him, tired of being treated like a helpless fragile creature.
You knew how to fight, you knew when to run from one if you’re sure you can’t win. You are an aspirant, part of the brotherhood of steel and you had enough of how some of those guys treat your big brother out of their own jealousy. So of course you’ll fight for him, he would do the same for you.
But Maximus crowds your space, coming chest to chest with you and he knew from the way you step back that your scared and it proves his point…
“You’d be dead if it wasn’t for me, you’re gonna start a fight with the wrong guy and get beat to death, and they will beat you to death” He spoke lowly and you look away as he grabs your shoulders.
“I’m not hovering to make your life miserable, I’m trying to keep you safe because you’re all I have….” Those words made something twist in your chest, your eyes meeting his again and you sigh…
“I know, Max…I just…if you’re always protecting me, who’s gonna protect you?…” You ask those words in a quiet voice, hating that he was always thinking about others rather than himself.
He smiles slowly and pats your cheek, holding it as he shakes his head at your words. You were just like him, he could see you’d always worry about him no matter what. “I can protect myself…” He says and kisses your forehead.
You scoff and push him away as he starts going about his day. “Is that why you let those guys beat you up?” You retort and he rolls his eyes as he laces his boots.
“Shut up…” He replied before a knock at the door is heard and he gives you a look before standing and going to the door.
You make sure your chest compressor is on, being silent as you sit down, your elbows on your knees. Harnessing masculine treats and mannerisms came easy to you, especially since you grew up having to pretend around mostly men so you and Maximus didn’t get separated. He taught you everything he knew, he butchered your hair off and called you his brother ‘Marcus’ who everyone makes fun of. They call you runt most of the time…
Maximus opens the door and you watch as a squire announces that you are needed.
“Aspirant Marcus, your presence has been requested” you furrow your brows but stand, looking to Maximus who nods once but you can tell he’s nervous for you and you roll your eyes.
“What for? Who wants him?” You shake your head as he asks the questions and the other squire seemed annoyed he even had to be the one to fetch you.
“Elder Cleric Quintus” Maximus looks at you with furrowed brows and you follow the squire out…
The walk is quiet, you do feel nervous as hell. You clear your throat multiple times, trying to make sure your voice is masculine, manly. You know you’ll have to speak…
Once at Elder Cleric Quintus room, the squire opens the door for you and you walk in, seeing the old man sitting in his chair.
“Ah…young Marcus…come in” You hear the squire shut the door behind you as you step into the room, lowering your head.
“Elder Cleric Quintus…” You greet with a deep but wavering voice, eyes meeting his once more. “If this is about the fight between me and a few of the aspirants…I-i can explain—“
“It is about your fight…now sit” You sit immediately and your heart is pounding out of your chest. You swallow thickly, watching Quintus as he eyes you.
You didn’t know what your punishment would be, or if you’d be fighting a much stronger opponent or not. But you are terrified and it must show on your face because he speaks on it.
“Don’t fret…Im impressed with your agility, your courage and bravery to take on five other aspirants twice your size…” You sigh in some relief and nod as you try to relax in the seat.
“May I ask why I’m here then?…” Quintus nods softly and pushes some things around on his desk.
“You have the strength and courage to be a squire…” Your eyes widen at those words, the thought of ranking up to squire is an exciting one.
So you stand and look at Quintus with wide eyes, your nose still busted and eye black. “I’m ranking up to squire?…” You spoke In disbelief and Quintus only nods.
“Clean up…it will be set in stone in two hours…” You smiled at that and left his room, going back to where you knew Maximus was probably pacing with worry.
You burst through the door and shut it behind you with a grin. “Max! I’m gonna be a squire!” You announced happily and the worried man looks at you in disbelief now.
“What?…wait…your ranking to squire?” Maximus practically scoffs and gestured at you. “You! The smallest one of us who hasn’t even hardly been out there!” He points behind him, gesturing towards the wasteland. “Your becoming a squire before me?!” You sighed as your excitement has been stomped out with your brother’s jealousy.
“Thank you for being happy for me, max” your voice drips with sarcasm as you walk over to a bowl of water and start cleaning your face.
He scoffs again and shakes his head. “You’ll die out there! How am i supposed to be happy about this!?” You dry your face and hands off and turn to give him a deadpan look.
“I can take care of myself, max…you’ve taught me how to fight and when to run from a fight I can’t handle…” You try to reassure the man but he sighs deeply and runs a hand through his hair.
“This is stupid…” Maximus mumbles and you punch his shoulder. “Ow!” He rubs his arm you punched with surprising force.
“You’re stupid!” You retort and he gives you a glare…
You two had a brawl after that, to which he won a few times till you took some low blows and hit him where the sun doesn’t shine…
It’s been four days since you’ve become a squire, a few other aspirants ranking up as well except your brother which pissed him off even more.
You’re preparing for your very first expedition with your knight, Knight Gerald, a real asshole that’s a bit reckless and it makes Maximus all the more worried. Especially since every squire he’s had is dead…
But knight Gerald would be meeting with another knight and his squire, knight Dorian, a more level headed knight but still an asshole, one that needs help with something, you weren’t told the details about.
“Look, if he’s in a situation where he’s being shot at, beaten up or anything dangerous, anything, do not try to jump in and save him! Even if he’s begging for help. He has power armor, not you—
“Max! Calm down…” You snap, giving him an annoyed look as he rambled to you as if you’re a child and not an adult.
Maximus sighs and you can see the worry and stress eating away at him and you soften your expression and pull your coat on.
“I’ll be fine, you know I’m capable of taking care of myself. I’ll be back before you know it” You say and put a hand on his shoulder as he stares at you unconvinced.
“I’m supposed to always be by your side…I promised I’d always take care of you and i can’t do that when we’re apart…” He spoke and you pull him into a hug he quickly returns, his cheek on your head as he rubs your back.
“Please don’t do anything stupid…” He mumbled and you close your eyes and smiled some at that, pulling back to look up at him.
“I can’t make any promises…” You joke and he rolls his eyes and looks away from you.
“That’s what scares me” He retorts and pinches your nose as you smack his hand away with a scowl.
Then you hear an Aspirant announce it’s time for you to leave and you nod, Maximus following you as you walk towards where your knight stands…
You lug around the big bag of supplies for your knight, meeting Maximus eyes before you get in the transport, watching Maximus before offering a nod as the doors closed and then your in the air, flying over the desert and towards filly…
You felt a sense of excitement and nervousness, you’ve never been away from your brother for long, you were told this expedition would take a week tops. You sigh and watch the passing scene below, your knight in his armor bragging about some past battles he’s had, telling you about women he’s had and you stared at him with furrowed brows at the…odd stories.
Before you know it, your landing in a green wooded area, you follow your knight out of the transport and trudge through mud behind him.
“Knight Dorian should be this way, The fuckheads too stupid to even complete a simple task! Go figure…” Knight Gerald spoke, power armor making his voice deep and distorted as you look around at the trees and such.
Knight Gerald huffs at your silence and keeps talking. “Probably held up somewhere dickin around, jerkin off probably…fuck do you even talk?” You stared at your knight and nod once.
“Yes, knight Gerald, I speak when the conversation is interesting” You say in your fake masculine voice. Not masking how annoyed you are by this dick.
Gerald stops walking and turns to you, making you stop in your tracks as he shoves you to the ground roughly.
You grunt and land on your back, staring up at him wide eyed as he looms over you intimidatingly. “Don’t fuckin talk to me like that, little boy…” He puts his metal foot on your chest and adds pressure, your hands instinctively grabbing to push him away in a pathetic attempt.
“I could end you right now, like every other squire who had the balls to say somethin that fuckin stupid to me” He moves his foot and turns to start walking as you laid there breathing heavily and your heart pounds.
You swallow thickly and grab your bag again and follow him, You know he could kill you easily, but your fear mixes with anger and I knew found hatred for this bastard.
At the top of the hill you finally make it up, you see a makeshift camp, old tin stacks on a tree and a couple of logs as you see knight Dorian and his squire.
But your heart drops as you narrow your eyes on the squire, The same guy who beat your brother up then gave you a black eye when you interfered.
“Thaddeus….” You grumbled as you drop your bag as the two knights engaged in conversation about this mission.
Thaddeus looks at you while he cleans his knights weapon. “Marcus? What are you doing here man?” You scoff at that and shake your head as you look back at the knights who walk a distance off, masks lifted as they spoke.
“I’m a squire…came here to do what you and your knight couldn’t” You retort and cross your arms and he huffs at that.
“Uh, me and my knight is doing just fine! Actually and uh…we only paged for help because there’s a lot of mutant bears down there that did a lotta damage to knight Dorian’s armor and our stuff” He points behind him and then goes back to cleaning his knights weapons.
You roll your eyes but feel somewhat anxious about what he said as you sit beside him. “What’s a mutant bear?…” You ask and he looks up at you, forgetting you’ve been sheltered the most.
“It’s terrifying, I’ll tell ya that much…” He says and looks the weapon over before scrubbing at a spec. “And they’re big…you don’t wanna get close to them” He adds and puts the weapon in his bag similar to yours.
You nod slowly and let out a deep breath, “they sound interesting…” you say sarcastically and look around at the trees again. “When did you get ranked squire?…” you ask and he shrugs as his eyes go back to the knights speaking to one another in hushed tones.
“Uh…a day after you did” he says and you both awkwardly sit there and you dig your boot into the mud before reaching down and playing with it, only ever having seen sand…
The knights had left without your knowledge, it’s only when you hear some noise and look up from the mud in your hand you notice and furrow your brows.
“Uh…Thaddeus?” You ask and he looks up at you then follows your eyes to the now empty place your knights were.
“Oh shit…where’d they go?…” He stands up and you do so as well confused as to where the knights are.
You look around, seeing nothing but trees, hearing rustles of whatever creature lurked in the brush. “Knights?! Knight Gerald!?” You call out and follow Thaddeus who takes off down the little dirt path they had been on. You look around as he puts his hands on his hips.
“Oh…Golly, I think we should wait back at the camp for them” You looked at the path, seeing their footprints left in the mud, then down the hill where brush is tore through.
“No, we gotta look for them, they could need a stimpak or help with something!” You argue and look at Thaddeus who pulls his brows together and shakes his head.
“If they needed us they would be calling for us and I don’t hear anything” Thaddeus points out but the distant yells of the knights and growls of mutant bears is heard.
You glared at him and quickly run to grab your bag before sliding down the hill as Thaddeus watches with wide eyes. “Marcus! You don’t know what you’re doing!” You hear him let out a surprised yelp as he slips and comes sliding down behind you, knocking into your back as you huff and fall face first into the mud.
“Ow! Get off me!” You elbow him and he groans before getting up.
“I’m sorry! It’s not like I did it on purpose, I was trying to get back into camp” You froze, staring at the scene before you.
Thaddeus however is oblivious to the scene and wipes mud off his cheek. “You’re insane for even coming down here, man. The knights have their cool power armor to protect them and what do us squires have uh? Nothin—
“Shush!!” You shush him and put a hand over his mouth and pulled him behind a rotten log, eyes wide and heart pounding as you peek over your shoulder at the mutant bear eating knight Gerald’s face.
You were screwed, Maximus was right about everything and now that he’s back with the brotherhood and far from you, you’d die out here.
“Awwe no…now look what you got us into! You’re just as stupid as your brother” Thaddeus whispers and you shoot him a glare and put your back against the log, squeezing your eyes shut as you think.
Trying to think how the hell you can get out of this situation.
You open your eyes and look back at the mutant bear and then at Thaddeus. “How fast are they?…” you ask and he looks you up and down with a huff.
“I don’t know, i haven’t seen one move” His answer makes you roll your eyes and look around the area your in…down a hill, slicked with mud. You can’t climb back up because of how wet it is out here.
Your screwed.
“You think we can run that way?” You pull your head towards the left, going further down the hill.
Thaddeus looks that way and then chances a look at the beast only for his face to pale. “Uh…Marcus?” You instantly catch on to his horror and look over the log to see the bear mutant gone..
“Shit….where—
Before you can finish, a thunderous roar breaks the silence and you screamed, caught of guard and letting out a rather girly scream but you didn’t dwell on that and take Thaddeus hand and pulled him with you to run further down the hill.
The fall is brutal, the hill too steep to run down so you and Thaddeus tumbled, rolled, and practically rag dolled down the damn thing.
The bear is left at the top, continuing to eat its dead meal while you and Thaddeus laid on the muddy ground battered and sore. You tore your clothes, your jacket gone somewhere up the hill as jagged sticks and old bobbed wired fence tore it off. The back of your white tee shirt tore and now tented with some blood and a lot of mud.
“Ow….” You whined and laid on your back, staring at the sky as Thaddeus groans and sits up. His cheek cut as he rubs at it.
“Is it gone?…” he asks and you sit up, palms digging into the ground as you propped yourself up and look up the hill.
“I think so…I don’t see it…” You fell right back into your masculine voice. Hoping thaddues wouldn’t question your scream.
But as he sits up on his knees and looks at you, his eyes fall down to your chest and widen some, before his brows pulled together at the…well, lumps there.
You look at Thaddeus with confusion before glancing down and seeing that your chest compressor was broke during the fall. Your eyes widen and you look back up at him.
You couldn’t let him know that you’re a woman, he’d rat you out to the brotherhood for praise. You knew how he was, you can feel the panic slowly clawing its way up your chest.
“I-I-I….uh…um…I have tumors….those are tumors…” You say slowly and very unconvincingly, hands raising to cover your breasts. It was the best lie you could think of.
Thaddeus stares at you with confused bewilderment before nodding and looking away. “I uh…didn’t know you had those—tumors! That’s…bad” He slowly gets to his feet and you do the same, his eyes glued to your breasts as you knew he knows…
“Fuck…listen…you can’t tell anyone, Thaddeus, please…” You step closer to him and he nods slowly and finally looks up at your eyes.
“I won’t…” he says slowly and his eyes go back down and you cover them with your hands.
“Hey! Stop doing that!” You yelled and he closed his eyes, shaking his head quickly as he honestly didn’t mean to.
“I’m sorry! It’s just—I’ve never seen em before! Up this close anyway…Y’know?…and your shirts wet and muddy and—
You cut him off with a kick to the shin as he stumbles back and grunts in pain, your face feeling hot beneath all the grime and mud. You look down and see how your shirt truly was clinging to your skin making them more visible.
“Shit….” You mumbled and look at Thaddeus as he leans on a tree. “Look, we need to focus getting out of this area…radio back to the brotherhood and get them to get us and bring us back…” He nods as you explained the plan and he rubs his leg before standing upright.
“Cool, I’ll radio back to them once I find somewhere to do it” He spoke and you nod as you both start walking now, cautiously given the dangers you’re still in. Your body still sore and you follow Thaddeus as he leads the way.
“H-have you been out here before?…” You ask and he nods some as you both walk, getting further out of the woods.
“Yeah…I came from the shit hole, have you?…” He asks back and you scoff at how he throws it back at you and surprisingly not yapping to you.
“No…when I was out here I was way too young to remember it…” You say and he nods as you both come to a settlement of sorts, some rough people lingering outside a supposed saloon of sorts, you ignore the odd glances of people and Thaddeus shrugs his coat off and hands it out to you.
“Your shirts ripped pretty bad…” He points out and you glance down and see the chest tore in the middle, a hole in the side and you can’t climb feel the back is tore out.
You take the coat and put it on and nod at his surprising kind gesture. “Thanks…” You mumble and look around. “Do you have any caps?…” You ask and he nods his head while you both walk up the ragged porch and into the saloon where they offer drinks and a meal…
“Yeah, I have eight I think…” He answered while you both sit at a table in the corner, resting your aching bodies after the tumble down the hill.
You closed your eyes, your left one still bruised from the brawl you got in a week ago…
“I’m sorry…for uh…punching you in the face. It wasn’t personal, i actually meant to punch Maximus but you just jumped in out of nowhere” You open your eyes as Thaddeus spoke and you huff, somewhat amused.
“It’s fine…” you say and close your eyes again as he taps the table gently, awkwardly as he looks you up and down still.
“You’re pretty brave for a woman…not that women aren’t brave because they are! The women in the shit hole were braver than most men! But I’m just saying that a woman like you is brave…” He rambled and you open your eyes with a deep sigh as you sit up.
“Thaddeus…can you shut the hell up please?…” You say and he nods while looking down as he scratches at the back of his neck.
“Yeah…” Then the both of you sit in silence, quiet conversation from most in the saloon is a somewhat comforting sound as you try to relax.
This expedition was off to a horrible start, you felt like you’ve already failed as a squire. Your knight is dead, Thaddeus figured out your a woman…
He pats the table and stands as you open your eyes and look at him once more. “I’m gonna go see if they have a radio we can use…I’ll be back” Before you can say anything he goes to find the owner of this establishment and you sigh. Not liking the looks some people give you.
You wished Maximus was here, you felt exposed, less confident than you previously had been. You can survive on your own, you knew that but it felt like you couldn’t…
You see a group of rough guys looking at you and your brows furrow, you look away and try searching for Thaddues who was talking to the owner, smiling as he gets a radio and uses it up there. You glance back at the guys discreetly as they seem to be whispering something and eyeing you…
Shit, you don’t have a weapon. You look back at Thaddeus who is still using the radio and you go to stand only to be grabbed by the taller slender man, his teeth rotten as he grins at you with yellowish eyes. Definitely not healthy….
“Ain’t seen you around here before…must be new” He rasps out and you swallow thickly and try pulling away.
“Let go of me” You spoke in your masculine voice, not wanting him to know your a woman.
He laughs and only tightens his hold as his two friends surround you now. “Bet you got goods on ya…” He says and his friend grabs your other arm and starts dragging you out as you kick and try to get free.
Maximus showed you out to get free, but all survival instincts vanish as your brain can only focus on how to panic it would seem.
“Thaddeus!! Help—
Your shoved out the doors and your face lands in the mud that smells like piss and vomit, your stomach turning at the smell as you feel a kick land into your ribs and you groan in pain.
“Check her pockets and see what she has” The slender man commands his two goons who start trying to steal whatever you have and you thrash around and kick and punch at them only to have the leaders boot press your cheek into the ground as he steps on your head.
“Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Guys! What’s goin on?!” You hear Thaddeus step out and they momentarily leave you be but your face is still held down, one cheek in the mud your starting to question as sewage while the other has a boot pressed into it.
One of the guys huff at that. “Is this your friend?…” A rough voice asks and you hear Thaddeus clear his throat.
“Yeah?…I can get you some caps if you get off her” He pulls out a pouch with fifteen caps in it and you huff, the bastard lied to you.
The guys laugh and Thaddeus pulls out some metal gadget. “Hey! You can have the caps and this! It sells for about fifty caps” The leaded gets off you and you scramble to your feet as Thaddeus gives them their stuff and look it over.
You scurry behind Thaddeus who surprisingly took care of the situation instead of running away or leaving you to die.
The guys take their shit and leave and you wipe the mud off your cheek, spitting as some was in your mouth. “Thanks…” You say and look up at him as he shrugs and looks you over.
“You saved me from that bear, you could have ran and let it eat me or something but you didn’t…so I guess we’re even now” He says and you smiled some at that and go back to sit on the old porch.
“Did you get the radio working?” You ask him, still wiping at your mouth with your arm. The damn taste stuck in your mouth, you can only imagine what the hell was in the mud.
Thaddeus nods his head as he looks up at the grey sky. “Yeah, I got in contact with the brotherhood so as long as we stay here they’re gonna get us…” You nod and look him over now. His cheek still cut and some dry blood there now.
“So uh…you really won’t rat me out will you?…” You didn’t trust him, even if he did just get you out of a situation.
“No, I won’t rat you out…” He says again and you sigh deeply as you wait for the brotherhood…
But hours pass, night falls and you’re still waiting. Thaddeus up and pacing as he stretches his legs out acting sitting for hours.
“Thaddeus where are they?…” you ask with annoyance as you were tired and wanted to be clean and tell Maximus everything that’s happened.
He sighs and puts his hands on his hips, “well, since it’s dark out they might wait till the morning to come…we can get a room or something to sleep in till then” You stand up with a scoff and shake your head at him.
“We don’t have caps, where the hell will we stay?” You question with attitude and Thaddeus takes his boot off, dumping at least ten caps out.
You stare at him with wide eyes. “Where the hell do you keep getting those from?!” You question and he scoffs some.
“My stash! This is really the last of it though” He says and picks the caps up as you walk down the shit path to another place. “We can buy a room for the night…” He says and you follow him inside and see an old man glaring at you both.
“The hell you two want?…” He asks and you observe him, he looks just as grime ridden as everyone else, face wrinkled and scruffy with white hair as his eyes are narrowed in a unfriendly way. his customer service horrible.
“Me and my friend need a room for the night…sign says nine caps” Thaddeus puts nine down and smiles at the man.
The old man grumbled and snatched them up before pointing at a wooden door behind you both, you furrow your brows as it looks disgusting in the room.
But you both walk in, it’s small, a bed and dresser in it. You kick your boots off and eye the bed with disgust. “It looks like someone died here Thad…” You say and he shrugs and takes his boots off and sits on the bed you’d both be sharing.
“Yeah, someone probably did…but it’s better than the ground” He says and you nod slowly even if you thought otherwise and take the jacket off, the underside of your breast visible and Thaddeus stares at it with wide eyes.
You don’t even notice as you walk to the dresser and look it over, seeing it empty and you sigh.
“Shit…oh no…” you hear Thaddeus mumble and his eyes are squeezed shut, he instantly throws a pillow on his lap and you give him a look of concern.
“Are you okay?….did the fall earlier hurt you bad?” you ask and he shakes his head frantically as he keeps his eyes closed and you walk over to sit next to him and he scoots away some.
“No! No..uh…just uh…put the jacket back on?” He said and you give him a confused look.
“Why?….” You say slowly and he huffs and as his eyes fall on you pleadingly, but feels his situation getting worse as your cleavage is visible from your ripped your shirt.
“Just please put it on…” He looks away again and swallows thickly as his eyes squeeze shut.
You were beyond confused and grab the coat and slowly put it back on. “Are you okay?…” you ask him again and he nods and sighed deeply.
“Your uh…um… ‘tumors’ just…make me feel weird” He knows the brotherhood teach absolutely nothing about situations like this. They educate on sensible things, important things but this not this.
So the confused look you give him makes him sigh deeply again as he looks at you. “It’s weird, I’m being weird….” He says and shakes his head as he stares at the wall. “You ever hear the stories the guys talk about? The knights?…” He asks, and you nod slowly getting an idea.
“The ones about kissing and stuff?” You inquired while he nods and sighed again, his situation not going away.
“Yeah…” he says and you slowly start piecing it together. You heard stories about kissing, some of the knights laughed and bragged about screwing people but Maximus always steered you away from that topic. Especially when they said something about their cocks exploding.
You stare at Thaddeus and scoot closer again but he doesn’t pull away…
“Do you like…wanna kiss or something?” You ask and he stares at you with wide eyes as he looks your face over, he found himself oddly attracted to you more then he was before.
He nods and discreetly pushed the pillow down more in an attempt to get his erection in control but it only makes it worse…
“I don’t know how to…” He admits quietly and you scoot so that your legs touch and you nod knowingly.
“I don’t either…but I guess we’ll figure it out together” You stare at his face as he does yours and you don’t move…it’s awkward and he clears his throat.
“So my mouth just…” He leans in and you do the same, your noses touching as you pull back and tilt your head some and place a quick peck on his lips. Too quick to actually feel.
He leans in to peck you again but longer and you let him. His lips felt soft…and he pecks you again and again as you slowly hold his jaw as you too keep slowly pecking.
He doesn’t know if it’s right, but you kept doing it and that was enough to have his face flushing red.
It has your heart pounding, heat pooling in your belly as your eyes close and you two kept pecking each others lips. His little mustache tickles your skin as you too start taking longer to pull back with each kiss, his lips staying on yours longer as he groans into it.
“You’re making it harder to get rid of this, Marcus…” He pulls back with furrowed brows and looks at you. “Wait…you’re a girl…is Marcus even your name?…” He asks and you let out a soft amused snort at that, face hot from just having your first kiss with him.
“No…” you say and tell him your real name, his eyes soften as he whispers it quietly.
“Can we kiss again?…” You smirk some and start kissing him, instinctively doing whatever feels right or nice…which is currently how your tongue ends up with his, his whimper music to your ears as you feel heat blooming between your thighs.
Thaddues just let you lick around in his mouth, his tongue not doing anything because he wasn’t sure what to even do…
It’s a foreign feeling, almost overwhelming as you push his pillow away and get on his lap before he can even object. “Wait!—oh…” He moans as you sit on his bulge, his hips twitching up.
“Don’t tell the brotherhood I’m actually a woman and I’ll keep going….” You don’t know where this sudden spark of boldness came from but you feel it, especially when his hips jerk up.
“I swear! I won’t tell anyone! I won’t even think about it!” He says quickly and you feel his hands land on your hips, pulling you closer as his eyes closed and he slowly rolls his hips up into yours.
“Oh my…oh shit that’s nice…” He rambles out as you feel your heart beating faster and you let him control your movements, your own hips grinding down and you feel sparks shooting up your spine.
“Thad….” You whisper his name, a soft moan escaping your lips as you felt yourself getting wet from this, especially when you feel him move, a twitch?…
“Oh…shit wait, wait, wait…don’t move!” You stop instantly and furrow your brows as he pants and stops moving as his face is flushed red, lips parted as he moans quietly.
“Is everything okay?…” you ask quietly and rub his chest, feeling his heart beating as fast as your own. Your body buzzing with arousal while between your legs feels like molten lava.
“Yeah…too okay…like, like I’m gonna explode y’know?…” You nod slowly as he spoke between breathes as you rubbed his chest.
“Is your cock gonna explode?” You ask, genuinely curious as this was all too knew for you.
And you feel his hips jerk up as his erection twitches again. “Don’t say that! Not right now…oh shit…” He lets your hips go and puts his palms on the bed on either side of him.
You furrow your brows and slowly start moving, grinding because you need some friction, knowing he needs it too. Thaddeus lets out a beautiful sound, a moan and whine, his eyes closed as he starts bucking up.
“Shit, shit, shit…fuck!” His hips twitch as he fists the sheets and moans out, you feel him convulsing beneath you and his back hits the bed as he whimpers and pulls you off his lap. His trousers having a wet patch where he just came…
“I’m sorry…i-I didn’t mean to do that! You made me do it…” He rambled and pants before groaning and dropping his head back on the bed. “Awwe man…now my pants are sticky and gross…” He says, as if they’re not caked in shit and mud already.
You move off his lap and still feel an aching sensation between your legs as you fold your legs under you and look at him.
“They’re already dirty….” You point out and he nods before taking them off, his underwear and shirt still on. Your eyes locked in on his boxers where you can see he’s still hard.
He looks at you and blushes deeply as he grabs the pillow to cover himself but you snatch it. “Thaddues…?” You say and look at him inquisitively.
He hums in response and can’t even look at you right now. “Yeah?….”
You only ever heard some knights talk about this, using words like ‘use my cock’ or ‘that whore made my cock explode!’ And then the one you remember hearing the most from knight Gerald ‘we did sex and that bitch rode me like a rocket!’ So you slowly crawl back on his lap and he furrows his brows now.
“Can we do sex?…” You ask and his eyes widen as you ask, knowing what you mean and he swallows thickly.
He starts nodding eagerly and your already taking your pants off, your panties wet as you take them off as well and watch him laying on his back watching you with a red face and big blue eyes wide.
He nearly whimpered when you get completely naked for him, he can’t even believe you’re real and this is actually happening to him…
You take his boxers off and you blush, never having seen a cock up close like this…he blushes even more and whimpered. It was five and a half inches at most, girthy as it twitches some when you just stare at him in fascination.
“Please…please, please, please…I need you…” He begs and you felt a new wave of heat rushing to your core as you take your underwear off as well.
You may be very inexperienced, but you heard enough stories to know what to do. So you straddle him again, and sit on his thighs as your hands are on his chest.
Your body feels warm, a buzz lighting all your nerves on fire in the best way possible as you look down at Thaddeus who has his shirt on still and doesn’t plan on taking it off. His eyes wide and nervous but pleading for something…
You scoot closer and can feel yourself getting hot, your face burning. You gently grind on him, your bare skin touching and you moan as he feels warm and hard under you.
“Holy—fuck….your…your so wet….” He spoke as if he was in awe of you, which he probably was as you just grind on him and get his cock all wet.
You let out a soft breathy sound and keep going, hands in his chest fisting his shirt as you gaze down at him with half lidded eyes and desire.
“Does it feel good?…” You ask and hope he feels as euphoric as you do right now, your hips slowly moving against him and he nods and whines.
“Yes! Shit yeah….” He was breathing heavy again and you moan quietly as he grips your hips. “Can I go inside you?…” he asks and gives you a begging look, one you found yourself not ever going to say no to.
So you nod and reach down between you both, Looking momentarily as you guide him inside. His tip slips in and you both moaned at how intense it was.
“Thaddeus!….” You moaned out as you slowly slide down, so wet it hardly hurts like you’ve heard it would…
Thaddues was flushed red and sweaty already as you gaze down at him. “I’m gonna explode again…ah..ah please…” He begs as you start moving, feeling a slight stretch but it felt nice.
You move up and down, repeating it slowly as the drag of his cock against your spongy walls was absolutely electric, intoxicating as you never wanted it to end. “This feels so good Thaddeus…” You say breathlessly as you look down at him.
And good god if the sight wasn’t breathtaking. His blue eyes blown with need, lips parted as he pants and whines when you move down just right, his chest heaves beneath your hands as you subconsciously start going a little faster.
You can hear the old bed squeaking, creaking as you both move together. Thaddeus was moving his hips up into you and pulling you down by your hips, his hips moving at an unsteady and almost desperate way as he pants.
“Oh yeah…r-right…right there!” His voice is higher in pitch and eyes closed as he fucks up into you quickly now.
You moan out as you grasp his shirt and let him keep doing those sloppy movements because it feels good, your walls clenching repeatedly as you felt yourself slipping closer to something absolutely mind numbing.
“Thaddeus….” You spoke so breathlessly and it has his head spinning, The pleasure becoming intense and his hands grip harder on your hips.
You are practically bouncing on him now as he lets out more noises of pleasure, your eyes closed and back arches from how incredible it actually is. Before you even know it, he’s tensing again as you felt the pressure that had been building up finally snap and you shake when you finally came.
It was intense, your eyes closed as you moan and convulse on Thaddeus, nails digging into his chest as your hips move in quick flicks, riding out the waves of pure pleasure.
“Holy shit! Ah!” Thaddues lets out a loud groan as he came after, his hips stuttering as he trembles beneath you, rambling sweet nothings and how good you feel…
Afterwards, You lay on his chest, heart’s beating wildly together as he rubs your back soothingly. Your blissed out, both of you are and as you lift your head and look at him, you felt a fluttering in your chest at the sight of him.
He’s actually cute…despite being an asshole to your brother and punching you in the face, his eyes meet yours, his a beautiful blue.
Shit, you can’t think like this about him, he’s a dick! Maximus will kill you!
You sit up and lay on your side, back facing him as he furrows his brows and props himself up on his elbows. “You alright?…i didn’t hurt you did I? Was it bad? Did I do something wrong?!” He starts rambling and you sighed and feel guilty for putting space between you two.
“No, you didn’t hurt me or do anything wrong…I’m just tired now” You say back and cringe at your own attitude and hear him lay back down and sigh.
“Alright, I’m pretty tired too…after all we just did” He chuckles awkwardly and lays down and puts his hands on his belly. “I should put my pants back on right?…” He asks and you furrow your brows as he basically talks to himself.
“I totally should…I will” He gets up and your turn to face him now and watch as he does so, groaning as he rubs at the crotch. “I completely forgot about that…” You shake your head and smile some, he was odd but you found yourself gazing at him fondly.
He grumbles about the mess on his pants before putting them on and laying back down, seeing you staring at him he blushes.
“I thought you’d be asleep now?…” He says and you shake your head and sigh.
“I don’t think anyone falls asleep in seconds…” You say and he nods slowly and lays back down on his back, hands folded on his belly.
You watch him get comfortable as he sighs softly and stares at the ceiling. “Everything was good for you right?…” He asks again and you can see he’s actually genuinely wondering if you enjoyed it as much as he did.
So you give in, snuggling to his side as you nod. “Yeah…it was good” He smiles some and puts an arm around you.
“Wanna do it again?…” He peeks down at you and you look up to catch his eye, feeling that familiar heat pooling in the depths of your belly.
“Yeah…” You say and he gets on top of you, kissing you very uncoordinatedly and sloppy but you love it, his messy kiss and little words mumbled in between.
“Dang it…now i gotta take my pants back off…” you can’t help but laugh at that a bit, watching as he fiddles with the buttons…
The midday sun bleeds through dirty torn curtains and you were already up, standing by the rooms dirty window and tightening your chest compressor that’s old cloth tied tightly, but it was better then nothing you suppose. Then you slip on an old button up shirt the old man who owns this place gave you, hearing the brotherhood approaching in their planes.
Behind you is Thaddeus, hair disheveled, a grin on his face as he puts his boots back on. Pleasantly pleased from a night full of pleasure.
You button your shirt and tuck it in and leave the room, Thaddeus making haste to get his shirt on before following behind you. You both walk outside and you see the brotherhood, a knight and squire surveying the area as they lead you both back, Thaddeus explains the whole situation as you board the transport…
The flight back to the only thing you know as a home is rather silent, Thaddeus giving you glances, staying silent about you being a woman. You felt glad he didn’t say anything, Both of you sitting opposite each other…
You don’t say much after what happened between you both, So when you finally get back you instantly start searching for your brother but find Dane, a somewhat friend you’ve made and see they’re foot bandaged.
“Where’s Maximus?…” You ask Dane, who shrugs as you look around the room now.
“He’s gone…” Your eyes widen at this information, hands on your head as you try and process that. Now you’re worried about him, especially with the beasts you know are out there now…
“What do you mean he’s gone? Did he rank up to squire too?” You huff and Dane shakes their head slowly as you furrow your brows. “He’s gone gone…” You felt your heart plummet and you know it shows on your face the shock and pain you feel.
“Knight Titus made the report this morning…they’re sending in a squire to replace him…” Dane adds and you march away, storming to Elder Cleric Quintus.
Max couldn’t be dead, he just can’t be. He’s the toughest person you know.
You hold back tears as you storm and kneel before Cleric Quintus. Who simply looks down at you from where he sits. “Marcus…I’m assuming you’ve heard the news—
“Send me. Send me to assist knight Titus…” You look up at the man who shakes his head, knowing better than to send you. You’ve just came back from a failed expedition…
“I already have someone in mind to send…I know this is glum time for you and you need to mourn in peace” He says and you stand and glare at him.
“Send me to assist knight Titus, please…” You add the last part bitterly, pain mixing with anger at how your brother died probably doing what he warned you not to do, protecting a knight.
Elder cleric Quintus stares at you and waves of the squire he had picked to assist Titus. “Very well, but given your emotional state and devastation…another squire will accompany you” You hear Thaddeus push past some people and raise his hand.
“I’ll go! I can help Marcus!” You glanced at him as he nods some at you before looking back at Quintus.
“Very well…you’ll both replace Maximus…” Quintus spoke the words as if it was distasteful to think your brother is actually gone, and he goes back inside as you nod and turn to Thaddeus who gives you a sort of sympathetic look.
But you ignore him and push past to get back into the transport…
You plan on finding him, to give him a proper burial and beating knight Titus to a bloody pulp for letting your brother die…it hurts to even think about him being gone…
how would the Ghoul react to Thaddeus’s desperate attempt to flirt with the reader. (I feel like Thaddeus doesn’t get enough love in my opinion lol)
anon I loved this idea I literally stopped working on everything else to write this. Also Thaddeus' actor will randomly view my Instagram story every once in a while so this one's almost personal.
So I feel like it would be similar to how he treats Thaddeus in the show, just ignoring him except for side eye. I think if he was going to say anything, it’d be to you after the fact. And don’t expect any real communication; you’re getting a snide comment, or he’s going to make a jab at the poor guy’s expense. // I ended up writing this with the idea that the reader kind of let Thaddeus flirt but kind of shared in that silent teasing with the Ghoul. This also got away from me in that I started vomiting plot into it.
word count: 2.2k
“So, where’s a girl like you from?”
His voice lacked any bravado, sounding far more unsure than suave. You looked up from the metal trunk, casting a glance at his friend — who was looking at a suit of armor with the Ghoul — leaving you alone with the young man with the concerning appearance.
“Bullhead,” you answered, grabbing ammo and restocking your bandolier. “Just east of the River.”
“Oh wow,” he nodded along. “You know, I’ve never met anyone from Arizona.” You hummed passively, letting the lid of the trunk fall shut once you were done emptying it. “Is every gal from Bullhead as pretty as you are?” You sighed, turning to look at him.
“Well, they’re mostly slaves, so...” You said with a sardonic smile, testing the weight of a new rifle on your back before walking past him. You heard him stammer as you went over to rejoin your companion, who had found an ammo box of his own.
“You uh—“ he went on, following your path. “You look good for uhm—for having gone through…that.”
“I didn’t,” you said, setting your bag down on a workbench near the other two. The man’s friend, Max—you’d overheard—looked up as you began emptying your bag.
“Well, then that’s really great! You know stuff like…stuff like that-that’s just...” He scoffed. “You know it’s just really shitty.”
“Thanks,” you said with a raised brow, then returned your attention to the handgun you’d pulled from your bag.
“What’s shitty?” Max asked, looking between the two of you and throwing his friend a silent ‘what are you doing?’
“Slavery,” he said, furrowing his brow in sympathy. “Did you know that’s what’s happening in Arizona? I mean, gosh, we should be doing something about that.” His gaze found you again, angling his head to see your face, hoping you’d be impressed with the gumption.
“Arizona?” Max repeated, now both their eyes were on you. “That’s all Legion territory.”
“Yep,” you confirmed, keeping your focus on the weapon.
“You got out?”
“Yep.”
“I mean, a girl like you, how could they keep you?” The other chimed in again. “They took one look at you and said ‘well you just go wherever you want, sexy lady’.”
You turned your head slowly, your brow raised again as you looked at him. “I was seven.”
“Right,” he nodded, finding somewhere else to look. “Probably uh…probably didn’t say that then.”
“What’s your name?” You asked, holstering the newly modded gun on your hip.
“It’s uh, it’s Thaddeus,” he answered, almost reluctantly. Before you could say anything, you heard a shifting behind you.
“Go find something to shoot with, kid.” The Ghoul spoke, short and clipped. Thaddeus nodded, scurrying off. You cast a glance over your shoulder, speaking without words to your companion. You smiled, a barely there, teasing smirk before pulling your bag over your shoulder.
Back on the road, it was Max who had matched your pace to talk to you first. “How’s a seven-year-old escape the Legion?” He asked, genuinely curious. You let out a long breath through your nose, keeping your eyes on the remains of the highway.
“It was 2281,” you said. He shrugged, and you let him sit in the silence for a moment before he eventually caught on.
“That was-“
“Yeah,” you nodded. “It was a lot of back and forth, really. That week, Caesar was on the short end of the rope. Sent more Legionnaires across the Colorado, left Bullhead a little less…patrolled. One night, my mom snuck us down to the river, stole a dinghy, and we left. We landed in Nevada, outskirts of Legion territory. But there was an NCR camp close enough we could see the flag.”
“You made it?”
“I made it,” you said, working your jaw for a pause. “During the Battle, the Legion didn’t have time for all their peacocking. No crucifixions or bizarre torture. If you did something wrong, they just shot you.“ You pulled your water out from your bag, taking a long drink as you walked. “Nearly got me, too. A trooper caught it instead.”
Max nodded along, his wide eyes giving you an empathetic look even as you kept your gaze straight. “I lost my parents too,” he said. “Shady Sands.”
“Jesus,” you muttered, finally turning to him. “Good thing it’s not a competition.” You smiled as you capped your water, returning the canteen. “How’s someone survive that? We settled on the other side of the old state line and we had to evacuate to avoid any radiation.”
“My parents put me in the icebox,” he said. You chuckled, looking forward again.
“Our house had this old fruit cellar,” you heard after an awkward jog to join your pace. “Yeah, my mom would put us in there if we didn’t make enough food. My brothers were always kind of scared, but,” Thaddeus clicked his tongue with a nonchalant shrug. “Wasn’t really much to me though, y’know?”
“Yeah,” you agreed with a sigh, fixing your gaze on the Ghoul who now seemed to be almost unsteady on his feet. Thaddeus kept prattling on about how that same bravery probably would’ve made him a good Knight, but you tuned him out.
“I mean it was kind of crappy to put the dog in that cooler, but—“
“Give us a second,” you interrupted, jogging forward after watching the Ghoul off his usual stride.
“You done boostin’ troop morale?” He asked, not sparing you a glance as you fell into his pace. His voice sounded more tired than its usual rasp.
“Are you out?” You asked, ignoring the comment as you began to rifle through your bag.
“No,” he snipped.
“Then what’s up with you?”
“I’ve been alive for two hundred years, sweetheart. Some days a fella’s just a little sore,” He said. You huffed, narrowing your eyes at him.
“Don’t give me that shit, Cowboy,” you hissed back. “Stop being a pain in the ass and tell me what you need.”
“I need you to quit playin’ nurse,” he clipped.
“The Strip’s got more deathclaws than it’s got poker chips right now,” you said, stopping in your tracks. You grabbed him by the sleeve of his duster, making him stop too. “I don’t know what you got yourself into after we separated, but you’re messed up, and going in there tired as a racehorse won’t do anyone any favors. Stop being a fucking tool and let me help you.”
He jerked his arm out of your hold, turning to glare down at you. You matched his stare, the two of you at a standstill until Thaddeus and Max were about a yard behind you.
“Fine,” he growled, stepping back. He looked back towards the two men, jerking his head in a silent keep going. The two of you walked until you found the two-walled remains of an old house.
“Keep going straight,” you told Max. “We’ll catch up in a minute.” You and the Ghoul ducked behind what bricks were left of one of the walls. He sat down on the few planks that still made up the front staircase. He pulled off the bandolier and saddle bag, letting you see the state of his clothing. His vest was buttoned on the top and the bottom, but the middle was torn, as was the blue shirt underneath. The middle of his abdomen was charred and not yet healed; around it, newly scarred skin twisted and snarled toward a point in the center. You got closer, straddling the edge of his lap before gingerly reaching out to touch the fabric of his shirt, stained darker with now-dried blood.
“Jesus Cowboy,” you muttered, running a finger along the jagged edge of the tear. “You catch the business end of a Fat Man?”
“Not quite,” he muttered, wincing as your hand moved to graze over the healing wound, the skin of which was hot to the touch.
“Whatever happened,” you said, stilling your hand on his side. “Looks like you’re almost healed.”
“Looks can be deceivin’,” he said. You hummed, shrugging your bag off your shoulder and setting it on his legs between your bodies.
“StimPak, then?” You asked. He nodded, watching as you pulled a smaller bag of different chems and medications out. “I need to get more when we get to Vegas.”
“Last one?”
You hummed, pulling the cap of the syringe.
“Shouldn’t go wastin’ it on me, then.” He said, but didn’t stop you as you pressed the needle into his abdomen.
“I’m a little more careful than you are.” You smiled back, but kept your focus on the syringe as the medication auto-injected. He hissed, his jaw clenched tight as he leaned his head back. When the pressure gauge clicked empty, you withdrew it, tossing it haphazardly behind you. He let out a long breath, one gloved hand finding your hip to rest on. You put your own back against the now healed skin, frowning to feel it still felt feverishly hot. “Any better?” He nodded, closing his eyes for a heavy moment.
“Got anythin’ else in that bag of yours?” He asked. You shook your head with a soft smile.
“So needy,” you tsked playfully, grabbing an inhaler and a vial of the yellow, viscous chem. “You’re still hot,” you noted, handing him the inhaler.
“I suppose there’s somethin’ for everyone.” He said, straightening up before taking a deep inhale of the medication.
You rolled your eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Uranium,” he said, giving the inhaler back. You instinctively pulled your hand away. He chuckled, a small and almost undetectable noise at your reaction. “Hope you took your Rad-X today, sweetheart.”
“Maybe I should take another,” you hummed archly, putting the medications back in your bag. You shifted your attention to the torn leather of his vest with a small frown. “I can try to fix this when we get settled.” His other hand reached up, holding your chin and guiding your gaze back to him.
“Don’t think we are,” he said. “Might be it.”
You nodded, fidgeting absentmindedly with the frayed fabric. “He knew, then?” He nodded. “You think he’s telling the truth?”
“Stakes were pretty high. Didn’t have a reason to lie.” He said.
“How’d she take it?” You asked.
“You’re lookin’ at it.”
You sucked your teeth, raising your brow. “I told you,” you hummed.
“Get it out of your system.”
You gave him a quick smile, raising your head a hair out of his hand, which mirrored the other on your hip. “You think they’ll take it okay?” You asked in earnest. He nodded after a thoughtful moment.
“She will,” he said eventually. “She’s the kind of kid who’d smile at the boogeyman.” Your smile turned warm.
“What’s her name?” You asked, the question a proverbial toe in the water.
“Janey,” he answered softly. You nodded.
“It’s pretty,” you said, your hand stilling on the fabric as you silently stammered. “What’s yours?” You watched his face, and it looked for a moment as if you might get an answer, but you wouldn’t get the chance to hear it.
“So we’ve been going straight and-“ You heard the awkward pitch of Thaddeus’ voice as he rounded the corner. You leaned back on instinct, and the Ghoul moved one hand from your hip. “Oh…sorry.” He blurted out, and you looked over your shoulder.
“Sorry,” you sighed. “We’ll catch up here in a second.”
“Yeah, no, that’s fine there’s just like this kind of fork in the road…” Thaddeus said, running a thumb along one suspender. You heard the Ghoul let out a graveled sigh of his own. “…and your dog keeps wanting to go the wrong direction, and we think she’s just confused because you’re back here.”
“Your dog’s confused,” you said, turning back to the Ghoul with a small smile. He rolled his eyes.
“Your dog’s incessant,” he shot back under his breath. You rolled your eyes, standing up and allowing him to follow suit. You let Thaddeus gather himself, then the two of you followed him back towards the highway.
“What’re you going to do?” He asked, his voice lower so as not to gather the attention of the other men.
“Don’t know yet,” you shrugged. “Maybe settle in Freeside for a while.”
“Ain’t what it used to be,” he said. “Might be smarter to leave Vegas altogether.”
“Don’t really know where else I’d go.” You admitted. “Gotten so used to traveling I haven’t thought much about where else I’d go. Maybe I’ll keep at it, things are feeling uneasy again. Only a matter of time before they’re at it with each other again.” He hummed, looking forward to the two men who seemed to be trying to keep their own voices down.
“Don’t stray too far,” he said eventually. “Just in case.” You nodded, a small smile wanting to pull at your lips.
The Ghoul eventually made his way back to the front of the small campaign, and you were content to keep your own pace a few feet following him, Max and Thaddeus behind you. Eventually, you noticed the taller of the two next to you in your peripheral.
“So you uh…you like ghouls?” He asked. You turned to look at him with a raised brow, but said nothing. “I’m a ghoul. Ghoul in progress, really.” You gave him a skeptical once-over, then fixed your eyes straight ahead again. “So right now is great because I’m a human with all the ghoul benefits. Or the other way around, whichever works best for you, really.”
You saw the Ghoul’s head turn slowly as Thaddeus went on, the young man seemingly oblivious to the movement as your eyes met with a shared small smirk.
In The Shadow of the Valley Pt. 2 (Squire!Thaddeus x Knight!Reader)
Pairing: Thaddeus x Knight!Reader
Word Count: 4.5k
Warnings/Tags: Future graphic violence, injury and blood, branding, stitching, no use of Y/N, placeholder knight name for the reader, mostly gender-neutral but reader is called “sir” at some points, the reader is called “my lord” a lot too, reader is also a bit of an asshole but dw they soften up
Summary: You’re a knight sworn to the Brotherhood of Steel, and you’ve just lost your asshole squire to a yao guai. Maybe it’s for the better, as you prefer to work alone anyway. Unfortunately, the Brotherhood thinks otherwise and quickly sends you a replacement. Turns out that the replacement is someone you never wished to meet again, but thankfully, he didn’t know it was you! Not yet, at least.
TDLR; What if Thaddeus was assigned to be your squire instead of Maximus’?
((A/N)) I’m back!!! I’m having a lot of fun writing this, so this might turn out longer than I initially intended lol. Also I hope that I’m not too inconsistent with lore/game mechanics, I just started playing Fallout 4 last week and I haven’t gotten very far yet ToT. Anyway, enjoy!!
———
Maybe you wouldn’t kill him. Not before something else did, at least.
You were still on the path of your mission, trying to gain a bit more ground before night fell. However, a pack of sleeping junkyard dogs currently stood between you and a viable camping spot underneath a rocky outcrop, and you were not in the mood to fend them off of both you and Thaddeus. You were both crouched down behind some nearly-dead bushes, trying to figure out how to get around them without waking them up.
God, this would’ve been so much easier without having to worry about the well-being of a squire. You’d rather not be two for two for dead squires in one day.
“What do we do?” Thaddeus whispered noisily, causing some of the dogs’ ears to twitch. You whipped your head around in a manner that meant ‘shut up’, but the pneumatics of your armour made more noise than you intended. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see a few of the dogs quickly lift their heads, on high alert. You and Thaddeus stared at each other, frozen in place in hopes that the dogs just… wouldn’t see you behind the bare bushes.
That unfortunately did not happen, and the feral growling of the hounds spotting you quickly spurred you into action. You pushed Thaddeus further into the brush and stepped out into the clearing, drawing your gun and beginning to take shots at the pack of dogs. A couple dropped, but the rest were eager to get a bite in on you.
“My lord, w-wait!” Thaddeus yelped, stumbling back due to the weight of his pack and falling onto his ass. He struggled to get back up, to help you as a good squire should, but he was having trouble getting the strap of his bag off from where he lay on the ground. Good, that’s what you intended.
“Fuckin’ mutts,” you grumbled, hastily blocking a lunging dog and throwing it to the floor. That didn’t deter it in the slightest, recovering before it lunged for you again. It got a good grip on a protruding piece of your armour, and you spun around trying to hit it off. “Fuck! Motherfucker, get off!”
Thaddeus became more panicked as he heard you shouting, finally slipping out of the strap and aiming his gun at the dog latched onto you. “I’ve got you, my lord!” He yelled, before blindly firing off a shot in hopes he’d hit the dog. The bullet missed, ricocheting off of your armour and startling Thaddeus further as it whizzed by his head.
“Thaddeus!” You yelled in warning, trying to prevent him from getting in harm's way. You weren’t known for things going your way, though.
One of the dogs had split off from you when Thaddeus fired his gun, now set on getting a chunk out of the unprotected human. You saw the prowling animal before Thaddeus did, but in trying to get rid of the one on you, you were too slow to react in time.
Thaddeus screamed as the dog lunged for him, quickly turning his head away and firing blindly again in the direction of his attacker. Every shot missed, and the dog caught hold of Thaddeus’ arm, trying to drag him to the ground.
“Fuck! Knight Mire! Help me!” Thaddeus screamed in alarm, wincing as the dog’s teeth tore through his jacket sleeve and into the flesh of his arm. He cursed loudly again, trying to play tug of war with a feral dog and his arm.
You promptly threw the dog on you to the ground when you heard Thaddeus’ screams, landing a solid stomp on it before rushing to your squire. With the dog preoccupied and trying to maul him, it was easy to get close and restrain it. When it refused to let go of him, you hesitated only slightly before resorting to putting your hands on its head, pressing them together and effectively crushing the dog’s skull. Its body went limp, and Thaddeus was able to rip his arm out of its loosened jaws with a whimper.
You didn’t have any time to check in on him before another dog jumped on your back, trying to rip at the back of your neck.
“Son of a bitch!” You shouted, trying to reach back and grab the dog, but your armour limited your mobility and you were unable to reach it. Thaddeus floundered where he stood, gripping his bleeding arm while trying to decide if he should help you or not.
“Uhm, m-my lord! Would y-you like me to-“
“Don’t fucking move!” You shouted at him, finally getting a shot in on the dog as you blasted it with your arm jet. It yowled, toppling off of you and attempting to limp away from the major burns you’d just given it. You shot it before it had the chance to escape, god forbid if it came back to bite you in the ass. There were only a few left now, and with some well-aimed shots from your gun, they fell quickly too.
You and Thaddeus stood still for a moment, still processing what had just happened while trying to catch your breaths. You carefully holstered your weapon while you stared at the bodies lying around, taking a breath before turning around to assess Thaddeus.
With your helmet facing towards him, he jumped, almost trying to hide his torn arm behind him. “A-ah! Am-amazing job, my lord! You-you really showed those m-mutts!” He exclaimed, a strained smile strewn across his face. You huffed, brushing past him to carry the pack instead. “O-oh you don’t h-have to do that-“
“Come on,” you beckoned, cutting him off and moving toward the outcrop you fought for with the pack slung over your shoulder. God, this thing was heavy. Thaddeus hesitated before following behind, his forced smile dropping as an anxious frown replaced it.
You threw the pack down against a nearby rock, assessing the small area. There were a few stray rocks scattered in a shape that looked like a circle, so you figured you’d get a small fire going in the middle of them once you’d dealt with Thaddeus. Speaking of Thaddeus, when you turned back around to rummage through the pack, he was already digging through it.
“You good?” You questioned, your scrambled voice causing the man to jump again. He whipped around, still trying to hide his arm behind him with a feigned smile.
“Yep! Never been better! Don’t you worry about me,” he rambled, beads of sweat welling up on his temple while he gripped a roll of bandages in his hand. You sighed, crossing your arms.
“Let me see it,” you ordered, making Thaddeus frown in panic.
“N-no!”
You raised your brow, which he couldn’t see, but he still sputtered at your silence from his sudden outburst.
“I-I mean- I’m fine, my lord, really. I-it’s nothing I can’t handle!” He reassured you, getting more nervous by the minute. You were not taking that for an answer. You carefully but firmly placed your hands on his shoulders, turning him sharply so you could get a look at his arm. Thaddeus whimpered in embarrassment, casting his eyes away from you while you inspected the wound.
It didn’t look good, that’s for sure. The dog had gotten a good grip on his arm, and the bite marks were deep. He was at least lucky enough that the dog didn’t thrash, as his flesh didn’t look too torn. It was still bleeding pretty bad, and you were sure it would be infected come the morning if it wasn’t properly looked after.
If you remembered anything from your time at the airbase, you knew Thaddeus was absolutely horrible at first aid. He’d stick a shitty expired stimpack in it and call it a day, which wouldn’t stave away any infection if he left it uncovered. But if you wanted to make sure it healed correctly, you’d need to get out of your power armour and help him. You hesitated but quickly thought of a way to keep your face hidden as you stepped back from Thaddeus.
“Wh-what are you doing?” He questioned you as you backed up against the outcrop wall, giving yourself just enough room to be able to get out from behind it. You hit the release of your armour once you were in position, scrambling to remove your arms so that you could fish a handkerchief out of your breast pocket before Thaddeus got too curious.
Tying it quickly around the lower half of your face, you stepped down and out from behind the armour, walking back over to Thaddeus.
“Give me that,” you muttered, hoping he wouldn’t recognize your eyes or voice while you held your hand out for the roll of bandage.
He just… stared at you for a good couple of seconds, his brain lagging to process that you’d just gotten out of your power armour to tend to him. After a little while, you started to worry that your cover had been blown until he seemed to come back to life, stuttering like a fool.
“I-I- My lord! R-really, it’s-it’s alright, I-“
You snatched the roll from his hands as he stammered, effectively shutting him up as you pushed him down to sit on the rock behind him.
“Take your jacket off,” you commanded, tucking the roll under your arm while you went to retrieve a stimpack from the pack that was next to Thaddeus. He was practically shaking at this odd behaviour from you, not understanding why you were doing this, but he complied anyway. He shrugged the jacket off quickly, along with the red button-up shirt underneath, leaving him in a white tank top.
You turned back to Thaddeus with a water bottle, rag, and stimpack in hand, positioning yourself in front of him to look at his arm. He looked up at you with that pathetic face you knew all too well: the one he’d pull when he would get yelled at by whoever he pissed off at the airbase. Though, you weren’t quite sure why he was making it now. It had been a miracle, but so far, you hadn’t degraded him too much.
“This is gonna sting a bit,” you admitted while unscrewing the cap of the water bottle. Thaddeus seemed surprised again, uneasily grasping at his pant legs.
“You-you’re gonna use clean water for a measly little bite? I’ve lived through worse,” he laughed nervously, unable to hide the twitches of pain that occasionally crossed his face.
You raised a brow, pausing. ”Would you rather die of infection? Because you and I both know the cheap ass stimpacks they give us aren’t very good at sterilizing wounds.”
Thaddeus visibly faltered at your words, not expecting such an argument from you. You were right, of course—he could remember plenty of times when an aspirant would get extremely sick from an improperly treated wound, and in the worst cases, they would die—but it didn't make him feel any better about wasting supplies on him.
“B-but why should we waste the water? I-I’m… just a squire, it’s my fault I was bit anyway. I got in the way,” he mumbled, his eyes downcast and his posture hunched like he was trying to make himself disappear. You sighed, carefully grabbing his arm to inspect one last time.
“Well, it’s a good thing I get to decide what we waste supplies on,” you quipped, unable to stop yourself from smiling a little. It seemed to have reached your eyes, though, since Thaddeus looked up and gave you a small, but grateful smile back.
“I just… didn't expect a knight to care so much,” he disclosed, wringing his hands out. That made you stop for a moment.
You hadn’t realized how much you softened up in the past few hours since you were so hell-bent on hating him when he was first dropped off. Well, it was understandable that you’d wanted to hate him. He was a bully, as far as you remembered. But this man in front of you? You hardly recognized this obedient and meek facade he put on, but his ramblings and blind loyalty were still the same.
That was it, you realized: he was familiar. You didn't get much of that in the wasteland, save for some worn-down landmarks, so you’d covet it where you could. Even if you had once hated each other, it was better than nothing. Besides, maybe having an acquaintance out here wouldn’t be too bad. You would never admit it, but you kind of missed having someone to look after, even if he was supposed to be looking after you. You never did like accepting help, though, even when you so readily handed it out.
“I care about protecting people, even if the Brotherhood has more or less lost sight of that with their tech bullshit,” you offered, beginning to pour some water on the wound to wash away the partially dried blood. Thaddeus winced at the feeling, but he perked up at your comment.
“The Brotherhood does protect people, though. I mean, if we let everyone run around all willy-nilly with post-war technology all the time, there’d be no one left to protect after they all kill each other,” Thaddeus interjected nonchalantly, causing your expression to harden slightly.
He was wrong. With what you’ve seen at the airbase and out here in the field, the Brotherhood had completely lost its way. You had seen how your fellow knights gave no regard for anyone other than themselves, looting and killing where they deemed fit, pushing people around for their own benefit. You were unsure of what they had been like before your time, but now? It felt like you were part of a band of technologically scavenging warmongers.
You were one of the few who hadn’t bought into it, and Thaddeus was one of the many who did.
You bit your tongue while you focused on Thaddeus’ arm because God forbid you said something out of line and he reported it back to the officers. They’d have your head on a stick before dawn. You simply nodded, your brows furrowed as you inspected his now clean wound. The bleeding had slowed, but not stopped, and you could now see just how deep the dog had gotten.
“I’m gonna have to stitch some of this up,” you concluded, not missing the way Thaddeus started shaking as you switched out the bottle of water for the stimpack you’d retrieved earlier.
“Wh-what? Stitches? N-no. No, no, no, just the stimpack will be fine,” he squeaked, attempting to reel his arm back in. You held him in a firm grip, though, readying the stimpack in your other hand.
You gave him a frustrated glare. “It’ll heal faster if we stitch it.”
He shrunk back under your gaze, wanting to protest, but he knew that was a losing battle with you. You took his silence as compliance, and while he was looking away, you quickly jabbed his arm with the stimpack. He yelped, nearly jumping to his feet, but you expected that reaction and held him down.
“What the hell, man!” He squawked, his voice cracking from the pitch it was at. “Give a man a warning, Jesus!”
“I find it’s worse if you know it’s coming,” you shrugged, discarding the empty stimpack and digging in the pack again for some needle and thread. You could’ve sworn you heard Thaddeus whimper in fear while you were practically shoulder-deep in the big ass bag he brought with him. For someone who you thought would’ve seen much worse, he was very squeamish.
That proved stitching his wound to be difficult.
The process was arduous with Thaddeus twitching and shrieking every time you made a new stitch, and he needed quite a few of them. You were just about ready to take back everything you’d previously thought about, one complaint away from hitting him over the head and leaving him here.
“There, you big baby. We’re done,” you grumbled, cutting the extra thread with your pocket knife and quickly bandaging up his arm. He loudly sighed in relief, slumping over with exhaustion.
“Oh, thank God,” he whined, sounding like he was on the verge of tears, “that was horrible.” He snatched his arm back when you were finally done, running his fingers along the starchy fabric as if it would stop the stinging sensation below it
You rolled your eyes at his theatrics, putting all of the supplies you had used back in the pack, and marched off to start a fire. Thaddeus watched you go, chewing on the inside of his cheek before rising to his feet to follow you.
The fire wasn’t hard to start up on your own—you’d done so hundreds of times before—but Thaddeus’ eyes burning into the back of your head had you on edge. A simple glare up at him had him scrambling, averting his gaze as he turned his body around altogether. It wasn’t long before you had a fire going, and had cooked some of the rations packed in Thaddeus’ bag.
The two of you sat down on opposite rocks with food in hand, the fire between you and illuminating your faces. Thaddeus fiddled with his utensil as silence fell over the two of you, seeming to mull something over in his mind before piping up: “Um… so… how long have you been working with the Brotherhood?”
You debated indulging in his questions as you carefully maneuvered a spoonful of corn under your makeshift mask and into your mouth. “Since I was a kid.” You relented, your voice quiet but firm. “Some knights picked me up off the side of the road when I was twelve or so,”
Thaddeus perked up at the new information. “Oh? I’ve-I’ve been with them for a long time, too, but I… don’t ever recall hearing about you. You… were stationed at the airbase, right?”
You paused, intently staring down at your rations. Should you tell him? The last thing you wanted was to spook him off, and you were not in the mood to warm up to another squire. Your gaze flickered back up to Thaddeus, who was staring at you with a tentative expression of fear that he’d yet again pushed his questions too far.
“I was. Maybe we just never crossed paths. I tended to keep to myself.” You shrugged, shovelling another spoonful of corn into your mouth. “I also didn't stick around for very long. I was maybe… sixteen when the Elder Cleric sent me off-base to train for knighthood.”
That part was mostly true, aside from the fact that you’d just blatantly lied about the two of you not knowing each other. Apparently, the Elder Cleric had seen “promise” in you after your altercation with Thaddeus, keeping a close eye on you until he decided you were cut out to be a knight a couple of years later.
“What? How come you didn’t get a ceremony? Or-or a send-off?” Thaddeus questioned, and now you were kicking yourself for saying anything.
“I did get a ceremony, it just wasn't public,” you grumbled, trying so hard to keep him off of your trail.
Thaddeus furrowed his brows. ”That’s weird.”
“You’re weird,” you fired back nonchalantly.
Thaddeus scrunched up his nose at your response before huffing out a laugh, shaking his head as he prodded at his food. “That makes two of us, then.”
It was your turn to snicker, the sound abrupt and quiet as you tried to hold it back the best you could. Thaddeus still heard it, though, and the giant grin on his face was enough to tell you that.
“I-I’m not weird.” You fumbled to recover, but you knew you weren’t wiping that smug smile off of Thaddeus’ face anytime soon.
“Suure,” Thaddeus hummed, finally taking his first bite of food, “That’s why you insisted on patching up my arm even though you could’ve just stuck a stimpak into it and called it a day.”
You huffed, shaking your head. “Oh, God forbid I take care of someone’s wounds. I didn’t know that giving medical aid was illegal now,” you joked, pulling another giddy laugh from Thaddeus.
You settled into a comfortable silence this time, and that soft smile lingered on your face as you stared down at your rations. This felt… nice. It had been so long since the last time you opened up like this with anyone. The back-and-forth banter was something you missed about being friendly with people, especially when everyone you’d met since taking up the knight mantle either ran in terror or tried to attack you.
As if on cue, Thaddeus jolted as he remembered something. “Oh! You should brand me!” He exclaimed excitedly, causing you to immediately lose any peace you had just gained as you frowned behind your handkerchief.
“Oh, fuck no. Do you even know how bad it hurts?” You groaned, pinching the bridge of your nose at the suggestion. Your last squire had insisted on being branded, too. When you had finally relented and gone through with it, he screamed like a little girl and wouldn’t stop complaining about how much it hurt for at least three days afterwards.
Thaddeus put on his best pouty face at your denial. “Come on, it's tradition! To show my devotion to you!” He whined, and an odd feeling holed up in your chest from him saying he was devoted to you. “And I-I’m not officially your squire until you brand me!” Well, at least it was a better reason than your previous squire’s: he had just wanted to show it off to his friends the next time he was on base.
You pushed that worming feeling in your chest aside and glared at Thaddeus, but he didn’t shrink back this time. In fact, it almost encouraged him as he leaned forward with his hands linked together in a pleading gesture. “Please?”
You sighed heavily, unable to say no to his big blue puppy-dog eyes. You set your rations down and dragged your hands down your face before begrudgingly rising to your feet and trudging back over to your power armour. Thaddeus whooped obnoxiously behind you, putting a slight smile back on your face as you stepped into your armour. It whirred back to life as the back hatch closed, and you tested out the arms before walking back over to the fire.
Thaddeus watched intently as you stuck the tip of your hand guard into the hot flames, the metal ‘M’ and the area surrounding it heating up and turning a dangerous red. Once you started to feel the heat through your gauntlet, you pulled your hand back and turned to Thaddeus, who had immediately swivelled around so that you had access to his back.
Your hand wavered as you tried to recall the words of the declaration used for branding. You got it, mostly, and recited the words plainly: ”Thaddeus, it is your most sacred duty to protect the Brotherhood. After which, it is your most sacred duty to protect… me, Knight Mire.” You paused briefly while speaking, feeling like you were forgetting another sacred duty. After a moment of thinking, you still couldn’t recall what it could’ve been. Ah, forget it. If you couldn’t remember it, it was probably dumb anyway. You continued: “Do you accept?”
“Oh, yeah. You bet I do,” Thaddeus chuckled, showing no sign of discomfort or fear. You shrugged at this; maybe it would go better than you thought.
“Okay, hold still,” you concluded before pressing the back of your hot gauntlet to Thaddeus’ back. You jolted when he suddenly let out the most high-pitched scream you think you’d ever heard from him, but you made sure to keep your gauntlet still to prevent fucking up the brand. Shouts and groans spilled from Thaddeus’ lips as his skin continued to sizzle, but he miraculously kept still with deep breaths between each pained noise. You were almost worried he’d pass out from whatever pain he was feeling to have him react this strongly.
“Hold on, hold on, it’s almost done,” you quickly reassured, your stomach starting to flip at the sight and sound of this whole process. Branding was never something you particularly liked to witness. After another second or two, you pulled back your hand, causing Thaddeus to loudly sigh in relief as he fell forward onto his knees. He continued to heave and groan, shakily crawling over to one of the rocks and sitting up against it, careful not to aggravate his fresh brand. He laughed a bit, and when you could finally catch a glimpse of his face, he had the biggest grin stretched across it, which surprised you. It seemed like he… enjoyed it.
Thaddeus reached a hand back to hover over the brand, but he quickly reeled it back when he felt heat still radiating off of it. “Woo, still pretty hot,” he noted, his hand falling back into his lap. He glanced back over to you, his smile never faltering. “Thank you, Knight Mire.”
You were a bit perplexed at Thaddeus’ joyous mood, freezing you in place as you tried to process the fact that he was talking to you. Any squire you had branded previously—in a ceremony or otherwise—would either be still reeling in pain, giving you a death stare, or complaining about how much it hurt. “Um, you’re… welcome? I guess?” You answered hesitantly, stepping back to exit your armour again.
“Man, we need a duo name now!” Thaddeus exclaimed, and before you could protest the dumbest idea you’d heard in months, he had already started thinking aloud. “Thaddeus and Mire, the- umm,” Thaddeus put a shaky finger to his lips, attempting to conjure up a name for the two of you. You promptly rolled your eyes, sitting down and running the idea over in your head before you blurted out:
“Trademark. We’re trademarked.”
Thaddeus paused, looking at you with a puzzled expression before it clicked. “Oh my god, you’re right! TM! We’re the trademark boys, yeah!” He shouted happily, throwing his fists up in the air with a gleeful expression.
You couldn’t help the snort that escaped you at his exclamation. It sounded much more ridiculous coming from him, especially with how excited he was about it.
“What, so we’re like… The Trademark Boys with a TM on top of it? The Trademark Boys trademarked?” You jested, deciding to entertain the incredibly ridiculous thought.
Thaddeus pointed a finger at you, glad that you were catching on. “Exactly!”
“That’s… that's so stupid,” you sighed with a small laugh, shaking your head and pinching the bridge of your nose again.
“No, it’s genius,” Thaddeus corrected with a smirk, shrugging his red button-up shirt back on while making sure it didn't drag against his brand.
You rolled your eyes at him, returning to your half finished rations in a more joyful mood than you think you'd ever been in.
Speak in Tongues (Thaddeus x Reader) - Valentine's Day 2025 One-shot
AO3
Song: Speak in Tongues - Machineheart
Words: 1.172
Warnings: Suggestive NSFW; Reader is ex-NCR!; Reader is written as gender Neutral; no use of Y/N
Speak in Tongues
You used wisely the hours you had as Thaddeus left your shared safe-house to trade in some well-needed supplies to get everything perfect so you could gift him a well-earned massage. It was the least you could do, with how he had managed to fix the place up with water and electricity and even a small hidden garden since the two of you stumbled into it a few months earlier. Nothing like the facilities you knew you could get in NCR territory, but that was really out of the question for both of you after the Observatory.
You critically eyed the metal-bars fixated to the ceiling, the old double bed right under them and in the middle of the bedroom with its yellowed bed sheets and the cracked body-length mirror facing the headboard, and compared to the faded magazine you had scavenged a few weeks earlier.
And sighed.
There was no way you could put your hands on candles and flowers like those, and the spotty lamps were a far cry from the warm, inviting light in the picture, but you were still pretty sure you could recreate the sensual massage depicted: a person lying down on their stomach and another using their feet to press into their back, hands around the metal bars as support and safety net.
God knew how tense Thaddeus could get with whatever the heck was going with him from what that “doctor” had given him and your poor hands were tired of trying to get rid of all the knots in his back; feet it was them.
There was a sound of the entrance door unlocking and you threw the magazine inside the last drawer of the wardrobe lightening fast. You skipped towards the other room, living room and kitchen all in one, Thaddeus humming alongside his small radio as he closed the door, full supply bag hanging from his shoulder.
“Welcome back, darlin’.” You stole a peck of his full cheeks, pulling the bag and stepping away as Thaddeus twisted to try and steal a proper kiss.
You didn’t miss his pout, watching you step away.
“Where’s my proper kiss?” Thaddeus whined, stepping towards you, arms extended, and you giggled, easily sidestepping him.
“Soon. But first I need ya’ to get into the bedroom, undress, and lie down on ya’ stomach.”
Thaddeus blinked, still pouting a little, still puppy-like eyes, but he definitely ran towards the bedroom.
--------
You grinned and bit your lip, watching Thaddeus spread on the bed, head on a pillow, all naked, a leg shaking lightly and arms crossed in front of his face; more scars spreading from the brand at the top of his back, some on his lower back, and still a faint purple bruise on one of his ass cheeks from a pinch you had left that morning – the jump and teenage giggle had made it well worthy it. You just wished it lasted more, but the ghoulification or whatever was going on with him made it all disappear fast.
“What’s with the mirror?”
“Ya’ll get it soon enough.” You made sure to undress in a blind spot and slowly crawled above the bed, locking eyes with him through the mirror.
Thaddeus blue eyes slowly widened as you straightened and showed yourself equally naked, one of his beaming smiles appearing. He started to twist and you pushed on his back with a hand.
“Nope, ya’ stay right there, Thad.”
“Sweetie-”
“Thad.” you finished straightening, your sharp tone of voice silencing him, eyes following your movements in the mirror.
Slowly your hands wrapped around the metal, making sure to pull up some of your weight, before slowly extending one foot towards Thaddeus’ back.
“That’s… Uh…”
“Supposed to be a massage.” you grinned, eyes not dropping his in the mirror.
Carefully, you pressed the ball of your foot into his muscles, twisting it in a circular motion. It earned you a groan, his arms relaxing a fraction, and you kept going, carefully and slowly, eventually both feet pressing across Thaddeus’ back. Along his spine, into his shoulder blades, his lower back…
The whole time you two watched each other through the mirror, Thaddeus’ blue eyes following your naked body above him, you drinking in the hungry look in his eyes, the way he occasionally licked a lip while still watching you, small moans, whimpers and moans escaping when you found those deep stubborn knots and dug harder into them. Slowly his back relaxed, even while his arms tensed and hands twisted hard around each other.
Your arms were tiring of maintaining your weight mostly off him, but it was so fucking worthy it. Thaddeus’ sounds were addictive, and finally feeling those fucking knots disappear and see him relaxing, even while the look in his eyes deepened into hungrier, was a fucking personal conquest since leaving the NCR and throwing your luck with him.
And, well, those sounds were also tickling your arousal.
“You know, sweetie…” He eventually started, eyes still on the reflection of your body, licking his lip, a finger tapping against a hand.
“Yeah, Thad?” You grinned at the mirror, foot firmly pressing against his higher back, close to the brand. There was always a minefield of knots…
“Massages are for relaxing, right?”
You hummed, faking thinking about it, a knot disappearing, another groan.
“They are. Ain’t you relaxed, darlin’?” You teased, toeing lightly the dirty-blond hair at his nape.
“Not much.” Thaddeus sounded breathless and you grinned, pulling yourself a bit towards the metal bars, looking taller in the mirror.
“I bet it’s being under me.”
Thaddeus’ eyes darkened, head straightening a bit.
“Sweetie-”
“Am I wrong?”
“No.” He sighed, eyes raking across your reflection, and you wondered how hard he was to be like that, to start talking.
Usually he lasted longer in your games, able to withstand your teasing before snapping in some way – be it begging or taking matter into his own hands. You loved both. You were more of a mind to get him begging that day.
Humming, you slowly took off your feet from him, landing them into the lumpy mattress each side of his hips, still holding on the metal.
“Go on, Thad, turn aroun’.” Thaddeus snapped to do as told, cock hard and angry red and leaning towards his soft stomach, hands flying towards your legs. “No touchin’ me.”
He groaned, hungry, desperate blue eyes looking up at yours.
“C’mon, sweetie-”
“Na-ah. Ya’re touchin’ yourself, darlin’.” You bit your lip, eyes slowly going down and up his body, catching the way he dry-swallowed.
“You’ll be like that? The whole time?” He whined, hand slowly moving towards his cock, blown out blue eyes not settling on any place on you for long.
“Well, Thad, since ya’ like me above ya’ so much, it seems only fair, don’t ya’ think?”
“Oh God…” Thaddeus groaned, eyes on yours.
“Now go on, darlin’, make it a show for me.” You licked your lips and Thaddeus groaned as his hands finally reached his hard cock.
YESS OFC I CAN DO MORE THADDEUS I LOVE HIM SO MUCHH
He's so good to you man
He's like a puppy
He will do anything you ask of him
Like, you need a footrest? He’s on his hands and knees for you no question
I think I said this in my other head cannons but he definitely still stutters around you
Gets flustered so easily
Will go beet red if he hears even a hint of a compliment directed his way
If someone asks if you guys are dating, he tries to be all smug and cocky about it but the fact that he’s blushing like he’s just run a marathon kind of ruins it
Love love loves cuddling
You best believe he’s got you wrapped around him every night
You have probably saved his ass a couple of times
Not because he can’t handle himself or anything
This man was in the brotherhood for God's sake
But just because he’s not aware of his surroundings, especially when he’s with you
You’re a distraction, what can I say?
I want to expand on what I said about you and the kids he had “working” for him in the earlier episodes of season 2
You were definitely a mother figure to a lot of them, but they probably saw Thaddeus as more of a boss
Which made him sad because deep down he wanted those kids to like him
Which they did!! Just not in a father kind of way like he wanted
But you? Ohh they loved you
And boy did they realise that you had a soft spot for them as well, and also the soft spot that Thaddeus has for you
Used it to their advantage sometimes
Tired of working and want a break? A little complaint to you and all of a sudden you’re talking to Thaddeus about how maybe they should get an hour or two to rest
When Xander and Maximus found y'all omg
You went out to stand up for the kids and Thaddeus saw his whole life flash before his eyes
Thought Xander would take you out too for getting in his way
Crawled out from his hiding spot and immediately pushed you to stand behind him so if Xander DID do anything, he’d be first
When Maximus made his pretend to be Xander, he refused to leave you behind, fully stated that he would rather die than leave you here by yourself despite the fact that you told him you would be fine
As long as he came back, because if he didn’t, you’d track him down and kill him
They ended up taking you with them
Don’t ask me how or what their excuse to the rest of the brotherhood was, I don't know, I didn’t think that far ahead
ANYWAY
He loves kissing you
It doesn’t even need to be on the lips, just anywhere
Also loves receiving them
Press a kiss to his temple or his cheek and he will become a puddle on the floor
His lips have probably always been chapped
I mean, there's no ChapStick in the waste land
BUT I feel like it's gotten worse after he took that stuff from the snake oil salesman
Buuutt its okay cause you can wet his lips with yours
Big hugger as well
AHHH you guys hugging each other with the radio turned on and gently swaying to the music, maybe he’s humming along to one of the songs
I have gobbled up all of your Thaddeus HCs with great enthusiasm! I’m lovin your work! Would you be at all interested in writing a first time pegging fic?? 👀 or if you have any more Thad HCs I am desperate for this man lol
If an uncomfy ask please feel free to ignore! ❤️🤘
Yes, the hell I can write that
Both head cannons and a lil fic at the end cause thats how we do things round here
NSFW Under the cut
Like I said when I briefly mentioned Thaddeus and pegging in my NSFW headcannons, he’s a little hesitant at first
But when you give him those big puppy dog eyes, how can he say no to you?
Asks you to go slow, which you were obviously going to do anyways because you’re always so gentle with him, and he knows that, the poor baby is just so nervous
So much foreplay it almost feels like you’re dragging it out on purpose, trying to make him as desperate as possible
Which, hey, maybe you are. No one would blame you for that, he's so cute when he’s all whiny and needy for you
When it's finally time to actually peg him, you go agonisingly slow, to the point where even in his nervous and fidgety state, he’s asking you to speed up
Which is met with small hushes from you telling him to be patient
When you finally push in with the strap (that you got from who knows where cause where tf would you find one in the wasteland?) it’s like he’s been transported into heaven and is sitting at the feet of God himself
The loudest, most pornographic moan tears from his throat as he's clutching at anything he can get his hands on, biting down so hard on his lip that he can taste the faint metallic taste of blood
It hurts a little bit, of course it does, and it takes him a little while to get used to feeling so full, but once he does, he’s borderline sobbing, begging you to move, faster, harder, don’t stop
He doesn’t last long because God it feels so good and you’re hitting all the right spots, he can’t help it
You don’t stop though
You keep going till he’s sniffling, words coming out slurred and sentences melting together, forming unintelligible ramblings, as he’s reaching down and gripping onto your thigh in a desperate attempt to ground himself
But even then, when he’s fucked dumb on your fake dick, he still whines and mumbles something along the lines of “why’d you stop?” when you gently slide out of him
And you take such good care of him afterwards
Washing him to the best of your abilities, given you lack of supplies and it being, the wasteland
Kissing every inch of his body while telling him how good he did
And then falling asleep with him in your arms, blissed out look still evident on his face even as he drifts off
Your lips moved together in sync, fitting together perfectly like they were made from the same mould, moving at an almost rushed yet still intimate pace. Thaddeus was bare underneath you, his clothes discarded haphazardly somewhere inside of the dingy motel room that you had both rented out for the night. Usually, you both would just set up a makeshift camp for the night, not minding sharing some of your most intimate moments out in the wasteland, underneath the stars, but tonight was different. You were trying something new and you wanted Thaddeus to be as comfortable as possible, so you had found a run down motel and paid the overpriced fee to stay the night, hoping that this would ease at least some of the concerns Thaddeus had raised about your suggestion.
Your lips parted from his, a small string of spit glistening in the dim light, as you moved to press featherlight kisses down his scarred torso, paying special attention to his sensitive nipples. As you made your slow and torturous descent down his body, Thaddeus bit his lip to stop any noises from slipping out, his cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. Sure, you had both been intimate with each other multiple times before, but this time felt, no, was different, the anxiety and anticipation settling deep within his stomach the curled into a weird combination that made him feel things he couldn’t quite put into words.
When you finally make your way down to where he needs you most, you stop and your gaze flicks up to his face, searching his eyes for any hint of discomfort. He gives you a nod, which is quickly interrupted by a groan as his head falls back against the dirty pillowcase as you spit into your hand and wrap it around his already hard cock.
Your hand makes slow and deliberate movements, enough to feel pleasurable but not enough to get him off, because that's not what you want, not like this anyway. As you continue your unhurried strokes, your other hand slowly maneuvers itself between his legs and inches up towards his tight hole. Thaddeus sucks in a quick breath as he feels the tip of your finger gently prod at his entrance, the feeling foreign, but not entirely unwanted. You stay there like that for a few long moments, hand still making languid strokes on his cock as your finger delicately circled his hole. Thaddeus’ moans began to build in volume, signalling that he was getting closer to release, causing you to drop your hand from his dick, letting it fall and lightly slap against his stomach, covered in a mix of your spit and his precum that begins to drip onto his lower stomach.
You shift your position slightly and reach over to the bedside table that has definitely seen better days. You grab the bottle of lube and apply a generous amount to your finger and signalling for Thaddeus to turn over. He hesitated for a moment before rolling around and propping himself up on his knees and elbows. With the hand that wasn’t covered in lube, you gently caressed his ass, spreading the cheeks ever so slightly and pressing light kisses on them.
“You still okay with this baby?” You asked seriously, pulling away completely. Thaddeus gazed at you over his shoulder.
“Yes, I trust you” he said, eyes meeting yours, gaze so full of love and trust you could’ve melted on the spot. You bit your lip and nodded, raising up the lubed finger and circling it around his tight hole. Carefully and slowly, you pushed past the tight muscle and inserted your finger to the first knuckle. Thaddeus’ knees buckled slightly but he caught himself before he collapsed, something mixed between a moan and a growl tearing from his throat at the intrusion. You stayed like that for a couple of long moments, letting him fully adjust to the stretch before sliding your finger further into him, the tight hole sucking in your finger inch by inch until it was buried fully. You turned your gaze to Thaddeus’ face, which was now buried in the pillows. You moved your finger in an experimental thrust, slow and steady, and the muffled groan that fell from his lips was borderline pornographic. You felt yourself clench around nothing at the noise and you began slow ministrations, moving your finger in and out, occasionally curling it, making sure to hit that sweet spot inside of him.
A string of muffled and almost breathless curses and moans could be heard from the head of the bed, Thaddeus’ fists white-knuckling anything he could get his hands on. You worked him open, adding another finger when you felt he was prepared enough. And you stayed that way, fingers pulling in and out of him at a steady pace while Thaddeus writhed in the pleasure you were giving him.
Eventually, once you believed he was ready, you moved and secured the strap on to your body, hanging heavy against your hips. You lined yourself up behind Thaddeus and reached over to lovingly caress his hips. You leaned over his body and pressed kisses to his upper back, between his shoulder blades.
“You ready?” You questioned between kisses. Thaddeus gave a small nod and a weak “yes” voice hoarse from all of his moaning when you were stretching him out with your fingers. You leant back and slowly pushed the tip in, making sure to take your time to allow him to fully adjust to your length and it was like something inside Thaddeus broke. His head turned to the side and he let out a long, needy whine, eagerly pressing his hips towards yours, attempting to push you deeper.
A smile cracked across your lips at his eagerness and you began to push in all the way, filling him to the brim and the noise that escaped Thaddeus’ mouth was so full of pleasure, you swore you could get off on it alone. You stayed buried inside of him, hips flush against his as he gasped and panted for air beneath you. This didn’t last long though, as he grew impatient and started thrusting his hips back and forth against yours, fucking himself on your cock, slurred curses spewing out of his mouth, moans cutting him off mid word. A hand found his hip as you began to set a firm but gentle pace, shallowly thrusting in and out of him.
He wasn’t going to last long, you could tell by the way his moans became more desperate and high pitched. Your hand snaked around to his front and grasped his neglected cock, giving it slow, meaningful strokes.
And that's what undid him. He came with a loud cry of your name before collapsing into the bed. You pulled out of him gently as he whined about feeling so empty. He rolled over ungracefully onto his back and you crawled on top of him, thighs either side of his hips, and you leant down and gave him a deep kiss, trying to pour all of the love you felt for him into it.
