New Home ↠ Wiseman x Reader
➼ Word Count » 1.1k ➼ Warnings » none ➼ Genre » Romantic
Diamond City hadn't ever been particularly cruel to you. The residents welcomed you with open arms and friendly smiles, beckoning you further into their fair city, and you followed. You graciously accepted the empty bed they offered, and the rent it cost. Anything was better than sleeping in a stained sleeping bag out in the waste, so who were you to complain?
You integrated with them easily, taking up a job and finally being able to make something of your life.
It felt nice being able to go to something you found so familiar. You never imagined that you'd ever miss the feeling of waking up early and heading off to work. Nothing beats the nostalgia you felt when you followed that same gruelingly familiar path you'd acted out so many times before. You missed your life and all the pains that came with it.
Piper had taken a liking to you early on. Whether it be because you helped get her back into the grand settlement or because you were a gold mine of content for her news stories. Either way, she made it a habit of following you around. Any chance she got, she was by your side, asking you questions and offering to buy you drinks. So, when she caught wind of the ghost stories surrounding The Slog, it wasn't a surprise you were the first she went to tell. Which is what you are doing there now. Investigating. Going to see for yourself if the myths whispered about it were true or not.
You'd only been here for a day but, you didn't think it was so bad. At least not as bad as how you'd heard it being described. It was peaceful, and the ghouls who resided here were kinder than most.
"Not sleeping? Don't tell me we scare you." Wiseman teased, slowly approaching where you sat cross-legged on the side of the pool.
You turned to face him in surprise when you heard his voice echo lightly off the concrete. "No, no! It's nothing like that." You promised, watching as he moved to sit beside you, "It's just hard to find nights like this."
The moon glowered brightly, illuminating as much as it could reach in the ever-darkening sky above. It had to have been late by now, and as you glanced down at your pip-boy you noticed that it was, in fact, 12:29.
You would've been leaving the bar around this time. At least on Friday, you would be. Now look at you. Sitting at the edge of a pool, surrounded by radiation and faces you never would've met if it weren't for the bombs. A part of you felt a weird sense of joy. Despite all the suffering and pain the war had rained down on you and the family you once had, you found it hard to claim that it was all negative.
"It's hard to beat." He spoke softly, following your gaze to the sky. "It's one of the reasons I like it out here so much. Closer to nature and all. You don't hardly get things like that in Goodneighbor. It's all too deep in the city."
"I don't blame you."
A comfortable silence filled the air between you as you both continued to stare at the sky. Well, you continued to stare up at the sky. Wiseman sent subtle glances in your direction throughout most of it.
"Isn't that mine?" He asked, tugging lightly at the coat you wrapped around yourself.
"Ah, well, yeah..." You trailed off, slightly embarrassed that you were caught wearing his clothes. "You can have it back if you want. I just didn't have anything else to put on."
He breathed out an amused breath, "Keep it. Fits you better anyway."
"Ar-Are you sure? I don't want to take anything away from you guys... it was just the first thing I saw."
"I'm sure." He said, continuing to smile, "I don't use it much anymore anyway. You'd get better use out of it."
You nodded, looking away from him and down at the tarberries growing in the pool.
"Why'd you decide to come here, anyway? Don't imagine many people hold us in high regard."
You shrugged, "A friend mentioned it. Besides, it was about time for me to hit the road again. The city gets suffocating after a while."
He chuckled in response, leaving a warm feeling to spread across your body at the sound.
"You're from Diamond City, aren't you?"
You nodded, shifting your body slightly. You doubted they saw the settlement in a positive light and it worried you that he may look down on you for staying there.
Wiseman hummed, "It's a fine place to live."
"Yeah, I think so."
The silence between the two of you didn't last long as he rested his calloused hand on the side of your face, gently pulling your gaze back onto his own. His mouth contorted into a subtle smile before slowly pulling you closer, not stopping until his lips met your own.
"Don't be a stranger." He muttered to you as he pulled away, "The Slog is as much your home as it is mine."
"Yeah.. thanks." You spoke quietly, staring stupidly at the ghoul as you did your best to will your heart rate down.
He let out an amused huff at your expression before turning to stare at the sky again. Somewhere in the middle of that, he'd managed to snake his arm around your shoulders and rub at them tenderly, still sensing how cold you were.
You leaned yourself into him at the action, appreciating the warmth he provided as you continued to admire the nature The Slog presented to you. The atmosphere left you in just as much of a trance as the ghoul beside you did.