A Cruel World Chpt. 7

[ruddiestbubbles]

Tales of adventure, danger, friendship, and love shared around the cracking fire.


Zisteau and Kurt had talked for hours, about everything and nothing at all, as the clouds rolled lazily across the sky. They'd grown closer as they'd talked, physically and emotionally. They'd talked about their pasts and their families. Zisteau had found out that Kurt had never been in a relationship before; but that he'd a had a crush on a guy from his settlement. He'd also found out that Kurt had just turned twenty one, which made them the same age.

He had reluctantly talked about Etho and their relationship, and the incident. It was still hard to talk about, but not so much so that he'd break down and cry and not be able to stop the dark thoughts that would swirl through his head. He even talked about his adventures some and how he'd met Vechs; though he'd told Kurt that was a story for another day.

Kurt laid against Zisteau's side, his head on the others chest. It was an odd feeling, seeing as Zisteau was indeed mutated, but it was nice he found. Zisteau ran his fingers through Kurt's hair as his thoughts rolled lazily from idea to idea, never lingering on a single thought for very long.

"Zisteau?" Kurt asked quietly, his voice almost lost in the wind that blew across the land.

"Yeah?" Zisteau replied quietly, his movements never faltering.

"What'll happen when we reach Diamond City?"

"We'll get you your glasses and then we'll find somewhere to go."

"We? You're going to stick with me?"

Zisteau chuckled softly. "Of course silly. Couldn't just leave you now, could I?"

A small smile tugged at Kurt's lips. "I don't suppose you could."

Silence fell between the two as they listened to the wind blowing and the chatter from the settlers that just happened to drift up to them. Zisteau found everything about this moment peaceful. The way Kurt seemed relaxed and calm around him, and even allowed himself to be close to him without feeling disgusted. A thought played at his mind. What if he's disgusted by me when he can actually see? He didn't know what he'd do if that happened.

A strong gust of wind blew across the land, making dead grass, papers, and trash fly up and litter the land. A loud clap of thunder boomed across the desolate wasteland, which was quickly followed by a bright flash of lightning. Zisteau glanced wearily towards the east, where sickly green clouds filled the sky, dark streaks of precipitations fell quickly from the menacing clouds, which were steadily approaching.

"We better head inside Kurt, that's a radiation storm." Zisteau told a slightly startled Kurt, who nodded quickly and stood up.

Zisteau stood up as well and the two made their way back into the inn, where Beef was wiping the counter of the bar off with a wet rag; leaving wet streaks in random places.

"Hey guys." Beef greeted, glancing out the door before it fully closed. "Oh man." He mumbled. "Another radiation storm, that's like the fifth this week."

"Five? Really?" Zisteau asked, thoroughly intrigued.

"Yeah, I swear this area gets more than any other." Beef rolled his eyes.

Zisteau merely chuckled as Beef grumbled about not getting any customers because of the storms.

"Would you guys like something to eat?" Beef asked after a few moments. "You were out there for hours, it's almost dinner." He continued, glancing at his watch.

Zisteau looked to Kurt, who nodded slightly. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Why don't you two head into the lounge and I'll bring dinner to ya and we can chat."

The two nodded and headed to the lounge, were a fire was lit in the fireplace; which had a couple of chairs, a couch, and a table positioned around it. Zisteau sat on the- slightly comfortable- couch and patted the spot beside him. Kurt's stunning blue-red eyes flickered to Zisteau as he moved to sit beside him. He sat Indian style beside Zisteau, his knee resting against Zisteau's leg.

Zisteau wrapped an arm around Kurt's shoulder with a hesitant smile, which was returned quickly. "Thanks for today Kurt, I haven't felt this calm in a while."

"I haven't either." Kurt spoke quietly, resting his head on Zisteau's shoulder. "You make me feel.... Less numb.... I guess... You actually make me happy..."

"You make me feel happy too. Happier than I've been since the incident." Zisteau brought a hand up to brush Kurt's pale cheek.

"I-Is it normal for your heart to flutter?" Kurt asked with wide blue-red eyes full of compassion.

A smile tugged at Zisteau's lips. "Yeah, when you find someone you care deeply about, it is."

"Dinners ready." Beef called out as he came into the lounge with a tray of plates and cups.

Zisteau gave Kurt a smile before moving his arm to accept the plate that was handed to him. A few moments of silence passed as they all started eating, the only noise the fire crackling and forks clanging against plates.

"So Kurt." Beef started, his blue eyes landing on the lanky man. "Has Z told you the Vechs story yet?"

Kurt shook his head. "No, he hasn't." His blue-red eyes looked to Zisteau expectantly as he spoke.

"Well, it was about a week after the incident." Zisteau started as he sat up slightly.


He gripped his gun tightly as he walked down the uneven and cracked road. He'd just left diamond city an hour ago, at most, and he wanted to make it to Goodneighbor before nightfall, which was gonna be rough, but he knew he didn't want to go through another night stuck in a tree with a Deathclaw lurking beneath.

He pulled out his flask of water and took a long drink as he walked. That was the last of his water, he realized as the flask only contained droplets of water. He really needed to get to Goodneighbor now. He was almost out of food too, which was bad. Of course he could go hunting, but he wasn't sure how well that would go.

He tossed the flask back into his satchel and scratched at his arm, where pink scared skin was broken and split from the bite. The searing pain had ceased a few days ago, but the area around the bite constantly itched, and no matter how hard he tried not to itch it, he found himself doing it absentmindedly. It was only getting worse too, it was swollen and irritated and more than likely badly infected. He really should see a doctor, but he didn't have the caps to do it in Diamond City, and he probably wouldn't when he got to Goodneighbor either.

He was snapped from his thoughts when a gut wrenching roar shook the ground beneath him. His grip tightened on his gun, his knuckles going white, as he spun around, wide eyes scanning for the foul beast. A strong blow against his side had him tumbling to the ground, his face landing against a broken patch of cement.

He stood up quick, his knees wobbly as he pointed his gun towards the thing that had thrown him to the ground. A boy, looking about the same age as himself, jumped to his feet, his eyes wide as they met his own. The boy was well built, tall, not too skinny, long jet black hair, which was partially covered by a red hard hat, and icy blue eyes, which hid behind green googles.

"Watch where you're going!" He said harshly.

"Shut the fuck up." Was the response he got as he was grabbed by the hand and pulled along as the boy started running.

He pulled his hand from the boy's grip. "What do you think you're doing?!?"

"Saving your fucking life."

Another roar shook the ground as the beast pounced toward them, it's fangs menacing as it stood tall, and its scales sharp and menacing.

"Fuck." The boy swore under his breath as he pulled up his shot gun. "Now we have to do this the hard way."

He also brought up his gun, though his didn't even begin to compare to the one the boy had. The boy fired a shot at the Deathclaw, which invoked an angry snarl and roar from the beast as its beady black eyes bore holes through the two. He shot off a couple rounds with his crappy pipe rifle. The beast continued to advance on them, becoming far too close for comfort.

"Aim for under its right arm pit." The boy informed.

He nodded and brought up his rifle, putting his eyes against the scope and aiming. If there was one thing he was good at, it was using a rifle. He took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. A gunshot rang out as the bullet flew towards its target. They watched as it hit exactly where he'd aimed and as the Deathclaw fell to the ground with an unholy screech of a roar.

The boy clapped him on the back. "Nice shot!"

He quickly lowered his weapon and faced the boy with wide eyes. "T-thanks."

"The names Vechs." The boy- Vechs- said, holding out his hand.

"Zisteau." He replied, shaking Vechs' hand.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Oh... I was bitten by a Glowing One."

"Well shit." Vechs says with a dreadful look on his face. "You know what'll happen if ya don't get that treated, right?"

"Beyond what's already happened?"

Vechs pushed his googled so they rested on the red hard hat. "Um, yeah. You'll die within a week of now if the poison hasn't already started eating away at your organs."

"Oh fuck. I had no idea..."

"Yeah dude." Vechs says with an indescribable look in his icy blue eyes. "Come on, we gotta get you to Goodneighbor."

"I can't afford the bill though."

"Don't worry about it, I've got a friend there that'll do it for free. Now come along before its late."

This time, he allowed himself to be pulled down the road without hesitation.


"Wow... So he saved your life." Kurt asked curiously.

"Yeah, multiple times. That Deathclaw surely would've killed me." He chuckled.

"I love that story." Beef says as he stretches. "I wish I could've had grand adventures like that."

He rolled his eyes. "Like you haven't had any adventures of your own. What about that one time with Pause?"

Beef merely chuckled. "That crazy man almost got us killed so many times."

Both Kurt and Zisteau looked at Beef expectantly, who was still chuckling from the memories.


"Aww come on Beefers! Let's go get that weapon!" Pause exclaimed cheerily.

"But Pause, last time we did this I almost died."

"I wouldn't say almost."

"Really? So you call getting shot barely an inch from my heart not almost dying?"

"Okay, so that was a close one, but come on! This weapon is so cool! It's called a Junk Jet, you can shoot basically whatever from it!"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine, where's it at?"

"The Training Camp that's like five miles south west of here."

"Alright, we can go, but you're buying the good for the trip."

"Yay!" Pause cheered happily. "Love ya!" He placed a kiss on Beef's cheek before heading out of the house.

Beef just rolled his eyes and went into their workshop to fetch their matching sets of armor. He dawned his armor and carried Pause's to the living room and dumped it on the couch. It had been a while since their last adventure together, mainly because of his recovery time, but he'd been starting to miss it. Not that he can say he didn't like staying home and having Pause do anything he wanted him to, but that was beside the point.

"Beefykinz!" Pause sang cheerily. "I got the food and water for the trip! You ready?"

"Yeah, I got your armor ready too."

Pause flashed him a smile and quickly put on his own armor. He tossed Beef his bag once his armor was on and the two headed towards the door. Many, many hours passed with the two walking in silence, mostly, occasionally small talk was shared. They eventually came up to the building and the two hide behind an old rusted car to survey the scene.

"There's ghouls." Beef whispered quietly, trying not to catch the attention of the foul creatures.

"Yeah, and there's a couple of Super Mutants, you can here em' jabbering inside." Pause countered, his dark brown eyes flickering across the front of the building.

"Game plan?"

"Hmm lets chuck some grenades into the group of Ghouls then shoot the rest down with a rifle."

"Someone's playing it safe." Beef teased as he pulled out a grenade.

"Hey, we can't have you almost dying again."

Beef rolled his eyes and pulled the pin on the grenade and chucked it. Pause did the same and moments later two loud explosions sounded, shaking the ground and screeches of pain rang through the air. The two high fived with a chuckle before quickly pulling their rifles out and taking out the last of the Ghouls.

"What the fuck was that?" They heard from a Super Mutant who'd peaked out from the main entrance of the building.

"Dibs." Beef called as he brought out his shot gun and stood up from behind the car, leaving himself open to the Super Mutant.

"There's a human! Kill him!" The Super Mutant yelled, bringing attention to his companions which joined the first and they all brought out their clubs and guns and started towards Beef.

"Shit." Beef swore under his breath as he brought his shot gun up and shot off a bullet, watching as it found its mark; the first Super Mutant's heart. It fell to the ground with a groan.

"I got your six." Pause shouted as he pressed his back to Beef's as they started getting surrounded.

Shot after shot was fired, which slowly thinned out the hoard of Super Mutants. Finally the last one fell to the ground with a groan of pain as it clutched at its stomach.

"Awesome, now let's go get the gun." Pause said as he finally moved away from Beef.

"Agreed, let's go."

The two headed into the building and took care of the few Radroaches that happened to be scurrying about. They finally came to a room where a big gun rested in a locked gun case.

"Ohh that's it!" Pause cheered happily as he pulled out a screwdriver and a bobby pin.

Beef stood back and watched as Pause fiddled with the lock with his tongue sticking out of his mouth and an adorable look of concentration on his face.

"One move and you're dead." A deep, gravely voice scowled in his ear as a thin piece of medal was pressed against his throat.

Beef froze, unsure of what to do. "Pause." He squeaked out, almost instantly regretting it as the blade was pushed further against his neck.

"Beef?" Pause said, his voice full of worry as he spun around, seeing a Raider with a sharp black blade pressed against Beef's throat. "Let him go!"

The Raider smirked. "One reason why I shouldn't just slit his throat right now?"

"Because you'll never see the light of day again." Pause sneered, his hand gripping his pistol tightly.

"Just like him." The Raider smirked.

Beef just stared at Pause with pleasing eyes. He wasn't ready to die. He was too young; he still had so much ahead of him. A gun shot rang through the room, and Beef felt the knife drop from his neck and he stumbled away from the man that had been threatening his life, and straight to Pause, who wrapped him in his arms.

"I'd never let anything happen to you Beefers." Pause whispered as he hugged Beef close, running his fingers through his hair.

"I love you."

"I love you too."


"Speaking of Pause, where's he now?"Zisteau asked a few moments after Beef had concluded his story.

"He was taking a trip back to his home settlement." Beef said, twining his fingers behind his head. "He was supposed to be back tomorrow morning, but with the rain I doubt he'll be back till Friday at the earliest."

"Unless he's dumb enough to walk in the rain?"

Beef just sighed. "I wouldn't put it past him, honestly." He chuckled. "He's gonna get himself killed one if these days with his dumb ideas."

Zisteau laughs lightly, knowing just how true that was. "This was fun Beef, we'll have to do this again sometime, but it's late and I'm tired, so I'm gonna head to bed."

"I'll join you." Kurt says quietly.

"Goodnight you two, sleep well." Beef said as he sat back in his seat, his gaze falling to the fire which continued to crackle merrily.

Zisteau and Kurt walked up to their room on the top floor and started getting ready to hopefully fall asleep. Zisteau pealed off his shirt and flopped down on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling as thunder continued to shake the earth and lightning continued flashing brightly. He heard Kurt lay down on his own bed and a ruffle of blankets. It fell quiet, apart from the thunder and the rain hitting the roof roughly.

A long while later, a soft voice drifted to him as he tried endlessly to let himself fall alseep. "Zisteau?"

"Kurt?" He responded quietly, peering into the darkness, only to see a slim gunfire standing beside his bed.

"I-I can't sleep..." Kurt said quietly, wringing his fingers together. "The storm scares me..."

Zisteau lifted his blankets up, allowing the slim man to slip in between the covers. Zisteau slipped an arm around the thin man. "Better?" He asked gently.

Kurt nodded. "Yeah... It is." He snuggled closer to his deformed companion.

Zisteau's arms snaked around the thin mans waist as he rested his face in Kurt's hair, taking in the husky smell, which was intoxicating to him. It wasn't long before he heard soft snores, which warmed his heart and made him melt. He'd never admit it to anyone, but he definitely had a soft side.