#Sole Survivor Corinne Hart

[starlightwrites]

For the ship questions, since I'm wild about Cori and Gage, can I please get 6 Any tasks that are always left to one person? and/or 21 Do they share any interests or hobbies? Mostly because they seem to be held together by Nuka World, and I'm curious what else they have in common besides keeping the place from just burning to the ground every day.

Hello @aliceliveson​!

Of course! Thank you so much for asking! :D For the Ship Questions meme

6) Are there any tasks that are always left to one person?

Definitely! Gage does all the research in their little operation. He is on the ground, gathering intel. Cori is the talker. Gage is smart, but Corinne could talk circles around just about anyone and they are both more than happy to lean on each other’s strengths. More domestically, Gage always cooks (Corinne has hidden it, but she still hasn’t gotten a handle on wasteland food). Corinne always instigates–whether it be escalating their relationship, initiating physical contact, or picking a fight lol.

21) Do they share any interests or hobbies?

This is a good one! A lot of what they share initially is Nuka World, as they comes together and stick together out of necessity. As they spend more time though, I think that Gage starts to realize that they share a number of personality traits: practical, ambitious, guarded, etc. That is a lot of what draws him to her.

They don’t have a whole lot of time for hobbies in their situation, but now and then, when things are quite, they both like reading old-world periodicals. They also both like listening to music on the radio (though Gage won’t admit it), and while Gage is pretty stone-faced, they both like to laugh and he does find Corinne pretty funny. In an ideal world, if they weren’t constantly in danger and had the opportunity, they would also both probably like long drives, making fun of movies at the drive-in, and sitting at home with a book just being in the same space. It may sound corny, but if they lived pre-war and had the house (no kid–not their thing), they’d probably spend a lot of time together doing boring things: grocery shopping, painting the living room, walking around the cul-de-sac. They just like spending time together talking shit, really.

Thank you so much for asking!

[starlightwrites]

Fic Update: Another Life

If she’d thought that things had been weird before, she’d been wrong. An adrenaline-fueled fling with her second-in-command in a run-down theme park deathtrap was just the beginning. Midafternoon on a fucking Tuesday and she was here in her Raider palace, elbow-deep in spring cleaning, just about playing house with a one-eyed raider, and if her mother could see her now? After the fit she’d thrown when her precious Miss Corinne Lucille Hart had married “rebel” college sweetheart Nathan Kowalski, who enlisted in the military and ate cheese-wiz on white bread? It was all just a little surreal right now. The thought made her snort as she tossed rubbish down from the top of the porch—if she could even call the landing with the lift a porch—and watched bottles shatter against the ground, adding to the pile in front of Fizztop. Queen of Garbage Mountain. Well. There were worse things to be, probably.

Cori and Gage are back and having A Time! Updated here! <3

[starlightwrites]

Can I get 33 (please don’t cry) for cori and gage please? I kinda want to be ripped apart lmfao

Hi nonny! Thank you for your patience!

For the Angst/Fluff Prompts!

Alone

The Sentry botcame out of just fuckin’ nowhere.

They’d seen a scrapyard marked on an old map and had headed out to scout the place. Quiet day, forthe most part. They set out in the morning, ate lunch, and joked about thegangs, but when it seemed like they might be getting close, he heard it.

“Alert: hostiledetected.” The voice rumbled through them. Cori stopped dead in her tracks. “Lethalforce authorized for all units.”

(Continued under the cut!)

Shit shit shit.How the hell did he miss that? Those things were two tons of bullets and rage;the ground shook as it rolled towards them, guns whirring and warming up. They’djust been talking and she’d said something ridiculous and—

Didn’t matter.They hadn’t noticed the bot, but it sure as hell noticed them. And they wereout in the open.

Gage cocked hisgun, whipped around, and just barely managed to shove them to the ground rightas the spray of bullets whizzed overhead. Like something out of an old-worldcomic book. He rolled them both to the side. More bullets kicked up dust asthey buried in the ground where his head had been, and with the first reel ofbullets embedded in the dirt, the sentry took a second to reload. Cori tumbledoff him, breathing hard. He snapped up and shot the bot as many times as he couldmanage, but it didn’t even seem to notice him.

As it took aim,Corinne scrambled to her feet and charged. Dropped her backpack, grit herteeth, and just fuckin’ launched herself at it.

Gage fumbledreloading but he had cover, since the bot had turned its attention to the pint-sizedblonde charging right for it. She was gonna get shot. It was gonna fill her sofull of holes she’d look like one of those paper targets at the NukaCade and healmost dropped his shotgun , shaking in his boots. And then the whirringstopped. The sentry had reloaded and Cori hadn’t even reached it yet. It wasgoing to rip her in fucking half.

“Hey!” He raisedhis gun and rattled off a shot. Anything to keep it from locking in on her.

The botre-assessed. Cori was closing in, but Gage had a gun. The gears in its headwere turning. His feet moved under him but it was like slogging through sand. Shewas already almost there, still running when the barrel of the sentry’s mingunstarted spinning again. There was no fucking way the bot would miss at thisdistance, and he couldn’t get there fast enough to stop it from happening. Gageshot it again, right in its glowing red eye.

Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop

Dirt sprayed uparound his ankles, kicking up dust as the bullets pinged off the ground aroundhim. He barely avoided the spray, but he had a better chance than she did. Whatevershe had planned, they couldn’t afford for it to retarget. He sprinted in a widearc so that the bot was constantly spinning and aiming away from Cori.

When he managed toglance at her, he watched her plant a boot on one of its legs, rocketing up tolatch onto a massive arm. The arm that wasn’t actively shooting.

The sentrycaught on quick and whipped her around, jerking its arm up fast and then tryingto pitch her to the ground. Gripping tight, she only barely managed to keepherself up. At least she’d distracted it enough where it had stopped shooting. Therewas an opening.

Fuckin’ stupid—thewhole thing was just fuckin’ stupid. But she’d done worse, so he followed herlead and hoped for the best.

Two more shotsto its head managed to get its attention for just long enough; Cori clambereddown its arm and set a foot onto the base of one leg for balance. When itstarted to turn, Gage ran it back so she didn’t get thrown fifty feet in theair. The sentry reloaded, the telltale whirring, but then it got closer,lurching at him so fast it closed the gap in seconds.

He couldn’t seeCori now. She was either on the thing’s back or on the ground, but either way,the sentry was in his fuckin’ lap and when it lashed out with one arm, itknocked the breath out of him and slammed his head back hard. He opened hiseyes and found himself looking up at the clouds.

The sentryrolled forward and aimed the other arm down while the minigun reloaded. When itdid, Gage got a good look at the weapon its right arm was packing.

A rocket launcher.

Loading up. Itlocked in on him. He heard it hiss, steam rising up and the hot mechanical smellof overwrought belts and gears. Aimed right for his fucking teeth, no chance ofmissing. And with a rocket? They’d be finding chunks of him all over the parks.

Then, the botslumped. The lights on its head and chasiss went dark. The arm with the rocketlauncher dropped, landing between his boots and hitting the dirt so hard itshook the earth under him and rattled his brain around in his skull. And thenthere was Cori, holding a fusion core in each hand.

She stumbled outfrom behind the hulking mass of metal, spotted him lying flat on his backsweating bullets, and just about crumpled to her knees. Hit the ground, droppedeverything, and just stayed there.

“Hey, Princess.”

She didn’t move.

Gage pushedhimself up into a sitting position and gave her a second, but when she didn’tso much as twitch, he crawled over to her on all fours.

“Corinne, hey. Youalright?” He knelt next to her, not trusting his legs just yet. Close-up, hecould see that she was shaking all over. “Listen, you did it. You shut it down.We can head out now.”

Her head snappedup at that. Eyes watering. Lip quivering.

Oh no.

“C’mon now, it’salright.”

He was fightinga losing battle.

“Shh. It’s donenow. We’re fine.”

The first few tearsleaked down her face, clearing away streaks of dirt and rolling off her chin. Shesucked in a stuttering breath.

“Aww, Cori.” Hewas running out of shit to say. A little desperate, he mumbled “please don’tcry.”

That did it. Nostopping now. The sound she made in response was fucking horrible—something likea laugh drowning in a lake, burbling up before she choked, gasping so hard herchest heaved. Each little wheeze came quicker than the last until she was hyperventilating,hands on her knees and hair spilling out of the braid on the back of her head.

He probably said“hey” about eight more times, because what in the hell else could he say rightnow? Couldn’t figure out what to say next, so he just kept starting over andover, hoping something would come to mind. He pat her hair. She leaned into hispalm, so he sat on the ground beside her and let her melt into his side. And then,shrinking, she edged half into his lap, her head on his shoulder and her legstucked under her.

Took her a whileto calm down after that, and even longer to start breathing like normal again, butthe crying finally petered out.

“You. Uh. Youalright, there?”

Her head jerkedup like she had forgotten where she was and managed to be surprised to see him.

“Yeah.” Hervoice was hoarse.

“You sure?” Heasked. “That was pretty—”

“I’m fine.”

No, she sure ashell was not. Not after that fucking meltdown, she wasn’t. And the smarter partof his brain made a damn compelling argument for letting the whole thing go, becauseif she didn’t want to talk about it, who was he to make her? But his mouth wasalready moving.

“Look, Boss. Iget it. It was real surprising and all—”

“You could havedied, Gage.”

Yeah he couldhave, but he’d really rather not think on it too much right now.

“I didn’t though,so we’re fine.”

“I would havebeen alone again.” Her tone was flat and that was when he realized that sheprobably wasn’t even talking to him. Not really. And he wondered again; what inthe hell did she go through to land herself on his doorstep? Who had she beenbefore NukaWorld? Who’d left her behind?

“Well,” hestarted. “I’m still here and so are you.”  

She swallowed,lips pressed tight together before she managed to reel herself back undercontrol. Maybe she muttered something in response, but he didn’t hear thewords. Her head bent until her face was buried in the space between his neckand his shoulder. Loose hairs tickled his bicep and the cool trickle of her breathraised goosebumps over his skin.

“You are.”

The relief in her voice. Before he thoughtbetter of it, he reached down and held one of her hands, squeezed her fingerstight. Wherever she’d been, she wasn’t alone now.

[starlightwrites]

Fic Update: Another Life

Maybe it was the high of putting Nisha in her place. Maybe it was the firelight. Maybe she was just a hot mess. Didn’t quite matter now, did it?

She couldn’t shake the buzzing under her skin, like she had a beehive for a ribcage. Part of her had thought that the time spent with “the people”—her people?—would calm her down, but she just found herself. More restless. Somehow. Like they weren’t enough. Like she was constantly waiting for something bigger to happen, and she couldn’t tell if she should be anxious about it or excited for the chance to jump. Absolutely did not like feeling like an unexploded mortar shell.

GUESS WHO’S BACK AT IT AGAIN! <3 Updated here!

[starlightwrites]

Fic Update: Another Life

He had to be sure that he could keep a cool head, no matter what. If life had taught him anything, it had taught him good and thorough that he had to look out for the one-and-only first: himself. 

A little R&R&R (Rest, Relaxation, and Reprimand) for poor Gage, who is just trying to stay out of trouble. Updated here!

[starlightwrites]

If you’re still taking requests, can I get 17 with cori and gage? I love those two so much.

Hi Nonny!

Thank you for asking; I super love this prompt!

For the Angst/Fluff Prompts!

Sleep Tight

Gage kicked offhis shoes, turned out the lights, and flopped down onto his mattress for thefirst time in over a week. Sure, he’d spent the night with Cori after they’d gottenthe power up and running, but sometimes it was nice to have his own space. Besides,he shouldn’t get too used to her like that. There had to be boundariessomewhere.

But this? Parkslocked down, power back on, gangs happy and everyone off his back for a bit? Wellthis is what he’d call a luxury. He folded his arms behind his head and closedhis eyes, fully prepared to sleep for as long as everyone would let him.

Which, as heshoulda guessed, wasn’t very long.

(Continued under the cut!)

The door openedwith a hissing sound and light from the main room spilled in right as he was driftingto sleep. He saw the silhouette and sure, maybe it was someone else, but he wasalmost completely certain it was her.

“Gage?” Thewhisper confirmed it for him. Corinne.

“What?”

She was quietfor a second. He sat up.

“Well? You need something,Boss?”

“Yeah,” shemumbled. “Uh. Just.”

The automaticdoor shut behind her and then they were in the dark. Took his eyes a second toadjust but when they did, he noticed she hadn’t moved. Even half-asleep, herealized that it was a little off, even for her. He stifled a yawn and scrubbedhis hands over his face to wake up a little more.

“You alright,Princess?”

“Yeah. Yeah I’mfine.”

Alright. Wellthat’s all well and good, but it didn’t answer why she was being “fine” here inhis room and not in her own.

“Need something?”

“No,” she sighed.

“You, ah.” Gage shiftedagain, wishing his brain would wake up a little faster so he could thinkstraight. Figure out what it was she wanted.

They stayedthere like that in silence for a moment. And then another moment. Maybe she wassleep walking? Not like she’d done that before, but who knows. Was he supposedto wake her or not? He couldn’t remember what to do for sleepwalking, but as hewracked his brain, she finally responded.

“I can’t sleep.”He heard her sigh. “Can I stay here?”

He could say no.She was an adult; she could handle herself and they both knew it. Just. The wayshe sounded. Lost. Small. He just knew what that was like, was all.

“Alright.”

He heard thesoft shuffling as she crossed the room. She stumbled over something midwaythrough (probably the desk, from what it sounded like), but she still made itover in one piece. Without hesitating even a second, she lifted the blanket he’dbeen laying on top of and tried to curl up next to him, though with himweighing the ratty old thing down, there was a game of tug-of-war happening andthe whole thing was just fuckin’ awkward.

“Sorry, I—”

“Here, hold on,”he grumbled. Gage shifted himself under the covers and when he finally settled,she climbed in beside him and laid on her side with her back against his chest.For a second, he didn’t know what to do with her. It was a small bed—just a cothe’d salvaged back when he and Coulter had first set-up shop. It would makemore sense to migrate to her bed, but seemed like it was probably a little toolate for that now. He laid on his side with his arms awkwardly stiff to keepfrom suffocating her.

They’d sleptclose before. Hell, they’d slept a lot closer out on the road, and that hadalways been easy. Practical, most of the time. And even when they weren’t beingpractical, it was still just easy with one sleeping bag and the constant threatof danger in the Wastes. But now that they were home? It was different. Personal.The flowery smell of the soap on her skin surrounded him. Every time shebreathed, he felt her ribs expand and then shrink. She was wearing a t-shirtand underwear, and even though he knew it was ridiculous, it was just weird tofeel her bare legs against his whenever she moved. This was his first night ina while to just relax and he should probably kick her out so he could get some uninterruptedsleep for the first time in ages, but he couldn’t.

“Gage?” Quiet. Soquiet that, at first, he wasn’t totally sure she hadn’t just made a noise inher sleep.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.” Shedidn’t look back at him or roll over, but she did settle. He hadn’t evenrealized she’d been tensed up; every muscle relaxed and she melted beside him,one arm hanging off the bed and the other draped over her waist. Whatever hadbeen eating at her, she was better here. Sure he was tired and this was lesscomfortable than having the cot to himself, but looking at her? He couldn’ttake that away. She’d had it rough and hell, she deserved to relax a little.

The lull of herbreathing pulled him under anyways, and before he had the time to think any moreabout it, he fell asleep. When he woke up in the early morning, she had rolledagain and burrowed into his chest, her cheek on his shoulder. At some point inthe night, his free arm had draped over her and his palm was flat on her back,just under the hem of her shirt.

He could havemoved. Probably wouldn’t have woken Cori up; she slept like the dead. But hedidn’t. He didn’t want to think about the why of it, but he didn’t move amuscle. Instead, he closed his eyes again and slept better than he had inyears.

[starlightwrites]

Corinne/Porter Gauge: 85. "Don't lie to me"

Hi Nonny! Oooh right for the jugular on this one! This was fun to write. Thank you for asking!

For the Angst/Fluff Prompt List.

Sanctuary

She’d startedit. He’d been so quiet after they’d made it back from checking-in on theDisciples stationed over at the Bottling Plant. In reality, he was probablyjust tired. Being around people all day always seemed to wear him pretty thinand after checking the place out and baking in the sun on the long walk home,he had every right to want to do nothing. It was normal.

Totally normal.

(More under the cut!)

Thesilence pressed in around her like a walls of sandpaper static, coming to grindher down to dust. She crossed the room to where he was sitting with a magazine proppedopen on the arm of the couch and dropped down onto the cushion beside him. Whenhe didn’t even look up, she craned her neck and tried to read over hisshoulder. And when that didn’t annoy him into talking, she leaned against his side.

“Whaddyouwant?” He grumbled.

“Nothing.Keep reading.”

“Corinne,I’m not in the mood for games.”

“Thenread. No one’s stopping you.”

He lookedover at her out of the corner of his good eye and then looked back down, but hewasn’t focused. She could tell. Corinne let him pretend to read for another minutebefore throwing her legs over his lap. Gage stayed completely stone-faced, soshe did the next most logical thing and kicked the magazine out of his hand. Itlanded on the ground with a thwap andGage finally looked over at her, startled like she’d just materialized fromthin air.

“DamnitCori, what the hell did you—”

Sherolled off of him and onto the floor, landing on her feet like a cat. Alright.She was being annoying. But he’d earned it, staying so quiet like that.

Gagejumped up and she very quickly realized that he was a lot taller than her. Corinnestarted to dart away, but he took half a step and caught her around the waist,hoisting her into the air. She kicked but her bare feet skimmed harmlessly downhis shin and he snorted, just rubbing it in. After a second, he dropped her. Shebounced onto the couch, and before she was able to get her bearings, Gage satdown half on top of her, smushing her into the back cushion.

“You’recrushing me.”

He leanedback.

“You’re amonster.”

Hereached down for the magazine on the floor, flipped through a couple of pagesuntil he found his spot, and picked back up where he’d left off.

“Gage, I can’tbreathe. Gage?” She shoved against his back, but it was no use. “Gage!”

When he didn’tshow any signs of caving at the panic in her voice, she pulled herself as closeto him as she could and bit his back, right over his ribs. Hard. Gage jumped upso fast he nearly took her with him, swearing under his breath in a long,almost unintelligible stream.

“You little—”

“Hey!”She held up both hands in surrender. “Truce? We can call this a truce.”

He lookedher up and down a second before rolling his eyes and sitting back down.

“Yeah.Truce. Whatever.”

He pickedthe magazine up off the floor yet again and tried to find his place.

“You can’tbe mad at me for biting you, though. It was only fair.”

“Fair?” 

“You sat on me.”

“Youwouldn’t stop fuckin’ moving.”

“Where I comefrom,” she said through a smirk, “one doesn’t treat a lady like that.”

“Lady.Right.” Gage snorted again but looked her in the eye with a half grin. Then,something flickered across his face—less than a second’s worth of anexpression, but puzzled, eyebrow cocked and lips pressed together. “Where’d yousay you came from again?”

Shit.

She hadn’t.He’d asked back at the Gulch, and she hadn’t said. It wasn’t like she could. Oh me? I’m a thawed popsicle from the year 2077,but I grew up in the suburbs. That would go over well. If he didn’t think shewas lying, he’d probably send her packing to spare the gangs from an Overbosswho was delusional. What was it people said? Truth is stranger than fiction.

“A littlesettlement in the Commonwealth. You’ve probably never been there.” Corinne satup straight in her seat and glanced down at her hands, folded in her lap. Thenshe looked back up to meet his eye, because she remembered that one of thetells for a liar was looking away. She forced herself to hold his gaze until heleaned back and squinted at his magazine, disinterested.

“Younever know,” he muttered. “Maybe I’ve passed by it.”

“Probablynot. It’s really out of the way.”

“UpNorth?”

“Thereabouts.”

“How far?”

He wasn’tgoing to let it go this time. Mostly, he hadn’t asked about where she’d comefrom and who she’d been. Didn’t matter, so long as she kept the gangs in lineand got shit done. But now that there wasn’t a rush, he had plenty of time toask questions, and she found herself wishing she had another park to clear todistract him.

“PastConcord. Little place called Sanctuary Hills.” It wasn’t technically a lie. Shehad come from there. In a way. And there was a settlement there, if he everbothered to check.

Gage satup a little straighter and said “yeah?”

“Yup. Smallplace, not a lot of people.”

“Is thatright?”

“Yeah. Acouple of families and some drifters. Nothing big.”

Technically,none of this was a lie. That’s all Sanctuary was, last she’d seen it. Preston,the Concord survivors, a couple of families who’d made their way North to lookfor a place to settle, and some people Preston had recruited during their longdays walking the Commonwealth. Some shacks. A tiny garden. A lookout post. Awater purifier. A wooden fence covered in barbed wire.

“I livedthere with my family.” She didn’t know why she said it. Maybe she just neededsomeone to talk to. Maybe she was finally losing her grip. “We had a smallhouse. They’re gone now, so it’s just me left. It was a nice little place.”

He “hmm’d”quietly and let that sit. Turned the page to start some article about the ModelT Corvega recall of ’76. Didn’t read it, though. His eye didn’t move from thefirst line, fixed like he was trying to burn a hole in the paper with hisstare. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

“Youknow, Coulter and I were up by Concord a while back.”

Her heartsank. Trying to keep her voice steady, she said “oh. Were you?”

“Yep. Must’vebeen a little over a year ago, just before we gathered up some gangs to takethis place. Small group tracked further North looking for some Vault—Coulter thoughtit’s be a good place to stake out. Found this old neighborhood you may have known.”

“Oh.Maybe.”

“CalledSanctuary Hills, actually. Only it was all broken down—abandoned, pretty much. Someroaches and a broken robot, but no settlers.”

Shit.

“Actuallycamped there. Vault was up the hill, y’see. Couldn’t get into that Vault, sowe stayed the night in one of those old houses. Big yellow one, I think.” He lookedup at her and his eye narrowed. “Sound familiar?”

“Gage, I—”

“Don’tfucking bother.”

“I meant—”

“I saiddon’t.”

He stood up and dropped the magazine on the couch without even a sidelongglance over in her direction. His shoulders were a hard line.

“You don’t haveto tell me if you don’t want to, Boss. Just don’t lie to me.” Withthat, he jammed his hands into his pockets, headed for his room, and shut thedoor behind him.

And thenit was just Corinne.

Alone. 

[starlightwrites]

If you're still taking prompts, I would love to see 29 “You could have warned me!” for Cori and Gage. Thank you!

Hi @aliceliveson! I am still doing prompts; thank you for asking!

For the Angst/Fluff Prompts!

Warning

Corinne wasn’texactly what you’d call subtle when she wanted to get his attention.

At first, shewas fine. They were walking back after checking-in with the Operators at theGalactic zone and made it out of sight of the park walking in comfortablequiet. Him? Personally, he didn’t mind the quiet. Gave him time to clear hishead after talking to Mags’ people. Corinne, though, she didn’t like longsilences. She’d babble through them, trying to provoke a reaction the wholetime like she was playing a separate game to see how bad she had to piss himoff before he responded.

He’d just gunneddown a roach that had latched onto her shin when she said “You know, I don’tthink the roaches are that bad.”

Plain andsimple, he didn’t like ‘em. Nasty little fuckers, and they bit harder than madeany goddamned sense. Plus, they flew. No reason for that—there was no reasonroaches had to fly. They weren’t out there hunting down stingwings or crows orgulls or nothin’. Oughta just stick to eating garbage on the ground, but no,they always managed to get in his way. Hated ‘em. And she knew that. She had toknow that by now. That was the first hint that she was trying to get a rise outof him.

When he didn’trespond, she skipped ahead, walking backwards so she could face him while sheflapped her jaw.

“Maybe I shouldkeep one as a pet.”

Nope. Don’t givein to it.

“I bet I couldlure one back to Fizztop,” she stated. “I could draw it over with a tato orsomething and then trap it in one of those dog cages Mason has all over theamphitheater. Do you think he’d let me borrow one? Probably, if I asked reallynicely.”

“That’s fuckin’ridiculous and you know it.” He shouldn’t have fed into her pestering, and heregretted it immediately. A grin broke out over her face.

“I dunno. Itmight be cute! I could name him Roachie.”

“That’sa dumb name.”

“We could makehim a little bed out of old blankets.”

Shetapped her chin like she was thinking but almost tripped backwards over a rock.Her hands flew out and she grabbed onto his arm to steady herself beforepicking right back up where she left off. He almost wished she had tripped overher own two feet. Would have served her right, acting childish like she was.

“What do theyeat? Trash? Vegetables?”

Corinne swipedsome hair out of her face but the wind whipped it right back. The sun wassetting and he should have told her to turn around and keep walking like normalbecause he definitely wanted to make it back to Fizztop before nightfall.Didn’t feel much like camping if they didn’t have to. He opened his mouth tosay it, though, and she interrupted.

“They probablyjust eat trash. And I wouldn’t really even have to lure the little guy, becausethey always seem to follow you anyways!”

Why that little—

“He could eatgarbage out of a dog bowl in the kitchen.”

“Alright, Boss,you’ve had your fun.”

He reached outto turn her around, but she darted out of his grasp at the last second, eyesbright. Mischievous. She put her hands on her hips and walked just a littlefaster to get herself enough out of range.

“Boss, c’monnow. We gotta get back.”

“Do you see meslowing down?” She twirled mid-step, arms outstretched. “I’m still moving.”

“Turn around andfocus.” He swiped for her again, but she was always just a little too far.

“I am focused! Wecould pick a roach up along the way,” she teased. He tried to close the gapbetween them, but she wasn’t doing half bad at staying out of his reach.

“That’sridiculous,” he huffed, almost jogging.

Corinne laughed.Then she took off running. He tried to catch up, but she made good distance andshe’d left all the heavy shit in his pack, weighing him down. Damned fool. Notlike the parks were dangerous with the gangs patrolling all the time, but thatdidn’t make the Wastes safe either. Still, she was outpacing him. When she’dmade it a safe distance, she stopped and turned around, flushed pink and smirking.

“If I find aradroach,” she called, “you could cuddle up with him on the couch!”

“Now that’senough!” He stopped and folded his arms over his chest. Corinne was practicallybeaming, just so thrilled with herself for getting him all worked up. “You ain’tgonna do that and you know it. Stop being annoying.”

She didn’t sayanything, but something about the bounce in her step told him that she wasn’tdone messing with him. Sure enough, the second he started to walk again, she flewback towards him at a sprint. He dropped his gun on a reflex and caught herright as they collided. Cori was heavier than she looked; he staggered and theyboth hit the ground in a heap. She giggled—giggled—andadjusted until she was sitting on comfortably on his stomach, her hands bracedon the armor over his chest. So goddamned satisfied with herself. He didn’twant to laugh and encourage her, but he couldn’t help it, not with that look onher face.

“You weresupposed to catch me.”

“That so?” Hegrumbled, pushing himself up onto his elbows. “Well, you could have warned me.”

“Gage.” Her tone was deathly serious. Sheleaned down close, her loose hair falling around her face like a curtain untilit was just the two of them and he could see all the light freckles on hercheeks and all the tiny little spires in her eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. Herlips pressed together. Solemn.  “Wasn’tit you who told me that there’d never be any warnings out here? You reallyshould be more vigilant.”

Before he couldrespond, she shoved up off of him and righted herself, grinning ear-to-ear.

“Coming?”

Well. She wasright. With her, he could never expect a warning.

[starlightwrites]

For gage and cori, can I get prompt one to make my little heart weep?

Hi Nonny!

Why yes, you sure can get prompt one; let’s get angsty! Thank you so much for asking!

For the Angst/Fluff prompts, here.

One of Those Nights

It was one ofthose nights where she couldn’t get her heart to stop racing. She paced thelength of her room at Fizztop. She cleaned the bar top and the table in thekitchen. She folded all her clothes. She moved all the furniture around,realized that she didn’t like that at all, and then moved it all back to whereit had been before. No matter what she did, though, nothing helped and her headwas spinning and she couldn’t slow her thoughts down enough to get a sense ofwhat she was thinking. She was alone and her heart just wouldn’t stop pounding,like she was going to fucking die.

Soshe drank.

(More under the cut!)

It wasn’t likeit was smart; she knew for a fact it wasn’t smart. What would Nathan say if hesaw her? And if anything would make her anxiety worse, it was alcohol. But shedidn’t stop herself. She downed whatever she could find—rotgut vodka, somethinglabeled “whiskey” that tasted like death, something that didn’t have a label atall—and she didn’t stop till the room tilted like she was sitting on a boatduring a storm.

Of course, shedrank fast so she was almost immediately nauseous, but at least now she hadsomething concrete to worry about. Which was better? Maybe not, but it was toolate to worry about that now. She stumbled over to the chairs across from herbed and fell into the first one she spotted.

Gage came back fromtalking to Shank right about then.

“Princess?” Heset his gun down on the bar and crossed the room. She must have looked badbecause he sounded worried right out the gate.

“Mmhm?”

“You alright?”

“Fine, fine.”She swallowed back bile and squeezed her eyes shut. “Just fine.”

She heard ashuffling and opened her eyes again to see that he had crouched down in frontof her. His brows furrowed.

“You’re drunk.”

“Right on themoney, honey.” She poked his nose with her index finger. Didn’t know why. Heswatted her hand away and tried to prop her back upright. Honest, she reallydid try to work with him. It was gravity that wasn’t cooperating.

“Knock it off.”

She slumped backand her head tipped until she was staring up at the ceiling. Some of the nauseasubsided, which was nice, but the dizziness was back and her head was just soheavy right now. Full of wet cement. And then that was kinda funny,because…cement…

She giggled andGage scooped her up completely. Flying. She scrambled to wrap her arms aroundhis neck as her body left the chair, and if she’d been dizzy before, it was somuch worse now.  Corinne whimpered inprotest.

“C’mon. Let’sget you to bed.”

She tried topull herself up, but by the time she figured out how to move right, he wassetting her down on her mattress and fighting with the blanket to tuck her in.

“Oooooooh!Trying to get me into bed, are you?” She didn’t know why she said it. It was astupid thing to say and some logical part of her knew that and cringed, but hermouth was already spouting off anyways.

“Succeeding, ifyou’re paying attention. Now get some shut-eye. We’ll talk in themorning.”  

He managed toget the blanket out from under her so he could tug it up around her shoulders,and all without any help from her, since the nausea was back and she was havingenough of a time trying to will her stomach to settle.

She should saythank you. This was annoying at best, and he seemed pretty exasperated by herantics. She’d known this was a bad idea and had still gone and done it anyways,and now he needed to baby her because she couldn’t stand up straight. Infairness, he had every reason to be annoyed.

“Gage. Gage GageGage Gage. Shhhh, Gage.” Some part of her registered that this was not aneffective way to get his attention. She reached out to pat his cheek butslapped him instead. Oops.

“Fuckin’ what?”

“Gage,” she saidagain. He raised an eyebrow.

Wait.

What was shetrying to say again?

“What, Cori?”

“You’ve—” Nope,not quite. “You’re—” Still no.

“Spit it out.”

She stared athis face, but it wouldn’t come back. The words had been right there on the tipof her tongue and she’d still managed to swallow them on accident. Weren’twords supposed to be her strong suit? Shit. She turned her face into the pillowand then realized that nope, nope shouldn’t do that. Don’t want to suffocate.Finally, she pushed herself up until she was sitting, almost headbutting Gagein the process. It was funny. Made her laugh, at least.

Gage scowled.

“You shouldn’tdrink,” he grumbled. “That garbage just dulls your senses. Makes you careless.”

“Loud and clear.”She rested her head on her shoulder.

The mattresssank under his weight as he sat down at her feet, his palms flat on herblankets. She touched her toes to his leg just to do it, just to reach out. Hedidn’t notice.

“Listen up, I’verun with raiders my whole life and I know a fuckin’ thing or two about this.Don’t get sloppy.”

“I’m not,” she snapped, a little sharper thanshe’d meant to.

“I told you dayone that I wouldn’t hold with this kinda shit.”

“I said I’mnot.”

“You gotta getyour shit together. You’ve got a park to run here, Boss.”

And that waswhen she got mad. It came out of nowhere—just blindsided her. Irritation,boiling hot in the pit of her gut.  Sloppy?As if she did this every other day. As if she was always a mess and he wasalways having to look after her. Sloppy. Bah. After everything she’d lost andeverything she’d suffered and the end of the goddamned world, she was allowedto be sloppy every now and again; he had no idea. No idea.

She looked athim for a second before blurting it out.

“This comingfrom the man with one eye. Sloppy. Ha.”

Oh. That wasmean.

“Now that ain’tfair.” He looked at her like she’d slapped him again. Not quite hurt, but disappointed.Which was worse? If he was mad, they could fight it out. Disappointed, though.She didn’t have the brain cells to handle that right now.

“Isn’t it?” Hermouth was moving on its own at this point. Pouring gasoline on the fire. Bad badbad.

“Look,” he said, stubble rasping as he draggedhis hand down his face. “I don’t know if you’re trying to piss me off, butyou’re succeeding.”

“Gage, listen tome. Just listen” She scrambled forward on her knees, cupped his face in herhands, and leaned in closer, and she knew when she did it that it was the wrongdamned thing to do, but she couldn’t stop herself. Everything had gotten somessy.

“Oh believe me, Ihear you.” He pulled back and scowled. Jumped up. Standing over her like that,he looked so tall, unreachable. “You’re fuckin’ drunk, Boss. Sleep it off.”

This had gone sowrong somewhere, and she couldn’t untangle it. But he was walking away. Leaving.She’d be all alone again, and it would be all her fault since she alienated theone person who was on her side. She reached out and grabbed for him but missedand caught the hem of his shirt instead.

“Wait. Gage, wait.” Her fingers twisted intothe fabric. “I love you. Please don’t go.”

Oh. Oh no. She hadn’tmeant to say that.

He pulled out ofher grasp and stood there, silhouetted by the neon lights outside her window.The hands at his sides were balled into fists. When she reached out again, hebacked up into the dresser across from her bed.

“You shouldn’tjoke about shit like that.”

Her mouth wasdry. Head pounding. She tried to get the words out, but they were stuck—lodgedin her throat. He disappeared out the door and down the lift before she had thechance to tell him she wasn’t joking.

[starlightwrites]

49 with cori/gage if you’re up for it- I’m living for these mini fics

Hi Nonny!

For the Angst/Fluff prompts!

Dinner Plans

Corinne dumpedher pack against the tree and stretched, twisting her arms back behind her atan angle that looked plain uncomfortable.

“Think we shouldcall it for the day?”

Gage looked outthe horizon. Sun was already setting and they were still closer to the oldReservoir than Fizztop. She didn’t like camping out with the gangs and hewasn’t a fan of walking through the night, so they might as well stop here andget an early start in the morning. Make it back by noon, probably. Besides. Hewas getting tired anyways. They’d tracked a little further north than they’dstrictly intended and run into a Deathclaw lurking out in the open wastes.Hightailed it right out of dodge; they hadn’t stopped running till they were acouple miles away and out of breath.

(Continued under the cut)

She kicked offher boots and plunked down on the grass by the stream. The burnt gold lightmelted over her hair and down, all the way to her toes. Warm. Like she wasradiating sunlight herself. That was damned foolish—all the fuckin’ walking gettingto his head now that he had a second to breathe. He scrubbed a hand over hisface.

“Dinner,Princess?”

The corner ofher mouth twitched. She scrunched her toes, staring at the ground thoughtfully.

“Hmm. I wasthinking steak au jus with seasoned potatoes, broccoli, and red wine.”

When Gageglanced over out of the corner of his eye, she was already looking, lipspressed together like she was holding in a laugh.

“Ooh! Or,” she teased.“Better. Salmon over wild rice and asparagus with a hollandaise sauce.”

“You’ve lostyour damn mind.”

“Seafood bisquewith warm French bread and white wine?”

“What the hellis a bisque?”

“Cream soup.”

Now there was noway in hell this was something people in the settlements ate. He grew up on afarm, and when raiders weren’t threatening them, his family had better mealsthan most. And still, he couldn’t imagine anyone having anything close to whatshe described. Sounded like something out of an old magazine.

“You read all thatsomewhere?”

She looked athim for a second. Blinked. And then she nodded, like she’d had a wholeconversation all by herself.

“A gal candream, right?”

Sometimes shesaid the weirdest shit. He handed her a tin of apples anyways, since she tendedto like sweets, and her fingers brushed his as she accepted. Cori peeled the lidback and then held out her hand again, fingers outstretched.

“Spoon?”

“Yeah yeah, holdon a second.”

“I’m going topretend mine is apple pie,” she hummed.

“You do that.”

“With flakycrust and rich cinnamon and a dollop of cream on top.”

“Mmmhm.”

“And maybe I’llwash it down with hot coffee.”

“Sure. Why thehell not?”

He finisheddigging around for a spoon and she reached over to grab it out of his hands. Heswiped it back quick and she toppled half into his lap, thrown off-balance.

“Hey!” Sheshoved up off the ground and glared at him, suddenly very close. “Give it.”

He shoulda justgiven it to her. He didn’t.

“You gonna asknice?”

She tried tolook severe, but her mouth wasn’t cooperating and mischief sparked somewhere inher eyes like he could see the little light going off in her brain. Best kindof dangerous. He knew that look well enough to know that she was about to gofor the jugular, so he raised his knee quick to throw her off and tried toscramble back. Corinne was faster.

As he leanedback, she latched onto the armor over his chest and knocked him flat. Single-minded—whenshe wanted something, she focused in on it and wouldn’t let go. She almostelbowed him in the throat lurching forward to reach for the spoon in his otherhand. He stretched his arm out further to keep it just out of reach. She madethis small frustrated noise somewhere between a grunt and a chirp as shereached again. This time, he was ready for her. He waited until she pitched forwardand then rocked onto his side, tipping her into the dirt. While she tried toright herself, he scrambled back with the spoon.

“That wasn’t verynice,” she huffed.

“You didn’t say “please,”Princess.”

Crouched likethat, she looked almost dangerous. He held the spoon over his head.

She pounced athim, slamming into his chest and knocking him right back over into the dust. Thoseblunt nails dragged down his forearm when she reached and missed again, butthen she planted her knee in his gut, right under where the frame of his armorstopped. The next time she grabbed for the spoon, she damn near crushed all hisorgans at the same time. That was when he let her take it, since she was intenton killing him over silverware.

She ripped thespoon out of his hand and dropped onto his chest. Her forehead rested on hisshoulder, thunking against his harness. Real close. And he didn’t say a word. Flattenedagainst the ground, pinned down by a blonde half his size, he didn’t do a damnthing to move. Neither did she. Her hand braced on the bare skin of his arm,skin cool against his. Her breath traced across his throat, raising goosebumps.

He shoved heroff like he ought’ve from the start. She clambered a safe distance back andheaved a sigh, spoon still in hand.  Gagesat back up and all the blood rushed to his head. For a second, neither of themsaid a word. Then he heard her snort.

“Harsh there,Gage.”

“Yeah, well. Youalways take shit too far,” he griped. He dipped his hands in the stream andsplashed his face, let the water run down his skin. Cool down.

“Who hurt you?”She tipped her head back, leaning on her elbows all stretched out.

Christ, where tostart?

The light traceddown her throat. Her chest rose and fell as she took a deep breath.

“You did, for one.”

“Yeah,” shegrinned. Cori looked back up at him, eyebrow raised. “But you deserved it.”

[starlightwrites]

Fic Update: Another Life

Gage took off heading southwest from the Red Rocket, towards the Overpass, and prayed to a god he didn’t even fucking believe in that he found her before anyone else did.

_______________________________________________

And we're walking! Updated here.

[starlightwrites]

Fic Update: Another Life

There was no use in reflecting on how she’d landed herself here. She’d been a lawyer. A wife. A mother. A popsicle. A body for running errands. And now: a punching bag. Steady decline, as far as things went. It wasn’t all that difficult to trace a trajectory that was steering straight down into the ground.

__________________________________________

Uh-oh! Corinne is in hot water and things are looking. Bad. :)

Fic updated here!

[starlightwrites]

same anon uhhhh. Sorry, im currently re-reading Another Life so my bias may be showing, but Cori/Gage 70. "After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?”

Hello again, my friend!

For the Angst/Fluff Prompts!

All Fun and Games

He hit theground and rolled, rattling the hell out of his fuckin’ brain. It wasn’t far. Sevenfeet up? Maybe less? But for a second, he couldn’t breathe right and his headached too bad to stand. Maybe next time he’d think twice before falling backwardsoff a lookout post. The older he got, the harder it got to get back up when hetook a hit and one of these days, he wasn’t gonna get up at all.

That day wouldn’tbe today, though. He still had some shit to do here.

(Continued after the cut!)

The Gunnersswarming the place were everything he’d kinda hoped he could get the gangs tobe. Organized, efficient, and pretty damn hard to kill. They’d managed toset-up a decent base atop the stretch of old overpass that stood out in themiddle of nowhere, North-North East of the Kingdom. Smart place to set-up shop.One point of egress, which was a rickety lift they’d built that spanned fromthe ground to the end of the stretch. Since it was so high up and didn’tconnect to the ground anymore, they not only had a pretty secure spot, theyalso had a damn good line-of-sight and if they’d been paying just a little moreattention, he and Cori never would have made it to the lift at all. Thankfully,they’d gotten the drop on the camp, because without Cori’s frag grenades, they’dhave been up shit’s creek.

He rolled onto hisside, staggered back to his feet, and reloaded his shotgun. Little shit wantedto play hide-and-seek? Fine. He’d fuckin’ play. He cocked the gun and tookcover against the wall, listening close.

“Where’d you go,asshole?” Corinne, but further away than he’d expected. It was just one guyleft; how the hell had they managed to take the fight to the other end of thebridge? He started making his way over to what was serving as barracks,following Cori’s voice.

“Do you want tosay that again?” Her tone was light, but he knew her well enough to catch the edgeof anxiety under her words. “I could have sworn I heard you say something aboutblowing my head off, but who knows. Maybe I misheard. If you wanna come out, I’llgive you a whole twenty seconds to say the snappiest thing that comes to mindbefore I blast you into next week.”

The shit shesaid sometimes. He worked not to laugh as he ducked into a makeshift woodenshack. One room, two doors, a mattress, and footlocker. Clear. He moved throughquick, peeked out the door on the opposite side, and moved to the next hovel afew feet away.

“You’re a lotless talkative now that there’s one of you and two of us,” she griped. “You’rejust making this difficult.”

Gage prodded adead Gunner with the toe of his boot, but the poor fucker was missing half hisskull, so it was probably pretty safe to assume he wasn’t faking it. He roundedanother corner but again, nothing. The place wasn’t that big. This Gunner mustbe moving quick and quiet, which was surprising given the rough shape his legseemed to be in after the grenade went off. Their tent was clear, as was thelean-to latrine, which someone had been clever enough to position over a holein the overpass’ pavement that looked straight down at the ground fifty feetbelow. Not like he had a lot of love for the Gunners, but he had to respecttheir thinking.

He started toturn around and head towards Cori when he made eye-contact with the butt of arifle. Pain cracked across his forehead. The kid had missed and nailed himright over the eyes, though if he’d been smart, he would have aimed for thenose. Any raider worth their salt would tell him to break the nose if it was adistraction he needed. Still, Gage dropped to his knees, half in surprise, andhalf because the world had tipped violently in that second and his balance was nomatch. Couldn’t get his eyes to cooperate; he was seeing doubles and triples ofeverything—his hands, his gun, the ground, the Gunner. He groped for hisshotgun, but his fingers missed it. Shit.

The Gunnerbrought his weapon high over his head, and even with his vision all kinds ofout-of-whack, he knew the next hit was coming down on the top of his skull. Helurched to roll, but before the rifle started falling his way, he heard theboom of a shotgun. The Gunner slumped and dropped half on-top of Gage, head splattered.

“Thanks forluring him out.” Corinne’s voice was shaky. She didn’t like people sneaking upon her, from what he’d learned, so confident-sounding or not, she probably hadn’tliked their little game. She wiped her palms on her jeans and held out her handto hoist him up. The second he was vertical, however, nausea rolled up from thepit of his gut and he puked up lunch, as well as all the water he’d sippedwalking across the wastes that afternoon. She held him up without a word andthen, when it seemed like he’d upchucked everything he possibly could, shehelped him over to a cot and fished some more water out of her pack for him.

“I don’t knowwhat you’re supposed to do for a concussion,” she said, “but this seems like agood start.”

“I don’t have aconcussion.” He still sipped the water she stuffed into his hand, though,because she was probably right on that account.

“You could.”

“I don’t.”

“Would you evenknow? Being that it’s your head that’s messed-up?”

“Reckon I would,Princess.”

She leaned downover him and brushed her thumb over the new lump on his forehead.

“Is it bad?”

Corinneshrugged, which meant that it must be bad. He could feel blood trickling downhis face, but at least his nose wasn’t broken and his teeth weren’t knockedout. Could be worse. He daubed at the blood with his tank top while she dugthrough their supplies for stims. He usually avoided chems for the most part,but he’d make an exception because right about now, it felt like his skull wasabout to shatter like one of those mirelurk eggs.

She stimmed hisscalp with about half a syringe before realizing that the skull was not thebest place to stick a needle. Hands fluttering uselessly for a second, sheeventually injected the rest into his shoulder and just hoped the medicinewould get where it needed to go. And of course, because the Boss loved to talk,she walked him through the whole process step-by-step. He coulda’ done withoutthat part.

“There. Should wewrap it?”

“Nah. Save thebandages for something worth the fuss.”

“You are worth the fuss,” she snipped. “Nowhold still.”

Her fingertipswere cool on his temple as she wrapped his head in a length of gauze, her touchso light it was almost soothing. Real gentle. She wasn’t usually quite sogentle. His eyes drifted shut as she worked.

“That’s sweet,Boss. Didn’t know you cared.” He meant to say it sarcastically, but it came outat least fifty-percent sincere.

“Aww Gage. Aftereverything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?”

He snapped up straightand it was like he’d been zapped by fucking lightning. He’d never felt his damnheart stop like that. Winded. She’d knocked him flatter than the fall.

Love—?

That.

It was—?

Well that couldn’tbe right.

“What?” It was a goddamned stupid idiot thingto say, but it was the only response that came to mind.

Corinne frozetoo, stiffened up like she’d turned to ice. Her hands stopped moving and heopened his eyes again.

“Kidding. I waskidding.”

“Yeah. ‘Course,”he mumbled. Kidding. Right. Shoulda known it immediately.

“Just, ah.” Shecinched the straps of her ruck down tight and adjusted the pack on hershoulders. Tapped her foot. Fidgeted with her ruck again. “I’d never—”

“No, yeah, I getcha,”he said, feeling like a hunk of varren roasting on a spit over a campfire. “Ain’tnothing.”

“Exactly. I—”

“Nope. S’alright.”

“Right. Yes.”She dusted her hands off on her jeans and turned away to grab her pack. Hecould hear her jamming their lunchbox full of stims back into the maincompartment and then fighting with the zipper when it didn’t zip immediately. Likeshe couldn’t get away from him fast enough.

He got it. Hedid. It was a joke, and he’d taken that joke too seriously. Shouldn’t’ve. Musthave been the fuckin’ bump on his cranium. And she was disgusted. Revolted.Christ, the thought of him must’ve turned her stomach. He stood up from thecot, trying to ignore the pounding in his head as he grabbed his stuff.

“We should headout. Right?”

“Right.”

She looked athim for a long minute then and just stared. Was there something wrong with hisface? Aside from the bumps and bruises? But then she swallowed and headed backfor the lift the Gunners had build that would bring them back down to theWasteland where they could be on their merry fuckin’ way and pretend thisconversation hadn’t happened.

Sounded good tohim. Just peachy.

[starlightwrites]

Fic Update: Another Life

Then, as Cori stepped into the next room, the door slammed shut, separating them. The tour audio played—going on about séances held in the room. The little girl skipped on to the next room across the way, but no way in hell she was following without Gage at her back. Somewhere across the room, she heard a faint ticking. She jiggled the handle, but no dice. Calm down. It’s a haunted house theme park attraction. How bad could this be?

*Narrator voice* Bad.

Cori and Gage are all updated here! Heads-up, we are getting into smutty territory.