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acapelladitty · 1 month

Text

friction and harmony

Pairing: Cooper Howard/Lucy Maclean

Summary: One cruel incident pushes Lucy over the edge and a fight with Cooper turns physical in a way which changes their dynamic forever. (4.7k words)

(warnings for: blood, gun violence, first time sex, biting, rough sex, heavy petting, unprotected sex, arguments, verbal cruelty, desperation, physical violence, mutual orgasm, mild foreplay)

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Link to AO3

Keeping close to the fire as the approaching night stole the heat from the air, Lucy couldn't stop her racing, disjointed thoughts from playing the earlier days events with Cooper in a grim and repeating loop. With every passing moment, she could feel the annoyance in her chest roiling anew and her mouth set into a tight line as she recalled her role in the violence.

The handkerchief coming away from his lips stained with fresh blood, the old man who had introduced himself as Mr. Daniels glared at it distastefully as he recovered from his coughing fit and returned the filthy rag to his inner pocket.

"Nasty bit of business." Mr. Daniels muttered, mostly to himself, before glancing back at the pair who stood with their caps in hand. "But anyway, what was my offer again? Oh, yeah. Twenty caps, three vials."

"Seems reasonable."

Casting Lucy a withering look at her audible enthusiasm, Cooper clearly disagreed with her naive assessment.

"I could make your fine ass walk to the next town over and get me five vials for half that." He was quick to counter, crossing his arms over his chest as Cooper split his attention between Lucy and the obvious tremble of the old mans limbs as he struggled to bring his lit cigarette to his lips. "So let's re-assess the situation here."

Mr. Daniels shrugged with a nasty cough as he cleared his throat of phlegm. "Can't do any better than that. Got shit to buy and shit to pay off."

His face sunken and pallid, the old man was clearly unwell. Most likely dying, if the bloodied handkerchief was anything to go by, and Lucy felt a swell of pity in her heart as she listened to Cooper continue to argue his point without care or mercy.

"Ain't asking for the deal of the century here, but I ain't some dumbass vault dweller-"

"Hey!" Lucy interjected defensively.

"- who don't know how these here exchanges work. I'll give you fifteen for three. Final offer."

Unable to rise from his chair due to whatever ailments were afflicting him, Mr Daniels pointed at a rusted metal box which sat off to the side of his chair as he caught Lucy's eye and nodded to accept the ghouls spoken offer.

"Go look in there, Miss. You'll find what you and your ghoul friend need."

Nodding with a wide smile, Lucy diligently walked over and opened the container. Inside lay a handful of vials of the lurid yellow drug which she had quickly come to discover Cooper needed to delay the inevitable and prevent himself from turning feral. What made up the odd compound, she had no idea, but it was almost the same consistency as rad-away if it were developed in a completely off colour.

Cooper's golden rule of being side-tracked by bullshit was a beast of his own making as ensuring a constant supply of this stuff had proven to be their biggest time waste as they traversed the wastelands. Not only that, but a low supply often left Cooper in a hell of a mood as his already short temper existed on a knife edge to make him snappy and irritable.

Returning with the goods, Lucy handed them off to Cooper who accepted with a grunt. Something strange played on his leathered features and it gave Lucy pause as she glanced quickly between him and Mr Daniels but she shook it off as they concluded their deal.

Cooper spoke first, with Lucy following closely.

"Thank you, Mr. Daniels."

"Yeah, thank you! We really appreciat-"

Lucy's words cut off into a horrified gasp as the back of Mr Daniels head exploded in a shower of blood; viscera and brain quick to decorate the wooden boards behind his chair.

"No! Cooper!"

Unapologetic, Cooper had the grace to at least shrug out an explanation as he held her eye.

"Like putting down a sick dog, darlin'. Better to go out while the going's good and before the scavengers come to take you piece by piece."

Stalking over to the container which Lucy had taken the chem from, Cooper ignored her horrified spluttering as he tipped the entire box into one of his larger pockets - the clink of the vials a welcome distraction from the stare he could feel burning into the back of his skull.

"You killed him! And now you're," Lucy paused, so aghast that words failed her for a moment, "robbing him too? He didn't eve- we're better than this."

Fixing the edge of his hat so it would stay more comfortably atop his skull, Cooper refuted her point with a single tilt of his head.

"No, we ain't."

So, Lucy had fallen into an old, tried and tested punishment which she found worked wonders on Norm and others who had annoyed her down in the vault.

The silent treatment.

Since returning to their makeshift camp, she had not uttered a single word to her companion, making a point of huffing and looking away every time he caught her eye. Thus far, nothing had come of it but as dinner finished cooking on the fire, Cooper finally addressed her directly.

"As much as I'm enjoying the peace and quiet, sweetie, are you gonna sit there with that big pouting lip tripping you up all night or are you gonna pull your weight around here and plate up? Ass jerky is off the menu for little girls who won't do their chores."

In no mood for his nasty teasing, Lucy shot him a sour look as she remained stubbornly quiet.

"Don't eat then." Cooper shrugged. "See if I give a shit. I've got food, silence, and enough chem to blow your tits clean off. Life is good for a ghoul today."

Unable to let that slide and ignoring the heat of hearing him refer - crudely mind you - to her chest, Lucy dug her heels into the ground as she remained seated on an upturned barrel.

"What you did was wrong."

"Oh, she does speak." Feigning surprise, Cooper had the gall to place one hand over his chest as the other dropped a piece of meat into his mouth - his lips chewing at it noisily.

"What you did was wrong." Lucy repeated. "That old man wasn't a threat to us and you killed him."

"Bleeding heart, vaultie." Cooper barely refrained from an obvious eye-roll. "What would you rather do? Huh? Leave him for the next people to come and harvest the good parts that were left of him? I did him a kindness and you're too blind to see that."

Taking the insult in stride, Lucy was is no mood to back down on this as she met Cooper with an equal level of venom.

"You were a monster today."

"Oh, you're the monster, sweetie. Had anyone else found that old coot, they wouldn't have been half as nice. A quick shot to the head is a better death than most get out here. And I get some extra sauce outta his stash. Win/win, vaultie."

"Your chem isn't worth killing people for, Cooper." As indignant as ever, Lucy's arms came to rest on her knees as her gaze bored into his own - attempting to make him see her point though sheer willpower alone.

Chem was a sensitive subject for Cooper and his dependence on finding the drug had led him into acts which would make the average person, even in this shithole world, recoil in disgust. But without it, he would lose what little part of himself remained and, with that, his only chance to find his daughter and punish those responsible for fucking the world up as much as it was.

"We need those meds." Cooper growled, frustration at her utter refusal to see the necessity of his actions making his temper flair. "Unless you fancy your chances at taking me on when the last of my marbles goes and I become a real monster. See me as I am now, vaultie, and imagine how my turning would go. It ain't gonna be pretty."

"I'll do what you need me t-"

"Is that right? Will you put a bullet between my eyes without flinching? Carve me up like a fresh piece of meat with my own damn knife? Cut off my head like you did that other sorry scientist fucker?"

With nothing to say to that as a queasiness enters her features, Lucy fell back on her earlier argument.

"You didn't have to kill him."

Her comment on his need for chem having kicked the hornets nest of his attitude, Cooper slowly stood from his seated position as he towered over her - his words low and clipped, full of a warning that she was too stupid to ignore.

"If I turn, then no amount of batting those big eyes at me is going to stop me ripping you to shreds when I'm feral. I've already got quite the taste for you, sweetie. I'll seal the deal with a smile."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to KILL him!"

Lucy also stood to her feet as she held her hands on her hips and the air between them sizzled with tension as neither proved willing to concede.

"And when I'm done," Cooper continued with fire in his tone, "and your little dumbass is lying there torn and lifeless with most of your insides on the outside, then I'll send the pieces that are left over to your cowardly dear old daddy. See how he likes seeing another of the women in his life in bits."

As angry as he was, an immediate regret washed over Cooper as those final snarled words snapped free. In that same moment, Lucy froze and the indignant expression which curled her features slipped into something slack and almost lifeless.

The silence hung heavy for a moment.

Striking quicker than a cobra, Lucy's hand lashed out in the space between them and Cooper felt the hot sting of her slap as it rocked his head to the side and pulled a surprised grunt from his lips.

Instinct taking over, Cooper responded in kind as he used his much larger hand to shove her chest roughly, pushing her away with enough strength to knock her flat to the ground; her ass colliding with the dusty landscape in a solid, painful sounding thud.

"Motherfucker!"

Lucy howled the word as if it were a battle cry, scrambling to her feet with a graceful sweep of her body as she flew at him like a hellcat. Her lovely face twisted in anger as she attacked, the dark locks of her hair whirled around her shoulders as she pounded her fists against his chest.

Angry, sure, but even in her anger, Lucy Maclean was no fighter and the lack of impact that her blows were making did little to settle her mood - if anything they only served to whip her into a greater frenzy.

"You piece of shit! I hate you! Hate you! Hate that stupid hat, and coat, and your shitty rules and-"

"Then fuck off and find someone else who'll put up with your shit. I don't need your help to kill your daddy."

Halting her fists, Lucy's furious gaze - even more beautiful in its passion - blazed in Cooper's face and despite the sting of his own anger, he couldn't help but fight back a smirk as the adrenaline of their argument caused heat to lance through his groin.

"You would be dead without me." Huffing her hair out of her face, Lucy hurled the words like a fist, casting up her choice to save him for the first time since the event took place.

Matching her energy, Cooper couldn't help but retort with his own act of mercy.

"And I could have left you to be used and sold as a breeding bitch to some nasty fuckers who wouldn't have treated you half as sweetly as I have. Another fair exchange between us."

"I hate you!"

"Now, why the fuck should that matte-"

Her breath hot against his face, it took Cooper a moment to register the feeling of Lucy's lips on his own as she smashed her face against his. The taste of her flooded him in an instant, a sweetness which he hadn't sampled in decades as her hands clung to the edges of his coat desperately, her closed eyes the polar opposite to his own wide-blown gaze.

Stunned into silence, Cooper allowed her to explore his mouth as his body relaxed into her own - memories of his unexpected voyeurism and accompanying decision making him slack and pliant.

If she wants this, then she can have it.

Consequences be damned.

Lucy only pulled away when he bit at her lower lip, the sharp pain bringing her to her senses as she snatched her mouth away.

"Ow. That hurt."

Her eyes blown and lips looking as plump as ever, Cooper cannot even pretend to be considering his options as he takes in her wide features - so easily wearing the arousal and anger which powers her.

Oh, fuck this.

"Plenty more where that came from, sweetheart."

Cooper snatched her close, chasing her kiss with one of his own as he pressed chapped lips to her much softer ones in a quick, filthy kiss.

Lucy pulled away first this time with a muted moan as she brought her hand up to his face and stroked her fingers along the ridges of his cheek. "Do you want to have sex with me, Cooper?"

"Fuck, darlin', don't think there's a man alive who would say no to that."

"You did."

Hissing as her chest brushed his own, Cooper disregarded the accusation in her tone.

"Things change. You should know that better than anyone."

"Let me see it." Lucy breathed with a considerate hum, her hands lowering to graze his lower stomach where his filthy shirt tucked into his pants. "I've thought about it, you know, how it might look. How it might feel in my hand, or inside me."

Momentarily concerned this woman may actually kill him with her shit, Cooper held back a groan at that confession - her lustful advances catching him off guard as he gathered himself enough to match her boldness.

"I ain't disappointed you yet."

Fumbling with his fly to pull his cock free, Cooper was quick to tug along the full length to ensure that nothing would catch in his slacks as he fucked her. But his movements were cut short by Lucy's hand knocking his own free as she wrapped her soft fingers around his cock.

"Oh, it's so," Lucy glanced down between them with a flushed grin as she sought out the right word to use, "thick. Okay dokay. I can do that. But none of the others have been this thick."

Deciding then and there they he would fuck her very brains out if it were the last thing he did, Cooper's chest puffed out slightly as he took in the praise with an elevated sense of male pride.

"Touch it then, darling. Get a good feel for it before it's hollowing you out and making you scream."

Bold as brass as her chest pressed flush against him, Lucy did as told and rolled her fingers along his length, mapping out every ridge and mark which marred the livid flesh. Imagining how good it would feel inside her, she buried her moan into his chest - a childish glee making her grin wide as she stroked him.

Wanting to keep his own hands busy, Cooper slipped his fingers in the space between them as he trailed his hands down her collarbone and into her dingy tank-top. She was warm and so fucking soft beneath his fingers that he exhaled steadily, his hands cupping her breasts as they slipped with her bra.

Unable to wait much longer as she called to him like a siren, his hands tugged her tank top and bra down until he were capable of freeing her tits; each breast as perky as the other as they quickly peaked in the warm air, the hard nipples surrounded by a lovely patch of darkened skin that made his mouth water.

Her skin was smooth, only the slightest hints of grime and filth messing up the perfect canvas and Cooper pushed her backwards enough to be able to bend and drop his head to her chest, the movement forcing her to release his cock. A fact he didn't care too much about as he latched his lips to the swell of her left tit, his mouth licking across the grimy skin as his blunted teeth pressed just enough to make her shudder as she pushed herself harshly into him.

"No biting anything off." Lucy gasped, only the slightest tinge of worry leaking through the lustful pant.

"Not making any promises, darlin'." Cooper answered, his voice strained as he fought the urge to do just that.

Just off, to the side of her right nipple, sat a single dark freckle and he was drawn to it like a moth, sucking the skin around it with a harshness which he knew would leave a livid mark.

"Damn, Cooper." Lucy hissed and he growled into her skin as her hand looped around his neck, fingernails digging into the sensitive skin at the nape.

"Watch those nails, little kitten. Ain't easy growing back skin."

"Gross."

Remaining hunched, Cooper's shoulders shuffled his leather duster free as he dropped it to the floor to provide some padding against the harsh ground. Lucy followed his lead, allowing him to pull her down as her hand returned to, and then refused to drop from, his cock - fingers circling the base of his length playfully as they fell to the floor.

Feeling painfully overdressed, Lucy quickly rolled to her back to pull her pants off - the blue fabric slipping free to a messy heap as she quickly readjusted to her previous positioning. Splaying her knees on either side of his hips, she teased the tip of his cock with her clothed sex for a moment before settling down, her ass pressing against his lower stomach as she straddled him.

Lucy sighed; her focus dropping past her exposed breasts to the prone ghoul below her, Cooper's hungry eyes splitting their attention between her face and chest as he gazed up at her.

"You sure about this, Lucy Maclean." Cooper asked, his cowboy hat balancing precariously atop his head as he reclined it back. "Cause it's cruel to tease a man like this if you wanna back out."

"Mmm-hmm." She responded with a hum. "I've been thinking about it for a while, Mr. Ghoul."

"Oh, I know that, darlin'. I caught quite the interesting little show last week in that storage unit."

Gasping at the reveal, Lucy rolled her hips atop his groin, her ass brushing his cock as her eyes widened.

"You saw me?"

"Coat in hand, sweetheart."

"So you knew."

In place of a response, Cooper offered a wolfish grin which was in equal parts guilty and unapologetic. Moving with a fluid roll, Cooper reversed their positions - placing Lucy flat against his coat as he pressed his heavy body down atop her.

"If we play this game, we play by my rules."

Exhilarated by how easy he handled her, his strength making her head swim with possibility, Lucy hooked her fingers within the band of her panties as she raised her groin enough to slip them past her ass and drop them off to the side.

"Okay dokay."

Fully exposed, Lucy reclined against the softened leather and some part of her knew that Cooper wouldn't be stripping off in a similar fashion; a fact which made disappointment bloom in her chest. The few glances of his skin she had snuck as they travelled told her that his entire frame was as vividly corroded as his face and hands and she wanted to see it.

Wanted to feel it under her fingers and her lips as she trailed herself across his body, exploring every roughened inch with a wicked curiosity.

But she understood his hesitation and she pushed the thoughts aside with ease as she gazed up into his eyes, the whites stark against the shadows of his sunken skin and she shivered at the intensity that poured from them.

His hand immediately dropping to her inner thigh, Cooper teased the skin there as he trailed his fingers up, ghosting across her slit as his digits brushed through the soft, dark curls which sat prettily to frame her cunt.

Lucy widened her thighs, encouraging him to slip his hand lower and it was an invitation he accepted with enthusiam - two fingers pressing between her slit to feel the growing moisture there, the digits coming away wet with her arousal.

"Soaked already, sweetie." Cooper teased, enjoying the flush in her cheeks. "Is that how all you valtuies react to the touch of a real man?"

"Cooper," all business as she quickly grabbed his fingers and used them to masturbate herself, her body jerking as his roughened skin grazed her throbbing clit, Lucy tightened her grip of his neck and hissed her demand, "shut up."

Amused and painfully aroused by her sheer boldness, Cooper filed away this side of her for future consideration. He may tease her, hurt her, make her feel like shit for her ignorance of how the real world worked, but here like this, he would treat her as an equal to see where the game led.

Adjusting his positioning, the lower half of Lucy's leg was quick to snake around his body as he dragged the blunted head of his cock across her glistening slit, the softness of her drawing a languid groan from Cooper's mouth as he coated himself in her slick - foreplay the furthest thing from either of their minds.

Jerking his hips forward in one fluid movement, Cooper was immediately grateful for how desensitised his skin had grown due to its various abuses as the wet heat which enveloped his cock was almost enough to have him shooting off then and there.

"Fucking hell." He swore, teeth biting into his lower lip as he buried his cock so deeply that his balls pressed against her ass. It was a violent thrust, animalistic and determined and Lucy Maclean met him with her own ferociousness as her nails carved fresh, sharp crescents into the skin of his neck.

The sudden fullness was overwhelming after so long of having nothing but her own fingers and Lucy basked in the discomfort. It was pain and pleasure mixed into one, and it only grew more intense as Cooper quickly set a brutal pace; his cock hammering in and out as his groin bumped against her ass with every thrust.

Incomprehensible sounds escaped Lucy at the sudden assault, a desperate mixture of muted pleas, whines and groans which only served to encourage Cooper to exhaust himself as he chased the pleasure which he has denied himself since her first offer to fuck him.

The cool, controlled façade long since abandoned, Cooper gnashed his teeth as he dropped his mouth to her neck - biting up her creamy skin as he craved a simple taste, his tongue licking free the developing sweat which their desperate fuck created.

Sparks of pleasure alighting across her skin as the length of his cock brushed against the nerves deep within her cunt with little effort, Lucy worked herself hard as she clenched around his cock to pull him as deep as possible. She had always liked it on the rougher side, the sensation of discomfort she found herself forced to endure eating her as Cooper's punishing pace glanced off her cervix and made her breath come in short, chaotic pants.

"Don't hold back, sweetie. Let me hear it."

A low cry broke free of Lucy's lips as she took his advice and Cooper responded by burying his full length within her in one particularly savage thrust which made her cry rise in pitch as her wide eyes met his own, her arousal blazing as her pupils dilated and lashes fluttered

Cooper snapped his hips forward and every thrust drew a fresh whimper from Lucy's lips as her orgasm quickly approached the point of no return, his cock and overwhelming presence making her writhe in place. With a slight shift in angle, the band of arousal within her shattered and pleasure rocketed through Lucy's nerves as her fingers clawed desperately at the thin fabric of Cooper's shirt.

"Cooper. Cooper, oh my go- Cooper."

Her lips wrapped around his name like a prayer, alternating between a blessing and a curse and he swallowed it up with a feral grin as he felt her come around him. Her walls clenching and fluttering, the pull of her muscles as she wordlessly dragged his cock deeper was enough to have him growling like a feral beast as he neared his own release.

Breath shuddering and balls tightening as he sank himself as deeply as he could, Cooper buried his orgasm in her neck as his teeth locked around the sensitive juncture where Lucy's neck met her shoulder. Sucking a livid mark into the skin, he felt his release flood her, mixing with her own as he cupped her left tit with his hand and squeezed roughly.

Cooper stayed there for a few seconds, enjoying the tight heat of her cunt until it was almost painful against his overstimulated cock and he pulled free with an obscenely wet noise which furrowed his brow at just how filthy it sounded. He was quick to drop his body to the side of her, most of his frame laying off the leather duster as he allowed the lady to keep the sweet spot.

"Wow." Lucy breathed out, puffing her hair from her lips as she shuffled her panties back up to cover her ass - the sticky discomfort of her soaked cunt unable to be fixed until they stumbled across some spare water to wet one of the rags which Cooper carried. "That was," she paused to seek out the best wording, "amazing. Cooper- you were- well you were great."

Ego inflating at the easy praise, Cooper's sweat-slicked body fought him every step of the way as he tried to hide how out of breath he was.

"Went easy on you this time, vaultie." He crooned, his gaze flicking to his sewn finger as he spotted the droplets of her release which had coated his fingers as he pulled his cock free. Bringing the digit to his mouth, he took a small taste and hummed with deep satisfaction as the sweet tang of her flooded his mouth. Immediately deciding he would need a better sample the next time they fucked, Cooper allowed her to respond to his teasing as he tilted his head to meet her eye.

"Holding back on me, huh?" Freshly fucked, Lucy's expression was wild yet sated, dark hair falling across her eyes as she stretched her arms overhead before tucking her chest back into her bra. "I won't break from a little bit of exercise, Mr. Ghoul. I can handle it."

Taking the opportunity, Lucy curled her body into his side, the warmth of his skin seeping into her exposed arms as she siphoned some of his heat to stave off the sudden chill. His only movement coming from his hands as he tucked his cock back away in his slacks, the length still coated in her mess, Cooper couldn't shift the shit-eating grin which stretched his lips as he raised one arm to act as a pillow for his head.

"Oh I doubt there's much you can't handle, Lucy Maclean."

Smiling at the way his accented vowels rolled over her name, Lucy tucked herself more deeply into his side and allowed herself to relax - excited for what was to come now that she'd finally satisfied her curiosity about what kind of lover her ghoul companion would be.

A damn good one, as it turned out, asshole behaviours aside

Part 1

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Part 3

Part 4

Part 6

Part 7