the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos
smiled at him. “But you love me anyway.” He leaned in again to kiss his
mouth happily. “Same here, Han… I’m glad to have you. And you do
deserve me, I promise. I’m here, after all.”

“I do love you.” Hancock smiled, a little spark running through him at his own words, it was still a little weird getting used to saying, even if it was true. “How do you know I haven’t just tricked you into thinking I deserve you, hmm? Either way, I ain’t lettin’ go, so I s’pose it doesn’t matter much anyway.”

Carlos just hugged Hancock. “No, it doesn’t,” he said. “I won’t let go either. You should know… I love you too. And I do think you are a beautiful person. One of the best out here.”

Food for the Soul (closed w/ selfmedicatingmayor)

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

“No, actually, a holotape driver isn’t necessary,” Carlos explained. “A lot of models come with them, but you don‘t necessarily need one for every-day function. It’ll just give you an error message that you can dismiss and continue on with the memory that’s already on the terminal.”

“That’s…… huh.” He furrowed his brows as he stared at the terminal, trying to figure out exactly how that worked. “So…. are there other things you can take out without the whole thing goin’ whacky? Is it safe to do that? I’m sorry, I just don’t get how you can take parts outta somethin’ and have it still work right.”

Carlos just smiled at him. “Don’t be sorry – it’s great to ask questions! Otherwise people wouldn’t learn anything new. There are a couple things that can be ignored and not affect the rest of the terminal’s main function. The ports for additional hardware, like for headsets or turrets aren’t strictly needed. Neither are the in-terminal speakers. It can even work without fans for a while, though it’d overheat and shut off without proper air flow.”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos sighed softly through his nose and his hold on
Hancock softened a bit. He hummed, one of his hands sliding down to rest on
Hancock’s shoulder. He adored this man so much. He couldn’t really believe that
Hancock thought he was worth being devoted to, but… well, here they were.
Carlos was just going to have to learn to believe it, won’t he?

As the kiss dragged on, Hancock relaxed more, though not fully. His arms tightened around Carlos, encircling his waist in a hug as he stood on his toes to reach him better, deepening the kiss. After another minute or two, the ghoul hesitantly broke the kiss, lowering himself back down and smiling a little bashfully as he looked up to meet Carlos’ eyes. “That….. heh, I wasn’t expecting that.”

“I know,” Carlos responded automatically. He cringed a little at that, wishing he hadn’t said that. “I mean… I do care about you, Hancock. Too. Er, a lot. I love you. I just, heh, I hadn’t expected this either and I wanted to make sure I didn’t ruin it with ruining your coat. I know you love that thing too…”

A Holiday Surprise (closed w/ selfmedicatingmayor)

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos shrugged slightly. “Well… honestly, I’m not sure. I know that pre-war it was everywhere and there were huge celebrations about it, but I lived in a vault. We did have a vault-wide party sometimes, unless food was short. But, uh… my dad always told us that it was family that was important. And… making sure that we appreciated each other.” He laughed softly. “God, that sounds so corny…”

“It does sound pretty corny, but…. nice. We never did anything like that, celebrated birthdays, but even then it wasn’t anything big or all that special, y’know?” He shrugged. “Whatever you want to do, I’m happy to do it with you, I just want you to be happy and I’d do anything to make that happen.”

Carlos smiled at him. He reached and pulled his arms around Hancock to hug him. “I want you to enjoy it too. I’m actually very happy with how this turned out. I’m glad you liked it…”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Awe…. That made Carlos’ heart melt a little.

“You’re too good to me,” Carlos said softly, still clinging onto Hancock’s hand. He rubbed his thumbs over the other’s knuckles and the back of his hand.

“That ain’t possible, darlin’.” With a smile, the ghoul leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips then gave his hand a little squeeze as he pulled back again to look into Carlos’ eyes. “I’d give up anythin’ to keep ya around, sweetheart, you mean the whole world to me and I wouldn’t wanna do anything to screw things up between us.”

Carlos smiled at him. “I’m pretty sure you won’t,” he said. “I… I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I’ve walked into.” Admittedly, Carlos didn’t expect any of this. But things just… seemed to fall in place. He wasn’t going to question it too much – not when he and Hancock have such a good thing going.

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos was startled and, and for an irrational moment he thought he might be pushed down the stairs. But, again, it was an irrational thought and Carlos felt guilty about thinking it. Upon realizing where he was being directed though, his stomach felt like it was sucked into a small, localized black hole.

Hancock probably told the Watch that he wanted to talk to Carlos. This was it. He was going to tell Carlos that this wasn’t working. Because it wasn’t – Carlos knew that. He wouldn’t blame Hancock for ending it… though it didn’t change the fact that this was going to hurt so much.

Carlos resigned himself. This was it, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it but… go and face the music. He could do that. He had to. Just stand there and agree with Hancock when he said that it was over.

He had expected, when he walked in, to see Hancock on the couch. Maybe playing with a jet canister or even his knife. Collected, calm, and serious. He didn’t expect to see the prone form on the couch with the mess of drug paraphernalia scattered around him. Carlos was confused at first, but as he cautiously stepped closer and started to put together what all the mess meant – that, plus the image of Hancock lying down motionless – Carlos’ mind jumped to conclusions and he suddenly panicked.

“HANCOCK!!” he screamed and he rushed forward. Carlos used his boot to sweep away the needles scattered dangerously at the front of the couch and he crouched down to take Hancock’s face in his hands and examine it. “Hancock! Han, can you hear me??”

The shout hardly registered, and the ghoul didn’t move, not until Carlos physically moved him. He groaned softly, dark eyes moving to his, unfocused and hazy. It took a few moments for him to register who was touching him and once he did, the tears returned. Choking out a sob, Hancock reached up with shaky hands and gently cupped his face, hardly believing he was even real.

“C-Carlos? You came back?” He breathed in disbelief. “You–– I-I’m so sorry. I fucked up, I-I didn’t mean to–– I didn’t want to m-make you uncomfortable, I–– please don’t leave me…..”

Carlos was trying to figure out what to do. When Hancock touched him a hand automatically went up to take one of Hancock’s and give it a tight squeeze. Carlos took a look around at the needles and empty canisters and he felt overwhelmed.

“Han, did you… did you take all this??” he asked seriously. He then spotted bottles among the items and, somehow, his fear grew. He mixed drugs and alcohol?? Hancock was a hearty individual, as a ghoul, but Carlos feared that not even he would sober up in one piece.

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

“Well, I had someone say to me that ‘if you do beautiful things, then you’re a beautiful person’. And you have been absolutely beautiful to me. There’s also another saying, that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. And I gotta tell ya, I’m holding a lot of bees.”

It took him a moment to process that last saying, the smile on his face replaced with puzzlement for just a moment as he processed that. “You’re ridiculous.” He chuckled as he pulled him in for a soft kiss, hands remaining on Carlos’ hips even as he pulled back. “Thank you….. for bein’ so perfect. You’re too good for me and I don’t deserve ya but I’ll be damned if I ever let ya go.”

Carlos
smiled at him. “But you love me anyway.” He leaned in again to kiss his
mouth happily. “Same here, Han… I’m glad to have you. And you do
deserve me, I promise. I’m here, after all.”

Food for the Soul (closed w/ selfmedicatingmayor)

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

“I can take it out now,” Carlos said. “The rest of the terminal will work – it’ll just give you a warning letting you know that the drive isn’t attached. But if you just don’t put any holotapes in then it won’t run.”

“Really? Taking it out ain’t gonna make the rest of it worse? How does that work? I’m sorry for all the questions, I just….. don’t really get any of this, y’know? I’m tryin’ to learn though.”

“No, actually, a holotape driver isn’t necessary,” Carlos explained. “A lot of models come with them, but you don‘t necessarily need one for every-day function. It’ll just give you an error message that you can dismiss and continue on with the memory that’s already on the terminal.”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos woke from a dreamless sleep. He didn’t immediately feel any better. In fact, he was very disappointed that what happened last night hadn’t just been a dream. Dammit…

He started to sit up from his little ‘nest’. But suddenly, Carlos froze with a small yelp when his back ached in protest at the movement. Well, that wasn’t going to go away any time soon. His day was just getting better already. He finished sitting up and started to look for his Pip-Boy. But it wasn’t there.

Oh no… he left it in the Statehouse, didn’t he? He couldn’t go back for it. He wasn’t ready to face Hancock. He… he couldn’t. Hancock would see him and he might want to talk about it and Carlos… he just wasn’t ready for it. He didn’t know if he’d ever be ready. Right now, he was willing to leave his Pip-Boy out of his reach because he was just… he was scared. Besides, who said Hancock even wanted to see him after what happened? Carlos didn’t even want to be with himself.

He needed to work. He needed to do something – feel productive. Show that he was still somewhat useful, despite… despite how hard he fell last night. He got up and ignored the twinge of hunger in his stomach as he started to take apart one of the generators he had to work on and clean the parts.

After a while–– Hancock couldn’t be sure how long it really was with the combination of jet and med-x in his system–– the ghoul picked himself up, staggering over to the pantry to dig out a box of sugar bombs and bring it back to the couch. He shed his signature coat again, tossing it carelessly over the back of the couch, along with the vest, and laying back on the cushions to take up his post again. His eyes were blurry, struggling to focus on the stain on the ceiling he’d been staring at and his movements robotic as he slowly picked cereal out of the box, one piece at a time to eat. He’d be there for the foreseeable future, huffing more jet whenever he happened to remember why he’d come in in the first place and picking at his cereal until Carlos came back or he lost consciousness again, whichever came first.

Carlos was starving. How long had he been working? He had no
idea – he was getting a little delirious and he realized he’d been cleaning the
same part for a good thirty minutes. The generator was almost entirely clean so
he’d had to have been there for hours. He needed to eat something and he spent
a good while trying to convince himself to leave.

His caps were still in the Statehouse, so Carlos had to go
back. Just something small, he told himself; maybe a carrot or a single
mutfruit. Just enough to hold him over so he could come back… if he managed to
avoid Hancock. Or if Hancock didn’t even want to see him; that’d be… easier. In
only a couple ways.

Finally Carlos put down the cloth and started for the door.
He built up enough motivation to reach the door and open it without any pause
and he was back out in Goodneighbor. However, he jumped when he noticed a
figure leaning against the wall of the warehouse. Fahrenheit was glaring at him
under the fringe of her hair. Was that a glare? She always looked like she was
glaring.

She didn’t say a word, just looked at him. It took Carlos a
few moments, trying to convince himself the she wasn’t going to hurt him
(despite the look she gave him) and he finally turned away and started walking
down the alley. He felt her gaze heavy and piercing on his back, and when he
reached the stoop he was almost shaking.

Carlos almost jumped inside the Statehouse and he shut the
door behind him. A Neighborhood Watchman shifted his gun when Carlos came in,
but he seemed to relax almost immediately. Carlos looked at his feet and
started up the spiral staircase, trying not to make any more noise than
necessary.

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist:

Carlos made it to the workshop without incident. He supposed
everybody knew Hancock’s business was Hancock’s business. Once inside he
gathered up the blankets and some of the work cloths and started to make a sort
of bed in the corner. He’d been meaning to get a cot in there for when he
worked longer nights… he wished he’d done it already, but this would have to
do.

Carlos lay down and curled in on himself underneath his
labcoat. He spent a long time awake, just angry and unhappy with himself. There
were so many things he should have done… He should have done so much better.

Outside he could hear someone shouting. Some drifter being
thrown out of the Third Rail by Ham. Even further away there was gunfire –
probably from the Supermutant encampment. Carlos didn’t know when he fell asleep.

When Hancock woke the next morning, stiff and sore, he was disappointed to find he was still alone. Despite everything, how badly he’d screwed up, how upset Carlos had seemed, a part of him had still expected the other man to return. With a shaky sigh, the ghoul picked himself up of the floor, straightening his clothes out and composing himself enough to walk across the hall without drawing too much attention.

Back in his lounge, Hancock ordered the Watchmen outside not to let anyone but the scientist in then shut the doors behind him. Back in the privacy of his room–– and the bulk of his stash–– the ghoul broke into the chems again, dosing himself with a cocktail of drugs to keep his nerves at bay for a while then taking up a spot on the couch to sit and stare at the ceiling until Carlos came back….. if he came back.

Carlos woke from a dreamless sleep. He didn’t immediately feel any better. In fact, he was very disappointed that what happened last night hadn’t just been a dream. Dammit…

He started to sit up from his little ‘nest’. But suddenly, Carlos froze with a small yelp when his back ached in protest at the movement. Well, that wasn’t going to go away any time soon. His day was just getting better already. He finished sitting up and started to look for his Pip-Boy. But it wasn’t there.

Oh no… he left it in the Statehouse, didn’t he? He couldn’t go back for it. He wasn’t ready to face Hancock. He… he couldn’t. Hancock would see him and he might want to talk about it and Carlos… he just wasn’t ready for it. He didn’t know if he’d ever be ready. Right now, he was willing to leave his Pip-Boy out of his reach because he was just… he was scared. Besides, who said Hancock even wanted to see him after what happened? Carlos didn’t even want to be with himself.

He needed to work. He needed to do something – feel productive. Show that he was still somewhat useful, despite… despite how hard he fell last night. He got up and ignored the twinge of hunger in his stomach as he started to take apart one of the generators he had to work on and clean the parts.