Work Text:
“Come to Rivet City with me.”
James looks up from his papers. “I thought Harkness was visiting tomorrow night.”
“He is but I need to go shopping. I may have, may have melted my pistol.”
“You’re joking.”
Logan simply stares.
“You’re not joking. How on earth-”
“I find it best not to ask too many questions. Just know it’s a pile of goo. And may have exploded.”
“My god. Are you heading out then?”
“Yes, and you’re coming with me.”
“I don’t know, I have work here-”
“That can wait. Come on. Spend time with me. I miss you when you’re working constantly.” Logan is totally okay with guilting his dad. It’s been a few weeks since they returned to Rivet City and convinced Li to rejoin Project Purity. Logan and James continued talking things out and he thinks they’re in a good place right now.
“Give me an hour and then we can go, okay?”
“Okay! I’ll pack a bag.”
“Are you spending the night? I don’t think I can stay that long.”
“We’ll walk you back tonight. And then I’ll see if Harkness wants to stay there or come here. I’ll be back in one hour exactly.”
He runs off to the basement to throw stuff into his backpack. Most of his ‘job’ consists of protection, like he suspected. He always carries a gun with him and usually has at least light armor on. His dad asks his opinion on certain things and for help with some matters but a few other scientists don’t like him. ‘We’re doing real work here, not programming toys.’ Logan got in a fist fight with Daniel over his particular condescending comments, his dad had to pull him off. Now they mostly just stay away from each other.
He puts these assholes from his mind. Providing protection is something he’s good at, something important. But they’ll be fine for a night. Stuff doesn’t attack daily, he just likes to be prepared.
He packs his chessboard too, determined to beat Harkness. Now that Logan’s taught him, he’s too good. Logan’s won a few games, but Harkness has won more. He wonders if the synth side of his brain helps him strategize and see Logan’s potential moves before he does.
Exactly one hour later, he waits impatiently for his dad. He’s late but he comes and they set out.
“Did you really melt your pistol? Or did you just want to spend time together?”
“I really did, which is a shame because it was a nifty gun. What I really want is a plasma pistol to match my rifle but I know the best I can hope for is Flak just having something decent and that Shrapnel isn’t around. I can’t stand that rude mother fucker.”
“He is a bit rough around the edges. But many are.”
“Yeah, I’ll say. If I’m leaving next week then I can’t be short on firepower.”
“Are you sure you’re okay going alone?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Logan went to the library in Arlington to hunt for information. It seemed like a better plan than hopelessly roaming for vaults like he did with Vault 112. He brought back as many books as he could carry--mostly for research but some for his own pleasure. The Brotherhood is still stationed there and they bickered the entire time.
The scientists think they’ve found the location of Vault 108. It’s just south of Canterbury Commons and their crazy fucking problems that Logan doesn’t want to deal with.
But that’ll be after his weekend with Harkness.
~~~~~
After Logan pays for a a new pistol--and complains about the quality--he and his dad play Caravan in the Muddy Rudder. “Guess I should’ve realized something was up when you taught me a game called fucking Caravan. There’s hardly any caravans in the vault.”
“You did suspect though. Or at least knew the adults were lying about the entire outside world being uninhabitable.”
“I always knew I’d see the surface someday. Just didn’t suspect it’d be like this.”
“Naturally.”
“Anyways, I win!”
“You’ve really improved at this game.”
“I had to so I could win against Harkness. He picks up every game super quickly. I brought my chessboard too.”
“It was a nice gift. Everyone at the memorial’s enjoyed it. Speaking of Harkness, it’s getting a bit late.”
He checks his pip-boy. “Something must’ve kept him. Want another drink?”
“Sure.”
He gets his dad another beer but buys himself just a nuka-cola. Another twenty minutes pass before Harkness finally walks down the stairs.
“Sorry I’m so late,” he apologizes. “We had a robbery in the market.”
“It’s okay. Did you catch them?”
“Yeah, he was trying to escape through Anacostia. We got Cindy’s stuff, and he’s banned from re-entering.” He sighs as he slumps in a chair. “You wanted to get back to the memorial, right?”
“I can head back alone. You’re probably tired.”
“We’re not sending you off alone in the dark,” Logan growls.
“I did scour DC alone, remember?”
“Which eventually ended in me having to rescue you.”
“The memorial’s right there. It’s no problem accompanying you,” Harkness reassures.
“I’m letting you two come because I’d like to spend the time together, not because I’m some frail old man.”
“Uh-huh,” Logan says. “Did you want to go now then?”
“Yeah. Early morning tomorrow.”
Logan and Harkness escort James back to the memorial with no issues. When they’re alone, they hang out by the river a bit. The moon is full tonight and it’s shining brightly on the water. Logan’s gotten very used to being outside but staring at the stars for too long can still give him anxiety. He focuses on the murky water instead and on the way his arm feels around Harkness’ waist.
“Are you still going to Vault 108?”
“In a few days, yeah. I’ll probably stop in Canterbury first.”
“And fight the ant woman and mechanic, right? Canterbury’s hero.”
“No thank you. They can settle it themselves. I’m just there to trade.” He exhales slowly. “Who knows what fucked up things I’ll find there.”
“101 doesn’t seem to have an experiment. Or if it does, what do you think it is?”
“I’m not sure there is one. 106 had the drugs, 112 the virtual reality. 101 sucked a lot but it was pretty tame and normal compared to all that. But it makes sense they’d need control vaults. I guess the residents in 101 just got lucky. Or maybe having to sustain a population without a GECK is the experiment. Not as ‘thrilling’ as psychedelic drugs and murder but not everything has to be a roller coaster.”
“A roller coaster?”
“Yeah, you know, like at an old amusement park? Those giant metal monstrosities. They’d strap you in this cart that sat on a metal track, then you’d zip the fuck off and there’d be loops and huge drops and twisty bits.”
“That sounds awful. I’d assume it was some sort of punishment but ‘amusement’ implies joy.”
“It is fun. Supposedly. It’s not like I’ve ever been on one.”
Harkness makes a face. “Can’t imagine how that’s fun but alright.”
“People back then were fuckin’ weirdos.”
“So you feel okay about leaving alone?”
Logan looks at him. “Yeah, I’m kinda used to it at this point. I told you it’s alright you can’t get that much time off right now. I’ll be fine.”
“I know you will be....”
“It’ll be fine,” he repeats. “I’ll be back before you know it.” Logan’s traveled many places alone. He’s not sure why Harkness seems to feel guilty about this particular trip. This isn’t the first time he’s brought this up.
“You’re more than capable of handling anything that comes your way. I don’t mean to imply otherwise.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I just wish I could take more time off and go more places with you.”
“I get why you can’t. Maybe things will change in the future. But we can still enjoy the time we do spend together, like this weekend.”
Harkness leans his head against Logan. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Shall we head back now? It’s only a matter of time before something burrows out of the ground and attacks.”
Logan wants to spend more time outside but he’s right. They’re lucky they haven’t needed to shoot anything yet. “I brought my chessboard, let’s go to the top of the flight deck and play. The moon’s bright enough.”
“Alright, let’s go, my chess champion.”
“You’ve stolen my Vault Chess Champion title. Eventually I’ll win it back.”
Harkness laughs as he wraps an arm around Logan’s shoulders and they head back.