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Twenty thousand caps is a steep price but the moment he saw those bikes, he knew he needed one. Logan doesn’t understand why they’re not more common like before the war. Traveling across the wasteland would be a lot easier, not everyone has access to a vehicle.
Or maybe not, he thinks as he tumbles into the dirt. Again. The ground is wildly uneven and that makes it even harder to learn how to balance and move forward. After everything he’s been through, he laughed at the ‘free’ helmet the merchant gave him. But a few falls later, he strapped that thing right on. He also received lessons and schematics on how to repair his bike should anything happen.
‘But nothing will!’ the merchant insisted. ‘This baby is sturdy enough to survive a nuclear bomb!’
Logan’s skeptical about that but it’s at least survived his multiple falls. Without bothering to dust himself off--he’s only going to get dirty again--he sits back on the seat. His plan is to become proficient enough to ride this thing back to Rivet City. At this rate, that might take a while. And guiltily, he thinks that might not be so bad.
He and Harkness have been getting into more arguments lately and over stupid things that don’t even matter. It started when he still worked with the Brotherhood. With the Air Force Base blown, he hasn’t returned to the Citadel for a single thing. Maybe he can blame the Brotherhood for this hump in their relationship.
He hits a rock with his thick tire and nearly falls again. He stops and sighs. For the first time in their relationship, Logan finds himself hesitating to return to Rivet City and he feels terrible about it. They’ve argued before but this feels...this feels different. He can’t explain it but he wishes he had someone to talk to for advice. Someone who has experience with relationships. Navigating these feelings on his own is so hard.
The last argument started because Logan didn’t want to hang out with Harkness’ friends--which he even went so far as to badly insult one of them. That, understandably, angered Harkness and then he said something along the lines of ‘you don’t want to go because you’d rather shoot up med-x.’
Even now, Logan still feels anger bubbling at the remarks. The med-x he uses is for all his pain from all the injuries he’s acquired, Harkness fucking knows that.
He breathes out and stops this line of thought. He’s starting a fight with Harkness before he even arrives. Logan concentrates back on his actual task and-
“H-holy fuck,” he stammers as he realizes the ground’s steadily moving--he’s steadily moving.
He keeps pedaling, excitement filling him as he rides his bicycle through the dirt. The ground finally dips a little too much and knocks him off balance. He’s a lot father from town now but he still shouts, “Did you see that, Weld?!” He doesn’t bother waiting for an answer. His pip-boy tells him it’s creeping past noon and he thinks he should take a break. It’s almost June and the weather is hot. The sun’s beaming directly down on the wasteland.
He gets off his bike to walk it back to Megaton. His eyes flit in the direction of Vault 101. Being so close to Freddie and Amata doesn’t bother him anymore. Not as much at anyways. He’s still hurt by what they did, still doesn’t understand it, but they aren’t constantly on his mind when he comes to Megaton. But he does get nervous whenever he thinks he sees a blue vault suit out of the corner of his eye. The last thing he wants is to see them, or anyone from the vault. Would anyone besides his former friends recognize him on the surface? Sometimes, he doesn’t recognize himself.
Looking back at his own life, it’s hard to believe he’s spent most of it in a vault. The last ten months have felt like an eternity, he has to remember he hasn’t always been on the surface.
He takes his bike inside his house and grabs a bottle of water. Wadsworth appears, holding a feather duster in one of his metal appendages.
“Mr Logan,” he gasps. “Look at your arm! Look at your clothes!”
He looks down at himself. He’s covered in dirt but Wadsworth is right, there’s a large cut on his arm. How’d he not notice that?
“I’ll fetch the first aid kit.”
Logan cleans the cut in the sink then sits at the table. This will leave a scar but it’ll go right along with his burn. His fucking arm will probably get chopped off by the end of the year. He frowns when it starts bleeding again. It’s more than he expects.
“Oh no, this won’t do.”
Wadsworth holds a cloth from...Logan assumes the first aid kit and pushes it against his arm. He sounds worried, like he broke a bone or something, and Logan would laugh but he doesn’t want to be rude.
They stop the bleeding, clean it again, and get him bandaged.
“How goes the bicycle riding? It seems so dangerous...”
“Compared to what else I’ve been through, this scratch is nothing. I’m getting better at it though. I rode pretty far right before I came back. You should come out with me next time. I’ll probably try again in the evening once it cools down some.”
“Thank you for the invitation. I shall carry the first aid kit and some water for you. Speaking of such, how is the purifier?”
“Good. The water’s flowing. They occasionally get hit by stray Enclave troops but it’s infrequent. I think this is really the end of them.”
“So glad to hear that. Oh, but let’s talk about more pleasant topics.”
Logan spends the rest of the afternoon within Megaton’s walls. He stays at home writing a new fantasy story and visits Gob at the bar. Once it cools down just a little bit, he straps his helmet on and rolls his bike outside. Wadsworth follows. He can’t go back to Rivet City until he learns this. Under normal circumstances, that’d be a strong motivation.
Despite the alcohol swishing in his brain, a new wave of guilt hits him. He pedals off quickly, as if he can out ride his feelings, and nearly falls right over. Maybe bike riding while mildly intoxicated isn’t such a good idea. But he continues on anyway. He tries to pinpoint when exactly these feelings began. Things got tense during his work with the Brotherhood. Logan was extremely depressed, fighting Enclave remnants and dealing with what he did at the purifier. Harkness’ officers were constantly swarmed with bandits every time they transported water. That time was tough on them individually and on their relationship.
But things will fix themselves and everything will be back to normal. He’s done with the Brotherhood and Enclave, eventually the water caravans won’t be attacked so much.
He blinks and looks ahead, where a giant rock sits in his path. “Fuck!” He swerves and nearly falls--but doesn’t. He really needs to start paying better attention.
~~~~~
After a few days of practice, Logan feels pretty good about his ability to ride a bike. Traveling to Rivet City, or anywhere, is going to be so much easier and faster. The only thing he wishes is that it had more storage. Baskets are attached to the front and back but his large backpack still needs to be strapped on his shoulders. He’s not sure how exactly to fix that, maybe he’ll talk to Moira about it. If anyone has ideas, it’s her.
Next time he returns to Megaton, he’ll ask. He’s leaving tomorrow...or the next day for Rivet City.
He pedals faster. There’s a small bump in the dirt he could use to clear a rock. He’s been too scared to make the attempt but today he’s ready.
After about half a second in the air, he realizes this isn’t going to end well His back tire catches on the rock and Logan quickly goes down. His right arm catches a lot of it, the rest of his body isn’t far behind.
He groans loudly. Pain shoots up his arm and he’s surprised it’s not broken. Maybe he’s not ready to do tricks yet. He stays on the ground for just a little bit longer, not wanting some thief to happen upon him in this position.
He walks his bike back home. His arm hurts, his hand is cut on the same arm he cut the other day. He and Wadsworth have to clean it...again.
“Maybe we could invest in a pair of gloves for riding,” Wadsworth suggests. “I do hate to see you injured.”
“That’s a good idea actually. I’ll check the clothing shop out later. Fuck, my arm hurts though.”
“Didn’t that Doctor Church give you pain relieving pills?”
He did, some non-addictive pills. But they’re only a mild pain reliever, this feels a little worse than a minor injury.
“I’m gonna see how it feels and if it doesn’t get better, I’ll take med-x.”
Wadsworth speaks but it’s Harkness’ voice Logan hears admonishing him. For a moment, he feels guilty after the words leave his mouth but that morphs into anger--both at himself for feeling guilty and at Harkness for turning this into an issue.
He takes it easy for the rest of the evening and heads for the clothing store. He’s asked the owner where exactly he acquires these clothes but he’s strangely illusive. After wearing blue suits his entire life, Logan gets very excited about buying even the simplest outfit.
He finds a sturdy pair of gloves and browses the pants. He...really shouldn’t buy anything except necessities right now though, not with the twenty-thousand cap bike chained to his front railing. He sighs and puts a purple pair of pants down.
“That’s a good color,” the shop owner, Mitchell, comments casually. He’s folding some shirts near the cash register.
“Yeah, I love these. But that bike merchant blew through town and I blew through most of my savings. So as much as I want them...”
“Ha, that’s right, you bought one of those contraptions. How’s that working out?”
He holds up his arm.
“Ah, not well then.”
“It actually is going better than it looks. I can ride it pretty well, just still learning how to navigate the many...many rocks and bumps. That’s why I’m buying the gloves at least, they’ll hopefully save my other hand from getting banged up.”
“Let’s hope,” Mitchell laughs. “I can ring you up when you’re done..”
Logan nods and walks over to the counter. He’s about to pull out his cap bag when Mitch says,
“Tell you what, you’ve been a loyal customer ever since you emerged from that vault. If you like those pants, you can have a pair no charge.”
Logan’s eyes widen. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Not many people around Megaton are into purple pants but I think you’d pull them off well.” He winks. “All I ask is if anyone wants to know where you got ‘em, just point them here.”
“Oh, will do.” He goes back to them, hoping Mitch has his size. It’s only then that he registers the wink. His size is there and he returns to the counter ready to play dumb to any flirting. But Mitch does nothing more than say a few friendly words and smile.
Logan goes home and immediately tries on his pants. He loves them. “Wadsworth, how do I look?”
“Very dashing, Mr Logan!”
“They were free too. Mitchell saw me eyeing them and threw them in with my gloves.”
“How generous of him.”
“I wonder if anyone has any work...don’t know if I should ask tomorrow or just go back to Rivet City.”
“I’m sure Mr Harkness eagerly awaits your return.”
Logan’s not too sure about that. He hopes his boyfriend wants to see him, he’s sure he does, but just the thought that he might not want to is a terrible feeling. He just pushes it out of his mind and tells himself he’s exaggerating.
But later that night, it’s all he can think about. Their last argument keeps replaying in his head. He is convinced things will fix themselves but how long will that take? What’s Harkness doing right now? Is he asleep? Is he lying in bed thinking about the same things as him?
Logan tries to roll onto his side but pain shoots through his arm and even crawls through his chest. His okay hand balls into a fist, nails digging into the skin. The pills Doc Church gave him aren’t working for pain this bad. He waits for it to fade, but it’s not fading so he gets up. His bag is downstairs and walks through the small house quietly. Wadsworth is in his own ‘room’ and-
He stares at his bag. Why is he sneaking through his own place like a goddamn criminal? This med-x is for pain. Anyone trying to guilt him into thinking otherwise is fucking wrong.
He injects the chem into his thigh and leans against the wall, waiting for it to take effect. When the pain in his arm starts to dull and his mind relaxes, he returns to bed and goes to sleep.
~~~~~
Everybody stares as he rides through the market. That merchant said he and his bicycle caravan were slowly moving through all of DC before leaving to the next city. Maybe he’s already been here and they’re just staring at the dumbass who actually paid his price.
He wonders what other cities are like though. The US is huge and so many towns and settlements sprawl across it. What are they like? What would it feel like to be somewhere he doesn’t have to face the memory of his dad every day?
“You spent twenty-thousand caps?”
Well, he supposes that’s his answer. “Not the warmest greeting for your boyfriend but yeah, I did.”
“Worth it?”
“I think so. Cut my time here by at least half.”
Harkness’ eyes glance down. “Did you fall riding it?”
“While I was learning. Multiple times. But nothing worse than I’ve been through. Blow work off now, let’s go outside so I can teach you.”
“I can’t. But...” He sighs. “Let me see if I can get off a couple hours early. It’ll still be light out, there’s no way I’m riding that thing in the dark.”
Logan grins a bit. When Harkness returns to work a few minutes later, he can't help but notice the way they didn’t kiss or even say hi to each other. He gets the feeling Harkness isn’t going to bother trying to get off early either. And did he sound mad? Why the fuck should he? If Logan wants to spend twenty-thousand caps, that’s his goddamn business. Or maybe he’s making assumptions about his injuries. The med-x was just for-
He lets his head fall against the wall. Or maybe he’s overthinking and paranoid from their last fight and in a few hours he and Harkness are going to ride his new bike and everything is fine.