Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was honestly more surprising that Norm hadn’t gotten ill in his nearly… what? Two and a half months on the surface? It had started off as a cough, something he could play off as the air quality being awful from the recent radioactive sandstorms that flew through their home, but he could pass up the nausea and high fever he got soon after.

It didn’t help that Thaddeus was also sick, but that was more of a thing he had grown to live with and got worse with some days. Today was one of those sick days, now with it being Mid-November and a chill had begun to fall over the valley, they were supposed to be huddling up for the incoming winter.

Thaddeus had been coughing and vomiting up blood for the last few days, which made Norm queasy and also vomit whatever solids had been left in his stomach. The younger man was freezing despite his high fever, clinging to the burning hot man who laid with him under the covers of their bed, as Thaddeus scratched his flaking skin raw and bleeding just to relieve himself from his itchy skin.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this sick before,” Norm grumbled into the shoulder he pressed his face into, thin arms wrapping around Thaddeus’s own arm and holding it close to his chest. 

“Do you just not get sick in Vaults?” Thaddeus asked in a raspy grumble, scratching and picking at the aflamed flaking skin on his chest with bitten down nails.

“No, I’d get sick sometimes,” Norm sniffled, his eyes falling shut tightly as he sneezed, letting out a low groan from his rumbling chest. “Just not this bad, more like a little cold or the occasional food poisoning…”

“At least you didn’t have to deal with hand, foot, and mouth or chickenpox as a kid, ya’know they made a vaccine for chickenpox?” Thaddeus asked frankly, but before Norm could respond with yes, yes he did know that, the other man had gone on. “Well, I didn’t! Not until I was sixteen and went to my first ever vaccination appointment at this Follower’s clinic.”

Norm made a face at that, sniffling again. “You got your first ever vaccine at sixteen?”

“Yeah, you didn’t?” Thaddeus also made a face, more confused than Norm’s own heavily concerned one. “Don’t blame me, people where I grew up didn’t have a lot of access to medical care that wasn’t just ‘pray it away’ at the synagogue or ‘eat some plants, these help bring down a high fever’ kinda stuff.”

“That’s horrific,” Norm flatly muttered, pulling just a bit away from Thaddeus as he coughed violently again, spitting blood over his hand. Norm couldn’t help his fretting though, grabbing the rag they had been using to clean up Thaddeus’s blood and wiping the red coppery strands from the other man’s mouth and hand. “And unsafe, no wonder you got so sick as a child so many times…”

“Don’t worry, ‘cause when I’m a full Ghoul,” Thaddeus winked, and Norm couldn’t help but smile softly as he pressed a kiss to his rather charming lover’s cheek. “I’ll never get sick again.”

“How lucky for you,” A ring from the bell and Norm got up with a sigh, pulling a blanket around himself as Thaddeus just pulled a pillow over his eyes and ears. “Coming!”

Norm made his way down the stairs as quickly as his legs could manage him, making his way to the front desk door and opening it with his best customer service smile he could pull for the tall man who stood on the other side of the desk. “I am so, so sorry for the delay, sir, me and Mr. Hecke are both quite ill right now.”

A buttery smooth southern voice came from the man as he spoke, words brisk but not harsh even as those stained yellow teeth peeked over his non-existent lips. “I don’t mind the wait, my little posse an’ I ain’t in no big rush.”

“Thank you for your understanding, now,” Norm pulled out the makeshift step stool, quickly standing atop the turned over crate as he clicked away at the terminal he finally set up for the bed & breakfast operation. “How many people are in your party?”

“Me, a young lady, an’ our dog,” Norm nodded to the Cowboy’s words as the young man clicked away at the keys. “I remember this place from before the Bombs, an’ I can say it’s in a much better state from that junkyard.”

Norm picked up his cigarette box, pulling one out with ease and swiftly lighting it with the silver lighter he had strung up on a string. He took a long puff, letting out the cloud of smoke through his nose. “Well, Mr. Hecke and I have done a lot to make this place look nice so we appreciate you’ve noticed, and who’s name should I list this under?”

“Howard is alright,” the old Ghoul said calmly, like an old Hollywood movie star in a cheesy romance movie, his gleaming blue eyes crisp and meeting Norm’s own dark gaze. “An’ how much will this all be for a night, darl’?”

Norm couldn’t help his little blush. “One fifty with a twenty cap fee for cleaning, Mr. Howard.” 

“Now, that’s a nice price for a night,” Mr. Howard smiled down at him, pulling out a small bag of caps from his trenchcoat’s pocket and tossing the small leather sack right into Norm’s waiting hands. “Do you an’ your friend happen to do that room service thing?”

“No, we don’t, but the bar part of our home does open in about an hour and a half so if you come in then,” Norm pulled the room key from the key rack, handing the jingling keys to the old ghoul with a smile. “I’m sure we could set you and your friend up with a nice meal and a drink.”

Mr. Howard pocketed the keys with ease, fixing his hat. “My little friend will love to have a bite, she’s been a bit of a bitch the whole day ‘bout our long walk from Goodsprings.”

“Woah, that’s a long way,” Norm took another long puff of his cigarette. “Where are you two off to? The Boneyard?”

“Santa Monica actually,” Norm raised a brow, taking a slower puff as Mr. Howard went on with a small laugh. “She needs to find something ‘ere an’ I couldn’t find any reason to not help her.”

“So, you’re a bounty hunter and she hired you for a job?” Norm smirked cheekily as the old ghoul let out a raspy laugh, those eyes shutting as he tipped his hat back.

Mr: Howard grinned, those sharp stained canines showing off and almost gleaming a putrid yellow in the room’s light: “Bingo, darl’, mighty perspective lil fella, aren’t you now?” 

Norm preened under this appreciation of his abilities, smiling more bashfully now as he waved his hand about as if to deny his uncanny ability to read people. He pulled out their cap box, emptying the sack before handing it back to the bounty hunter. “Oh, I’m not that perspective, Mr. Howard, but it does help in this line of business.”

The Ghoul shook his head, chuckling as he turned to walk out the door with a dog that Norm hadn’t even realized was there following behind. “Send my thanks, lil Mister…?”

“MacLean, but you can just call me Norm.”

Mr. Howard paused, that friendly smile dropping for a split second. “MacLean?”

Norm’s dark brown eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Did you mishear?”

“No, can’t say I did,” and with that, the door shut heavily behind the Ghoul and Norm sat there a bit puzzled, watching as the Ghoul walked over towards the motel’s buildings with that dog close behind. 

Strange…

𒊹︎> •~𐬾☢︎︎𐬿~• <𒊹︎

Norm had managed to get Thaddeus looking presentable, giving him a quick kiss before pulling on his gloves and a face covering to start cooking for their guests. Typically, Norm would be the one taking the orders and doing the drinks but his suspicions about the old Ghoul were getting to the better of him and Thaddeus agreed he’d do this part instead.

The ticket bell rang and Norm zoomed over, pulling the yellow ticket off its clip and looking at Thaddeus, who was awkwardly standing there with his eyes on the guests. “I swear I’ve seen that lady before, I dunno if she’s just a former ex of mine or what…”

“How many women have you dated?” Norm peeked over the counter, looking over to the table where the group had been sitting. At this angle, all he could see was the back of the lady’s head, her hair long and flowing down her back and with some small braids tied within the chocolate brown locks. She wore a pair of jeans that were just a bit worn down, boots that tied up, and a blue and gold leather jacket that was clearly makeshift from the obvious stitching. 

The short man shrugged, his eyes falling to the adorable looking dog, who laid at Mr. Howard’s feet, with an almost giddy expression coming to his face. “I wonder if they’d let me pet their dog, it looks so cute..”

“I’ve dated only two but I’ve hooked up with my fair share of pretty ladies, before I realized I was a man, I thought I was a woman who liked other women and men alike,” Thaddeus admitted, looking the woman up and down. “Nah, she ain’t any of my exes, but she is pretty.”

“Well, don’t go barking up her tree, Mister,” Norm warned with a tease in his throat, looking over the ticket as he made his way further into the kitchen. “You’re stuck with me and I’m never letting you go, so don’t try me.”

“Ah, the jealous type, huh, Norm? I promise I won’t, I already have you so what’s the reason to ruin the good thing we have,” Thaddeus snorted.

“Damn right, Mr. Hecke. Now go do your job and leave an expert to the cooking,” Norm waved off Thaddeus with a roll of his eyes, who continued to chuckle as he pulled back from the meal ticket window to start on the table’s drinks. 

What they had ordered was simple and easy. A cramburger with cave mushrooms and goat cheese with some fries, a medium rare radrat steak with tato salad, and a bowl of tasty squirrel stew. Simple and easy, just Norm thought, and he quickly ran about for all he would need.

He plucked up the ladder and pushcart, pushing it about as he scowled and pulled bags, cans, and plastic containers from shelves. He ventured into the freezer from his rat and squirrel, tossing them onto his pull cart with ease before skidding across the tiled kitchen floor to the griddle, which he quickly turned on and sprayed some oil upon.

Norm soon grabbed a knife and his favorite cutting board, slicing up tatos, carrots, squirrel, cheese, potatoes, mushrooms, and anything else he could get his hands on from his cart. He was almost like a machine, with his ease at being on the clock of a tight schedule and in cramped quarters.

The short man rubbed spices in the steak without a worry, grilled the tatos and tossed wedge cut fries into the frier with practiced ease, and kept his workspace as tidy as he could in a manner that you might have seen from a Pre-War fine dining experience, if it weren’t that this was in a downright filthy kitchen in the apocalypse.

He tossed a saucepan onto the stove when he deemed it ready, turning the heat up with ease as he sliced butter and poured goat milk into the sizzling pan along with his now finely cut mushrooms. He turned nearly at a ninety degree angle to the griddle as Norm smacked down his squirrel bits, seasoned rat steak, and cram patty onto the burning hot grill.

A stolen breath, then a tap to his shoulder as the shorter man was relaxing with his kitchen knife in hand. He flipped around quickly, knife raised threateningly but was just met with Thaddeus, who was now holding his hands up in defense of the shorter man’s ferocity with the kitchen appliance. The shorter man relaxed slowly as Thaddeus just continued to look down at him, Norm quite embarrassingly fixing his hair from his face. “Woah, you’re actually really good with a knife.”

“I’m sorry, I just got a bit…” Norm awkwardly put away his knife, going back to his grilling meat with a guilty expression. “Startled.”

“Nah it’s fine, I know you get a little lost in your head sometimes,” Thaddeus told him, pressing an adoring kiss to the nape of Norm’s neck as his hands eagerly went to his hips. “Do you need any help?”

“Why yes, it’d be great if you took the soup base out of the walkin freezer and heated it up,” Norm told the man behind him as he flipped the patty over, the processed meat sizzling away, Thaddeus kept kissing at his neck and at the edge of where his face mask didn’t cover his jaw. “It would almost certainly make my job easier if you stopped making out with my neck, because I can’t do anything with you kissing me and trying to tango while we have customers.”

Thaddeus huffed against his neck, nose pressing into his neck one last time as he kissed at his tanned olive skin, before pulling away with a pout. “Fine, fine… I don’t think I like Professional Mr. MacLean that much.”

“Oh yes you do, Mr. Hecke. You like him very much,” Norm teased in a sing-songy tone, smiling under his mask before sneezing as he flipped over his steak to start searing the other side. “You love it when I get extra professional with you outside of a professional setting.”

Thaddeus shook his head, smiling like goof when he made his way to the freezer, as the sound of scuffling came from below Norm’s waist. At first, he thought maybe a chicken had escaped, seeing how they liked to often escape when there were guests around, but when he looked down; he was met with a large dog’s lean face and soft eyes staring up at him.

“Hi?” The dog’s tongue lolled out, its tail wagging aggressively as Norm awkwardly stood there, spatula in hand. “Um, you have to wait for your meal… sir?”

A loud whistle and the dog ran off back into the main bar, zooming off towards their guests' table as Thaddeus nearly tripped over the dog’s zooming body, managing to stay upright as he slammed the tub of soup base onto the kitchen counter. “How did that dog get in here?”

“I don’t know,” Norm shrugged, going back to grilling his meats as Thaddeus groaned, making his way out of the kitchen and back into the main room with a frustrated expression on his face. He heard some shouting, some laughter, a bark, then Thaddeus came back in while stuffing a handful of caps into his pocket. “You didn’t…”

“Oh yeah I did,” Thaddeus grabbed a nearby pot from the pot rack, pouring the gelatinous soup base in and turning up the heat on the stove. Thankfully, he was also checking up on his mushroom sauce and pulled the fries out, starting to season them. “I didn’t even have to haggle, the lady just gave them to me as an apology for the dog.”

“How many caps do you think we’ll be making tonight?” Norm couldn’t help asking with his giggle, snorting behind his mask as he began to take the meat off the griddle and begin to plate. 

Thaddeus joined in, stirring the now liquid soup and throwing in some spices and herbs, along with the tatos. “Well over three hundred at this rate, that old timer drinks like he depends on booze to live—”

A ring from the order bell caught both business men’s attention, the old Ghoul peering in with a cigarette hanging between his teeth. “How much does it cost to get an ole fashioned whiskey an’ a Rum and Nuka ‘round here?”

“I’m on my last bottle of whiskey so a fifteen for that and five caps for the R&N, just give me a little time,” Thaddeus explained, putting on his best smile and walking over to the old timer, who was still peeking in. “I’ll bring ‘em right to your table, don’t worry.”

“Short staffed, huh?” Norm glared at that jab, but Thaddeus couldn’t help but laugh along with Mr. Howard, snorting as he made his way outta the kitchen.

“We make due, now, let me get started on those drinks…” Thaddeus’s voice faded out as Norm went back to his mindless cooking, stirring the soup pot and lightly toasting the bun as he began to plate with a methodical approach that he couldn’t help. Placing each fry and each goat cheese-covered mushroom perfectly while setting up the cramburger, drizzling his spicy prickly pear and agave relish over the rat steak with an extra layer of care, and pouring the thick soup upon the squirrel bits base with precision. 

Norm nearly cried real tears over his cheeks at the sight, wishing he had his camera on him to take some photos of these masterpieces he had created, as he brought them over to the heat lamp to stay warm under, clicking the bell. “Done!”

Quickly, the plates were taken and Norm melted against the countertop he was using as a stool, throwing off his filthy gloves and apron before closing his eyes. A triumphant smile came under his face mask, he could finally relax and nothing could stop that.

“The lady wants to talk to the chef, saying she wants to give her compliments personally for the great meal,” Thaddeus laid his forearms onto the kitchen window’s lip, smiling teasingly. “Should I say he’s ’too tired for compliments and pleasantries’ or would you actually wanna go out?”

“Please,” Norm pulled off his mask, taking a deep breath as he melted further into the cold metal surface as he used his foot to the bowl of leftover potato wedges. 

“Of course, zeeskeit, eat those Jojos and take your well deserved break. I’ll deal with ‘em,” Thaddeus let out a soft sigh, ruffling up Norm’s hair before pulling back with a heavy groan to explain that Norm wasn’t up for any interaction at the moment. 

“Thank you,” the short man managed to say before Thaddeus had left earshot, shutting his eyes for a moment as he pulled the bowl into his lap. Norm stuffed the wedges in his mouth with a slow blink, happily chewing away and only hoping this would stay in his stomach later. He was starving, still freezing despite his fever, and dealing with a headache that was only growing behind his temples with an alarming speed.

𒊹︎> •~𐬾☢︎︎𐬿~• <𒊹︎

A soft ring came to Norm through his illness-induced slumber, the moonlight streaming in from the window and over their sheets with a twinkling, light blue glow. His head had rested upon Thaddeus’s chest, hand laid over that slightly pudgy stomach and old scars, but now Norm was sitting up groggily, rubbing at his eyes.

Another ring and Norm whined, not wanting to leave the comfort of his warm bed and even warmer lover to deal with a new customer but he’d have to, so he pulled himself from the sheets, wrapped himself in his robe and mismatched slippers, and made his way down the stairs.

Norm wondered what possibly could this customer ask about, or even complain about at this ungodly hour. He snatched up his Pip-Boy, checking the clock as he walked across the parlor (the clock read three twenty-two am in slowly flashing green text), around the fire pit with a big yawn and tiny stretch, and towards the front desk door with a slow blink of his eye, trying to put on his best smile. 

Norm opened it, eyes bleary and tired but still trying to look attentive and ready for this crapshoot. “Welcome to the Pitstop, I’m Mr. MacLean, how can I—”

“Norm?”

Norm’s eyes went wide, his eyes meeting Lucy’s own as she stood there, right in front of him with her hands hiding her mouth in shock.

“Lu… Lucy? What are you.. what are you doing here?” Norm hauled himself over the front desk’s countertop, flying into his sister’s open arms and crying into her neck as he gripped her shirt. “Oh my.. I can’t believe—”

“Why are you here, Lima Bean? You’re supposed to be safe in the Vault, Chet’s supposed to be taking care of you,” Lucy held her little brother close, kissing his forehead as she, too, cried over him. “What happened?”

“Gosh, so much,” Norm’s breath stuttered and shook, tears streaming down cheeks and running over his chin. “First of all… What did you do to your hair? You look like that one picture of Mom…”

Lucy sniffled, giggling brokenly with Norm as he couldn’t hold back his comment about her long hair. “I just haven’t had the time to deal with it beyond this, and you can’t complain about it, you have the patchest facial hair I’ve ever seen!”

They two went back to hugging and grasping each other, the floodgates of feelings and family love washing over the pair of the last standing MacLeans. It’s been over two months, over a month of not seeing his sister and knowing if she was even safe. Lucy held his face, wiping away his tears as he continued to sob and cry like he was four again and she was just trying to soothe him from his tantrum.

“Where’s Chet?”

“Vault 32, they did a whole reconstruction thing in there before I left,” Norm sniffled, rubbing his eyes as Lucy just held him close to her chest when running her palm over his hair. “Betty became Overseer again and.. and then the raiders were poisoned… Lucy, we were just pawns in a sick game of chess and Dad was a—”

“A crook and liar, I know, he was hiding everything from us and Mom,” Lucy shushed her baby brother’s fretting and worry with a calm hand, Norm just sobbing some more as he gripped her shirt with white knuckles. “He’s done so much evil, I can’t believe he could do anything like the things I’ve learned..”

Norm took a shaky breath, trying to not have his voice break. “What happened to Mom?”

“Dad.. he left her on the surface after she had figured out he was lying to her and everyone, she had taken us with her too and,” Lucy took a moment to compose herself, Norm helping her to one of the front desk’s chairs. “He killed so many people to see her suffer, to make sure she never came back… I got to see her, Norman, and she was suffering as a feral Ghoul tied to a wheelchair.”

Norm’s eyes shut and his ears began to ring, tears streaming down his cheeks, hiding away his face into his palms as his shoulders shook. He knew their father was a bad man, a liar and a crook who kept their community in the dark about everything, but now he was a terrifying monster who’s killed God knows how many people to make their poor mother suffer.

Norm couldn’t imagine how painful and heartbreaking his mother must have been going through that process. It was painful enough for him to watch Thaddeus go through this, that emotional state is something he could never wish upon anyone, even his darkest enemies. 

“Gosh, I already can’t take Thaddeus becoming a ghoul but learning that Mom—”

“Thaddeus?”

“Oh, uh, the man who runs this place and lets me stay, he must’ve introduced himself as Johnny, I’m sorry,” Lucy still looked a tad confused as she watched her little brother fumble with his words, wiping his eyes.

“No no, not that, I met him before,” Lucy cut in. “That’s why I recognized him! I met him once a month and a half back, when I was looking for our father.”

“Y-you what?”

Lucy nodded, Norm sitting there stunned beyond belief. “Yes, I met him when he got a crossbow bolt lodged into his neck when he was standing off with my husband, his former… comrade, I guess? He was a Squire in the Brotherhood.”

“The Brotherhood? No no, Lucy, he was just a part of a small military organization, and he left due to personal reasons, how could… ”

Lucy awkwardly hissed through her teeth, rubbing her palm over his back to stop Norm’s confused eyes from tearing up more than they already were. “It’s alright, Norm, it’s alright. I didn’t even know my husband’s real name until he saved me from some crazy people in another Vault.”

Norm’s head was reeling, his mind racing and his face set in a blank expression of total confusion and stress.

“How long have you been up here?” Lucy asked next, pushing some of his hair behind his ear.

“Little more than two months now, Thaddeus found me when I passed out dehydrated in the desert,” Norm mumbled weakly. “He saved me and I.. I was going to go find you but…”

Lucy started to sob, her expression breaking and her eyes watering as she held her brother tightly to chest. “I was going back to go find you, Lima Bean.”

“I'm just glad you’re safe,” Norm’s eyes shut again, this time though, he was content and at peace with a part of his mind that had been making him suffer so much, that guilty part finally squashed. “I’m just glad you’re here, Corn Kernel.”

Lucy pressed her forehead against his own, cupping his cheek with her now calloused palm. “I’m just glad you’re alive and found a man who can keep you safer than that Vault ever could’ve.”

Norm smiled softly, holding his big sister close as she ran her thumb over his jaw and cheek bones. They sat in complete silence for a while, just holding each other and listening to each other’s racing heartbeats in the darkness of the front desk office before Lucy broke the room’s peace with an innocent question.

“Do you love him, Norm?”

Norm nodded slowly, a small blush crawling up his neck and over his cheeks. “I do, I love him a lot.”

“Well, ain’t that a sweet sight for sore eyes. The last two standing MacLeans, crying in a shitty motel lobby in the middle of fucking nowhere, it’s almost beautiful for a family name that’s fallen so far.”

Norm and Lucy both looked towards the old Ghoul who was standing in the doorway, nursing a cigarette in his gloved hand, blowing the smoke from the hole that had once been where his nose sat. 

“Oh, Coop, stop being so cynical,” Lucy told the old man, holding her brother close with a shake of her head. “Don’t mind him, Norm, he’s just a big old pessimist with a grudge against the world.”

“Says lil miss ‘Cannibal Sunshine’ right ‘ere, I call my attitude just playing with the cards I was given,” Mr. Howard smoothly shot back, Norm’s eyebrows shooting up as he frantically looked towards Lucy, who now looked quite guilty.

“You ate someone?!”

“Multiple people, in fact,” Mr. Howard added, blowing a ring of smoke into the air. “Made some mighty fine ass jerky with those poor souls…”

Norm looked disgusting and revolted, looking at Lucy as she tried to catch up with her own words. “We didn’t have much food and… they were already dead when we found them, it was for survival’s sake.”

“That’s still horrible,” Norm commented as he covered his mouth, feeling a bit queasy at the thought of his sister eating the dead bodies of multiple sentient people. “I couldn’t even stand eating the dead goat that Thaddeus had to kill because we had to..”

“Aww, you guys have goats? Are they cute? Are there any little baby goats?” Lucy asked as she made a pleading expression, her voice straining to become high pitched as Mr. Howard let out a dry cough. 

“I saw you an’ that drying jerky up ‘ere got some horses too, pretty lil mustang you got hitched with,” The Ghoul commented on. “Must have cost a pretty penny.”

“Only six hundred caps actually. Total bargain,” Norm retorted with ease, Mr. Howard nodded and took another puff of his cigarette, as Norm pulled his robe around himself just a bit tighter. “But besides that, why did you ring the front desk bell? It’s almost four am…”

“Okay, uh,” Lucy scratched at her neck, as the other hand pushed back her long hair with a little laugh. “The water wasn’t working in our room so we were asking if we could switch to one that does work?”

Norm groaned, rubbing his tired eyes as Mr. Howard let out a dry laugh, teeth clicking together and his wheezing was heavy and harsh. “That’s what you wanted to ask ‘bout? Some little shower head not workin’ like it should an’ you go crying to your little brother?”

“Oh shut up!” Lucy threw one of Norm’s slippers at the old man, who just took the hit and kept laughing like a deranged, raspy bird. She turned to Norm, taking his hands into her own with pleading eyes. “Please? Pretty please?”

“Fine,” Norm sighed out, getting up and moving towards the front desk and vaulting himself up onto the countertop and over. “Just don’t do this again, I still have to sleep…”

“I’ll keep her in check, just go back to that little hillbilly of yours,” Mr. Howard jabbed, crushing his cigarette out as Norm clicked at the terminal to update the room log, plus a reminder for himself to fix up the pipe. “Don’t need him gettin’ trigger happy now.”

“He’s not trigger happy, and he’s not a hillbilly,” Norm retorted, shutting down the terminal and handing Lucy the new keys, Lucy giving back his slipper and the old keys to their room. “Have a good night, Lucy.”

“Have sweet dreams, Norm,” She gave her brother one last smile, ruffled up his hair, and soon left outside with Mr. Howard on her tail, the spurs on the back of his boots clicking gently.

His sister was alive and well, but Norm worried for his future either way. What if Lucy wanted Norm to leave with her on whatever journey, to drop everything and come with her, that old ghoul, and that dog? 

What if Lucy didn’t want to stay here with him and Thaddeus, didn’t find the peaceful, safe life that this bed & breakfast provides her with a fulfilling life like it did for Norm? 

What if Lucy asked him to leave this life he’s made up here, to leave Thaddeus behind and to join her in a journey that will take them to God knows where?

Norm tried not to think about that as he crawled his way back up the stairs and back into bed, snuggling right into Thaddeus’s arms and soothing the small grumble from the larger man with a sweet peck to his cheek. “Shh, handsome, I’m back, don't fret…”

“Mmm,” Arms entangled him, Norm’s head now lying upon a strong bicep as Thaddeus kissed at his face and his mustache teased over his face. It was as if one of the kids was kissing his face, just a lot better smelling. “Bubbaleh..”

“Honey…” Norm couldn’t help but giggle, running his hand through his lovely boyfriend’s hair. When he pulled his hand back however, a concerning amount of strands of auburn hair came with, Norm trying to shut out the sight by just shutting his eyes and focusing on his lover’s warm breath across his skin. “Sleep well…” 

𒊹︎> •~𐬾☢︎︎𐬿~• <𒊹︎

Norm hummed, cracking more eggs over the griddle as Lucy helped with toasting up the bread they’ll be eating, talking about all the misadventures she had gone through.

“I nearly got eaten, four times in fact!” Lucy giggled out, “and only once was by actually an animal. All the other times it was by these… people who wanted to eat me. Have you had to deal with that? Or do I just have rotten luck?”

“No, I haven’t, unless it’s random men thinking I’m a prostitute and asking me for sex counts as people wanting to eat me,” Norm huffed with a roll of his eyes, cutting through the whites and yolks and scrambling his pile of eggs. Lucy made a face, and Norm quickly added with a blush face. “W-which I never took up! I’m still… y’know… and I plan on staying a.. y’know… which um…”

“I know you’re not a virgin anymore, Norm,” Lucy cut off his fumbling and stumbling with his words, the sizzle of the thick cut of butter she had sliced from the stick onto the griddle filled the awkward silence. “And all I want to know is if it was safe, if you enjoyed it, and if Thaddeus was kind to you… so?”

Norm awkwardly blushed, ears, cheeks, and even the tip of his nose turning bright red. “He was really nice, really sweet.. um.. and it was as safe as it could be, in the Wasteland, I guess. I did like it, I.. I liked it a lot actually…”

“Phew! Good because,” Lucy said with a smile, leaning over to pinch her baby brother’s blushed cheek. “I really didn’t want to interrogate your boyfriend about this, he seems like a good man and I don’t wanna use my brand new guass pistol on him.”

Norm choked, nearly falling over. “What?” 

Lucy looked blankly down at him, smiling innocently. “What?” 

Norm made a concerned noise, trying not to choke on his own breath as Thaddeus came in from the chicken coop, more eggs in his basket and a hen nuzzled close to his chest. Lucy awe’d at the sight, coming over to the chicken and wiggling her index finger at the puzzled hen. 

“Isn’t she just so cute! Does she have a name?” Lucy asked as Thaddeus sat the basket next to Norm’s workplace upon the kitchen top. “Can I hold her?”

“Well, you can but she likes to bite,” Thaddeus commented, gently running two of his fingers over the small hen’s back. “And she doesn’t have a name, can’t think of one right now anyways..”

“I think Henriette is a good name,” Lucy commented, scooping up the chicken from Thaddeus’s arms and bringing her slowly to her own chest. “She’s a lot heavier than I thought she’d be…”

“That just means I’m a good caretaker,” Thaddeus snorted, resting his hands on his hips as Lucy petted over the chicken’s soft feathers, scratching under her chin. “Fatter and happier the chicken, the better it looks on you being a good farmer. My Pa would say that a lot whenever he was happy with the farm’s income being stable.”

“You were a farmer?”

“Fly farm up north, but we also raised Brahmin, chickens, goats, and horses next to the flies,” Thaddeus leaned against the countertop’s lip, hands moving about as he spoke. “Flies mulch the shit those animals and we create, create protein for us to sell and use as a fertilizer for our crops, and we get a steady income.”

“Was it a family business?” Lucy asked, petting the chicken as if she was petting a cat.

“Eh, it’s complicated,” Norm rolled his eyes as he flipped more toast and eggs, and began to place them onto the large plates with some salt and pepper. “My Pa’s side of the family came here just before the Bombs as refugees from some place called ‘Bavaria’ which was a part of this ‘Daytshland’ or something like that.”

“Oh! Do you mean Germany? That country looked so pretty in all the photos I saw in my textbooks. That must have been during the European Civil War when your ancestors left Germany,” Lucy said gleefully, cutting off Thaddeus but quickly shutting up. “Sorry, please continue, Thaddeus.”

“Uh… Anyways,” Thaddeus went back into his story, pushing back his hair with a sigh. “My Pa's family came from there and lived in some big city with all these people from all over the world, and left that place after the Bombs apparently killed most of the people living there. Those who did live well… ‘zey farvarfin di tseyn oyf di bentanes ober eyner dem tsveytn’ is all my Pa would say…”

“‘They had nothing to eat but each other,’” Norm translated for his sister easily while picking up an egg, the sizzle of whites and yolk hitting the hot griddle filling the quiet that came over the room. 

Thaddeus ruffled up his hair suddenly, smiling wolfishly despite the dark subject matter. “Hey, you have been catching onto the Yiddish! Your pronunciation sucks, babe…”

“People ate each other to survive so your ancestors left? What happened after that?” Lucy sounded almost too excited, and Norm couldn’t help himself but sigh as Thaddeus excitedly continued on for his captive audience.

“Well, then they spent like fifty years traveling about the Wasteland for a place to settle. They never truly found a place until making it to Portlandia and staying there for a good few decades, sadly though, they were forced out again by…,” Norm shut off the griddle, picking up a slice of buttered toast and beginning to eat the buttery soft bread as he took the plates out to the main room, Mr. Howard was drinking his coffee and Dogmeat (as the pup had been named apparently) was chewing on an old piece of plastic that had been laying around. 

“That man can talk an ear off, can’t he?” Mr. Howard let out a long sigh, sipping from his mug. “Now, how does a lil Vaultie with nothing but his wit an’ the clothes on his back get an ex-tin-can-in-training who’s turnin’ into a nasty bowl of matzo ball soup as a business partner? Bet you’re the one who came up with this whole schtick an’ he just went along with it.” 

“Passing out in the middle of a supermarket is how you get a man like that,” Norm grunted as sat the plates down onto the bar top, hauling himself into a chair and plucking a cigarette from the pack that the old Ghoul had set out, lighting it quick and taking a long puff. “And he made all of this long before I came around; not me. I just set up the computers and all so when… when I leave he can make this place extra efficient.”

The Ghoul let out a wheezing laugh, Norm grumbled as he took another puff from his much needed cigarette between bites of his toast. “You ain’t ever leaving this dump, darl’, you’re stuck with Mister Boschmann over ‘ere til you get too grossed out by his rotting body to wanna keep fucking it.”

“I love him more than just for his body, Mr. Howard, you do know that, right?” Norm gave the old man a glare, exhaling the smoke from his lungs through his nose like how a cartoon character might. “He’s a kind, thoughtful man who’s been through a lot and who showed me that I’m more than just a disappointment to my father.”

“He must be dickin’ you down pretty well or have something nice packed down ‘ere if he can keep you this naïve and innocent about that whole ‘love’ thing,” Norm groaned louder with a blush appearing over his cheeks (that he tried to hide with covering his face with his arm), head landing onto the bar top while he crushed his cigarette into the ashtray’s basin. “Darl’, hiding away isn’t making your case look any better.”

“Shut up for a minute, please,” Norm gritted out between his bared teeth, covering his head with both of his arms now as he took a minute to breathe and relax. 

A familiar hand came to his shoulder, a pair of chapped lips kissed his knuckles, and a gentle voice asked him a question in a quiet whisper. “You okay, Norm?”

“I’m alright, Thad, just a bit tired still,” Norm peeked out from behind his arms, looking up at Thaddeus, who gave him a sweet smile and another kiss, this time to his forehead.

Thaddeus took some eggs and toast, chomping away as he sat next to the older Ghoul with a smile. “So you were from before the War?”

“Yea, born an’ raised in a little state called Alabama an’ I got way to the top of that Hollywood life with my all-time classic ‘Under the Covers’ with the beautiful Miss Vera Keys,” Mr. Howard cooed, downing back the last of his coffee. “Loved that movie, Keys was a fantastic co-star in that movie with a singing voice of pure gold, I really wished she had done more than just be with that Sinclair pig in his death trap of a casino.”

“Isn't that place supposed to be haunted by ghosts and stuff?” Thaddeus shivered, drumming his hand against the glossy wooden bar top. “Place gives me a heebie-jeebies, my Uncle would always go on about how scary and how many people died looking for it.”

“Someone in ‘81 managed to get in,” Norm bit down onto some eggs, grumbling still as Thaddeus looked enamored by Mr. Howard’s story. “Took all that gold an’ all those riches from the Vault under the casino, left nothing in ‘ere but a single dollar bill before bouncin’ back to Vegas.”

“Was it the Courier? I bet it was the Courier,” Thaddeus leaned over the bar counter to grab himself a Sunset, uncapping it easily as Mr. Howard let out a wheeze. “No, no, I’m sure it was him, like… who else would survive that!?”

“Who or what is ‘the Courier?’” Norm asked, stuffing his face with another slice of buttery crisp toast as Thaddeus smiled wolfishly.

“Just the most badass, coldest motherfucker the Wasteland ever created! He got shot in the head and lived, he’s gotten lobotomized, turned into a cyborg, became a Great Khan chieftain, and ruled Vegas under the House’s jurisdiction for years,” Thaddeus practically shouted out in glee, spilling his sarsaparilla onto the countertop. “He’s the sickest man ever! He’s like a goddamn national hero amongst the Brotherhood,” the old Ghoul started to wheeze, laughing at Thaddeus, who then glared at him, “what’s so funny?”

“First off,” Mr. Howard gently sat his mug upon the countertop, leaning back in his stool with his hat tipped back over his eyes. “The Courier was a fine little lady with bright red hair like a fire an’ darkest black eyes you’ve ever seen; Not a man. I met her once in Sac-Town while she was boxin’ a Super Mutant with a power fist. An’ second off, she didn’t work for that House; she worked for the people of New Vegas and for her own people.”

Thaddeus looked starried, his turquoise eyes gleaming and mystified by the older Ghoul meeting a person who he held highly.

“No, they were something in between,” Lucy said, sitting in a chair with the chicken still in her lap comfortably. “That man we talked to in Vegas said he met them and they weren’t a man or a woman.”

“Ya mean that cracked out tweaker from Goodsprings we met? You believe that man over my word, Ms. MacLean?” Mr. Howard almost seemed offended by this, stained teeth bared as Lucy turned her nose at that.

“He wasn’t on drugs, he was a nice man who was willing to help us on our journey,” Lucy countered, running her hand over the chicken’s feathers affectionately. 

Norm snorted, chewing on his slice of toast. “So this person was a revolutionary, freedom fighting mailman, how should I react to this person who I know nothing about?”

“Because he was the best thing that ever happened to the Wasteland, and especially for the Mojave Wasteland,” Thaddeus claimed, fist landed onto the bar top with this look of determination upon his smiling features. “I wish I got to see New Vegas before it went to total shit, I would wanna see Gomorrah and if it’s true what they said about it…”

Thaddeus made a little giggle with some blush creeping onto his cheeks, thinking about something filthy that Mr. Howard joined in with his own comments about Sin City. 

“That place was filthy but the ladies an’ gentlemen were pretty an’ talked so sweetly if ya had the caps, nice legs too but nasty Med-X or Jet addictions,” Mr. Howard commented on, leaning over the counter to grab a bottle of whiskey, before Norm could grumble, ten caps were in his palm as the old man uncapped the bottle and chugged.

“Do they really wear like… nothing? I heard they’d wear frilly lil lingerie if playing up the sweet kinda stuff and leather for the hardcore crowds. I still wanna know if the whole pole dancing thing was real or my friends back in the Brotherhood were just pulling my leg,” Thaddeus was still just blushing like he wasn’t talking about the idea of half naked women (and men) putting on a show for him. Norm made a frown, stuffing the caps in his pocket as Thaddeus made note of his reaction. “I-I wouldn’t sleep with any of them, I just wanna know if it’s real or not…”

Norm arched a brow at that, and Thaddeus let out a defeated grumble. 

“Okay, it’s more than just wanting to know if it’s real, but… wouldn’t you be tempted if a nice looking guy in barely anything was being all sweet to you and calling you handsome?” Thaddeus pleaded, big eyes soft and almost pleading, and Norm couldn’t disagree with that (he’d probably die before even stepping into the place, even going to that bar with Thaddeus had nearly mentally killed him after the fact). “I know if a lady or a guy or really anything did that to me, I’d melt on the spot and fold like a piece of paper.”

“I bet you’d like it if this little man right here was dressed like one of those strippers, huh, Hillbilly?” Thaddeus choked on his sarsaparilla, Norm choked on his third slice of buttered toast, and Lucy gasped very loudly that sent the hen’s into the air with a loud scream from her chest. “I ain’t wrong an’ you all know that! It needed to be said before some downright nasty sex was had in this here bar, up in that loft you two call a bedroom up there—”

“COOPER HOWARD, YOU NASTY OLD MAN!” Lucy looked queasy at what the nasty old man was saying, Norm was trying not to run into his workshop for a good scream and cry, and Thaddeus was now trying to get the screaming hen away from the barking dog, who was probably trying to eat the poor chicken.

Chapter Text

“So… tell me more about Mr. Johnny “Thaddeus” Hecke,” Lucy purred while sitting next to Norm upon the swing bench, holding her own mug of steaming hot coffee close to her chest as they both watch Thaddeus herding the goats towards to a sectored off part of the Pre-War parking lot to cut down some brambles. “Tell me everything about him. All you know, in detail, because I’ve never seen you this happy about someone, or anything, in your life in forever.”

“Like what? I don’t have many interesting stories to tell in the first place,” Norm sighed out, sipping on his own mug of hot coffee as Thaddeus used his foot to push one of the older kids towards the gate’s opening. “But I guess I know some things about him.”

“Then tell me!” Lucy sipped at her mug loudly as Norm looked back down to his ink-stained notepad with a groan, he had been working upon the next month’s spending and margins but it was clear Lucy wanted to chitter and chutter about his boyfriend.

“Um…” Norm tapped the tip of his pen against his thinly haired chin with a sigh. “I guess he likes to talk about everything that comes to his mind that seem quite trivial, he has a bit of a drinking problem that I’ve been trying to subtly mention without it making it look like I’m attacking him, and he grew up on a farm that from what he’s told me wasn’t the best environment but it led to him doing this so… I’m sure it didn't affect him too much.”

“Fun! I would’ve never guessed that he was a farmer but I should’ve known! Especially with those muscles, I would’ve thought he was some kind of… I don't quite know… construction worker? Or maybe bouncer,” Lucy sipped at her coffee with her eyes twinkling mischiefly as she watched Thaddeus pluck up one of the nannies who was lagging behind. “I met a few bouncers when I was in Vegas and oh my goodness, this really hot one at this place called the Atomic Wrangler, who was the single prettiest man I had EVER seen in my life, and Thad reminds me of him–”

“So you think my boyfriend is attractive?”

Lucy nodded innocently, smiling at him with straight, yellowing teeth (clearly not having much time to brush them these days). “Yeah I do. He’s a very handsome man, even with his eyes being a bit too close together and that squeaky voice of his.”

“Okay…” Norm awkwardly sipped his coffee with an uncomfortable chuckle, sipping at his mug as he watched Thaddeus petting one of the nannies’ backs with a goofy, bucked tooth smile while talking to them about whatever he wanted to.

“What else is interesting about Thaddeus beyond that? You must’ve learned more than just that!” Lucy asked next impatiently, swinging the bench slowly while sipping at her mug with a sweet smile. “Like, what’s his favorite food or what are his parents' names– OOOH! I bet you’ve met them already!”

Norm awkwardly slapped his notepad into his lap, shutting it was an awkward snapping of his pencil and sending splintering over his lap too, sipping at his own coffee. “Lucy, his parents aren’t–”

“Are they nice? Is his father as scary as he described or is he actually a big softie who just loved you to bits? I can't wait to meet them whenever you and Thaddeus decide to tie the knot like me and my husband did! I hope it's more interesting than what we did like with fireworks and a lot of your boyfriend’s cooking, and I’m sure it will be,” Lucy cooed while pinching Norm’s cheek, smiling brightly. “I promise to buy something all kosher and such so they’ll know I’m all for this interfaith same-sex marriage you’ll both have, and so they’ll love me as much as they must love you already!”

“His parents weren't very accepting of him, Lucy,” Norm tried to start and Lucy made a disappointed whine, cupping his cheek now as she sadly held his cheek.

“Oh, so they're not into the whole interfaith relationship or the same-sex relationship part of the relationship? Either way, that sucks and is really too bad,” Lucy pouted, running her thumb over Norm’s cheek with a reassuring move that just made Norm more uncomfortable than comforted at all. “If you were a girl, I’m sure they would’ve loved you even despite the fact you’re an Ex-Baptist atheist and not Jewish.”

Norm sighed, defeated and clearly wildly uncomfortable with this whole conversation. “Right…”

“You’re still an atheist, right? I remember when you told me that on your twelfth birthday you nearly drowned when late Pastor Mathews and Dad were baptizing you,” Lucy recounted with a frown, brow arching in confusion as Norm awkwardly looked up at her with a tight-lipped expression. “Or are you now Jewish with dating Thaddeus and everything? Can you convert to Judaism without getting a circumcision or all of that?”

“Lucy, please shut up–”

Lucy quickly shushed him as she turned away towards where Thddeus was fixing up the fencing for the goats so they wouldn't try to jump out. “Let me ask your boyfriend myself… THADDEUS?!” 

“YEA?!” Thaddeus turned around with a holler, tipping his hat back while stuffing something in his back pocket. Norm awkwardly turned his head down, covering his eyes while sipping his coffee while trying to not cry from embarrassment.

“CAN OR DID NORM CONVERT TO JUDAISM?! OR NOT?!” Lucy asked while standing up still, pointing at Norm with her mug and sipping some onto the porch’s wood in between shouting very loudly.

Thaddeys scratched his jaw, shrugging as he scratched at his jaw with a confused look upon his face. “UHHH… NO, HE HASN’T YET! I DUNNO IF HE CAN THOUGH BUT UH–”

Lucy gave a thumbs up, smiling. “OKIE-DOKIE, THANK YOU!!! So are you planning to convert for Thaddeus when you marry him, Normy? I’m sure they’d love you if they saw you were willing to change your religious beliefs just to marry him.”

“No, I’m not going to do that, ever, and I don’t even know if I want to marry him at all, Lucy,” Norm let out a quick huff, bringing the lip of his mug to his own lips with a frown. “His parents wouldn’t like me even if I was a woman, or Jewish, and it's not like I can even ask for their blessing in the first place, with them being dead and all. Thaddeus doesn’t even want to talk about them with me either way...”

“Have you asked him about them?” Lucy pouted as she asked so innocently, pinching his cheek once more as she turned his head to look at Thaddeus, who was smiling and still chatting to the goats like a dummy. Norm’s heart melted just a bit at such a sweet sight as he took a sip of his steaming hot coffee with a hum, watching with a sweet smile.

“No, but I’m sure he’s not ready just like how I’m not ready to get married yet,” Norm swiftly shot back, looking back to his sister with an icy glare. “Corn Kernel, please just drop this already. Unlike you, I can’t just marry the first man I meet because he was nice to me once like you were able to. Twice.”

“Well, Lima Bean, my new husband is a sweetheart,” Lucy reassured with a tap to the tip of Norm’s nose with a cheeky smile that made Norm roll his eyes. “He’s a handsome, young man who I love dearly and it's clear to me that you love Thaddeus as much as he loves you. So why not marry him?”

“I wouldn’t want to leave him alone if I decide to leave with you or not. I just can’t do that to someone I said I loved and will be with ‘until death do we part’ without feeling guilt, I couldn’t bear to do that to him and leave him as distressed as I was left behind in Vault 33 after you–” Norm cut himself off with a clenched fist in his lap, looking back to Thaddeus with a sigh that shook his shoulder, and away from Lucy’s confused but honestly distressed expression. 

Thaddeus seemed to have noticed his watching, waving at Norm with a buck toothed smile with a twinkle in his eye that made him so charming, and that simple look made Norm all flustered. “Sorry, I just don’t want to talk about this right now…”

“Okay, um,” Lucy sat back down, sipping at her own cup with an awkward, bubbling giggle that Norm knew meant she felt awkward and didn’t know how to react beyond her manic giggling. “I’m sorry, Norm, for pushing on a sore subject like that one so how about we change it to something lighter? Like… uh… you’re learning how to ride a horse, right? That’s really cool!”

Norm smiled behind his mug, nodding while trying to not think about the seed that Lucy had planted in his mind. “I am.”

𒊹︎> •~𐬾☢︎︎𐬿~• <𒊹︎

“Your uh… sister is really weird but nice, I guess,” Thaddeus whispered to Norm as he landed onto the couch with his bowl of thick, chunky potato soup that he quickly scooped into his mouth. “She keeps asking me all these questions that I have no clue how to respond to. Why does she wanna know my ‘shoe size’ and blood type?”

Norm rolled his eyes, his dark gaze landing onto where his sister was happily talking to Mr. Howard while eating from her own bowl of chunky soup with her hands shaking and moving about with a giggle. “She’s just being herself, Thad, you don’t have to be too scared of how she might respond to anything you might say.”

“Good… Good…” Thaddeus scooped up another spoonful into his mouth, a loud slurp making Norm’s eye twitch. “So is it also normal for her to ask strange questions while touching my arms and such? Is it also normal for her to threaten her little brother’s boyfriends with a gun and say, ‘I will eat you from limb-to-limb if you break my baby brother’s heart.’ Is that normal?”

Norm’s eyes shut, his face falling into his palm with a harsh sigh. “Yup, that’s my darling, older sister for you right there…”

“Okay, thanks for the heads up on that,” Thaddeus gulped down another spoonful, loudly chewing on mushy potatoes and carrots. He was slurping down thick, brothy soup with a loud gulp as Norm continued to keep his head down and his eyes shut tightly. 

Lucy was just being protective of him and this was just her being an older sister who wants to keep her baby brother’s heart safe from heartbreak. Which, while was demeaning for Norm’s growing confidence, it was sweet in an odd way. 

Very Lucy of hers…

Norm wouldn’t be any better if Lucy showed off her new husband of the month off to him, he might not threaten him explicitly with a gun and ask questions like about his sperm count and such, but he would make it clear if that man dare hurt his sister in any way that he could come up with a way to hurt him even more. He was protective, just like Lucy, so he shouldn’t be so hard on her. 

They’re the last of the MacLeans, no matter how much pain that name brings them with the reputation of such a name following them about.

Norm let out a deep breath he had been holding for a while, letting out a heavy sigh once more before looking back up with his fingers dragging over his face with a groan. “I’m so sorry about her, honey.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself or on her, baby, my older and younger siblings would’ve been a lot worse with you than she has been to me,” Thaddeus reassured with a hardy pat to the center of Norm’s back that sent Norm forward a bit with the force of the pat. “My older brothers would’ve tried to string you up on the clothesline with broken nails and my older sister would’ve pulled her varmint rifle from her back and shot at your feet til you’re off the farm.”

“Oh really?” Norm mumbled as his face fell back into his hands shakily. “And your younger siblings?”

“My little sisters would’ve loved you, kinda, maybe, but in a way that gives off they see you as a doll rather than a person, dragging you about and showing you everything around the farm and town,” Norm rolled his eyes at that and Thaddeus slurped his soup loudly once more, humming to himself as he chewed and swallowed the chunky soup down his throat. “And my little brothers? Well, fuck those two.”

“Thaddeus?”

Norm and Thaddeus perked up at Lucy, looking as she let that dog lap from her near empty bowl with a smile. Thaddeus scooped some more soup onto his silver spoon, blowing on the steaming broth and chunky carrot before pushing the spoon past his lips. “Yeah?”

“What do you feel if me and Coop stay for a bit longer than expected? I’m sure that’s alright with you because I’m Norm’s sister and all,” Lucy smiled brightly, purring like a cat practically as she spoke, and as Thaddeus chewed loudly, Norm let out a little sigh of defeat. Mr. Howard smoked on his cigar with a ring of smoke escaping his lips, watching the odd couple's reaction with a quirked lip. “I promise to repay you with embarrassing stories about Norm from back in the day…”

“Oh yeah! You guys can stay for however long you wanna stay as personal guests of mine,” Thaddeus gave a thumbs up, smiling back wolfishly to Lucy and the older Ghoul. “And embarrassing stories about Norm are greatly appreciated. I have told him far too many embarrassing stories about myself so we really gotta even the playing field here, y’know?”

“Perfect, now would you rather hear about the Vault Boy crush he had at twelve? That one time he got caught drawing him and Vault Boy kissing in class, or the choir story that includes him falling off the stage during his solo performance when he was nine?” Lucy asked excitedly while setting down her bowl on a nearby end table, her expression changing to one of pure sisterly tournament as Norm tried not to crumble into a ball. 

Thaddeus and Mr. Howard both erupted into laughter, chucking and snorting with some wheezes escaping the older Ghoul’s long-gone lips.

“Next ya gonna say is that he wore some kinda… headgear that made your little brother look like an idiot, Vaultie,” Mr. Howard exclaimed between laughs, slapping his knee as Thaddeus wiped a tear from his eye using his thumb. “Please tell he did!”

Norm further came in on himself with a pout, looking away with his shoulders hunched and his brows furrowed. 

Mr. Howard immediately went back to laughing, gripping Lucy’s shoulder tightly as he shook about with his uncontrollable laughter that also took Thaddeus, who had to put his bowl down with a hyena-like cackle that escaped his chest as well. “NO WAY MAN!!! REALLY?!”

“I had a bad overbite, okay?” Norm grumbled under his breath, hiding his blushed face away.

“Must’ve been bad if you had a headgear on for what?! Two years?” Mr. Howard looked to Lucy with what had to be an arched brow. Lucy shook her head and smiled, looking at Norm’s face, one of complete embarrassment and horror, before continuing on with a twinkle in her eye. “No, four years!”

Lucy giggled manically and shook her head as Norm stuffed his face into a nearby pillow with the groan of an annoyed younger sibling getting teased. “From when he was ten til he was sixteen, he got them off on his birthday and I remember he cried at being able to eat Jell-O and popcorn again!”

“I get it, it’s funny that I had messed up teeth for such a long time as a teenager,” Norm sarcastically mumbled with his hands gripping a pillow close to his chest, and when Thaddeus snorted as he pulled Norm close to his chest and into his lap, did Norm throw the pillow onto the wooden floor.

“I’m not trying to make fun of you for having some funny-looking headgear on your head, I’m trying to tease you like any normal couple would about learning embarrassing stories, baby,” Thaddeus kissed Norm’s cheek as he spoke softly, smiling as his cheek rested upon Norm’s shoulder with a kind twinkle in his eyes that Norm rolled his eyes at. Thaddeus continued to laugh even with the rejection of his apology, sticking his nose against his boyfriend’s neck with his eyes crinkling shut happily. “Okay, grumpy-pants, roll your eyes and act like it isn’t actually funny all you want.”

“Well, I’m definitely makin’ fun of ya, little darl’,” The old Ghoul laughed out with a rather large ring of gray smoke coming from his mouth with a hiss coming from his yellowed teeth. Norm's frown deepened at that confirmation as the dog crawled up onto the couch where Norm had been sitting and laid out triumphantly. “Ya just a completely ridiculous man an’ ya can’t just deny a cowpoke like me of that sweet, sweet honor.”

“Cold-hearted, Mr. Howard,” Norm blankly mumbled, making himself comfortable in Thaddeus’s lap with a roll of his eyes. “Bullying a poor young man you buttered up with a flirtatious nickname and that drawl? Absolutely cold-hearted.” 

Mr. Howard let out an easy chuckling sigh, making himself even more comfortable on the ripped leather couch with a ring of smoke leaving his mouth. He tapped some cigar ash into the nearby ashtray, those stained teeth and piercing, bloodshot blue eyes looking at him with a look that a weaker man (maybe Norm a few months ago) would’ve feared and inch away from in fright. Instead, Norm met it with his own piercing stare that seemed to clash with the old Ghoul’s. “It's not being cold-hearted, Mr. MacLean; It’s called actin’ an’ I was a star back in the day with this drawl of mine.”

“Still. That was rather cold of you, and by how rusty your skills were when you came in,” Norm’s brows furrowed and his eyes sharpened as he made a jab forward with his words, the old Ghoul meeting his harshness with the grip on his cigar tightening. “It must've been a long time since you've ever had to use them, but that might have just been because I’m not so easily flattered.”

The air was thick with the smell of soup and cigar smoke, along with the tension of the two strong-willed men eyeing each other down like birds of prey or as two cowboys at high noon might square up.

Lucy, Thaddeus, and the Dog spectators to this sight.

Mr. Howard’s yellowed teeth bared. “Ya question me, boy?”

Norm plucked Thaddeus's still warm bowl of soup from the nearby end table with a blank, tight-lipped stare, eyes closing as he brought the spoon to his lips and loudly slurped as he downed his spoonful of thick broth. “Yes, I am, and so what, Mr. Howard? It’s not like you can prove yourself now, old man.”

A crack in his calm expression as Norm peeked one eyelid open just a crack to get the reaction he had been missing so long. The Ghoul growled under his breath with the cigar shaking and crumbling in his occupied hand, his free hand ever so slightly twitching to his pistol that laid at his hip and Norm shut his eyes once more while loudly slurping, smiling to himself. “Ya lil cocksuckin’ piece of–”

Norm adored getting under people’s skin, especially if those were people he didn't quite like, getting to poke at something that would get them to drop some kind of pretend nicety and expose their true intentions in all their ugliness. Mr. Howard wasn’t really hard to pick apart, he was rather old and by the moments he noted of him hissing while standing up and those inhalers he takes while thinking himself alone, the old man ashamed of that part of him.

All he needed to do was poke at an insecurity there, bait him into dropping that first wall here, and boom, the reaction Norm had been looking for to piss off the man who only flirted with him to get a cheaper room and then proceed to make fun of him.

“How about some pie?” Lucy quickly shot in, smiling and looking over to Thaddeus with a pleading look to spring something up to lighten the mood. “Or cake?”

“Uh… I think I got something like that in the fridge, yeah,” Thaddeus stumbled out while carefully setting Norm back down onto the couch and off his lap. He pressed a quick kiss, leaning down to Norm’s ear for a split second as Norm gleefully slurped down another spoonful with a smirk of triumph. “You are so lucky you’re cute and that guy was starting to piss me off a bit too, babe, or I would–” 

Norm turned his head to kiss Thaddeus on the lips, smiling as he pulled away to see the completely confused and befuddled expression on his lover’s face. “Can it be that fake chocolate cake you made with those dried pears and agave? I think our guests would love the taste.”

“U-Um, sure? Y-Yeah I can– grab that,” Thaddeus nodded as he fumbled about with blushed cheeks towards the kitchen with Lucy, who also looked quite awkward, as they walked past the bar and into the kitchen. “Could you grab plates as I…”

“You are fuckin’ lucky I can’t just gut ya right now an’ make a real nice stew outta ya intestines, boy,” the Ghoul grit out in a hiss, snubbing out his cigar. Norm smiled to himself as he set down the bowl with a gentle clink against the end table’s glossy surface. “Yer sister would ‘ave my head if I did, an’ I need it for what she learned for that crackhole city we crawled out of.”

“What?”

Mr. Howard’s lips shut tightly after he spoke, seeming to only get what he had let out in his moment of frustration, and as he looked to the kitchen for split moment, eyes full of thought, before they turned back to Norm with an almost pleading glint in the corners of those once crystal blue eyes. “I wasn’t supposed to say anythin’ until she talked with ya first…”

“About what, Mr. Howard?” Norm’s breath was caught in his throat, his full attention upon the old Ghoul with his hands gripping his knees.

The old Ghoul looked conflicted, looking away and towards where Lucy, who was balancing some plates and forks in her arms, and Thaddeus, who was holding a plastic cake box with a handsome smile on his lips as he went on about something to the woman beside him, had come back into the main parlor from their search for the cake. “... Yeah, I’ve noticed that ‘bout him. It's kinda funny and a bit cute, ya’know?”

“It was a lot sweeter when he was a little boy, watching him drool all over himself with his old Jangles,” Lucy sweetly remarked while handing out the plates and forks with a smile as Thaddeus sat down the cake with a chuckle. She looked over to Norm, laughing to herself as she pointed a fork at his chest. “I was just telling Thad here about that habit you sometimes do when you're deep in sleep? Where’d you drool and wrap yourself up like a baby in your sleep, ending up with you sweating a lot? Remember that?”

Norm grumbled, an embarrassed flush steaming onto the cheeks with his boiling anxious nature. “Yes, I do, so?”

“Lucy was just telling me the first time that happened,” Thaddeus said while beginning to slice up the cake, first putting a slice of the false chocolate cake slice upon Lucy’s smile, her face becoming all cheeky. “Something about you being about four and having some kind of nightmare from being wrapped up so tightly. She said you started screaming and panicking about someone grabbing you away.”

“I was four and still dealing with night-terrors at that point for whatever reason,” Norm’s eyes fell to his plate, running his thumb over the lip of the ceramic plate anxiously.

“Probably when Mom left the Vault with the both of us when you were about… two or so? When she had figured out that Dad and Betty were liars,” Lucy muttered to herself absentmindedly as she stabbed her fork into the fluffy cake that rested perfectly on her own plate, and as she brought the chunk of crumble cake to her lips, Norm’s brow arched in interest. “She did have to venture all the way to Shady Sands on her own with a baby and a little child, it's possible something happened during that which traumatized you without you even knowing what happened.”

“Maybe someone tried to take you away from her and that event stuck with you as a nightmare when you were little. Just mellowing out into your need to be like… secure as possible,” Thaddeus offered up absentmindedly himself while he continued to slice up the cake. “I don’t know why I worry so much about how others view me to the point of having breakdowns about it, ‘cause everyone in this world dies eventually and no need to fret over it. Rules of the Wasteland, y’know?” 

“That’s called self-preservation an’ some kind of trauma ya faced out in that Pasific Wasteland ya mentioned, hillbilly,” Mr. Howard let out with a sigh, using his fork to slice up his rather chucky slice of cake into more bite-sized chunks.

“Well, yeah, maybe it is a bit like that, Norm,” Lucy said with a sad smile, eyes twinkling as the young man poked at his slice with his fork, deep in thought as the probability of this theory being a reality. “But you really shouldn’t worry about that, it happened so long ago and I can't even remember anything about that.”

“Right…” Norm mumbled to himself as he poked his fork into the simple dark frosting with a sad sigh.

𒊹︎> •~𐬾☢︎︎𐬿~• <𒊹︎

“I’m sorry about Coop again, he wasn’t supposed to mention anything,” Lucy let out in a sigh as she leaned against the goat’s pen fencing with her head resting on her palms, watching as Norm was feeding one of the runts, Hober, with a bottle of milk as the other kids worked at each one of their bottles in the feeder. “At least until I talked to you about… all of this.”

“He mentioned that,” Norm blankly mumbled as the little billy goat wiggle about in his grips, tail wagging about and one of his heads belating in a high pitched whine. “So what do you want to talk about, Lucy? Whatever it is, just spit it out and get it over with.”

Lucy’s brows sprung up to her hairline in surprise at his snappiness, pushing some of her long, dark hair behind her ear as she let out a soft sigh. 

Norm’s face remained blank, his eyes full of an emotion that Norm himself couldn’t describe. Apprehension? Maelstrom forming in his stomach and chest that tried to crawl from his throat? Disheartenment that came from his anger at her? Lucy had just wanted him to be safe, she hadn’t known about Bud’s Buds or even what Betty’s true motives had been at the time, and she couldn’t have known about what Norm saw in Vault 32’s destroyed nature and Vault 31’s mega vault of Pre-War pen-pushers who were chosen to breed with poor people who had no idea what was going on. 

But Norm was furious with her. He was completely maddened deep down in his pained chest at Lucy, his own sister, who was all he had left in the small world they had been trapped in after that attack, leaving him in that hole to be threatened and sent into the Devil’s lair to meet a monster that had once called the vessel he had occupied hundreds of years ago human by himself. He was completely and uttered maddened that she could just end up here, in the middle of nowhere off an abandoned highway.

He was left in there in a boiling pot with frogs that refused to jump out to safety, and something in Norm’s mind couldn’t help his internal anger from boiling up his throat and spilling out as bile-like feelings about his own sister.

“I’d love for you to help me save everyone, Norm. Back home, in Vault 33,” Lucy let out a sigh, hand still fiddling with her hair as Norm’s eyes became soft yet confused. Lucy noticed, like any good older sister should. “Not what you expected, huh?”

“N-No, not at all,” Norm admitted shakily, gently wiping Hober’s chin off of the milk that had fallen onto one of his chin. “Why me?”

“You’re my baby brother, Lima Bean, why wouldn’t I ask you to come along for a great adventure to save everyone from Vault 31’s master plan? I see you’re a lot stronger than you think now, and I’m confident you can handle yourself better than you could’ve,” Lucy chuckled sadly as she spoke, finger running over the wooden fencing in a twiddling motion. Norm’s heart ached while he sat the little runt onto the ground, getting a bleat before Huber ran over to his siblings and half-siblings to play about gleefully on their wooden and plastic toys. “So?”

“I…”

Norm should have immediately said yes, to jump over the fence the best he could to hug his sister while screaming yes at the top of lungs. He’s spent the last several months worrying about her constantly, worrying if she was dead or worse in such an awful world as the Wasteland was. He had spent hours talking to Thaddeus about how he spent almost all his time worrying about her, in the back of his mind, and he hadn’t been lying. 

So why couldn’t he say yes? To agree to joining her? 

Was it that anger and resentment at being left behind, or was it because of the life he has now that he has now made his priorities change? 

The thought of the memory of that first night he and Thaddeus spent together came to him like a brick being thrown at his chest, taking his breath away for a split second. Thaddeus had told him that he had been so, so very lonely, travelers and temporary visitors to the Pitstop don't make suitable replacements to a companion that you know will always be there for you no matter what happens. 

And when Norm had eased that pain for him that night by offering but his ear and his heart, easing the pain of a man who Norm couldn’t believe viewed himself a coward, Thaddeus had gained a brief moment away from that loneliness.

Was that why he couldn’t say yes? Was he just a lovestruck idiot far too deep into his fantasy of a domestic life on a perfect, little farm to think about leaving? One with goats and chickens where all he’d ever have to worry about is if the horses have enough food for the day and if his boyfriend remembered to pick the veggies from their perfect garden so they don’t over ripen? 

“You don’t have to give me your answer just yet, you can think it over and maybe talk to Thaddeus about how this might look,” Lucy calmly added at Norm’s spiraling moment of thought that had left him quiet and solomon. “I haven't mentioned it to him despite how much I've talked to him, he’s too nice and those eyes are really hard to look at them and go, ‘I would love to bring with my brother, your boyfriend, along with me on a journey to save our Vault from an evil man’s sick plan.’ They get all soft and… would 'puppy-like’ be an apt description for when they get all big and watery like he’s about to burst into tears?”

“I-I.. I get that, and I might talk to him after dinner,” Norm stuttered out as he gulped and tried to bite back his surprised laughter at that description of Thaddeus’s puppy-dog eyes, fixing up his coat and hat as he plucked up the milk bottle bag and started to collect the empty milk bottles with a fumbling but swift motion, along with the wooden bottle holder. “He’s really hard to look in the eye and say anything negative to, unless he’s come home after a long scavenging trip with an arrow in his shoulder…”

“Do you think he might be unkillable? Especially when his foot was completely mangled by my husband? He should have died from that and the arrow to the neck such, but look at him now,” Lucy said in a whisper as the both of them looked over to where Thaddeus was chopping wood with a fire ax near the greenhouses and the firewood shed. “He looks to be acting completely normal, maybe. My husband didn’t tell me a lot about him before the whole… thing.”

“I’m not sure either, but I think he’s much happier now,” Norm dreamily sighed while laying his chin against the fence. The siblings watched the auburn-haired man bring his axe up and then slam down to split the wood that rested upon the stump of a long-dead palm tree in front of him with a grunt. “Definitely much happier now…”

“Okay, Mister Googly-Eyes, batting your eyes like some of those ladies in those cheesy romance novels that Steph used to read,” Lucy giggled at watching her brother go all blushy and embarrassed at his obvious appreciation for his backdoorsy boyfriend chopping wood like the manliest man to ever grace his eyes. “Those really raunchy books, remember? ‘The Lavender’s Flower’ right a bell?”

“Oh my gosh, stop, Lucy,” Norm drawled out while pulling his cold-weather hat over his eyes and cheeks to stop his blushed face from being noticed by his teasing sister, his embarrassment on clear display to Lucy’s pure delight. 

“I’m sorry, but it’s quite funny that you get all blushy and make a dreamy sigh while looking at him,” Lucy poked Norm’s nose with a smile, voice teasing and her eyes crinkled. “You used to do it when you were younger while looking at boys you liked in your comics. It's a really sweet habit you do, and it's also quite silly.”

“I’m not as awful as one of those book protagonists, I just like to watch Thaddeus,” Norm truthly said, turning his nose up at her while slinging the milk bag slung over his shoulder with a huff and the bottle holder in his grip. “Can you open the gate and help me carry this back to the stables?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll help you with all of this,” Lucy agreed with a nod, quickly moving over to the gate with a click of her boots. “I love the goats, they're really quite cute and when they scream and jump about? It's so sweet.”

Norm wiggled himself out of the pen, one of the nannies, Rabetine, trying to follow him but using his foot, the young man had stopped her in her tracks and only got an annoyed bleat from her in return. Norm handed the bottle holder to Lucy, who made a grunt at having to hold the rather heavy plastic and wood box. “That sound is called a ‘bleat’ and it gets old after a while.”

𒊹︎> •~𐬾☢︎︎𐬿~• <𒊹︎

Norm sighed heavily, looking up from the stained tile floor of his and Thaddeus’s personal bathroom and blearlily turned on the faucet. HIs small hands cupped under the stream, splashing the warmish water onto his face with a heavy sigh and a slow blink as he looked into the cracked mirror.

“‘Ong da’, huh?” Thaddeus, who Norm hadn’t even noticed had been resting against the bathroom door, muttered with a toothbrush in his mouth and some toothpaste dribbling down his chin. Norm would’ve typically noticed him by then, but Norm must’ve been completely exhausted mentally that his usual perspective nature was too worn. 

Norm rolled his eyes and continued to wash his face, damp hands running through his hair and musing up the rumpled strands, and he got a laugh from his boyfriend that shook his shoulders. “It has been, and I’m glad it's over.” 

Thaddeus leaned over the basin, and spat into the bowl as Norm grabbed his own toothbrush and the toothpaste with a groan. Thaddeus pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s cheek with a hum, looking at Norm’s tired eyes and slumped shoulders with a little frown. “You look exhausted, baby. The bags under your eyes are so large that I think I can carry all of New Reno’s chips in them.”

“I want this day to be over so it can be done with already,” the young man’s eyes fell shut groaned out with a whine chiming at the end, as he squirted some toothpaste onto his brush, stuffing the brush into his mouth and starting to clean his teeth of the rabbit they had for dinner. 

“Siblings are hard to love, I get that, but I hope it was at least good to see your sister after such a long time and all that worrying you did. She’s really nice despite how much she talks,” Norm snorted at Thaddeus, shoulders shaking just a bit with his laughter, of all people, complaining about someone talking too much about trivial things. “I like to talk and stuff but damn! She can talk for hours about so much shit!”

“Yup, that’s my sister right there,” Norm spit into the basin as something– a feeling of dread perhaps– began to bubble in his stomach, turning on the faucet to wash away the glob of spit and two hundred year old toothpaste down the drain. “Always talking your ear off about anything and everything that dares come to her mind…”

Thaddeus seemed to have noticed his lack of energy, kissing the crown of his head of hair gently while looking him in the eye via the broken, dirty glass of their bathroom mirror. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am, what kind of question is that?” Norm defensively responded a bit too snappily, a bit too quickly, while he moved on to grabbing a dented bottle of a cream that claimed to help with any skin damage from the sun, and Norm had found it worked well enough. He squirted the mint-colored cream into his palm, beginning to rub the smooth mixture into his cheeks, forehead, and chin as Thaddeus moved a bit to the side while plucking up his straight razor and tin of shaving cream. “I’m just really tired today and I just want to sleep how long this day has been away.”

Thaddeus opened the tin with his tongue peeking out from between his lips, using the little brush to spread the cream over his jaw, down his chin, and foaming onto the hairs upon his neck. Norm watched on, continuing to rub the cream into his neck before looking back in the mirror at his truly exhausted expression that seemed to have stained his face. “I mean, sure, but it's actually been pretty relaxed today. No customers, no animal escapes, and some friendly company was a nice change to the daily grind.”

“I agree with that, honey, but… alright, stand still for a second,” Norm got up onto the tips of his toes as he mumbled out his request, his hand gently gripping the taller man’s chin and pulling it to the side and down to wipe some cream from his mustache. “There we go, now, do you want help so you don’t cut yourself again?”

“... yes, please,” Thaddeus whispered with a single nod and Norm smiled to himself, moving to take the straight razor as Thaddeus moved over to sit on the toilet to make the ludicrous height difference short to make it a bit easier for Norm to shave him. Norm washed the blade under the sink’s gentle stream of water, looking over to Thaddeus out of the corner of his eye, at the awkward knee bouncing he was making mindlessly whenever stressed. 

Norm shut the faucet off with a hum, sauntering the two steps over to Thaddeus and very gently brought the blade to his jaw. His index and thumb held up Thaddeus’s chin and kept the man’s face from moving about, humming a little tune to himself as he swiftly brought the blade down as cleanly took the rough hairs that sprinkled his pale jaw. The auburn haired man let out the breath he had been holding, sighing thankfully as his arms comfortably came around his short lover’s hips.

“I dunno what I’d do without you,” Thaddeus let out in a deep sigh, his face seeming to melt within Norm’s hand as he continued to slide the straight razor’s blade over stubbly auburn hair, tanned pale skin, and white fluffy shaving cream.

“I’m sure you’d do just fine without me always there at your hip, honey,” Norm didn’t smile when he spoke his emotion into the air between them. That would have blushed his cheeks a pink and made him smile bashfully, turning his face away from his lover’s kind eyes, instead he just kept working, lips shut tightly. “You were trugging along just fine before I ever came around here, so I know you could. You’re a strong man.”

“I’m not that strong,” Thaddeus shook his head, and Norm quickly responded by tightening his grip on Thaddeus’s chin so he wouldn't slice the skin of his jaw open. “You make everything so much easier, and a lot more doable. Plus, you make me happy just by being there for me every morning and every night, and I dunno how I ever did this before you ever appeared and stayed after that night.”

Norm turned his lover’s chin, starting on the other side of his face while trying to keep his cool (and tears) from streaming out of the cracks. “Flattering of you to say something like that, it's almost like you’re trying to make me emotional so you can come in and propose. I know you aren’t doing that but it’d be fun to experience one of those crazy weddings that people Pre-War Hollywood stars would do.”

Thaddeus’s eyes went wide, cheeks going a bright, hot pink that made those bright eyes shine even brighter than Norm thought possible, those puppy-like eyes sparkling and gleaming. “W-Would you… wanna get married? And if I was, hypothetically or whatever, proposing to you, would you say yes?”

“What.” 

Norm’s hand shook while he was cleaning up around his lover’s lips, grazing his chin and cutting the skin in a light cut. The short man swiftly reacted, wiping the blood away and using a tiny piece of paper to stop the bleeding swiftly. Thaddeus didn’t seem to mind at all by the cut and running blood from the corner of his lip running down his chin, just looking up at Norm’s flushing face with kind eyes while his hands ran over Norm’s smooth back. “Would you?”

“I… I don’t know,” He really, truly didn’t know, he didn’t know how to respond to this rather informal proposal while he was shaving his first and only boyfriend’s jaw and chin, like how he couldn’t respond to his sister when she asked him to come along with her on a long journey to save their home. 

Norman MacLean has always found a way to respond to something, to anything, from the alluring unknown to the frighteningly familiar with his intelligence and perseverative nature, but today had shown that wasn’t enough to respond to everything.

Something his father had mentioned when Norm was about fifteen came back to him, some advice he had given him after an unsuccessful date his father had set him up to attend. Norm had been sitting outside the diner, on his favorite table while trying not to cry about… whatever (Norm can’t remember) but he remembers his father coming out and sitting beside him, eyes kind and forgiving.

“When I first saw your mother, I was no older than your sister, give a few years, but just like you,” he had said while running his palm over Norm’s back, comforting his youngest’s shaky crying while bringing him close to hold him tightly. “I was terrified of love and all that comes with it. I never was the most handsome man in my age cohort, so most young girls on Vault 31 never gave me the time of the day, but when I saw your mother’s beautiful smile when I got out of Vault 31 to start my new life… At that moment, I knew she loved me just as much as I had fallen for her at first sight.”

Norm remembers sniffling, cheeks wet and his shoulders trembling but his breaths calming as his father held him close. “Do you think I’ll ever get married? Like you and Mom did? I don’t wanna be alone like Uncle Pedro while watching my siblings have kids and get married until I die from a heartattack in my sleep…”

“I’m sure of it, Stardust,” His father had proudly stated, cupping Norm’s cheek while kissing his forehead. “Whenever you’re ready, and you get approval and old enough to marry, I’m sure you’ll have your fairytale moment with your princess just like I did. That special someone is waiting for you in Vault 31 or Vault 32, and I know whoever she is; She’s going to love you.”

Norm had, at the time, felt comforted by that statement and by his father’s kind words, hugging his father so tightly that his father had grunted and laughed awkwardly at that.

The sweet memory now just felt melancholy and tainted by the knowledge his father was a liar and a killer, that he left a woman he told his children that he had loved to die alone and scared, and that, deep down, would’ve been disappointed by Norm’s sexuality leading him into the arms of a nice man who really did love him rather than a poor woman he was forced to marry in an arranged marriage and have children with her to uphold their end of the deal.

How could’ve Norm brought kids into that Vault after what he learned? After what he had seen behind the curtains and found out how the ‘sausage was made’ as Pre-War actors would say? How could ever want to have children he knew would bring himself (and them) sorrow and pain with each sight of their faces? How could he marry a poor woman who thought she was going to marry a man who was going to love her as much as she loved him, and lie to her everyday that he loved her and that he was happy? 

But now he was with a man he loved deeply, one which he loved and respected deeply and who had given him a home when Norm had been forced to leave that hole with the knowledge he had learned, why shouldn’t he just say yes and marry him?

Nothing stopped him now but his own guilt, and the reeling sense of doom that seemed to have stuck with him since childhood that he will end up like Uncle Pedro, such a sad man who never knew what happened to his little sister and never got to see his niece and nephews grow into young adults, a man who died alone in a hole.

Maybe ‘I don’t know’ was the best option you could say to both Thad and Lucy, Norm’s more rational side mused, making him finally come back to reality where his hand holding the razor shook and his body stood still a statue in this awfully cramped bathroom, in some mold-infested bar/motel, in the middle of Nowhere, California, away from most specks of civilization. It’s not like you can say much else to stop the inevitable from happening… 

“Alright. It’s okay to not know yet and all,” Thaddeus didn’t seem to get angry at the non-answer or disappointed at only getting an unsure response as he spoke softly in the silence that filled this quiet, still smiling in that lovesick way that was almost too sweet it was sickening with his turquoise eyes sparkling with those hints of lime green and crystal blue gleaming like stones. “But I can wait, I have all the time in this Wasteland to wait til whenever you’re ready or you do know what to say, Norm MacLean.”

Norm gulped shakily, taking a deep breath as his fingers tightened around the razor. “Thaddeus…”

“I’ll get you a ring and study magazines to help make the Hollywood proposal you want if that’ll help you make a decision, I know a few guys and one of them knows a lady who’s a really cool blacksmith,” Thaddeus eagerly went on with a wide smile, shutting his eyes as he brought his hand up to Norm’s wrist, the hand that had been holding up his chin still. He brought his band up to his lips and kissing over his fingers and palm like they were adored with fancy golden rings of some casino barren’s wife that mademen would eagerly kiss in those god awful Pre-War movies, adoringly and sultry.

“Thaddeus, Lucy asked me if I wanted to leave with her and Mr. Howard,” Norm let out in one breath, watching those eyes spring open and those eyes gleam with fearful dread rather than lovely calm. He had paused in his kissing and Norm took that opportunity to pull his hand free, shakily setting down the straight razor with a trembling sigh. “And now you spring that question, of all questions, on me right now after Lucy asked that this morning? I just can’t anymore, I just can’t answer any of the questions that have been sprung on me anymore!”

“You asked first…” Thaddeus’s lips came together in a thin line, Norm now pacing about with his hands moving about anxiously as the crack in his usual calm facade burst out and let all the pent of emotions he had been forced to punch down and lock away came out.

“‘Are you going to marry Thaddeus?’ ‘Are you going to convert for him?’ ‘Are you going to drop the life you built up here with the first man you’ve had a deep emotional connection with to come save a bunch of people who either hate you for who you love or want you dead for what you know!?’” Norm manically shouted about the cramped bathroom while gripping his hair and clawing his hands down his face, tears falling from his eyes in a constant stream. “I. Don’t. Fucking. KNOW! Every other night, I have nightmares about that night, of that stupid fucking wedding that killed so many of those poor people, where I hid myself away in a box while listening to said people get stabbed and brutalized by a bunch of crazy soldiers, where I was helpless to help my sister in any way getting stabbed by her crazy husband, and now they’re starting to mix together with you!”

Thaddeus’s eyes went to where Norm was pointing straight at his chest with a shaking finger, tears in his eyes glistening like sparkling water.

“Yeah, you, Mr. Johnathan Volker Hecke, former Brotherhood of Steel squire, dying in that event too and– and– I-I jus.. just can’t anymore…”

Norm gripped his hair so tightly, pulling on the dark brown strands that he thought, deep down with a bit of fright, that he might pull out all his hair from stress. 

He stopped himself, for a brief moment, eyes shutting tightly as he tried not to fall onto the tiled bathroom floor with his fanatic breathing and harsh, full body shaking. “I’m so tired, Thaddeus, and I have no clue how to respond to any of the questions in the World that keep getting flung at me. I shouldn’t have to know how to respond to each one of those questions but I have to, I have to know because I’m the smart, quiet brother and youngest son of the MacLean family. I have to know because I’m the savvy, soft-spoken businessman side of this operation. I have to know what to do because that was what I was quite literally bred to know as some product of a eugenist in a jar who thought he could science out an army of super-managers.”

Thaddeus just looked at him as Norm came down from his very sudden and very short outburst, his eyes blank but filled with this pity that the shorter man couldn’t stand watching so his head turned away to look at himself in the mirror. 

Pity from others was something he has dealt with enough in his life, and Thaddeus was no exception from that, but his pity never felt demeaning or emasculating; just full of understanding and shared hurt. His lover’s mouth opened and shut quickly, sighing deeply as a hand came through his hair in an anxious motion, Norm quiet still.

“Alright, no proposal right now, or for however long you don’t wanna talk about that, but Norm… if you wanna go with her, go do whatever she has planned to ‘save’ your guys’ Vault,” Norm’s shoulders came up to his ears, thin arms holding his body tightly in a demanding grip. “I won’t stop you from leaving. My door will always be open for you to leave, and I ain’t just gonna throw you out for suggesting that either.”

“And if I do leave and try to come back to your doorstep, after just leaving with her before you wake up the next morning? One of your guns missing and my knife from its block in the kitchen is missing as well, my bag gone and nothing ever saying I was ever there for the past few months? How would you respond to that, Mr. Hecke?” Norm asked softly in a shaky voice, not looking at Thaddeus and keeping his eyes on the dirty, broken mirror. 

Thaddeus’s hands in the mirror clasped together in between his knees, his shoulders slumping and Norm’s shoulders, too, slumped while shutting his eyes away. Thaddeus’s hands then quickly came up to run his hands through his hair once more, hands clasping behind his neck with a tight sigh. “I dunno actually, but I guess that’ll have to be something we gotta figure it out when we get there, so it’s a maybe for now.”

Norm’s stifled breath let out from his nose in a slow exhale, his chocolate-brown eyes falling shut with a small smile that came over his lips and crinkled to the corner of his mouth. “I guess that we’ll have to see when it comes to it then…”

Some quiet filled the space between them for a few minutes, and then all of a sudden, Norm was now being grasped and held tightly to a warm chest covered in a rather soft cotton shirt reeked of sweat and manly musk, strong arms holding him close as he possibly could without crushing him completely. “Th-Thad… you’re crushing me–”

“Please don’t leave like that, I’d cry so hard if you did that,” Thaddeus gulped down between tears and shaky breaths, plucking up Norm from the floor and just holding his boyfriend close as he brought them to their bed. “At least say goodbye and kiss me as a parting gift rather than just leaving when I’m out cold. That’s what the only guy I dated did to me.”

“What a jerk, and I-I wouldn’t, I swear,” Norm awkwardly patted his lover’s back in a comforting manner, legs curling round Thaddeus’s hips as they fell back onto the bed comfortably with a tearful laugh. They moved on the bed, getting more comfortable while not staying too far from. “How did you end up meeting that jerk? I bet his name was Stephen or Bruce.”

“I broke my pledge to my Ma at the time to not take drugs with that asshole and his name was Orin, he was this jackass who worked at my Pa’s shop for a few years prior,” Thaddeus yawned lightly as he laid back against the pillows at the headboard of their bed, Norm running his hand over his now smooth cheeks with a smile as he listened on. “He was this stupid idiot who knew how to play the guitar and the saxophone, and who got me some illegal booze after the NCR had banned it in our town for some stupid reason. He was the first guy who actually called me ‘Johnny’ and my stupid ass grew a crush on the spot…”

“Quite predictable of you, honey,” Norm teased, cheek laid on Thaddeus’s shoulder with his tears now drying swiftly with the fun change of topic to something that was much lighter. “Let me guess… he got you drunk and vulnerable, taking advantage of you to steal all your money.”

“Nah, we were both drunk as shit and high as shit on these crushed up tree leaves he bought off some passing trader, and holy shit that high lasted so long and the sex we had was so good, man…” Thaddeus drawled out in a dazed tone, arms coming around Norm’s body and snaking around him comfortably to hold him close to his chest as they looked up at the rafters. “Like we fucked so hard that I was surprised I had feeling in my legs still after all that. After that, all I remember was passing out and waking up in my family’s barn, covered in hay, with my bag of NCR dollars and caps all gone along with my underwear too.”

Norm hissed at that, making an uncomfortable face that made his wrinkles more pronounced as Thaddeus’s hand came to face-palm himself and sighed so heavily it came out as a groan of dismay. “Oh gosh… he didn’t…”

“Oh yeah, he went that low. Found out later he was dared to fuck me by his dick friends, who wanted to know what it was like to fuck a travesti’rerke, plus make a cheap buck off my poor family’s business,” Thaddeus groaned in disgust at the low he had gone to with an awful man that really wasn’t his fault, making his own face of dismay while Norm’s changed to one of understanding. The auburn haired man drily chuckled, shrugging as he threw his hands up. “He apparently gave a five-star rating to his friends so apparently I’ve been a ‘sex-master’ from the start.”

Norm pushed Thaddeus’s face away with a disgusted groan, wiggling himself free and moving to shut off the light in the bathroom along with putting away the shaving supplies. “You can’t just call yourself a ‘sex-master’ like that… It makes you sound like a half-wit jackass, like that one man who came in here a few weeks ago, with a group of female escorts, who called himself the ‘El Montero de Jodidamente’ and tried to pick me up for his ‘harem’ by trying to pull his pants down to show off his ‘cuchillo’ or whatever he called it.”

“Oh yeah,” Thaddeus frowned at the memory, the corners of his mouth turning down at the memory of that jackass rolling in with his posse of pretty women in barely any clothes. “That guy didn’t even pay all the room fees with how much he stole and/or covered in semen during his week long fuck-fest.”

“He was awful and that’s the type of man who would call himself that, so now do you wanna call yourself that after knowing that, Thaddeus?” Norm asked innocently enough while slipping off his jeans and just dropping down to just his boxers, moving over to the dresser and ruffling about for some loose pants that were both comfortable and warm.

“No, fuck no!” Thaddeus made a gag noise as Norm laughed and chuckled, climbing back into the bed and cuddling up to his lover with a cheeky but loving smile. “I’m many things– a coward, a fat-fuck, a piece of shit– but I am not a half-wit jackass who walks around with naked women.”

Norm pressed his lips against Thaddeus’s lips in a short kiss, cupping his cheek while his lover made this cat-like smile that Norm could swear he could hear purring from his throat. “That’s right, handsome. Now…”

The short man pushed his slender finger to his handsome lover’s thin lips as Thaddeus dipped down to kiss his beloved once more in a sweet gesture that might’ve led into something more heated and passionate, surprising Thaddeus as the shorter man yawned lightly. “Sleep. I wasn’t kidding about being exhausted because of today…”

“Right, sorry. What was I even thinking?” Thaddeus let out a light laugh as he pulled the blankets and duvet up to his and Norm’s chin, arms comfortably coming around his lover so he spooned Norm and kept his cold lover warm from the fall chill that had come over their home with the blanket of night. “Good night, don’t let the ghouls grab you in the… hey, why is that thing people say? It's so weird to say something like that, ‘cause not all ghouls are bad, but like it's also good advice to give kids to not sleep on any bed without knowing if there’s a feral ghoul ‘bout coming to eat them in their sleep…”

Norm groaned, setting into a long rant about something in the wasteland he didn’t understand and honestly didn’t want to learn about. The last conversation they had about this was as some pillow-talk after they had sex about how New Reno was able to make functioning “movies” (very loose use of the word, it was pornography that had names like ‘Vault Sexteen’ and ‘Great Balls for Hire’), and how they could make so much money off of it in the wasteland at that. Instead, Norm just tried to shut his eyes and tune out this ramble from his beloved boyfriend’s lips. 

Chapter Text

Holy shit.

Thaddeus blinked at the ceiling’s spider web and mold-ridden rafters with big eyes, his face in a sheepish smile and his breath stuck in his throat like a gun butt was pressed on his neck.

Holyshitholyshitholyshit… 

Norm was nuzzled up under his chin, head resting comfortably in the crook of his neck, his cheek pressed against his collarbones as he let out soft breaths that fanned over Thaddeus’s sweat-soaked t-shirt. 

It had been one for some Pre-War place called ‘Nuka-World’ at a market they went to a week back, but all he cared about was the rather busty Nuka-Girl riding a fizzy cola bottle about with her thigh high leather boots and her white leather jacket barely covering her massive tits (though, her back was in an uncomfortable position to show them off along with her ass). He remembers Norm rolling his eyes at the design, but didn’t comment anymore. 

Norm would’ve been a hypocrite if he had, seeing how he had bought a rather interesting collectible figure of the Silver Shroud that, honestly, when Thaddeus turned his head to look at the cursed figure pointing its silvery Tommy gun at him, wasn’t too bad. It was just a figure of the Silver Shroud sitting back in a chair, a cigar in one hand and his gun in the other, with his shirt untucked and his pants straining against a plastic package in his molded-on pants.

“He’s my favorite Hubris Comics character,” Norm had explained with flushed cheeks, cleaning the figure of dust and grime as he set it up with the other trinkets Silver Shroud he had collected so far. “And so what if I also find him attractive? I didn’t listen and read everything I could about him in my Vault to not find a dashing New England vigilante with a thick accent and a moral code attractive somewhat. It’s not a crime, is it?”

It should be a crime, Thaddeus thought possessively, glaring at the plastic man. He couldn’t offer what Norm needed and desperately wanted, he wasn’t even real!

Thaddeus is the one who got Norm breakfast in bed whenever he didn’t feel like getting up at his Pip-Boy’s alarm, cuddled up in bed with his hair in all directions.

Thaddeus is the one who gets to hold Norm close when they dance, hand on his lean hip and those pretty brown eyes of his gleaming beautifully up at him.

Thaddeus is the one who gets to watch Norm come apart on his collection of silicon dicks every day and cry out his name like he’s the best thing to ever happen to him, like he’s the only man who’s treated him right.

I mean… I am the only man who’s ever treated him right. The thought makes Thaddeus rumble angrily like a pissed-off dog, hand that once had been lovingly running over the jut and dips of Norm’s hip bones was now gripping the thin, tanned olive flesh with white knuckles. 

He knows about Bruce enough to hate the man, he knows the creep probably had a thing for Norm longer than he had been letting on, but he wasn’t the one who got to touch this man now. He just did in the past, to a younger, less confident, terrified nineteen year old Norm who knew he had no other option but to submit unless he gets hurt or worse. Had he choked Norm out while grinding on him in that closet? Is that why he panicked so much when he asked me to choke him that one time?

Geez, he hoped fucking not. 

Thaddeus didn’t want Norm to associate him with that fucker, especially when they had sex and the auburn haired man leans down to suck and kiss at his neck.

Norm hadn’t even looked at him afterwards, sobbed and gasped for air and was clearly in the middle of a panic attack, despite the fact Thaddeus wasn’t touching him at all and was sitting as far away as he could on the bed. The sight had been horrific, even worse was listening to Norm’s panicked crying and pleas in their sleep that drifted up in the rafters and came falling onto Thaddeus’s crumpled body in the parlor below like rusted nails.

Norm is quite strong-willed, he knows that very well, but he’s also sensitive and takes things personally, internalizing them in his mind, so when he had tried to bring it up one night, he got the response he expected (and dreaded).

“I was young, and I let that get the better of me and make me vulnerable, sure, but I also said yes in the end,” those words cut at Thaddeus’s heartstrings painfully, he remembered just holding his boyfriend close as he pressed a kiss lovingly to his forehead. Anything to show his love for this beautiful, kind young man as he spoke so ill of himself. “I was the one who kissed him first, and I was the one who tried to initiate something more than just touching in that closet. He wanted sex with a girly boy to ‘test out the waters’ if you will, and I didn’t want to deal with my father’s pestering about my smoking habits and anti-social nature.”

Norm wasn’t femme at all, he was a handsome, intelligent man who deserved to be gently touched over his square face, his lean chest beautifully adorned with moles and beauty marks, and the precious dips of hips that led down to thinly haired navel. 

Who cared if he smoked? He looked good when he did, always broody and with this flush on his cheeks that made Thaddeus want to kiss into an even deeper color.

Who cared if he wasn’t physically strong? He was strong mentally and knows how to use that sharp tongue of his to make anyone putty in his hand, especially when he praises Thaddeus for being such a good man.

Norm was the best. Norm was perfect. Norm deserves… no, needed to be loved by someone who saw his angelic beauty and treated him like he owned half of all New California and some because he was—

“I think I wanna marry you.”

A soft hum from the man wrapped up in his arms and blankets, a sleepy blink that made something within Thaddeus’s stitched-together heart flutter with a little sigh.

Shit, I said that too loudly…

A warm hand that once had been pressed against his unbinded chest, was now pressed against his cleanly shaven cheek as Norm sleepily hushed him with a slow blink. “Shhhhh… sleep, dumby…”

“It’s mean to call me that,” Thaddeus whispered with a deep chuckle that slightly jostled Norm, who whimpered like a disturbed kitten. “But sorry, baby.”

A sweet sound escaped Norm’s throat, kind and sleep-inducing in nature. “You think too much, and it's awfully loud from where I’m laying…”

“You got me there, baby,” Thaddeus couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh as he whispered, an affectionate sound that nearly made Norm purr. “Thinking about that ass of yours,” an easy lie, because it wasn’t too far from the truth. Thaddeus did think about that ass quite a lot, so to punctuate his statement, he cupped the short man’s ass in a single palm. “Wish I could’ve been blessed with this kinda thing. What’s up with that?”

Norm laughed at that statement, sleepy and languishing, “Really? My butt is the better one in this relationship? Oh please…”

Thaddeus smirked, chuckling to himself. “You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

“You’re so awful,” Norm groaned quietly, pushing Thaddeus away with a languid, droopy smile on his handsome face. It glowed in the moonlight, the arch of his nose and beautiful cheekbones that were tanned a beautiful olive now blueish with hints of silver. “Sleep, doofus. We have a busy day tomorrow…” 

They do have a busy day tomorrow (Thaddeus liked keeping plans planned out well before they were set out), they have to bake the sourdough and beer bread for the next few weeks— food prep in general as well— and to milk the older nannies. Also to bring in their laundry of their own as well, and do all the dishes before the customers roll in for a meal and a drink. 

Thaddeus smiled, eyes falling shut as he let out a short chuckle at Norm’s light yawn and sleepy expression. “Alright, I’ll sleep, babe.”

But Norm was already passed out, drooling onto the other man’s chest with dark hair in his shut eyes and his small hand curled atop his chest as well. Truly such an adorable sight. Bringing his hand up, he gently pushed away the wavy strands and couldn’t help but smile more.

𒊹︎> •~𐬾☢︎︎𐬿~• <𒊹︎

“Sooooo… do you plan on settling down with Mr. Mustache over there after sleeping on it, Normy?” Lucy asked with a giggle in her voice to her brother from across the bar’s large kitchen. Thaddeus tried not to tense up in any noticeable manner, just pausing a bit when scrubbing at the pot he was (well, had) cleaning with a steel wool scrubber, as he heard Norm grumble. “Like, you know, getting married and all?”

“Why can’t you keep your nose out of this subject? And like I said yesterday, I don’t know and I don’t want to talk about this,” Norm briskly told her, turning his nose up as the wet slap of the mop he had been using on the dirty, off-cream colored tiled floor perfectly punctuated his frustration. “Just because you love being married doesn’t mean it’s right for people like me.”

“I know it’s not but you and him are perfect for each other!” Lucy exclaimed. “You’re short, he’s tall. You’re really good with computers and numbers, he’s good with his hands and with animals… You two are perfect for each other so why wouldn’t you?!? I want him to be my brother-in-law right now.”

I bet she’s always been this demanding… Thaddeus tried not to burst out laughing, especially with how violently he was blushing and trying to act like he wasn’t listening to the rather loud conversation between the siblings.

“You’re insufferable, Lucy,” Norm groaned, going back to mopping with more wet slaps and squeaks of his shoes on the cleaned, wet tile. “Can’t a man catch a break and, I don’t know, enjoy just being in a committed relationship without having a ring attached to it? Either way, I don’t want a whole… thing.”

“Well, I want you to have a fun wedding,” Lucy says, “one with a big fancy cake, and a bunch of fun dancing and music, and the prettiest flowers that compliment each mole on your skin and every hair on his head. Oh! A handsome suit for my handsome baby brother!”

Lucy then pinched Norm’s reddened cheek, cooing and kissing his forehead like an old woman might do to a little child who she spoils rotten with sweets and under-the-table gifts of pellets for your BB rifle. Thaddeus couldn’t help but watch and smile, laughing to himself at the sight.

Norm noticed quickly of Thaddeus’s leering (such a perceptive man) and pushed Lucy away, grumbling and looking away with a hand hiding his face desperately. “Lucy, stop please! You’re embarrassing me…”

“Alright, alright grumpy pants,” Lucy giggled out, messing up Norm’s wavy hair lovingly before pushing back her own over her shoulder and down her back. Norm was flushed red, and Thaddeus could help but scoff, yet Lucy just gave one of those beautiful, joyous smiles that could make anyone melt and smile as well. “But I’m serious, please just propose to my brother with a ring already and give him that big fat wedding he deserves.”

Thaddeus looked down, now a bit awkward. Last night came back, how Norm’s breakdown over the mere thought of getting married had spiraled into an awful mess of self-hatred and anger. For both of their sakes, but mostly for Norm, they shouldn’t talk about this with Lucy. Thaddeus shut his eyes at the painful memory, beginning to scrub again as he tried to play cool for his boyfriend’s older sister. “Eh, I think I’ll wait on that too. I already grew up in a house with a couple that go together way too fast.”

“Was it true love at first sight?” Lucy inquired softly, a hopefulness in her tone that was laughably naïve for the Wasteland.

Thaddeus shook his head. “Nah, my Ma got knocked up by the weirdo from up north aka my Pa, and then my Pa felt like he had to step up and put a ring on it.”

“Oh.” Lucy made a face at that explanation of not love but shameful teenage idiocy, and Norm shook his head, muttering to himself, and went back to mopping the floor. 

“If it makes you feel better, he,” Thaddeus pointed at Norm with a wet sponge, his gloved hand flinging about the soap and suds onto the floor below him, “can’t get me knocked up like my Pa did back then. I’m infertile due to years of a medication I took, and ghouls are all infertile themselves. No need for him to ‘put a ring on it’ for me—”

Lucy gasped to herself, cheeks blushed a light pink and a hand covering her mouth in shock, as Norm turned dramatically, dropped the mop onto the tile, ran up, and pulled Thaddeus down to cover his mouth with a small hand. “And that’s enough of that!”

Thaddeus snickered behind the tanned olive hand that kept him from going on about their personal life to Lucy, going to grab Norm and scoop him up so he could kiss him silly but the young man pulled away swiftly and made a disgusted face. “Not with the gloves on, you were just scrubbing a pot and this is the nicest shirt of mine.”

The short man then spinned slowly, showing off his rather nice golden yellow button-down he had fixed up to prove his point. The buttons may not match anymore, and you could see the stitching a bit but Norm had also put a beautiful cross stitched design of some flowers that he found in a book on Pre-War Western flowers. Fiesta flowers, which were supposed to bring good luck or prosperity of some kind, and California primroses, which symbolize new beginnings and renewal. So fitting really.

“It’s a really nice shirt, gotta agree on that,” Thaddeus calmly says, eyes watching Norm’s spin end and leaned forwards to kiss those lips of his red. Slowly, however, tenderly to make sure that Norm would lean up to follow but be unable to get anymore, he always made such a lovely pout of annoyance at their height difference when kissing. “Could you check on the bread?”

Norm stood there for a brief second, blinking, before nodding and taking the three steps it took to get to the wooden table covered in multiple wooden baskets covered in mismatched patterned tea cloths. 

Lucy came over herself, pulling a pink and baby blue flower patterned cloth back to show a round pale lump of rising dough. “What’s this?”

“It’s well… going to be a loaf of bread soon, hopefully,” Norm explained, pressing a finger to the dough and showing over how the small indent his finger made disappeared after a few seconds. “It’s ready to score, it’s kind of like cutting designs on top so the air can escape.”

Lucy nodded, covering the bread basket and dough again so it laid to rest some more. “You’re all sweet and domestic now, it’s very cute.”

“Right sure,” Norm pouted dramatically, returning to his mop and plucking it off the floor and stuffing it right into the soapy bucket of floor cleaner and bleach. 

“I’m being honest,” Lucy went on, following her little brother about as he returned to mopping, “you’re clearly happier up here than you ever were down in the Vault, back home… with Dad, I mean.”

Thaddeus paused in his slow scrubbing, and Norm’s shoulders tensed and the grip he had on the mop’s handle was nearly enough to shatter the wood.

“I don’t want to talk or even think about him, Lucy,” Norm simply stated.

Lucy pushed some hair out of her face, looking down to the floor and at her mismatched leather boots. “I know, it’s difficult to see him as a parent after learning about all the things he did that we didn’t know about.”

Norm let out a heavy sigh, his mop wetly slapping the tiled floor. “He did a lot of things that we did know about but didn’t fully understand, Lucy. At least I now know why he treated me like that…”

“Yeah, like our mother as well,” Lucy softly admits into the air, solemn yet gentle. “I’m sorry I never saw it.”

Thaddeus sat down his rag onto the edge of the deep sink, and slowly pulled off his wet, filthy gloves and hung them up onto the drying rack. He’s never asked too much about Norm’s mother, and the younger man never really mentioned her either. All he knew was that she died when Norm was really young (barely a toddler), that Norm never really knew her beyond stories and his own assumptions, and that she’s a side subject.

“Well, I didn’t either, so don’t beat yourself up over his thoughts on,” Norm motioned at himself, then to Thaddeus, and lastly back to himself, “this kind of thing.”

Ah, Thaddeus gets it now. Hank wasn’t accepting of gay people, and that included his dead ex-wife and Norm. 

“Still,” Lucy solemnly murmured. “You shouldn’t have had to hide that part of yourself, and neither should our mother have had to go through that as well.”

“You said earlier she had a… partner, and that you met her,” Norm asked next, looking over his shoulder at Lucy, who nodded once. “Moldaver, right”

Thaddeus gapped, turning fully to the two and not even noticing his hands had gone up to his hair in confusion and bewilderment. “Wait so like thee Moldaver? Leader of the NCR Moldaver?”

Lucy looked over towards Thaddeus, her expression almost guilty as she nodded. “Yes, Lee Moldaver. I was just surprised as you were, especially because she stole our father away and her raiders killed many of our friends and fellow Vault Dwellers.”

“Shit man,” Thaddeus tried his hardest to not look down at his boots. “I uh.. I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for, but thank you,” Lucy calmly told him, her hazel eyes tearing up at the corners just a smidge. “It’s just difficult to think about that night, a lot happened and we both nearly died.”

Thaddeus looked towards Norm, taking some steps forward. The bastard simply mopping again and trying to either hide away into the background, gawked some more. “You nearly died, and you’ve never told me?! What the fuck, man!”

“It didn’t seem really important,” came the response from Norm. “I’m alive here and now.”

“Lima bean, it’s important to talk about this kind of stuff. Especially with your future husband,” Lucy tutted, patting Thaddeus’s arm. “He nearly died when he got pulled out from under a table by a raider, almost stabbed in the eye before I got to him first.”

“Oh,” Thaddeus looked back to Norm, seeing his shoulders drawn together and that one vein in his neck pulsing with frustration and embarrassment. “Then you hid him away.”

“Yeah, wait did he actually tell you?” Lucy looked confused, more so when Thaddeus shook his head.

Thaddeus paused before he talked, hoping Norm would either say it himself or stay quiet so Thaddeus could. When not a peep came from Norm, the taller man went on. “He kinda explained it when he was drunk and we were coming back from a bar…”

“You got drunk?! When?” Lucy looked at her baby brother, arms crossed and a disappointed look on her face. She even pouted a bit, to Thaddeus’s amazement.

“I’m not a little kid; I’m 22, I turn 23 in February, and no one cares up here if you drink at a bar when you’re ’under the age,’” Norm grumbled. “Either way, you’re not the boss of me, Lucy. I can drink as much as I want!”

“And don’t worry too much, I got us back home and made sure he slept well,” Thaddeus quickly added. Lucy still looked worried, arms still crossed over his chest. “But yeah. I just never got the full context of that story… just the fact you hide him.”

“Still,” Lucy shook her head. “He should’ve told you. It’s incredible he’s kept it so well hidden, I have nightmares of that night and what could’ve happened…”

“And you think I don’t?” Norm bit out bitterly, softly under his sigh.

Lucy looked hurt at the comment, her mouth shutting and her eyes downcast, as she shook her head to keep them from saying anything more to upset her young brother. Thaddeus’s heart ached, he understood that feeling. He and his little sister, Christie, completely broke down over the whole… thing that happened to their family. He gets it, words can hurt, especially from a little sibling you love so much more than they’ll ever realize.

“Hey, how about Norm gets all of us something to drink, you go get Coop and that dog, and I put the bread in the ovens and get us something to snack on. Yeah?” Thaddeus asked while he wrapped an arm around the wavy haired woman’s shoulders, smiling.

Lucy, too, began to smile, brushing some of her long bangs from her eyes as she pulled away from Thaddeus and towards the door out into the main seating area and bar. “If you have any pears, I’d love some!”

“Got it!” Lucy laughed as she sauntered out, and then Thaddeus turned to Norm, who was still mopping the floor (more like just dragging the mop absentmindedly). “Be nicer on her, she just cares.”

“I know that, I just…” a heavy sigh came from his mouth, the clanking and sloshing of the wooden mop falling into the tan plastic bucket full of sudsy water. “She’s been out of my life for months, and now she’s back and acting like nothing really happened between us… I just can’t—”

“Hey, hey…” Thaddeus swiftly brought Norm to his chest, his left hand coming up to comb itself into his short, wavy hair as his right arm came around to hold his partner close. Sniffling came from the man within his arms, and Thaddeus’s heart ached so much it was making him even tear up. “I get it, you both went through traumatic situations and it’s normal for it to strain relationships.”

“I just.. I-I need time,” was mumbled into his dusty t-shirt. Norm looked up at Thaddeus, his big doe-like eyes soft and watery. “It's too much all at once, and after last night…”

“Hey, we don’t have to talk about this right now, only if you want to. We can just eat and drink with your sister and Cooper, and have a relaxing time together,” Thaddeus told the young man, his left hand coming down to gently cup at his cheek before pulling away to press a kiss to the crown Norm’s head. “Alright, baby?”

The young man huffed at the petname, wiping his tears away with his thumb with a shaky smile. “I hate you so much.”

“You love it,” Thaddeus placed kisses and pecks over Norm’s forehead and nose, pulling away to preheat the ovens and score the loaves. “And go get some drinks for our guests! It’s only polite if we get the good stuff out for once.”

“No rosé then?” Norm sauntered over to the wine rack as he asked aloud, running his fingers over the wax-sealed bottles.

Thaddeus barked out a laugh, pulling and tugging off the tea towels from the breadbaskets with practiced ease. “Fuck rosé! The ‘67 Atomic Claret only, and if it’s gone bad, maybe the ‘43 Chalk Hill Merlot.”

𒊹︎> •~𐬾☢︎︎𐬿~• <𒊹︎

“Can I ask you something, Thaddeus?”

Thaddeus looked up from where he was brushing through one of the goats’, Baby Blue, dusty gray and black coat to Lucy, leaning over the covered goat pen’s gate and opening it swiftly to come inside without permission (her and Norm really alike in that manner). “Uh, sure. What’s up?”

“Is Norm… okay?”

“Uh, yeah he’s alright I think. Maybe a lil stressed out but alright,” Thaddeus was already getting awkward, the hair on the back of his neck starting to raise (maybe it was the chill of the fall wind). “Why do you ask? He’s your brother, you can just go up and ask him yourself.”

Lucy shook her head, twisting her way past the curious goats and their knowing stares after shutting the door and locking it swiftly. “Not about his feelings or his mood; I’m asking if he’s okay here, at your little oasis. Does he feel safe? Comfortable? Like this is… like home to him?”

“I mean…” Now Thaddeus was surely sweating. How is he supposed to explain that he really doesn’t have that answer but he thinks Norm is? How is he supposed to tell his boyfriend’s older sister that he felt less stressed and comfortable before she showed up? That Norm’s called this place home more than he’s even talked about the Vault? “I uh… think so? Again, why not ask him about this? I’m just his boyfriend and I’ve only known him for a few months.”

Lucy hesitated for a few seconds before softly continuing. “I feel like he’s pulling away from me. He can’t be honest with me whenever I press for some answers or even some reassurance, but he’s more honest with you at least.”

While she’s not wrong about Norm being a bit more honest with him, Norm has also been stressed out to the point of having that meltdown last night due to all her prodding and questions, but he can’t just say that. He’s had a lot of bad experiences with speaking his mind to people about this kind of stuff, “you’re being too insensitive” or “stop being so stupid” were the typical responses back to his input.

“I’m just… worried,” Lucy admitted softly, hands running over her short black jacket’s sleeves anxiously. “He’s my brother and I just want him to know I care, that I’m there, that we’re still… us. Even with everything that’s happened.”

“When I met him, he had passed out under the sun for God knows how long and I couldn’t just leave him there for the raiders or vultures to pick his bones. So I brought him back here, nursed him to health, and he just never left no matter how much he said that he would go find you,” Thaddeus remembers that first night with Norman vividly. The sound of Norm’s melodic voice in his ear, the softness of his smooth palms against Thaddeus’s chest, and just… having someone to love after being so alone for so long felt great. It felt amazing. “I’d tell him, when he was worrying that by staying that you’ve already died, that no, you’re gonna find him. You’re gonna be able to hold him, and comfort him, and show him that there’s nothing to fear. So I guess that’s what made him feel safe.”

Lucy’s eyes crinkled with her small yet genuine smile. “Thank you.”

Thaddeus looked a little confused, dropping the brush by his boot and leaning back into the white plastic chair he was using. “For what?”

“For making my brother feel safe enough to get out of that shell of his and become a proper man,” the hazel eyed woman simply said. “He clearly loves you a whole lot, and I’m sure one day he’ll be ready for you to pop the ring on him. I’ll even go out with you for some ring shopping if you struggle with choices.”

Thaddeus couldn’t help but blush, and Lucy giggled at the sight (but at least she had the decency to hide it behind her hand swiftly). “I-I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I might even bring my own husband, Max, for some moral support,” Lucy reassured, patting Thaddeus’s chest and smiling so earnestly that didn’t even notice how Thaddeus’s eyes bulged and became a completely slacked jaw. “Don’t go looking too surprised I married Maximus. He’s really a darling under all the awkwardness… just like you, Thaddy!”

“Th-Thanks, Lucy,” was all that could muster itself from Thaddeus’s throat before he couldn’t talk anymore and yet it still sounded like his soul was leaving his lungs to meet God. The nickname made this all ten times worse.