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It had been two weeks; two weeks since Danse had been exiled from the Brotherhood. Nate hasn’t been able to get that synth out of his mind. All he can do is stay up late at night thinking about Danse in the house next door, sensitive, rash and forsaken. He doesn’t know how much longer he can deal with it. His house is silent and his bed is as empty as ever; Dogmeat had refused to sleep with him tonight. He knew he had to tell Danse how important he was to him, and he knew he had to tell him sooner rather than later. Nate was borderline getting desperate for Danse to notice his acts of affection.
It had been love at first sight.
Meeting at the police station overrun by ghouls was anything but ideal. Nonetheless it was how their first meeting went. Once the ghouls were cleared, Nathan knew he could never leave the man towering over him in power armor. He had an irresistible look to him; hardened, gruff, and the way his brown eyes shone in the rays of light peaking through the clouds was to die for. It was like god had ordained their meeting, and Nathan couldn’t have been more grateful. He stumbled on his words like a teenager when they talked, it was humiliating. Nate was going to jump off of his roof if Danse didn’t pick up on his signals soon.
This nightly yearning wasn’t doing him any good. Nathan sighs, he might as well take a walk to do his best to calm down at this point. His mother had always told him that sulking in bed won’t do him any good. He stretches and slowly sits up, grabbing his pipboy off his nightstand to check the time, 2:24.
He takes a deep breath then stands up, causing the bed to let out an embarrassingly loud creak. He pinches the bridge of his nose and slides on his shoes. He takes note that they’re really beginning to fall apart; the backs of them chafed, and the soles are hanging on by a few less threads than he remembers. He excuses this and begins to make his way to the door.
As he makes his way there, he heres a noise that sounded similar to the sound of his door handle turning. This rids him of any grogginess previously had, fast. Nate panics for a minute. Dogmeat can’t twist the door handle, Valentine was in Diamond City, Preston was going to sleep last he saw him. Who could it be? Nathan slowly creeps towards the door from the hallway, doing his best to prepare himself for whoever he comes across. Then he hears quiet whispers. He speeds up. Once he reaches the living room, he lets his guard down instantaneously.
It was Danse. All he was doing was petting Dogmeat, who had made himself comfortable on the couch. He sighed, almost comically loud. Danse looked over at him, noticeably tensing, looking like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Nate giggled, Danse’s shoulders softened. Nathan walked over to the two of them, positioning himself so Dogmeat was sleeping on the couch between him and Danse.
“What are you doing here so late at night?” He asked. He had no clue how the man of his thoughts managed to know that he wanted to talk.
“Couldn’t sleep, figured you weren’t able to either.” Danse replies, raising his eyes to look at Nate’s. He seemed like he had an equal amount of stuff on his mind.
“Well guess you were right,” Nate chuckles, “What did you want with me though?” He eyes Danse, praying for the answer he has been dreaming of. He knows Danse is more likely to talk of mundane issues in Sanctuary—such as the house down the street needing a roof fix up, or about the water pump breaking down more frequently than normal lately— rather than talk of their relationship, but this didn’t feel like a typical visit.
“Just wanted to talk. Maybe about us.” Danse murmured, his face looking a little more flushed than before. Could Nate have been right? Did Danse finally catch on? He was rather forward today, unintentionally maybe a little touchier than usual, maybe a little looser with his words. Nate has been doing his best to be a little more direct than he used to be.
“Yeah? What do you mean by that?” Nate asks, an excited tone in his voice, but he hoped that it wasn’t obvious.
Danse tensed up, he went silent and looked away. He was nervous and Nathan found that endearing, he now had to debate on how to break the silence. Was Danse truly on the same page on him, could he take that gamble?
He decided on putting his hand on top of Danse’s hand that was petting Dogmeat. Danse’s eyes flit right back over to Nathan’s. Nate’s heartbeat sped up. He slowly began to lean in, closer to Danse. Danse mimicked this action until their foreheads were about to touch. The breathed each other’s air for a minute until Nate took action. He closed the gap, with desperation and pure love. The touch of their lips felt magical. An inexplicable feeling, a once in a life time magic. They soon part, Danse breathing more heavily than he had been previously. They stared into each other’s eyes— until Dogmeat whimpered loudly. Danse jumped, Nathan giggled, and Dogmeat yawned as he stood up on the couch to stretch. Dogmeat jumped down and trotted his way back to Shaun’s room to hop in bed with the kid.
Nate brought his head in closer again, “Want to go back to my room big guy?” He smiled, things were right. His feelings were reciprocated and he was over the moon. Danse leaned in again, stealing another kiss before whispering, “Yeah.”
Nathan stood up slowly, grabbed Danse’s hand, dragging him through the house and all the way to his room. Nate lets go of Danse’s hand and slides his shoes off before getting into his bed. He rolls over to one side and pats the empty side of the bed next to him. Danse accepts the invitation and settles down next to Nate on the plush mattress. Nathan cuddles right up to Danse, entangling their limbs.
“I love you.” Nathan mummbles. Danse kisses him lightly on the forehead and gently rubs his back. They drift off to sleep, finally able to get the rest they weren’t capable of getting before.