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Cooper heard Max's heavy steps behind him, as they walked out from the stale air. He wouldn't exactly call it fresh air, but it was better than what was inside that smelly building they had picked for the night. Lucy had fallen asleep an hour or so ago, and Max and Cooper were waiting to see who would want to fall asleep first. No conversation had fallen from their lips for that time, simply sat together in the room.
Max had at last asked Cooper to walk outside, to ensure that Lucy wouldn't be woken by their voices.
Cooper's eyes looked up the twinkling stars, a sight that had long since lost it's luster. Once that sky was filled with lights, stubbing each point of contact by the pure hubris of humanity.
Cooper could feel the gun still in his sock, the knives in his pockets. His coat and hat were lost in the building next to Lucy, rested at her feet. He felt naked without the worn out fabric, but he was just as defenseless as Max was. His own coat and guns were in the building as well, rested next to Lucy's head, and over her shoulders.
The night was fair, animals mostly quiet, the wasteland crackling with random sounds all around them. Freeside wasn't too far away now, close enough for them to be safe from too many wild animals.
"And what, pray tell, was so pressin' as to bring me all the way out here, just with you?"
"I don't like you." The coldness he was trying to project simply came off as boredom. Youth begot folly, and Cooper could still hear the emotion just under that mask. Even still, the words were a shock to the ghoul. It wasn't the sentiment that shocked him, that was a fact that was clear any time Coop met a new person. No, Cooper was shocked that the smoothskin would be bold enough to say it, out loud, and make it known to the world. Of all the things he had been expecting, Max's candor about his sentiments was not on the list.
"You don't like me." Cooper repeated the words, giving Max a chance to double down, or to back off.
"No. I don't like you, I don't trust you with Lucy - I haven't from the first day back in Filly." The words were slightly faster, but no less meant. Cooper allowed silence between them, as if the knowledge had sunk in. Instead, his mind was working to decide the perfect course of action to play with the human infrotn of him.
"I don't need you to." One last bid to let this all cut off immediately. Cooper wasn't sure if he wanted it to or not, however. The stoicism of the former knight infront of him, it boarded on embarassing. His morals needed some fixing, just a little, and Cooper wondered if he could have a hand in that. He already had brokent he vault dweller down just a little bit, just enough. Having left the brotherhood, maybe those morals could be rewritten slightly.
He could feel Max's elevated emotions, and he wasn't done. If Cooper didn't settle in now, he was sure that he'd be back in this situation within a few weeks. He relaxed onto one leg, folded his hands together infront of him, and looked up at Maximus. Everything about Cooper said that he was allowing this to continue, not that he enjoyed it, or even was entertained by it.
"If Lucy wants to turn you out -"
"Then I'll run off, and beat her to her daddy." Even if he did lose his bargaining chip, even if he lost the one thing that gave him some leverage, Cooper knew that he could play Hank in some way. He'd gotten older, but Coop was the one who had explored the lands Hank helped create.
They both knew Cooper would suceed, too. He was better at hunting people down than either of the other two, and he had finally honed in on his target of the last two centuries.
"Why her father still? Why... Her? You could go back to doing whatever it was before she came along."
"I could ask you the same question. Why a vault dweller?"
"You haven't let her be. I won't either." Cooper shifted onto his other leg, and they made quite a pair. Cooper with his loose, asymmetrical posture was the perfect foil to Max's ridged posture of a soldier. He was a product of a regime, through and through. Max's tells were slight, but noticeable. It was in the tremble of his jaw, spasming muscles under his skin, hands gripping forearms hard enough for hi own biceps to bulge in definition every few moments.
Max was set up to fall down hard, and it looked to be headed over the vault dweller.
Cooper took a lazy step forward, not even full lifting his foot off the ground as he stepped forward. Brown eyes were locked on each other.
"We all got our goals, don't we?" He already knew just what to say, how to say it, to make Max fall, or bend, or even swing at him. Old as he was, he understood just how to play someone who didn't want to be played. And a little lie didn't hurt anyone now and again. "Now, tell me when you want to move your goals from sniffing my cum from her panties-"
Max's fist met Cooper's jaw, the strike fast, snapping his head to the side. The crack of pain matched the crack of adrenaline in Cooper's blood, that familiar sensation of blood pounding faster to worn muscle. He, naturally, punched Max back before he even realized his arm had moved. He was instincutal, all muscle memory.
Blows flew nearly too fast to keep up. Not too many, and they had found themselves in a grapple. Hands grabbed at the other, hands meet skin and muscles of the other. In a bid to escape, Cooper lifted his knee, and drove it into Max's groin, the aim to drop him.
Max only grunted through the pain, and before Cooper's foot fell back down, Max looped his leg around Cooper's ankle; it was effective enough to drop them both, falling onto the rocks and dirt.
Max's hand wrapped around Cooper's throat, the tough skin against his calloused palm. Cooper was familiar with the feeling of someone gripping his throat, trying to stub out the air from his body. He'd also found people with more blood on their hands than Max would ever be able to compare to.
Their bodies were flush against each other, with max's knee only slightly pressing into the ground, just to keep his balance.
Cooper tried to kick out with his leg to get a step up; he only succeeded in forcing Max's body to slide up against Cooper's own.
He wasn't sure if it was the lack of oxygen, or the rush of the fight, perhaps it was just a reminder of his days long gone in the military. Men found comfort after fights discreetly behind buildings, in showers, anywhere to get the last bit of aggression out of their bodies. Cooper wasn't unfamiliar with the pleasure between men, and with the way their half stiff cocks suddenly grinded against each other, he figured quickly that Max wasn't unfamiliar either.
Cooper had figured out a long time ago the chemical that ruled anger and arousal were not so different in the body. As Max's lips crashed against Cooper's, he realized that Max must have figured that out too.
The grip on his throat did loosen after a few moments, but he still couldn't breathe against Max's lips.
His only option was to flip their bodies, forcing Max's back to hit that same ground he'd just been in. The rocks and dirt that had embedded itself in his leathery skin fell over Max, showering him in debris. Max used the distraction to throw his hand back to Cooper's throat, just as Cooper took Max's other hand and slammed it to the ground. They had each other in a stalemate, held by just the trust of this moment alone; this moment of pleasure before the wasteland took it's toll again.
Cooper pushed his throat into Max's hand, and moved until their lips connected once more. He felt the air choke off from his lungs again, until that hand slipped from the front, to the back of his neck. He was pulled even closer, Max's hands warm against his skin.
Max pushed him back enough to speak, their lips brushing against each other.
"She needs someone to support her."
"Naw. She needs someone to teach her. Just like you." Cooper steadied himself on his knee, and started to slide his cock against Max's, their thick pants that dulled the grinding against the other's shaft.
Max slipped his hand form Cooper's neck to the back of his bald head, sliding his hand over the radiation scarred flesh. Not even five years ago, he was taught that someone like him was no better than someone who killed his fellow man. Someone who dared to grind and grope a ghoul, they were the lowest form of humans to those he had grown up with.
Cooper felt Max pull him down again, and in an effort to stiffle his moans, he pressed his mouth against Cooper's shoulder, and bit into the skin.
He regretted the action slightly as the flavors hit his tongue. Dirt, sweat soaked fabric, rotting skin, it was exactly what he'd expect this assassin to taste like.
His hips shoved up into Cooper's groin, feeling them grind against each other harder. His nails darted out as well, digging through the wasteband into Cooper's hips, pulling him just that much closer.
Cooper reciprocated the action, a hand moving down to Max's ass, the other holding his balance. He freely groped Max, feeling the globe of defined muscle. He was still fit for his age, even more than just his age.
"Do you think Lucy would want you more? Think she'd give up whatever I could do to her, for you?" The goading worked effectively, and Max jerked his hips up, and he moaned at the dull sensation. It wasn't enough, it wasn't totally good, and it was half fustrating.
But when they felt each other shift again, Max took Cooper's hips, and tried to guide him for a few moments. He wasn't as successful as he'd hoped to be, and Cooper's lips pressed against Max's jaw. A jaw he'd just so recently punched.
"I know she would want me more," Max said, firm in his belief. He took the chance to press their lips together, shutting up the goading. He took Cooper's lip between his teeth, and sucked on it for just a moment. his teeth caught it as Cooper tried to pull away, and he was rewarded with a bite of Cooper's nails to his skin.
"Is that what you really think, loverboy?" Cooper's voice was thicker now, more gravely.
"I know it." Cooper continued with the thrusts, just to lean his head down to Max's ear, each word whispered like a dreadful, seductive promise.
"Did you see her change earlier? When she had to take off that white shirt, the way her tits bounced and swung?"
"No-" Ever the attempted gentleman, Cooper could feel the restraint in his voice, the attempt of disgust over violating her pirvacy. Yet his cock still jumped against Cooper's, still twitched when Cooper continued.
"You saw the curve of her ass too, didn't ya? Think if she was between us now, moanin' into your ear instead." As close as their faces were, Cooper could feel Max's face heat with a blush, embarassment and arrosal fighting for supremecy.
Cooper reached his free hand between him and Max, and groped at Max's balls, massaging him through his pants. "Her cunt, dripping on your balls, moanin' your name... Watch the next time she bends down, how good it's feel to grind against that ass." Cooper dared to bite Max's earlobe, tugging a little and flicking the lobe with his tongue. "Don't lie about lookin' at her, Max, Miss MacLean wouldn't like it if you did that." and that little bit was all Max needed to cum in his pants, grabbing at Cooper to pull him just that little bit closer.
Cooper could feel him tremble through the orgasm, and he pressed his face against Max's shoulder, taking the few moments to properly loose himself in the feeling of another body released into pleasure due to him. He felt himself spend into his own underwear, his moan disappearing into Max's shoulder.
The cum was warm, sticky, and pooled in their underwear. He licked his lips, and tasted a bit of blood, presumable from one of the blows from earlier. He was curioous if it was his blood, or Max's.
Their breathing returned to normal after a moment or two.
Cooper slid off Max, and stood himself up. he wasn't the young man he once was, and he could feel the scream in his body from the sudden motions. He didn't offer a hand to Max.
"I still don't trust you with her," Max spoke up.
"Don't, loveboy. Just trust I need her alive for a while."
The door to the building banged open, and Lucy came out, wearing Max's coat.
"Can you two not fight for one night? I can see blood on your faces."
"Don't worry, sweetheart." Cooper's voice called out to Lucy louder than he'd been before. "I think we just understood each other right for the first time."
"Yeah - We did." Max was back on his feet, looking at Lucy in his coat.
"Oh. Good. Please keep to it."