Chapter 6: Still The Same Inside

You knew you fell asleep, when you awoke you found your pants rolled up and leg bandaged.

"Morning (Y/n)..." John said, as he entered the room he was suprised yo see you up.

"Mm?" You glanced at him, "g'morning." You glanced at your pipboy, 8:39 am.

"Ellie decided to get that doc to check your leg while you were asleep. He treated it for ya." You rubbed the sleep from your eyes, words entering your ears but you didn't process them. You had a headache, he already seemed to guess this, handing you water.

"Mm thanks." You hummed, tilting your head back and drinking the water slowly. "I knew I shouldn't have agreed to drinking. Always regret after when the headache sets in." You sighed, holding out the cup with one hand and rubbing your head with the other. John took the cup without question.

"Miss (Y/n)?" You craned your head to the small voice, Jeremy walked down the small steps with a yawn. "You're back!" His eyes lit up as he realized it was you.

To your's and John's suprise he jumped onto your lap and hugged you. "You were gone for too lonnng." He moaned dramatically.

Your blinked to the small child infront of you, "I was only gone for a few days."

"Too lonng." He fell sideways, on the empty part of the bed. His eyes locked with Hancocks confused one. "Oooh, who are you?"

"No one special." He shrugged, walking away to put the cup elsewhere.

You frown, leaning to whisper into Jeremy's ear. "He's a friend, Hancock." You told him the name John preferred to go with.

Yes, even if his actions hurt you, you knew under all that difference and change, he's still the same inside. The same John you knew was there. You didn't want to admit how you saw how hurt his eyes showed.

"Ooh okay." Jeremy sat up, crossing his legs and smiling. Cherry ran into the room, tackling you and licking at your face. You yelped as she sat on your injured leg.

"Hey, doggo, your hurting your owner there." John nudged Cherry-pop off your leg, getting the message she hooped off the bed. "Your leg feeling any better?"

"Eh, still hurts, but it stings less." You said. "Where's Ellie?"

"Stepped out, said she'll come back soon enough." He responded, leaning against the opposite wall.

"Miss (Y/n), guess what! Ellie enrolled me into school!" He tugged on your shirt.

"Really? Have you learned a few things."

"Mhm, yeah they taught me a lot!"

You gave a small smile, nodding approvingly. "Good, as long as you're learning something."

•▪°○°▪•

Ellie had returned quickly as she had said, bring Jeremy to the school house.

It left you alone with John, something you both looked forward to and dreaded at the same time.

You hadn't gotten out of bed yet, far too lazy to get up. Laying on your back with closed eyes as you daydreamed.

The side of the bed sunk, you already knew who it was.

"I regret it, a lot." He sighed, you kept your eyes shut, you swore if you opened them you'd regret it yourself.

"Regret what?"

"Using that method to cope, I lost a lot, I resorted to chems and others to get rid of my stress." His voice trembled slightly, "I was scared of being committed and close to others and relationships."

Your lips tightened, "I get it... after all you thought I was dead. I guess a part of me is."

You sat up, eyes half-lidded as you stared down. You leaned your head on his shoulder, doing the same as he leaned on your head.

"I guess we both lost a part of us." He said quietly. You nodded solemnly, breathing out deeply. "Do... do you want to try again?"

You felt your stomach swell with warmth, "I suppose why not..." You moved your head up, pressing your lips to his cheek. Feeling your cheeks heat up, you still weren't used to all this. 

You heard him chuckle, properly turning to face you.

As you kissed, you savored every bit of it. Every lonely feeling left you, and you could enjoy this without the buzz of being drunk or some stranger walking in.

You smiled into his lips, pulling back only slightly to rest your forehead against his.

"Better than I could ever imagine, sunshine." Your eyes widened from their low-lidded state. You forgot about the nickname.

"Shouldn't I be calling you that?" He laughed, you slowly did too. As you calmed, you smiled sadly, "I think I've been on my own for too long. Only a few conversations and aid here and there..." You trailed off.

"Hey don't be like that." He lifted your chin to look you in the eye, thumb tracing over your lips. Without a guess you could still see how he resembles the man he was before.

You hummed lowly, eyes closed as he traced your face lightly. "Your eyes are always breathtaking, you know that?"

"Come now, don't start flattering me now." You chuckled anyway, appreciating his words, and meeting his gaze with your (e/c) orbs.

You heard the door open, and you slowly pulled away from him. Looking to see that Ellie had entered.

You hoped your cheeks still weren't red, as she peeked into the room. "You two doing okay?" You nodded.

"Yeah... what time does Jeremy get back?"

"Two in the afternoon." She answered, smiling and said, "make sure to rest and get better, all right?"

"Will do Doctor Ellie." You joked with a smile, she grinned and left around the corner.

You looked back to John, who stared off with a blank face. "Are you okay?" He blinked, nodding after a few seconds.

"Yeah, just fine..." A few more seconds of silence before he asked, "is Jeremy your's?"

You rose a brow, genuinely suprised ar his words, you quickly shook your head. "No, he ain't mine. Found him when I stumbled upon his kidnappers, killed them and saved his life." You looked to the ceiling, recalling the scene. "He took awhile to open up, I choose to tell him my real name. When he did, he said his parents were killed and that he didn't know who to go to. So, I brought him to Nick in hopes for some ideas."

John turned to look at you while you were speaking, an unreadable expression on his face. "He seems attached to you."

To that you shrugged, "thing is I don't think I could care for him myself. Sure I'll come stop by every once and awhile... but caring for a kid? I don't think I'm up for that just yet." You spoke quietly and truthfully.

"Not ready for the commitment of a kid?" He asked softly, and you nodded, laying back down and rested your head on the pillow.

"Not at the moment."

You both stayed silent after that, but silence says a lot on its own.

•▪°○°▪•

You had fallen asleep, and stirred to the sound of muffled giggling. Your body was curled up to John, a leg draped over his. Your face reddened, eyes then looked to the owner of the giggling.

Jeremy stood there with a hand over his mouth, eyes tearing up as those he was about to break into laughter. You glared at him, raising a finger to your lips.

A snort escaped his lips and he nodded, more amused that embarrassed or weirded by it. "Just friends?" He whispered mischievously.

You didn't even know that John layed down next to you, but you gave him another glare and shooed him away.

The boy pouted but gave another laugh before tiptoeing away. You breathed out a sigh, eyes glancing up to John. Eyes closed and breathing shallow and even.

You shut your own eyes, at this point you slept to much to go back. So you layed there with your eyes shut, liking this far more than you expected.

You wondered when the last time he was asleep, he had found you and Piper after all, after you snapped at him. You still felt slightly guilty for your past actions. But that was in the past, pay attention to the present (Y/n)... You told yourself.

You burried your face in his chest, glancing at your pipboy. It was 3 in the afternoon, you read, your stomach grumbled slightly. A reminder you hadn't even eaten yet.

John grumbled, cracking open an eye and looked down to you? "Now what do we have here?" He gave a small grinned.

"M'hungry..." You mumbled, making him laugh.

"Yeah you haven't eaten yet have ya?" He slowly sat up, making you lean to the part he was laying down. "Wait here."

•▪°○°▪•

As John walked into the front room, the young boy Jeremy was sitting at Nick's desk drawing and humming to himself. Ellie sat at her own desk, reading the book in her lap.

Jeremy looked up to him, a large smile grew on his face and he laughed quietly.

"Something the matter, kiddo?" John asked quizzically, to which he shook his head with a snicker. John dropped it, turning to Ellie. "Do you got anything to eat?"

She looked up from her book, "I could go buy some power noodles." She smiled sheepishly before looking at him mischievously, "next time you two are going to cuddle, I'm not sure if you want to do it when anyone could see you two..." She giggled, John felt his cheeks heat up. Even if his blush isn't visible, he sure as hell felt it.

"Uh okay..."

Ellie closed the book, placing it down on her desk and stood up. "I'll go get some food, I'll be back soon." She said grabbing a pouch and walking past Hancock to leave.

John's attention went to Jeremy, who was staring at him with a sly smile. "Just friends?"

"Who told you that?"

"Miss (Y/n), when I first met you." He said with a shrug, frowning after a moment. "She's really nice, I wish she was my mom." He mumbled.

Oh no, not this. Hancock stared at him for a moment, "what was wrong with your real mom?" He kept his tone soft, if he startled the kid, then he'd refuse to say anything.

"Other than the fact she is dead?" Hancock frowned, but Jeremy continued, "my mom was mean, always forcing me to do something. Work all the time, I'd work for food and I wasn't allowed to sleep a lot."

"Damn, you went through some stuff yourself then, huh?" Jeremy nodded.

"Miss (Y/n) isn't like her, she's considerate and she's nice... she's strong too! She saved me from molerats!"

John laughed at the kids enthusiasm, "yeah... I see what you mean." He wouldn't bring up to Jeremy that (Y/n) wouldn't feel ready for the responsibility, she would have to do that herself when the time comes.

A knock on the door sounded before Ellie entered with two bowls, "one's for (Y/n) the other here is for you, if you want it." She offered him.

He rose a hand, "sorry, I'm gonna have to pass on this one. Thanks for the offer."

Ellie nodded, placing down the bowl on her table and went over to where (Y/n) was.

"How did you and miss (Y/n) meet?" Jeremy gazed up at Hancock with lit eyes.

"Long time ago kid, long time ago." Hancock replied with a questioning smile. "I could tell you the story sometime," he offered, making Jeremy grin.

"Really?!"

"Yeah sure."

"What are we talking about here?" (Y/n) walked into the room, wrapping an arm around Hancock's neck as she stood next to him. She had the bowl of power noodles in the other hand.

"How you guys met!" Jeremy answered, "Mr. Hancock said he would tell me sometime."

John grinned sheepishly when she sent him a quizzical look, but chuckled. Bringing her arm off his shoulders to eat.

"You gonna tell him how I tried to steal from you when we first met?" She grinned, John saw how her body seemed less tense now.

"You were a thief?" Jeremy exclaimed, eyes wide with curiosity and wonder.

(Y/n) nodded and Hancock laughed, "yeah, she tried nabbing some caps off of me. I bailed her out from the guards though."

"Thus began a great friendship, eh?" She poked him with her elbow. "You have to admit I almost got away with pickpocketing you though." She let out a small breathless chuckle, turning to Jeremy she spoke again. "Don't become a thief like I was back when I was younger, because you may not meet someone like Hancock who'll bail you out of jail."

"Now, (Y/n) that isn't the only reason not to steal!" Ellie scolded when she walked into the room.

(Y/n) nodded, humming in agreement, "there are others too, another reason is that it could make you a lot of enemies." She then continued to eat.

"I suppose that's a better reason," Ellie sighed, a smile still on her lips.

"I could list more, but that'd be really boring." She smiled.

"Listening to you talk is never boring." Hancock grinned, watching her face go a shade of red before nuzzling her neck.

Both Jeremy and Ellie laughed.

"God, I hate you." He chuckled, knowing she didn't mean a single word at this point.

"You can tell yourself that." He whispered.

"You already know I don't, not since you helping us." She replied quietly, putting the- now empty- bowl down.

"Looks like you both made up quickly, (Y/n) how's your leg doing?" Ellie asked.

"Doin' alright, I can walk. Just not put too much pressure on it." She said, looking down to her healing limb.

"Good, keep that recovery up and you should be just fine."

Hancock watched as she smiled wider, "thanks doc."

God, he loved that smile.