Hey guys, first shot at a Fallout fic, probably not my last. Is this a good or bad thing? I haven't quite decided yet...

This story was inspired by an awesome picture by Ayleid, which you can see by visiting deviantart .com /art/4-RAD-per-SEC-115969334 (Remove the spaces in the URL, it won't allow me to publish links.)

PLEASE go look at it. It's pretty and :3
LW in this story is not necessarily the same as the picture, but let your imaginations go crazy. ;)

Clank, clank, clank…

"Yo, Cat, why are we down here in this vault anyway?"

Clank, clank, clank..

"I spent enough time in these things. Can't we go blast some raiders or something?"

Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank…

"Catherine!"

The footsteps stopped as soon as his shouting had, my patience was running thin. Very, very thin.

"Butch," I sighed, putting a hold on the expedition to turn and face him. "Shut up."

"Woah," he laughed, a little taken back. "Relax, huh? You'd think the entire fate of the world was on your shoulders or something…"

I crossed my arms, not even bothering to speak. The glare on my face was enough to get my point across.

"…Oh. Right. The G.E.C.K thingy."

Turning around, I continued to lead the way deeper into the abandoned Vault, trying to listen for danger over the sound of our steps.

Clank, clank, clank…

I couldn't help but feel a little frustrated with Butch, and in all honesty I had no one to blame but myself. Sure, I liked Butch… well, 'like' was an understatement, really, while we weren't about to run off and get married, there was more reason in Butch staying at my place than 'he has nowhere else to go.' But I'm not really sure why I thought it was a good idea to bring him with me…

Clank, clank, clank…

I guess I didn't trust him enough to leave him to his own devices in my house, of all places. Okay, it wasn't so much about trust as it was that Butch is a little immature and… well… Simms probably wouldn't be thrilled if he tried to start a fight at Moriarty's… again.

Clank, clank, clank…

When I decided it was best to let him come along I'd hoped he'd grow up a little bit, and don't get me wrong, at times he blew me away… but when things got quiet like now? Yeah. He definitely needed to be occupied.

Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, hiiiiisssss…

I paused. That noise just then… I waited a few more moments – there was nothing. Cautiously, I continued ahead, Butch still behind me.

Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssss…

I stopped completely, the noise sounded a little louder that time.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssss…

What the hell was that? It was even louder that time.

"Butch?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

I lifted my arm and started pressing buttons on my Pipboy. "I'm not sure… this sort of hissing sound… I have no idea what it could be, though. It could be a radscorpion, but I can't hear movement. Maybe it's a leak? I noticed we're at 4 rads per second around here…"

My panicked button pushing was brought to a halt when I felt a pair of hands snake around my waist and onto my stomach. He pulled me close, my back against his chest as his arms continued to secure his embrace. I closed my eyes, totally letting my guard down and letting go a long breath that I felt as if I'd been holding it forever. I'm such a sucker…

Butch leant down a little to his face was next to mine, his mouth near my ear. I could hear him breath and feel the air rush past. I stopped caring about the Super Mutants that could be around the corner, I didn't even care that we were at risk of rad poisoning just from standing there.

He kissed my earlobe and it became apparent that the G.E.C.K was the only thing stopping me from jumping him there and then. He leant in, and from his lips came…

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssssssssssss…"

My eyes opened, and my placid expression turned into an unimpressed glare in the direction at no one in particular. My breathing, and all other movement on my part stopped as I felt Butch erupt into an explosion of laughter. I tried to pull away, but he kept me close, burying his head into the space between my shoulder and neck.

"You're such an asshole."