Fracking Apocalypse - a ZNation 10K/Tommy Fanfiction

S4E13

"10K. . . " she began as he looked down at her curiously and a little hurt, "Are you sure?"

He'd been worried she'd ask that. Red had been there to see how crushed he'd been after. . . well, what happened in Murphytown. She'd seen him mourn, she'd seen how crippled he'd been but honestly, the apocalypse was so bad already and he was so sick of feeling bad, he wanted something good. And what he had with Red was good and he felt like he was ready to stop holding back any part of himself.

He sat up so they were both sitting on the cot again with their feet on the floor, then he pulled his backpack out from under the bed and fished around in it until he pulled out a box labeled 'Billy Boy Brand'. He rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the box, it was easier to talk about how he felt looking at anything but Red's eyes.

"I found these a while back and decided to save them. I hoped. . . one day I'd feel happy enough that. . . I could move on." He turned to Red noticing how deep her eyes were as she looked at him then he looked back down, "I'm tired of tip toeing around my life. It feels like. . . like I'm navigating a minefield and. . . it's actually exhausting. I just want to be happy again." He felt her hand move to his shoulder blade as she shifted closer and rubbed his back, he turned his head and looked up at her again, "You make me happy Red. You make me laugh, sometimes my face hurts from smiling all day, and. . . I owe that all to you. I. . . I think I might be falling in love again, I never thought I'd be able to. I dunno. But I do know I'm happy with you, and I want to enjoy that, not keep tip toeing around everything."

It was quiet for a long moment, so long he was starting to get nervous that maybe he'd said too much, or maybe not enough, or hadn't said the right thing. But then Red leaned in and kissed him again. She brought one hand to the back of his head as it deepened and she started to lean back until her back hit the bed and he rested on his elbows hovering over her.

«»

He only panted this hard when he was running from a horde. Red was curled into him, her back against his chest with his arm around her as she held his hand and intertwined their fingers. He pulled her closer and hugged her tighter as they snuggled under the blanket on the cot and enjoyed their afterglow. He was on cloud nine, soaking up all the good things he was feeling at being given this second chance. Especially in this world.

"Red." He murmured softly in the dark with only the little spots of light coming from the wicks of the candles.

"Mmmm?"

"My name is Tommy." He told her. He felt a little weird that he'd just slept with a girl who didn't know his real name and they'd been together long enough that he just felt like she should know it.

"I like it." She replied playing with his fingers between hers. "It suits you." Then she rolled so her head rested on his chest as he turned onto his back. "Do you want me to call you that?"

He shrugged, "If you want. It's just us, so it's not like there's anyone around to keep it a secret from."

"Mmmm." She hummed again snuggling deeper into his embrace. Another quiet moment went by before she spoke again, "Mine's Ashley."

The corner of his mouth twitched before it turned into a small smile, "That's pretty. Do you want me to call you that?"

He felt her shake her head, "No. That girl died a long time ago."

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Okay, it'll be our secret."

He felt her smile as she wrapped an arm around his torso. It didn't take long after that for the candles to burn out as the wicks were extinguished by their own little puddles of liquid wax building at their centers and the tree tent was in darkness again and they both fell asleep.