Chapter Text
They had two main problems going into December: finding where the girls were staying, and trying to keep a low enough profile they wouldn’t be forced to run before they did. It had been a long few days of running, being forced to detour for a plant that needed some love, more running, and generally wandering around the desert for what felt like forty years.
Nicholas’s back ached, his feet were tired, and the spot on his forearm that got nicked by a bullet wasn’t too happy with him either. He was dying for a shower, or a real bed, or something to eat that wasn’t their pack rations— all the worldly comforts he took for granted back at Home. He’d gotten spoiled.
Thankfully, though? Their first problem seemed to have solved itself.
“Mr. Vash?! Mr. Priest!?”
Their newest problem manifested itself as two hundred pounds of girl slamming into the two of them as fast as Milly Thompson’s legs would carry her.
Forget the stun gun— Big Girl was her own stun gun. All three of them hit the hard, dusty concrete with a clatter and an undignified scream, courtesy of Vash.
“Wow it is actually you!” Milly was smiling wide, smashing them all together into a tight embrace. “It has been so long— Meryl is going to murder you in cold blood! But not actually, just that she missed you so much even if she won’t admit it— are you alright?”
Nicholas wheezed. “Choking—“
She loosened her hold, sitting back upright again with a bright laugh. Neither her nor Vash seemed concerned with the fact they were sitting on the dusty street in a bustling marketplace, people hardly changing their course to avoid them on either side. They were both laughing, faces lit up, hardly making a sentence between them as they babbled excitedly.
The swell of joy in his chest didn’t exactly help him catch his breath.
“Mr. Priest, you really would be able to breathe better if you didn’t smoke so much.” Milly pointed out, unhelpfully. “And if it weren’t so dusty here!”
“Big Girl, we’re in the middle of the street.”
“Oh, are we?” She looked around, as if she were not the one who tackled them in the road. “Yes, well that isn’t bound to be very good for you either! We should go back to Meryl and I’s place! Here—“
In a whirlwind of motion Milly was standing, practically pulling the both of them to their feet.
Nicholas didn’t miss the way Vash still moved a little differently, still avoided putting too much weight on his right knee when first standing.
“She can’t wait to see you, I’m sure— we’ve been worried sick! Where do you get off leaving like that?”
Vash chuckled awkwardly, rubbed the back of his neck with the hand Milly wasn’t holding.
“And Mr. Priest! What happened to your hand?”
She squeezed her hand in his, brushing over the scar in his palm.
“Long story— wouldn’t wanna keep Shortie waiting.”
“Oh, of course not! Come on, let’s go!”
It wasn’t exactly the easiest navigating while all holding hands, but Milly wasn’t about to let go and, Nicholas had to admit, it was kinda nice. Sue him, he missed the girls.
“…and I’d imagine you two have lots of stories to tell! I know I certainly have a lot to fill you in on, since I had nowhere to send my the Milly Monthly’s…”
The side streets were getting quieter as they went, which did help. Leaving the market got them in quiet residential neighborhoods, where parents hung the laundry to dry and kids played in the dirt, couples walked hand in hand, housewives gossiped in the shade of the porches with the occasional cigarette or drink in hand. The heat made the concrete look like it was rippling, the dust wore at the edges of the pastel-painted buildings.
People smiled back when Milly greeted them, but something about it made his skin crawl. He didn’t trust the neatness of their metaphorical picket fences. The suburbs of cities like this always gave him that twisted, sickly feeling.
A bit too much like coming home.
Kids eat ice cream outside the corner store, and the ones in rougher clothes smoked worm tails tucked into the alleyways between. That woman tensed every time her partner spoke. He could hear a woman screaming at her husband from one of the higher up apartments, foolishly having left the window open. The neighbors sipped their sweet tea, exchanged money as they listened in.
“…didn’t do anything but bury herself in paperwork for days until I finally dragged her out to get some sun, and the funniest thing…”
His palm felt sweaty in hers. Vash was listening to her talk, nodding along.
A little boy scraped his knee, ran to his father crying. A teenager sat on the curb with their head propped on their hands, bored, watching over the littler kids. A little girl was struggling to yank out her loose tooth.
“We’re renting out a little place not far from here, since really we did need to actually get some things written and ready to sent back to the office— I’m so jealous of you, not having to worry about things like that!”
Nicholas snorted. “Keepin’ Blondie here alive is a full time job.”
“Hey!”
Milly giggled. “Well, Mr. Vash, you do cause a fair amount of trouble. Even just following you around is our full time job! …even if the insurance agency isn’t sure how to deal with you.”
Vash pouted. “And I’m pretty sure you quit your job there, Nick.”
“…understatement of the year, Needle Noggin.”
“So if you aren’t getting paid for it, is keeping him alive really a full time job?” She frowned. “Or can you just not bear to part ways?”
They both went a little more red than they cared to admit.
“Well…”
“See…”
“You!”
Meryl’s shrill voice from a window above startled the three of them. She looked properly pissed off, as ferocious a face as such a tiny thing could manage, pointing at them with an accusatory finger.
Milly’s face lit up. “Meryl! Look who I found!”
“I send you to the market to buy some eggs and you come back with these thomas-shits—“ She flailed her arms when she talked even more than he remembered. “—who can’t even be bothered to leave a note when they leave for—“
“Sorry!” Vash squeaked, raising his hands in surrender.
He could practically feel the gossiping neighbors eyes on him, their breath down his neck.
“Come on, ‘Lil Lady, can’t even wait ‘til we get inside?”
Meryl scowled, hands on her hips like a disgruntled mom. “Just get your asses in here.”
“Yes, Ma’am!” Milly chirped, grabbed their hands once more. “We’re up on the third floor—“
She slammed the window shut, and they headed up.
If there was one thing he didn’t miss about Punisher, it was lugging her up stairs.
Still, he made sure he was in the back of the group going up. Just in case. Because Vash seemed fine, but it hadn’t even been a month since he had his leg amputated even further, and he knew they both healed fast, but that was, well…
Okay. Maybe he was still a little worried. Maybe he still saw him sitting in that bathtub with the knife in his hands in his nightmares. Maybe he felt guilty about him losing more of his leg in the first place.
It didn’t matter that he knew it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t the logical part of his brain that thought that, so trying to reason was a lost cause.
But the door was opening and Meryl was pulling them inside, fussing about this and that, dragging Vash down to her level by his ear and giving him a stern talking to about leaving like that.
Nicholas laughed, at that.
Which only brought her fury onto him.
“And you! Did you even try to stop him?” She jabbed a finger at his chest, not really threatening in the slightest. “And I expect better of you! A letter? A phone call? Something! Him? I know he’s not gonna try to get ahold of us—“
“Hey! Why is everyone being so mean?!”
“Probably because you aren’t very trustworthy, Mr. Vash!”
Vash choked on that, turning it into a laugh that sounded too manic, too forced.
Meryl rolled her eyes. “I trust him just fine— trust him to try to run off at every opportunity!”
He was still laughing. A lot.
The girls didn’t mean any harm. They both knew that. But they also both knew they didn’t pull punches, that they did so well in their careers because they called it how they saw it.
“So, how can you blame Blondie for bein’ a flight risk, then? Can’t exactly keep a typhoon down in one spot.”
“We’ve had enough typhoons here! Non-humanoid ones, that is, Mr. Vash— we are so happy that it’s just you coming in through December!” Her smile was so contagious it had the corner of his lips twitching up. “Oh! I bet you two are hungry! I should get some food going for us!”
“Milly. Darling.”
“Yes, Ma’am?”
She sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose. “Did you get the eggs?”
“…oh. Right.” Milly didn’t remain discouraged for long, smile returning with a vengeance as she nodded. “I should get some eggs so I can get some food going for us!”
Vash perked up. “I’ll go with you!”
“The hell you will!” Meryl spun back around to him. “We all know how that’ll go down if we let you back out there.”
He pouted like a little kid told they couldn’t have a piece of candy. “I’ll be good?”
“No.”
“I’ll stay out of trouble!”
“Somehow? I doubt that.” She was trying to act stern, but it was obvious they were both trying not to laugh. “You’ll go out there, and try your best to help somebody waving your noodle-y limbs all over the place—“
“Noodle-y!?”
“—and that’ll get some idiot to recognize you, then what’ll your good behavior do when you’ve got a posse out for your silly ass?”
“So much doubt in my ass, today.” Vash shook his head.
“I have no doubt your ass’ll get us all in trouble if you don’t lay low.”
“Aww, but Meryllllll—“
“No buts!”
Nicholas couldn’t help but laugh. Let himself bask in the ease of it all, in the familiar patterns of their little group.
“How ‘bout I go with Big Girl, and leave you two to work this out?”
Meryl and Vash cast each other sideways glances. Or more diagonal, with the height difference. Milly nodded, rocked up on the balls of her feet.
“I’d love to go with you, Honey!” She declared, grabbing the bag she had dropped by the door when they came in. “That sound good, dear?”
They were still eyeing each other suspiciously, working to get this part out of the way before they could excuse themselves to be emotional for real. What dorks.
Meryl sighed. “I guess…”
“Great!” Milly grinned, swung by to press a kiss to her cheek before grabbing Nicholas by the wrist. “Now, let’s go, Honey.”
Vash winked at him. He rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, Hun. Let’s go.”
***
“So, what happened to your hand?”
He and Milly walked at a more reasonable pace, now, as they headed back to the marketplace, a cigarette between his lips and a lollipop hers. They weren’t holding hands either, but she walked close enough that their shoulders brushed.
It was so simple. He envied her, for making touch that simple.
“Burnt it.”
Nicholas knew that answer wasn’t satisfactory before she even glared. It wasn’t a very effective glare, but she knew it didn’t really matter. He was the big brother who just had to be asked with a big enough “please” and he’d cave, spoil the rest of the kids rotten.
She was the youngest, alright. She had slotted right into that spot like it was made for her. Or, rather, like she made it fit perfectly by asking nicely with pouty eyes.
“The scar itself doesn’t matter much, just the fact I still have it, I’m guessin’?”
Milly nodded. “You haven’t had scars left behind any other time. Even when—“
They didn’t have to mention Chapel. They knew.
“Yeah, I ran out of serum. Guess scars don’t completely go away without it.”
“Huh.” She hummed, brow creasing in thought. “Is that why Mr. Vash was sticking so close to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he barely took his eyes off you the whole time we were walking there, or when we stopped by the apartment. And when I ran into you, he moved himself to be in between us which I thought at first was because he really wanted a hug, but then I realized I probably startled you! Sorry for that, I got a little over-excited.”
“All good, Big Girl.”
“Then I realized, because I startled him, he made sure he was in the way to protect you! Which is just like Mr. Vash, really. But then the way he looked at you when you coughed—“
“He looked scared, huh?”
“Oh, yes. It was written all over his face.” She nodded. “He really does love you a lot.”
“…yeah.” Nicholas knew he was blushing. “Guess he does.”
“You two make such a cute couple!”
“Wait, wh—“ He stopped, sputtering. “How did— I didn’t even tell you anything!”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“How you just knew we were… together, like that?”
Milly tilted her head. “Well, haven’t you been partners for years? I’ve always said you were such a good pair, maybe just not to your face?”
He felt like he was about to pass out. “Goddamn it, Big Girl.”
“I’m not wrong though, am I?”
“…well…”
She grinned. “Meryl owes me twenty double dollars!”
“That’s what you’re so excited about!?”
“Come on, let’s get the eggs! I cant wait to tell her! Or, really, for you to tell her, because I don’t think it’s really my business to be prying into a couple’s personal matters.”
“Oh, and you say that now?”
“Yes?” And Milly blinked those wide eyes, still smiling.
“…let’s go get the eggs.”
***
Some bourbon (enjoyed by all) and partially burnt fried rice (which Vash picked at, ate most of the veggies and meat out of before claiming to be stuffed and giving the rest to Milly) later, some of the excitement had died down. Vash recounted what they’d been up to in their time apart, albeit through quite the rose-tinted lens. It was obvious that the girls knew that, but neither dug for any of the gorier details.
And with how short the story was when Vash told it? It was clear their time apart from the girls was pretty damn awful.
It did make him think, though. About the past few months. About the way he still felt like he’d wake up one of these days and it’ll all have been just a dream.
“…so then I was running away, and somewhere in there I lost Nick, but I was kinda in a predicament because there was a guy with a baseball bat I didn’t see when I rounded the corner…”
It didn’t leave any permanent damage. Just dazed him enough they could get him tied up, get him thrown in the back of the car where Nicholas wouldn’t find anything wrong later but a couple of unclasped belts and odd behavior.
“…hitched a ride with them for a bit, but it wasn’t the best company— one of the guys would NOT stop talking about what he was going to do with the money, and it was all so tacky— so I was pretty happy when he caught up with us when they stopped to recharge the car…”
Wasn’t the best company. He almost scoffed.
“…there it was pretty standard, ditching the car in the next town when more trouble started, and is that when we picked up Angelina XXXVII?”
“Angelina VI.” Nicholas corrected, rolling his eyes. “Haven’t gone through that many bikes, Blondie.”
“Yet.”
“Yet?”
“Anyway—“ Vash grinned, quick and mischievous. “But then! It had a problem with the battery… wait, did I mix up the timeline?”
“Yeah, we ran into the military police before picking up Angelina.”
“Right! ‘Cause that’s when they got my leg!”
Milly laughed. “Did they actually steal your leg, Mr. Vash?”
“Nah, just shot it.” He pouted. “They’re always so mean! But we stole a couple tomases out of the deal, so I’d call that fair?”
Meryl groaned. “Goddamn it Vash, can’t go anywhere without being pumped full of lead, can you?”
“Nope!” He snickered at her exasperation. “So they shot me in the leg which, sucked, but then we weren’t walking anymore at least?”
“Wait. Why didn’t you take the car?”
Milly’s question was fair. Vash answered with that manic laugh, that look in his eyes like a caged animal.
“Well, you see, we would have— but getting hit in the head kinda makes me nauseous, and you wouldn’t believe his crazy a car full of unwashed men and vomit can smell after a day in the sun—“
Meryl gagged. “Never mind!”
“Yeah, gross!”
Nicholas tried to play along, but it was difficult, knowing what really happened. Knowing how terrified he looked at just the idea of getting back into that car.
“So, where was I? We were on the thomases…”
And he was in awful pain from the bullet wound fucking up the neural wiring in his leg. But there was no way he’d mention that.
“…nothing much was interesting after that for a while, honestly— oh! Except there was this time with this cat that got stuck up on a ledge…”
As he recounted the story with the cute girl and the cat and short Ian who didn’t hold the ladder, Nicholas found himself filling in the gaps.
Because they rode the thomases for only a couple of towns before they had to ditch them when suddenly a whole town was out for the sixty billion double dollars, and that’s when they stole Angelina VI. She only got them to the next town over, because that’s when they made a detour for that plant—
“…and yes, he did talk like that…”
Where Vash left. Gone all night, appeared again in the morning with bloodshot eyes and news that the wires in his leg were officially fucked.
And that was when the battery ran out, stranding them in the middle of nowhere. Leaving them to wander, watching Vash as he limped on his injured leg, tried to pretend it was all fine until he dropped and—
“Angel, aren’t you forgetting a bit?”
Vash blinked. “What?”
“The part I slung you over my shoulder and carried you like a sack of potatoes for three days straight?”
Meryl scoffed. “How am I not surprised?”
“I don’t know!” Milly tilted her head to the side, eyes wide. “I, for one, am very surprised!”
“See! Someone has some faith in me—“
“…how did you carry Punisher and Vash at the same time?” She finished.
He slumped back down into his seat, definitely not pouting.
Nicholas grinned. “So, you see, this idiot dragged us over to check on this plant who needed his help, and of course after that is when Angelina VI, sadly, passed on—“
“May she rest in peace.” Vash did the sign of the cross wrong.
“—and of course, not to be outdone by a damn motorbike, this spiky bastard decided to take a nap and not wake up. So I’m left out in the middle of nowhere, with him, our pack, and Punisher to carry—“
“May she, also, rest in piece.” He did it wrong again, differently than before. It was clearly on purpose.
“—So, I’ve got the pack on my back, one hand around him thrown over my shoulder, the other holding Punisher. And I do that for three days straight before sleeping beauty decides it’s time for his return.”
Milly was at the edge of her seat. “What happened next?”
“We get surrounded by bandits,” Nicholas gestures as he talks, for dramatic effect. “There are at least fifty of them, pouring out of their cars, guns all pointed at yours truly—“
Vash frowned. “I don’t remember it happening like—“
“Shut up, you were asleep.”
He went back to sulking.
“Where was I? Right, so I’ve got my hands full, fifty or sixty guns pointed at me, this lump still out, tossed over my shoulder.”
Meryl snickers. Vash sticks out his tongue at her.
“And I figure, okay, I’ve got this. I can wield Punisher one handed, and I’m not threatened one bit. So, while they’re still just telling me to give them whatever I’ve got—“ He slammed his hands down on the table, making all three of them jump. “Scatter the sand with machine gun fire! That’ll kick up enough dust to give me cover to go for the real target: a truck.”
Milly raised her hand. “Weren’t you the real target?”
“…huh. Theirs, I guess.”
“Nah, they were asking for your stuff.” Vash pointed out. “So I was the real target.”
“Like that’s a good thing?”
“Speaking of which! How long has Mr. Vash been yours?”
Nicholas choked. “What?!”
He never was, never would be. You couldn’t own a storm, an angel, a son of god. Just because he had him didn’t make him his. It just meant he was allowing him to follow, for a time.
No, it was the other way around. His heart, his soul, truly belonged entirely to Vash.
“You know, how I was asking earlier?” Milly nodded, smiled innocently as if all three of them weren’t sputtering, each losing their minds for distinctly different reasons. “After all, you do make such a good couple—“
“Milly, you can’t just—“
“Well, uh, we’re— but—“
“That’s not fair— you didn’t—“
She was laughing. Nicholas could feel the heat in his face, matching the flush across Vash’s cheeks.
“Partners, Spikey?” He offered.
“Yeah, maybe a month?”
“Month and a half? Since it was at Home—“
Milly clapped. “And you live together, too?!”
“No, wait—“
“Ship Three!” Vash exclaimed, redder than his coat. “You’ve, uh, never been, but I’m sure Meryl has told you about it?”
Meryl nudged her with her elbow. “The ship, with the flora I told you about?”
“So you already met his parents?”
“They’re not my—“
Nicholas rubbed his face in his hands, prayed for some fucking patience before realizing that, well, a cigarette had a lot better chances of answering that prayer.
Vash was taking a deep breath, re-centering himself. “Brad and Luida took care of me for a while, but they aren’t my parents, Ship Three is also called Home, and Nicholas and I… well, time doesn’t matter that much now, does it?”
“Yes, it does!” Meryl insisted, leaning across the table at him. “It changes everything, the timeline—“
“How many double dollars she owes me!”
“—the, okay, that too— the way I have to view the entire story—“
“Aren’t you working insurance these days, Shortie?”
She glared. “Doesn’t change the angle I view everything at, as an investigative reporter!”
“Recently, then.” Vash provided, obviously trying to cool them all down. “Since we’ve been gone.”
“Ha!” Meryl spun around to Milly. “Than you owe me, don’t you?”
Milly wilted. “But Mr. Priest said—“
“I didn’t say nothin, Honey.” He pointed out. “You filled in the lines on your own.”
“So that means you owe me!”
“I mean, we do already live together, and we already split the bills and the costs of food and such—“
“It’s the principle of the matter, Milly!” Meryl insisted, gloating, puffing herself up as big as her tiny frame allowed her. “I win!”
“Uh… I’m scared to ask…” Vash smiled awkwardly. “What… was the bet?”
“We bet that you two were already dating, back in… was that all the way back in Macca City?”
Nicholas cringed. That was not a good memory.
“I think it was, Ma’am!” Milly confirmed. “After Mr. Priest joined us again, that is.”
“You know you can just call me Wolfwood, right?”
“Yes, Honey.” She smiled, more devious than anyone else seemed to notice. “You’ve told me before.”
He sighed in defeat. This one? Just wasn’t worth arguing. “Where was I, earlier?”
“You were targeting the truck… Mr. Priest.”
Milly giggled at his exasperation.
“Alright, so… I got my eyes on the truck, right? They’re still working on surrounding me even with the dust kicked up, all seventy of them—“
Meryl frowned. “I thought you said fifty?”
“And I thought there were like, ten.” Vash pointed out. “Maybe twelve.”
Nicholas ignored them. “So, I start shooting— not at anybody, but I send a shot straight through the windshield of the closest vehicle. Kid in the front side jumps out, terrified. Now, if I wasn’t carryin’ Blondie here I woulda made a break for it, but I knew I was too weighed down to move and shoot accurately, so I threw up Punisher as a shield just in time! Bullets were raining down from every angle—“
“Just from the front.”
“—but thankfully, I was able to block the shots, keeping qthe both of us safe. I waited for the right moment, right when the gunfire stopped, I knew that was my chance—“ He paused, just to draw it out. “They reloaded, but they still weren’t ready. I rushed forward— shooting wide so I didn’t hit anybody, but kicking up sand worse than a panicked herd of thomases— headed for the truck.”
“What, to use it as cover?” Meryl guessed.
“Initially? Yes. But before I could even unleash more hell on ‘em they ran for the hills like scared kids.”
“They sounded like kids, too. All twelve of them.”
He elbowed him. “So I send out a few more warning shots, just to get them away a lil bit faster. And that’s when—“
“BAM!” It was Vash’s turn to slam his hands on the table. “A gunshot from behind! Nick swing around, bracing himself for the pain only to see—“
“A single bandit, runnin’ off.” Nicholas finished. “They’d got shot in the shoulder, but who the hell was out here shootin’ on my behalf?”
“Who else, but—“
“Needle Noggin, who finally decided to wake up!”
Meryl tried not to laugh, rolling her eyes. “How much of the gunfight were you awake during?”
Milly snickered.
“I mean, is that important?”
He stopped. “Wait. How long were you awake, there?”
“I mean, I obviously woke up in time to save your ass.” Vash smiled, plasticky and fake but not in a scary way, just playing the fool. “So I don’t think it matters—“
“You were awake the whole time, weren’t you?” Nicholas asked, looked at him point blank, unable to suppress the smile tugging at his lips over how silly the whole thing was, now. “You bastard.”
“Not the WHOLE time—“
He shook his head. “Oh, that’s it— you’re getting—“
Vash shrieked, put up his arms in a play fighting guard stance, ran around the table and ducked behind a chair. “Milly! Protect me!”
Nicholas got up as well, laughing as he lunged for him, as they chased each other around the table and, eventually, got him tackled onto the floor. They rolled around a bit, neither of them winning because they never did, never really put that effort into trying. It was just… fun.
It was getting to be a kid in a way neither of them ever did.
Meryl eventually broke it up, citing the fact they had downstairs neighbors who, no doubt, were not enjoying the noise. They both reluctantly got up and returned to their seats.
“So…”
“Where did you leave off?”
Nicholas shrugged. “Not much else to tell, Big Girl— drove from there, ended up in the town where his little cat escapade happened, then… well…”
“…The car crashed.”
She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You mean you crashed the car?”
“Nah, got our tire shot out from under us.” It was obvious Vash did not want to talk about it. His eyes were cold, distant. His demeanor had shifted to that practiced ease, not actually relaxed at all. “Vash got me to Ship Three, and we took like, a month they’re recovering. Not much to say ‘bout it.”
He could tell that answer didn’t satisfy Meryl, but she didn’t push, just twisted her face into a pinched frown.
“From there we were mostly just headed this way.” Vash’s nonchalant smile was back, trying to mask the tension in his shoulders. “‘Sides a tiny detour—“
“Three day detour.” Nicholas corrected.
“Tiny detour, exactly— we headed straight here to see you.”
Milly put her hands over her heart. “That’s so sweet! You missed us too!”
“Of course I missed you—“
The two of them crushed each other in a hug, squeezing on tight.
Meryl and Nicholas looked at each other.
“…I did miss you, short stack.”
“…missed you too, asshole.”
They gave in and hugged too, which as soon as Milly and Vash noticed became one massive group hug, crushing poor Meryl in the middle. They complained, of course.
But that didn’t make the reunion any less sweet.