Afire Love- Paladin Danse x Reader (COMPLETE)

from within, part 2

The first thing you did when you regained your sight was fall over. God, you were dizzy. You rubbed your eyes and opened them. You were in some kind of chamber. The air around you was musty. When the room stopped spinning, you dragged yourself up and walked out of the small room.
"Holy..." you said under your breath. Everything was so white. You couldn't remember the last time you'd seen that color. All of the colors around you were so vibrant, and clean, and crisp.
You shook your head slightly- you were getting distracted. What had Ingram and Maxson told you before you left?
Put the holotape in the first terminal you see, then get the hell out of there. Don't stay any longer than you have to, you repeated to yourself, searching the room. Luckily, a terminal sat right in front of you, with a brilliant red button sitting next to it. Kneeling down, you pulled the holotape from your pocket and slid it into the device. It began downloading itself. You watched a loading bar race across the screen as it downloaded the Institute's whole database. It occurred to you that you were infiltrating the most feared organization in the Commonwealth.
A small ding! brought your attention back to the terminal. The tape had ejected itself. You took it and slipped it back in your pocket.
"Okay... now to get out of here," you told yourself. You had to re-activate the relay so it would send you home. The button seemed like a good choice right now, so you pushed it without a second thought.
You heard mechanical whirring as you saw sparks jump from the inside of the chamber you'd arrived in. You reasoned that that had turned it on. You threw yourself into it, watching the light show around you until your vision went blurry again, the new world fading out.

The world flashed back in, the dull colors making you feel at home, as you wobbled off the platform.
"Woah, there," a voice said, steading you. It was Danse. Had he been waiting for you?
"Danse!" you exclaimed, glad to see his face. His eyes were happy. Happy to see that you were safe.
"You wouldn't believe it, it was so clean. Everything was so bright," you rambled as you walked through the airport with him.
"Wait, wait," he interrupted you suddenly. "You didn't see any people?"
"No. But then again, I only stayed in one room."
"Hm," he remarked. You followed him into the vertibird that would take you up to the Prydwen.
He walked you down the catwalk to Elder Maxson's office. He was obviously waiting for you, his hands behind his back, his shoulders square to you.
"Back so soon, Knight? Did you get what we needed?"
"It's right here, sir," you said, handing over the holotape.
"Excellent work. I'll have one of our scribes take a look at it. Now that we have this, we're even closer to saving our people." He smiled, but you could tell it was an act. "You should get some rest. Paladin Danse, stay with me."
"Thank you, sir," you said, furrowing your brows at Danse. He shrugged and watched you climb up the ladder.
At the top, you walked around and pressed an ear to the floor. You felt someone staring at you. You didn't care.
There was low mumbling from below, which was probably closer to loud talking, borderline shouting, if you were level with them. You stomach twisted- what was going on? After a while, you heard footsteps coming up the ladder, and you jerked up. It was Danse. His expression was- nothing. There was no expression.
"Danse?" you said softly, resting a hand on his shoulder. "What's going on?"
"None of your concern, soldier," he said. All but his eyes remained cold. There, you saw a lot of things.
He walked right past you and into his room, shutting you out quickly.
"Paladin," you said, rapping on the door lightly. "Paladin, please..." There was no answer, but you heard something fall on the other side.
Frustrated, and worried, you abandoned trying to talk to him and left for your own bed. You landed hard, the springy mattress protesting against your weight. A few people stirred, the noisy landing waking them, but you didn't care. You pulled the sheet over you and buried your face in the pillow, wanting to cry and fall asleep right there.
You decided on both.