Afire Love- Paladin Danse x Reader (COMPLETE)

afire love.

You cracked the door open to Danse's old room. Particles of dust drifted through the air.
It had been about a month since his death, and you had finally brought yourself to go through his room. It had been assigned to you a few weeks ago, and Elder Maxson offered it to be cleared out. You insisted that his things be kept there.
The Institute had been destroyed, blown sky high, to liberate the Commonwealth. You, who had led the mission, had been promoted to Sentinel shortly after, and became Elder Maxson's second-in-command.
It had become no secret to the rest of the Brotherhood that you had loved Danse, but Maxson never "dealt" with you like he said he would. In fact, he never brought it up. So everyone accepted it and let it slide.
You sat on the chair at his desk, looking at the trinkets he had collected. A few fusion cells, a fusion core, and his old radio, each a piece of him. You smiled and flipped it on, remembering your first night on the Prydwen, when you shared a dance with him. You reached for the chain around your neck, tugged it out from under your uniform, and subconsciously twirled it around in your fingers.
There was a knock at the door, interrupting your daydream.
"Come in!" you yelled, stuffing the holotags away.
Haylen let herself in, carrying a small box. "I found something. It's got your name on it," she reported. "We found it on a scavenging mission, at, um, Listening Post Bravo." She cleared her throat.
"It's from him, isn't it?" you guessed as she passed you the box. It was slightly heavy, and you wondered what he had left for you.
Haylen nodded with a small smile and let herself out. "I'll leave you to open it."
The door shut behind her.
You rested the cardboard box on the desk. It was punctured and torn in some parts, but still intact for the most part. You carefully lifted the lid and set it aside.
Wrinkled paper stuffed the box, except for one folded neatly in half. You felt your heart skip a beat as you reached to pick it up and opened it hastily.
Knight Y/N,
Thanks for everything you've done for me. Wanted you to have this.
Signing off,
Paladin Danse
You set the note down next to you, a sad smile pulling at your cheeks, and starting tugging out the crumpled paper. The metal flashed under the light as you lifted out the laser rifle. You instantly recognized it as his own- you could feel his connection to it. You held it, already taking note of the attached mods, and running your hand under the barrel. You felt a series of indents under you finger, and flipped it around to examine it.
Carefully engraved on the side of the gun were the words Righteous Authority. The heel of it was scraped from holding it to the shoulder of his power armor, the trigger polished from overall usage. He had put a lot of trust into that gun.
You held it and walked it over to the far side of the room and rested on the wall shelf, sniffling. You felt a lump forming in the back of your throat.
There was another knock. You wanted to lock the door- you didn't want anyone with you right now. Nevertheless, you didn't do anything about it.
"It's open!" you cracked, still examining the rifle.
It was Haylen again, with a sympathetic look on her face. "Holding up okay?" she asked softly.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay," you lied, swallowing hard. You pursed your lips so they wouldn't shake.
She stared at the gun displayed on the wall.
She recognized it too.
A quiet "oh" escaped her lips. She came to you to give you a hug, and you let go. Tears flowed steadily down your cheeks, soaking into her jumpsuit.
"Hey, umm, I'm not sure if this helps, but..." she started hesitantly, "when I was first put on a squad with him, with Danse, I was pretty new to everything. I was only an Initiate. I was always making mistakes, but he never got at that mad at me, he just... taught me to fix them and move past them. And I was thinking, maybe he wants that from you. To move on, to keep on living. Without him."
"Yeah." You voice shook. You didn't even try to steady it. "I know, it's just going to take time..."
"That's okay. We all understand, we're all here for you. I'm here for you." She rubbed your back gently. "It's okay. It'll all be okay soon."
"Okay. It's okay," you repeated to yourself. "It's okay." You exhaled heavily. It was okay. Someday, it would be okay, someday you would see him again. He had promised you that, and promises today were as valuable as gold.
"You should go to sleep. You need your rest." she said, letting you go.
"Okay. Thanks, Haylen." You wiped up your nose quickly and started towards the bed.
"Is there anything you need?" she asked, standing at the door.
"No. Nothing," you replied, snuggling into the mattress, staring straight at the ceiling.
"Okay. Goodnight, Sentinel."
"Night," you murmured.
She flipped the lights off as she exited, shutting the door quietly, leaving you in the dark.
You listened to the radio, watching the yellowed light radiating from it, as your eyelids became heavier and heavier. As your brain started to shut off, a song faded in. The song. You listened as long, as hard, as you could, a smile creeping onto your face, tugging at the corners of your lips.
Crawl out through the fallout, baby, when they drop that bomb...