Chapter Text
It was one of those late winter days, just warm enough that you could spend some time outside in a good sweater, but cold enough that the cold still had a bit of a bite to it. Deacon and Sole had decided to take it easy today. Deacon was sitting on a bench right outside of the old station building at Oberland. Sole was lying down on the bench, her head resting on Deacon's legs, her legs hanging off the side of the bench. The bench was facing west, their backs to the tracks. The late morning sun felt warm and welcoming on Sole's face, and with winter having run its course, there was finally enough light for Deacon to be able to wear his sunglasses again. Feeling exposed without his sunglasses, during winter he usually resorted to regular glasses without any correction, it wasn't quite the same, but it did the trick during those dark winter months.
They were both quiet; lost in thought. Sole's thoughts had drifted to the old railroad tracks that run through Oberland. When her and Deacon founded the settlement at Oberland together with the Minutemen, they had hoped to one day be able to run actual rail services across the line, today however, that dream seemed further away than ever. Deacon's thoughts lingered on Railroad business, as they always did. There were rumors going around the Commonwealth of coursers being spotted near Lexington. Deacon wasn't sure what to make of it. He doubted the ghouls had anything that could be of value to the institute, and the Corvega plant had long been abandoned after Sole drove the raiders out of there with Codsworth before she found the Railroad. Whatever it was the Institute was looking for in Lexington, Deacon didn't trust it. For the time being though, there wasn't much Deacon could do about it. The Switchboard attack had seriously dwindled the Railroad's numbers, and they simply couldn't risk going head-to-head with a courser at the moment.
Deacon wondered where he first heard the rumors. If he could figure that out, he might able to gather some more reliable intel by talking to the people who saw the coursers first hand. He'd heard the rumor once when coming through Bunker Hill with Sole, but that wasn't the first time the first time they'd heard it. Deacon tried to recall what the first time was, but before he could gather his recollections, his thoughts were interrupted by another, more pressing thought. When they came through Bunker Hill, they hadn't sought out the rumors. One of the synths there recognized Deacon, and passed the information along. This was an issue, as it meant that people were now actively recognizing Deacon's face, and associating it with the Railroad.
This hadn't been the first time it happened, and Deacon knew what it meant, but he wasn't looking forward to it. Getting a face job was always a bit of a hassle, and with the current courser situation, assembling a new identify was hardly a high priority item on Deacon's To-Do list at the moment. He'd been at this long enough though, and began mentally browsing through his old aliases, to see if any of them could be recycled into a new identity that would require minimal effort. First up were his most recent changes, but they had all been too recent for Deacon to use. He didn't want to risk being recognized as one of his old aliases. Many of his older, more generic aliases he'd long forgotten about, he mostly remembered the ones that really stood out. The week he spent as a ghoul his most impressive work, though it was a bit heavy on the maintenance, and being a ghoul also limited his mobility a bit much for his liking. Hard to gather intel if half the world would shoot you on sight just as soon as talk to you. Then there was that time he spent a month or two as a woman. That wasn't too bad, he thought to himself. It had taken some getting used to, and he was clocked on more than one occassion, but with some help from Sole, Glory and Desdemona, he, or rather she, had eventually gotten the hang of it.
"Hey.", Deacon said to Sole, who was roused from deep in her own thoughts.
"I think this old mug has earned its retirement, what do you think?"
This mug was the only mug Sole had ever known, but Sole was aware of Deacon's habit of changing faces, and had prepared herself for this day. After all, underneath, he'd still be Deacon.
"Hm. What are you thinking? I hear high cheeklines are all the rage right now.", Sole said with a chuckle in her voice.
"Actually, I was thinking of something more ... feminine this time around.", he said.
He hesitated on that last clause, as if gauging Sole's response before finishing sentence.
Sole replied, "Well, it'd certainly be something new for me."
"I think I can pull it off, especially with everything I learned last time and some help from you and the women back at HQ. No Problemo.", Deacon said in an assured tone, though he was almost reassuring himself as much as he was trying to convince Sole.
"Alright, let's do it!", Sole replied enthusiastically.
Sole's enthousiasm was reassuring for Deacon. He knew she was Pan, but this was still a big change for both of them, and it would require some adaptation from both of them. They both realized what was ahead of them, but today was a beautiful day, and so they decided to make the most of it. They spent the day talking and laughing, helping out the settlers who were clearing out the railroad tracks. They ended the day around a fire, bundled up in all the blankets and sweaters they could find. The winter air under a clear sky was freezing, but the fire, the blankets and the company kept them warm throughout the night.
Deacon spent the next few days making some arrangements, and letting people know he'd be unavailable for a while. Apparently, the recovery from the face change could take several weeks, and this had to be done under the supervision of the person performing the change, to make sure the amount of scar issue was minimized. In true Deacon fashion, he told almost everyone a different story, and each and every one of the stories he told was a lie. Back at HQ, he told everyone he was going to the Capital Wastelend for a few weeks, saying he'd heard rumors about Dr. Zimmer being spotted in Rivet City. To some of the runners he was in touch with, he said he was currently overloaded with work, and he told them HQ would dispatch someone else to handle them going forward. To the settlers in Oberland Station, his cover story was that he was helping a synth leave the Commonwealth. They were going North, to Far Harbor. And to Sole? To Sole he told truth. Or at least that's what Sole thought.
There was no reason to distrust him this time, but given his behaviour in the past, there would always be that little nagging voice in the back of Sole's head, telling her, "What if he's lying?"
Having gotten all of his affairs in order, Deacon set out on his journey. Sole had wondered where he was going, and who was going to take care of him, but Deacon had made it clear during his preparations that he'd rather be left alone during the healing process. This way, he could minimize the number of people who were aware of his transformation, reducing the risk of his old and new identities being linked. While it wasn't exactly reassuring for Sole, she respected his wishes, and wished him all the best, before giving him a heartfelt goodbye-kiss.
Sole didn't know when he'd be back, or who he was going to be when he returned, but Sole knew this was the person she fell in love with, and that was all that mattered...