Not Third Place (Gaige x Reader)

Cold, Cold, Heart

5 years later...
(MAJOR spoilers for BL3 and DLC ahead.)

You landed a pretty dope ass job that allowed you to become a gunsmith for a once renowned gun company, Atlas, not too horribly long after the whole Hyperion incident - it  was a little shady at first, but their new CEO seemed like the kind of guy you could trust, and besides that, you had enough experience with the Crimson Raiders that you knew what the soldier wanted, and started to know Hammerlock for what game hunters would have liked, as well Mordica for what snipers searched for in a rifle. You were seeking balance for a firearm, and you started to make some promising headway. If Atlas had truly regained its footing, then this was a good chance to secure something amazing.

Being an environment that allowed your experiences to really flex and flow made your life a lot easier with branching out and away from your old insecurities — making bullets that were far too large to be considered safe to fire from their intended firearm. While things were going alright for you, Gaige was still struggling to find something she liked to do.

Gaige dropped being a vault hunter rather quickly once "peace" was dropped on Sanctuary and the rest of Pandora. She and Axton spent some time together, but one day something came up between them and she decided not to see him any longer, despite them being close friends with a heavy background. Around the same time, she had a fallout with nearly all the other vault hunters.

Gaige was a little more stressed after that, so she tried to follow what she liked the most in life: mechs and machines. She tried to become a mechanical engineer, but admitted there wasn't enough killing or murdering happening in the work site. She quit.

While there was some strange stir about some children and a vault or something like that, Gaige was actually invited back to her old school to judge a science fair. That was a little shocking, considering the memories she left behind there. Thankfully, she agreed that what she left behind was probably enough to keep behind.

She then began her journey as...wouldn't have guessed it, but as a wedding planner. By that point, you had an opportunity to leave all of Pandora behind and start off on a new and spectacular career! You thought perhaps it was you holding her back after all this time, but even your relationship hadn't  really progressed the way you thought it would have. You even started to wonder whether or not you were even really steady...All considering, it could have felt like you had taken third place between her job switching and her robot bestie.

Sure, you hung out, kissed, and spent countless hours with each other sharing deep and meaningful conversations with one another, but it mostly felt more like you were strengthening what you had, not advancing as a real couple. So, maybe what she needed was herself, her own thoughts leading her to the success she was craving. You never admitted it, but you got your best ideas when it was just you and you alone. Gaige needed space, or so you thought. She didn't like when you told her you were going to split from Pandora. She tried to argue for you to stay — you thought you were helping her by leaving, her argument was futile. You left her on Pandora and started your life on Promethea, Atlas's home planet. Life started off pretty good, you were on a steady income, were doing what you loved, made friends, and were now living comfortably in the ever growing bustle of  Promethea - plus you were working with Zer0, an ex-vault hunter and ex-assassin, and now distant acquaintance; how cool is that?!

You heard a few rumors that stated life here was once worse than Pandora. You rolled your eyes in disbelief, how could it have it been?! This place was rapidly growing. Great coffee, exdoranary burgers, yogurt and bagels!! It was the most radical change in lifestyle.

Then, suddenly, robots started to take some "essential" jobs around town. They looked strangely familiar. Death Traps? No, these were much more refined. But the similarities were freaky. Super freaky. To begin with, you thought that perhaps Gaige started her own company and was now mass-producing Death Traps, or at least versions of him. But she didn't. They were from Halloway industries. Huh. Mmm...? Well, they were pretty good at delivering stuff, nonetheless.

You played with the thought of finding Gaige to talk for a bit since a considerable time had passed at this point.

Unfortunately, things took a horrible turn one day when the Maliwan copertation started to forcefully merge with Atlas. The corporation was under siege for a long time before it was finally broken by another set of Vault Hunters. How many of these guys are there? You didn't complain about being saved however, and now that you were back on the road to living in peace, you felt that you actually owed the new Vault Hunters a proper response of gratitude...you decided to join them in killing the newest bullies of Pandora. It seemed especially right when you learned how much of a threat they were to not just Pandora, but everyone else too. First hand stories filled you with what else was happening in Pandora, but seeing it first hand was greatly more troublesome. You saw some familiar faces aboard the ship where the Crimson Raiders were now resigning at. For the situation they were in, they all seemed nice and dandy. Some bad things happened while you with them, including Maya getting killed, but no matter how piss the situation got, they did just fine.

You lent a more helping hand this time, not as a soldier, but someone that was always there to tinker and adjust equipment for everyone. One of the Vault Hunters, Moze, took a liking to your smarts especially with how good you were with her "Iron Bear", Vladof tech was simple, yet elegant with adjustments. It seems all the weapon companies are getting a little more unique these days.

A few restless nights and rough weeks later - the Calypso twins are finally...FINALLY beaten down without  having a chance to get back up. It's fairly satisfying this time - Handsome Jack was evil in every way possible, but he had charm about him that you were ashamed of liking. Troy? Tyreen? Ew.

You guess that not every bad guy has to be cool though.

Before you can head back to your comfy Atlas office, you hear  Sir Hammerlock is about to have a wedding with Jakobs. Good for him. However, you didn't really want to go, and weddings weren't really that fun. You were going to stay away from it until you realized who was planning it.

Gaige...

It seemed only right Jakob's and Hammerlock chose her since she was still in the wedding planner business. A wave of emotions came over you, the thought of seeing and talking to all over again...Yes...You could go to the wedding. How bad of an idea could that be?