Work Text:
“What the hell are you two doin’?”
The blond was immediately shushed by both Jet and Ghoul, who pressed their ears against Poison’s door once again.
“...if you’re tryin’ to spy on my sibling, you’re doin’ a shit job.”
“Shuddup.” Ghoul rolled zirs eyes, “We’re tryna figure something out.”
“What?”
“If Poison can actually sing.”
“...Y’all are so fuckin’ weird.”
“No, no. Just listen.”
Jet moved aside for a moment, allowing Kobra to listen. It took him a moment to realize what was going on, but once he did, his eyes widened.
“Holy fuck.” Kobra muttered, “They’re actually singin’ again.”
“You never told us they could sing.” Ghoul whispered in amazement, “And definitely not that well.”
“I didn’t know they still did.”
Kobra got a distant look in his eyes, which slightly confused and concerned the pair.
“Kobra? You still with us Crash Queen?” Jet gently shook his shoulder.
“...Yeah. I gotta go.”
With that, he practically ran from the hallway. The other two heard the front door open, then close.
“What the fuck just happened?”
“I have no goddamn clue.” Jet replied, shaking its head, “But there’s something that those two aren’t telling us.”
“...is it a bad thing?” Ghoul spoke quietly.
“I don’t know.”
~~~~
Ghoul spent the next few days thinking over zirs conversation with Jet, and in consequence, had accidentally been avoiding zirs partner. Poison had become slightly suspicious of Ghoul’s behaviour, but then again, it was Ghoul. What were they really gonna say about it?
Kobra, on the other hand, was who concerned Poison a lot. He’d been mainly staying in his room, only leaving to occasionally get a glass of water or some spare batteries for something. Not to mention, he’d been avoiding everyone- but specifically Poison- like the plague. When they asked Jet about what was going on, they only got a shrug in return.
Needless to say, Poison got sick of it pretty fast. So one day, they got up early with Motorbaby, drove out to drop her off with Dr. D, Cherri, and Pony (and pick up Jet, who, for some reason, thought that going out to drink with Pony of all people was a good idea) and then drove back to pick up the rest of their gang.
“Would you care to explain why the hell you’ve kidnapped us?” Kobra questioned, glaring at his sibling from the backseat, “And why the hell Jet gets shotgun?”
“Because I’m bored and I didn’t want you whining in my ear all morning. Pony said that Chimp and GoGo found a building when they were running from some Dracs last week. But they didn’t get the chance to check it out. I wanna check it out.”
“Building? Like… one that’s actually standing and all that?” Ghoul asked, frowning.
“Apparently. They didn’t give many details- y’know, ‘cause they were running from Dracs- but yeah.”
“I am too hungover for this.” Jet muttered, “I’m really too hungover for this.”
Despite Jet and Kobra’s complaints, Poison continued driving. It was fairly quiet in the Trans Am, up until they arrived at the building. The Fabulous Four quickly got out of the car, staring in shock at the fact that part of the building actually was still standing, and that only half of it had been destroyed in whatever fight took place here. They walked in, Ghoul marvelling at how big the place was, Jet yawning and rubbing her eyes, Kobra crouching down to look at something, and Poison physically repelling from anything that touched them.
“What is this place?” Poison grimaced, “It’s disgusting in here.”
“No Pois. I didn’t think that the half burned down and exploded building in the middle of the desert would be gross. They really should’ve cleaned up the place before we got here. Lemme see if there’s a place I can make a complaint for your royal China Doll-ness.”
“Ghoulie, I swear to the Witch-”
Kobra ignored the couple with an eyeroll, before turning back to where Jet was standing. Correction- where Jet had been standing.
“Uh… I lost Jet.”
Poison immediately stopped arguing, “I’m sorry, what?”
“Jet’s gone. I lost ‘em.”
“Kobra how the fuck-”
“I dunno! Xe was here one minute and now xe’s not. I dunno what you want me to say.”
“Hey, just an idea here, but maybe we should, you know, look for her?”
“Shuddup Ghoul.”
Ghoul rolled zirs eyes at the siblings, but the three set off, looking around the building for Jet. It didn’t take long for the group to realise that this had in fact, been a music store before being destroyed. Just as they were about to give up, Poison heard something in the distance.
“Is that…”
Their brother and boyfriend shared a confused look, but began to follow Poison towards what would’ve been the guitar section. Low and behold, they found Jet, partially hiding behind a still-standing shelving unit, playing the guitar like he’d been doing it his entire life.
“What the fuck.”
Jet’s fingers spasmed on the frets in surprise. It whirled around, eyes widening when its gaze landed on its friends.
“I… I thought no one could hear me.”
“Holy shit!” Ghoul exclaimed, his jaw practically on the floor, “When the hell did you learn how to do that?!”
Jet shrugged, tripping over her words, “I, uh… I picked it up when I was younger. But then when my uh… my raygun died in a clap… let’s just say that my guitar was the closest thing I had to a weapon.”
“Dude, your skills are fucking impressive.” ze spoke, “Seriously, you fucking String King.”
“I’m not great-”
“Only ‘cause you’re a few years out of practice. If you keep that thing and keep practicin’, you’ll give Mad Gear a run for his carbons.” Kobra agreed.
“Literally. If we can find you a working amp- IS THAT A FUCKING LES PAUL?!”
Nearly knocking Poison over, Ghoul sprinted over to a half broken guitar case. Ze nearly wrecked the other half of the case trying to get it open, but once Ghoul managed to get the clasps undone, ze pulled out a white guitar in prime condition.
“What is my luck lately, holy fuck.”
“Ghoulie, how the hell do you find these kinds of things?” Jet asked, looking completely and utterly stunned.
“You are asking the wrong person. I have no fucking clue.”
“I’m assuming a Les Paul is a type of guitar?” Poison raised an eyebrow.
Ghoul nodded, plucking at the strings, “Mm hm. This one is a Gibson Les Paul, specifically.”
“You act like that means anything to me. How do you know so much about guitars?”
“A guitarist needs to know their shit.”
Poison shifted, almost uncomfortably, “You never told me you played.”
“Never got the chance to bring it up until now. Dude, I’m so fucking glad we came here.”
“What is here exactly?”
“A music store, or rather, what used to be a music store.” Jet answered Kobra’s question, “I’m amazed at how much stuff is still intact.”
“Oi, Jet.” Ghoul interrupted by playing a chord, “I’ll play, you add on. Ready?”
He barely even gave Jet time to think before sliding his fingers up and down the strings. After a moment or two of listening, Jet joined in, both Killjoys shredding out chords like they’d been playing together for years. Poison and Kobra, on the other hand, shared a glance of ‘what the fuck is happening right now’.
“And y’all say we have telepathy.” Kobra just stared at them, “You two literally just made up an entire song without even talkin’.”
“It felt natural. If something feels natural in music then it’s meant to be.” Ghoul grinned, “We’re guitar guys.”
“Don’t call us that.”
“String soulmates?”
“No.”
“Harmony homies?”
“Absolutely fucking not.”
~~~~
A few days later, the Fabulous Four, alongside Motorbaby, Show Pony, Dr. D, and Cherri Cola, were back at the music store, trying to find other instruments and equipment that was salvageable. So far, they’d managed to find an almost complete drum kit, quite a few guitars, some bass guitars, one or two keyboards, and a few synths. Motorbaby had even managed to find a plastic recorder, which she refused to put down.
Desperately trying to avoid the oncoming headache from the shrill notes coming out of the recorder, Jet turned their attention to taking inventory of everything. After making sure that all the guitars were counted for, they moved on to the basses. But Jet only frowned.
“Hey Party?”
“Yeah?”
“Didn’t we pick up three bass guitars?”
“Last time I checked, yeah there were three. Why?”
“There’s only two here.”
“...Whaddaya mean there’s only two? I checked on them literally ten minutes ago.”
“Well one’s missing.” she replied, “Pony?”
“What’s shakin’, sugar?” it skated over.
“Have you seen a bass lying around? Squier model?”
“Unfortunately, no. Maybe Ghoulie took it to get fixed up?”
“What did I do?” Ghoul poked zirs head out of the shed.
“Did you take one of the bass guitars?”
“No?”
“Not even to fix it up a bit?” Jet questioned.
“Nah. All of them were decently fine, so I didn’t think there would be any need.”
“Then who…”
The four glanced around at each other in confusion.
“Can’t be Cola or D. They both left with the drum set about a half hour ago.” Pony piped up, “Motorbaby, darlin’, have you seen a four-string guitar anywhere?”
“Nope. I’ve been playin’ my ‘corder.” she held up the piece of plastic with a bright smile on her face.
“Could it be Kobra?”
Poison snorted, “Kobra doesn’t have a musical bone in his body. I’ve never even heard him hum along to anything.”
“Someone passin’ by probably swiped it. Asshole.”
“Well there’s not much we can do about it now.”
“I guess. Still a shitty thing to do though.” Jet sighed, “Anyhow, Party, do you mind taking the Trans Am to deliver some of the guitars? Then the kiddo, Pony, and I can grab the keyboards and amps and other things in the van.”
“Sure. Ghoulie, you wanna come for the ride?”
“Uh… Okay?”
Ghoul shared a somewhat nervous glance with Jet, who just shrugged. Nevertheless, ze helped Poison load the guitars into the car before the couple set off driving. Only about two minutes into the drive, Poison turned down the radio.
“Why’re you so quiet? That’s never a good sign with you.” Poison nudged Ghoul’s shoulder, a teasing smile on their face, “Seriously though, you’ve been like… avoiding me almost all week. What’s up?”
“…You’d tell me if something serious was going on right? Or if something serious happened?”
“Course I would. Why?”
Ghoul fell silent for a moment, “We were eavesdropping. The other day. Jet and I were eavesdropping I mean. Kobra didn’t come ‘til later-”
“Ghoulie?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not mad. You don’t need to explain yourself.” the redhead spoke, “I’m just… confused? I- I mean I wasn’t alone much this week. I had Girlie a lot of the time.”
“It was uh… when you were… singing?”
Ze carefully looked over Poison’s face. Even after years of running together ze still had a hard time reading their expressions. Poison never told their emotions with their face; the only time you could really tell anything was when they were angry. But right now, Ghoul couldn’t read anything.
“Pois?” ze asked in a small voice.
“You heard?”
“Uh… Yeah? If it makes you feel any better, you’re the best fuckin’ singer I’ve ever heard.”
“That somehow does and doesn’t make me feel better.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” they sighed, tilting their head back against the headrest.
“…Why didn’t you tell any of us you could sing?”
“Dunno. It’s embarrassing.”
“Embarrassing?!” Ghoul exclaimed, “Pois, you’re fuckin’ amazing at it! Half the people out here would kill for your pipes.”
“Yeah but like… I dunno. City thing.”
Ah yes. Another touchy subject for Poison- well, for many Joys, but the mention of it seemed to affect Poison a lot more- Battery City. Ghoul was perfectly fine to talk about zirs experiences within the City. He had nothing to hide. Getting information out of Poison, on the other hand, was like trying to defuse a bomb with on hand and rewire a gun with the other, all while Kesha was playing at top volume.
In short- it was extremely fucking difficult.
“…Oh. Do you wanna talk about it?”
“I dunno.”
“Okay. Uh… Can I ask you something then?”
“Maybe. Depends on what the question is.”
“Where’d you learn to sing?”
Poison paused, thinking, “I’ve just kinda always been able to do it, I guess. My grandma used to play the piano though, so maybe I inherited some of her musical talent.”
“Okay, seriously, am I the only person in the world who doesn’t know what the fuck a grandma is?”
“Ghoulie, what-”
“I know what it is now, I just…” ze frowned, trailing off, “Nevermind. That’s a can of worms for a different day. Back to you being able to sing-”
“I don’t know what you want me to say! It’s just something I’m able to do!”
“Then why’d you hide it from me?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“But-”
“Leave it.”
Ghoul fell silent, torn between pushing for answers and leaving Poison alone. In the end, ze decided that not making his partner mad at him was the best option, staying quiet for the rest of the drive. When they arrived at the Nest, Ghoul kissed Poison on the cheek before hopping out of the car to unload the guitars. The redhead stayed in the car for a little while, just thinking until there was a knock on the window, snapping them from their thoughts. They rolled down the window.
“You okay?”
“Fine.”
“Uh huh.” Pony slid their sunglasses down their nose, looking Poison up and down, “Sure. So why is it that Ghoulie looks like a kicked puppy and you look like someone just told you they broke one of your records?”
“I already told Ghoul I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well maybe you should. Look, I know Ghoulie can be… pushy at times. Trust me, I’m the same way. But he’s tryin’ to help in the only way he knows how.”
“I know.” Poison sighed, “I know ze’s only trying to help. But I don’t know if I can tell him what’s wrong without fucking things up.”
“...In the end, it’s your choice. But it’s Ghoul we’re talkin’ about here. He’ll love you no matter what and until the end of time itself. I don’t think you have much to worry about.”
Xe gently squeezed Poison’s shoulder before moving to talk with Dr. D about how the keyboard stands needed to be set up. They sighed once again before getting out of the car and starting to unload the guitars, Pony’s words still echoing around in their head.
~~~~
A few days later, Poison was sitting on the cold floor in theirs and Ghoul’s shared room. Paintbrushes were scattered around the place, some even stuck in Poison’s hair to keep it out of their face. They carefully reached for their paint box, rummaging through it, before groaning.
“GHOUL!”
“What?” ze frowned, leaning against the doorframe, “And jeez, I’m right here. No need to yell.”
Poison rolled their eyes, “Where the hell is my glitter paint?”
“Why would I take your glitter paint?”
“You always take my shit- You’re literally wearing my shirt right now!”
“Yeah, but that’s different.” Ghoul’s face tinged pink, “I honestly didn’t take your paint. What use would I have for it anyways?”
“Colour bombs.” they deadpanned.
“...Okay, that was only one time and I learned my lesson after I woke up with bleach blond hair, alright?”
“Then who took it?”
“Pony, maybe? Or it could’ve been Motorbaby. She doesn’t really understand the concept of not touching things that aren’t hers.”
“Gee. Wonder where she got that from.”
“Shuddup.”
“No, but seriously, can you look around for me? I would, but I have to do another coat of this and that alone will take me an hour or two.”
“I guess… Are you alright though?”
“M’fine. Why?”
“You’ve been going through paint like a Rubberburner lately.”
“I just hit a creative streak.” they finished a stroke before turning to Ghoul, “Glitter paint? Please?”
Ghoul sighed, but nodded, and set off to fulfill Poison’s request. Ze scanned over a couple rooms, before sighing and starting to look through some crates near the front of the diner. He’d just moved a few out of the way when someone walked in from the back.
“Kobra?”
“Oh.” the blond froze in his spot, “Hey.”
“...hi? What the fuck are you doing?” Ghoul questioned, glancing at the box in his arms.
“Nothin’. Just… movin’ stuff?”
“Okay? Have you seen Poison’s sparkle-glitter paint anywhere? They’re bitchin’ about not having it, despite the fact that they don’t need it at the moment.”
“No clue, uh… maybe Pony took it? Xe likes sparkles, right?”
“That’s what I’m saying!” ze huffed, “Hear that Poison?! Even your own brother doesn’t think it was me!”
They shot back with a ‘yeah whatever’, only causing Ghoul to roll his eyes.
“If it does show up anywhere, just shove it in their box.”
“Sounds good. Bye.”
Without even waiting for zim to respond, Kobra nearly ran out of the Diner. Ghoul watched as he got into the Trans Am- box included- and took off, leaving only a cloud of dust behind.
“...he gets weirder every fucking day.”
~~~~
“You two are having sex- what the fuck.”
Ghoul and Poison had been out on a short supply run to Tommy’s. They hadn’t been gone long, but when they did get back, Cherri’s bike was parked out front, which apparently caused Ghoul to want to scare the everloving shit out of everyone. Somehow, that only wound up with Ghoul at a loss for words, and against their better judgement, Poison glanced over Ghoul’s shoulder. They had been ready to be mentally scarred for life, but instead, confusion washed over them.
“Uh… Is that… the missing bass from the other week?” Ghoul questioned, frowning at the guitar in Kobra’s hands.
“I- uh-” the blond glanced helplessly at his boyfriend, “Cher?”
“Deep breath. You’re not in trouble. Poison, Ghoul- and Jet apparently- can I talk to you all outside?”
In their shock, Poison hadn’t even noticed that Jet was standing behind them. Cherri whispered something to Kobra, kissed his cheek, and then led the others outside.
“Before you get mad, it was my idea to steal the bass.” they started, “And I’m sorry about taking your paint too, Poison. I’ll get you new cans.”
“Screw my paint, what the fuck was happening in there?”
“Kobra asked me to teach him to play.”
“...Since when do you play?” Jet asked.
Cherri shrugged, “Music was the first thing I picked up when I got out here. I wasn’t all that great at it, so I moved onto lyrics, which turned into poetry.”
“How many instruments can you play?”
“Guitar, bass, keyboard, and synths.”
“Cherri, you are a weird, weird dude.”
“Thank you?” they responded to Ghoul’s statement.
“So Kobra’s been acting off the past few weeks because he was trying to learn how to play the bass?” Poison frowned, “Why? He’s never been interested in it before. He’s never been interested in anything music-wise, actually.”
Cherri hesitated, opening and closing his mouth, almost as if trying to decide whether to speak or not.
“As much as I hate to say this, just tell us.” Jet sighed, “Destroya knows Kobra won’t and no offense to everyone, but I’m kinda sick of dealing with your bullshit.”
“Gee, thanks Jet.”
“Fuck off Ghoul.”
“...he felt like Bat City was calling for him.” Cherri spoke quietly, “And he got scared. So he asked me to help him break one of their primary laws to help him feel more… free, I guess.”
He watched the faces of the three members of the Fab Four carefully. Jet looked pained, looking like he was trying to find something to say to comfort the other two. Ghoul was conflicted, clenching and unclenching zirs fists, while Poison… Poison looked angry.
“Please don’t be upset with him. He wanted to tell you all. He really did.”
“Then why didn’t he?” Poison snapped, “If he trusts us so much why wouldn’t he tell us about all of this?”
“I don’t know. I’m not Kobra. Trust me, if I knew why, there’s a strong chance I would tell you. But it’s a tricky thing to handle. You of all people should know that.”
“Don’t you tell me what I should and shouldn’t know. You’re the asshole that was helping him keep all this shit from us!”
“Pois.” Ghoul scolded, “Chill.”
“I’m not doing this to you on purpose. You already hate me, what reason would I have to further that?”
Complete silence fell over the group after Cherri spoke. Jet’s eyes had gone wide while Ghoul’s jaw was on the floor, both frozen in shock.
“I, uh… I’m gonna… Oh fuck me, I’m gonna go talk to Kobra, holy fuck, what the hell…” Ghoul continued muttering to zirself as ze walked into the Diner.
“I don’t-” Poison cut themselves off with a sigh, “I don’t hate you.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“I don’t. I just… Kobra’s my brother. And it’s… Fuck.”
“It’s what?” Cherri raised an eyebrow.
“It’s hard to… let go of him when I’ve been looking after him my entire life. And because of the shit that… that I’ve put him through.” they spoke through gritted teeth, “And I don’t want him getting hurt.”
“...You do realise that by taking all that out on me, you’re hurting him more than you think, right?”
“I know.”
“Then can you try and fix it instead of pushing it aside all the time?”
“...I can try.”
“That’s all I’m asking.”
“I have no fucking idea what I just witnessed, what the fuck?”
No sooner had Jet finished speaking, Kobra came running out of the Diner, Ghoul not far behind.
“I’m surprised neither of you have bloody noses.” ze commented.
“Shuddup.” Cherri rolled their eyes, before turning to Kobra, “We’re fine. Don’t worry.”
“Somehow I don’t believe that. I can’t leave you two alone for three minutes without somethin’ goin’ wrong.”
“We weren’t alone. We were with Jet.” Poison shrugged, returning to their nonchalant state.
“What would Jet even do in that situation? No offense.”
“None taken.” Jet replied, “I’m honestly just glad that I can forget about whatever the fuck that was considering the fact that it doesn’t involve me whatsoever.”
With that, vae grabbed vaers bag from the passenger seat and walked inside the Diner, not even bothering to turn around and check if anyone was following.
“Well… I think Jet’s officially done with our bullshit.”
“Jet was also drinking with Pony again last night.” Cherri added, “And he’s not uh… He doesn’t like dealing with people when hungover.”
“I feel like that’s somethin’ we should be concerned about.”
“Nah. Pony’s just been trying to get him to go out more. And for once Jet’s actually agreeing.”
“Yeah, I feel like that’s what’s concernin’ me.”
“To be fair, it’s also Pony. It has blackmail on everyone.”
Cherri and Kobra continued to talk for a moment or two while Ghoul just glanced over at Poison. They were quiet, which was concerning him a bit, but Ghoul could only reel back in shock when he saw tears building up in Poison’s eyes.
“Uh… I think I’m gonna turn in… for the night.” ze started, “Pois? You uh… You wanna join me?”
The redhead nodded in response. Kobra moved to say something, but Ghoul just quickly made a ‘later’ gesture, and the blond quickly shut his mouth. Carefully, Ghoul grabbed Poison’s hand, leading them inside and away from the situation which was very clearly stressing them the fuck out.
“So… You wanna-”
“I almost killed Kobra.”
Ghoul opened and closed his mouth several times, completely taken aback by what Poison had said.
“I… Heh? The fuck does that mean? No. Nuh uh. No shutting down on me right now. I want an explanation. The fuck does that mean?”
“You know how I told you about the chip? And how Kobra was the one who took it out? There’s a reason why he had to do it.”
“Can I know the reason? Because you’re kinda freaking me the fuck out right now.” Ghoul laughed nervously.
“We’d been runnin’ with a couple of other Joys after we escaped. We were all sitting around a campfire one night when someone brought out a guitar and they started a sing-a-long. I don’t even remember what fucking song it was because I blacked out. And when I came to…”
“When you came to…”
“Everyone was dead. And I had my gun against to Kobra’s head.”
Poison’s voice broke. Tears finally started to fall from their eyes, but they furiously tried to wipe them away. After seeing that their efforts were futile, they let out a shaky laugh.
“Fuckers in the city decided for shits and giggles that singing of all fuckin’ things was going to trigger my instant kill switch… He was only able to snap me out of it because he managed to smash a bottle over my head before I pulled the trigger.”
It was dead silent in the room. Poison eventually heard Ghoul stand up from where he’d been sitting on his bunk, and for a moment, they assumed the worst: that ze was about to leave them for good. But in less than a second, those thoughts of abandonment were shattered by Ghoul gently putting zirs hands on Poison’s face, tilting their head up to look at zim.
“I know you’re thinking it. But you’re not like them. Not in any way, shape or form. And you never will be.” Ghoul smiled softly at his partner, “Kobra knows that it wasn’t you in control at that moment. He knows. And he loves you. And so do I.”
“You love a murderer.”
“I love my amazingly strong partner who’s survived through a bunch of bullshit they didn’t deserve to go through. You’re not a bad person, Pois. I’ll say it over and over again until you believe me.”
“You’re going to be here for a long time then.”
“That’s alright. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you.”