We Taught Ourselves to Smile

Part 3

Kobra

The sound of the Trans Am's doors slamming shut brought Kobra to the front of the diner. Ghoul walked in, his face full of anger and grief, followed closely by Poison, who looked somewhat like a wounded puppy and was half carrying... Sandman?

"What the fuck is going on? What happened? Why the fuck is Sandman here and—oh shit is that blood?" Kobra felt himself starting to panic, unsure of what was going on. What was happening, why was Sandman covered in blood? Why did Poison look so damn sad? Why was Ghoul looking at Poison like he was about to rip their head off?

Ghoul sighed, not even beginning to explain as he pushed past Poison and Kobra. He wiped his face viciously before he left the area and for a brief second, Kobra saw the horrified desperation on his face. But that seemed at least somewhat gone by the time Poison had opened his mouth to explain. "We ran into him out in the desert. He got shot, we gotta fix him up."

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why Ghoul seems so angry, or why you look so goddamn sad." As they talked, the siblings began pulling out the medkits, and Ghoul must have found Jet, because he came in a few moments later, his huge mass of hair tied up so it was out of the way.

"Poison, I think you should go talk to Ghoul, we can take it from here." Jet said, slowly peeling off Sandman's blood-soaked jacket. That must have struck a nerve, because Poison backed away, shaking their head.

"No no no no no no no, I- I can't do that, I could fuck this up even more, I- I could fucking lose him, I've probably already lost him... He said he didn't want to see me, I can't go talk to him, are you insane?" Their eyes were wide and brimming with tears. "I can't lose him. I think it would kill me." Their voice got quieter with each word, until Kobra could just barely hear them over Sandman's pained whimpers. Someone grabbed his hand, and Kobra looked down to see Sandman's bloodstained fingers threaded between his own. Sandman was squeezing so tight it hurt, and Kobra made no attempt to remove it. Poison gasped. "You motherfucker, you killed Ghoul's parents, you stay the fuck away from him. You stay the fuck away from my brother."

"You.. What?" Sandman opened his mouth to speak, but Poison ripped Kobra away from him and dragged him into the kitchen, where they promptly started to cry.

"He had a nightmare—Ghoul did—so I let him tell me about it, then we went for a drive to calm him down. We were both just kinda sitting off to the side of Guano when I figured, 'what the hell,' and started to propose, but then Sandman showed up and it all, sorta, fell apart." They took a breath, trying to compose themself before they continued. "Ghoul recognized Sandman as one of the Juvies who killed his parents."

"Oh, shit." Poison nodded, rummaging through the kitchen cabinets. "But, what happened between you two?" They froze, hands halfway closed around a mug adorned with a logo that had long ago been rendered illegible. The little composure they had gained came crashing down, along with the mug. Ceramic shards scattered across the floor, and a loud crash echoed through the diner. The door opened, and Ghoul stood in the doorway. He didn't say a word as he took in the shattered mug, Kobra's shocked face, and the look of utter pain and defeat on Poison's. Kobra had never seen them so broken, not even after their first clap, which they spent hours calming down from, so horrified that they had killed people that they didn't eat for days. The two lovers stared at each other, neither said a word and neither moved. The tension in the room was so thick Kobra could taste it, and he was half tempted to grab everything sharp, leave the room, and lock them in there together until they sorted this out.

"Ghoul," Poison was the first to break the silence. "Ghoul, darling, I-" the boy in question held up a hand.

"No. Don't. Just... don't. I don't want to hear anything from you." He nearly spat out the last word, a hot knife cutting through sheer ice. Kobra watched as Poison's face, which had held just a glimmer of hope, fragile as glass but there nonetheless, shattered. "You knew . We fucking talked about it this morning . You watched me break . I thought I could trust you to help put me back together, but I guess I was wrong." He stormed out of the room, leaving the pieces of the mug and Poison's heart on the floor without a second thought.