Chapter Text
Sung called it the Love Rocket, and they all knew he was overselling it. But that sounded a hell of a lot better than “that shitty van,” so they just kind of went along with it.
It was small, beaten up, and terribly cramped with all of their instruments stashed inside. Most of them fit in the way back, although Meouch’s bass usually sat between the two in the backseat-- this time, it was Havve and Phobos. They were both sound asleep, Havve’s eyes dimmed and Phobos slumped over against the hard case that sat between them. The two of them were quiet, calm, and oblivious to the tension that hung over the other two in front seat.
Both of them could sense it. Sung could tell by the fact that Meouch was looking exclusively out the window, and Meouch could tell by Sung’s near constant adjusting of the radio.
It was Sung who first tried to make conversation.
“You know,” he began, eyes trained on the road, “This is the album Danny recommended to us.”
Meouch was quiet for a moment, at first not processing that he was being spoken to. Then, “Oh. Cool.”
“I like it. Not what I’m used to.”
Meouch nodded. “Yeah.”
Sung smiled. Three whole words. Possibly the most he’d gotten out of the Commander since the last time they’d been alone.
Perhaps he could press further.
“You know, we don’t have to be drinking to have a good conversation,” he said. He didn’t mean to say that, no. Not quite. It just sort of came out without much thought. But it was better to get to the point than beat around the bush, right?
Meouch let out a half-hearted grunt in reply. Sung tried again.
“What I’m saying is… we haven’t really talked much since that night out on the deck.”
Meouch let out a sigh. “I know.”
“And I’ve been thinking--”
“You sure do that a lot, huh?”
“I… do, yes.” Sung let out a soft laugh.
It took Meouch a second to realize that the doctor was pulling the car over. “Uh… what are you doing?” he asked.
“The sunset, it’s nice.” Once they were parked, Sung removed his sunglasses and pointed ahead. “Look.”
Meouch rolled his eyes, but took a look nonetheless. Sung wasn’t wrong. A beautiful mixture of pinks, yellows and blues covered the sky. For a moment, everything was quiet. Tranquil, even.
“Hey, Meouch?
“Mhm.”
“Why’d you lie to me?”
Meouch stopped cold in his tracks.
Without a response, Sung pressed further.
“Were you ever gonna tell me?”
Meouch felt his stomach drop. “I… I dunno what you’re talking about, man.”
“Sure you do. Remember that time last month when your E string snapped and got you right in the face?” Sung asked, “You were bleeding all over everything?”
“Well, yeah, it’s... uh. It’s kinda hard to forget that, man.”
“Well, once things had calmed down, I took a sample from the cloth we used to stop the bleeding.”
“You what?” Meouch asked. “That’s... incredibly creepy, Doc.”
“It was for good reason, alright?” Sung said, hands up in defense. “I wanted to see if it was compatible with anyone else in the band, in case there was some sort of emergency.”
“What, you’re tellin’ me you’ve got blood samples from Phobos, too?”
“Phobos doesn’t mind, he knows I have good intentions. But that’s not the point.” Sung was facing him fully now, one leg pulled up on the seat, held up against his chest. “The point is that it’s compatible with mine.”
Meouch opened his mouth to retort, then paused. Blinked. Thought.
“...What?”
Sung huffed. “Just… you know, when a guy spends centuries upon centuries mourning the loss of his entire species, and you happen to be part of said species, the least you could do is tell him.”
Meouch shook his head, bewildered. “Wh… Doc, I don’t--”
“I get it, okay? I’m clingy. I can see why you might want to avoid it. I’ll admit that when I found out just a couple days ago, all I wanted to do was run into your room and give you a big hug.”
“I-I...” Meouch stuttered, “Listen, I’m not--”
“And then maybe kick your ass for not telling me before,” Sung continued, sounding considerably more irritated than he had in his last statements. “Like, really, Meouch? After all we’ve been through? How long have we known each other?” He flinched when his voice cracked on the last syllable. “You didn’t think, even for a second, to tell me that you’re--”
“Human?” Meouch blurted.
“And another thing--” Sung cut himself off and looked straight at Meouch, eyes wide. “Wait, you… what?”
“I’m--” Meouch began at the same loud volume, then glanced back at the sleeping half of the band. In a reasonably harsh whisper, he continued. “I’m not… whatever you are. I’m a human.” He paused. “You’re not… you’re not human, right? We’re on the same page with that, yeah?”
“Y-yeah, I...” Sung furrowed his brow, looking awfully confused. Seconds later, his expression fell into one of dejection. “That… actually makes… a lot more sense,” he said, running a hand through his messy hair. “Fuck.”
“How the hell does that make more sense?” Meouch asked. “If anything, it’s more confusing.”
“No, no, my species, we… we descended from humans,” Sung explained as he slumped down into his seat. “Way, way back. We evolved from you. So… so I guess we have compatible blood types?”
“That… okay, well, yeah.” Meouch shrugged. “That… makes a little sense.”
Sung gave a shaky little nod. He looked like he was about to cry. Meouch gulped.
“Uh, I’m sorry you thought I was… you know. One of you,” the Commander said. “I can’t imagine how it must feel to be… let down like that.”
“It’s... fine,” Sung said, his voice wavering. Goddammit, he was crying. “I’ll live.”
Meouch nodded. “And, uh… sorry I lied to you about bein’ human.”
Sung sprung up from his slump in a matter of seconds, like nothing had happened at all. “Oh yeah, what the fuck was up with that?” he asked. “You were lying all this time!”
Meouch, after a brief recovery from the other man’s outburst, just shrugged in response. “I didn’t… think it was important,” he muttered.
“Of course it’s important! We literally just had that conversation a few days ago! You know, ‘band of aliens from the future’ and all that?”
Meouch scoffed. “Hogan’s not even organic, man. He’s a fuckin’ robot. Can you really call him an alien?”
Sung opened his mouth to speak, then actually thought about that for a moment. “W-well… well you still lied to me!”
“You saved my ass because you wanted to start a freaky alien band, Doc. What was I s’posed to say?”
“We’ve known each other for decades!” Sung winced when his voice cracked again. “You… you’ve had plenty of opportunities to come clean about this!”
Meouch scoffed. “You really think I wanted you to find out that I’ve been lying to you all this time?”
“You really think I’d never figure it out?”
“I THINK YOU ARE BOTH INSUFFERABLE AND SHOULD KEEP DRIVING.”
Both Sung and Meouch jumped as the mechanical voice spoke from the backseat.
“Oh, sorry, Havve, we were just… taking a little breather,” Sung said, as he gave Meouch what could only be described as A Look. “I was about to get back on the road.”
“GOOD. I WOULD LIKE TO GET HOME. THE CAT IS BETTER COMPANY THAN ANY OF YOU WILL EVER BE.”
With another sigh, Sung put his sunglasses back on and pulled out towards the road. The van was dead silent, save for the faint rustling of the doctor’s armor as he glanced over his shoulder to check for oncoming cars. It was only when they got moving that Meouch took a glance in Sung’s direction, and saw the faintest blue glow coming from behind his shades.