Work Text:
kobra sets his empty glass on the counter, reaching for the light switch beside the coffee pot. with a click, the messy kitchen is illuminated in dim yellow light. photographs on the fridge create a gallery of friends and family, laughing, smiling, kissing, even a few “silly face” photos at the urging of a small curly-haired girl in a tutu. a child’s crayon drawing is right in the middle of the fridge, held up with letter-shaped magnets and scotch tape, three figures depicted in the drawing, in front of a house with a tall tree in the yard and a swing on the porch. the drawing is signed “grace!!!!” in blocky orange crayon letters, and titled “kobra and cherri and me”.
kobra smiles at the drawing, kissing two fingers and pressing them on the photograph of a tall guy with a blue streak and piercing blue eyes, with a crooked smile that says “i know all your secrets, and i’m totally telling”.
cherri cola is working in the garden, carhartt overalls covered in mud. he wipes his forehead with the back of his arm, kneeling in the flowerbed, half-hidden by a particularly tall patch of hydrangeas. he smiles when he hears the screen door slam, and leans back to wave at his husband.
kobra grins and saunters over, hands stuffed in his (cherri’s) jacket pockets. “how’s it goin’?”
“oh, you know,” cherri tosses a bunch of uprooted weeds over his shoulder. “sweaty and hot. why’d we move someplace so humid, again?”
“wasn’t my idea,” kobra replies, watching cherri’s arms move methodically with unmasked interest. “party an’ ghoul like the heat.”
“‘course they do,” cherri grunts, tugging at a particularly stubborn patch of crabgrass. “the breeze is nice, though.”
“do you want help? i can get my gardening gloves from the hall closet.”
“don’t worry about it, darlin’. i can handle my own. but, uh, can you fill up the water bottle for me? it’s over there, on the porch.”
kobra picks up the bottle and hurries back inside, smiling when the AC hits his face.
the hall is messy and hasn’t been cleaned in a few weeks, so kobra almost trips over a stack of cherri’s old newspapers and fumbles into his bike, which he took inside to fix and promptly forgot about. gracie leaves her toys out everywhere, and a trail of dolls and racecars leads the way into the guest room. the radio on her dresser is blasting an advertisement for buy-one-get-one-free ice cream cones at the ice cream parlor just down the road. kobra stumbles over the girl’s clothes, thrown every which way, and almost steps into an empty bowl of… is that mac ‘n cheese? guess she adopted ghoul’s messy habits.
“gracie?” he calls. she’s staying with them this weekend, and she isn’t in her tall princess bed with curtains and way too many stuffed animals.
“coming!” there’s a loud crash and the girl pops up from where she’s been rooting around in her closet, dressed in a striped shirt under her beloved leotard and tutu. the heavy combat boots kobra bought her completes the look, along with several blue hair clips that jet star had gotten her last time they’d gone shopping together. “whaddya need?”
“just checkin’ on you. want to go play outside while cher’s out there?”
the girl nods frantically. “mhm!”
“what’re you doing in there?” kobra navigates his way over to grace’s closet. “lookin’ for the bogeyman?”
“i’m trying to get my butterfly net,” she explains, “so i can look at one up close. jet said butterflies are one of nature’s wonders.”
“why’d he say that?”
“‘cause they’re so delicate. and jet says he’ll take me to a butterfly sanctuary soon!” gracie bounces up and down excitedly. “...but i can’t find my net.”
“do you think you left it at party and ghoul’s house?” kobra asks. “or jet and showpony’s apartment?”
gracie gasps. “oh, i think i maybe left it in party’s car. we were going to the park and i brought it cause i thought i might see a butterfly.”
“we’ll have to go see if we can find it, then,” kobra picks up the lanky six-year-old, stumbling his way back out of her room. “and maybe cola can help you clean your room when he’s done working today.”
kobra sets grace down on the kitchen island and fills up the water bottle under the tap, looking out the window into the backyard. it’s muddy and littered with more of grace’s toys - her yellow-and-red car she could sit in, her bike, her multiple soccer balls, and her light-up scooter. some of ghoul’s toys are spread across the ground too, including a box of sparklers, several boxes that used to have fireworks in them (the fireworks were long gone), and a baseball bat he’d been turning into a burglar alarm before he was abruptly stopped by party poison because the baseball bat smacked them first in the back of their head, then their gut.
kobra picks gracie up again, resting her on his hip, and shoulders the front door open, holding the water bottle out to cherri, who’s since ditched his t-shirt and is just wearing his overalls over his bare chest, which are both slick with sweat. “aw thanks, babe. you’re an angel,” he smiles, taking the water bottle and drinking it almost halfway gone before he comes up for air and asks, “are you guys leaving?”
“we’re looking for my butterfly net!” gracie cries, tumbling out of kobra’s arms and lying spread-eagled in the grass. “it’s in party’s car.”
“d’you want me to come too?” cherri reaches up and takes kobra’s hand. “i need a break anyway.”
“no, no, we can handle ourselves well enough, babe.” kobra smiles, squeezing cherri’s dirty hand. “you keep working, ‘kay? and then maybe i’ll make chicken stir fry or something for dinner.”
“for sure,” cherri’s face lights up, his smile contagious.
kobra tugs at his collar, trying desperately to hide the bright red blush creeping up his neck and ears. “...so… we’d better go.”
“see ya, kobes.” cherri stands, wiping his palms on his overalls. “don’t have too much fun, okay? and say hi to party an’ ghoul for me.” he leans forward, rocking on the balls on his bare feet, and kisses kobra’s cheek gently. “don’t stay out too late; i’ll be pretty pissed if i don’t get my stir fry.”
kobra snorted. “don’t touch me, you’re filthy.”
cherri shrugged, sweaty biceps gleaming in the afternoon light. “whoops.”
kobra stuck out his tongue at cherri, bending down and swooping the girl up in his arms. “we’ll be back soon; don’t worry. and you’d better be showered when we walk in the door.”