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Fun Ghoul woke up at his own pace, for once. No screaming babies, no crew members shoving him off of the mattress, no ambush of draculoids in the middle of the night. His eyes drifted open to late morning light dancing across the ceiling and a tangle of red hair covering the lower half of his vision.
“Morning, baby,” Ghoul murmured. He lifted one sleep-heavy hand and stroked Party Poison’s hair, loving the way the strands slipped through his fingers.
They didn’t reply.
Frowning, Ghoul tried again. Poison wasn’t a heavy sleeper, the fact that they weren’t even moving set off alarm bells because, as long as Ghoul had shared a bed with them, Poison was always tossing and turning while they slept.
“Corazón? You up?”
Still no reply.
Ghoul stilled, listening for the telltale whirring of Poison’s breathing, the gentle hum of his circuitry. There was nothing. Silence.
Cursing, Ghoul lifted Poison’s weight off of himself and rolled off the bed. They must’ve shut down in the night and Ghoul tried not to panic as he stumbled around the bedroom trying to find their ancient charger.
He finally located it, hidden under a pile of shirts and paint cans. It took a minute to set up the heavily modified machinery, positioning the solar panel in the window, making sure the wires were connected properly, muttering an apology while sliding open Poison’s charging panel.
Ghoul hated this. Not the fact that his partner was an android, but the fact that the longer he was in the zones, the harder it was to keep his systems functioning properly. Randomly shutting down wasn’t the most dangerous thing that had started happening, but Ghoul knew it was the most upsetting to Poison.
He had never been able to find the words to describe to Ghoul where he went when his battery died.
Lights on the charger flashed, indicating that the current had started to flow and within a minute, Poison shuddered and jerked awake.
They gasped as their eyes flew open, slamming upright and nearly dislodging their charger in the process.
“Woah,” Ghoul passed one hand in front of Poison’s face. “‘M right here. Jus’ a shutdown. You’re fine. Y’re not alone.”
There was no recognition on Poison’s face. Ghoul tried not to sigh, knowing that he was just rebooting and would remember Ghoul in a moment. So Ghoul stayed still, sitting next to Poison as he waited for all of his systems to come up to speed.
Then Poison blinked, gasped again, and collapsed into Ghoul’s side.
“Shh, ‘s all good.” Ghoul rubbed Poison’s shoulder, keeping one eye on the charger at the back of their neck. “You’re back. Y’didn’t miss anything.”
“Fuck, Ghoulie.” Poison’s voice shuddered as he held in obvious sobs. “H- How long was I gone?”
“I dunno, I’m sorry, love. I woke up and you were out. But not long once I got up. You’re always top priority.”
“Fuck,” whispered Poison, voice breaking. They buried their face in Ghoul’s shoulder and tightly wrapped their arms around his waist. “I hate it. I hate wh- when that happens.”
“Me too. ‘M sorry.”
For a long while, the two ‘joys stayed like that. Ghoul convinced Poison to at least lay down while his charger hummed and sparked. He only agreed if Ghoul promised to stay there, too, not that leaving Poison alone after his shutdown had even been on Ghoul’s mind.
“Just overloaded, y’think?” Ghoul was wrapped around Poison, legs tangled and arms holding them to his chest. The room was far from silent with the humming charger and Poison’s whirring breath, but Ghoul still whispered.
“Maybe. It’s been gettin’ more common.”
The two ‘joys fell into silence once more. Poison burrowed into Ghoul’s chest and Ghoul held him tight, occasionally pressing a kiss to the top of his head. The quiet moment was shattered by the beeping of Poison’s charger, indicating that he was fully charged.
“Check me out?” Asked Poison as they detached themself from the charger.
Ghoul gave him a slow once-over and whistled, “Who’s this hottie?”
“Not what I meant,” groaned Poison, smiling just a bit. They swung their legs over the edge of the bed and let Ghoul check their calibration.
“I know y’can hear me and your speech is fine. How many fingers?”
“Three.”
“Yep. Y’feel this?” Ghoul ran his fingers over the soles of Poison’s feet, their palms, down the sides of their ribs, waiting for Poison to confirm their sensation after each one. “Joints good?”
Slowly, Poison stretched out each limb, twisted his back from side to side, then rolled his neck. It was the neck that gave him trouble, a loud creak sounding as his movement ground to a halt.
“Uh-“ Poison turned to look at Ghoul, neck stuck at an awkward angle.
“Can I take a look?” Ghoul knew Poison didn’t like it. How much they needed other people to help them when their joints locked up. It wasn’t like they had a lot of choice in cases like this, but Ghoul still asked every time.
“Okay,” Poison barely whispered the word as he closed his eyes.
“I’ll be quick,” promised Ghoul. He pressed his fingers to Poison’s pulse point and slid open the access panel there.
Poison twitched as their circuitry was exposed, but did their best to stay still while Ghoul peered into their neck.
Inside it was a neat tangle of wires and gears. Ghoul located the problem quickly, cautiously moving aside a bundle of nerves to see that one of Poison’s drive belts had slipped from the gear that moved it. He told Poison and waited for him to consent before removing the gear, straightening it out, wrapping the belt around it, and reattaching it all to the system.
“All done,” declared Ghoul as he slid the access panel shut.
Poison sighed when Ghoul followed up the repair with a soft kiss to the side of their neck.
“Thanks.”
“Of course.”
Poison rolled his neck again, enjoying the full range of motion he was supposed to have.
“We have plans today?”
“Nope,” yawned Ghoul. “We can stay in bed all day if ya want.”
As Poison considered this, they let out a quiet hum. “Nah. Let’s go fuck with Tommy.”
Not even surprised, Ghoul laughed and pressed another kiss to Poison’s lips this time.
“Sounds good t’me.”