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A scream, anguished, dripping with fear and desperation rips through the air and startles Fun Ghoul awake. His lips part with an inaudible gasp, muscles tense as he sits up sharply in the bed, swiping a hand at his eyes which are blurry from sleep. There’s a split second of hazy confusion when Ghoul isn’t sure what’s going on or why he was suddenly awake, heart racing, but it’s only a split second as his mind registers the violent thrashing of his boyfriend beside him, the choked gasps and voice filled with pure fear.
It’s been perhaps a month or so since they’d rescued Party Poison from Battery City; it’s not like any of them have a calendar. The rescue had been easy, too easy, as though BLind had wanted them to take Party back. And Ghoul is kind of convinced they did, to show him and the other Killjoys what they’d done.
Party hadn’t quite been the same, though he did a pretty good job of hiding it and part of Ghoul can’t wait for another Clap with some Dracs so they can see they’d failed; they’ll never break Party. But the bigger part of Ghoul wants to hide Party away forever, because he’ll never get the look on Party’s face when he’d surged ahead of the others and broken into his cell out of his head. He’d been so scared, cowering in the corner with his knees drawn to his chest and arms covering his face and he’d whimpered when Ghoul had kicked down the door, and he’d let out a soft sob when Ghoul had touched his arm. Once he’d realized it was a rescue and not another torture session he’d put on a brave face and had kept it on ever since. But the nightmares and the slight flinches at loud noises and Party’s need to never be alone was very much there, despite the fact that Jet Star and Kobra Kid never brought it up and Ghoul was more than happy to spend all his time with the redhead.
The first time Party’d had a nightmare was the first night he’d been home since his rescue, and Jet and Kobra had burst through the door and Kobra’d tried to hug him and Party’d lost it, screaming for everyone not to touch him and curling into a ball in the corner. Ghoul was the only one who could calm him down.
Now, the nightmares are less frequent, only every few days but Ghoul knows it makes Party hate sleeping and that kills him. He still struts around and oozes confidence but sometimes his hands shake and there’s always faint shadows under his eyes.
Ghoul doesn’t have to worry about Jet and Kobra bursting in; they’re used to it now and everyone knows Ghoul is the only one who is really useful to Party in these situations anyways.
So Ghoul turns around, heart breaking at the absolute panic written on his lover’s beautiful face, and tries to wake Poison up.
“Pois, baby, wake up,”
Party’s face contorts in what looks like pain, and Ghoul has no doubt that's what it is, from some of the things Party has told him Korse did to him.
“N-no, stop, p-please don’t hurt him,”
“Shh, darlin, it’s just a dream,”
“P-please, not him, not Ghoulie I’ll-I’ll do anything,” Party begs and Ghoul feels his blood freeze at the sound of his own name. He’s gonna kill every last Drac and destroy BL/ind and laugh as they suffer for what they did to Party.
“It’s okay sunshine, it’s okay, just open your eyes for me Pois, kay?”
Party screams again and it’s filled with so much raw grief that Ghoul feels his throat close up and he can’t help himself but reach out and shake Party’s shoulders in a desperate attempt to wake him up.
It works.
Party’s eyes shoot open and he screams again, his body surging forward and Ghoul leans back quickly enough to just barley avoid them smashing their foreheads together. He lets go of Party’s arms immediately, scooting away a tad bit.
Party’s wrapped his arms around himself and he’s drawn his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth, staring unseeingly at the blankets twisted around him as he mutters the word “no” over and over again, tears streaming down his cheeks.
“P-please, no, no, no, Ghoulie p-please,”
Ghoul’s a little shaken by the obvious fact that whatever Party saw in his dreams involved something bad happening to Ghoul, and he curses himself for being silent for too long.
“Pois,” he calls, very gently, and Party’s head snaps up and eyes are so haunted that Ghoul’s brain seems to short-circuit in pain.
His lips part ever so slightly but no sound comes out, whatever words he’d been trying to say were caught in his throat.
“Everything’s okay darlin, I promise,” Ghoul murmurs, itching to gather Party in his arms and hold him forever.
Party’s eyes are still a little cloudy, and Ghoul knows he’s still not quite there but it still knocks the breath out of him when Party whispers, “B-but...they, they k-killed you,”
“No, no they didn’t baby, I’m right here,”
“But I saw! I saw! They..they made me watch and..a-and you wouldn’t...you wouldn’t wake u-up,” Party’s shaking so badly that he’s having trouble talking, his breaths sounding harsh and choked in his throat.
“Shh honey, they didn’t hurt me. I’m okay. I’m alive, I’m right here with you,” Ghoul extends his arm very slightly in Party’s direction.
“C’mere sweetheart, come lay down with me, you’ll feel better,”
Ghoul doesn’t have to ask twice.
Party all but throws himself at Ghoul, nearly knocking them both off the bed if not for Ghoul’s hand quickly reaching out to steady them. Party is sobbing, loud, heart-wrenching whimpers ripping from his throat and Ghoul feels his own cheeks grow wet at the sound.
“You were dead!” He shrieks into Ghoul’s chest and Ghoul feels the cold bite of panic settle into his gut at the sound of Party’s choked wheezing; not enough air getting through to his lungs. “You wouldn’t wake up! Please, I-I can’t, I can’t, please don’t leave me, I can’t-“
Ghoul presses kisses onto Party’s forehead and gently pries one of his hands from his shirt, holding it flat above his chest.
“Hey, shhh, Pois baby, ya feel that?”
Party’s hand is trembling underneath Ghoul’s but he nods.
“That’s my heartbeat darlin, I’m here, I’m right here and I ‘aint goin anywhere,” he whispers into Party’s ear.
“Deep breaths sugar, deep breaths, kay?”
“I-I can’t-“
Ghoul tucks a strand of Poison’s neon-red hair behind his ear, tilting his head slightly to look into his eyes.
“Yes you can baby, in and out, like this,” Ghoul starts to take huge, exaggerated breaths and doesn’t stop until Poison’s breathing is semi-normal again. He presses feather-light kisses to Party’s forehead, his cheeks, kissing away the salty tears that are still falling from his eyes, his nose, and then finally his lips, soft and sweet.
Party returns his kiss, fingers curling into Ghoul’s hair.
“Please, please don’t leave me, I love you, please,” he whines into Ghoul’s lips. Ghoul’s hands find Party’s and he squeezes them tightly.
“Never Pois, I love you too, so much, and I’ll never leave you,” he whispers back, and Party gives a shuddering sigh, burying his head into Ghoul’s neck. Ghoul shifts to the middle of the bed, lying down and wrapping an arm around Party, tucking the blanket around them both and pressing Party as close to him as possible. His other hand remains encased in Poison’s own, fingers brushing over his knuckles as he hums random tunes, pausing every few seconds to press kisses into Poison’s hair.
Ghoul doesn’t fall asleep until he’s sure Party is, and even then he stalls, memorizing Party’s thick eyelashes and his thin lips and the curve of his jaw and the way his bright red hair falls around his face. His heart is still racing slightly from adrenaline and his chest still seems to ache from the sound of Party’s screams and sobs, a type of heartbreak Ghoul doesn’t even think music could ever begin to describe. He kisses Poison’s cheek again softly and whispers, “I love you, Pois, and I’ll never leave you,”
Deep down, Ghoul knows his promise can’t be kept. One day, they’re gonna crumble to dust. It’s inevitable. But as much as it makes his heart clench painfully, he also knows that if one of them goes, the other will be soon to follow.
Ghoul eventually falls asleep to the comforting sound of Poison’s heartbeat, the gentle rise and fall of his chest, and slight puffs of air on his fingers from where Poison’s breaths hit their entwined hands, which are still clasped together when they awake in the morning.