Chapter Text
Cap'n sat chilled out on the banged up sofa, his feet up relaxed for the first time in far too long. In between spending weeks as one of Queen's peons and recovering from the wire that'd been lodged in him he'd hardly had any time to just… be. He'd missed it, tapping his foot to the beat in his headphones as Sweet and K_K milled around in the corners of his vision.
Finally, he could rest easy. Finally, he was himself again.
K_K couldn't help but keep glancing at Cap'n, smiling at him seeing him so comfortable. They remembered when they'd cut the cable on that plug, how he'd slumped in their arms, unmoving. They'd only barely heard the coil while rattling inside him, and it was the only thing that'd told them he was okay.
They shook their head, not wanting to think about it anymore. He was fine now, that was what mattered.
Although, now that they thought about it… there were times recently when he'd been… distant. He'd get this guilty look on his face looking at them both and he wouldn't be able to meet their eyes. If they didn't know better they'd almost say he was keeping something from them..
But there wasn't anything To keep, they thought, turning back to tidying up one of their many work benches. Although.. it was the only thing that'd explain that look in his eyes. They knew him like the back of their hand, he always made a face like that when something was on his mind. The little upturned frown and slight squint in his eyes, he must've thought they hadn't noticed it.
Or maybe he wasn't even aware he did it…
Either way, it told them what they needed to hear. But what could he even be hiding?
They got to work sorting tools by their coloured handles in a drawer, in the order of the rainbow.
It couldn't've been anything about his physical health, they'd have noticed something like that by now. He wasn't very good at hiding injuries anyway… For once they were quite certain it wasn't a mental health issue either. K_K could see those in his eyes, his lip would tremble, his eyes either wildly darting around or glossy and unfocused. No, it was none of that…
So it was a secret.
It clicked suddenly for them, the pieces slotting into place. Cap'n had a secret. A genuine, honest to goodness secret he was keeping from them. It'd explain the guilty look, they mused.
But then it came down to… what. Now that was going to be a long one to work out, so they sat down and put their chin in one hand to work on it, looking at the ceiling absently.
Cap'n had been around them or Sweet… almost all the time since he'd gotten back. That almost might be the hint here, though, there were a few times he'd been out alone, after dark. Usually he'd come home before long, but there was one night… he didn't come back until the next evening. They'd both fretted over him, checking him up and down for wounds or damage but they'd found nothing. But thinking back on it, K_K once again saw that look of guilt on his face.
The short frown, his bottom eyelids squinted up, and an inability to keep their gaze.
Picturing the expression in his mind.. they almost recognised it. Not on Cap'n but someone else. Their fingers drummed on the table for a minute, wracking their mind for the memory that was on the tip of their tongue.
"Cakes? Cakes, you good?" Cap'n was calling him, snapping his fingers and waving.
They blinked, straightening up where they were sitting before smiling brightly.
"Huh? Yeah, hehe.. I was just thinking, y'know?" They reassured him.
He frowned a little, clearly still a little concerned.
"You sure? Looked like you had a lot on ya mind." He pulled his headphones down around his neck to give them his undivided attention.
They stared at him for a moment. Something was.. familiar about that? They shook their head, waving a hand. How in the Dark were they going to explain what they were thinking about without upsetting him?
"Just thinking about you. I'm glad you're comfortable again." They decided that was as close to the truth as they could get.
Cap'n blinked, surprised, but complimented, kicking back and tugging up his hood around his head.
"Really? You- Well if you're still worryin' about me, don't sweat it. I'm fine." It was one of his most famous lies, but this time it wasn't untrue.
K_Ks hand began to tap again, and they leaned forward a little, earning a confused look from their bandmate.
"Seriously, K_K. I ain't hurtin, I've been… relyin' on you guys a lot recently. I'd be able t' tell ya if I thought I needed something fixin' again." His brow furrowed, and for a moment he glanced away, and everything clicked in K_Ks mind at once.
"I saw you." They blurted out, sitting up bolt upright and slapping their hands down against the table.
"Wh- Huh?" Cap'n's bewildered look held a hint of fear, and he sat back a little on the couch.
"Weeks ago. It was you." They were slowly getting to their feet, the memory front and centre in their mind, like it'd barely happened yesterday.
"He's gotta be somewhere, right K_K?" Sweet was glancing around, eye wide with mounting fear.
Cap'n was missing. They'd barely had him home for a week and he hadn't come home. It was the early hours of the morning, and the pair were out in the city, scouring the streets for any signs of their partner.
"Hm? Yeah! Somewhere." They were staying positive. Cap'n had recovered by now, he would be able to defend himself, and he was always better at running than the other two.
Sweet huffed a sigh, turning a corner into an alleyway.
"You're right. I know you're right. But- It doesn't make me feel any less… freaked! Y'know?" They gestured in frustration, clenching their hands in the air. "What if he's been got again? Or he's… lyin' in some dumpster throwin' sparks?"
"Or he could be waiting for us to find him somewhere." K_K offered, trailing behind them. It wouldn't pay to think about any of that nonsense.
"..Yeah. Yeah! God, you're totally right! If he IS hurt… he's gonna be somewhere safe waiting for us! But where…" He tapped his chin, squinting in thought.
As Sweet began rattling off potential places to check K_K noticed someone else approaching down the alley. A tall, broad shouldered figure. Wearing a dark hoodie and large boots. Headphones hung around their neck and they had a tired frown on their face.
The stranger stared at the ground for a long time and they both approached one another, but as they got close they glanced up and met K_K's eye.
Two sets of glimmering yellow eyes locked for the briefest second, and K_K felt their heart begin to swell with recognition. Wasn't that..?
The stranger ducked their head, turning away with a short frown on their face, quickening their pace as they left.
"-and that's why Cap'n's GOTTA be at the alley with that huge LED wall! Whaddaya think, K_K?" Sweet saying their name snapped them back into the moment.
"Hm? I liked that wall… the colours were nice." They smiled, not really having heard what Sweet had said at all.
K_K's face fell, as the certainty dawned on them. They'd recognised that look on his face because theyd seen it before. Not on this face, but on another. One they didn't even know they should be looking for again.
Stereoheart's face.
They regarded the form the same way as they did the name Queen had given it.
Not Cap'n. Not really.
So why had he even been like that again? He hadn't been wired again, there wasn't a wire there when they'd passed on the street, and those things weren't exactly subtle.
It all made their mind race and their soul pound. They didn't understand.
"Whaddaya mean?" Cap'n's voice was tinged with anxiety. Fear of being caught in a lie.
"When did you see me?"
"We were looking for you. You went missing." Words fell from their mouth without much thought, rising fully to their feet, slowly.
"You- You'd barely been home a week but- we thought we'd already lost you again." Their voice was quiet, a calm before the storm that Cap'n recognised far too well, leaning back into the couch as dread overcame him.
"I- You know what happened!" He stammered out. "You- When- I got home while you were out, I was looking for new parts for Sweet's turntable, remember?" He knew he was caught, he wasn't stupid and they certainly weren't.
"YOU WALKED PAST US AND DIDNT EVEN BLINK!" K_K screamed, suddenly, voice peaking in their speakers.
Something clattered to the floor in the other room, but neither of them so much as turned to look.
"I- I don't know what you're talking about, Cakes-" Cap'n shrunk back, eyes wide and hands trembling.
"Yes you do! Don't lie to me, stop lying to me!" They stepped around the table, leaning over the coffee table down at Cap'n.
"I knew it was you! You knew I recognised you, it's only cuz Sweet was there that I couldn't STOP and-"
"What's going on!?" Sweet stepped into the room, trying to work out what he'd missed.
"He's lying." K_K said bluntly, pointing at Cap.
He threw his hands up sheepishly, mouth an anxious smile. "Wh- No, no, no- It wasn't me, I wasn't there-"
"YOU WALKED PAST US!" K_K howled in anger, stamping their foot with a thud.
Sweet had absolutely no idea what was going on.
"What- Do you mean? When did he walk past us, huh?"
K_K groaned loudly, pulling at their handle in frustration. They let it go after a moment, sighing and trying to calm down enough to explain properly.
"They went missing weeks back, yeah?" K_K turned to face Sweet, ignoring Cap'n's look of dawning terror.
"Yeah? But then he came-"
"Came home while we were out, yes." K_K finished for them. "He only came home because he saw us looking for him." They thrust a hand out, pointed at him.
"When? How are you so sure?" Sweet didn't think K_K was lying, but they wanted to know why they were making the accusation.
"That tall guy we passed, I KNEW I recognised him." They clenched their hands into fists, throwing them at their sides and whirling around to face Cap'n again, who was trembling in his seat.
"YOU WERE WIRED!!" Their voice boomed out, leaving the room in silence.
Eventually it was interrupted by Cap'n laughing, a nervous chuckle.
"Wh- No, Cakes, I ain't been wired again-"
"Then tell me why I saw you as that Stereo again." They weren't giving him an inch of wiggle room, they couldn't let him have it.
"You- No, it- Its not like that, I wasn't wired-" He was glancing around nervously, wringing his hands together and trying to make himself as small as possible.
"So what WERE you!?" K_K threw their hands out wide, and Sweet had to step back to not be clipped. "Why didn't you just TELL US where you'd been!?"
"I DIDNT TELL YOU CUZ I KNEW YOU'D GET LIKE THIS!" Cap'n suddenly yelled, catching both of the others off guard.
"I'm not- I wasn't WIRED, that's not what that was!"
"So tell me what it was!" K_K was almost begging, despite their boiling anger.
"Its just- Its- Its me now, I don't- I didn't choose it-" Cap'n stammered out, fumbling for his words. "I knew you wouldn't want to see me like that so I-"
"RAN AWAY!?" K_K sounded disgusted. "To- To hide this from us!? You left us here for HOURS terrified that you'd been kidnapped or hurt or- or wired again because you couldn't tell us the truth!?"
Sweet was glancing between them both, unable to get a word in edgeways. He'd caught up by now but he was too confused by it all to get properly involved.
Cap'n on the other hand, was terrified, his anxiety shaking him to his core. Suddenly he stopped, clenching his fists as his fear turned to rage.
"YEAH, I DID! Y'know what, I was tryna keep you both happy! I KNEW you'd hate it!" He was being defensive, he knew it, but he was so scared and upset and furious that he didn't care.
"I knew you'd be scared! You'd look at me like some sort of- enemy again! Do you KNOW what that felt like!? Seeing you both so scared of me!?" His hands shook again, clenched tightly as he tried to get them back under control.
"IT HURT! I NEVER wanted to make you feel like that! I'd never hurt either of you and- and I knew you'd think I would if I ever showed you that body again!!" He remembered their terror so clearly, when they saw him connected to that wire.
"It wasn't worth it." He mumbled, wrapping his arms around himself tightly. "Its part of me, not you, I didn't want it to be your problem."
He sounded tired, frustrated now, burning out of his rage.
"Even if it meant keeping some kinda.. dirty secret from you, that was better than makin' you scared of me like that. It wasn't worth hurtin' you for the sake of me fuckin around with a new body." His new form was more than that to him. Stereoheart wasnt just some.. new body. It was everything he wanted. Everything he wasn't.
"I didn't want you to find out like this. Didn't want you to find out about it at all…"
Sweet's brow furrowed, and they reached a hand out, trying to grasp at one of Cap'n's hands. But before they could get there K_K began to speak again, and they froze.
"So you were going to keep it from us forever?" Their voice was small, tiny compared to the screaming earlier.
Cap'n thought quietly for a moment, before he nodded, unable to look up at them.
"Yeah, probably." He spoke bluntly.
K_K was silent after that, and the other two both thought they'd finally calmed down.
They were wrong.
"YOU'D LEAVE US IN THE DARK FOREVER!?" Their voice shook, bass from their speakers boosting it.
"You'd keep some- DOUBLE LIFE and NEVER tell us!? All because you, what, wanted us to be happy!?"
"Cakes-" Sweet tried, but was ignored.
"You'd pass us by COUNTLESS times, pretending you didn't know us!?" Their hands came up, open wide, in a gesture of bafflement.
"I-" Cap'n could hardly think. His mind was racing and his soul was hammering in his chest. He suddenly so, so small.
"And let us SEARCH FOR YOU, night after night TERRIFIED you wouldn't come home that time!? That you'd gotten hurt or ditched us!?" Their voice cracked, pain seeping into their tone. "WHY!? Fucking hell, Cap, tell me WHY! What would you GAIN from that!?"
Cap'n shot to his feet, and in a single beat his head shifted, bursting into the squared off form of Stereoheart. His height doubled, arms and legs wider and stronger in an instant. His huge hands clenched into fists as he heaved a yell.
"YOU'D BE FUCKING SAFE!" His voice boomed, lower by an octave now and bassy.
K_K squeaked involuntarily, stumbling back into the table behind them as Cap'n suddenly shot up into their face. Sweet gasped, eye going wide with fear.
Cap'n went silent, breaths coming hoarse and fast. Wait. He was tall again. Too tall.
Slowly, he looked down at his hands, met with the large, strong hands of his wired body.
His eyes shot back up, catching Sweet's eye and that same god damn fear in their glowing eye.
They blinked before rushing over to K_K, checking them over as they got back on their feet proper.
Cap'n's chest tightened, everything he'd so carefully put up was crumbling around him. The relief he'd felt being home again. The blanket of security he'd covered his bandmates in. His most desperately kept secret. It was all gone. In its place was a growing pit of dread, the open wounds of the argument and the sting of broken trust.
He couldn't stay here.
Not right now.
He had to get out, into the city.
Just go.
Anywhere.
He turned, hopping the sofa and making his way toward the door.
K_Ks head shot up, fear overtaking them as he turned away, but Sweet was the only one who found his voice.
"Wait, Cap- Wait a minute-"
"No." He held a hand up to stop them, hunched over with exhaustion.
"Please. Don't follow me." His voice cracked as he spoke, but he didn't let it stop him as he shoved the door open and staggered out, ignoring Sweet's yell and K_Ks telling silence as he went through the shop and then sprinted out into the night.