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Jet nearly gagged walking into the diner, the sharp scent of bleach hitting her like a brick. Ze saw Kobra sat in the booth, Party pacing about the dining room. They bounced on their heels, hands flapping in obvious dismay. Their hair was covered with a plastic bag, as was Kobra’s.
“Kobraaaaaaaa how much longerrr,” Poison whined, drawing the words out. They didn’t seem to have noticed zir yet, bouncing uncomfortably next to Kobra.
Jet didn’t trust herself to open her mouth, so ze made a tactical retreat back to zir car, turning on the radio.
“Jet Star to Venom siblings.”
“Venom siblings to Jet Star, what’s up?”
They saw Party glance through the dirty window, doing a double take at Jet parked outside.
“I really, really can’t stand the smell of bleach. Uhm. Next time tell me, I guess?”
“Oh, sorry, sounds rainbow. How ‘bout you go scout for our next run an’ I’ll radio when we’re done and the diner’s aired out, yeah?”
“Rainbow. Uhm. Jet Star out.”
Poison waved to zir as she pulled the car away again, bouncing on their heels.
Their scalp burned. “How much Kobra how longerrr,” they whined, unable to keep still, feeling tears pricking in their eyes.
“Should be good now, been about half an hour. Want help rinsing it?”
They nodded vigorously, squeezing their eyes shut and flapping their hands hard enough to hurt a bit.
They felt relief wash through them as the they felt relief wash through them as they bent into the shower, a towel over their face as Kobra rinsed. He ran his hands through their hair they felt relief flood through them as the cool water washed over their hair.
“How the fuck do you handle this shit Kobes,” they whined, voice muffled by the now soggy towel.
“Can’t hear you. Stand up.” They felt of a towel a towel wrapping around their hair, pressing gently. They stood, eyes screwed shut. Kobra handed them a dry washcloth, letting them pat their face down dry cry.
Kobra watched as Poison dried their hair, still bouncing on their heels. They hummed a long, high note, eyes shut.
A warning note, one Kobra recognized from his sibling.
He handed them another few dry towels just as they snapped, bolting down the short hallway and slamming their door shut.
He let out a breath, bending over to rinse his own hair. It felt nice to get out, relieving the aggravating itching in his scalp.
Kobra’s short hair had dried completely before Poison emerged from their room, face and eyes thoroughly red. He’d already set out everything he thought they’d need.
Some soft washcloths, a bottle of water, a pair of their gloves, and the med kit Jet kept in the bathroom for minor injuries, full mostly of bandaids.
His sibling looked exhausted as they used the cloth to wash the blood from their hands and face.
He’d grabbed the darkest ones, hopefully dark enough that the blood wasn’t so obvious.
Then he moved on to gently covering the worst scratches with bandaids. He hissed at the bite marks and ragged scratches on Party’s hands and wrists and fingers. Poison didn’t look, barely wincing as he used a bit of a cloth to pat on disinfectant before patching them up.
“Thanks Kobra.”
They were tired. He scooped up the discarded bandaid wrappers, wadding them into a ball.
“Of course.”
When Kobra returned, they asked him to rinse it again, so he did, doing his best to get every last bit of bleach from their scalp.
Poison lay their head in his lap, eyes shut, not watching the snake documentary VHS Death-Defying had given him for his birthday. That was okay, they’d seen it before and if Kobra noticed anything new, he could tell them.
***
Party was asleep, but their radio was flashing. He did not want to wake them up. They were tired. Snapping like that was tiring, more so for Party than it was for Kobra.
“Kobra Kid to Jet Star,” he whispered.
“It’s getting near sunset, you guys done?”
Kobra sniffed the air and nodded before remembering that Jet couldn’t see. “Yes. Done.”
“Is Party there?”
“Sleep.”
“Oh. Uhm. I’ll be back, probably around sunset proper, yeah?”
“Okay.”
Kobra didn’t want to keep talking. Talking wasn’t good, he didn’t like talking.
So there was a pause before Jet signed off with “Jet, o’re an’ out.”
“Out,” Kobra replied as the radio cut.
He flapped his hands, not waking Poison as he resumed the documentary.
Kobra really liked how he looked with so much of the brown burned away. He hoped Poison would like their hair now too, or maybe they’d go through with the red they’d found. He just wished it hadn’t made them snap like that, or at least that there was something he could do to help when they snapped like they did for him. Unfortunately, touch and being spoken to always made Poison more overwhelmed, not less. That meant he just had to wait it out and be sure to have whatever comfort he could ready for his sibling.
***
Poison shifted in his lap, eyes blinking open.
“I think I want to use ey/em pronouns too, or at least try them for a bit.”
Kobra tilted his head.
“Why?”
They rubbed their eyes, sitting up. “Gonna sound silly but just had a dream bout it. Was a good dream.”
“This is my older sibling Party Poison, ey are very smart and eir favorite color is yellow, but they want to dye eir hair red.”
They beamed. “Yeah! I like that!”
“Red tomorrow?”
Ey nodded. “What time is it?”
“Dinner.”
“Jet back?”
He nodded. “Ze brought more cans.”
“Shiny!”