Sans AU One-shots

[🎲] Drinking Habit (Killer + Horror)

Summary: Killer gets concerned over Dust's drinking habits and decides to take matters into his own hands — without letting Dust know, of course.

Characters: Horror, Killer, Dust (mentioned), Nightmare (mentioned)

Word Count: 1,077

Trigger Warnings: Alcoholism, violence, self harm, murder (ment.)
--------------------------------------------------
Horror wasn't one to question his fellow teammates choices. Given the fact that they were all unstable in one way or another it was a hopeless effort that he'd grown tired of. From the killings, the random bodies appearing and disappearing in Dust's room to Nightmare's sudden mood changes, Error's general existence and Cross' ever doubtful nature he'd gotten used to all of it.

Well, almost all of it. Killer was an exception.

He'd never been particularly close with him, instead only really talking to him on missions or when he needed something. Despite this he figured he'd at least have a general idea of Killer's morals, actions and behaviours, yet looking at the scene in front of him.. he realised he couldn't have been more wrong.

He put his hands in his jacket pockets and sighed, "What are you doing?"

Killer paused to briefly look over to him before continuing to knock the bottles of alcohol from the shelf.

There was silence between the two as Horror stared expectantly at his teammate, his patience ticking down. From what he knew Killer was incredibly talkative - too talkative in fact - so to not get an answer from him was irritating him. That wasn't to mention how the loud crashes of the bottles hitting the floor was driving him insane, nor how the cries of the nearby workers were reminding him of some not-so-pleasant memories of his home.

"Hey!" He yelled, grasping Killer's attention. He took a moment to calm his growing temper before continuing in a quieter but stern voice. "Are you gonna answer me?"

Killer blinked and motioned towards a bottle before picking it up and letting it drop to the floor with another smash.

Their eyes locked with each other for a few more moments before Killer turned and spat out what Horror assumed was part of a lollipop.

"Smashing alcohol bottles on the floor, geez I figured you were the smart one.." He stated, mumbling near the end.

"No, yeah, I got that part. Any chance you have a reason t' be doing all of-" Horror gestured towards the shattered bottles on the floor "-this?"

Horror ducked as a bottle flew towards his skull and hit a worker behind him, the fire extinguisher falling from their hands.

"First of all, watch ya back. Second of all, obviously I do! I'm not just getting cuts all through my gloves for funsies." Killer responded, speaking with his usual slight unplaceable accent.

As Horror walked over to him, the glass smashing beneath his feet, he tried to figure out what the reason could've been for Killer's actions. As far as he knew he didn't have any particular hatred towards alcoholics or alcohol itself, in fact he'd seen him drinking the stuff every so often.

"Alright, indulge my curiosity then. Why are you smashing the bottles on the floor?"

"To help Dust."

A smile appeared on Horror's face before he let out a small laugh at Killer's joke.

"You? Helping someone? Man, here I thought my jokes were ridiculous.. c'mon Killer, we work for Nightmare — we don't help people."

"Maybe you don't-" Killer turned to face Horror "-but I do."

"Yeah? How's this helping Dust?"

"Wouldn't have expected you to notice but he's got a drinkin' habit, and uh.." Killer started, trailing off near the end.

"And? How's that our business?"

"You ain't worried that he's getting worse? Heh, knew you weren't all that interested in us but I figured you cared even a lil bit." Killer commented, turning back to the shelf and continuing to knock down the bottles.

"Tch.." Horror turned to face the cowering workers, their faces stained with tears.

"If you ain't gonna help I'd rather you leave." Killer spoke, noting Horror's oddly high aggression.

"Why's that?"

"Feels like you're judgin' me?"

"We're judges, that's our job." Horror scoffed, itching at the hole in his skull.

"To judge the human, not each other dumbass."

"Yeah, right. Listen, I just don't get the point in doing this. There's an endless amount of AUs with alcohol in them, he's gonna get t' it no matter what ain't he?" Horror questioned, turning back towards Killer.

"Yeah but this one's the place he hits the most. Would probably piss him off to come by and find they've got nothin' for him."

"And then? He'll just go to another place."

"Nah, he'll get pissed off and go sit in a tree to cool down or somethin' and by the time that's done he won't wanna put in the effort to drink."

"Right, and after they restock?"

Killer paused his endeavour and turned to face his teammate, putting his hands on his hips slightly wincing from the pain searing through them. He needed to get it done as soon as possible, but with Horror asking so many questions..

"Do it again, maybe kill a worker or two to prove a point." He responded.

"And when Dust just moves on to a different place? He's gonna realise eventually that it's one of us just following him and he's probably gonna guess we're fuckin' with him."

Killer sighed in frustration. He just didn't have the time for all of this.

"He ain't that open to change, he won't just move on that easily. Guess he'll take a couple weeks to get over it and a couple more to find a new spot. I'm hoping he somehow finds a better coping method than drinking in that time."

"Isn't Nightmare.. the Guardian of Negativity or whatever? Wouldn't he just supply it to him?"

"Nah, he doesn't get involved in our business. Sure it'd make sense to force him further down the rabbit hole of addiction but he's just never been interested in worsening us."

There was silence between the pair for a few moments, Horror looking for any trace of doubt in Killer's words. He seemed to have full confidence and trust in Nightmare despite how much of an awful person he was.

Horror sighed, turning to the shelves and pushing some of the bottles onto the floor.

"I mean.. if you're sure it'll help Dust then whatever.. but if this ends badly I'm blamin' it all on you." Horror relented, a small smile appearing on his face.

Killer grinned, grabbing more of the bottles and smashing them onto the floor with more energy than before.

If all they had was each other now, then they at least wanted to make sure they were okay.