Implicit Echoes | Completed

Three

A/N: I apologize for how long this took, life happened and I had so much to do that I couldn't finish this, but here it is; almost 12k words. I'm so proud of this part you wouldn't even believe. I hope you enjoy :)

The song is by one of my favorite singers. I listened to it in a loop while writing this part, so I hope you check it out. It conveys a lot if the feelings I wanted to bring out in this chapter.

...

Poison was there to watch him play again.

Frank tried not to look at him too much, but his eyes kept diverting to the bright red hair in the corner whenever he as much as raised his eyes from his guitar.

He tried not to think of the last time they talked alone. The night Frank slept on his couch and woke up to awkward Poison giving him a cup of hot coffee. He escaped the whole place quickly when the rest of the Killjoys were there and began speaking with each other while giving him weird looks.

Frank had talked with Poison again of course, but it was all while other people were there. They talked about their plan to get the kids out and what Frank knew about the tunnels. Frank was even supposed to take the Killjoys later to the them. Still, he hadn't been with Poison alone in a room by themselves and Frank didn't know how he would act if he did.

He didn't know why it was awkward all of a sudden. Poison had been acting like a decent human being allowing him to crash on his couch for a night and that was that. He needed to get over himself.

It wasn't like that awkward night was all there was for him to think about anyway. It should've been the next to last, to be fair, right before the lifespan of fruit flies or something, and with all the shit he had to deal with over the past few days; Poison's general existence shouldn't have been such a revelation, but it was.

Poison was different, so much different than anything or anyone Frank's known. He was vibrant and cocky and captivating and reckless. He loved his crew, always calling them his brothers. He loved the desert with all his being and always talked so animatedly about it, captivating Franks entire attention when he would go into one of his rants about freedom and justice and so many things Frank hadn't even considered before. It was always about surviving before, about making it through the day just to see another, but Poison made it seem like there was another reason to live. He talked of things that made Frank feel like music made him feel. It scared him to no end. Poison was like a breath of fresh air and Frank feared getting addicted.

Frank didn't know what to do with him among everything else that was playing tricks on his head either, he was remembering things he never knew he even witnessed, and it wasn't helping that he needed to prove himself enough to sound credible, not only to Poison but the other rebels with him.

Surprisingly, everyone was decent enough towards him. He suspected Sammy had talked him up a bit among them before he had arrived. Kobra Kid didn't say anything, content with only glares in his general direction whenever he thought Frank wasn't looking. Poison seemed to genuinely care about what he was saying, asking him to clarify further on a few things and sending encouraging smiles in his way whenever he was finding it particularly difficult to explain. Jet Star was the kindest of the bunch though, offering to help Frank draw whatever he knew on his electronic pad instead of just describing. He reminded Frank of James a lot, but he didn't like to think about it much. He also found out that the couple other rebels weren't as informed as the Killjoys in regard to their mission's goal, which felt weird somehow, for Frank to have gained the desert's most infamous crew confidence so fast, but he didn't really have the time to question it. He wasn't there to make friends, friends that were literally leaving the city within the week, it wasn't worth it.