Chapter Text
It had been only seven months since they had escaped that god-forsaken circus. Seven months of trying to find their footing, after the police investigation. They still didn’t know how that Jumanji crap happened, but at this point, they didn’t care. They were back, and they had a support group of their friends and her beautiful Gangle.
And Jax, they guess. Although, they’ve barely seen him since they got back. They saw him in the group chat sometimes, but he never responded except to Pomni. And he barely even responded to her if he wasn’t mentioned by name. They didn’t exactly want to admit it, because it’s Jax they’re talking about here, but they were getting slightly worried. On a human level, it’s concerning. Even though abstraction isn’t possible anymore.
Gangle had found their music account recently. They had put some songs up years ago, before they ever got trapped, just doing anything to make a single cent of disposable income. They had really liked being able to sing, since music had always been a passion of theirs, but without anyone to play any other instruments, it sounded kind of bleak. Like an almond mom that kept infesting their feed or something.
Gangle had been encouraging them, and Zooble didn’t exactly have the energy to say no. They wanted to make their girlfriend happy, and plus, they did get happiness from singing. So what, they had to find someone who played an instrument? They live in a huge city, it should take five minutes max.
Except, apparently, people weren’t as trusting anymore. Honestly, they didn’t blame them; they hadn’t seen anything after 2022, but whatever was happening looked bad. They wouldn’t trust a stranger who came up to them looking like a vampire asking if they would like to join a band, either.
They had been out on a small grocery run in the early hours of the morning, way too late for any real store to be open. They had needed to grab a 12 pack of energy drinks, to keep them up while they tried to craft the stupid drill curls of Teto’s wig. The lights above them were buzzing, the cold air from the refrigerated back section making them shiver in their tank top. They felt bare without any of their accessories, but hadn’t bothered to put them on for a quick run to the gas station like this.
They heard the door of the refrigerated section open as they tried to get a grip on the case that they wanted, barely looking up to see who it was. This late at night, the less they looked at someone, the better it probably would be. Except, whoever it was, they seemed familiar. Like they’d seen their photo before, or seen that person in general.
The person had a guitar strapped on his back, multiple piercings that were quite obviously done by himself. His baggy jeans were covered in pins that couldn’t fit into his messenger bag, his sweater striped with purple and black. He had eye bags worse than their own, something that was honestly a very impressive feat.
They’d seen him before.
“Jax?” They asked, putting down the box to stand up straight, glaring at the man. The last time they saw him, he had just been in normal shorts and a T-shirt, nothing like the actual style he had here. Then again, the last time they saw each other was three months ago. “Where have YOU been?!”
Jax looked startled, frowning as he tensed up. They locked eyes for much too long, some sweat running down Jax’s brow as he tried to think of a response. “..Places.” He said vaguely, hoping that would get enough of an angry reaction out of Zooble to get them to drop the subject.
Zooble rolled their eyes, crossing their arms before looking him up and down. “..You play guitar?” They asked, some realization coming into their voice that Jax didn’t like.
Jax stayed silent, hoping that was the best option. He didn’t know what was, honestly- either way, he wasn’t going to have a fun day, and he just knew it. He had been planning on going back to his gig after this quick run, hoping to see if he could play a few more songs, but if Zooble dragged him away he wouldn’t be able to.
He just grabbed the two Monsters he needed to, hoping to just slip out, before Zooble grabbed his collar. “Nope.” They said, turning him around. They had a hint of excitement in their eyes, something Jax frowned at. Someone being excited to see him was never a good omen. “I’ve been needing a guitar player. Sucks it has to be you, but.. strangers won’t talk to me.”
“Wonder why.” He sneered, rolling his eyes dismissively.
Zooble scoffed, letting go of his collar to cross their arms again. “Shut up.” They said, as a warning. “I need a guitarist, and I’m assuming you’ve got nothing else going on.”
Jax stayed silent for a moment, a conflict in his eyes, before he finally sighed and nodded. Really, he didn’t have anything else during the day except doomscrolling old messages. What’s the harm in taking, what, thirty minutes out of that? Plus, if he interacted with the others, Pomni and Ragatha wouldn’t be constantly yelling at him to be all ‘mushy’ and ‘go to therapy’ or whatever. “If you put one of those emo stickers on my guitar like you did with my computer, no one will ever find your body.” He said, before sighing. “But.. got nothing else. So sure, whatever.”