Folie à Deux

And this was a fact that he hated. So much.

He could go on pretending that he was fine behind his mask, he really could. He figures if that stupid rocker hadn't made his way into his life, he would be fine. Not happy, not sad, not angry--- just fine with everything. He leaned back against the foul dumpster and dug the tip of his blade into the ground. "Thiss iss sstupid..."

Spooktre is in his room, laying on his dingy mattress staring up at the ceiling. He doesn't remember coming home or even the rest of the school day. He remembers seeing Rocky in the hallway and nothing after that. He frowns again, inwardly yelling at his self to stop thinking about that idiot he called his best friend. All he ever thought about was himself and he knew it.

And this was all just so stupid. It was obvious to him that Rocky was done being his friend, but he couldn't accept it. Even if it was Spook who quit the band, threw that water bottle, and punched Rocky. He doesn't remember why he did it in the first place. Annoyed, he rolls onto his stomach and pulls his notebook out of his pillow cover and opened it. 

Ah. Right.

Sad excuses for "metal love songs" filled the pages of this new notebook of his. Each with a certain rockstar in mind. He was in a deep denial until now and wow how stupid could he possibly be? He buried his face into his pillow and tossed the notebook away from him. He wanted nothing to do with it as he drifted to sleep.

The night of one of their shows had been the last straw. With small quips and remarks going back and forth between Rockstar and Spooktre, they were just one step away from a fight and they knew it. In an attempt to relax, Rocky had been out in the crowd talking with other musicians, flirting with girls, and making small friends at the concert club instead of helping Spooktre and the drummer set up on stage. They were playing first and the visual and sound guy was getting irritated, rushing Spook. It took everything in Spook not to flip off the guy but instead, jumped off the stage and made his way towards Rocky. He was uneasy having to shove his way through the others and vowed to never ever do this again after tonight. He reached and grabbed Rocky's shoulder and hissed into his ear over the speakers.

"C'mon Rocky. We need you on sstage."

Rocky's smile fades when Spook grabs his arm, looks at him for a moment and excuses himself from the pretty young girls he was talking to. He shrugs Spook's hand off his arm and pushes his way to the stage. The masked boy frowns and follows after him. They finish setting up and start playing when given the signal. Something's off as they play and everyone knows it. They suck tonight. Even their best song sounds horrible. But the two say nothing nor look at the other until the lights go down and their part is over. They're both angry and fed up with the other and it's killing their baby, their band they raised together.

"I quit." Spook announced after their set. The band had relocated backstage in one of the small dressing rooms after they cleaned up their set. At first, no one says anything else while Spook gets his things together, planning on walking home from the venue, not caring how cold it is outside.

"Fine." Rocky finally says. "Do whatever the fuck you want, Spook." He continues to text some girl on his phone as Spook stops as he picks up his bass. He looks at Rocky but doesn't say a word, he wonders why his friend just doesn't care. He bites his lower lip and grabs a water bottle from behind him, tossing it at the Rockstar, nailing him in the head.

Rocky drops his phone and jumps out of his chair. "Yo! What the fuck, dude?!"

"What the ffuckss your deal, Rock?" He yells and his hands ball into fists.

"My deal? The fuck's your deal? You're the ass who threw a goddamn water bottle at me!" He's yelling too and pointing a finger at Spooks chest. 

"You're not ussually acting like a little girl on her ffuckin period." He pushes Rocky's hand away. "You'vve been acting like a total dickquaffer and it's not ffuckin' cool anymore. What the ffuck's wrong and why won't you talk to me about it?"

"Cause I don't need your help with my problems!" Rocky's exasperated and wants to deck the masked boy in the face and break his stupid mask. "You've got one too many problems for me to deal with and I don't need it. I don't need you!"

There's a moment where everything slows down as Spook reels back his arm and punches Rocky across the face, causing him to fall back into his chair. Rocky rubs his cheek and looks up at Spook who has turned and picked up his bass to leave. 

"Okay Maaaaaa." Rocky closes the door to the garage behind him and locks it. Spook snickers under his mask as he pulls the stools out onto the floor. Rocky rolls his eyes and heads to his amp. "Oh shut it."

There's a small amount of feedback coming from the amps as Rocky hooks up his and Spook's instruments. Rocky adjusts the volume on both to 8 and takes a seat on the stool set across from Spook. He picks up his guitar and adjusts the strap onto his shoulder. Spooktre had been sitting and waiting with bass in hand for his best friend to get their amps situated. Rocky grins and grips the neck of his guitar.

"Ready?"

Spooktre nods. "Let'ss rock." 

Rocky nods back and starts to count. "1, 2... 1, 2, 3, 4!" And they begin to play. The two of them had been practicing this cover song for weeks on end, wanting it to be perfect when they land their first gig together (well when they get themselves a drummer for the band). It was a song they had come to an agreement on for it meant something to them.

"Hand in glove," Rocky begins to sing. "The sun shines out of our behinds!"

"No it'ss NOT like any other lovve!" Spooktre sings after Rocky. "Thiss one'ss difffferent, because it'ss uss!"

"Hand in glove, we can go wherever we please." They sing together. "And everything depends upon, how near you stand to me."

He walks home alone every day and every day he gets home to an empty house. He uses his time to play his guitar loudly. He doesn't remember what it's like to really have a good friend or two and doesn't feel like he needs one but Spooktre knows that he's missing something in his life.

There is a small concert club that he found on the outskirts of town that he found on a whim while he wandered the streets one night. He had gone in a few times to listen to a few shitty local bands every now and then. It was until one night, that he stumbled upon a...not so shitty band. The leader of the band stuck out among the crowd - one they called The Rockstar. Spook wasn't quite sure if it was a nickname or not, but with the way he carried himself and his red and blue spiked mohawk...he was really rockstar material. 

His voice rang through the club and people actually paid attention to him on the stage. His presence on stage was unlike no other vocalist Spook had seen live. The Rockstar always met with the fans of his band after their set, girls flocked around him and he would casually flirt with all of them, signing ticket stubs or pieces of napkins, handing out fake phone numbers for no reason other than to entertain the girls. Spook had wanted to speak to him and tell him how much he admired his guitar skills but he kept to himself in the back, not wanting to darken the boy's light.

He had been to six of their shows now. Knew lyrics to the songs they wrote, the guitar riffs too. He was a big fan, even enough to like their band page on Facebook. It wasn't much but an admiration of music taste. Still, he never made a move to talk to The Rockstar.

During the sixth show, right before the main attraction played, Spook bumped into someone. "Oh. Pardon me..." He turned to apologize and was caught off guard by the grinning Rockstar.

"Oh no, dude. No problem." He extended his hand to the masked boy. "Rocky, diggin' the mask, bro." Spooktre stared at the hand and slowly took a step back, shaking his head.

"Ssorry...I havve to go..." He turned on his heels and headed to the doors, frowning beneath his mask, muttering to himself as he hid himself in the bathroom. "Sstupid. Sso ffuckin' sstupid..."

"Ain't that jusst ironic." The boy mutters beneath his mask. Rocky bites his lower lip and pretends to be paying attention to the movie. But Rocky was curious, hell everyone was, what was underneath the boy's mask. Only his ears, part of his skin by his hair and his one blue eye was all anyone saw of his face. As his best friend, Rocky respected his feelings and never bothered him about it, but damn! 

Rocky just shrugs. "Guess so." He doesn't say anything else about it and tries to focus on watching the Batman rushing to rescue Rachel Dawes as she tumbles on the roof.

Something in Spooky seems to break and suddenly the movie's paused. "Hey, man what's the ---" Rocky stops when he looks at Spook who is removing the mask. His face pales as he sees his best friend's face for the first time. 

The scars are scary. And Rocky knows they are real. He sees why he only sees one eye through the mask when he see the eye patch and the scar covering it. There is a big scar going from ear to ear, crossing over his lips like a permanent smile; just like the Joker.

It suddenly struck Rockstar why Spooktre had wanted so badly to watch The Dark Knight tonight. 

It's moments before either of them talk. Spook looks to Rocky and smirks. "Dude. Ffuckin breath, will ya?" And that's the first that Rocky realizes he was holding his breath. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, smiling slightly.

"S-sorry...Wasn't really...ya'know." He shakes his head and looks at his friend, taking in all the scars and the way they form around his face. 

Spook's smirk just grins. "Wanna know how I got these sscarss?" Rocky doesn't say anything, but nods just once. He pauses, and sighs. "Well you ssee...I nevver had a good relationsship with my ffather. And he wass...a drinker. And a ffiend. And one night, he went crazier than ussual, and my mother goes into the kitchen to get a kniffe and deffend hersself. He doessn't like that one bit..."

He stops and looks away. "Sso he takess the kniffe to her and...laughss. He turnss to me and ssayss..." Hes looking back at Rocky, grinning. "'Why sso sseriouss?'"

And that's when it hits Rocky. This isn't how he got the scars. He was quoting the damn movie they were watching! Because now Spooktre's laughing and pointing a finger at his face. "Wow! You really believved me!"

"You fucker!" Rocky takes the pillow next to him and slams it against Spooktre's chest, laughing along.