Chapter Text
Joel dragged the pink haired woman into the alley him and Grian had agreed on. Just a simple kidnap and murder. It should be quick. Everything was in order.
The girl in his arms struggled against his grip, causing him to fumble slightly. Her muffled screams against his hand going unheard to any passerbys as they got deeper into the alley.
He should feel bad. He just took this girl out on a date to a fancy restaurant, and then they walked around the downtown area. She was a rather pretty girl and had a nice fashion taste too.
But he doesn't feel bad.
And neither will Grian. That's just their way of life.
He finally reached the spot in the alley Grian waited in, and he handed Joel the chloroform covered cloth. They weren't idiots. They weren't dragging this girl, Lizzie, through the alleyways screaming through his hand. They had the decency to put her to sleep. And the drive to survive, not get caught. They had a reputation for not getting caught after all.
He quickly replaced his hand with the cloth, making Lizzie scream more. Grian guarded the exit of the alley, watching Joel do his work. They were trying something new with this kill. They finally got their hands on something new. A type of poison that's supposed to wither away at the person it touches, hence why it's called a wither poison.
Lizzie finally stopped struggling in his arms, knocked out by the spiked cloth.
"Jesus, took long enough." Grian muttered as he pushed off the alley wall with his foot. Joel rolled his eyes, dragging Lizzie farther into the alleyway, Grian following behind him. It's just as simple said and done. All they had to do was get back to their house. Which thankfully, wasn't gonna be so hard. They could take all the back alleys and be there in a jiffy.
And that's exactly what they were doing.
"I can't believe we haven't been caught with kills like this. She was screaming as all hell. And struggling harshly too. Can't believe I kept ahold of her!" Joel dragged the girl across the ground, hearing Grian kick another empty cardboard box out the the way.
"Glad you lured her in and not me. Not exactly feeling up for a date with some random person right now." Grian said, passing a stray cat that hissed at the two as they passed.
"Are you still sulking cause Scar is out of town? He'll be back tomorrow. Plus, doesn't killing make you feel better? Well we have a new test subject. Hopefully this one won't fail like the last one." Joe bitterly spat the last sentence.
That dumb blonde guy survived the torture house Grian and Joel had put him through. Grian was severely injured but the guy wasn't. That kill put them out of running for a couple of months, Grian needing to recover. It was hard to explain that one to Scar without Scar getting suspicious, but he's just a little bit of an airhead, and gullible. One of the reasons him and Grian are so prone to protecting him, for no reason whatsoever.
If they ever see that guy Jimmy again, he's gonna be dead in the next 24 hours after they see him. Even if it means they are chasing him down with a knife. He's the only victim to ever survive, and he gave the police a description of them. They had to change their looks. Joel misses when this green stripe wasn't in his hair, but he's used to it now.
They finally stepped onto their street. Their house was in about the middle of the street, a nice comfortable two story, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with a basement.
No one was out on the street, thankfully. It was around 10:30 at night, a few porch lights on. But no prying eyes to watch two of the most wanted murderers drag their latest victim into their humble abode.
Grian took out his keys, unlocking the door as the sky let out a deep rumble of thunder. They made perfect time. It was going to start pouring down soon. He pushed open the door, picking up Lizzie's feet so it was easier to drag her down to the basement.
They carried her inside, Joel bumping the door shut behind them. He saw Grian freeze as the door shut. Joel gave him a questioning look before he heard it to.
The TV was on.
They turned off the tv before they left, they always did to save energy.
"Are you guys finally back?! I was wondering when you guys would get back, I have been watching this movie for over an hour waiting on you! Did you go out for a guys night without me?" They heard their roommates voice come from the living room, and shuffling came from the living room.
Grian quickly and quietly dropped Lizzie's feet to the ground and Joel redirected his direction to the bathroom on his right. Grian helped Joel shove Lizzie in the bathroom before Joel went in himself, shutting and locking the door.
Scar appeared in the doorway, giving Grian a look of confusion.
"Is everything ok?" Scar said, concern seeping into his voice, looking at the closed door of their bathroom. Grian opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by Joel.
"Uh yea, just have an upset stomach Scar! Nothing to worry about!" Joel's muffled voice came from the other side of the door. There was a thud from inside the bathroom, Grian guessed he had set down Lizzie into the bathtub in there.
"What was that? Do you want me to bring you any medication to help with your stomach?" Scar yelled through the door.
"I'll be just fine, don't worry! Just got to wait for my stomach to settle." Joel's muffled yell came from on the other side of the door. Grian stepped forward and took Scar by the arm.
"We didn't expect you home before tomorrow. Why didn't you let us know?" Grian says, hiding his descending panic behind a friendly smile. Scar just gave him a smile before simply saying:
"I wanted to surprise you guys. Plus, I missed Jellie." They made their way into the living room, where Jellie was curled up in a blanket. Grian sighed dramatically, exclaiming in a fond tone "But you didn't miss Joel and I?!", he brought his hand to his forehead as if he were going to faint.
Scar giggled before dramatically lamenting, "Why do you think I would ever miss you?! You two are merely my servants." He puts a hand over his heart, matching the dramatics of his roommate.
"Tell you what. Tomorrow, you me and Joel can go to the arcade. I've been saving up quarters so that I can kick your butt at Pac-man. But for now, you have to go rest from your long trip. Come on." He grabs Scar's arm again and starts leading him to the stairs.
"But Grian! I don't want to go to bed." Scar lightly tugged at his arm, though he already knew he wasn't gonna be able to win this fight. It happens every time he comes home from a business trip. Grian and Joel fuss over him getting rest since his business trips are usually stressful. Swaggon is so demanding.
"No buts. You just came back from a business trip. You. Need. Rest." Grian dragged his roommate up the stairs, and shoved him into his room.
"But G, I've been so lonely. I just want to spend time with my favorite people in the whole wide world." Scar flopped down onto his bed. Grian looked back at him from the doorway, giving him a playful dirty look. He sighed dramatically, before turning around fully to face Scar.
"You want me to stay, don't you?" Grian said, putting his hands on his hips. Scar nodded. Jellie squeezed her way past Grian in the doorway, hopping onto the double bed Scar was on.
Grian sighed. "Fine, but only for a little bit. I want to go to bed too, and I have to check up on Joel. Now scoot over." Grian bounded over to the bed, jumping onto it and falling, making Scar burst out into laughter.
——
"God dammit." Joel quietly cursed as he wrestled with the girl who he was now restraining on the bathroom floor, his hand tightly holding her face to muffle any cries or screams.
Grian better have done something good to get Scar away from this scene. They've kept this secret from him since they have moved in together, about 3 years ago.
Finally, there was a knock at the door. He froze, before saying, "Who is it?" hoping to any god out there that it was Grian and not Scar.
His hopes were answered.
"It's me, is the door unlocked?" Grian's voice came from outside the door. Joel doesn't shift at all.
"Yes it is. I unlocked it after I heard no noise down here. Sorry I can't get it for you. Kinda preoccupied. She's awake." Joel said, not moving a muscle as he had finally gotten in a good position to keep her quiet and restrained.
The door creaked open slowly, Grian quickly rushing in after it was open enough. He let out a breathe of relief.
"Scar's asleep. Don't worry, I knew what I was doing. We have been prepared for this before, all I had to do was drag him to bed and stay with him for a little bit. But keep her quiet, we don't want Scar to wake up to her screaming. Let's just get to the basement, then most of the work will be done." Grian said, grabbing onto her legs.
She started kicking and struggling as the two maneuvered a way that they could carry her down to the basement. Grian turns around and opens the door. She started screaming more, trying to be heard by their roommate, she deducted by their conversation that these two didn't live alone together.
They made it to the basement door, not even a sound from upstairs.
But then there was.
Grian and Joel's heads snapped to the stairs, and Lizzie's hopes soared.
Only to plummet again as a cat came into view from the stairs. The cat sat down, eyeing the two.
"Run along Jellie, go cuddle with Scar." Joel said softly to the cat, and she disappeared back behind the corner. Grian took that cue to open the basement door, and it was all over.
——
"She sure knows how to scream. Well, knew how to." Joel said, looking down at the body before them. It was an ugly sight. Patches of her skin were blackened, cracked, with blood pouring out of the cracks, and the poison getting in through those cracks. It was all over her arms and legs, and a line of it was across her neck. It was quite a gory sight. Not that it bothered the two serial killers behind the murder.
"That was really interesting to watch. Who knew a poison we bought off the black market could do that! And we still have three quarters of the bottle left. That means we can do it again sometime." Grian said, shaking the little bottle, before opening the secret compartment in the wall with shelf storage, and careful placing the bottle with all the other harmful substances they picked up.
"We had a close call tonight buddy. I barely got the bathroom door closed in time before Scar made it to the hallway, and don't get me started on when she woke up. I barely got a hold of her in time." Joel said, washing his hands in the sink. He watched as Grian stepped over to his computer set up.
"Getting right to work on erasing our footage with your magical government powers, hmm?" Joel said, looking over to see Grian sit down.
"Never waste a second. We've been over this. I don't know if you have realized Smallbeans, but we are quite notorious around... well everywhere." He watched Grian put on his glasses, as blue light lit the side of the basement he was on.
Joel picked up Lizzie's body. "I'm going to go dispose of... this." He made his way towards the basement door, picking up Grian's coat and grabbing his keys. Might as well take the car.
"Don't worry, I'll erase that footage too." Grian monotoned, focused on his work, halfheartedly waving to his partner.
"See you when you get back Joel. Be careful in the storm."
Another close call. Another time they kept their dark secret from their roommate.