Make a checkbox that looks like a button

I'm using Construct 2, and I just started to use CSS to make some of the default form plugins look better.

Right now I'm trying to do a tab system, and I can't seem to replicate the tab appearance using lists, checkboxes and buttons.

Note that these use the default forms provided by the browser.

I have 3 solutions: Either I use multiple buttons, but I find a way to lock the button in a state when clicking on it.

Either I use checkboxes, but I find a way to have a background image for the whole checkbox + text and not only the checkbox, or I could find a way to make the text overlap the checkbox.

Either I use a list but i find a way to make the list horizontal and to apply CSS to individual element of the list.

C2 is not using JQuery otherwise my problem would have been solved. Also I have barely any JS knowledge so I can't really create a new plugin that fits my needs