Gamzee took a long drag of his hooka and stared at the picture of Rarity that someone had taped above his bed. This is how most of his days ended. And began. And well, how they looked almost all day really. Sometimes he smoked the cheap crap he got offline, sometimes he got a hold of good drugs from his friends two rooms down. Meulin was pretty cool even though she and Gamzee's brother had broken up.
Due to a mishap in rooming, Gamzee ended up in the same dorms as the fashion students. He shared a room with a very orderly girl named Kanaya. Even her name was sophistication, and she was furious beyond belief to be in the same room as someone as sloppy as Gamzee. Kanaya tried to get the rooms switched, but nobody really cared about it and finally she gave up. She kept a can of febreeze by her bed and every morning sprayed it in his room. Not that he cared, he usually slept in a few hours after she got up. They had learned to live together, which is why he woke up every morning and fell asleep staring at a picture of a pretty white pony.
He too another drag, and immediately started to cough. The coal had been burning too long, and it was starting to taste more like smoke and less like dragon fruit. Maybe it was time to put the hooka up. Gamzee only had a few classes that were later in the day. His family had pressured him to go to school, paid for all his supplies and expenses and then stopped talking to him the second he moved out. They were supportive enough, but never there for him when he really needed it.
As he cleaned Gamzee heard a knock at the door. He pulled a black tee shirt on and walked into the main room. Kanaya always threw a fit when he answered the door for her girlfriend, Rose, without a shirt on.
"What's up my motherfuckin-" Gamzee said as he swung open the door.
"Kan you've got to help me-" The man in the doorway shouted at the same time. He blinked his violet eyes when he realized it was not in fact Kanaya at the door. "Oh shit sorry Gam."
"Eridan, whats up my best fishy friend!" Gamzee smiled lazily, throwing the door open. He liked Eridan much more than any of the other snobby fashion students. While he too was snobby, he would gossip with anyone, which included a stoned Gamzee during more than one of Kanaya's get togethers. And while Kanaya wouldn't touch the hooka with a ten foot pole, Gamzee felt like he had a chance at convincing Eridan to smoke with him.
"Again with the fuckin fish. Gam, I'm on the swim team, its not the same thing." Eridan sighed, and crossed his arms. However, he did not enter the dorm. "Is Kan not here? She was goin to help me with my project! It's due next week, I knew better than to trust that needle pushin diva. Tell her she's on the end of my peer when you see here next." Eridan shot off.
"Needle pushin, peers." Gamzee repeated slowly. "Got it."
Eridan rolled his eyes and tugged his scarf a little closer to his neck. "Look, I got things to do, I'll see you later Gam-"
"Hold on, you don't want my help? My help is the wicked of miracles the messiahs did bring upon the world. I can do this fashion biz, just show me what you have created my brother."
Eridan froze. He eyed Gamzee's long black pajama bottoms. The ones with the grey polka dots. Then he looked at the baggy tee shirt, the purple shoes and the left over grease face paint from last night. Sitting on top of everything was a black nest of tangles and kinks, because Gamzee never brushed his hair. "Sorry 'brother' but you wouldn't know fashion if it drowned you in a fish tank." Eridan sneered. Without another word he turned and marched down the hall.
"That wasn't a no." Gamzee called after him. "I'm free tonight if you want to stop by!"
Eridan flipped him off, but threw a glance over his shoulder as he opened the door to the stairwell. He was smiling.
Gamzee grinned as he shut the door and headed back to his room. There was nothing he liked better than making his friends smile. He tugged his shirt off again and threw it to the floor of his room. He learned that if he left a mess long enough eventually Kanaya would get pissed and just clean it for him. She was only empowering him, but she was too self righteous to figure it out.
Just as Gamzee sat on his bed the alarm went off. "No need to be making your merry noise." Gamzee soothed it as he hit the off button. "I'm up today."
The alarm was set to go off an hour before he even needed to leave for class. After some particularity wicked nights it really did take him that long to get up. Instead of hitting the snooze and rolling back over Gamzee stood up and stretched. He glanced around the floor, trying to pick out the least dirty article of clothing. It looked like Kanaya was going to have to clean up soon. He managed to find a relatively good smelling shirt, a pair of grey pants, and his best purple beanie. He laid them on the bed before heading for the bathroom.
Gamzee stared at his reflection. The face paint was starting to smear. He wore it most days, the kids in his classes knew him as the insane juggalo, but it made him feel right. That was simply how he was supposed to be, and who was he to ignore his calling? Gamzee stripped his clothes off and stepped into the tiny square shower that every dorm room had. He turned the water on full blast, shivering as it started out cold and gradually turned to a warmer temperature.
Slowly Gamzee scrubbed away any sins that had been clinging to his body. It took some rubbing with his loofah, but finally he no longer felt the sticky sensation that came with the face paint. Flattened by the water, his hair grouped at the skin between his shoulder blades. Gamzee pulled his fingers through his hair, pulling it away from the exposed flash. His hair was meant to be up, and that was how it was going to be.
After nearly an hour he turned the faucet off. Gamzee shook his head before opening the curtain, sending a spray of droplets across the tiles. The wet hair stood up in odd little angles, just the way he liked it. Gamzee stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist. Another little thing he wouldn't do if his roommate had not been Kanaya.
It seemed like a good thing too, because he opened the door and found the very roommate standing in front of him.
"Well if it isn't my best fuckin-" Gamzee started.
"Oh hush with your sister nonsense." Kanaya snapped back at him. Gamzee stopped talking, and smile at her instead. Kanaya frowned. "Can't you take insults like everyone else and get angry at me? Its unsettling and natural how placid you are."
"I don't want to get up and upset anyone now." Gamzee protested weakly. "You and me are going to be two chill mother fuckers until next year and we can switch dorms, though I do hope you'll still be one of my good amigos."
"I would be an amiga- you know what? I'm not going to stay one of your horrid friends next semester. What I wanted to say is that your room is a mess, and no matter how much I spray it its not going to get better. You need to clean up that mess you purple eye'd giant." Kanaya frowned. She crossed her arms, drawing attention to her new black button up shirt. Which reminded Gamzee-
"Our friend Eridan wanted help with his sewing project." Gamzee informed her. He pushed past her and started to head for his room. "He said you were wonderful and-"
"He already texted me. Wonderful was nowhere in the things he typed about me." Kanaya huffed. Then she went into her room, shutting the door behind her.
Gamzee chuckled. Just trying to keep my best fucking friends happy with each other. He shut the door behind himself and glanced at the clock. He had ten minuets to get to class, and it took him twenty to put his face paint on. Oh well, he had never been on time to the class before, why start now?
"Gamzee, Gamzee wake up." A nervous voice whispered, lightly tugging on Gamzee's sleeves. Slowly the clown blinked and sat up, trying to remember why he had decided to sleep on something so hard. "You fell asleep during Professor Slick's lecture, and you were snoring." Tavros hissed.
"Ah." Said Gamzee, stretching his arms out.
"Question?" The professor shouted furiously at Gamzee. This was not the first time Gamzee drifted off during on of his lectures, and Slick had had enough.
"Nope." Gamzee smiled, before setting his head back n the desk. Slick started yelling something, but Gamzee was already asleep again. History was not one of his better subjects, but who cares about grades when your parents are only paying you to get out of the way? Fortunately Tavros took enough notes for the both of them, and it wasn't clear if he was going to fail or pass yet. Gamzee decided he was going to leave it up to the messiahs, and that was that.
"Slick is going to kill you one of these days." Tavros pointed out, stopping his wheelchair next to an empty table.
Gamzee swung his backpack down and took a seat across from his friend. "I ain't worried."
"No you don't understand!" Tavros continued. "I heard he's done jail time! You see those scars on his face? He got those by getting stabbed!" He shouted, throwing his hands in the air. Gamzee stared at him. "After he stabbed someone!"
"Alright brother I think you need to stop worrying over things out of your control. Life is a miracle, let it take care of things." Gamzee replied. He fished a faygo out of his bag and offered it to Tavros.
The small Hispanic boy shook his head. "Gamzee you need to take school a little more seriously. I can do the homework but I can't take your exams." He said, pulling more notes out of his bag.
Gamzee ignored him and cracked the can open. It fizzed at him, a little of the purple juice spilling down the side of the can. "See, look at this-"
"Miracle?" Tavros sighed. "yeah, I know it hisses, how crazy?" He said in his best impression of Gamzee's voice. It was not a very good one. The rasp was hard to imitate.
"You fell asleep durin prof spades class again?" Eridan asked furiously as he joined the table.
Tavros immediately looked down at his lap. "Hi Eridan." he mumbled in a way of greeting.
"Commoner." Eridan nodded before turning back to Gamzee. "You can't keep doin that Gam, not only are his classes the best this pathetic excuse for a university has to offer, but Slick is one of the finest killin machines I've ever had the pleasure of meetin."
Gamzee raised an eyebrow at him. "So he has killed someone?"
"Well duh. Where do you think he got the scar?" Eridan asked, pointing at his left eye.
"I told you!" Tavros shouted.
"I think he just doesn't flow well with me, you know?" Gamzee droned, leaning back in his chair. "I think I could come to enjoy America's military exploits if someone who liked me more was teachin it."
"And you think I like you more than Slick likes you?" Eridan raised a perfect eyebrow. Then he sighed, leaning back in his chair just like Gamzee was. "You're glubbin lucky I do then. Fine, I tutor you in the ways of the military when I have time, but only after my fashion project is done."
Tavros looked like he was going to protest, until he saw the large smile on Gamzee's face. Instead he changed the subject. "So, are we going to get something to eat, or are we going to sit around all day?"
"Aren't you goin to do both?" Eridan sneered. Then he stood up. "I'm not eatin with you two anyways, I'm going to catch up with Fef for sushi. I will see you grub suckers later." With that he walked away, his books folded under his arms in a dignified fashion.
"Charmer." Tavros muttered as soon as he was out of earshot. "Grub sucker? Where does he even get his insults?"
Gamzee just laughed. It had been a while since he had been on a date, but he wasn't worried. It was just a study date, not like anything was going to happen.