This is just a little PB&J :) Hope you enjoy! Beware of the mean Eridan and surprisingly nice Vriska :P
You sit nervously on the sand, your knees brought up to your chest and your feet buried in the sand. The wind whips your hair around, brushing it up against your horns, making you shiver. You rest your head on your knees, looking out at the sea, watching the others.
Feferi is out swimming, as to be expected. Eridan and Vriska are boating. Terezi's building a sand castle for her scalemates. Nepeta is beachcombing, pawing at shellfish. Equius is reading, Aradia is off exploring the ruins, and Sollux is sulking without his computers. Karkat is getting talked out of his sweater by Kanaya, who has swim shorts in her hand for him.
And then there's Gamzee.
He isn't doing anything of interest. Actually, he's really just helping Kanaya. But you can't seem to really stop looking at him.
It's been this way for a while - ever since he suggested sloppy makeouts to you. You had no idea if he was being serious or not, but it's somehow wormed its way into your head.
At first, when you were on the meteor, you could ignore it. But now that you're off the meteor and living on - what's his name; Jake was it? - Jake's island, and since Gamzee has discovered weed in place of sopor slime, it's been a lot more difficult.
He hasn't suggested it again (yet), but you think about it more than you should. How would it happen? What would it be like?
You clench your eyes shut and try to rid the thoughts from your mind. There's no point dwelling on it, you think. You was partway between high and sober, and he didn't know what he was saying.
When you open your eyes, you nearly flinch. Vriska stands above you, hair windblown and a grin on her face. "Come on, Tavbro! Stop sitting there like a loser and come waterskiing with us!"
You bite your lip. "Uh, I don't know if I can, um, get my legs wet." You don't want to make Equius make your another pair. He was kind enough already by building them the first time.
"Oh, come on! Of course you can! Geez, stop being such a worrywart. Let's go!"
You start to get up nervously. "Uh, all right..."
You get dragged over to the boat waiting for you and carefully climb in. Equius, Eridan, Feferi, and Gamzee (which you're surprised to see) are in the boat waiting for you. Equius looks over the side of the boat to presumably see if anyone else is coming before he gets in the drivers seat and revs up the engine. You stagger and fall into the seat between Eridan and Vriska. Eridan looks more than pleased.
"Wwhy, hello Tavvros," he says, 'stretching' and putting his arm around you. Your face tints orange and Vriska rolls her eyes beside you. Gamzee is glaring at Eridan.
"Eridan, save the sucky romantics for later," Vriska says impatiently. "You'll have plenty of time at campfire."
Eridan pouts but retracts his arm. You still feel really uncomfortable. You don't think you'll ever be used to people giving you attention.
You get tossed something and it lands in your lap, making you jerk. You look at the objects, and you see that they're shoes. "So you can actually put your feet in the skis," Vriska says next you. You nod.
"Um, thanks."
Once you're far enough out, Vriska's shoving you towards the back of the boat, telling you to go first. You don't really want to, but you have a hard time arguing with her (as always).
Eridan comes to your rescue by demanding to go first and "showw the peasants howw it's done!"
He does a brilliant job, you have to admit. He's very good at it. You have a sinking feeling that you're going to fail epicly.
Vriska shoves past everyone to go next, and, while she isn't as good as Eridan was, she still does very well. She's doing tricks and stunts, jumping up in the air like Eridan did. The sinking feeling gets worse.
Gamzee's next. He's definitely not as good as the other two, and doesn't try any tricks. But he gets up on the first try, and he can go one-handed for a bit. You feel like disappearing. Even Gamzee's doing better than you ever could.
Feferi blows them all out of the water when she actually skis underwater successfully, but by that point you're not really paying attention. You're too gloomy to.
Vriska shoves you out next, telling you not to fail and to be a winner. You're not sure you can be a winner at recreational water skiing, but you'll try, you guess. How hard can it be?
Your first two attempts are awful. You can't stand up. You end up falling back, forcing Equius to stop so you can right yourself again.
The third time, you do it. You actually stand up.
You feel an overwhelming sense of pride and you shout with glee, the wind making you feel exhilarated. Vriska's doing fist pumps for you, Eridan's giving you a thumbs up, and Gamzee's honking a horn with a grin on his face. You're grinning too.
You do end up falling again, but it's after a few minutes when you hit a large wave. They pull you in, and you're smiling like an idiot, and you actually want to thank Vriska for dragging you along. So you do.
She waves her hand. "Someone needs to get you do shit, and that's what I do. It's nothing personal." But you see the hint of a smile on her face, and you know she appreciates the thanks.
Eridan moves towards you, but then you get glomped by Gamzee, knocking him out of the way and you onto the padded floor of the boat. "Motherfuckin miracles, bro!" he drawls in his loopy sort of way. "You did it!"
You giggle. "Um, yeah, I did!"
He let's you up after a moment, where a displeased Eridan looks down at the two of you. "Good job, Tavvros," he says, reaching down to help you up. You take his hand, which is warm and actually quite soft, and let him pull you up. He pats your back, and you sit down, still smiling.
You head back to shore after a bit and end up hanging out with Eridan for a bit. You would have stuck with Gamzee, who's talking heatedly with Karkat (you're surprised you can't hear them), but the hipster dragged you away to argue with Sollux in a borderline blackrom way.
You sit quietly for most of it, until finally, after some time, you pipe up in a small break. "Uh, do you want me to, uh, auspicitize for you two?" you ask nervously. They stare at you incredulously.
"What?!" they exclaim at the same time, angry voices directed at you. You shrink back.
"Um, nevermind."
; ; ;
Hours later, you're all gathered around a bonfire, chatting and roasting marshmallows. Gamzee's shoving them into his mouth like they're the best thing in the entire world, you can't help but notice. You hold back a giggle.
Why you're sitting beside Eridan again, you have no idea. He just kind of... forced you there, you suppose.
"Hey Tavvros," said troll purrs out. You look at him, swallowing the bite of marshmallow in your mouth. "You havve something on your face," he says.
And then he kisses you.
You freeze up, eyes going wide. Gamzee lunges, and gets held back by Karkat, but you don't see it. Hesitantly, you kiss back a little.
And then flail and splutter and jerk back because you do not want to make out with Eridan and he is a terrible kisser.
"Ew," you accidentally say, holding your stomach. you feel like throwing up.
Eridan slaps you.
"Howw dare you insult me like that, you stupid rust blood! A troll of high standing such as myself doesn't come along and fancy just anyone! You should be grateful anyone paid attention to your stupid, handicapped person!"
Everyone goes silent. They stare at the enraged figure of Eridan. You feel tears stream down your face, streaking your face with orange.
He's right. You're worthless.
You get up shakily, stutter out an apology, and take out, disappearing into the forest. You hear yelling as you go, but you don't pay attention to it. It's probably just Karkat.
You sit down on the forest floor after a bit of running and wrap your arms around your knees, crying into them. You don't think you've ever been so humiliated in your life.
You don't know how long you sat crying for, but it couldn't have been that long, because you're still sobbing when you hear footsteps approach.
"Hey, motherfucker," a familiar loopy drawl says above you. You wipe your eyes and look up at Gamzee. He has purple running down his lip and on his knuckles, and his face paint has washed off. It's a surprising (but nice) change.
He crouches in front of you. "What that motherfucker said isn't true, y'know," he says, wiping away the tears on your cheeks. "Any troll'd be lucky to have a motherfucker like you."
You start quivering, and, in one of the boldest moves you may ever make, you grab his face and kiss him.
It's so much better than Eridan. He's not pushy, or grabby, or shoving his tongue down your throat. You can't smell stupid cologne on him or feel a cape brush by you. Instead, you can feel soft pants as your knees bump and you smell weed, but you don't actually mind it. It's better than sopor slime.
After a few moments you both pull back. You're both flushed, in more than one way, and you smile at each other.
"Motherfuckin' miracles, Tavros," he says, grinning and leaning in for more.
More cuddles, that is :o)