A/N Welcome to my multi-chapter fic! I don't own the characters.
Your name is Tavros and you really fucking hate being noticed.
Ever since you moved to the states you've been stared at. You're pretty used to being stared at, though, you've lost the use of your legs and cart yourself around in a wheelchair. You just hate the fact that you don't hear the words "cripple" or "pitiful" in their whispers anymore, you hear them call you "Mexican" and "faggot."
But you've ignored it the past five years because you figure middle school is just fucking stupid and being a freshman in high school is no different. As a junior in high school you've come to realize that you really just don't care about what they whisper and most people have come to terms with who you are. But there are still bullies and you deal with them often and it's not like you can ask your friends to step in to help because you're not little anymore and you're not new around here so you should be able to defend yourself right?
What really gets you, though, are the letters.
Oh yes, ever since you moved here you've gotten anonymous love letters dropped in your locker. They started out slow, and were yet another thing for you to be laughed at over. "Ooohh, that Mexican kid's got a secret admirer!" could be heard whenever you found one, among other things. So getting them kind of carried a negative connotation for you for a long time.
That is, until you and Nepeta became friends. Nepeta was an adorably nerdy little girl who liked to dress up like a cat and slip cat puns into her speech. She was quite the matchmaker and a hopeless romantic so she about gave herself a heart attack when she found out about the letters. She even demanded to read them, but that was absolutely NOT something you would allow.
Time passed and the letters came more frequently. Sometimes they were short little poorly-worded poems, sometimes they were tiny drawings of a blacked-out figure holding your hand, and sometimes they were like diary entries, telling you about their day and what was going on in their life. The last ones were really very vague but you could get the general idea. Eventually they got kind of hard to understand, but the artwork and the poetry got better. Whoever it was put in a lot of effort to impress you.
But they were always written in the same purple pen that was smudged all over the paper as if the writer had gone too fast and the ink wasn't nearly dry yet.
You loved it, but it became a nuisance when you started getting about ten letters in your locker every other week.
Today is the Giving Day, as you've come to classify it. Nepeta is with you, along with her brother Equius and your quiet friend Aradia, when you open your locker. As expected, several envelopes fall out onto your lap. There are a bit more than ten today, but it doesn't matter, you heave a heavy sigh and gather them all up.
"I don't know, what I'm going to, uhh, do about this, Nep," you stutter. "It's getting, out of hand…"
The small girl nods, nibbling the cuff of her sweater as she thinks. "I wonder who it could be that's sending them…what do mew think, Equius?"
You watch her turn to her brother with the question. You also see him tense up and start to perspire. But he struggles to keep his voice smooth. "Uh, I'm certain I have no idea! B-but, um, I would be happy to install a device in your locker so that when they slip a letter through the cracks a camera turns on and records them."
You blink; you only understood about half of what he said because he was talking so fast.
àHad to be a family thing. But you managed to gather that he's offering to help you find out who your secret admirer is and you aren't going to say no, especially since he doesn't like you all that much and him offering to do something for you is rare. So you nod slowly and sheepishly accept his offer. He says it'll be done by lunchtime. You hope so.
== Be Equius
You leave your sister and her friends in search of a towel. Oh how you loathe that kid and his uselessness. So timid. Not strong at all, you think. Utterly useless piece of meat. You grumble about it to yourself.
But as soon as you round the corner you're slammed against the wall. You're immediately terrified because you know exactly who it is; there's only one person who can catch you off guard like this. He's quiet as a mouse in a mood like this. And you know he's in a mood because you can smell it.
Apologies form in your mouth and more sweat drips down your body and he shakes you. "What the motherfuck was that?" he growls. "You better make motherfuckin sure he don't find out it's motherfuckin me, got that, motherfucker?"
You whimper and nod, eyes wide behind your sunglasses. He lets you go and is gone in a flash. You clutch your chest. Anger builds up inside of you. You have nothing but respect, and contempt, for that man. How the hell he could have possibly fallen for that little twerp is beyond you, but you decide it isn't worth fighting anymore and continue your quest for a towel.
== Be future Tavros
It's lunchtime and sure enough, your locker is outfitted with some fancy gadgetry. You thank Equius enormously and make your way to the cafeteria.
Upon entering you see that Karkat and Sollux and Terezi are already there. Gamzee, Karkat's cousin, is on his way from the opposite side of the room. Your heart pauses for a moment; you've kind of sort of had a thing for him these past two years. You met when he literally ran into you in freshman gym. You fell out of your chair, and instead of pointing and laughing he'd apologized—though profanely—and put you back in your chair, dusted you off, and pushed you around the rest of the day so your arms wouldn't get tired.
You don't know him all that well, though. You talk, and you hang out, but you don't really know each other all that well. You're more like…acquaintances than friends. But that hasn't kept you from falling for him.
You try to ignore him and roll up beside the bench where Sollux sits. You've got the letters in your hands because you figure you may as well read them and nobody comments because they've seen this all before.
You don't see the look on Gamzee's face as he sits down in the other side of his cousin, right across from you—you've discovered that he positively hates Terezi, though you don't know why exactly. You do, however, hear the humor in his voice when he asks you "who the lucky motherfucker is this time."
"Same person, near as I can, uh, tell," you reply without looking up.
"Seriously Gamzee, who the hell else would it be?" Terezi scoffs.
"You know what I'll deal with you later, bitch," Gamzee retorts quickly, slamming the table right in front of you and you jump. "Whoops…sorry there, motherfucker."
You snort and force a timid smile. "S'all good," you reply before going back to your letters.
The words are blurring on the page. You let your mind wander because you really can't concentrate on the words before you. You just kind of start to ponder things. Does anyone you know write this way? Does anyone you know use a purple pen? You have no idea. You suppose you've always been curious about who this anonymous person is, but now…you look up at Gamzee, and you look at Karkat as he cuddles Terezi, and you look at Sollux and the recently arrived Eridan who are totally skating around their feelings for each other. You look back at Gamzee who is smiling wickedly at you and drop your eyes back to the page.
You really wish you knew who this admirer was. You're sick of being lonely.
== Be the mysterious spider girl
You stride up to the cripple's locker and slide the thin envelope in without hesitation. You snicker to yourself as you pull a really anxious face, looking around like you hope nobody's looking. You love your ability to play a character, especially for the purpose of messing around with the little foreign kid.
You've always loved messing with that hamsteak in a wheelchair. It makes you snicker when he blushes and rolls away really fast. And now you've been commissioned with the task of leading him on? Perfection!
You scamper away, shooting double pistols and a wink to someone somewhere off in the shadows. You don't really like the guy, but any chance to mess with Tavros is golden, so it was your pleasure to do this.
Oh yes, your absolute pleasure.
A/N Short chapter is short. I'm not done this yet but hopefully it won't take very many chapters to be complete.
Yes, I do ship EriSol.