Tavros scratched the head of a small pug, earning him small, wet licks all over his fingers before he pulled his hand away with a giggle. He stood up from his crouching position and stretched out his arms and back, feeling the extra work he had done for the evening weighing down on him. It wasn't always that he allowed himself an extra shift at the pet shop, but he needed the money, and it wasn't like he didn't enjoy the job. Even if he would admit that cleaning after the animals wasn't the funnest thing in the world, especially thanks to the smell.
He heard his boss come through the door that led to the dumpster, which was his cue to walk towards the back of the counter to pick up his bag and grab up his jacket, getting ready to leave for the night.
"I'll come back, tomorrow morning." He informed the girl with a tired smile, and she waved at him enthusiastically, her cat-like eyes squinting thanks to her grin.
"Great! See you tomorrow then. Take care." He nodded and pushed the heavy door open, the chilly gust of wind ruffling his hair as soon as he stepped outside. He put on his jacket after setting his bag on the ground for a moment, and once he was done and looked up, he saw a person sitting on the curb right outside the shop. Well, lying down on the concrete, rather than sitting. He frowned as he looked the figure over, noticing that he was beginning to roll on his side to attempt to get up. Tavros wondered if he should help him, and actually took a step forward to obey that thought, but the man let out a grunt and a curse that was barely understandable thanks to his numb tongue.
He was probably drunk. It really didn't surprise him at all, seeing as there was a bar only a few stores from where he worked, and he had seen a fair amount of intoxicated people trying to hop into a cab as they stumbled over their feet. Tavros shook his head at the sight, watching him stand at last and almost fall forward on his face, and finally decided that it was not his problem.
Tavros began to walk away, swinging the bag over his shoulder, and heard the guy groan out a loud "fuck!" as he fell back on his ass. He stopped. Maybe leaving him there wasn't the best idea. Maybe he should do some charity work for a change and help the guy stop a cab and get home somewhat safely.
He sighed heavily as he closed his eyes, and turned on his heels to reach the man and look down at him.
"Do you, need some help, maybe?" He asked with a worried face, and the man looked around to find the source of the curious voice. He took longer than Tavros had expected, but he finally got a good look at the long, thin face of the most definitely drunk man.
"Hey." Was the man's response, his voice dragging out the words and sounding lazy on his tongue. "How you doin'?" Tavros stared at him for a moment, watching his smile widen and his dark eyes crinkle, and decided to smile back politely.
"Uh, hello." He said, "Do you, want me to help you, get a taxi?" He asked then, slow and clear to make sure the man understood him this time. The other kept his eyes on him for a moment, and he could tell he was having a hard time fixing them in place.
"You're fucking hot." He laughed and raised a hand to Tavros, trying to reach his arm clumsily which made Tavros yelp before taking a quick step back.
"Okay… That is, most definitely a yes, I think." He puffed his cheeks and breathed out, and the man whined as if he hadn't expected Tavros to move away. "Hold on… try not to move." He said and looked down both sides of the street, trying to spot a taxi. He even went as far like to stop on the middle of the street, a now preoccupied expression on his face. What if none drove by for a good couple of hours? He shook his head at the thought and walked back to the man, starting to regret his decision. Maybe he could get out of this by walking away… It's not like he would be especially bothered by it. Tavros decided that was a jerk move. "Alright… We are going to, have to wait." He informed him, and considered sitting down next to him before deciding that was probably not a good idea.
"Who are you?" Tavros looked down at him again with a frown, and waited a moment before replying, almost amused.
"I work there." He pointed behind the drunk man, and he tried to turn his head around to see. He wasn't successful with his limited control over his own limbs, but turned to Tavros again.
"My name's Gamzee." He said and raised his eyebrows, trying to focus his eyes on his face. "You come here often, mothefucker?" Tavros tried not to laugh, his lips pressing tightly to avoid even a smile. The guy was most definitely attempting to flirt in his state. Now, that was hilarious.
"I work here." He said again, and wasn't able to hold in a giggle.
"Oh…" the man that went by the name of Gamzee looked to the ground with a thoughtful expression. "Cool."
"I'm Tavros." As soon as he finished speaking he heard a car approaching down the street, and he stepped close to the edge of the curb to see if it was a cab. The ugly yellow color confirmed his suspicions, and he immediately lifted a hand to try to stop it. The driver didn't even look at him as she drove by, and Tavos saw that the back seat had at least 3 passengers. Perfect, just perfect.
He grunted annoyed and walked back towards Gamzee. He found him lying on his back again, resting on the pavement, snoring away. Tavros couldn't believe he had just fallen asleep in the span of two minutes or so it took him to stop the cab. Or try to.
"Damn…" He muttered to himself, and sat down next to Gamzee now that he was unconscious.
Nearly half an hour went by before he saw another taxi drive down the street after all the other typical, boring cars that had passed by. He got up and made it stop with his raised arm, and he was incredibly happy when it came to a stop and the driver opened up the passenger seat next to him quickly.
"Hold on, please!" He told the man as soon as they made eye contact, and looked down to the sleeping man. He hesitated for a moment before crouching down and shaking him, softly at first, impatiently rough after only a few seconds. "Hey." He insisted and slapped his face as a last resource, and the man opened his eyes wide open and tried to sit up immediately.
"What?" His tongue sounded even more numb than before.
"You have, to go home. Come on." He held the man's bony arm in his hands and stood up, helping him to his feet before dragging him to the car, trying to help him avoid falling either back or forward. He opened the back passenger's door and shoved Gamzee inside, and the driver closed the door on the front that he had opened before. The driver didn't look too pleased at having to wait. "Are you, gonna be okay?" He held on to the door and looked at Gamzee, seeing the man push his hair back before rubbing his face. He seemed to have a moment of lucidness, and looked straight at Tavros.
"I don't got no money though." Tavros looked at the driver and received a glare. He looked back at Gamzee and glared at him instead.
"Okay…" He said, trying to decide what he should do next. He had two options: Giving Gamzee his money, not knowing how much the bill would end up being, or hop in the cab to make sure he both got home safely, and the driver got the exact amount of money, no less, and no more. He sighed deeply and rolled his eyes before getting inside the taxi next to Gamzee, and the other moved over with a giggle.
"Where to?" The man looked at Tavros through the mirror, and Tavros looked straight at Gamzee for a reply. He was quiet.
"Where do you live?" He asked Gamzee in a quieter tone.
"I… Oh I, got a paper with that shit." He shoved his hands in his pant's pocket and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper, and handed it to Tavros with a lazy grin. He opened it up.
"If you find this fucking cumslut and he's either drunk off his ass or high, please return him to Madison street, 1893." He frowned at the usage of words in the paper. He wondered who had written it, and if Gamzee knew what the paper even said.
"Uh, to Madison Street 1893." Tavros told the driver as he read, and the man speed off almost immediately, probably wanting to get rid of both guys.
Tavros noticed that Gamzee tried to stay awake the whole time, but eventually failed at this task. He watched the taximeter flash with the increasing amount of money he owned, biting his lips worriedly as the trip dragged on more than he had expected, and he was torn out of his trance when the man came to a stop and cleared his throat.
He wasted no time as he opened the door by Gamzee's side, and he got out the other way to circle the car and help the man out, shaking him again to make sure he was awake. He made Gamzee lean on the car as he searched for his wallet, and promptly took out a few dollars to pay the man to then grab Gamzee by the arms and pull him away just in time for the cab to screech and drive off, leaving Tavros with a wide open mouth. That had been a dangerous move. Rude.
"Is that, the building?" Tavros asked as he looked at an apartment building, old and dirty and obviously not an expensive place to live at. Gamzee didn't reply as he pushed Tavros off gently, starting to walk towards the very same building. Tavros hesitated for a moment before walking after him, opening the heavy front door for him and helping him stagger inside. He went straight to the old elevator to see if it was functional, and grunted low in his throat when it didn't respond even after the multiple clicks he forced onto the button. He looked towards Gamzee and saw him try to climb the stairs. "Careful." He advised and walked towards him, making him swing an arm around his shoulder and holding on to his bony side, helping him up towards the second floor with great difficulty. He felt almost blessed when Gamzee pointed to his door, since he wouldn't have to risk his own life while trying to go up another flight of stairs to the third level. "Keys?" He asked him almost out of breath, wondering how such a skinny man could be that heavy.
Gamzee searched for his keys exasperatingly slow, a concentrated frown on his face, and he finally pulled out a purple keychain that sported a big Capricorn symbol hanging on a thick metal chain. Tavros didn't want to watch the show of Gamzee attempting to fit the key through the moving hole, so he took the keys from his hands and opened the door for him, helping Gamzee step inside. Gamzee turned on the lights almost by instinct, and held on to the door frame as he turned around and looked at Tavros, who wasn't planning on getting inside at all.
"Hey… You wanna come in, hot stuff? And have some fun-"
"No." He shook his head along with his hands in front of himself.
"Come on..." He dragged his words for a few seconds, biting his own lips as if he aroused by the mere thought, and got a hold of Tavros' arm.
"N-no!" He insisted, and yanked his arm away brusquely. Gamzee looked at him for a moment and frowned, before looking to the ground as if he was trying to think again. He took more than a few seconds to come up with some new words.
"Wanna give me your digits, bro?" He asked then, a new crooked smile on his face, and Tavros thought it through for a moment with a serious expression. Oh, what the hell.
"Okay." He said and searched for a piece of paper from his bag as he crouched down, taking a notebook on his hands before ripping a blank page and using a stray pen to write his name and his phone number. He got up after zipping the bag close again, and stood up to hand Gamzee the piece of paper. The man looked it over for a second, trying to adjust his pupils to look at it, and gave a small laugh.
"Fucking sweet. Digits from a damn fine piece of a-"
"Alright, try not to, hurt yourself." Tavros cut him off before he could finish the sentence, taking a few steps back before waving at him and heading for the stairs.
"Bye!" Gamzee yelled after him way too loud, and Tavros cringed at the thought that he surely woke up the whole apartment building. He wondered if he would regret giving him his number that easily, but soon shrugged it off. He would probably forget about it.
got out of his shift kinda late since he had to feed the animals and clean their cges for the night and help out the actual shop owner Nepeta, and got out late at night and saw Gamzee sprawled on the groung like a fucking idiot and Tvros considred just kinda... stepping over him and getting home or whatever but Gamzee looked up at him and smiled bere letting hi face down again and Tavros was like ok no I cant. And helped him up, considered takig him in iis own car but decided to put him in a cab instead, and had to wait for one because they were NO cabs oing by, and had to endure Gamzee's fucking flirting that was lame to say the least until a cab came by and he stopped in and put Gamzee inside and all. Gamzee isnt even sure where he lives and debates for a second before going like oH FUCK IT and getting in the cab as well, making sure Gamzee got home safe cause god he was so young and giggly and ok he was cute too and he was kinda afraid that someting bad might happen to him because he looks really out of t right now, so yeah. They finally makei it, and the cab dude was kinda annoyed cause Gamzee was liek uuh ok ehere onooO HERE WHERE DO I LIVE? OH here. And Tavros opened the door for him and took a look at the amount of money he had to pay and pressed his fingers againt the bridge of his nose and paid the angry man, and got Gamzee out of the cab, and the man speed off, and Tavros took a good look at the building as Gamzee kinda fell to the ground, but he was focused on the building and THEN turned around to help Gamzee on his feet. Damn, this neighboorhood didnt look all that hot. He had also wanted the cab to wait for him but bitch was seriously mean ok and left.
He asked Gamzee if he had his keys on him and Gamzee tried to focus enough to find them and handed them to Tavros (once they were at the top of the stairs and in front of his door) cause before that, he had to attempt to make Gamzee go up the stairs which was terribly hard considering the man had started to laugh like a crazu and and Tavros was afraid he was going to wake up whatever neighbors the dude had, until tey finally arrived.
Tavros opened up the door for him and tried to push him inside, and Gamzee took a few steps forwward before turning around and holding on to the door frame
"You wanna come in, hot stuff?" He drawled in what Tavros guessed was an attempted sexy tone. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he forced out a giggle and shook his head.
"No. I have to go." Gamzee grabbed his arm tightly and tried to pull him in.
"Come on, let's have a chat."
"No!" He insisted and pulled his arm away with a yank. Gamzee looked at him for a second and he nodded slowly, probably having a moment of logic in which he realized that wasn't the best move, and the guy was obviously not interested in casual sex or sexy makeouts.
"Aight, aight... You gonna at least gimme your digits?" Tavros looked at him wtith cnfusion all over his face like "wut". "Come on, man." He insisted and Tavros shook his head, almost annoyed, but looked for a piece of paper in his pockets before findin a bunch of cards from the pet shop, and decided to just write over one of them. He thankfully had a led pencil, and crossed out the shop's number cause hell no he wasn't going to give that to him, and wrote a series of number in the blank back of it and handed it to Gamzee. Gamzee looked at it with difficulting, almost crossing his eyes and then giggled like an imbecile and bit his lips while looking at Tavros with a naughty smile. Tavros just stared at him, not helping the amusement he was now feeling.
"Try not to hurt yourself." Was all Tavros said before moving away from the door and started his walk towards the stair, leaving Gamzee behind.
"Bye motherfucker!" He yelled after him, and tavros cringed from the volume. He bet his neighbors weren't going to be so happy in the morning.