"How you doin' there, best friend?"

Gamzee smiled down at his moirail and smoothed his hair, brushing a few stray locks out of his face and soothing his thumbs over his cheekbones.

He leant down and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to the base of Karkat's neck and rubbed his hands along the small troll's shoulders, trying to call a stop to their shaking as the Cancer sobbed gently on the floor beneath him.

"Hey, hey..." Gamzee cooed, moving again to place another soft kiss on his best friend's forehead. "Shoosh now, my wicked little motherfucker. I'm gonna be real motherfuckin' gentle and shit. Don't you up and get your sick little worry on none"

He paused for a moment and looked down at Karkat in silence, frowning steadily as his moirail stared blankly at the ceiling above them.

After some time he leant down once more and pressed his lips to Karkat's, receiving very little reciprocation. If anything, his friend did begin to tremble a bit less violently.

Gamzee huffed in annoyance, placing his hands over Karkat's wrists and letting up slightly before he felt himself having to pin the smaller troll in place.

Karkat's eyes came into focus on the larger troll above him and he suddenly shuddered, florescent red tears welling up in his eyes and spilling onto his cheeks as he began trembling anew. He opened his mouth to speak, but Gamzee didn't give him the chance.

The Capricorn growled in frustration and pressed forward again, shaking his head quickly as if to physically shake off bothersome thoughts. He slid his hands up Karkat's shirt and along his chest and abdomen-slowly, gently, and almost lovingly, relishing the feel of his soft skin.

He then busied himself with the button on Karkat's jeans, selecting a spot on his neck and giving it a careful kiss before sinking his fangs into it, drawing a whimper from the Cancer, as well as a tiny pool of candy-red blood from the small puncture wound.

The highblood shooshed his moirail again, kissing the top of his head and rubbing his dull, little horns with his thumbs as he helped Karkat out of his trousers and brought his hands to rest on each of the smaller troll's knees.

"Gotta get these beautiful little motherfuckers out of the way, now." He mumbled to himself, gently guiding Karkat to spread his legs apart, and pausing a moment to let his eyes wander along his friend's trembling figure.

Pulling his hands away to tug at his mess of thick, dark hair, Gamzee looked at the floor, anger and shame and lust all at once ricocheting around endlessly in his thinkpan and putting his insides in knots.

Only moments ago, he was sure this was what he wanted. Now, as he looked into his friend's blank, lifeless eyes, the deep purple glow that overtook them filling the air around them and giving off the only light in the pitch-black room, it only made him feel sick.

He sighed and growled again, putting a good five feet between the two of them before releasing his hold on Karkat's mind.

He heard Karkat stir, followed by a soft whine that trailed off into a pitiful whimper, and he ground his teeth together in an attempt to drown out the heart-wrenching sound.

"Gamzee..."

The capricorn looked up wearily, heavy-lidded eyes coming into focus on his friend's face. Karkat looked terrified- his eyes wide and filled with tears that streamed endlessly down his face and onto the floor, his whole body trembling violently as he drew his shoulders in and clasped his hands protectively over his chest.

Typical behaviour of a lowblood towards a highblood. Timid and self-protective, though lacking the only thing Gamzee wanted at the moment- submission. However, this was far from typical behaviour from Karkat. Rather than anger, he looked at him with such fear... as if he was some sort of monster...

Gamzee narrowed his eyes and bared his long, yellowing fangs, straightening his back and shoulders to make himself appear even bigger. He moved toward Karkat slightly, and suddenly couldn't help but want to see him cower away.

Quite the opposite, Karkat bared his own row of sharp, little fangs and growled in his throat. He glared directly into Gamzee's eyes, and though his posture remained unchanged, it was enough to further infuriate the highblood, who lunged forward to pin the smaller troll again.

Karkat's head collided with the hard floor with a dull thud and a small pained sound. He thrashed and fought, gaining Gamzee's attention and a short pause only after he hissed- a small, timid sound, more frightened than anything else.

Gamzee growled lowly and dug his nails into Karkat's wrist, raising his other hand to slap the young troll across the face, causing his neck to snap to the side. "Stop lookin' at me like that. Like I'm off my motherfuckin' pan or some shit." He spat, putting all his weight on Karkat's wrists to keep him down. "Got every motherfucking right to what belongs to me, don't you agree? Now, it'll hurt that much less if you behave. Just hold all motherfucking still like, and obey what I tells you, mutantblood."

Karkat struggled again, sucking in a breath as Gamzee's hand pressed between his legs. He squeezed his eyes shut and tugged once more in an attempt to free himself before finally breaking.

"I WOULD HAVE FUCKING CONSENTED, GAMZEE!" He shouted at the very top of his lungs, his voice breaking.

Gamzee froze and stared down at him, his eyes blank.

"I said I would have fucking agreed, you goddamned, grub-fucking lunatic!" Karkat then began to cry, ceasing all attempts to escape. He went limp against the floor, his chest heaving against Gamzee's as he openly sobbed and sniffled and desperately tried to calm himself.

Gamzee released his wrists as quickly as he would if they had suddenly caught flame, sitting back on his heels. "If you meant that shit, we wouldn't be caught all up in this motherfuckin' mess, bro..." He reached down absentmindedly to brush a tear off Karkat's face just as gently as he could, but Karkat shied away from the touch, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands and covering his face.

"G-get off of me. You're hurting me...It hurts..." He sniffled and hiccoughed and tried to catch his breath, pushing away roughly as Gamzee tried to help him sit up.

"I-I would've agreed if you'd asked." He repeated, hugging his knees to his chest. "I wanted to... I wanted to belong to you, but you never asked."

Gamzee stared, mouth agape as he stuttered and stammered and tried to find the words to explain himself. "I was motherfucking sure you'd go and shut me down and all that, seein' as we've been goin' at this moirail thing for so long."

He rubbed the back of his neck and gazed steadily at the floor, purposefully neglecting to tell Karkat the main reason why he hadn't proposed a change in quadrants.

He was afraid.

Afraid of hurting Karkat, as he almost had. Afraid of being rejected, and afraid of being left with nothing but a kismesis once he had frightened off the only person who really still gave a shit about him.

Because every time he let his mind wander, he would imagine pain and distress falling to Karkat by his own hands. It scared him, but excited him as well.

In the rare moments when the two of them did nothing but simply lay in each other's arms in his pile and take comfort in the silence apart from the steady sounds of each other's breathing, he would drift off, only to be suddenly snapped back to reality by a small noise of distress from Karkat. He would then become aware of his hand resting between his friend's legs- sharp nails poised to leave their marks- and the look of discomfort on his face.

Flesh tearing and candy-coloured blood oozing...

He would shake his head and mutter an apology, and be granted the last of Karkat's patience, and they would cuddle closer still... until it happened again.

Translucent red tears streaming down his face as he begged and cried and pleaded...

He was deep in his own thoughts when the slap came- forcefully pulling him out of his thinkpan and back into the real world.

He was looming over Karkat again, who uttered a barely audible hiss and forced his legs out of Gamzee's grip to bring his knees back together.

"You're doing it again..." he said in a near whisper. Gamzee expected yelling, perhaps for Karkat to flee, declaring that he never wanted to see him again. However, he sounded patient. Calm and soft and somehow understanding. He gently stroked Gamzee's cheek with the back of one hand, papping and rubbing soothing circles on his bony chest with the other.

"Gamzee, look at me." he ordered, and Gamzee reluctantly obeyed. He locked eyes with the Capricorn's, his face set into a stern glare.

"I know what you think about when you and I are alone... the dark shit that you won't tell me about."

Gamzee opened his mouth to reply, to try to deny it, but Karkat wouldn't allow him.

"You can stop it. You just have to think about something else."

Karkat leant forward and captured Gamzee's mouth in a soft, sweet kiss, instantly making his shoulders relax and his thinkpan clear, if only slightly.

He readily parted his lips when Gamzee asked for the chance to explore a bit, and he did just that- his long, skilled tongue claiming every inch of Karkat's mouth.

He tried to pull the Cancer closer, to hold him and to comfort him, but Karkat resisted.

He took Gamzee's hands and placed them on his hips, laying back and guiding Gamzee to follow.

The larger troll stared down at his friend, furrowing his eyebrows and swallowing hard.

Oh, god... Shit. He wanted him to...

"I can't do this, Karbro... it'll up and turn real bad real quick. I'll hurt you, and then you'll-"

Karkat gave him the tiniest reassuring smile, effectively stunning him into silence once more.

"I trust you...Just think about me, instead. Think about the good feeling." Karkat gently pulled Gamzee forward by his horns and into another kiss, breaking away after a moment or two to catch his breath.

He spread his legs a bit of his own accord and eyed Gamzee carefully, encouraging him further with a small nod.

Gamzee licked his lips and slowly reached down to place his hands on Karkat's abdomen. "Want you to feel good, too..." He muttered, mostly to himself.

He pushed Karkat's shirt up and leant down to place a feather- light kiss to his belly, leaving a trail of kisses up his chest and to his collarbone, where he stopped at the crook of his neck, sucking gently while keeping his hands busy paying a bit of attention to Karkat's grubscars.

Karkat hummed his approval and tilted his head to the side to give Gamzee better access to his neck- the most earnest display of trust if there ever was one. He gave one of Gamzee's horns a light, experimental stroke and earned a low groan that admittedly made him slightly nervous at first.

Gamzee pecked Karkat on the lips and straightened up momentarily to shed his own clothing and toss them away before quickly returning to his task.

He hooked his finger on the waistband of Karkat's shorts and gave him a quick, questioning glance. Upon receiving consent in the form of a small grunt and a nod, he tugged Karkat's shorts down and tossed them aside, as well.

"Want you to feel good, too..." He repeated, and carefully traced a finger along the edge of Karkat's nook.

Karkat whined and wriggled his hips, instinct still nagging at him to stop this. To run. He kept his gaze locked on Gamzee, who muttered to himself as he made slow, unsure movements.

With the greatest care he inserted his middle finger into Karkat's nook, watching in fascination as his cherry-red bulge unsheathed to wrap around his wrist.

He stopped to look at his partner's face, a very new feeling of pride filling his chest as he watched the small troll bite savagely into his lower lip to suppress any sound, and the colour in his cheeks deepen with every move he made.

This was better than forced submission. This was far better than the grotesque and violent things he imagined. Karkat squirmed and moaned lightly, and Gamzee grinned.

"Talk to me, Karbro." He requested, and carefully added another finger.

Karkat gripped the end of his shirt, having the presence of mind to hold it away from the brightly-coloured, rather sticky mess. "Keep... going.." He managed, and uttered the neediest sound he could manage.

Gamzee nodded and complied with urgency, removing his fingers and replacing them with his own thick, lively bulge in the same movement. He groaned aloud at the sudden and drastic change in temperature- Karkat was so warm, hot even.

The Cancer covered his eyes with his arms and made a sound that could only be described as a chirp, rolling his hips forward to meet Gamzee's.

Gamzee gently moved Karkat's arms away from his face, pressing his forehead to the other's as the smaller troll interlaced their fingers, closing his eyes and gasping as Gamzee made an experimental thrust.

"A-ah... you can stop treating me like I'm going to break, now..." Karkat freed his hands and draped his arms about Gamzee's shoulders before the Capricorn crushed his lips against Karkat's in a greedy, ravenous kiss, smearing his greasepaint across both of their mouths.

He needed no further encouragement, and soon had Karkat reduced to a mess of moans, whimpers and muttered curses, clinging to him so tightly that he left small scratch marks along his back.

He had expected him to be louder, with all the shouting and cursing he did normally. However, he stifled himself very effectively, making sure to voice his approval and pleasure as well as soft words of encouragement in as calm a manner as could be expected in such a situation.

Gamzee changed their position in an effort to bring the two of them closer, pulling Karkat into his lap and gently caressing his thighs.

He reached between them to wrap a hand around Karkat's neglected bulge, the slick organ writhing between them.
He allowed it to wrap around his hand and through his fingers as Karkat tried to match his rhythm with his hips, still babbling in his ear without end.

Gamzee heard the Cancer's breath hitch on more than one occasion, and he gave his bulge a single, firm stroke and Karkat keened. Loudly. He arched his back and tossed his head back, knotting his fingers in Gamzee's hair and tugging rather roughly.

A somewhat panicked look suddenly became present on his face, and he tightened his muscles, his legs trembling from effort and excitement.

"Gamzee, we don't have a buc-" Karkat cut himself short as he cried out and buried his face into Gamzee's shoulder, his bulge finally hitting just the right spot, causing Karkat to see stars as his genetic material spilled onto their stomachs.

Gamzee lasted only a bit longer before reaching his own climax inside Karkat and pulling out, panting for breath as his bulge re-sheathed, still throbbing a bit.

He gathered Karkat into his arms and pulled him onto his chest, resisting as the smaller troll fussed and squirmed and immediately began to complain about the dreadful mess.

"Thanks, Karbro..." He smiled lazily at his moirail-turned-matesprit, who ceased his annoyed display apart from a sour scowl and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to his forehead, settling against him and nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

"Don't expect this every time you fuck something up, got it?" Karkat yawned and closed his eyes, curling up and allowing Gamzee to run his fingers through his hair and rub the base of his horns gently.

"You got it, my most miraculous motherfucker." Gamzee placed a kiss on the top of Karkat's head and kept watch while he slept.

"...Best kind of miracle all the time..."