Your name is Tavros Nitram and you are most definitely the biggest idiot on the planet. Why you ask? Because you decided it would be a good idea to go back to school after you had spilled a slushie down Vriska Serket's shirt. Still lost? Well prepare to hear a perfect example of what not to do if you're a nervous teenage boy with a stuttering problem.
It had started like any other Sunday morning with studying and making sure that you hadn't forgotten any assignments, when you had for some reason decided to visit the boardwalk. You where still quite new to the area but the boardwalk had quickly become a favorite place of yours. Although you preferred it when it wasn't to busy, there where many people visiting today due to the carnival that had came in not two days ago. You didn't mind too much and decided to indulge yourself by buying a slushie from a nearby vendor. Now these slushies were few and far in between for you due to the fact that your parent's had pretty much abandoned you at a public mall. You had been 15 at the time and decided that you would much rather raise yourself then go into the foster system. So you found a run down apartment to call home and a job to keep you alive and housed. You were 17 now and finishing up your last year of high school, that is if you could survive it. Vriska had targeted you since day one but that was mostly verbal abuse with a few slaps and punches here and there. This made things extremely difficult for you but you had wanted to at least complete school, and until now her constant bullying had not left the school grounds.
"Oh Taaaaaaaavros," you immediately made like the slushy and froze. "What a coincidence seeing you here," She walks up behind you and swings her arm over your shoulders. You shudder and try to move away from her but she only tightens her grip. "So toreadork what are you doing here. Oh, what's this?" She reaches for your slushie and tries to take it from your hands, but you're death grip prevents it from going anywhere. She's frustrated by this and it's evident on her face. To keep her from getting madder you let go of the cup. Bad idea. Vriska who was still pulling on the cup unaware that you had let go until it went flying at her chest and dumped all over her shirt. She jumps back in surprise and releases you from where she had been holding you captive a moment ago. She looks at her shirt then snaps her head up and glares at you, so you do what any sane person would have done if they had Vriska Serket glaring at them. You turn and immediately start sprinting in the opposite direction. Thankfully she doesn't chase you which would have ended in her catching up and throwing your dead carcass into the ocean. You manage to run all the way back to your apartment building. As you're running up the stairs you can't help but imagine the terrors she'll have in store for you tomorrow at school. When you reach your door you unlock it as quickly as your clumsy hands are able and rush inside. You lean against the door as it closes and run your hands through your brown fluffy Mohawk. You are so screwed.
The next morning, low and behold screwed you are, because Vriska and her friends where waiting by the gate to drag you behind the school and beat you up. Even after they were done you didn't move, and it wasn't until Nepeta noticed your absence and came to find you that you did. You skipped all your classes and spent the day in your apartment with Nepeta babying you. Thank god that you didn't have work today.
"Are you sure you're going to be alright Tavros?" She asked innocently as you ushered her out of your apartment.
"Y-yeah, uh, really don't worry about me, you've already spent all day caring and worrying and, um, if you stay any longer I'm sure your family will wonder where you are," You replied handing her the green jacket that she had draped over your dusty couch.
"I suppose you're right but try to be careful for the next few days I don't want you to strain yourself or something," She said taking her coat
"I'm sure that won't be too much of a, um, problem," You smiled at her as she turned around and faced the doorway.
"Oh wait," she quickly turned around again and looked at you, "Equius and I were going to go see that carnival that they had in town and I was wondering if you wanted to join us?"
"O-oh no," You quickly intercepted, "I wouldn't want to be in the way, and besides I, uh, don't exactly have the money to pay for a carnival."
"Oh don't worry about that, we already paid for the tickets, and Equius is bringing Aradia so you wouldn't really be in the way at all." You stared at her and decided that she wasn't going to leave until you said yes.
"O-okay you win I'll go you can, um, text me what time you want to meet." She smiled at you before wrapping you into surprise hug.
"I promise you'll have fun Tavros and I'm glad you're coming so I don't have to be the third wheel to those two lovebirds." She released you from her hold which actually hurt quite a bit due to your recent injuries.
"N-no problem Nepeta I'm, uh, glad to be of service." She smiled and turned to leave once again.
"Bye Tavros see you tomorrow," she called over her shoulder when she reached the staircase. You closed the door and turned to look at your apartment. Most people might call this place small or run down but you were pretty proud of what you had made here. To your left there was a small kitchenette area which was a mess due to the fact that Nepeta had wanted to cook you something. To your right was your couch with a round coffee table inches from the wall. You suspected that the architects must have known that whoever stayed here would never be able to afford a TV because there was no room for it. Across from you was a short hallway with one door on each wall. One for your tiny cramped bathroom, and the other for your nearly empty bedroom. You looked again at your kitchen area and shook your head, Nepeta really made a mess in here. You began putting away left out ingredients and put all the dirty dishes into the sink. When the counters where clear you started on the pile of dishes in the sink, the whole time wondering what you were going to do about the Vriska problem. There was no doubt in your mind that Vriska would try to beat you up again, and you really didn't want to end up missing a day of classes again nor did you want to saddle Nepeta with taking care of you. You put down the dish you where washing and sighed; this was just great you always have the worst of luck. Then again you were going to go the carnival with Nepeta so you guess that your life couldn't be all that bad. You finished the dishes quickly and headed to bed, you could tell that it was going to be a long week.
Your name is Gamzee Makara and you don't think you have ever been this bored. Your dad was currently giving the entire carnival staff a pep talk although it wasn't really working because they all looked just as bored as you. You turned your attention to the outside of the tent and just watched people walk past. Then you saw a boy walk up to a vendor a get a slushie, you're not really sure why he caught your eye because he seemed pretty simple with tan skin and a brunet Mohawk. Just then some chick with blonde hair and blue eyes came up behind him; you could immediately tell that he was scared by the way he tensed up. She appeared to be talking to him but I couldn't hear anything from this distance. Her arm swung around his shoulders making him look incredibly uncomfortable, she was still talking to him but he didn't appear to be talking back. The arm that wasn't clenched around his body then came up to grab the slushie from his hands. After a few hard tugs at the cup it didn't seem like the boy was going to give up the slushie. You were wrong, because just then he lets go of the cup and it goes flying at blonde chicks' chest. She jumps back and looks at her shirt in shock, and I can't help but let out a little chuckle at her expression.
"Gamzee what are you laughing at!" Your father's voice booms at you. You turn your head from the shocked blondie to look at him.
"Nothing motherfucker," you reply in your usual stoner drawl.
"Humph," is all that he gives you before he starts addressing the staff again. You just turn back to the opening in the tent, but it seems that the boy is long gone and the girl is stomping off. Well there goes your entertainment for the evening. You sigh and turn back to your droning dad.
By the time your father finally releases everyone from the "important" meeting it's only 30 minutes to Showtime. You immediately run to your tent to apply your face paint and begin your preshow routine of slamming a Faygo and having some pie until your dad starts yelling for everyone to get to there places. Although when you get to your tent Terezi is sitting on your bed eating a stick of red chalk. Your face immediately turns into a frown when you see her.
"What are you motherfucking doing in here Terezi?" You ask your frown hanging on to your face.
"Well I was thinking about joining you in your preshow routine," She said with that smile that you absolutely hated. You had never really got along with Terezi although her act was really cool, she's able to see things by smelling and tasting them. You where pretty sure that she was some creature from another planet because she was just so motherfucking weird, not that you had any room to talk either I mean you always were a pretty weird motherfucker, and your dad always put you and Terezi together for stuff. Apparently because you were the same age so you must work well together. Now that was that all kinds of untrue because whenever you were in close quarters with that chick a fight broke out. They weren't even the only 18-19 year olds that worked there. First there was your best friend Karkat who actually didn't have an act but worked all kinds of jobs mostly involving set up and take down. Then there was Kanaya who did that weird thing with the bag of confetti and changing clothes that still continued to blow your mind. Finally there was Feferi who could pretty do anything involving water, from holding her breath for hours a time to being able to survive the thousand foot drop into a tiny pool.
"No motherfucking way," you reply to Terezi
"Come on Gamzee I want to try this 'miracle elixir' that you keep talking about."
"Then you can go buy some yourself, now get out I need to get my face paint on." You crossed your arms over your chest but she wasn't moving. "Do I need to motherfucking say it again? Get out!" That got her moving off your bed and towards the exit but she was still moving far too slow for your tastes, so you walked over to her put your hand on her lower back and pushed her the rest of the way out of your tent. After you made sure that she would stay out you turned to your attention to makeup table on your left. Your tubes of face paint scattered pretty much everywhere on the table. You never were one for cleanliness and the fact that you grew up surrounded by circus people probably doesn't help either. You just shrug your shoulders and begin applying your gray scale clown makeup; it's no use worrying about it now regardless of the beat down you're most likely going to get from your father, when it takes you hours to clean up your tent. When you're paint is finished and looking good you reach for your mini fridge and grab a bottle of the miraculous elixir that Terezi was mentioning earlier (not like you would ever share with that crazy ass chick). The thought of Terezi immediately brings another frown to your face. You're frowning a lot today and that is all types of unmiraculous; your mind suddenly switches to the boy who had been outside of your fathers test. He was kind of cute now that you think about it with his big doe eyes and fluffy Mohawk. You chuckle at yourself and your idiotic infatuation with random strangers. Your thinking is cut off with your father yelling at everyone to get moving. You sigh and put your half finished Faygo back into the fridge. Your father seriously needs to take a chill pill or he's going to pop a vessel or something.