A/N: The following chapter contains graphic depictions of DOMESTIC ABUSE. DO NOT read this if domestic abuse triggers you.
"Hello?"
"Motherfucking 'sup, Tavbro."
Tavros let out a happy little sigh as a smile crept onto his face. "Hey there, Gamz."
It had been five years since Gamzee and Tavros had first met in that crowded middle-school hallway. They were both sophomores in high school now, grown far more than they had been at their first meeting and far closer as well. They were almost inseparable, to the point that whenever one was seen alone they would be asked "Where's Gamzee?" or "Where's Tavros?". It was the first real friendship that either had ever had, and they both relished the feeling. Now, Tavros held his cell phone to his ear, smiling at the sound of Gamzee's voice on the other end, and leaned back in his wheelchair.
"What's the motherfuck up, man?" Gamzee said from the other end of the line with a little smile on his face.
"Not much. Homework." Tavros grimaced, even though he knew Gamzee couldn't see him, and then giggled a little when he realized this. "What about, um, what about you?"
"Shit, man. I forgot about the motherfucking homework." Gamzee groaned, and Tavros chuckled lightly. "What was it again?"
"We had that essay for English and the sheets for math and environmental science, and I think we had something for our history class too."
Gamzee groaned again, louder this time. "That's a lot, bro."
"It's, uh, less than we've had, I mean, in weeks past."
"Yeah, bro. Still a motherfucking ton." He sighed audibly. "Can you come over and help me?"
"Gamz…"
"Pleeeeeeease?" He sweetened up his voice, and Tavros could almost see him doing his cutesy-eyes. He sighed with a little grin on his face.
"Okay, I will. Just give me a few minutes." Tavros lived close enough to Gamzee to go over there without having to be driven, and he kept the phone held against his ear as he began to put his things in his bag.
"Thank you so motherfucking much, bro." Gamzee's voice went up almost a full octave with excitement, and Tavros giggled at his friend's giddiness which he was beginning to feel as well.
"No prob…wait, Gamz, just a second, I just got a text from Vriska." He took this phone into his hands, looking at it while Gamzee sighed and grumbled something on the other end. His face dropped as he read the message, lighting up his screen in a grey speech bubble.
Hey. Im at home. Mom and aranea left to go shopping or some shit. Im coming over. See you in a few, Tavbitch.
Tavros put the phone to his ear again with a sigh. "I hate it when she calls me 'Tavbitch'."
"What does the motherfucking spider bitch want?" Gamzee sounded angry, using his nickname for Vriska that he had developed from her fascination with spiders and his belief that she was, in fact, a huge bitch, despite her being Tavros's girlfriend since freshman year.
"She's coming over." Tavros's voice had a vague excitement in it, but mostly irritation and a touch of extreme terror, but he tried his best to sound and feel excited. She's your girlfriend, he thought to himself. You love her. You should be happy to see her.
"Shit, man, I really wanted to see you… hey, bro, are you all right?" Gamzee's voice was thick with concern. "You sound motherfucking afraid…oh god." His voice went angry. "Did she hit you again, bro?"
"Not, um…recently?" Tavros blushed a little, the bruise on his right shoulder still throbbing, doing his best to sound like he wasn't lying.
"I'm gunna motherfucking kill her." Gamzee's voice was deadly serious.
"Please don't, uh, please don't do that, Gamzee. S-she said she would stop…"
Gamzee was silent for a moment, then sighed. "If she does it again, then can I kill her?"
"I don't think you should, um, kill anybody..."
"Okay…" Gamzee sighed.
"I'll be fine-shit, she's here." Tavros looked up as he heard the loud knocking on the door, Vriska's customary 8 bangs. "I'll come over later, okay, Gamz?"
"Okay, motherfucker…" He sounded discouraged, but a bit relieved at the knowledge that he would see Tavros soon. "You come over here right away if she motherfucking hurts you, okay?"
"I-um-okay."
"Good. See ya later, Tavbro." He hesitated for a moment before adding, "I love you, man."
Tavros smiled a tiny bit. "I love you too, Gamzee. See ya." He hung up, took in a deep breath, and wheeled himself over to open the front door.
"Hey, Tavbitch." Vriska stood there before him, her pale skin reflecting the sunlight, her candy-red hair shimmering as she stared down at Tavros, smirking. She leaned forward and kissed him before pinching his shoulder right on his bruise. She smiled a little bit seeing him cringe at the pain.
"Hey, Vriska…" Tavros pulled the door closed as she strutted inside, laying herself on the couch and turning around to look at her boyfriend.
"Is anyone else here?" Vriska laid herself over the back of the couch and looked at Tavros, her eyes icy and her lips formed into a devilish grin.
"Well, um, Dad's still at the animal shelter, he's going to be working, uh, late tonight, but Rufioh's here, he's in his room, with Horuss."
Vriska laughed. "Those loverboys will be too busy banging to notice anything we do out here." She leaned backwards seductively and looked over at Tavros. "Now come here."
"I, uh, I don't think that's what they're doing…" Tavros blushed at the thought of what his older brother and his boyfriend might be doing in Rufioh's room, but he didn't have much time to ponder before feeling Vriska's cool hand on his shoulder, squeezing him just firmly enough for it to be a bit painful.
"I said come here, Tav."
She didn't raise her voice, which made it even more unsettling.
Tavros shuddered a little, hoping she didn't notice, and wheeled himself over to the couch on which his red-haired, snowy-skinned girlfriend sat. She smirked and lay a hand on his chest before moving forward so she was sitting on him with one leg on each side of him, straddling his immobile bottom half, her skinny jeans stretching as she leaned forward to kiss him. He took in a quiet gasp as she did this and kissed her back, but less eagerly. She wrapped her arms around him, her long, polished nails clawing at his back, and leaned in to kiss his neck. He clenched his teeth, his breathing speeding up a bit, and she pressed herself against him and noticed that he was shaking. She growled a tiny bit as she nibbled on his neck and then bit down on his skin in a way that could have been disguised as sensual but in reality was quite painful, and Vriska knew this. Tavros gasped, but from pain rather than arousal, as was often the case during their encounters. Vriska just bit down harder on his neck before leaning back to look at him, seeming merely faintly amused.
"Damn. You still haven't learned, have you, boy?"
Tavros rubbed the spot where she'd bitten him and felt a small trickle of blood. He grimaced and looked up at her, his eyes widening when he saw her expression, a mixture of smugness and pure rage.
"I, uh…I'm sorry, did I do something…wrong?"
Vriska sighed, seeming irritated, and stood up, raising a hand.
"You never learn."
She slapped him so hard his teeth clamped down onto his tongue and made it bleed. Tavros made a choking noise, but knew better than to scream. He'd done that before, and the results were more slaps, even harder than the first. So he just closed his eyes and held back tears while Vriska looked down at him coldly.
"Stop that sniveling. You look so fucking stupid like that."
Tavros took a few moments to breathe and looked up at his girlfriend, collecting himself despite the throbbing pain in his face and neck. The young woman before him had a chilly glare that matched her icy skin and eyes, and she placed a single hand on his cheek, digging her nails into his skin only slightly as she spoke.
"See, this is why no one else will love you. You're weak, Tavros. You should feel lucky that you've got me to teach you."
Tavros tried not to shudder, and so nodded with faux conviction. Vriska simply rolled her eyes, scratched at his face a little, and then kissed the top of his head.
"You're no fun. See you later, loser."
She turned and walked outside, slamming the door behind her.
Tavros watched her go, his heart pounding with a mixture of fear, anger and lust. He touched his hand against his neck again. The bleeding wasn't bad, not as bad as he'd had before anyways. His tongue was bleeding a bit worse, but he had tasted blood before and so wasn't surprised by its saltiness. He wheeled himself over to the kitchen sink, got a paper towel cold and wet, and dabbed it against his neck until the bleeding had waned to a small red bite-mark that contrasted prominently with his light brown skin. He sucked in a deep breath and pulled his phone out of his pocket to text Gamzee.
Im coming over, he wrote. Less than a minute later he got a response.
what the motherfuck did she do to you
Tavros sighed and grabbed his backpack as he neared the back door. It was nothing, we can talk when I see you
shit. when I see that motherfucking spider bitch shell have a big storm coming.
Tavros opened the back door, tentatively looking around to make sure Vriska had really gone. He saw her at the end of the street, her red hair flying in the wind, and she turned the corner and was gone. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief and pushed his way out of the driveway, carrying his book-heavy bag and going the opposite way that his girlfriend had walked, on his way to the home of the one person he trusted.
When he got to Gamzee's house he knocked on the door without the hesitation he usually had, and the door was answered almost immediately by a tall, lanky, familiar messy-haired figure, as though he had been waiting for him. He was dressed lazily, as usual, wearing the polka-dotted sweatpants that Tavros had given him for his birthday two years prior and he'd never seemed to take off since. He smiled when he saw Tavros, and hugged him like he usually did, but his dark eyes were full of murder.
"Hey, Tavbro." He stood up straight and opened the door a bit more widely so Tavros could come in. Tavros wheeled himself in, looking around the large house that had become so familiar to him over the past few years, and went with his friend back into his room.
Gamzee sat on his bed and looked at Tavros. "Where the motherfuck is it?"
Tavros sighed. "It wasn't that bad…"
"Just show me, bro."
Tavros hesitated, then tilted his head so that Gamzee could see the bite mark. Gamzee stood up and gently placed his fingers beside the raw skin as his eyes narrowed. He stood up straight, glaring.
"I'm going to motherfucking kill her."
"Gamzee, please…"
"Nobody hurts my best bro like that." He stalked back over to his bed and sat down, Tavros following him to settle beside the bed. "Why the motherfuck are you still with her?"
Tavros looked at his friend, who was looking at him with a thin anger that veiled continuous sadness and concern that filled up his gaze. He looked down, trying to come up with an answer. "Well…um, I mean I love her, and she loves me…"
"Why the motherfuck would she hurt you so bad if she loved you?" Gamzee's anger became more pronounced, not directed at Tavros but at the inflictor of his wounds. His eyes were full of animosity and sorrow, his body tense. Tavros saw this and rushed to say something to calm him.
"She doesn't mean to hurt me…she usually apologizes afterwards…" This was only true sometimes, and despite his attempts at soothing his best friend, Tavros was a very bad liar. Gamzee sighed and was silent for a while, looking at the ground, while Tavros was left with nothing to do but stare at the empty Faygo bottles littering the room, the dark purple color of the walls that had been splattered with various fabric paints from Gamzee's homemade t-shirts and covered with old, peeling posters, and the perpetual smoky yet sweet scent that was as much a part of the room as its floor.
"You've gotta leave that bitch, Tav." Gamzee's voice was husky, and he looked up at Tavros pleadingly. "I can't motherfucking stand seeing you get so hurt."
Tavros heaved a quiet sigh, weary head hung down, eyes to the floor. "I…I don't want to just break up with her like that, um, I mean, we love each other."
Gamzee stared at him, seeming defeated, his eyes still beseeching. "Okay…but you've gotta talk to her about the whole motherfucking hurting-you thing." His muscles tensed and his hands curled into tight fists. "Or I'll motherfucking do it myself."
"No, Gamzee, please. D-don't do that." Tavros gently put a hand on his friend's knee, looking at him with a gentle smile. "I'll, um, I'll talk to her, okay?"
Gamzee bit at his lower lip, not entirely comforted, but relaxing. "Okay, bro."
Tavros smiled a tiny bit and leaned up to hug Gamzee. The taller boy leaned into his friend's touch, hugging him back as a small grin crept onto his face, mingling with worry and caring as he rested his face on Tavros's shoulder. He opened his dark eyes to see the mark Vriska's teeth had left, and he stared at it, almost shaking with rage that masked a fear for his companion, a fear that stemmed from a bond he had never felt in his life. Gamzee stared at the mark in Tavros's light brown skin, a fleck on the creamy consistency that covered him, and sadness and anger began to overwhelm him. Gently, he leaned forward and kissed the mark quietly, letting his love out onto it as though it would be healed.
"G-Gamzee?"
Gamzee suddenly realized what he was doing and swung upwards into a sitting position, looking down at Tavros. "Yeah, Tav?" he said, a bit too quickly.
"Did you…" Tavros gently placed his hand on the mark, his cheeks going a shade of dark pink. "Did you, um, just kiss that?"
Gamzee's blush was visible despite his brownish skin that usually obscured such things. "I, uh…I was thinking it would all up and motherfucking hurt less if I, uh, put some love on it." Mentally he slapped himself. Put some love on it?! he thought. What the motherfuck are you thinking, dumbass?!
Tavros looked at him, seeming confused, blushing hard himself. His heart was racing and he wasn't quite sure why. He stared at Gamzee, who stared back, before he relaxed and smiled at him, chuckling lightly. "It's okay, Gamz. It does, um, hurt a bit less, now that you mention it…" He grinned quietly. "It was really sweet of you. Th-thanks."
Gamzee stared at him for a moment longer, his heart pounding in his chest. Quickly, he relaxed as much as he possibly could and smiled, trying to seem chill and calmer than he really was. "It wasn't no problem, Tavbro. It's the least I could do for my chillest motherfucking man."
Really, he wasn't sure quite why he had done it. His face felt as though he'd stuck it in an oven and planted tiny flames on his cheeks. But it still felt…kinda nice, a bit? And…he almost wanted to do it again…
"Gamz? Gamzee, we still have homework…"
Gamzee blinked quickly to see Tavros staring up at him, trying and failing to suppress a giggle. He blushed hard but laughed to cover it up, leaning over to grab a pencil and a few pieces of paper.
"Shit, bro, I'm sorry. All up and motherfucking spaced out there."
Tavros giggled. "You looked like an owl."
Gamzee chuckled lightly, trying to hide the nervousness that he didn't quite comprehend. "That's what I motherfucking do. Call me…Gamz-owl."
Tavros smiled quietly, his cheeks still bright pink but better at pretending to be completely calm than Gamzee was. "Do you have your, uh, math textbook?"
"Shit…"
Gamzee fell backwards on his bed, groaning loudly. Tavros laughed, the awkwardness forgotten, and pulled out his stuff. Gamzee sat back up and managed a smile underneath his annoyance at himself, and he leaned over Tavros's shoulder, watching the other boy as he worked. The warmth between them was still there, but there was a change, and it was tangible within both of them. There was the tenderness, but there was a level of fear there that they both felt, and when Tavros left that evening their final hug lasted a few moments longer than it usually did, as though they were terrified of what would happen if they let go.
