Tavros woke up completely disoriented. He woke up in a small, colorful room that was certainly not part of his hive. His bleary eyes were shocked by the bright colors and he was completely confused as to where he was until he heard a soft suffling sound from beside him and rolled over to see Terezi laying in a pile of scalemates. That was right, he had ended up spending the night at Terezi's hive, too worn out after the overwhelming confrontation with Gamzee to return to his own hive.

Tavros looked outside and realized that, judging by the color of skaia, he had awoken rather early. Terezi probably wouldn't be awake for a while. Which was good, because there was something he needed to do before it was too late.

The lowblood hurried through his the mess of hives around him home, moving further and further from his own hive. He didn't encounter anyone as he went; at this hour everyone was still asleep. After walking a good while, and feeling the strain on the working set of legs that he still wasn't used to having, Tavros arrived at Gamzee's hive.

'wHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE AGAIN,' Tavros thought to himself, a familiar panic tightening in is chest. Tavros knew his basic reasoning, of course: he wanted to talk to Gamzee alone to see how he really felt about the situation. Because Gamzee didn't know that he and Terezi were pale for each other, but it would come out soon enough. After a moment, Tavros turned around to leave, heaving a heavy sigh as he did. He didn't have the guts to go through with it. "aS USUAL, i'M JUST A COWARD," He thought to himself. He turned to head back to his hive when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"honk honk motherfucker. YOU STALKING ME OR SOMETHING?"

Stalking. Wasn't that some human turn for obsessive unrequited red courting? Tavros' cheeks flushed a light brown. "n-NO, i, uM, jUST, wELL-" TAvros stammered before realizing that the best thing to do at this point would be to just tell the truth and get it over with. "i JUST FELT BAD ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY, aND i WANTED TO APOLOGIZE,"

"aw naw Tabro you aint got nothing to be apologizin for. I'M THE ONE THAT OUGHTA ALL UP AND APOLOGIZE. i know it aint right to let a kismesiship with a motherfucker come between another mutcherfucker and his bro." Gamzee muttered the convoluted sentence with an apologetic smile on his face. "ARE YOU AND TEREZI ALL PALE FOR EACH OTHER NOW?"

Tavros bit his lip. Well, there was no use hiding it, he supposed. "yEAH, i UH, gUESS SO," He muttered, wondering how Gamzee would react to this bit of news.

"aw, well congratulations, motherfucker. I SUPPOSE THAT A CAUSE FOR TO BE BE ALL UP AND MOTHERFUCKIN GETIN YOUR CELEBRATE ON, HUH?" Gamzee asked, his expression a little resentful, but also genuinely pleased.

Tavros smiled and almost laughed out loud he was so relived.

"yEAH, i GUESS," Tavros agreed, though in light of recent events, celebration hadn't really been on his mind. "bY THE WAY, wHAT, uH, aRE YOU DOING TODAY? i HAVE UM, sOMETHING TO DO THIS MORNING BUT THAT WILL ONLY TAKE A LITTLE WHILE SO MAYBE WE COULD, mEET UP LATER ON?" Tavros asked, a little nervous. As a general rule, he was never the one who invited others to do things with him. He was too shy.

"sure thing motherfucker. YOU WANNA COME BY MY HIVE WHENEVER YOU'RE DONE WITH THAT BIG IMPORTANT THING YOU GOTTA DO?" Gamzee asked, his eyes lighting up and an exited smile appearing on his face when tavros asked if he wanted to hang out.

"yEAH, dEFINATELY." Tavros agreed, finding Gamzee's energy and excitement contagious, though the knot of fear in his stomach was still present. He wanted to stay and talk a little longer, but Terezi would probably be waking up soon, and he didn't want her to worry about where he had gone. "sO, uH, I GOTTA GO DO THAT uH, THING, nOW, bUT I'LL CATH YOU LATER," He said, turning to leave.

As Tavros turned around Gamzee grabbed him by the wrist. Tavros' cheeks flushed soft brown at the other troll's touch, but he faced Gamzee again only to be pulled into a tight embrace. Tavros' face grew even more flushed, but he wrapped his arms around Gamzee, trying not to feel uncomfortable when the hug lasted a bit longer than normal. "i'm so... MOTHERFUCKING SORRY... Tavbo!" Gamzee muttered before releasing Tavros and hurrying back into his hive.

Tavros blinked then heaved a heavy sigh, once again overwhelmed by the emotions swirling around his think pan. Why was Gamzee making such a big deal about yesterday? It hadn't been that bad, really. And then there was Terezi. Tavros had once had a bit of a pale crush on Gamzee, but nothing had ever really come of it. But that would happen now that he and Terezi were moirails?

Tavros returned to Terezi's hive completely distraught. What was he going to do about Gamzee? He needed time to think it over, to think about how he felt. He needed time to figure out what to do. Was he supposed to choose between Gamzee and Terezi?

Terezi could see that something was wrong the moment Tavros returned to her hive. His shoulders were slumped and he looked tired and sad. She walked up to Tavros and leaned in close to him so that their foreheads were touching.

"H3'S NO GOOD, T4VROS." She said, knowing that wasn't what he wanted to hear, but it needed to be said anyways. Maybe she was biased, but in this instance she didn't believe that she was wrong. "H3'S NOT A GOOD FR13ND FOR YOU TO H4V3." She clarified. "H3 C4N'T T4K3 4NYTH1NG S3RIOUSLY, NOT 3V3N H1S FR13NDS." Terezi was acting a little out of character; usually she was more mellow about this kind of thing. But that was part of why Tavros could tell that she was so serious about what she was saying.

Tavros nodded, tears brimming in his eyes. "wE SHOULD BOTH STAY AWAY FROM HIM AND, i'LL HELP YOU STAY AWAY. i THINK YOU'RE PROBABLY RIGHT ABOUT HIM." He said, though he wished it wasn't true.

Tavros rested his head on Terezi's lap, not wanting to think about the decision he had just made or any of the events that happened recently with Gamzee or anything at all really. Eventually he drifted off to sleep, wishing that he would awake to find that the past two days had all just been a dream.

THE END of part I