Tavros looked up from his phone as the door to Vriska's hospital room opened, a nurse walking out. Tavros had volunteered to wait outside of her room while the nurse finished hooking Vriska up to whatever they were plugging into her; IV's and all that. He had her laptop for her; Equisus had fixed it and John(who had come along) had driven home to get while Vriska was being fussed over by doctors and nurses, and besides, he wanted to talk to her. No one had protested Tavros being the one to stay, as Tavros was the only one who had been able to get near Vriska in the past few days, and Rose, Karkat, and John had gone to the hospital cafeteria.

Tavros caught the nurse's attention by asking, "How's she doing?"

"Better," the nurse answered. "We got her fever down and got her hooked up to an IV drip. We've also started a round of antibiotics."

"What exactly does she have?" Tavros asked.

"Advanced pneumonia." The nurse replied. "She'll have to stay here for a few days, but once she's stabilized, she'll be able to go home. You can visit her now if you want." She said, heading off down the hallway.

Tavros wheeled himself over to the door, gently pushing it open, wheeling himself in.

"Vriska?" He called out. "Equius fixed your laptop; it was only the screen that broke.I figured you might want it. You're gonna be in here a few days, after all."

The blankets rustled as a body shifted; the IV drip tugged a bit more taunt as Vriska rolled over, facing away from Tavros.

"Get out, Tavros. I don't want to talk to you."

A bit surprised at the venom in her tone, and not expecting her answer, Tavros wheeled closer.

"Why?"

The hospital bed shifted forward on its wheels as Vriska sat up, her momentum fast enough to move the bed with her.

"Because I told you I didn't want them seeing me when I was sick, Tavros! You think me throwing my laptop at Gamzee was just for shits and giggles? I wanted him OUT. I didn't want them seeing me when I was sick; why would you call them in?"

"Vriska, there was nothing else I could do. You were dying; I couldn't just let you lie there like that."

"I wasn't – You could've – " Vriska fumbled, searching for words that weren't there. She wasn't hooked up to a heart monitor for Tavros to hear a tell-tale quickening rhythm, but the way she was getting flushed in the face and at a loss for words was a good indicator she was flustered and frustrated.

He saw how the bottom half of her eyes seemed to have a blue tint; it was from tears of anger and frustration gathering there. He wheeled himself closer uncertainly, lifting himself onto the bed, and, being careful of the IV hooked up to her, reached over to her. She jerked back, glaring at him angrily as she wiped unspilled tears from her eyes.

"I don't want to hug you. I don't even want to talk to you, I'm here and I'm humiliated and the worst part about it is you're RIGHT, you're right ok, I would have died and there's nothing I could have done about it; see I admitted it so can you please just go because I-" her voice cut off with a strangled sound - her trying to keep from crying - as she ducked her head.

Tavros leaned over and pulled her to him, rubbing her back. She had pushed him away once before, but she was falling to pieces here and was bordering on going into hysterics. He wanted to calm her down before that happened, and didn't know what else to do. Thankfully, it seemed to work; she simply curled in on herself, hands balled into fists against his chest, refusing to cling to him or embrace him, but not pushing him away. He figured she actually did want comfort, and she did realize it wasn't his fault and that she shouldn't be mad at him, but she was so angry at the situation that she was lashing out at anything and had pushed him away the first time without meaning it.

She did calm down, but he could tell she was making an effort to. He could tell she was trying so hard not to cry, and sometimes half a choked sob would escape her before she cut it off mid-way.

He kept rubbing and patting her back until she pulled away from him, wiping escaped tears from her face with her sleeve.

"You ok?" Tavros asked.

"Yeah," Vriska muttered, not looking at him. She had an irritated look in her eyes, and her cheeks were blue with an embarrassed blush. Though Tavros might like to think she was embarrassed from being hugged by such a cool and handsome sempai, he knew that in reality, she was probably embarrassed about crying in front of him. Her irritated look was probably that too; her not being irritated at Tavros so much as being irritated about crying in front of him.

"Hey." Tavros said, waiting to continue speaking until she looked up and met his gaze. "Can you tell me why you're so upset over being taken care of?"

Vriska sighed, looking down again. "It's complicated."

Tavros reached over, gently and briefly touching her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. "I've got all day."

Vriska looked into his face, unsure and searching.

"You can trust me," he said quietly.

Vriska bit her lip, before sighing tiredly, like she was giving up both control and a burden at the same time, before opening her mouth and spilling her guts.

Catz: And of course that's where I end it.

There will be Vriska feels in the next chapter. Stay tuned.

Its so difficult to write about the motive's behind Vriska's actions, especially from another character's viewpoint. Vriska's a complicated girl in the first place, and she doesn't show her emotions easily, so writing about the thoughts and motives behind her actions is challenging. But not impossible. Maybe I'll do the next chapter in her pov. MAYBE.

Oh yeah. Still not a doctor. Don't know much bout pneumonia. I tried to learn, but Google-Sempai can only teach me so much.

Tavros is not Vriska's sempai irl. I was using it ironically like I'm a Strider up in here.

Leave a review, skittles~