Chapter Eight: It's Christmas Eve and I've Only Wrapped Two Fucking Presents

The next month and a half seemed to pass quickly enough, despite Tavros noticing Rufioh avoiding his boyfriend and his problems in equal measure, to the point where they were out of school for holidays, and Rufioh could use the required family time as an excuse. Tavros felt bad for his brother, having found himself in such a precarious situation. Yeah, Tavros had to deal with Vriska, and he wasn't sure what their relationship even was, but Rufioh was in this cycle of wanting to break up with Horuss, but not doing it, and saying everything was okay, and then it was, for a little while. It was evident that Rufioh knew he had to end things, but didn't know how to do it. Even worse, Christmas was coming up. Which meant, Rufioh would suck it up for another two months, because he was too afraid to be the asshole who dumped someone right before Christmas, or New Years', or Valentine's Day… Tavros wished he could talk some sense into him, but Rufioh, despite asking for his advice, hardly cared to listen to what he actually had to say. Rufioh was on his own procrastination program, and his doubts were to the point that, when the boys went out shopping for Christmas presents, Rufioh wasn't even sure whether or not to buy something for Horuss.

Rufioh and Tavros were out shopping when this issue came up, a mere 2 weeks before the holiday. Tavros was typically even more of a procrastinator for holiday gifts, but Hanukkah was early this year, and he felt like it wouldn't be a bad idea to get something for Vriska.
"What do you even buy for a girl?" Tavros asked, wheeling beside his brother, who looked down at him, though it was obvious his mind was elsewhere.
"Haven't you gotten gifts for Vriska before?"
"I mean… yeah, but not, like… all the times before, I was just shopping for a friend. Now, I, uh.. I dunno."
Rufioh raised an eyebrow. "You like her?"
Tavros shrugged a bit. "I dunno. We're friends… we've kind of always had a thing?"
Rufioh scoffed. "She's a bully, though. She literally pushed you down the stairs."
"It was an accident!"
"Yeah, okay. I don't know why you defend her. Vriska is literally such an asshole."
Tavros scowled. "Rufioh, for once, can you just trust that I can make my own decisions about who and who not to involve in my own life?" Tavros was surprised at himself. He never said things like that, with such authority. Rufioh's eyes widened a bit.
"Jeez, alright. I didn't mean anything by it."
Tavros sighed, rubbing his temple a bit. "I know she's, uh, brash. But I care about Vriska, in more than a, um, platonic sense."
"Fair enough. Get her, ah… something that has to do with her hobbies… get her a set of dice for D&D."
"That's… not a bad idea," Tavros muttered. "Maybe some blue ones… What about you, Ruf, what are you going to get for Horuss?"
Rufioh's face turned bright red. "I… I don't know that I'll get something for him. I think… I need to start spending less time with him. The only way he'll understand a breakup is if he sees it coming."
"But… you shouldn't… I mean, isn't that kind of…" Tavros murmured, his voice trailing off. He certainly objected to his brother's idea of how to break up with someone, though being blindsided never felt good. The timing just seemed so poor. Dumping someone so close to Christmas just felt wrong, and it would feel wrong before New Year's, and even before Valentine's Day, but Tavros chose to leave his concerns unvoiced. It really wasn't his business what relationship troubles Rufioh got himself into.

As it turned out, Tavros' objections were unnecessary, and the point came across anyway, he thought, as Rufioh did end up buying something for Horuss, though it was a cheap gift. Both of the boys did the rest of their shopping that day too, except, of course, the gifts for each other. Tavros clutched the tiny box full of iridescent blue dice he'd gotten for Vriska, smiling to himself in the front seat of the car. Rufioh grinned knowingly at him.
"What night are you supposed to go over?" Rufioh asked.
"I mean, she asked me about going over for Hanukah one night, but then her aunt decided to come out and she changed her mind about having me meet her family. Which, uh, was a little disappointing. Aranea was going to teach us how to make latkes."
Rufioh chuckled. "That lesson would turn into a lecture real quickly," he said.
Tavros grinned. "Yeah, so I've heard. But instead of doing that, we're going to Feferi's holiday party tonight. I'll give this to Vriska then."

When the boys got home, Tavros quickly put Vriska's gift into a bag with a small amount of tissue paper, being very, very bad at wrapping presents. He grabbed a dollar for the bus and wheeled himself back outside, giving a quick goodbye to his parents before heading to the bus stop around the corner.
Tavros was used to the bus, and didn't mind it, except for how awkwardly long it took to lower the wheelchair ramp. It was a bit of a ride up to Feferi's house. She and Eridan lived near each other, up in the hills, the wealthy area of town. For some odd reason, as he made his way up to Feferi's door, he felt his heart hammering in his chest. He was nervous about giving Vriska her gift, though it seemed silly.
A note was taped to the front door that said 'Come on in!', so Tavros opened the door and wheeled inside. Just on the other side of the door was Feferi. She squealed an excited hello at Tavros, and hugged him so hard that she almost pulled him out of his wheelchair before letting him into the house. It was clear that in his time spent on the ride over, almost everyone invited to the party had arrived, since Tavros wasn't actually running that late. Sollux was tapping away on his phone, half-paying attention to Karkat's daily rant, occasionally murmuring in agreement only to keep Karkat satiated. Nepeta was lurking nearby the two boys at the kitchen table, and Feferi had made her way back into the kitchen, stocking up on snacks. Rose was sitting in a chair nearby, having a book in her face even at the party, and Tavros noticed her and Kanaya exchanging glances. Eridan was hovering around, sometimes disappearing from the room. It seemed like he was having a hard time fitting in with everyone, even Feferi, which was unusual. Gamzee came in a moment after Tavros, smelling like he'd just smoked a bowl, since he probably had. And Terezi, Vriska, John, and Jade were hanging out on the couch. Jade was flipping through the music selections, and John and Vriska were exchanging, at least it seemed to Tavros, slightly flirtatious quips? Tavros felt a spurt of heat in his stomach. Jealousy? Vriska was laughing at John's dumb humor and they were sitting way too close to cuddling proximity. Of course, Tavros thought, John probably had no idea, but it seemed way more than possible that Vriska was developing a crush on him, and Tavros knew he wanted to be the one to make her laugh the way John was making her laugh.

He rolled into the family room, shuffling the present in his lap a little bit, and waited for an opening into the conversation.
"Did you have a chance to watch that awesome video I linked you to?" John asked.
"What video?" Vriska asked him back.
"You know… the one about the renegade hero who busted loose from the slammer to save the day."
"John, the way you describe movies makes them sound extremely stupid. Why would I want to watch this crap?"
"Just do it, you won't be sorry. I mean, when you are not so busy or whatever."
"Uh, hey, guys," Tavros said, clearing his throat.
"Hey Tavros!"
"'sup, Toreadork?" John and Vriska greeted him simultaneously. A few of the others greeted Tavros.
"I, uh… got this. For you," Tavros stammered, thrusting the present awkwardly forward into Vriska's hands. Vriska raised an eyebrow as she took it, several of their friends turning to watch as she opened it, and Tavros felt his cheeks flush. Terezi snickered.
"This oughta be good," Vriska said, not quite sneering, but still an ounce of teasing in her voice as she dug through the tissue paper. She crumpled it up, tossing it playfully at John before removing the box of dice from the bag. She held it so delicately, a smile growing on her face, and Tavros smiled too, with the pleasure that he had finally done something right in her eyes. And then Vriska's smile dropped, and Tavros had no idea what to make of her reaction. Vriska gave a short, derisive laugh before she was grinning, but it wasn't the same warm smile Tavros had seen a moment ago. It was a sharp sneer.
"Nice present, Toreadork. Like I don't have plenty of dice," she said in that typical Vriska tone; sharp and berating.
"I just thought, uh, I…"
"'I, uh, um…' Please, Tavros, spare us all from your pathetic whimpering for a change."
"But-"
"What's your deal, anyway? I don't see you hauling in presents for anyone else. I know I'm special and all, but if this is your way of showing me that you like me, then forget it."
Tavros didn't have any words, his face bright red and warm. There was a sense of shock in the air. John started saying something in a scolding manner to Vriska but everything seemed muffled to Tavros. He wheeled into the closest bathroom to compose himself; wipe some of the nervous sweat and shock off his face.
What just happened? Vriska looked genuinely happy at first, and then twisted the entire situation, just to embarrass him. It didn't matter. Tavros took a breath. At least he tried.

After calming down a little bit, Tavros rejoined the party, which also seemed to have calmed down a little bit. Dave had arrived in Tavros' absence and was chatting with John and Terezi at the kitchen table. At least Dave was keeping John away from Vriska. There was something starting there that Tavros got a sick feeling about. Vriska, immediately upon Tavros' re-entry into the room, began flicking popcorn at him from across the counter. He scowled at her and she laughed, popping a piece into her mouth.
"You're supposed to catch it, dumbass," she said. Tavros sighed and moved closer to the couch.
He tried to brush off Vriska's shitty behavior and have a good time, and once he'd started chatting with the others he began to have a better time and all but forgot the poor start his evening had. Feferi pointed out that she'd rearranged the furniture in the other room to create a dance floor of sorts, and warned the others about the mistletoe. Apparently there was more than one bundle, and Tavros was honestly surprised there hadn't been any encounters yet. At least, none he'd heard about. Eridan looked more sullen than usual at Feferi's mention of kisses.
Equius and Aradia came in quite a bit later, but Tavros was glad to see them. Aradia had been quite distant lately, and Tavros assumed a portion of that came from her quite sporadic relationship with Equius that began shortly after his Halloween party (another episode of Vriska's attitude at work). But it was still nice to see Aradia come out, and try to smile.
After saying hello to everyone, Equius came and sat next to Vriska. Vriska was on the edge of the couch, closest to Tavros, and Aradia sat on Equius' opposite side.
"Hi, Equius," Tavros said. He and Equius didn't talk much, but they were more than civil with each other. Equius always seemed so awkward.
"Hello, Tavros," Equius grunted, his eyes drifting to Tavros' dangling legs. Tavros refrained from commenting, but he did certainly wish that wasn't Equius' focus. Equius seemed to notice Tavros' unsettled expression. "Er, forgive me. I was merely thinking about my latest robotics project. You see, I have been designing a new kind of prosthetic leg," Equius explained.
"You trying to get Tavros out of his crummy-ass wheelchair, Zahhak?" Vriska asked, a handful of food in her mouth.
"Please, Vriska, mind your manners," Equius chided.
"Don't think you can tell me what to do!"
Equius faltered. Vriska's brash nature seemed to make everyone do that at some point. Equius turned back to Tavros. "I could design and build a pair specifically to fit you, if you'd like."
"Thanks, Equius, but prosthetics won't help me. It's not my legs that are the problem, it's the spinal damage."
"But see, that's why I'm designing a new kind of prosthetic. It's meant to connect to the nervous system, though I haven't quite perfected it. Your nerves are like your body's wiring, so I am making a way to connect your wiring to the leg's wiring at the spine, whereas most prosthetics connect at a joint."
"You should go for it, Tavros," Vriska said. "Maybe you won't be so useless then."
Tavros was starting to feel heated again, but he didn't want to lose his temper.
"Sorry, Equius," he said, beginning to move away from the couch, "I'm just not sure I'm comfortable with that."
Out of the corner of his eye, Tavros spotted Gamzee just outside the back door, and in a moment of desperation decided to join him for a smoke again.
"Hey, Gamzee!" Tavros called, following the boy outside.
"Hey! What the motherfuck is up, my man?"
Tavros approached Gamzee. "This is gonna sound, uh, weird coming from me, but you wouldn't happen to have any, uh…."
"You lookin' to share a bowl, brother? Fuck yeah, man, I can hook a motherfuckin' brother up."

Gamzee took out a pipe this time, instead of a blunt, and carefully packed it, Tavros studying the way his fingers moved. Gamzee winked at his fascinated friend before whipping his lighter out. After his first puff, Gamzee let out a chuckle that morphed halfway through into a cackle, and handed the pipe to Tavros.
"Take it while you can, bro, this is some of the last I fuckin' got," Gamzee said, still grinning. Tavros coughed, a small amount of smoke escaping.
"What do you mean?"
"Tryin' to quit smokin' so motherfuckin' much, bro, it ain't good for my fuckin' lungs. That's my New Year's fuckin' Resolution, so I only got the shit for a couple more weeks, brother."
Tavros bit his lip for a moment, then smiled. "Well, good for you, Gamzee."
He supposed he couldn't bum off Gamzee's weed any time Vriska acted out, then. Maybe he should just be honest about his feelings.

Gamzee and Tavros finished the bowl, and Gamzee disappeared back inside. Tavros pulled his sweater on tighter, sitting in silence for a few moments until he heard footsteps, and a pair of red boots appeared on the ground in front of him.
"You are just so insufferable," he heard Vriska's voice and looked up at her. "Trying to make me look all soft like that in front of everybody."
"I… wasn't trying to make you look soft. I just thought you'd like them."
"So…" Vriska looked confused. "That was a genuine gesture of affection?"
"Um… yeah? Not everyone messes with feelings like you do."
"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Vriska asked, suddenly angry. God, she was so hard to read sometimes.
"I just meant-" Before Tavros could finish his answer, Vriska's hands were at his chest, pulling him by the shirt upwards and into a kiss. He had no idea what was happening, his hands kind of flailing wildly at his sides, and he was shoved back into the wheelchair after a minute.
"God, you're an idiot, Tavros," Vriska said, still looking confused herself before skulking back into the house.

Man, girls were hard to understand.