tw I suppose for mild abuse themes in Tavros' part.

Tavros didn't think he had a self-esteem problem. His self-esteem problem was so bad that he didn't think he had one, just assumed he deserved it. This was the extent to which Vriska Serket had fucked him up. When all she had to say was 'you're stuck with me', and he'd start hyperventilating. There was nothing to stand up to. He deserved it. Deserved it, deserved all the memories and torment she'd given him. It was acceptance at this point, really. He knew he was useless. What was the point of fighting it anymore, fighting her?

He remained frozen in front of the school doors, eyes wide open, beginning to water, and breath huffing in and out, chest rising shallowly. Terrified.

"Tav?" Gamzee said softly, coming up from behind him, and placing a hand on his shoulder. What time was it? Gamzee didn't come to school until five minutes after the bell rang. Had the bell rung? Had he seen him sitting frozen? Had he heard Vriska? "Tav, are you okay?"

Yes, I'm okay, he wanted to say, but he couldn't move. Couldn't speak. His heart pounded against his rib cage, filling his chest and throat. Vriska's face swam in front of his eyes, and cackled. Stuck with me stuck with me stuck with me. Memories of her pushing him over, poking the tips of safety pins into his shoulders, blocking hallways, somehow making any food he received at school super spicy so he couldn't eat it, cooing bitter words of poison into his ears, while holding his wheels so he couldn't leave-

"Tavros!" Gamzee snapped, and Tavros jumped, blinking for the first time in...a while. Gamzee. Gamzee was here now. And he looked...angry.

"G-g-g-gamzee," He whispered out, "Hi."

"Hi." Gamzee repeated dumbly. "That's it? You've been sitting here, staring at nothing for god knows how motherfucking long, scaring the shit out of me, and you say hi?!"

He nodded, still unable to form coherent sentences. There was nothing he could say. Gamzee probably didn't really like him, right? There was no way. Gamzee was cool and slouchy, and Tavros was just an asshole in a wheelchair, like his subconcious so often boasted to him.

Surely that thought justified him sitting in silence as Gamzee rolled his eyes and stomped past him into the school.

Aradia was woken by the buzz of a text from her phone, making her nightstand vibrate. Her digital clock read 10:42, about the end of second period. She'd overslept.

Oh well.

The text was from Feferi, asking where she was. Vaguely, Aradia recalled that she was supposed to pick up her girlfriend that morning, and drive both of them to school. Guess she hadn't.

sorry

She pulled herself out of bed like molasses, like she had to unpeel herself from the sheets. Already in sweats, she figured putting a shirt on over her bra was a moot point, and yanked on a sweatshirt over her head instead. Makeup was useless now, she had more important priorities. Like breakfast, and the remains of morning cartoons. One bowl of cereal. Two bowls of cereal. Couple of doughnuts. Bacon and sausage. Some over-easy eggs. Perfect.

She strolled into school at 12:32, and went to lunch three minutes later.

"Where have you been?" Feferi asked angrily, arms crossed. Aradia shrugged.

"Slept in."

"You couldn't have texted me to say you couldn't pick me up? I was late because of you!" Feferi did wear an awful lot of makeup, didn't she? Aradia remembered seeing the boxes of powders and pencils, stuff that she spent hours on and ended up looking basically the same. What was up with that?

"Sorry," Aradia said, sliding up in the lunch line and loading her plate up with pizza. "School's not even that important anyway."

"It is to me! I want to get into Stanford, remember?" Feferi protested, "You know how I feel about school, what the hell, Aradia!"

Aradia did know how Feferi felt about school. She was so anal about it too, and behind her layers of apathy, she was beginning to get pissed off. Go to Stanford, because she was fucking rich and she could. If Aradia had that much damn money, she'd use it to buy a nice house for her and her mom, and heat that stayed on all the time. Sure, they were better off than they had been, way better off, but seeing Feferi waste all her money on stupid fancy colleges and makeup made her boil with rage.

"Whatever, you don't need a scholarship or anything, remember?" She fired back. They walked away from the line, and Feferi grabbed her arm.

"Excuse me?" Her voice was shrill, and Aradia could feel heads turning.

"You're freaking out over nothing, Fef," She sighed.

"What did you mean?" The tan girl asked again. "Tell me what you meant!"

"Fine!" Aradia exploded, "I mean you've got a lot of fucking money. Why do you bother trying so hard in school when your parents could buy you into anywhere? It's ridiculous."

What am I doing? Why am I saying these things? This is my girlfriend, this is Feferi. Stop!

"So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat my damn pizza that I'll have to work to pay for." Aradia flounced away, the feelings of 'what am I doing?' replaced by apathy, as usual. She'd deal with what she fucked up tomorrow.

another trigger warning if u don't like sex references n stuff.

The rules in Kurloz's harem were simple. You wore your shortest shorts, tallest heels, and an extra low tank tops. Brownie points if your bra was visible. You went to his parties, shut the fuck up, and eventually he'd give you a lazy grin. Take his hand, smile coyly, and pull him into his bedroom. One fucking later, he'd leave, you'd sleep, and wake up with a neat stack of money.

Everyone fell asleep afterwards. No one quite knew why, actually. A few girls had a running bet that there were sedatives in his cum, a couple others speculated that he was secretly a wizard, and cast evil spells on them. Meulin believed none of the above, preferred to enjoy the extra sleep she got. Easy money, laying on your back. And she never had nightmares...

Rumors were how the harem bonded. None about themselves obviously, but about their precious lord and master. Secrets about Kurloz Makara were traded like playing cards. Everyone had their own headcanons in their little business, and if he knew, he never let on. Too busy collecting more desperate girls to suck him off, probably.

In another life, she thought she might respect him. He was very charming after all, and handsome. Rich. But she knew him now, and she'd end up brokenhearted if she'd ever fallen for him.

Better to stay smart.

The rest of the rules you learned over time. Don't drink anything, only sleep with Kurloz, and don't puke. The last one was laughable, but he took it quite seriously. He'd put you out of work for a whole month.

Dude liked his carpets.

"Meulin," Nepeta asked curiously, "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh! Um, nothing, Nepeta." Meulin smiled cheerfully. She should have known better than to space out during breakfast. Nepeta noticed if she was in another world, always had. Their parents joked she'd gotten it from them.

Maybe if they hadn't spaced out so much, they wouldn't have drifted into oncoming traffic.

"Equius is coming to get me today," Nepeta mumbled through a mouthful of waffle.

"That's not surprising!" Meulin laughed. "He picks you up every morning, right?"

Nepeta nodded, smiling to herself. They'd been together for years now. Best friends to the very end, romantic partners until they inevitably got married. Meulin was a little jealous of her little sister.

"So." Nepeta said, mouthing curling up in a mischevious smile.

"So..?" Meulin asked confusedly, quirking an eyebrow. That smile was for shipping. She knew that smile. She had that smile.

"Where've you been going every night, big sister?"

ahahahaha ugh. review pls, convince me that it wasn't terrible. aslksdfj eventually it'll get better I i promise. *cries*