Info: The timeline for this is uh… let's go with au before Gamzee went insane, back when Karkat was still all ticked with his past self. Sorry that this one is only a little tav/gamzee, and more 'aww kk you poor baby.'

Rated- T

Uploaded- February 24th 2013

Falling Part 2

Karkat hugged his knees to his chest, ignored the suffocating feeling that was threatening to overwhelm him, and focused on his breathing. His back brushed against the transportalizer behind him, and he leaned forward quickly, not wanting to set the machine off. Tavros had gone with Gamzee into his respite block through said machine, and even though Karkat had wanted to follow the two, he couldn't being himself to try. You could only enter another's respite block with their permission, and he didn't want the thought that Tavros wanted him out to be confirmed. His chest tightened again, and he hugged his knees tighter. Laying his forehead on his knees, he hoped Gamzee would forgive him.

Inside the block, Tavros was sitting on the floor next to Gamzee, who was propped up on one of Tavros' old ramps, and tugging gently on a brown piece of cloth that was wrapped around his arm. A dopey smile on his face, Gamzee twirled his fingers over the make shift bandage, and his eyes shifted up to look at Tavros, who was watching him worriedly. "What's got a cute motherfucker like you all upset?"

Tavros stared at him, and nibbled on his lower lip, "Are you alright Gamzee?"

Gamzee raised his good arm and fluffed Tavros' hair, causing the brown blood to lean into his touch, "I'm fine Tavbro." When his statement didn't cause the concerned look on Tavros' face to disappear completely, Gamzee sighed and sat up straighter, before looping his arm around Tavros' shoulders and bulling the taller troll closer to him. Letting his head fall on Tavros' chest, Gamzee hugged the trolls shoulders, "What else's the matter, hm?"

Tavros looped his arm around Gamzee's waist, before he spoke again, "I kinda got really mad at Karkat." Gamzee looked up at him.

"Why? What's that lil' motherfucker do wrong?" This earned him a confused look from Tavros.

"Well he hurt you!"

"S'not like he did it on purpose." Tavros found he had no response to that. Gamzee lowered his head again, "How's that motherfucker anyways? He fell too, is he alright?"

Tavros opened his mouth to answer in the positive when he stopped short.

He didn't know.

The absence of words alerted Gamzee to his realization, and he sat up quickly. "Karkat is alright…isn't he?"

"He, uh… well, he came and got me pretty fast, so he's not unconscious or anything…" Tavros tried frantically to remember anything that could've meant Karkat was injured. A limp, a scratch, anything, but the only thing he remembered was the hurt on Karkat's face when he had gotten angry with him. It made Tavros' stomach drop.

Gamzee seemed much more alert now, "Where is he?"

Tavros didn't have an answer for that either.

Karkat's hands clenched and unclenched in his hair repeatedly, and he continued to focus on his breathing. He had been to preoccupied when Gamzee was hurt to notice anything out of the ordinary. He had assumed he was worried about Gamzee, and that was why he couldn't breathe easy, but it shouldn't have taken this long to be able to breathe clearly. His lungs burned, and his chest hurt.

Something was wrong.

He tried to remember what he had done that could have caused this. The only thing he could think of was the shock he felt when he and Gamzee had hit the floor, but Gamzee had taken the brunt of the fall… Could it be his nerves?

He remembered Tavros' rage towards him, and his own guilt at harming his best friend, and his chest constricted tighter. He couldn't remember feeling this nervous before, and he grasped on the hopes that this was all it was. Nerves.

His breathing didn't get better at the thought. He was panting now, and his chest felt even tighter than it had before. He squeezed himself into an even smaller ball than he was in before, and a scary thought struck him.

Was he Hyperventilating?

Karkat whimpered, his chest hurting even more. He had heard about Hyperventilating from Jade, and while he knew you couldn't die from it, he knew it wasn't a pleasant experience.

Not in the least.

Before he could worry about it any more, he felt the Transportalizer behind him activate, and he squeezed his eyes shut in order to focus on calming his breathing. He didn't want anyone to see him like this, but he couldn't calm himself. His hands clenched uselessly in his hair, and he shivered into his knees.

A hand made itself known on his back and he jolted slightly, but focused enough to realize someone was talking to him.

"Karkat?!" It was Tavros, and Karkat whimpered, the pain in his chest becoming more apparent. Tavros would still be mad at him. He felt someone move behind him, and before he knew it he was on his side, and his head was on someone's lap. His hands went from his hair to his throat, and he took bigger breaths, the change in position opening up his airway more.

Someone was rubbing circles on his back, and he managed to open his eyes. His chest heaving with his pants, his eyes flickered over Tavros and Gamzee's faces long enough to see the concern in them, before they shut again.

"What the fuck's wrong with him?" Gamzee asked worriedly as he watched Karkat struggle to breathe. He moved Karkat's limbs to he was flat in the floor, and focused on looking for signs that the new position helped Karkat's breathing.

"I don't know! He wasn't like this when I left him!" Tavros was frantic, wanting to do more for the troll on his lap but unable to do so.

They remained like that for close to an hour, Karkat's breathing barely getting better in that time. Gamzee was about to run and find help when Karkat finally started to calm down. By the time he was able to breathe properly, his small body shook with sobs, and he hid his face with his hands. Gamzee immediately pulled him onto his lap and hugged him.

The two tried to comfort him, feeling utterly useless. Tavros felt like shit for causing his friend so much pain.

When Karkat had calmed enough to stop crying, Gamzee took it upon himself to make sure his friend was alright.

"It's alright Karkat. Everything's alright. You're okay." He rubbed circles on the small trolls back until Karkat finally hugged him back, his shoulders still shaking.

"…m' sorry."

Gamzee pulled away and bonked Karkat on the head, leaving Karkat utterly confused, "Don't apologize for something you had no control over." (1)

"Karkat…" Karkat flinched and looked at Tavros, expecting the taller troll to hit him, to do anything to remind him just how mad he had been. But Tavros just smiled at him.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you. It wasn't your fault."

And just like that, Karkat's chest stopped hurting.

Karkat laughed then halfway that laugh turned into a growl and he jumped on Tavros, pinning the troll to the floor. Tavros just looked up at him, stunned, while Karkat shouted at him.

"You little fucker! I fucking hyperventilated because of your sorry ass! Do you know how much that shit fucking hurts!?" Karkat's vision blurred again, and Tavros stared as the normally strong troll cried for the second time that day. Karkat continued to shout at him, but Tavros only smiled sadly, having long ago realized this was how Karkat expressed his fear.

He'd always swear when he was afraid.

Karkat folded in on himself, and Tavros looped his arms around him, pulling Karkat onto his chest. Karkat immediately wrapped his arms around Tavros' torso and squeezed. Tavros massaged Karkat's scalp gently and Gamzee laid down besides the two, amused but calm at the same time.

Karkat eventually stopped swearing, and fell asleep on Tavros' chest. Gamzee chuckled quietly to himself and helped Tavros up, Karkat still clinging to his chest. It was an adorable sight, and Gamzee had the feeling that Karkat would be mad about it when he woke up.

The two trolls looked at each other, and both made a mental note to never let anything like this happen to Karkat again. Accidents happened every day, and could be fixed up, but someone's mental state was much harder to fix.

Tavros moved to better support the sleeping troll with his arms, and smiled at Gamzee.

For now, they'd be alright.

1. Fucking hell that's sad to write. I wonder how Gamzee felt about those words after he killed everybody when he snapped. /cries in the corner