Wrath and Angels

"You really are a dumbass, Makara." Karkat sat opposite the RE teacher, who was holding an ice pack to his eye. Midday sun and the noise of students having their lunch break filtered in through the staffroom window. "You're just lucky Strider is even more of a dumbass and feels reporting you wouldn't be cool, even ironically. What the hell were you thinking?" Gamzee smiled blearily, putting the ice pack on the table.
"Hey, you know me, motherfucking best friend. Thinking ahead 'aint something I'm all up and bothered about."
As Karkat placed his hands over his face, grumbling obscenities, the door opened and Tavros wheeled in awkwardly, getting briefly tangled with the door frame. The English teacher smiled bashfully at the pair at the table, but when he spotted the large bruise already forming under Gamzee's eye, his expression twisted up into, in Karkat's view, unnecessary horror and concern. Gamzee just grinned.
"Oh... uh... how did you... are you, uh, ok G-Gamzee?" Karkat rolled his eyes at the stutter, but without any real ire. It was impossible to dislike Mr. Nitram. It would be like disliking a puppy, or some other gormless baby creature, which the man resembled at times. Gamzee smiled, getting out of his chair and going over to Tavros.
"Scars of battle, Tavbro!" He took the handles of the wheel chair and piloted it over to the table. Tavros blushed – he was perfectly capable of wheeling himself, but he knew that Gamzee was just trying to be nice. Karkat nodded at him.
"The fuckass got into a fight with Strider over in Music," He snarled, which only increased the worry on Tavros' face.
"Oh! Wh-what over?" Mr. Makara grinned, and Tavros noticed that his mouth was ever so slightly too wide for his face. He then decided that was a strange thing to be noticing, and tried to stop, blushing a little.
"Well, Alexis the First asked my motherfucking Popeship to get my war on, see?" Tavros obviously didn't see, so Karkat chimed in.
"He was supposed to be teaching his class about the Crusades. He actually armed them with silly string and burst into Striders' classroom." Mr. Nitram's mouth formed an O of disbelief, before gradually descending into giggles as Gamzee gave him a wink. It was insane, Karkat thought, but the madman's unconventional teaching methods actually yielded him one of the top exam pass rates in the school. He'd actually grown up with the man, and, Karkat recalled, he had always been a nutjob. The idiot had been a Juggalo in his youth, which explained his still present fondness for that disgusting swill he drank, and the rather disturbing tattoos that littered his body. Weren't people supposed to mature when they became adults? Then he thought about Captor's prank earlier, and scowled.
Gamzee and Tavros were chatting, which consisted of mostly Gamzee talking in that strange, slow drawl of his, when raised voices signalled the arrival of Miss. Serket and Mr. Ampora. The pair bickered constantly, but she was the only one who seemed willing to put up with his theatrics.
A slow, nasty grin stretched over Vriska's face when she spotted the now silent Tavros, and she was suddenly on his side of the room, leaving Mr. Ampora talking to the air for several seconds, the drama teacher being too self-absorbed to notice her departure right away. He scowled as he tramped over after her.
"Tavros! I'm glad I've found you. A few of us are going out for drinks later on. You'll come, wont you?" Before Tavros could stutter out a reply, she slapped him on the back. "Great! What about you two?" She turned on Gamzee, who's grin was slowly fading as he saw how uncomfortable Tavros was, and Karkat, who made a face. She winked at Gamzee when she noticed his black eye. "Don't worry; Strider can't make it."
Gamzee shrugged, and raised his eyebrows at Karkat, who put his chin on his hands.
"I have plans tonight, Vriska." He said, knowing full well his plans consisted of curling up on the sofa and watching one of his romantic movies with a take away. Besides, it was Monday night, and he had morning classes, and to be frank he couldn't stand the Maths Professor.
Gamzee looked at Tavros questioningly. Mr. Nitram was panicking a little. He didn't want to go, but he knew there was no way he could tell Vriska that now, and not showing up would most likely lead to her increasing the regularity of her torture of him. But it would be okay if Gamzee went, right? He looked at the RE teacher, hoping the man was firmly enough on this planet to note the pleading in his eyes. His prayers were answered.
"Sure, my numerical-miracle sister. Can't be staying out too long though." He gave Tavros a reassuring little smile. Tavros had to restrain an audible sigh of relief. It couldn't go too badly if Gamzee was there. He was certain. Kind of. Uh... could it?

Turns out it could.
Wrath and Angels was a ridiculously snobbish place, all sparkling glass and monochrome furniture. Tavros felt very out of place, but then, Tavros felt out of place in his own bedroom. Gamzee, on the other hand, seemed to be perfectly comfortable, even though Tavros could see his faded ICP t-shirt and baggy black jeans were drawing disapproving looks from the clientele, who appeared to mostly dress like Eridan- in fact, Mr. Ampora was already engrossed in conversation with two other men in similar attire by the bar when Gamzee and Tavros arrived together, having agreed to share a taxi. The other "few" that Vriska had mentioned turned out to be Miss Peixes, Ms. Maryam and Ms. Lalonde. The three ladies were seated on a sofa, which Gamzee wheeled Tavros over too. Tavros was slightly shocked at Miss Peixes casual attire – He had only ever seen the Political Sciences teacher in a respectable work suit, occasionally with a brighter purple shirt under her blazer, and tasteful, matching jewellery, but the woman before him wore so many colours he was sure people around her too long must get a headache. Beads clattered as she waved at the approaching men, glittering like a starling. Ms. Lalonde and Ms. Maryam were dressed more conventionally, if a little formally, in well cut purple and jade coloured dresses respectively. Kanaya looked a little distant, Tavros noticed.
"Hey! That evens up the gender numbers a little!" Miss Peixes giggled, "Poor Eridan, he'll be so disappointed he doesn't get to spend the night with just us girls!" From behind him, Tavros heard Gamzee chuckle, and felt long fingers tousle his hair.
"Whatcha drinking, Tavbro?" Tavros put forward the idea that maybe he might like, uh, a beer, if it wasn't any trouble, and Gamzee looked at the seated ladies. "How about you chicas? Can't be lettin' ya'll getting your thirsty on." After taking the orders, (A Sea Breeze for Miss Peixes, a red wine for Ms. Lalonde and lemonade for Ms. Marayam) Gamzee turned and headed for the bar. Miss Peixes smiled at Kanaya.
"Are you driving, dear?" Kanaya looked up, seemingly taking a fraction of a second too long to answer.
"Oh, no Feferi. I am just not in the mood for alcohol this evening." Kanaya always seemed to speak as if she was dictating, but even so her words seemed a little forced. Tavros saw Ms. Lalonde's hand move briefly over the hand of the Textiles teacher, and give it a gentle squeeze. Feferi's smile became confused for a moment, but then turned her attention to Tavros. He felt slightly awkward – he had never really spoken to the Politics professor, their timetables meaning they taught at different times, but she seemed nice enough. Ms. Lalonde, too, was always friendly when he had spoken to her, but had the thousand mile stare that anyone who studies psychology seems to acquire. He was slightly worried about Kanaya, too. She was never the loudest of people, but there was something pained about her that he hadn't seen before. But what worried him the most was that there was no sign of Vriska, which meant she could be anywhere...