Tavros stayed in bed for a couple of days. During those days, Gamzee stayed with him, read him books he was probably capable of reading on his own, brought him fast food, laid beside him, talked to him, and even tried to bake him cookies. Once. He ended up burning them and almost caught his apartment on fire. He tried one and almost hurled. He promised he'd never try to bake those without Tavros again.
"Tavros?"
"Mm?" Tavros wiped his eyes, waking up from his little nap.
"You're gonna be alright, right?"
"Yeah, of course, Gamzee," Tavros rolled over and tilted his head up to look his boyfriend in the eyes.
"I'm glad to hear that, man." Gamzee bit his lip and continued, "Don't know what'd I do without a motherfucker."
"I know. You tell me that all the time now."
"It's the truth."
"Never said it wasn't."
After a few minutes, Tavros pulled himself closer to Gamzee, clinging to his shirt, and buried his head in his chest. He closed his eyes, prepared to doze off again.
"You ever think you'll get out of this place, Tav? Get out, and come live with me?"
"Gamz, are you alright?" This wasn't like him. Usually, he pushed all of those hard questions away and locked them up, hid from them. But Gamzee never ceased to surprise Tavros.
"Please just answer."
"Will you leave me if I do?"
"No. No, of course not."
"Sometimes I think about it. I wonder what it would be like to get out of this place and go live with you forever. I think about being happy and free, going places I've never been and getting a job somewhere nice. But deep down inside I know it'll never happen."
"So you'll just live here all of your life?"
"There's really no other choice. Look at me. I can't even sit up."
"But..."
"It's not much of a life, I know. But I think it's better than no life at all."
When Gamzee didn't reply, Tavros added, "And with you here, it makes everything ten times better."
Gamzee still didn't reply, so Tavros took the hint that he was done talking and went back to sleep. Gamzee just held him for hours, listening to his gentle snores and thinking.
A whole week had to pass until Tavros felt good enough to get out of bed. Gamzee was pretty excited and relieved, this episode being Tav's longest one yet. He was so restless and ready to get out of that room that he insisted Tavros get on his back instead of riding around in a wheelchair. With complaints from Aradia of course, Tavros agreed and jumped on.
Gamzee held on tight to the legs that were wrapped around his sides, promising more than once that he wouldn't drop Tavros. And as soon as they were out of that room, he took off down the stairs, almost bumping into a young woman with some papers in her hands. He shouted a sorry, ignoring the laughter from his companion. Down the stairs and passed the reception desk. Through the doors and outside. Running. Running faster now.
Gamzee gripped Tavros's legs tighter when he felt arms being removed from around his neck. He knew Tavros was holding out his arms like a child pretending to be an airplane. He could feel his stomach on the back of his head as Tavros leaned forward slightly. He could hear the laughter. He could feel the smile, and before he knew it, he was smiling too.
Wind blew in Tavros's face. It blew around his arms, and the chill gave him goosebumps. His hair was going every which way, but that didn't matter. It was part of the experience. He closed his eyes. He envisioned that he was soaring, that he was finally free. This was as close to flying as he was going to get, and he loved it.
They stayed outside all day, celebrating Tavros's recovery. However, he didn't get to stay on Gamzee's back for very long. The thrill of flying ended as soon as it started, because Gamzee used up all of his energy darting down those stairs. Tavros still appreciated the short time he got, giving Gamzee a peck to express his gratitude. So instead of low-budget flying, they resided on one of the benches. "Any.. motherfucking tim..e..." Gamzee said after the little kiss, still trying to catch his breath.
After a few moments, Gamzee started fake choking. "T-Tav... I need.. another kiss... fast..." he said in between chokes. Tavros giggled and punched in him in the arm. Gamzee took the joke further, lying on his back on Tavros's legs, still pretending to choke.
"He-Help, Tavros... I'm dyin..g.." he said, clawing at Tavros's shirt.
Tavros started laughing, saying, "Gamzee, we're in public. Stop!"
Gamzee made one louder noise and let his body go limp. After a couple of moments of Tavros laughing at him, Gamzee whispered, "This is the part where you kiss me back to life, motherfucker."
"Right," Tavros said, grinning. He leaned down and kissed his goofy boyfriend, his boyfriend then sucking in air loudly and scrambling everywhere after.
Tavros snickered and remarked, "You're so fucking weird."
"Yeah," Gamzee replied, still lying on his back.