Chapter 5

"Dave Strider?"

The two young trolls' eyes widened, for they perfectly knew who this human was. He looked slightly older, but was still perfectly recognizable. Dave, on the contrary, didn't really have a clue.

"Who the hell are you? I mean, obviously you are trolls, but which ones are you?"

Tavros seemed reluctant to decline his identity, but Vriska spoke for the two of them.

"I'm Vriska, and that's Tavros." she said, gesturing at him.

"You're Tavros?" he echoed. "Oh man."

He then went on a giggling fit.

"Haha yeah. I remember you."

He smirked. Vriska raised an eyebrow, while Tavros' cheeks had taken a slight copper tint.

"Care to explain Tavros?"

"There's nothing to say on the matter, really." he mumbled, looking away.

Dave chortled.

"So I assume we're divorcing then… Dude, you're totally breaking my poor little heart over here. I may drop dead any minute – oh wait nevermind, I already did."

Vriska giggled – jokes about being dead were her thing too. He sounded too amused for this to be taken seriously, but Tavros blushed a bit more anyway. He got slightly closer to Vriska, as if trying to use her as some sort of anti-snarkiness shield.

"That's not funny…!" he complained.

"Stop hiding behind your girlfriend, I can totally see you and your big-ass horns."

Tavros arched an eyebrow.

"What's a girlfriend?"

"The girl you have sex with."

"Wh- Wh- What?" stuttered Tavros. "No, we don't have this kind of… Oh my god…"

Upon hearing that, Vriska frowned without knowing it. Dave snickered once again.

"Anyway, wanna come grab a bite? I suffer from severe pizza deprivation."

"What's a piz–"

"You'll see." interrupted Dave, already starting to head off inside his dream bubble apartment. "Just bring your troll asses over here before I change my mind and blast off in the afterworld faster than you can say 'all the toppings please'."

Though a bit surprised, the two young trolls followed him anyway. Pizzas were waiting for them. They sniffed them curiously, wondering about how it would taste.

"It's not poisoned. And we're all dead anyway, so it's not like it matters. Hell, maybe poisoned pizza is delicious and we're totally missing out on that."

Tavros looked at Dave.

"Isn't it difficult to see with your weird Earth glasses? Maybe you could take them–"

"The shades aren't going anywhere, they're staying right the fuck on my zombie nose."

Dave opened the boxes, revealing three of the most delicious pizzas he could remember – he meant business. Without further ado, they started eating.

Tavros ended up with a particularly cheesy slice that stretched an awful lot, leaving him helpless with a long strand of cheese linking him to the pizza.

"Zrizka, help" he managed to say through his teeth. She sighed.

"Are you a grub?"

He didn't reply, merely staring at her with tears at the corner of his eyes.

"Ok, hold on–"

She got up to go help him: she took the slice of pizza, and held it out above Tavros with one hand. The other hand gently seized his chin, making him look up and open his mouth. This way, he was able to eat all of the cheese properly, munching happily. Dave watched the whole thing, and finally said:

"Oh I see, she's not your girlfriend, she's your mom."

"I'm not his lusus!" she protested. "He's doing fine on his own!"

She frowned, and went back to her seat to resume eating. Tavros laughed nervously, and the conversation moved on to other topics. The pizzas quickly disappeared, leaving them completely stuffed. They then played video games and watched an ironically shitty movie with zombies (Get it? Because they're dead) during which Tavros was scared way more than he should have been. He spent the whole movie clinging onto Vriska's arm, shaking like jello in an earthquake.

Later on, Tavros and Vriska took their leave to go rest a bit. They were walking silently toward their hives, when Tavros finally said something that had seemed to bother him:

"About what you said earlier… Just because I can manage on my own doesn't mean I enjoy being on my own."

Vriska's eyes widened, and she might have blushed.

"You know, when your bubble crashed into mine, I was a bit scared. Since well uh…"

"I was a huge bitch?"

He chuckled.

"To be honest, I thought you were going to be mean to me… Uh, not like I want you to! I- I mean, you're fine like this! I mean, you've been really nice to me so uh… Thank you."

His voice betrayed his nervousness. She could now clearly feel the fires lit on her cheeks. It was a good thing the wind was blowing, she thought.

"Why are you thanking me, idiot" she said in a whisper.

She cleared her throat.

"I just did whatever I felt like, if that makes any sense."

Even if she said that, it wasn't fully making sense to herself. What was she feeling anyway? Whenever she started thinking about it, a tugging feeling appeared in her. Fuck. Oh fuck. Shit. No. What the hell was she even supposed to do? Damn. This couldn't be happening.

And yet, here she was, craving to hug him and tell him she was happy she had been able to meet with him once again. The idea of burying her face in the pleats of his t-shirt had never seemed so appealing, and it was using all of her self-control not to indulge that violent impulse. All of it. She just said:

"But yeah, it's a good thing I chanced upon you."

She paused.

"You know, I'm almost happy to be dead. Since I get to be here."

She closed her eyes, breathing the night air.

"I wish I could stay here forever."

"Nothing prevents you from doing so." he simply replied, looking at his feet. "Just do uh, what you want. If you want to stay, then stay. If you want to leave, I… well, uh, you can leave. Your decision."

But judging by his expression, her decision notwithstanding, he still had his own opinion on the matter. And despite his words, he didn't seem "0kay" with that.

"I won't." she said before thinking.

They looked at each other for some time, as if evaluating the proper response to such an underlying feelings jam. Both of them were blushing awfully, as if some sort of non-verbal blushing contest had been started at some point. Vriska cleared her throat once again. Tavros realized his feet had gotten bigger since his growth spurt. Vriska sighed, and finally said:

"Screw that."

"Huh?"

Now it was too late to back off. The gamble was on, and she had no way of knowing whether she was going to regret what she was about to do.

"I did that once, so I guess it's not a big deal. You'll be mad at me all you want after."

She grabbed his shirt and pulled him toward her. Her lips went to meet his just like during Sgrub. But this time, her intents were of much redder nature. And what followed was different too. He looked at her, not asking 'what the hell are you doing?', but 'are you sure?'.

For sole reply, she nibbled on his upper lip. So he advanced, holding her face as if to make sure this was really happening. Seeing how their hands were shakingly touching, caressing, pressing against each other's body, they both needed to make sure of the reality of this. He was clumsy as hell – they both were. But the amount of fucks that were given about this reached a staggering zero.

Their lips parted for some time to allow them to catch their breath; they looked into each other's eyes feverishly, as if looking away would break the spell, and make the moment disappear into nothingness. Vriska put her arms around his neck to pull their bodies closer, and his hands went to rest on her hips. The second kiss was longer, but not any less eager. Her fingers found their way in his hair, tenderly caressing it – as if to make up for all the time they hurt him. Their lips were locked together, like long-lost lovers reuniting after a war or, in their case, after their death. Despite that, there was no rush, because they knew they had all eternity for that – for so much more.

Tavros interrupted their kiss, and for a moment, Vriska was almost afraid he was going to say this was a mistake. He stuttered, blushing:

"Could we, uh, go inside? The idea that Dave can see us from his hive-thing is, uh, distracting. And, uh, kind of scary too, I guess."

Vriska's eyes widened, and she started laughing.

"Sure, where do we go then?"

"My hive?"

"First one to get there wins" she taunted.

"Bring it on" he replied with a grin.

They both went hurtling off, determined to win this childish race. Vriska had to go all-out to keep up with him – the damn kid had very long legs now that he had grown up. She barely arrived first, completely out of breath. He was breathing hard too, but this was nothing compared to her. They both let themselves fall down on the floor, catching their breath.

"I can't believe you… You're crazy!"

She laughed, half coughing.

"I don't care, I won!"

"Yeah, congratulations…"

He let out a satisfied a sigh.

"That was fun."

"Yeah" she smiled.

Some minutes had passed when he finally suggested:

"Maybe we should go sleep in the recuperacoon instead of uh, here?"

"I don't wanna get up…" she complained, lazily rolling on the floor.

"Don't be a grub Vriska."

She puffed her cheeks, pouting.

"Make me go then."

"Alright" he said, picking himself up. He took her hands, pulling her up. She wobbled – he frowned.

"You're not even trying!"

"Never said I would." she grinned.

"Oh I see. Then…"

He cleared his throat.

"I guess it's not a big deal since I've already done that." he said, pulling off his best Vriska impression. He lifted her, carrying her in a fashion that would be best described as "like a princess". She flailed her arms and her legs.

"Let me down!" she asked, her face entirely blue. "This is very embarrassing…! Wait, why do you mean by "already done that"?"

"Well, I've already carried you that way."

"When?"

"Remember when your bubble crashed into mine?"

"Ah!"

She blushed even more, and stopped moving around. He chuckled.

"Shall we go then?"

"Pfff, do whatever you want." she replied, pretending to pout. "… I hope I'm not too heavy at least."

"Not at all! Light as a feather!" he smiled.

"This is getting really embarrassing." she mumbled.

"Hehe, sorry about that."

"You're not going to let me walk?"

"Nope!"

"You're not cute."

"I know." he smiled.

"Okay, that was a lie." she said, kissing him unexpectedly – he almost dropped her because of the surprise. "You're reeeeaaaally cute!"

He stuttered, his cheeks all toffee-colored:

"Doing that when I can't react… That's low!"

"Let me down then"

"No."

And then he rushed to his respiteblock before she started putting up another struggle. He delicately put her down in his recuperacoon, and waved her goodbye.

"Good night" he smiled.

"Where are you going?"

"Well, there isn't enough space for the two of us so–"

"We'll manage! Come on."

He blushed a bit, but finally joined her. By the time he was done moving around to fit in the recuperacoon, she had fallen asleep. Damn spoor slime. She nuzzled against him in her sleep, and he soon joined her in the land of spoor slime and dreams.