A/N: Ugh...being sick sucks so very much..Here's a chapter for you lovelies~


If there was one thing that Tavros had been able to despise more than anything else, it was his tendency to stutter. He never meant to do such a thing, it usually just happened without him meaning to. He would try to speak a sentence and halfway through stumble or stutter, much to his chagrin. Vriska would comment on it in a horribly rude, condescending manner and it lower his self esteem even more to a point where he'd usually pick out his words carefully. Normally he'd just stay quiet and not speak much, in fear that if he tried, he'd end up messing up again and people would mock him for it.

It was a senseless thing to grow upset over to most people but to him, it meant a whole lot more.

Today he had done it again. He'd been buying groceries from the store and when he had come up to the cashier, he stumbled over his words when he was asked a question. The cashier had asked for him to repeat himself with a questionable sort of look and Tavros refused to restate the sentence, his face a bright red. Eventually he had managed to squeak out a sentence and speed walk out of the store. Just as he thought he'd get a sliver of freedom from speaking to anyone else, he ran into Terezi. It would've been fine but Vriska had popped up a few minutes after, malicious smirk full blown once she saw him.

He tried to get away but Vriska dragged him back and engaged in a partly one-way conversation. She aggressively forced responses from him when he wouldn't talk and when he did speak, he stuttered. And Vriska would cackle, ridiculing him for his stupidity and speech impediments. Terezi managed to tug her away and drag her off, tossing an apology back at Tavros as they left.

He had dragged himself the rest of the way back with a dejected look. He refused to answer his brother and father, who prodded with concerned questions and dropped off the groceries. After that, he went upstairs and locked himself in his room, covering himself with his blanket with a faint whimper.

Gamzee was relaxing at his own home when he got a call from Rufioh that spoke of how Tavros seemed down in the dumps. Of course, Gamzee smiled and replied with a cheery affirmative, quickly putting on some decent clothes and heading over to the Nitram household. He made it in a few minutes and was greeted briskly as he strode upstairs. He had been a bit deterred when he found out the door was locked and knocked gently.

"Hey Tav? You doing alright there brother?"

Tavros shuffled a bit in his covers at the faint sound of his friend's voice.

"Uh..y-yeah I'm fine."

Damn it, he had done it again. That made him wriggle even further into his blanket, biting his lip. Gamzee frowned slightly, his hand falling to his side as he heard the hesitance.

"Wanna be opening up and let a motherfucker in?"

Tavros stayed underneath the covers, silent, for a few minutes before getting up and opening the door. Gamzee finally allowed a small smile to show as he saw his friend and made his way into the room, plopping onto the bed with a small grunt. Tavros shut his door once more and leaned against the door quietly, eyes trained on his feet. The other took notice of this and pursed his lips, patting the bed. Tavros obeyed and sat by him, still dead-set on remaining silent.

"A'ight Tavros, can ya'll tell me what's going on? I'm all kinds motherfucking worried about you seeing as you ain't speaking up too much. Something went down today? You sick?"

Tavros felt a little bad about not answering even though it was perfectly clear the other was worried about him. He sighed and finally spoke up albeit meekly.

"W-Well..I just don't feel like t-talking.."

Gamzee didn't reply, a signal for him to continue.

"I-I stutter too much and..i-it makes me so self-conscious because..I'm worried people will make fun of me, even if they don't show it."

"Man, you shouldn't be all down about th-"

"But I am! It's terrible when I stutter because I can't speak up anymore after. I feel embarrassed and I just want to crawl somewhere and die. Vriska constantly makes fun of me for it and I try to keep my words even b-but I can't and..."

He bit his lip and bowed his head, not wanting to go on. Gamzee blinked, speechless for a moment before a deep chuckle escaped him. Tavros lifted his head to stare at him in confusion. The other merely laughed even more and it went on for a minute.

"You know Tav, you only stuttered once when you up and recited them wicked words to a brother."

"Huh?"

His eyes widened in surprise as he realized this. He really hadn't faltered much in that sentence. He spoke confidently as he told Gamzee how he felt about his issue and he hadn't messed up. Gamzee grinned and ruffled his hair, prompting a satisfied smile from Tavros.

"I didn't. I really didn't stutter."

"And you know what? It ain't too bad when you messing up either. Don't be letting them other motherfuckers get you down about shit you ain't even able to control. You can overpower that noise whenever you be feeling it."

"Hehe. H-Hey, you're right! Oops.."

Gamzee chuckled and Tavros followed suit. Yeah, it wasn't so bad when he had issues like that. Especially if he had someone to help him through when he got sad about it.