Waking up in your bed and not remembering how you got there or who put you there is at the least, troubling. You're not sure whether you should be worried or grateful. Grateful you didn't wake up somewhere strange, or in the hospital, or tied to something. All of these things had happened to Tavros, so to wake up in his bed for a change was comforting.

The teen rubbed his foggy eyes and stared at the Peter Pan poster above his head. A soft smile appearing on his face as he looked at the youth in green spandex smiling down at him, oh how he wished he could be him, fly with him, or just go on an adventure like he did. Tavros rolled over and let out a long groan. He hurt. He hurt a lot.

Oh yeah….the alley…Gamzee!

Tavros sat up quickly and looked around his small apartment. The lanky teen was nowhere to be found. It was him that must have assured Tavros' safe return to his living space. The mohawked boy carefully swung his legs out of bed, wincing again as he did so, jeez it felt like he was hit by a truck. Oh well. At least he was in one piece.

Tavros looked at the clock on the kitchen microwave, 9:30am. Thank goodness it was Saturday. Otherwise he'd be late for school and thank goodness he didn't work last night, the last thing he wanted to do was to make his boss cross with him. It was pretty hard to do, but he still didn't want to do it.

Tavros yawned and limped into his small square bathroom, his eyes fell on a small framed picture of a kitten hanging onto a branch. A wide grin spread across his face, that picture was one of his favorites. He put it in the bathroom because he would shower when he was stressed. He loved sitting at the bottom of the shower, letting the hot water fall down onto him, and looking at the poster from bellow. He'd tell the little kitten to hang in there, and that he could do it.

Tavros dropped his dinosaur boxers to the tiled floor and stepped into the shower. He turned the spray on and shivered as the icy spray hit him in the face and chest. He sputtered and quickly turned it too hot. He let out a sigh as the water finally heated up. He turned it down a little and commenced washing himself.

Once he was finished with the shower he dried himself off and scooped up his boxers. Upon exiting the bathroom he deposited them into the hamper and headed to his set of drawers. He fussed with the key chains, once he was able to open the drawers; he pulled out a clean pair of Spiderman boxers. He tugged them on, looking down at himself with a grin. He loved Spiderman. The now boxer clad teen looked up and pulled a pair of black jeans from another drawer, tugging them on over said boxers. Tavros shut the container and opened another one, pulling out a black t-shirt with grey stripes across it. He tugged the shirt over his head and shut the drawer.

He shuffled back into the bathroom and quickly fixed his hair in the mirror. He exited the bathroom for good this time and went back to the drawers, wondering why he'd forgotten to get a clean pair of socks. He swore to himself that if his head wasn't attached as good as it was he'd leave it places. Tavros chuckled to himself at the thought, thinking it would be pretty funny if he left his head somewhere. He finished putting on his socks and he looked around for his sandals. Where did Gamzee put them?

He looked over the room and finally spotted them. His sandals sat on the floor at the foot of his bed. The teen wandered over to them and strapped them on over his socks. Once he was fully dressed he left his apartment, locking the door tight as he left. He shuddered at the cold, but he didn't want an incident like yesterday with the purple jacket. He'd rather be cold than beaten to a pulp…or beaten further into some unidentifiable mess, because at this point, he felt like pulp.

Tavros limped down the stairs and along the familiar street. He was heading to work, and he crossed his fingers that no one gave him trouble on the wa….never mind….

Tavros let out a long sigh as he saw Gamzee standing on the corner of the street across from him. Gamzee waved almost spastically at Tavros and ran across the street, paying no mind to the cars that honked and skidded out of the way, trying not to hit the irresponsible boy.

Gamzee slowed and walked next to Tavros," hey motherfucker! You're not wearin the coat!"

"Yeah because, um, I don't want to be, uh, beaten up again." Tavros said in an almost bitter tone as he trudged down the street, trying to limp a little faster. He wanted to get to work; he needed to get to work. Hanging out with Gamzee, or anything including the gangly boy, seemed to bring him trouble, so he'd rather their meeting be as short as possible.

"Oh its cool man, I sorted that shit out. You're safe lil bro. I made sure of it." Gamzee said smiling at him.

Tavros sighed and nodded," ok…thanks…I guess….um….and thanks for bringing me home…and um…..cleaning my face….I need to clean the blood and dirt, um, off the jacket…." Tavros said, trying to make a better excuse to why he's not wearing the gift of the other.

Gamzee nodded and patted his back," its cool bro! I feel ya." Gamzee said as he walked next to him," sooooo where you goin?"

"Work." Tavros said trying to sound as nice as he could. He was grateful to the other male, but he was still frustrated that his coat had gotten him beaten up. Now he had to explain to his boss what happened. That was never fun.

The two walked in silence for a long time until they came in front of a narrow, but tall book store, it looked as if it was being crushed between the buildings on either side of it," well this is where I go to work. Um…you should leave….thanks again…" Tavros mumbled as he turned his back to the building to face Gamzee.

He slowly raised his eyes from the ground to look over Gamzee. The gaunt boy wore dirty purple converse and baggy black pants. Patches were sewn into the knees and a few littered the rest of his pants, giving them an almost comical, clown like look.

His shirt was adorned with a rather scary looking clown face that made Tavros feel like he had indigestion. Over the shirt he wore, a new, but also newly blood stained, purple jacket.

His eyes traced up to finally look at Gamzee's face. A stupid smile was spread across Gamzee's face like someone had personally cut it into his pale skin. Thus it sat at a crooked angle.

Tavros avoided the gangster's eyes and went straight to his filthy blonde curls. Tavros wondered how Gamzee could stand to have his hair so dirty, so often. He fidgeted a little as he stared at a matted part on the side of Gamzee's head. It looked like the male had had a rough night and that he probably fell asleep somewhere less than savory.

Finally his eyes lowered to look into the other boy's eyes. Sapphire met Sky blue and the two stared at each other for a long while, as if the two were trying to read each other's minds.

Gamzee was the first to blink his light blue eyes and press a hand to Tavros' shoulder," ok lil bro. I'll up and leave." He smiled wider and turned, beginning to walk away. He quickly stopped and turned.

Tavros had turned too and had his hand on the doorknob of the shop he worked in, when Gamzee spoke again," yo lil motherfucker. I'm gonna up and meet you after work you dig? And walk you home man. So you don't up and get into some motherfuckin trouble like you did the other day. That cool? When you get off?"

Tavros blinked and with his hand still on the knob, he looked over his shoulder and bit his lip," um…uh…I…uh…get off…at…..8:00pm…." He quickly turned away and hurried into the building, shutting the door quickly behind him, not waiting for a response.

Gamzee smirked and watched him hurry away, responding after Tavros shut the door," alright my lil bro. I'll see you then." At that, Gamzee turned and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket. He pulled one from the pack and pressed it between his lips, depositing the pack back into his pocket. Once the pack was put away he pulled a lighter out of another pocket and quickly lit the cig, pocketing the lighter. He took one last look at the book store and puffed out a cloud of smoke, before he turned again and leaving Tavros to work.