Chapter Text
Tavros was drowning in noise.
His head ached from the moment he stepped into the club’s doors, wincing at the sheer volume of the near deafening room. But Aradia still pushed him along to the bar, holding his hand with a firm grip whilst carefully navigating around people who were otherwise occupied. She looked back on him occasionally to smile somewhat excitedly and Tavros attempted to return it but it came out more wobbly around the edges than he intended.
By the time they made it to the overcrowded bar, Tavros was already aching to go home. But as he opened his mouth to voice this opinion, Aradia already had a hand over it.
“We just got here and we are going to have a good time.” She said firmly, her eyes were stern and her full lips pouted without meaning to. “No complaining, or ditching—you promised, Tavros!”
Tavros struggled to say something to get him out of this, hands twisting wearily, but in the end after another stern glare, he slumped his shoulders and collapsed into a seat at the bar. “Alright, alright! But you owe me. BIG.” He grumbled, refusing to admit that he was sulking.
“One sleepover and a new fiduspawn deck at your service!” Aradia called out in an almost sing-song voice, and Tavros unwillingly felt the corners of his mouth twitch up.
“A weeks’ worth of sleepovers and—and THREE fiduspawn decks!” He countered, shooting her a teasing grin. He heard Aradia giggle and take a seat beside him, carefully arranging her short dress in her lap. Tavros glanced over his well-dressed female friend, who as always looked absolutely stunning and exotic. She usually denied it, but Aradia was in her element: Deep reds colored her body, with simple satin and lacy breathable cotton adorning her, but in a tasteful way, as the fabric draped around her shoulders weightlessly and the different shades of reds brought out the burgundy color of her eyes.
She flashed a playful smile at him, batting her eyes at him when she noticed him staring. Tavros chortled and pushed her slightly causing her to laugh delightfully before paging the bartender. This is where Tavros began to frown. Only Aradia knew what he was like when he was drunk. And it wasn’t pleasant. But luckily, to the surprise of popular belief, Tavros could hold his liquor well.
Aradia… didn’t.
“You should, uh, be a bit careful! I wanna walk out of here alive.” Tavros reminded her, half-serious and half-joking while motioning to the door. Aradia rolled her eyes and order three shots, much to Tavros’ disapproval. “Two already—“
“Nuh-uh!” She said triumphant when the bartender came back with cookies and cream tequila shots. Aradia shoved two shots towards him, before cradling one to herself. “You are going to get tipsy tonight! You’ve been complaining and stressed about finals for weeks! You need to get all that stress out of your system and have fun.” She pursed her lips together, brows furring, before she allowed a shrewd smile to grace her face. “If you remember what fun is, big boy.”
“Ugh! Aradia, enough with the lame puns!” Tavros groaned, his forehead hitting his hand. He looked at the shots with a grimace before deadpanning. “I said I’d go with you Aradia, but I never said anything about getting incoherent!”
“No way!” Aradia scowled, stressing the ‘o’, with a deep frown, which Tavros knew was the start of Aradia becoming irrefutably bullheaded. He sighed, knowing that he wasn’t going to get out this so easily. With a deep breath, Tavros downed one of his shots, feeling the melting burn in this throat with the sweetness of cream and chocolate. He downed the next one with just as much ease, knowing it would kick in later.
“Happy!” He barked and Aradia just cheered, downing her single shot before slapping a ten dollar bill on the counter. Tavros just rolled his eyes, before taking it and slapping two fives down and giving her one. With a grateful smile, she sledded out of her seat with much grace and hooked her arm with his, much to his confusion.
“What’s with the, um—?” He raised an eyebrow, as she linked their fingers together.
“Major creeper to three seats to the right!” Aradia said with a straight face, and Tavros would’ve glanced over to see but he knew better. Instead he wrapped a hand around her waist daintily and led her into the crowded dance floor.
Tavros didn’t club very often due to the fact that he was terribly self-conscious with himself, but Aradia constantly reassured him he was ‘decent’ at dancing. He’d usually snorted during those omissions because anyone who knew Aradia knew she was a dancing goddess. There was a reason for her being in her element. Aradia frowned at him, suddenly pulling him into a standstill when they were successfully unseen with the massive moving bodies around him. “And before I forget…” She said, barely heard over the noise of the crowd. Her hands were suddenly on his shirt, and—pop, pop, pop!—the first three buttons where effectively popped off, partially showing his bared chest.
“J-Jesus fucking Christ, Aradia!” He scrambled to close his shirt, yelping at the unseen heat on his skin. “What the hell are you doing!?”
“Making sure you get laid!” She crackled mischievously, before turning tail and running into the crowd, disappearing with ease.
Okay, okay now Tavros had every reason to ditch her and run out the club and never look back, not caring what happened to her, despite the amount of alcohol she might consume and the massive number of creepers who might take advantage of her drunken state—
…Crap. Tavros sighed in vain and shoved his way back to the bar. He was such a soft touch.
He took a seat again, but this time he snuck into a more recluse part of the bar where the music wasn’t assaulting his ears too much and he could actually hear himself think. He was still feeling uncomfortable in his exposed shirt though Tavros had dressed appropriately for club attire, however Kanaya and Aradia would define it as ‘boring’: a simple dark colored button up shirt, and loose slacks along with comfortable shoes.
Aradia was telling the truth though. He had been stressed about his upcoming engineer finals, to the point where he was constantly cramming for reviews and study sessions. Tavros didn’t even like the subject, but he wanted to make his father realize that he was capable to taking care of himself with or without a ‘suitable’ degree. He couldn’t wait until he got the acceptance letter to veterinary school. But Tavros honestly didn’t know if his recommendations were strong enough and he’d been anxious about it—
“Ugh,” Tavros groaned aloud, before paging the bartender. Aradia might be right for once—he promptly ignored the little voice that said ‘always’—and ordered another drink. Or two.
=
Tavros sighed happily, feeling the effects of the alcohol running through his system easily. He wasn’t quite drunk but he was contently buzzed enough to ignore the heavily booming of the music vibrating throughout the club. He listened to the laughter and chatter all around him, before he gave into the urge to people watch. Tavros turned around in his seat, his back leaning against the counter as he nursed his drink, looking at the dancers, the drunks, and the overall liveliness of the club. He could now appreciate the breeze against his chest, with the suffocating heat of the club warming him head to toe. He made sure to keep an eye out for Aradia, but in all honesty, he knew she knew where he was and would come to him in case of anything.
And in all honesty… Tavros was bored. Terribly bored. And kinda lonely.
Tavros fingered the rim of his drink with a tiny frown. With his guard at all-time low, he allowed himself to think about things he normally did not. Other than the stress from studying and work, Tavros had been feeling something else. His last relationship crashed and burned in a fiery mess that he wasn’t sure he’d recover from. Luckily, Aradia was there to help him build himself back up again. But thing was, he’d hadn’t dated in almost a year. And Aradia knew him better than he almost knew himself. This was her way of telling him to get back in the game, to let go. Tavros found his face giving way to a soft smile at the thought of his friend’s endearing way of caring.
Though, it’s a bit unorthodox, he snickered at his open shirt.
But that didn’t mean Tavros wasn’t still painfully bored. He huff his cheek and slouched childishly against the bar. Leaving me here, all alone, surrounded by strangers, wanting me to have sex. Yep, the best friend in the flipping world. He refused to believe he was pouting. That was Aradia’s job.
With a great exaggerated sigh of boredom, Tavros began to list the things he’d rather be doing in his head. He made it a game as he lazily sipped his cup—the more he could list, the more he could complain to Aradia later. Tavros grinned, That sounds about right.
But as he did, he didn’t notice the approaching stranger. In fact, he didn’t even notice when the said stranger took a seat beside him, or when the stranger was looking over at him. It was only until Tavros started listening off the monsters in his Fiduspawn decks he’d rather be organizing did he notice.
Only because the stranger burst out into laughter.
“S-Shit!” Tavros started, almost falling out of his seat, fumbling desperately with his drink unsteadily before setting it down. He sputtered out semi-apologizes and attempted demands of indignation. The stranger was still snickering by the time Tavros regained flustered composure. “Wha-what was that for?” He grumbled, looking away in partial embarrassment and annoyance.
“You were talking aloud, bro. Shit was hilarious!” The man barked out another laugh when Tavros began to sink in his seat in mortification. He didn’t even notice. Ugh, I’m never going to a club again! “Don’t even worry about it. It was kinda…. motherfucking cute.”
The man gave a secretive smile before turning forward to page the bartender. Tavros blinked at his feet. Pause.
Tavros snapped his head up so fast it hurt—but he stared, unabashed and almost stupidly for a good second before turning away, startled at the heated blush that adorned his cheeks. He honestly didn’t know how he felt about that. In fact, Tavros was wondering what the hell just happened, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly self-conscious about his open shirt again. ¡Mierda! Aradia is somewhere no doubt crackling! The somewhat tipsy feeling faded fast and so did his confidence as Tavros glanced over at the stranger through his eyelashes.
He almost started again upon noticing the man’s makeup, or rather face paint, for the first time. White smeared across his face as his eyes and mouth were decorated in a dark gray undertone: the man looked intimidating but also…intriguing. Because other than his rather startling makeup, he looked…quite handsome. Tavros ignore the voice that screamed ‘bloody fucking hot’, and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The man was wearing a fitted white wife beater with a loose black overshirt, sleeves rolled up, that showed plenty of muscle and collarbones—Tavros mentally pushed all thoughts in a dark corner of his mind—dark-washed jeans, worn and ripped in random places, practically in halves at the knees, and well broken into purple converses. Surprisingly, Tavros could tell that, despite his attire, he wasn’t here for the sights of the club. The stranger almost looked bored.
Suddenly he blanched, surprised that his eyes roamed as a much as they did. He turned his head away again sharply, honestly flustered and scolding himself for such behavior. So what if Tavros hadn’t had a stable relationship in months, that didn’t mean he could ogle every hot man in sight despite the fact he practically could hear Aradia’ voice chiming, ‘yes you can, of course you can, get laid, get laaaid.’
There shall be no such thing going on tonight, Tavros thought flustering again, downing his shot, determined to get rid of any unsightly thoughts. It was counterproductive as another rush of heat wash through his body. Oh god—
“Hey, brother. You sure you can handle drinking like that?” The man’s voice drawled out easily, though barely heard over the noise it still caught Tavros’ attention again. The stranger was staring at him lazily, with dark eyes flickering, now sipping on his glass of rum and coke. Tavros felt himself flush under the attention, fidgeting obviously.
“Des-Despite how I may look, I can kinda hold my alcohol well.” Was it possible to drown oneself in their shot glass? Tavros was tempted to try.
But the man gave another hearty laugh, and no Tavros didn’t watch the way his eyes crinkle, or listen to the deep rumble coming from his chest— “Well then, motherfucker, ain’t that something.” The man paused for a moment as if to think before he gave a smile, eyes half-lid, “My name’s Gamzee. You?”
“Tavros,” He felt an unexpected flare of heat run through him when the man named Gamzee repeated his name under this breathe as if to taste it.
“So, Tavros. Care to explain why a cute motherfucker like you is doing all by his lonesome?” Apparently he had Gamzee’s undivided attention as he leaned towards him expectantly.
The brash, bold flirting made Tavros feel dizzy. “I’m with someone but she, um, left to dance. So yeah…”
“I see…” Gamzee’s voice was virtually the same, but it felt almost tinted with something Tavros could not pinpoint. The juggalo shrugged easily and raised his glass slightly, gesturing to Tavros’, “If that’s the case, can I occupy your time for the time being?”
“Well, sure, if you want to.” To say he was flattered and all types of embarrassed was an understatement as he raised his empty shot glass to allow Gamzee to clang it against his with a chuckle. “But thanks, I guess. I mean, I’m really glad to meet someone here. I was actually really bored.”
Where’s a hole when you need one? Tavros wanted to crawl under a rock, embarrassed with his overly honest omission, scratching his cheek in attempt to get rid of the flush. But Gamzee just nodded, understanding. “I get where you’re coming from, Tavros. Other than my best bro who kinda left to get his flirt on, I’m pretty much on my own. But not anymore at least. “
At Gamzee’s wink, Tavros felt all too familiar feelings of attraction hitting him like a brick wall. He glanced down at his empty shot glass and tried to gathered courage. He deserved to be a little happy, right? Just a little, Tavros thought as he glanced at Gamzee’s unique features that seemed so interested in him of all people. Tavros could flirt back—of course he can, no doubt about it, yep, any day now-
“Same here. If anything is going right tonight, well, it’s meeting you.” Now the way Tavros’s heart sped up when Gamzee’s face lit up behind his face paint, a grin stretching across his face, was entirely unacceptable.
“Much appreciated. Glad I could be of some good company.” But Tavros couldn’t help but find it endearing the way Gamzee’s eyes never strayed from him and how wanted they made him feel. Something Tavros had forgotten others could feel about him. “So why don’t you up and tell a motherfucker about yourself.”
“Oh, um, I’m nothing particularly interesting. You-you first.” Tavros picked at his sleeves, suddenly afraid of boring the man.
He suddenly felt a hand grab his wrist. Tavros snapped his head upwards and his eyes locked once again with dark ones. This close he could see flicks of violet and greys color them. Gamzee’s expression was soft. “Well right now, to me, there’s no one more interesting. So don’t be afraid.”
Of what— Tavros’ heart caught in his throat, eyes searching the man’s beside him. Myself? You? This absurdly insane attraction? But he held his breath, scared that it would break the spell. But Gamzee didn’t let go, nor did he look away. Not once. That was enough.
“Alright,” Tavros finally breathe out, laughing almost breathlessly. The smile breaking across his face felt abruptly and painfully wide and probably made him look like a total dork. But Tavros couldn’t even bring himself to care because Gamzee broke into a broad teeth-baring grin before giving this almost embarrassing honk of laugh that Tavros made crack up into his stupid hiccuping laugh which made them start laughing for no reason whatsoever but just because—
Once they calm down, Tavros glanced at Gamzee under his lashes again. This time, his eyes were probably a little glossy as he not only felt captivated by Gamzee but at home, completely comfortable in his own skin now. His cheeks colored deeply from the bountiful laughter, the alcohol, and the pleasant trill of attraction running through him.
“Heh, well, my name is Tavros Nitram and I’m studying engineering, and I absolutely hate it-”
He couldn’t ignore the hand still loosely wrapped around wrist.