(no subject)

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

Nobody talked to the kid with the dreads.

Nobody knew if he'd been held back with the jocks, or if he'd just hit the world's worst growth spurt, but the long, lanky highblood seemed to top everyone else in stature, even the select little clique of seadwellers, all of whom had taken to muttering about him indiscreetly. Of course, it didn't help his image that he wandered the halls with the dazed expression of the perpetually baked. He'd already been forced to stop painting his face by the faculty to keep from distracting others in his classes. As if that was really what everyone was focusing on.

He was intelligent, even brilliant according to some of the instructors, but that didn't count for anything when none of his homework was turned in, either coming up missing or simply forgotten, or occasionally doodled on. He never took notes and rarely remembered to bring his textbooks. The only class he did well in, for that matter, was his visual arts elective and even then, he rarely stayed on task, often speeding through the lessons then slinking away to one of the broken-down loveseats what were used for the occasional sit-in model for life drawing sessions.

He was a flake, and ninety percent of the time, he was alone.

Fourth block Gym was never something that he participated in. He simply stayed long enough to be counted there for role call, then slipped out easily to settle down behind the gymnasium where the security guards never went, sitting on the ground in the shade in his gym clothes and packing a bowl out of sight where the smoke would be whipped away by the breeze.

Comments

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

"Pretty sure Cro drank it all," Gamzee replied arounda mouthful of rice, having already checked the fridge for something to drink in thetime that Eridan had been inside. He didn't really mind though, the bottle of water sitting beside his plate enough for him. There was a notepad in his lap, half a page full of scribbles in just those few minutes he'd been left alone.

When they had finished eating Gamzee took the plates into the kitchen, mentioning offhand that his steak was a little overdone and the rice slightly undercooked, as well as a plethora of small comments about the flavor, both positive and negative. He returned to flop down on the floor beside the coffee table, sprawled out comfortably on the plush carpet.

[princeofmelodrama]

Eridan listened to Gamzee's comments about the dinner, smiling fondly as he did, dragging the blankets down from the chair to pile over himself as he slid the notepad towards himself to get a better look at the doodles. He traced the lines of one more finished design with a fingertip and smiled a little, looking over at Gamzee as he sprawled down on the floor. "I don't understand artists," he admitted. "How you function, how you manage to put onto paper what's in your pan." He slid the notepad back to Gamzee and sighed quietly. "If I had that kinda ability, I'd be drawin' all day."

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

"You don't wanna see what's really in my pan, man." Shaking his head, Gamzee rolled over and prodded Eridan's knee. "How about you try drawin' then. It really ain't as hard as people think it is."

[princeofmelodrama]

Eridan raised an eyebrow to the first, then shook his head to the second. "No," he clarified, "my thoughts aren't as visual, they're actions, arrangements, scripts an' schedules. Not images like yours must be." He stretched and got a good pop out of his spine near his shoulder blades, and then curled back up, sniffling again. "I'm also fairly rubbish at keepin' my temper when things don't go accordin' to plan. All the artists I've met have all said the same thing; their art is never the same in their mind as it is on the page."

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

"Yeah,I don't know that I could recreate what's in my pan on paper. It'd have to be some three dimensional kinetic shit. I ain't all that great with sculpture." Gamzee lifted his legs up to rest on the seat of the chair beside him, his hands folded on his stomach. He looked at Eridan upside down as much as he could manage until his horns impeded his movement. "Besides, that stuff I put on the walls is better anyway."

[princeofmelodrama]

Eridan managed to pull himself closer to Gamzee, though no less upside down by the highblood's perspective, before giving up entirely on movement at large, and becoming mostly a heap of blanket and dual-colored hair. "You'll have to take me 'round to see 'em all some time. I'm sure I've missed quite a few, since I only ever saw the ones downtown an' the ones at the pier."

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

"All that's probably my better work anyway," Gamzee shrugged then slunk half under the blankets as well, laying his head on theother's back and scratching his nails through the back of his friend's hair gently. "Y'know, this would prob'ly be a lot more motherfuckin' comfortable somewhere not the floor."

[princeofmelodrama]

Even though he was perfectly comfortable - especially due to the scalp massage - with a completely put-upon sigh, Eridan looked up at the overlarge couch nearby and then slipped his arm over Gamzee's shoulder. "Three feet's an awfully long way to go, and then there's the vertical movement required to get back on cushions." He shook his head, careful not to knock his horns against Gamzee's, and sighed once more. "It's a matter of wantin' to move vice the motivation or lack thereof."

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

"Effort," Gamzee whined, still smiling as he rolled over to continue harassing Eridan and his hair, ending up mostly lying on top of him. He started to scratch his nails lightly behind Eridan's ears out of a combination of boredom and curiosity. "Could just stay right here on the floor under the blankets for the rest of the night. Don't think anyone else would give half a shit."

[princeofmelodrama]

Eridan squirmed minutely under Gamzee to get comfortable, and bowed his head forward with a slight blush coming over his cheeks with the scratch behind his fins. "No, I doubt they would," he agreed. With the feeling of Gamzee's nails so close to his neck, he couldn't stop himself from remembering earlier and he started to glow again, the patterning of his back glowing from under his sweater. "It's almost cozy enough," he murmured, trying to ignore his own reaction to his thoughts and Gamzee's ministrations, "although if we put the effort in gettin' the pillows from the couch, we might as well just get on the couch."

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

Gamzee glanced down at the sudden glow and lifted up the collar of Eridan's shirt just enough to bhe able to see the irregular pattern of spots glowing underneath the other's clothes. "Really do got all them little motherfuckin' dots everywhere, don'tcha," he chuckled and dragged the tip of his finger over a cluster of them.

[princeofmelodrama]

With the pressure on them, they only glowed brighter, and Eridan blushed, putting his face into his arms. "Most everywhere," he admitted with a grimace. "Legs don't have many, but from my hips up's a fuckin' clusterfuck a them." He brought his left arm up and rolled up his sleeve to show that on that arm, they went nearly to his wrist. "It's useful gettin' through dark water at night, but otherwise..." he shook his head. It was embarrassing. "Always had the ones on my face, but the ones all over my back started croppin' up en masse a few years ago, an' they're just gettin' more an' more."

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

"Might like to see you all motherfuckin' sparkly some time," Gamzee murmured, scratching the end of his claw across the spots lightly then sitting up, taking his weight off of Eridan finally and crawling up onto the couch with one of the blankets. "Yo, I'mma sleep here tonight alright? Wouldn't really feel right invadin' the bed here if you're already stayin' in it." Not that he didn't want to. He just didn't want to overstep any bounds that might have been put down. Not yet. He had started to believe he had when he'd first kissed Eridan, before it had been reciprocated. Now he was simply feeling out the relationship in the hopes that he wouldn't potentially make some asanine screwup that would endanger the seadweller in any way. Nonetheless he dragged the back of his finger down the line if Eridan's jaw, his thumb running over the pattern of spots again.

[princeofmelodrama]

With Gamzee's retreat, Eridan also sat up and slipped near the sofa, which was deep enough to hold both of them easily and comfortably. "I wouldn't dream a lettin' you sleep out here on your own," he said with a smile. "I've got my own bedroom an' can go there if it's important to me. There's no edict that I must, however, and until I hear otherwise, it'd be rude a me to take the guest bed when a guest is here." He sprawled up onto the sofa beside Gamzee, dragging the blanket over himself and the highblood.

"An' so long as we can behave ourselves and show no signs a grades fallin' or bad habits formin'," he teased quietly, slipping close enough to press his lips against Gamzee's unwounded cheek, his hand trailing up against Gamzee's shoulder and the curve of his neck, "I'm positive that there won't be limits to what time we do spend together."

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

"Knowin' what little I know about your dad, ain't no way he'd want me associatin' with you if my grades weren't all motherfuckin' sparkly." Shaking his head some, Gamzee offered a soft smile and nudged his forehead against Eridan's then ducked his head under the covers, simply laying his head against the other's chest, his ear flat against the front of Eridan's shirt.

[princeofmelodrama]

"You get a pass from that, because you're bein' tutored by me." Eridan said with a drowsy gaze downward, bringing his hand up between Gamzee's horns to brush his nails against the scalp between the dreads. He quieted as he reached his other hand up to tuck a pillow under his head. His glow had slowly faded off and left them in relative darkness.

It was a few minutes before he spoke again. "I'm glad you're here, Gam. You didn't have to come with, but you did an' I'm so, so grateful."

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

"I wanted to come," Gamzee replied, running his arms around Eridan's waist and holding onto him loosely, starting to doze off in place. His legs tangled with Eridan's loosely and he couldn't help but yawn widely into his stomach. He was able to fall asleep easily there under the blankets wrapped around Eridan, giving a soft purr at the scratching across his scalp. He knew to move carefully to keep from gouging Eridan with his horns, then fell completely still as he fell asleep.

Overnight it started to rain, dropping the outside temperature even further, reinforcing how bad their colds were bound to become. When they poked their heads outside, there were also clear tracks leading from the house to the window that looked in on the living area where they'd curled up for the night on the couch. Gamzee didn't seem to mind, or if he did he didn't make any indication of it.

"Think they'd let us stay home outta the cold for the day?" Gamzee muttered hopefully, looking back at Eridan then starting back inside before remembering the plan that they had made the night before to discuss possible employment and at least temporary sanctuary from the GHB.

[princeofmelodrama]

Stupid Cro. Eridan recognized the footprints as his brother's by the gait alone - if they had been Dualscar's, they would have been spaced much farther apart. Eridan was bundled tight in a blanket as he walked to the house, glad to get out of the chill and rain, looking as miserable as he felt. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were ringed even darker than usual, as he punched the buttons of the security lock of the main house. "Probably," he responded, his nose fully stuffy. "We'll have to talk to father about gettin' you workin' for us anyway, so let's just get it over with."

He shuffled miserably to the office of his guardian, knocking quietly and being bade to come in. He walked in first and waited for Gamzee to walk beside him. "Two things," Eridan said as he walked in front of the large desk, head bowed sheepishly. "I need to take off on account a the cold."

"Granted," came the gruff and professional response of the large seadweller.

"An' more important," Eridan continued, shifting his weight nervously to his other foot. "I wish to vouch for Gam as a potential errand runner for you. His work for the Grand Highblood," even saying Gamzee's guardian's title made a chill run up his spine, "is not suitable to his natural talents, an' he'd be far more an asset workin' for us than for his guardian." He looked over to Gamzee and then back to Dualscar. "If you don't need another worker, I'd like to become Gam's patron, an' commission him for artwork. Surely you've seen his work near the piers, an' on the abandoned warehouse near your dock?"

Dualscar sat back and folded his hands before him on his desk, looking between the two boys, considering the situation. He had far more information than Eridan had offered him about Gamzee, and likely more than Gamzee would freely give about himself. It seemed like close to eternity as he thought it over, and Eridan shifted in his spot nervously, still bundled in the blanket, his eyes large and hopeful.

It was like he was trying to make them nervous.

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

Gamzee stood up about as straight as he ever did, looking up at Dualscar steadily. He hadn't smoked in overtwenty-four hours and he was frighteningly clear-headed, his expression deadpan rather than his usual drugged smile. He waited in silence, his hands held down at his sides rather than taking hold of Eridan's like he so bacly wanted to. He was reasonably intimidated, but he dared not let it show.

[princeofmelodrama]

With a final fidget from his son, Dualscar's smile spread amicably and he offered a hand over the desk to Gamzee for him to shake. "We'll get the paperwork put together later this afternoon. After all, we want to make this official an' irrefutable as possible for your guardian, right?" He gave a gruff chuckle and a sly, but strangely friendly smile for someone with so many teeth.

Eridan let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding and smiled in relief, bowing his head in thanks to his guardian. "Thank you, father," he said, clear as he could with as stuffy as he was.

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

Gamzee stepped forward, offering his hand with a soft, grateful smile. He may not have given two shits about the hierarchy of the blood castes but he did know a thing or two about respect, and he knew very well that what Dualscar was doing for him was both dangerous, and could potentially end up sparing him a painful beating. The Grand Highblood wouldn't kill him, not while he could still be useful, but there was a violent streak in him a lightyear long and just as wide. Gamzee would just as soon rather stay very far away from him after this development.

After shaking hands with Dualscar Gamzee returned to Eridan's side, finally taking his hand and leaning against him, finally dropping the propriety long enough to sniffle and fish around for the tissues, trying to nudge him in the direction of somewhere they could lay down and be miserable together out of the way.

[princeofmelodrama]

Dualscar waved them off with a shake of his head, huffing a chuckle to himself and muttering about how it took them long enough, before going back to work. Eridan took Gamzee's hand and squeezed it tight, shuffling off and leading the way to another part of the house that Gamzee had yet to see. It was Eridan's respiteblock, with sofas that were plush but were fit to younger - or simply smaller - trolls, with a wall covered in shelves. It was large and the only real indicator that it was his respiteblock, and not another lounge, was the recouprecoon and bed off behing some folding screens in one corner. He took a seat on one corner of a sofa and motioned for Gamzee to join him.

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

Gamzee crawled onto the sofa and curled up there beside him, nearly lying down in his lap as he pulled his blanket up to his nose. He said a quiet thanks then fell silent again, already ready to go back to sleep and at least in Eridan's block, they would be able to do so in privacy, or at least that was what he hoped. Especially since Cronus was likely to either be gone by now, or else he would be soon. He seemed to be of a hardier disposition than Eridan at least, meaning the cold wouldn't have affected him quite as badly. Gamzee's immune system had already been compromised by the chill of his night outside; now it was just a matter of getting healthy again so that he could really do whatever it was Dualscar might decide for him. He smiled faintly out of sight and groped around for Eridan's hand again, lacing their fingers together loosely under the blankets.

[princeofmelodrama]

For the amount of webbing he had between his fingers, Eridan managed to hold Gamzee's hand well and firmly. He shifted to wrap his arms around the highblood while pressing close to him, if only to better share their blankets. He smiled as he rested his forehead against Gamzee's, and murmured, "your moirail might have another think about royalty once you tell him about this."

[cookinglikeamotherfucker]

Gamzee smiled a little more widely, pressing the back of Eridan's hand against his cheek and closing his eyes. "About your family, maybe. But highbloods in general are always gonna be on his shit list."