You stumble through the door without looking at the number, slamming it shut behind you, and look around to see where you are.
"Kar." The whisper is coming from behind the long desk in what you see, as your eyes adjust to the dark, is the science lab. "Kar!" This time the top of a head, purple-streaked, lightning-horned and spikily pretentious, comes into sight over the front bench. "Over here."
Oh fuck. As if it isn't enough that your school's just been overrun by the walking dead, the universe has to take that extra dump on you and trap you in a room full of dead frogs and the so-far-out-of-your-league-he's-in-orbit object of the stupid, hopeless flushcrush you've been trying to discard since fifth grade.
"What the fuck are you even doing in here?" you hiss, ducking around the bench and shoving a stool aside to get under it.
"I was workin' on somethin', okay?" He sounds defensive, and that would make you suspicious if it weren't his default state, if Eridan Ampora wasn't the fairly elected Premier of Defensive, his only serious opposition for the post being you. He shifts over closer as you sit, taking up the space you were very careful to leave between you because you didn't want to look like you were hitting on him, god, who hits on people in the middle of a zombie invasion? (If they are zombies. You're not even sure, all you know is one of them looks a lot like the chem teacher who died last week and they all seem awfully interested in sucking vital fluids out of your classmates' brainstems, and you're not even going to talk about what they did to your lab partner's brother. You don't even like the guy, but fuck, that was harsh.) Besides, you don't want him to realise that not all of the candy-red blood splattered on your uniform comes from the humans.
"What kind of something? What could you possibly be working on that would make biology homework more interesting than, I don't know, not becoming George Fucking Romero's midnight snack?"
"Finding a vvaccine!"
Oh. You stare at him, and he smiles wanly back at you, and it's only as he puts a hand on yours that you realise his stutter's back. He spent sweeps working on getting rid of that, the weird way he would always stumble on his ws and vs and even though everyone ribbed him for it, you secretly hated that he stopped. It made you feel less alone.
You pull your hand back roughly so he can't feel your pulse racing, and hope it's dark enough in the lab that he can't see you blush.
"Ampora, that is the stupidest fucking attempt at heroism I've ever seen and as soon as they move on, we're getting out of here, okay?" You want to grab him by the arm and drag him out of the lab right now, but you can still hear noises in the corridor, so instead you draw your legs further in under the bench and if he's this hungry for physical contact, maybe you're not giving too much away by huddling against him. "But it was a really good thought."
He puts his arm around you in turn, and presses his lips lightly against the top of your, wait, what? That. That was a kis-
"Wwhat do you mean, a good thought, Kar?" He sounds smug, and you twist your head to look up at him as he continues, "I finished it."
"Then why the fuck are you still hiding in the lab like a rabbit with social anxiety disorder?"
"Just wwaitin' for it to take effect." He's grinning now, and his fangs look odd. Even sharper than usual and his face is still pale and now you think about it, his arm feels even colder than you expected from a seadweller and when he leans down to kiss you, so do his lips.
Take effect? You'd ask, but that would mean tearing yourself away from the moment you've dreamed of for sweeps and even you aren't enough of an idiot to do that, not when he's actually within reach. Damn, you feel dizzy, you didn't expect him to be such a good kisser and you certainly didn't expect to ever be in a position to judge, and when he finally pulls away, you can only stare up at him dumbly as he licks blood off his lips.
Red blood.
Fuck.
You try to squirm away, but his grip is like iron, like one of those things out there. "Oh god. Eridan, please, I -"
"Ssh, Kar." He presses a cold finger to your lips and you subside, shivering against his thorax. "It's okay, I alwways kneww there wwas somethin' different about you. But I'm beyond the haemospectrum noww, higher than all a them, and soon you're gonna be too."
"What." If your pulse was racing before, it's now doing an Olympic sprint against a hungry cheetah. "What are you talking about?" You're struggling for air and the room's spinning and your dizziness from the kiss never did go away... The kiss! "What did you do???"
"Wwhat I had to." You try to struggle again, but a wave of weakness washes over you, and you fall back against him. His voice is lazily satisfied as he explains, the stutter gone again. "The zombies are too strong, Kar. Too fast, too tough, too fuckin' hungry. We could never even get close to turnin' them back to what they were. But now we can be like they are, without losin' ourselves. Now we can fight back if we want. We can do whatever we want, you and me."
Oh god. Oh god no. He tips your head back again so he can stare into your eyes, and you wish you could blame your paralysis on some sort of mystical zombie hypnosis but you know it's your own stupidity, you let him kiss you, it's all your own fucking fault, it's always your fault. "No," you whisper, forcing the words through your dry squawkblister. "Please, no, Eridan you bulgeblistering moron, let me g-"
"I'm glad it was you," he says, stroking your hair, and your eyes close against your will. "I'm glad you were my second test subject, Kar, though I've gotta confess I don't know how well this next stage is gonna go. Sharin' body fluids is a tricky thing and if it doesn't wwork then I guess I'm sorry. But I couldn't just let you get eaten. Sol probably, maybe even Kan, but not you. You've got a better chance this way."
"Please -"
"Ssh," he whispers, kissing the rounded tip of your horn, and you shudder, though you're no longer cold. You're not warm either, just numb, and his voice is muffled. "You'll feel different about it when you wake up, I promise. I alwways did lovve you, Kar. And now I always can. See you on the other side."
FILL: TEAM GAMZEE<>KARKAT
You stumble through the door without looking at the number, slamming it shut behind you, and look around to see where you are.
"Kar." The whisper is coming from behind the long desk in what you see, as your eyes adjust to the dark, is the science lab. "Kar!" This time the top of a head, purple-streaked, lightning-horned and spikily pretentious, comes into sight over the front bench. "Over here."
Oh fuck. As if it isn't enough that your school's just been overrun by the walking dead, the universe has to take that extra dump on you and trap you in a room full of dead frogs and the so-far-out-of-your-league-he's-in-orbit object of the stupid, hopeless flushcrush you've been trying to discard since fifth grade.
"What the fuck are you even doing in here?" you hiss, ducking around the bench and shoving a stool aside to get under it.
"I was workin' on somethin', okay?" He sounds defensive, and that would make you suspicious if it weren't his default state, if Eridan Ampora wasn't the fairly elected Premier of Defensive, his only serious opposition for the post being you. He shifts over closer as you sit, taking up the space you were very careful to leave between you because you didn't want to look like you were hitting on him, god, who hits on people in the middle of a zombie invasion? (If they are zombies. You're not even sure, all you know is one of them looks a lot like the chem teacher who died last week and they all seem awfully interested in sucking vital fluids out of your classmates' brainstems, and you're not even going to talk about what they did to your lab partner's brother. You don't even like the guy, but fuck, that was harsh.) Besides, you don't want him to realise that not all of the candy-red blood splattered on your uniform comes from the humans.
"What kind of something? What could you possibly be working on that would make biology homework more interesting than, I don't know, not becoming George Fucking Romero's midnight snack?"
"Finding a vvaccine!"
Oh. You stare at him, and he smiles wanly back at you, and it's only as he puts a hand on yours that you realise his stutter's back. He spent sweeps working on getting rid of that, the weird way he would always stumble on his ws and vs and even though everyone ribbed him for it, you secretly hated that he stopped. It made you feel less alone.
You pull your hand back roughly so he can't feel your pulse racing, and hope it's dark enough in the lab that he can't see you blush.
"Ampora, that is the stupidest fucking attempt at heroism I've ever seen and as soon as they move on, we're getting out of here, okay?" You want to grab him by the arm and drag him out of the lab right now, but you can still hear noises in the corridor, so instead you draw your legs further in under the bench and if he's this hungry for physical contact, maybe you're not giving too much away by huddling against him. "But it was a really good thought."
He puts his arm around you in turn, and presses his lips lightly against the top of your, wait, what? That. That was a kis-
"Wwhat do you mean, a good thought, Kar?" He sounds smug, and you twist your head to look up at him as he continues, "I finished it."
"Then why the fuck are you still hiding in the lab like a rabbit with social anxiety disorder?"
"Just wwaitin' for it to take effect." He's grinning now, and his fangs look odd. Even sharper than usual and his face is still pale and now you think about it, his arm feels even colder than you expected from a seadweller and when he leans down to kiss you, so do his lips.
Take effect? You'd ask, but that would mean tearing yourself away from the moment you've dreamed of for sweeps and even you aren't enough of an idiot to do that, not when he's actually within reach. Damn, you feel dizzy, you didn't expect him to be such a good kisser and you certainly didn't expect to ever be in a position to judge, and when he finally pulls away, you can only stare up at him dumbly as he licks blood off his lips.
Red blood.
Fuck.
You try to squirm away, but his grip is like iron, like one of those things out there. "Oh god. Eridan, please, I -"
"Ssh, Kar." He presses a cold finger to your lips and you subside, shivering against his thorax. "It's okay, I alwways kneww there wwas somethin' different about you. But I'm beyond the haemospectrum noww, higher than all a them, and soon you're gonna be too."
"What." If your pulse was racing before, it's now doing an Olympic sprint against a hungry cheetah. "What are you talking about?" You're struggling for air and the room's spinning and your dizziness from the kiss never did go away... The kiss! "What did you do???"
"Wwhat I had to." You try to struggle again, but a wave of weakness washes over you, and you fall back against him. His voice is lazily satisfied as he explains, the stutter gone again. "The zombies are too strong, Kar. Too fast, too tough, too fuckin' hungry. We could never even get close to turnin' them back to what they were. But now we can be like they are, without losin' ourselves. Now we can fight back if we want. We can do whatever we want, you and me."
Oh god. Oh god no. He tips your head back again so he can stare into your eyes, and you wish you could blame your paralysis on some sort of mystical zombie hypnosis but you know it's your own stupidity, you let him kiss you, it's all your own fucking fault, it's always your fault. "No," you whisper, forcing the words through your dry squawkblister. "Please, no, Eridan you bulgeblistering moron, let me g-"
"I'm glad it was you," he says, stroking your hair, and your eyes close against your will. "I'm glad you were my second test subject, Kar, though I've gotta confess I don't know how well this next stage is gonna go. Sharin' body fluids is a tricky thing and if it doesn't wwork then I guess I'm sorry. But I couldn't just let you get eaten. Sol probably, maybe even Kan, but not you. You've got a better chance this way."
"Please -"
"Ssh," he whispers, kissing the rounded tip of your horn, and you shudder, though you're no longer cold. You're not warm either, just numb, and his voice is muffled. "You'll feel different about it when you wake up, I promise. I alwways did lovve you, Kar. And now I always can. See you on the other side."
If he says anything more, you don't hear it.