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Jade kicks off her shoes at the entrance to their room, trying to aim for Tavros' legs, which are standing at wobbly attention in the corner. The left shoe goes wide, skittering up against one of Gamzee's trainers, and she sticks out her tongue at it. "Ugggh," she says, but quietly. If Tavros' legs are off, he's probably in the recuperacoon, which means he's probably had the kind of day she has.
"That ain't a good sound, chica," says Gamzee. He's hidden by the couch, but he sticks up one hand to wave at her. "That ain't a good sound at all. What is making you so down and out?"
His voice is warm, kind of sleepy, and she folds her arms. It's really hard to get a good sulk going when he's talking at her like that. "Nothing, nothing, nothing," she says. "Nothing! Everything's fine."
"Okay, hey," he says. His head appears above the couch cushions. He's smiling. "That's great. You want to come over here?"
"No," she grouses. "I want to, oh, oops," and she's woozy, which only makes her angrier. "I just want to get mad without falling asleep, actually," she says, sliding down the wall so her butt hits the floor with a thunk. "And also I want Karkat to stop being Karkat. Maybe just for a day or two. Or forever."
Gamzee hefts himself up, and comes over to slide comfortably between her knees. "Whoa," he says, seriously. He takes one of her hands. "Those are some things to be motherfucking feeling, you know what I mean?"
"Maybe I don't," she says. She tries to scowl at him, but she's pretty sure it's just a pout. "Maybe I don't think you make any sense!"
Gamzee laughs at this. He kisses the hand he's got hold of. "I'm sorry, chica," he says. "I don't mean to be all laughing at your bad feelings. You just make the best face when you're up and mad at me."
"The face I like," Tavros says, from the doorway, "is the face where she's feeling better because you've made her stop being mad at us?"
"No one can make me stop being mad at anyone," Jade says firmly. "I'm an angry torpedo."
It's Tavros' turn to laugh, shyly, his wheelchair squeaking across the floor towards them. "Um, Gamzee," he says. "Could you, uh--?"
"What is it, brother?" Gamzee wants to know. He's got hold of both her hands now, and is massaging little circles into them, ones that work out headaches and bad days and tripping and thoughts about doomed timelines and even a little bit of Jack. Jade lets out a sigh, and thinks about being the Witch of Space, and how it'd be better for everyone if Tavros was over here, please? until he's leaning against the other side of the corner from her, and he reaches over to steal one of her hands from Gamzee's.
"Thanks," he says, smiling. "I'll get hold of the Page of Breath, thing. Sometime."
"Noooo," she says, with the last of her ill-will, "you always get paper all over everything," and then she can't even fake it anymore. "Hi," she says. She kisses him on the cheek.
"I was dreaming about you, actually," he admits to them both. "It was, um. Weird? We were Fiduspawn."
Gamzee's eyes go wide. "No motherfucking way! In real life?"
"Well, in dream life," Tavros says. "But, you know, it's a lot harder to fill a pail when you're an imaginary creature."
Jade laughs. She turns to kiss him for real, her hair getting tangled up over the arch of his horns, and he slides a hand around her waist and keeps them balanced up close against each other. He kisses like he likes her.
When she opens her eyes, Gamzee's face is one centimeter away from theirs, looking absolutely fascinated. She shrieks, and then bursts into giggles, which Gamzee evidently takes as a sign that she's occupied. He leans all the way over her, crushing her thighs -- "ow, Gamzee!" -- and bracing himself on Tavros' horns to kiss him, tilted to the left like the gravity's all gone off.
Gamzee's got that hungry look that means this is going to get serious, and Jade, all in a rush, says, "Tavros, this is real, right? I'm not dreaming or anything--" and Tavros squeezes her hand, still necking with his boyfriend, her matesprit, their, oh my gosh, their whatever. Their thing that works.
"What did Karkat say, anyway?" Tavros asks, when Gamzee's gotten distracted by something on Tavros' shirt.
"Nothing, really." Jade means it. Who even cares. Two out of three of them can't fill a pail, and two out of three of them can't tell the difference between something that's happening and something that might be slightly in their heads, and two out of three of them can't rap, sooooooooo? That's why there are three of them.
"You know, stuff," she says, and flops her head dramatically on Tavros' chest. "Are you two going to get to have all the fun?"