A/N: As always, for the purposes of this series, assume that everyone is in the Veil and no one is dead. Also, for some reason, Tavros was never paralyzed. I certainly didn't forget about his robolegs, nope. Altered biology headcanon is active as well: Trolls have tails, scales on their limbs, backs, and faces, and digitigrade paws with appropriate legs. They are also hermaphrodites. Long-ass author's note is long, but required nonetheless!

Your name is Tavros Nitram, and isolation isn't fun at all.

You haven't really been around anyone besides Dave for the past few days, as you've decided to stay inside your room until you're rid of your 'problem'. Dave doesn't.. well, no, he minds, but he understands that it's not you're fault that he's become the unfortunate target of your affections. After all, it's better for everyone involved if you stay in here instead of roaming about so you can end up lifting your tail for everyone you happen to cross paths with. You do have some dignity, after all.
Not for the first time, you think there is nothing in the universe worse than being in heat. All it does is complicate matters, and while there are few people likely to note your prolonged absence from the group, the people who would notice it are those likely to come investigate. There are few things you need less than someone else to try and submit to. But that's not all, and you know it. There's Gamzee to think about.
He is your best friend, and although you've already successfully avoided the subject of relationships with him before, in your current state you aren't quite certain you could do it again. Especially not to such a massive, powerful highbl- okay, no, no more thinking about Gamzee. You do not need to start dripping puddles on the floor again, it's messy and uncomfortable. Still.. He does like you, and it's not like you haven't entertained the thought of being with him before, but.. it still bothers you. He's your best friend and you don't really want to mess that up by awkwardly blundering into redrom, or, given your heat, jumping him in the hall and humping the poor guy like a wild animal.
Fuck, why did you even think about that, now that image is never going to go away. Your body, already unnaturally warm, makes its interest in such ideas quite obvious and you cross your legs in annoyance. With a sigh, you shuffle over to your computer and ask Dave to come back.
It's going to be one hell of a day.

Your name is Gamzee Makara, and you're going to end up killing someone.

Between your bizarre, unnatural arousal and growing aggression, there are far too many problems in your life and it's driving you up a wall. After your.. encounter with Karkat, you haven't really gone anywhere or done anything for fear of doing something you'll regret. You can't very well go around trying to pick fights with and/or seduce everyone you come across, people tend to react badly to that. But you can't stay in your room any longer either; if you stare at these walls any longer, you're going to break something.
You balk a bit at the idea of going out among the others, but you drag yourself out of your room anyway and wander the halls for a bit. Without anything to occupy your thoughts, your mind goes back to what got you angry in the first place; the idea of Dave and Tavros together. It shouldn't bother you, Tavros isn't yours and he can be with anyone he likes, but goddamn it why did he have to go and pick him of all people? There is no one who deserves him less than that human, he knew nothing about him and probably didn't even like him. Actually, now that you're thinking about it, none of the others know him like you do. The two of you are close as best bros could be, and no one understands him like you and why didn't you flay that motherfucker alive for so much as breathing on your Tavros no one should go near him but you and you alone goddamn it-
You break out of your increasingly-violent reverie to realize you've practically been gouging holes in the wall with your claws. That's going to be fun to explain. Sighing heavily, you take a few moments to chill the fuck out before heading off for your new destination- Tavros's room. As angry as you happen to be, your acid sac still does gross little flip-flops when you think about him and he's still your best bro ever. Maybe you'll be lucky enough for him to be alone too, so you don't have to stop yourself from pounding the human's face into the floor.

Your name is Tavros Nitram, and everything sucks.

One time was not enough. One time was nowhere near enough, and he should have been slapped for even thinking you would be satisfied with that. Even so, you know he had to leave. Dave is no troll- that much was painfully obvious- and your extensive needs have taken their toll on the human. You had to suck it up and send him out with the rest of them even though your nook was still aching for something to fill it, even though your need was so intense it was beginning to hurt. He was tired, exhausted really, and practically dead on his feet when you finally, reluctantly let him go off and rest.
So there you sat, alone in your room, squirming uncomfortably as you grew progressively wetter. You'd already learned your lesson about trying to get yourself off in this state- there was no way you'd be so lucky the second time- so you just have to tough it out and try not to hump whatever happens to be at crotch-level. There's almost nothing to distract you in your room, and what you do have requires too much concentration to be of use at the moment. You're bored, alone, and seriously considering how well the handle of your lance could fit in your- oh hey someone's knocking. You have a brief mental debate about opening it; on one hand, the person on the other side might be understanding of your situation. On the other hand, it could be someone like Vriska or Equius, and that would just be a whole nother disaster to deal with. In the end, loneliness wins out and you open the door.
You barely notice it's Gamzee; at the moment you're a bit preoccupied with stopping your legs from giving out under you. There's a powerful scent in the air- the scent of a dominant troll in rut- and it's all you can do to stop yourself from spreading your legs and begging him to claim you now. Your tail's flown straight up again, and it isn't long before you're nook has soaked your pants with its fluids. Swallowing hard, you chance a look up at him and nearly faint. He looks furious, eyes missing their normal glazed-over look as they glare down at you, considering. At that moment, Gamzee is not your best friend. He is a powerful dominant troll, and you are but an unclaimed submissive wallowing in the throes of your heat. You couldn't resist if you wanted to.

Your name is Gamzee Makara, and everything smells like your worst enemy.

He opens the door and you're flooded with the stench of Dave, metallic and disgusting, and it's pissing you off in ways you didn't know you could be pissed off. Tavros is looking up at you like you're the Mirthful Messiahs themselves, his tail flagged up behind him and a wet stain quickly spreading across his pants. You swallow hard and try to think around the waves of pheromones he's giving off, but before you know it you've tackled him to the floor, the door slamming shut behind you. The teeny part of your think pan that's still rational is screaming at you- get off him, he doesn't like you that way, he's your best friend, stop molesting your best friends- but the only thing you can think about is smothering that hideous scent with your own, to claim him so that you'll have full right to destroy the human if he ever touches what's yours again.
You don't have time to waste getting his shirt over his horns so you just rip it off, claws cutting through his pants as you demolish them as well. Baring your fangs against his lips, you kiss him hard enough to hurt, mouth migrating to his throat so you can claim him properly. Bright copper bruises bloom where fang meets flesh, and you end up forcing yourself away before you accidentally bite something important. Besides, you have more pressing concerns to address, one such concern being the sticky mess between his legs.
You slide down his body and practically dive into his nook, tongue brutalizing his depths as he practically screams above you. You are damned and determined to remove every trace of that human's scent from him, and after you're finished suckling and laving at the blood-engorged folds Tavros is little more than a whimpering, twitching mess. Lapping the last trails of brown from his face you worm your way out of his own pants, indigo-flushed bulge surging free of its sheathe just to bury itself inside the brownblood, forcing you to moan and him to climax, copper staining your shirt. It doesn't bother you, and even if it did the feel of being fully sheathed in his nook would more than make up for any irritation you might suffer. He's tight, incredibly tight, and you love every second of it. Your tongue lolls out, feeling too thick for your mouth, and you go to suck at his throat again, whining against his skin.

Your name is Tavros Nitram, and you totally lied to yourself before.

Gamzee is worlds better than Dave; his weird human bulge was hard and blunt and made your nook sore when the two of you were finished. With Gamzee, although he spreads you wider than you're really meant to go it doesn't hurt, instead filling you as deep as you can go and forcing wanton moans from your throat. You can feel every single move, every curl and twitch of the cool organ and it soon proves too much for you, your genetic material spilling across his torso. He takes no notice and simply speeds up, latching on to your neck once again as his moans spill out against you, finally peaking as he climaxes as well, too-cold genetic material overflowing your too-hot nook and driving you to orgasm once again.
The two of you spend a long time like that, bodies interlaced and constantly driving one another past the point of no return, the sound of whining and the musky scent of pheromones filling the air above you until the floor under you is drenched purple and brown and Gamzee's bulge has slipped out of you and back into himself. He crawls up your body and manages to nestle his head on top of yours, the both of you drifting off to sleep almost instantly. For the next few days your world is composed entirely of Gamzee and the way his body fits into yours, with the occasional incredibly brief visit from Karkat who pries the two of you apart and manages to keep you fed and hydrated, but you don't think about him. Everyone outside your room ceases to exist for the remainder of your heat.

Your name is Gamzee Makara, and you can't hold all these problems.

Once his heat ended, so did his body's demands of 'do absolutely nothing but fuck and sleep'. You however, still being in rut, were not quite as lucky. While your urge to claim and breed was gone for the most part, it still left you with the rather unfortunate side effect of being hostile to literally everything but Tavros and Karkat. You had to leave sometime of course, and leave you did. Every single eye was on the two of you as you entered the common room, and you held your head high as you strode over to Karkat, Tavros wilting under the questioning stares as he tried and failed to hide the marks you'd left on him. You growled a little in your throat and practically pull him into your grasp, ignoring the scandalized sounds coming from some of your fellow trolls, prepared to straight-up murder any motherfucker who so much as looks at Tavros wrong. Your being nothing more than an angry bundle of jagged, sharp angles proves useful and none of them seem to want to pick a fight. Your palebro makes the two f you leave not long after though, knowing full well that you're looking to kill someone and not willing to let you.
Tavros is worried about something, you can tell from the way he stares off into space and frowns, but he won't tell you what he's got his tail in a twist about and that's making you worry. The idea that he doesn't want to be with you, that he just wanted you because of his heat is too much for you to handle, and you try your best to push it out of your head. He's one of the few people who actually likes you for you, and to think that you've messed that up somehow, made him hate you for whatever reason.. Your blood bladder aches just from you thinking about it. You've claimed him, true, but it isn't just your instinct or your love for him telling you letting go would be a bad idea. He's one part of a delicate balancing act, and without him you aren't quite sure if Karkat could hold their end steady by himself.

Your name is Tavros Nitram, and choices are hard.

Once you stopped needing to fuck everything and everyone you laid eyes on, your body switched from stressing about needing a mate to stressing about your mate being your best friend. You know good and well that there is no going back for the two of you. This isn't like his awkward proposition for makeouts, this is something far more complex and altogether more delicate. You can't ignore the fact that he claimed you, or the fact that the two of you spent nearly a week tangled up in one another, no matter how many times you avoid the subject. You bury your head in your arms and groan, both wishing that this had never happened and for it to happen again, if only so you could forget.
Gamzee... You do like Gamzee, so it's not that. It's not that you're afraid of what the others think, even if you totally are; if you couldn't protect yourself, then he would, and he would sooner die than let someone take you away. Your problem was that you weren't ready for, well, anything. You do not want to fill your quadrants and be in relationships and grow up. You want to have friends and go on adventures and be a freaking kid for a while, no matter how impossible or stupid that might be. Everything is changing and you don't like it and it needs to stop right the fuck now, exeapt it doesn't because you can't just stop reality on a whim like Dave or Aradia.
Okay. Pause. Breathe. In the moment you stop thinking and try to calm down before you cry, Gamzee scoots over to you and pulls you into his arms, quiet and calm and reassuring you that he's 'your best motherfucking friend, and even if you don't all up and like him no more he ain't going nowhere, just in case you change your mind about a brother,' and fuck there go your tears, so much for calming down. He seems to take this as a bad sign and untangles from you, about to get up when you latch onto his shirt and clumsily mesh your lips with his. Gamzee may be your best friend but he is also your matesprit, and there is no way in hell you're letting him go.

A/N: And thus, the series ends. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Tell me! R&R is appreciated!