Tavros blunk a few times and nodded. "To... be honest dad... I was going to break up with her anyways... She's a manipulative jerk..."

His father seemed relived. "That's good..." He smiled and handed Tavros a stuffed animal shaped like a bull. It was Snow White. "Your mother wanted me to give this to you. She's not going to be home for Christmas..."

((His mom is in the navy..))

He looked at the bull and sighed softly. "Again...?" It wasn't unusual for her to not be home for the holidays, but it still hurt.

The man nodded sadly. "I know it's hard Tav...but your mom can retire soon I hope..she wants to give you another present soon, but she needs the money from her job..."

He nodded. "I understand that..." He smiled down at the bull. "I hope soon she can just stay home"

His father hugged the crippled boy. "Me too..." He got up and left the room. "Good night Tavros."

"Night dad...." He moved to his bed and managed onto it and cut his light off before cuddling into the bull/

The next morning, Gamzee was curled up on Tavros' floor, beaten really badly.

Tavros woke to see the battered boy on the ground "G-Gamzee!!" Tavros slipped out of the bed and beside him.

He managed to smile cheerily. "Hey master...mom's boyfriend came over last night...he doesn't like me all that much..."

He frowned and reached into his bedside table to get a first aid kit to clean off the wounds. "that's terrible..."

He blinked. "Not really...he supports her, so it's a small price to pay."

"look at you..." he frowned and cleaned the wounds up.

Gamzee winced, flinching away. Purple blood ran down a scrape on his face.

Tavros kept cleaning until everything was sterile and bandaged. "there we go"

He looked at Tavros, then busted into tears.

"h-hey!" Tavros flung his arms around the other and held him close. "shh, shh..."

Tavros' father could hear the soft wails and ran upstairs, thinking his son had fallen from his wheelchair. He slammed the door open, stopping when he saw it wasn't Tabros crying, but Gamzee. He frowned and moved over, raising his hand to simply examine him. Gamzee flinched back so fast that it nearly brought tears to Mr. Nitrim's own eyes. "Shhh." He hummed, picking Gamzee up. He sat him on the bed, looking at the purple scrapes. "Um...." He looked a bit confused. "His blood....is purple....?" Gamzee wailed louder. "Don't turn me in...please..." The adult shushed him again. "You rest ok Gamzee? Everything will be ok..." He rolled his son out of the room to talk to him in private. "Tavros....explain what a going on...what happened to that boy, and also, why is he bleeding purple?"

"H-He...." Tavros looked down. "H-he's a demon dad.... Erm... more specifically, my demon.... H-his mom's boyfriend beat him because he doesn't like Gamzee and..." He looked at his dad. "Please don't turn him in, please.... He's my friend, I don't want to lose him...."

The man paused, trying to grasp all of this. "Are you suggesting you want to keep him?"

He paused and nodded. "yeah... I really don't want to lose him."

Mr. Nitram thought about it. "You can keep him as long as you take really good care of him. He's not like a kitten or a puppy...you have to show him lots of attention." He wheeled Tavros back in. "Gamzee..." The demon looked up, sniffling. "What do you eat?" The demon child answered. "Blood...meat...whatever I can get." Me. Nitram cringed. "No people Gamzee. That's not ok..." He looked to Tavros. "Feed him pork and make sure you cool his food...I wouldn't want him getting sick." He pet at Gamzee's hair, feeling the nubs of sawn off horns. "Hm. I'll shop and get him some clothes today..." He suggested. "Tavros. Maybe you should stay home from school and take care off him today..."

Tavros looked up at his dad and nodded. "okay dad... Thanks..." he said as he looked to Gamzee. "do you need anything right now Gamzee? Food, [email protected]

He shook his head, simply clinging to Tavros for dear life. He smelled pretty awful, like blood and smoke mixed with beer.

Tavros stroked Gamzee's hair, ignoring the smell. "just relax, you're safe here Gamzee, I promise..."