A/N: This follows Nepeta and her relationship with Karkat over the years. Please review, it really means a lot to me!
They were five years old. It was the first day of kindergarten at Lillian Elementary School. The twenty frightened children walked in, one by one, and stood by the door as the teacher directed them to their places.
An especially short girl with olive-green eyes and messy, chin-length brown hair sat next to a shortish boy with dark hair and gray eyes. "Hi," she said shyly. "I'm Nepeta."
"Karkat," he grunted.
"Nice to meet you," Nepeta said. They had free time right now. "Uh…d'you want to play?"
"Play what?" he asked.
"Uh…house? Or computers?"
"Computers," he said. They walked over to the computer area, where six large Mac desktops sat. They were made in 2000 or so, but they worked brilliantly for three-year-old computers. Nepeta clicked on a colorful icon and started playing with the controls of a painting program, while Karkat did something more complicated. She peeked at his screen. "What's that?" she asked curiously.
"It's important," he said importantly.
"But what is it?"
"It's a picture," he said. "Of me and my brother and my mom and my dad."
"You have a dad?"
"Don't you?"
"No. My daddy's gone."
"Gone where?"
"Mommy says he's dead."
"My mommy's dead."
"Then why is she in the picture?"
Karkat scowled at the ground. "I guess I forgot."
"That's alright," she said cheerily. "My mommy's always forgetting things. My big sister Meulin has to remind her of stuff a lot. Especially food and things."
"My brother Kankri doesn't shut up. He never stops talking about dumb stuff I don't like."
"Shut up is a bad word."
"My mommy used to say lots of bad words when she was angry."
"That's for grown-ups."
"I don't care."
She turned back to her computer screen and kept drawing, the way her sister had showed her.
She and Equius had been put in separate classes that year, so she was lonely and scared. But the boy didn't seem to have any friends at all.
"Hey," she said.
"What?" he snapped.
"What's your name?"
"Karkat Vantas. What's your name?"
"Nepeta Leijon. I can spell it."
"Really? I mean, okay."
"Mm-hmm. N-E-P-E-T-A."
"What about your last name?"
She shrugged. "It starts with an L."
"My name starts with K. K-A-R-K…A-T."
"What about your last name?"
"V-A…uh…I don't know the rest."
"Do you have a middle name?"
"No."
"Me either. My mommy does. Her name's Diana Leon Leijon."
"My daddy has a middle name too. His name is Sigmund…Krabbe…Vantas."
"What was your mommy's name?"
"I don't remember."
"My daddy's name is…uh…I forgot."
"That's alright, I guess."
"Thanks."
They were friends from that day on.
Of course, Equius was still there. And Terezi, and Gamzee, and Aradia. And Aradia was always talking about her friend Sollux, who went to Glen River. All six of them counted the others as friends.
On the first day of first grade, Nepeta was in the same class as Equius and Aradia. Her teacher, Mrs. Amaden, was the best. That was the first time she realized she liked to ship people.
"Why doesn't any of us do matchmaking?" Aradia asked one day at lunch. The three of them were sitting all the way towards one end of the large, rectangular table. Aradia and Nepeta sat on one side, Equius on the other, simply because Equius was far taller and generally bigger than either of the girls.
"I like matchmaking," Nepeta said. "My mommy works at a big building where they make matches."
"No, I mean like people going out matchmaking," Aradia said.
"I like that kind of matchmaking too!" Nepeta said.
"Who do you think should go out?" Aradia whispered.
"I think…" Nepeta scanned the cafeteria, noticing Terezi, Karkat, and Gamzee at Mrs. Jones's table. "Terezi and Gamzee."
"Really?" Aradia asked. "I think Karkat and Terezi."
"That too. And Gamzee and Karkat should be friends!"
"That's not matchmaking."
"Is too."
"Okay."
Then the lunch ladies made everyone be quiet before they could go to recess.
In second grade, Nepeta was in the same class as Equius and Terezi. But on the second day of school, a lunch lady asked their class (Mrs. Lee's class) if they could have three volunteers to sit with Mrs. Smith's class. Three hands shot up. That was the class Karkat, Gamzee, and Aradia were in.
The six friends sat three on each side of the table. Nepeta always sat between Aradia and Terezi and across from Karkat. Equius sat across from Aradia and Gamzee sat across from Terezi. They sat in the exact same place every day.
"Karkitty," Nepeta said one day. "You should go out with Terezi."
He blushed profusely and muttered, "Shut up."
"That's a rude word," Equius said.
"It's two words," Karkat pointed out sullenly.
"But really!" Nepeta persisted.
"Second grade isn't old enough for going out," Karkat said.
"Fiiine," Nepeta conceded. "Someday!"
"Maybe," Karkat said.
In third grade, they started going to the 3-5 school that matched up with Lillian. In their district, their were three sets of K-2 and 3-5 schools that fed into each other. Glen River kids always went to Lion, Pleasant Grove always went Brook Ridge, and Lillian always went to Cleese.
For the first time, all six of them were in the same class. Mrs. Friedland was their teacher that year. But the best was their new drama teacher, Mr. Respien.
"Alright, everyone! We're doing some improv. Anyone know what that's short for?"
The smarty-pants kid raised her hand. "Improvisation," she answered.
"Exactly," Mr. Respien answered. "Can I have some volunteers?"
Nepeta raised her hand. "Thank you!" Mr. Respien said. "You, in the green coat, and you, in the red glasses, and you, in the turtleneck. What're your names?"
"Nepeta," Nepeta said.
"I'm Terezi," Terezi answered.
"Karkat," Karkat muttered.
"Okay! The three of you are going to the store. And…go!"
No one moved. "Okay. How about this. You, Nepeta, are the mother, and you, Karkat, are the father, and Terezi, you're the kid. And you're all going grocery shopping together. Do what you would do if you were going grocery shopping."
"I…uh…let's buy milk," Nepeta said.
And that was how she started acting.
"I want to be in the circus," she said at lunch.
"Really?" Terezi asked. "How come?"
"I'm good at gymnastics and sort of at acting. Wouldn't it be fun?"
"Yeah," Gamzee agreed dreamily.
"What about you guys?" Nepeta asked.
"I wanna be an ballerina," Aradia said. "I'm gonna live in New York and dance with the ABT. I'll be the best ballerina ever. I'll be the prima ballerina."
"I'm gonna be a painter," Terezi. "But instead of paint, I'll use chalk. The doctor said that people with…synesthesia are good at art. And I'll be famous like Picasso." Terezi stumbled briefly on the name of the condition that made her smell and taste colors.
"I will be in the Olympics," Equius said shortly.
"I'll be in the circus," Gamzee said. "Tightrope and clowns and stuff."
"An actor," Karkat said. "But I'll only be in good movies. I won't be in a movie unless it's good. And everyone will want me to be in their movies, so I can choose."
"Maybe we can all live near Aradia in New York and go to dinner sometimes together!" Nepeta said excitedly.
"I want to live by myself," Karkat said grumpily.
"You don't have to live with us. You can live near us and come when we go to the movies or something," Nepeta said.
"Yeah," Karkat said. "I'm gonna move far away from my dad. I'm never gonna see him again."
"Why?" Nepeta asked.
"I don't want to see him anymore," Karkat said. "I don't like my dad or my brother."
"Why not?" Nepeta persisted.
"I just don't want to," Karkat said shortly.
"I like my mommy and my sister. And my aunt and uncle. They're nice."
"Lucky," Karkat said enviously.
"You could come over sometime and meet them," Nepeta said.
"I guess," Karkat said.
"Pur-lease?" she asked.
"Fine," he said. "I'll get my dad to call your mom."
"Yay!" she said, smiling brightly.
When she got home that day, she smiled wide and asked her mother, "Mommy? Can Karkat pur-lease come over?"
"When?" her mother asked, smiling kindly.
"His dad's gonna call you," Nepeta said. "Is Saturday okay?"
"I think so, kitten. Go on, do your homework."
"Okay, Mommy!"
The phone rang at nine PM, just when Nepeta was falling asleep. "Who IS that?" she shouted.
"It's your friend's father," Nepeta's mom said. A brief pause. "Saturday!" Nepeta's mom shouted.
"Thanks!" Nepeta shouted.
And that was how she ended up spending three hours with Karkat on a Saturday afternoon.
"Hi!" she said brightly when he showed up the door.
"I'll be by for him at five," Karkat's father said.
"See you then!" Nepeta's mother said.
"Hi," Karkat said.
"So what do you want to do?" Nepeta asked.
"I like playing basketball," he said.
"Me too!"
"You're short though."
"So are you."
Karkat crossed his arms grumpily. "We have a basketball in the garage," Nepeta said. "We can play."
"Okay," Karkat agreed. "But it's not fair since you're a girl."
"I don't care," Nepeta said. "I'll still win."
"I bet you…" Karkat dug in his pocket. "Two quarters."
"Fine. Let's play…seven games. First person to five points wins."
"Okay."
"Karkat one, girls zero!" Karkat said after the first game.
Three games later, Nepeta shouted, "It's a tie now!"
At the end of the six game, they'd each won three. "I'm gonna win," Karkat said. "Boys are better at sports."
"Yeah right! Girls are better."
"Let's see!"
Nepeta won.
"Not fair! You cheated."
"I won, fair and square. Two quarters. Pay up."
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-huh!"
"Come on!"
"We had a deal."
Karkat grimaced. "Fine," he said, handing over the two quarters.
Nepeta smiled. "Thank you very much! Let's go play at the park."
"I don't want to."
"Please?" She knew that of she did her puppy-dog eyes on her best friend, he would agree with her.
"I hate when you do that."
"Come on, let's go!"
"Fiiiine," he said, following her to the local park.
When they got to the park, and they were both on the swings, she decided to ask a question. "Karkat," she began.
"What?" he snapped.
"Can…can we be best friends?"
He didn't answer.
"Is that okay?" she pressed. "I'm sorry if it's not."
"No, it's okay. I'll be your best friend," he said.
"Pinkie promise?"
"Pinkie promise."
And that was that.
In fourth grade, she was in class with Gamzee, Terezi, and Aradia. The only time she saw her two best friends was at recess. All six of them would play soldiers, trying to cross the playground without touching the mined woodchips.
Or they'd jump off the swings and pretend that they had to fly over the line to escape.
Or they'd race around the field, pretending to be cops and robbers.
Eventually, Nepeta picked up the word, "LARPing."
"It means live-action roleplaying," she explained to her friends. "It's like playing pretend, except that it's for grown-ups. And it's more real. If you're LARPing, like we are, then you know that it's not real. So we're LARPing."
"I like the word," Aradia commented.
"LARPing. LAAAAARPing," Gamzee said.
"Cool," Terezi said.
"Whatever," Karkat said.
Equius just nodded.
"I learned a new word," Karkat commented. "Damn. It's a bad word, like hell."
"Your language is unbearably awful," Equius said.
"Stop it," Nepeta said, before they could start properly fighting.
Just then, the whistle blew for them to all come inside.
"We've got middle school orientation today," Aradia said in December of fifth grade.
"What's your school?" Nepeta asked. "William or Smith?"
"Smith," Aradia answered. "We're all going to Smith. Sollux is too."
"I wonder if we'll all sit together."
"I bet we will."
"I hope so. We can sit wherever we want in middle school. They have better lunches, too."
"I heard it's really hard."
"Orchestra and choir and band, you get grades for!"
"Are you going to keep up violin?"
"Yep! Are you going to keep playing cello?"
"Yes. I will also continue singing. Karkat is still playing viola. I think Terezi still plays trumpet by ear. Equius is dropping bass, I think. Sollux will still play trombone."
"Cool!"
"I guess."
Aradia had been acting oddly neutral towards everything since that month when all four of her grandparents and her father had all died. It was weirding Nepeta out badly, but she figured that Aradia had the right to act however she wanted.
"No, you don't have to worry about the older students. And memorizing lock combos is easy!" the principal of Smith enthused. "We have recent sixth graders to show you around after the music assembly. Now, we'll start with the band."
Nepeta watched politely, but she was shaking so badly that she thought she'd cry. Middle school was terrifying! She glanced to her left. Karkat would never show it, but he was clearly scared out of his wits. He would be acting ornery, as ever. She could see right through him. That was what best friends were for, right?
On the last day of school, after field day was over and yearbooks were signed, they all hugged each other tightly. "Okay," Nepeta said. "I want us all to promise, right now, that we'll never backstab each other, tell someone if one of us…you know…gets an eating disorder or depressed or something. Promise."
"I promise," Aradia said.
"Promise," Equius said.
"Of course I promise," Terezi agreed.
"Yeah, I swear," Gamzee said dreamily.
"I promise," Nepeta said.
"I swear," Karkat said, last of all.
And that was how they ended fifth grade.
