Chapter 1

"Hey, Nepeta, I'm ordering Chinese. What do you want?" Aradia asked Nepeta.

"Tempurrra," Nepeta answered. "And pot stickers!"

"Okay. I'm okay with that," Aradia replied.

Nepeta yawned and stretched as she woke up from her catnap. "Hey, AA," she began. "Um…do you know that I sorta have a crush on…"

"Karkat?" Aradia guessed.

"How did you know!?" she yelled, bolting upright.

"We've roomed together for a while. It wasn't hard to figure out," Aradia shrugged. "You did put your shipping wall in the room."

"Well, I was wondering if you could maybe help me…" Nepeta trailed off again.

"Get him to like you?" Aradia asked.

Nepeta nodded. "Mm-hmm," she said as she blushed bright red.

"Well, you could just tell him," Aradia suggested.

"I can't!" Nepeta cried.

"Well, I could tell him for you. Or ask Kanaya or someone to," Aradia suggested.

"Does Kanaya have classes with Karkitty? Or Tavros? Do you?" Nepeta fired off.

"I don't know Karkat's schedule, Nepeta," Aradia answered calmly.

"Well, who does?" Nepeta questioned.

"Karkat, possibly Gamzee, and maybe Terezi," Aradia listed.

"I'm going to go find Terezi!" Nepeta called as she pulled on her favorite green overcoat and left through the front door.

"She's got such a huge crush," Aradia murmured to herself as she dialed the number for the Chinese restaurant.

Nepeta reached Terezi and Kanaya's dorm, out of breath and a bit sore (she had to stop running everywhere, an old habit from her huge high school and short passing periods), at about six. "Hey, Terezi," she greeted. "Can you help me with the bio homework?"

"Sure, Nepeta," Terezi answered. "KANAYA! NEPETA WANTS HOMEWORK HELP!"

"Coming!" Kanaya called. "So, Nepeta, what do you need help with?"

"Just this bio lab," Nepeta answered.

"To start, we need to list the constants…" Kanaya began.

Nepeta was only half paying attention. She wanted to be a vet, so she studied a lot for biology. She was very good in that subject. She noticed a piece of paper entitled, "Friends in classes." Kanaya was always making lists.

"Hey, Kanaya, who's in your classes?" Nepeta asked.

"As you are probably are aware, I am in the same Literature class as you and Tavros. I have Biology with Karkat. I also have Mathematics with Eridan, rather unfortunately. Why do you ask?" Kanaya listed.

"Oh, just wondering," Nepeta replied.

"Do you understand now?" Kanaya checked.

"Yep. Thanks, Kanaya," Nepeta said. She left quickly, remembering that she had to pick up the Chinese, and in her hurry, she forgot her olive-green coat.

"I'm picking up an order for Aradia Megido," Nepeta told the man at the Chinese restaurant a few minutes later.

"Here you go. How will you pay?" the man asked.

"Cash," Nepeta answered. She dug in the pocket of her gray jean shorts and produced a crumpled twenty.

"Here's your change. Have a nice day," the man said. Nepeta took the food and left.

"I have the food, AA!" Nepeta called when she entered her room ten minutes later.

"Great. Let's eat," Aradia said.

"Wait…oh no!" Nepeta shouted suddenly.

"What is it?" Aradia asked calmly.

"I left my coat at Terezi's!" Nepeta yelled.

"So? You can go get it," Aradia stated.

"But it had my little shipping wall in the pocket!" Nepeta wailed.

"How about you take the car and drive over there right now and get it?" Aradia suggested.

"I've got to run!" Nepeta called. She jammed the keys into the ignition and muttered, "Come on, come on!"

Nepeta pulled the car out of the driveway and sped towards the other dorm. She knocked on the door persistently until Kanaya opened it. "Hello, Nepeta. Here's the coat you forgot," Kanaya said.

"Did you find my wallet in any of the pockets?" Nepeta asked.

"No, I didn't check. And Terezi's been out, so she didn't take it," Kanaya said.

"Alright, thank you!" Nepeta said as she ran out the door. She pulled on her coat and dug her hand into the front left pocket. Her mini-shipping wall was still there, and still folded neatly. Nepeta sat in the car for a minute, looking at her favorite picture on the wall, before folding the paper and driving home.

"I'm back!" Nepeta shouted.

"Is everything okay?" Aradia asked.

"Yep! It's all good!" Nepeta chirped. "Let's eat."

Nepeta and Aradia sat at the small wooden table to eat. "This is purrrfect!" Nepeta said.

"It's very good," Aradia agreed.

"So are you going to the coffeehouse tomorrow?" Nepeta asked.

"Yep. I think a few of us are going," Aradia said.

"It'll be so fun!" Nepeta said cheerfully.

"Mm-hmm," Aradia agreed.

The two of them ate in silence, then finished their homework and went to bed.

After her last class had ended the next day, at about 4:30, Nepeta put on her blue hat and best pair of shorts. She also brushed the dirt off her blue T-shirt with a picture of a cat on it. Because it was October, she put on her green coat before walking to her favorite coffeehouse, Tina's Coffeehouse.

"Hi, Karkitty!" She waved at Karkat.

"Hi, Nepeta," he droned.

"So who else is coming?" Nepeta asked, hoping the answer was no one.

"Kanaya, Dave, Equius, Tavros, and Aradia," he answered.

Nepeta tried not to look disappointed. "Okay!" she smiled.

When she turned, she saw Equius and Tavros coming down the street towards them. Equius looked annoyed to be stuck with Tavros. Nepeta sighed. "Equius," she complained.

"Hello, Nepeta," he responded.

Kanaya, Rose, and Aradia joined them at the table. Kanaya kissed Rose quickly before getting up to order drinks for everyone.

"So, uh, how a-are you g-g-guys?" Tavros asked.

"Quite well, and you?" Rose replied.

"I'm good," Equius said. "I have a trip with my French class to Quebec this week and then again in a few weeks."

"Two trips in one month? Seriously?" Nepeta asked.

"I know, Nepeta, it seems frivolous to me too."

"Aw, Equius. I'm gonna miss you." Nepeta whined.

"And I will miss you as well."

"Sup, losers," Dave greeted.

"Nothing much," Aradia answered.

"I have so much homework, though!" Nepeta said.

"I know," Aradia sighed.

"I'm not taking any hard classes, but training is very difficult," Equius noted.

"I h-have just a c-couple, uh, essays," Tavros stammered.

Nepeta loved the coffeehouse. She loved sitting here with a sweet cake pop and her favorite ginger peach tea, especially on a nice, chilly fall day. She loved the warm, comfortable plush chairs inside and the outside tables with metal chairs and colorful cushions and huge umbrellas. She loved the delicious treats sold here. She loved sitting with all her friends in the frosty fall air.

"So what are you guys doing this weekend?" Kanaya asked, handing people their respective drinks.

"Thanks, Kanaya," Rose said.

"Well, I was thinking of having a get-together, just for the sixteen of us," Aradia suggested.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Nepeta agreed.

"What time do you think?" Kanaya asked.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe seven or a bit earlier?" Nepeta suggested.

"Sure," Karkat agreed.

"Whatever, bitches," Dave said.

"I'll come," Equius shrugged.

"I will be there, most probably," Rose said.

"I-I-I'll come," Tavros muttered.

The group ate and drank and chatted for a while. Then they dispersed to go to their rooms and finish their homework.

Nepeta was full to the brim with happiness. Karkat was coming! She would be at a sort-of party with him! She cherished any opportunity to see Karkat, even though she knew he didn't like her. She walked home practically skipping, while Aradia trudged with her head down.

Aradia was thinking about her crush. Despite their past, she wanted to be with him. But she had no idea what he thought of her. Nepeta was so happy about Karkat, no matter what he thought. Aradia wished she could be like that about her crush.

Nepeta opened the door and went straight to her side of the room. She wanted to wear something nice to see Karkat. She had just the dress in mind. However, she had to open her long-unopened closet to get it.

Nepeta had to move her dresser to get her bed to move to get her nightstand to move so she could open her closet. She had organized her side of the room so the dresser concealed her favorite picture on her shipping wall: her and Karkat together. She blushed looking at it.

Nepeta grunted moving all her furniture. It all weighed a ton! She dragged her dresser across the room, then the bed, until finally she opened the closet doors and extracted her green and blue dress and shoes.

Nepeta was exhausted. She put her bed back into place, and her nightstand, but she left her dresser where it was. She changed, then locked her door behind her.

Aradia was sitting on the red couch, staring at the ceiling. "Nice dress, Nepeta," she said, as soon as Nepeta walked in.

"Thanks, AA," Nepeta giggled. "Do you think…"

"That Karkat will like it? Of course," Aradia answered.

"I hope so," Nepeta said, looking at her shoes and holding her fists near her face to hide the blush. "I just hope he'll notice me."

In another dorm building, Karkat and Sollux were arguing. "I don't want to see her!" Karkat yelled. "I'm just going to make a total fool of myself again!"

"She's been rubbing off on you. You've stopped swearing so much," Sollux noted.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Karkat roared.

"WELL I'M FLIPPING MY SHIT OVER SOMEONE TOO YOU KNOW!" Sollux yelled.

A person in the room next door knocked on their door. "Can you two please be a bit quieter?" Tony, the neighbor, asked yet again, with barely concealed exasperation.

"Fine," Karkat grunted. He closed the door and hissed at Sollux, "Fine. I'll go. But ONLY if you talk to her."

"Fine," Sollux grumbled. He knew that neither could go to a party without the other, because one coming back at 2 AM would be deeply annoying to the other and could result in a hospital visit for both.

And in another room in the same building, Tavros and Eridan were barely speaking.

"You stupid Americans," Eridan scoffed. "You can't simply go somew-where w-without your roommate."

"W-w-well, I, uh, sort of want, um, t-t-to see, uh, someone," Tavros stammered nervously.

"Fine," Eridan grumped. "But only because Feferi w-will be there."

In yet another dorm building, Equius was breaking all the furniture…again.

"GAMZEE!" he shouted.

"Yeah, brother?" Gamzee asked.

"We need to go to Ikea again," Equius said. "Just a friendly suggestion."

"That's cool," Gamzee answered.

In a nearby room, John was doing homework.

"That's not cool, John," Dave said.

"I have to finish this so we can go to the party," John shot back.

"You are such a loser," Dave groaned, turning on his computer, probably to IM with his girlfriend. "And you are so driving us to the party."

John grumbled to himself.

In another building, Vriska and Feferi were pacing their room. "You are such a bitch," Vriska said to Feferi.

"I just want to see everyone!" Feferi chirped. "Why can't we just all be friends?"

"Do you even know why?" Vriska yelled.

"What?" Feferi asked in confusion.

"What my problem is with someone, which is why I don't know if I want to go!" Vriska yelled.

"Stop pretending I know what you mean!" Feferi responded.

"Well, he is going to be there and I swear I don't know if I can make myself go!" Vriska shouted.

"But you might, right?" Feferi asked hopefully.

"Fine," Vriska conceded. "But you're still a huge bitch."

Elsewhere in that building, Kanaya was fretting over what to wear.

"I would like to look fashionable for Rose," she said to her roommate, Terezi.

"You're so weird, Kanaya," Terezi answered. "I just want to remember my lock picks."

"You are so strange in multiple ways," Kanaya noted.

"Yep!" Terezi said. "I suggest that red skirt that smells so good."

"You have no fashion sense," Kanaya scoffed. "I'll figure it out on my own."

"I'm going to eat some strawberries. And raspberries. Tell me when you're ready," Terezi said. She regularly ate all the red food in the mini fridge.

"Okay," Kanaya sighed.

Back in the first building, where the get-together was going to take place, Rose Lalonde was worrying about the same thing as Kanaya.

"Jade, which shirt do you suggest I don?" she asked her roommate, Jade.

"I think that pretty pink one!" Jade suggested. She was wearing her usual atom shirt.

"I'm simply not sure," Rose fretted.

"Well, I think you should just go!" Jade suggested cheerfully. "Come on, it's just a little party."

"I need to go change, Jade. I'll meet you by the front door in a few minutes," Rose sighed.

"Okay, Rose!" Jade called.

At 6:49, Nepeta opened the door to see Karkat and Sollux, both looking extremely uncomfortable to see they were the first. "Come on in, guys," Nepeta said. She had managed to hide her red face by turning to face the rest of the dorm and shouting, "ARADIA! KARKAT AND SOLLUX ARE HERE!"

Aradia yelled back, "HOLD ON!" She gave herself a minute to compose herself. Sollux? She looked down, a bit sadly, a bit happily. She wanted to see Sollux, but where would that lead? This was one of the few things she wasn't okay with.

Aradia entered the room to see Karkat and Nepeta talking and Sollux getting a soda. She'd gotten just some Coke and Sprite or something.

Sollux and Aradia made eye contact for one excruciating moment. They looked away at the same time and went to join Nepeta and Karkat.

"So, Nepeta, how's you math class been?" Karkat asked. He immediately kicked himself mentally. Stupid! he thought.

"Pretty good. But when you get to quintics…" Nepeta trailed off, shaking her head. "You?"

"Well, I—" Karkat started to say, but then the doorbell rang.

"I got it," Aradia said, to relieve the awkwardness of standing near Sollux.

Equius, John, Dave, Eridan, Tavros and Gamzee stood in the doorway. Eridan looked around, and, not seeing Feferi, he marched over to the fridge for a soda. Gamzee stood in the doorway for a moment too long, due to his lack of sobriety. John and Dave joined Sollux, while Tavros also took a soda and Equius joined Aradia, Nepeta, and Karkat.

By 7, everyone had arrived. Even Vriska, who was constantly obstinate, and Gamzee, who was stoned, as per normal. At least he wasn't going to go on any murderous rampages if he was stoned. Nepeta thought he was the weirdest of them all. And that was saying something.

"Hey, Eridan," Vriska greeted.

"Hi, spiderbitch," he said.

"Why the ridiculous nicknames?" Vriska asked.

"Because you're a bitch and you're obsessed with spiders. Poof, spiderbitch," Eridan said dryly.

"If you say so," Vriska shrugged. "We all know you're genocidal, anyways."

"As if that's an insult?" he shot back.

"Well, you have a point there," Vriska conceded, with a hint of a smile. She and Eridan got along all right, at least better than most of the others got along with either of them. John, her best friend, had once told her that the others thought she was a huge bitch, and he said that they thought Eridan was (to quote Dave) "an insufferable British prick."

Vriska smiled when she heard that.

Terezi and Dave were also talking.

"TZ, I'm fucking serious."

"No way."

"Yes way! I fit 35 marshmallows in my mouth, playing Chubby Bunny with my bro."

"And you didn't die?"

"No shit, Sherlock."

"And you were rapping Chubby Bunny?"

"Well, maybe not…"

"It's okay. How many marshmallows you can stuff in your mouth doesn't equal how much I love you."

"Dammit, Terezi. You're making me soft."

Aradia made sure to stick with someone besides Sollux at all times. Nepeta was mostly pretty good at keeping her out of awkward situations, but Nepeta was also very social, so she was talking with their other friends.

Aradia never quite understood why she thought of them all as friends, even though she hated Vriska for reasons she'd never told anyone about and Sollux never spoke to her anymore and she quite honestly didn't get along well with Eridan. But whatever. She was okay with that.

"So, Aradia, how's your chem project coming along?" Kanaya asked.

"It's okay," Aradia replied, shrugging. "I've had trouble with math for a long time, since that whole deal with, well, you know, Damara and Meenah and everyone. Damara used to tutor me in math. You know, before she started smoking and all that. And of course that day…"

"Yeah," Kanaya nodded. "That was such a terrible day. And I had to tell Vriska." She shivered.

"Was this incident with your older siblings before I'd become acquainted with you?" Rose asked.

"Yep. We were just thirteen, or twelve," Aradia said. "I was thirteen."

"Well, at least we had our guardians, for the most part," Kanaya said. Not one of them had two living relatives, and many didn't have one. "My mother was very nice about it."

"I heard Vriska's uncle just got drunk and took his anger out on everything," Aradia said. "Although that might've been over something else. I don't remember."

"Well, at any rate, the chem isn't really as bad as many claim it is," Rose pointed out, trying to move away from the subject of deceased family.

Grateful for the subject change, Aradia added, "It's hard to get a yield of over 90 percent in this one reaction we're doing."

"Well, it could be worse," Kanaya pointed out. "My professor is possibly mentally unstable."

"I must agree," Rose agreed. She kissed Kanaya and went to find another soda.

Eridan was trying to strike up conversation with Feferi, so Vriska drifted towards Tavros. "Hi, Tavros," she said.

"H-h-hi, uh, Vriska," he replied. He winced. Stupid stutter! No matter how hard he tried, it kept coming back.

"Having fun?" she asked.

"Mm-hmm," he nodded. He hated his stutter so much that he occasionally just didn't talk, just to avoid it.

Vriska kept trying to make conversation, but Tavros was being bizarrely taciturn. Whatever. She could keep up conversation on her own.

Nepeta drifted around, talking a bit to everyone. She got along with all of her friends, except Eridan. He was always so grumpy and rude! He would sometimes message her with no reason but to insult her and solicit advice on his non-relationship with Feferi. Whatever. He had other friends.

"How's it been, Jade?" Nepeta asked.

"Pretty good. What about you, Nepeta?" Jade responded.

"Alright. But my math prof has lost it, I swear!" Nepeta exclaimed.

"I know! My German prof is so weird. He's always shouting stuff like, 'DEUTCH!' at random moments. Like we don't know what class we're in!" Jade said.

Nepeta smiled and laughed. She loved being around people, even when conversation was inane and/or really random.

Terezi and Dave joined Tavros and Vriska a little while later. Terezi noticed a locked door and decided to show off her lock picking skills.

"See, I'm good at picking locks, because I can hear really well. Watch," Terezi said to Tavros, Vriska, and Dave (mostly to Dave), pulling out her lock picks (a.k.a. bobby pins). She began to work at the lock on the door. "See, it usually just takes me just a couple minutes," she stated proudly a couple minutes later when the door swung open.

Nepeta saw the door open out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes widened. She slammed the door again and locked it, this time also locking the nearly-impossible-to-see latch near the top. Nepeta could feel her heart beating faster in her chest. Her breathing was ragged and nervous. She should have put her dresser back! Vriska must have seen the picture of her and Karkat. Oh hell… she thought.

It was nearly midnight. Maybe everyone would go home soon and Vriska wouldn't be able to tell everyone about that. On the other hand, if Vriska told Terezi or just told the world herself, well, her secret was out. She wished, she really wished, that no one would ever find out, until she was ready.

Which she suspected she might never be.

It was about 12:30 when everyone started to leave. Nepeta had never before been glad to see her friends leave.

Aradia was half-glad, too. Sollux had been avoiding her, and she had been avoiding him. She was beginning to think she was in love with Sollux. She was beginning to think that she couldn't avoid telling him anymore, either. "Nepeta?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

Nepeta was curled up on the couch under a blanket. It was her custom to act sort of like a cat occasionally, only sometimes on purpose. "Vriska saw it," she moaned.

"Saw what?" Aradia asked. "Oh…your shipping wall?"

Nepeta nodded. "And she saw the picture of me and…well, she saw it because I moved my dresser earlier."

"I'm sorry, Nepeta," Aradia said sincerely. "Well, you were going to ask Karkat out anyways, right?"

"Yes, but not now!" Nepeta wailed. "Not until I knew how he felt about me!" Like she didn't already know. She chose not to decipher what he thought about her.

"Well, I'm sure it'll be okay," Aradia said. "Don't worry. You'll feel better tomorrow."

"I guess," Nepeta shrugged. She trudged to her bed, turned off her lamp, and fell into a fitful sleep.