Hello, everyone! Welcome to my first fanfiction (yes, the title is a reference to one of my favorite P!AtD songs)! This, of course, is my Homestuck OTP, Nepkat, which I have been wanting to do for SO LONG, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Anyway, it's finally here, and I'm so excited! Anyway, please enjoy, and if you can, post a review or follow this story. It would make me so happy! All right, story time!

Hey! Wake up! Nepeta jerked awake, stifling a groan as she registered the cold pressing against her right cheek. A poke in her ribs jerked her head off the freezing glass of the window she had been sleeping on and to the left to see a boy standing at her seat. He looked irritated at her as she realized what was going on.

"What?" She murmured, forcing her eyes to focus.

The boy let out an exasperated sigh. "I asked if I could sit here, thank you very much. Need I ask again?" Nepeta shook her head, grabbing her stuff occupying the empty space beside her. He seated himself as if he wished he hadn't gone through the trouble of talking to her.

He reached into his book bag, pulled out a packet, and turned to her. "I need to practice my audition for the debate team. Will you listen to my speech?" Without waiting for a reply, he cleared his throat and started speaking. "Hello, I'm Kankri Vantas, and I believe I'd be an astounding addition to the debate team…."

Nepeta, bored already, pulled her earbuds from her backpack and plugged them into her phone. She hit play and focused her attention on the seat in front of her as one of her favorite anthems of loneliness came on. It seems it's going to be a long day.

The boy's, Kankri's, speech had gone for so long, he seemed nowhere close to being done when the bus arrived at school. Nepeta, in the minutes leading up to the vehicle's arrival, had gathered her things together and was now ready to get off. The stop came, and she rose from her spot to hustle off and into the school. But, Kankri blocked her as people shuffled off. Gog, this was getting out of hand. After she managed to squeeze past him, the line was stop-and-go for some time. When she reached the steps, Nepeta hopped off the bus and took a deep breath. Kankri had been hogging all the oxygen on the bus, and it felt nice to actually breathe.

After a few moments passed, a hand landed on her shoulder. This had become natural for Nepeta, for Equius has the tendency to surprise. "Nepeta," he rumbled in greeting.

"Hi, Equius! How's it going?" Nepeta asked, reaching behind the taller one to give him a hug. A small smile began to form on her face. Being around her stepbrother always perked her up.

Ever since they had been just children, Nepeta and Equius had shared a bond, unlike any brother or sister. They had been excited they would actually be living under the same roof, like actual siblings. The pair had older siblings too, who were in college. Meulin was her biological sister while Horuss was Equius' biological brother.

Nepeta and her stepbrother had been through it all, especially an incident that had occurred with a boy who had moved to their school when he had been in 6th grade. Nepeta had been in 7th while Equius had been in 8th. When Equius had moved to the high school, Nepeta had been scared for her life because she was without her sole protector and guardian against the terrorizing child.

When she had moved to the high school as well, Nepeta had developed anxiety and insecurities, was scared of loud noises, and would work by herself in class. She was glad to hang around Equius more, but he had gained some more friends in his first year, who would soon become her friends as well.

She had managed to eek her way through school for three years, but now that all her friends were seniors, she would surely be all alone next year. She hadn't made any effort to at least try and get to know her peers, which would probably have been a good plan, now that she thought about it. But she couldn't try to now… could she?

"See you at lunch, Nepeta," Equius' voice cut through her thoughts, and she looked up from the dirty floor to see his sunglasses-encased face disappearing up the stairs to the second floor.

"Y-yeah…" she responded quietly, looking down the short flight of stairs that led to the ground floor. She took a step, changed her mind, then leaped off the step. Landing on two feet with one hand in the air and one on the floor, Nepeta felt a rush as her body got over the adrenaline. She grinned.

At that moment, a guy shoved past her, nearly knocking her over. Glancing up, she caught a familiar face before it disappeared. Was that… Kankri? How did he change his hair color from ginger to black in the short amount of time before school started? Maybe she was just seeing things.

Whatever. She was going to be late for art.

As the bell rang, Nepeta slid into her seat, breathing heavily. Mrs. Latcroft, the art teacher, eyed her but marked her on time. Nepeta gulped and pulled out her sketchbook and pencils. She didn't bother glancing around, she was sure everyone was watching her. She set her things down and focused on her lap.

Mrs. Latcroft clapped her hands to get the attention of her students. "Class, I am thrilled to announce that your final projects from last semester were simply amazing. I feel quite lucky to be teaching such aspiring artists," Her gaze drifted around the room, resting on a few students. Soon, she came to a stop on a dark-haired, pale-skinned boy. She smiled.

"And with a new semester comes new faces," she began, beckoning him to come to her. He seemed to stiffen, but then he rose to his feet and walked over stiffly. Nepeta notices his fists clenched at his sides as he turned to face the class.

She stared. His eyes were mesmerizing, a blend of copper and amber. His hair stuck up in tufts like he just got out of bed, and was almost black in color. Fluorescent lights reflecting off, however, revealed it was actually dark brown.

"This is Karkat Vantas, and he is from up north. Now, Karkat, the seat you've selected is already taken. I'll pick a seat for you…." Mrs. Latcroft paused as she scanned her seating chart. "Ah, you can sit right there!" She pointed in Nepeta's direction, smiling like she just had the best idea ever.

Silently, Karkat walked to his taken seat, packed his backpack, and stalked over to the seat diagonal from Nepeta. She watched him the whole way.

When Mrs. Latcroft moved on to the next topic, Karkat faced Nepeta and eyed her. "Does she always embarrass her students?" He murmured, voice rasping as if he was exhausted. The bags under his eyes didn't help his appearance. She shrugged, turning her attention to the white board. Nepeta wasn't used to someone being near her, so she slid her sketchbook onto her lap and continued to draw on her charts.

When the shuffle of papers sounded, she looked up at the board and read the instructions. She turned to a new page near the beginning of her sketchbook, set it on the table, and began with a sketch of an eye. A cat eye. It soon advanced to a whole cat face.

"I take it you like cats?" The raspy voice sounded. Looking up, Nepeta saw Karkat observing her work.

"Um… yeah, I do," she said quietly, trying to focus on the body. She heard chair legs squeak and saw movement from the corner of her eye. "Are you going to start?"

Karkat scoffed, meeting her gaze.

"Do you need help?"

"No."

Nepeta clenched her jaw and tried to continue with the white cat.

"Why do you sit alone?"

Nepeta glanced up again. "I, uh, I'm not that good at talking to people, so I just…"

Karkat turned his head to his blank sketchbook. "Clearly."

Taken aback, Nepeta quickly looked down at the cat and tried to focus as she blinked away a couple tears. What was his deal? Did she do something to make him mad? She didn't mean to be so antisocial. It was just her way. If he didn't like it, then he could just… nothing. He didn't have to do anything. She didn't care. Now, she had a cat to finish.

The last two periods had been excruciatingly long, possibly because they were useless classes. Nepeta always would count down the seconds until lunch, and now was no different. She was standing by the door, waiting to get out of this small, stuffy room. Her eyes drifted to the clock on the wall again, searching for the long hand that displayed the seconds remaining. 4...3...2...1…

Nepeta was out the door at the sound of the bell. She hurried down the hall to the lunchroom and to the circular lunch table she sat with her friends at. She always took pride in being first to the lunch table every day, and today was no different. Equius came up with Rose, and he took a seat beside her while Rose headed for the lunch line.

"Nepeta. How was class?" Nepeta was about to answer when she sucked in a breath, watching as Porrim strut in, two boys walking behind her. She already knew who they were, but she was too stunned to say anything.

"Equius, Nepeta, please welcome Kankri and Karkat Vantas to the table," She turned and faced the pair. "Make yourselves at home," She said, turning to walk to the lunch line. Kankri trailed and got into a spot behind her. The two began to talk, moving through the line slowly.

Karkat, on the other hand, slowly walked to one of the empty seats. Nepeta watched him, then began to eat. Equius eyed him with a hard glare.

Karkat met his intense gaze, then shifted his eyes to Nepeta. "Is he always like that?" She clenched her jaw again, recalling his question about their art teacher and how similar it was to this one. She glanced at her lap again, taking a bite of her sandwich.

Equius stiffened, breaking out into a nervous sweat. "What is your year?"

Karkat's piercing gaze didn't leave Nepeta. "Senior."

Equius continued glaring at him, beginning to sweat profusely. Karkat glanced over and wrinkled his nose. "Okay, moving on."

He looked at Nepeta again. "What grade are you in?"

"She's a junior," a cool, female voice replied. Rose seated herself beside Karkat. "She's the baby among us."

Nepeta stared at the table as she took a sip of water. A couple minutes of chewing passed until Porrim and Kankri returned.

"Now that everyone's here…" Porrim said, taking a seat. "We can formally introduce ourselves. We'll go in a circle, starting with me and ending on Kankri. We'll say our name, grade - though it's not necessary - favorite color, siblings, hobbies, pets, weird fetishes, anything worth noting," She paused.

"I'm Porrim Maryam, a senior, dark green. I have a sister who is a junior, and her name is Kanaya. We don't have any pets, but we mostly take care of each other. Dad left, Mom's never home. An enjoyable hobby of mine is to feign 'coolness' or whatever the kids call it, these days. Oh, and I got these piercings sophomore year," she gestured to the gold rings protruding from her eyebrow and bottom lip.

Rose was next. She told the group about her freshman sister, her cat, her alcoholic mom, and her obsession with books and wizards. "Oh, I'm also coming out as bisexual," she added at the end. To be honest, Nepeta had always found Rose to be a bit more peculiar than the rest of her friends.

It was Nepeta's turn, now. She cleared her throat. "Well, um… I'm Nepeta Leijon. I'm a junior and my favorite color is olive green. I have an older sister who is a freshman in college at the moment. My family owns a lot of cats, but you guys don't really seem bothered by it… So, I love to draw, and a hobby of mine is, um…" she paused, glancing at Karkat, and then her hands in her lap. "...shipping. I ship people from here with each other, and if it works out, then I… am just happy fur them," Nepeta started wringing her hands, heart racing as she mentally face palmed. How could she use a cat pun right then?! Maybe she had just been nervous.

Equius had begun afterward while Nepeta attempted to calm herself down, talking about Horuss and their shared adoration of horses. She didn't really listen to the first part, but she noticed after a few minutes he had started rambling. After a couple minutes of getting him back on Earth, Karkat was next.

He actually decided to stand up. "Karkat Vantas. Senior. Gray. Now, prepare to be shocked… Kankri and I are twins. Fraternal," Nepeta shifted her gaze between the two, but he seemed to be irritated now. "All right, stop comparing us. We don't have any pets, and what I do for fun… is boss people around," He plopped back down, arms crossed, and glared at his brother.

Kankri cleared his throat. "Well, as Karkat said, we are fraternal twins…" Sure enough, he launched into a speech about the nature of the type of twins, as well as some fun facts about them.

Karkat, not appearing to care, glanced around the room. Nepeta just watched him, glancing at her lap when he seemed to be looking at her.

It went like this for the rest of lunch, Kankri giving out his opinion on his new colleagues' comments in paragraphs. Everyone pretended to listen in while Karkat observed the people around him and Nepeta observed him.

When the bell rang, Karkat quickly got up and walked off, not saying anything to anyone. Everyone else took their time, but Nepeta was next to leave.

Well, that had been an awkward lunch, especially for her. The arrival of the Vantases had clearly shaken things up. Would it be normal again? Nepeta hoped soon, for she wasn't really the biggest fan of change. At least, Karkat hadn't been too rude at lunch.

Karkat… Nepeta thought of his face, pale and stuck in a permanent scowl. His hair, lopsided like he didn't care (he probably didn't). His eyes, glaring every which way, but sometimes watching her…

As she sat down in her next class, Nepeta took out her sketchbook, turned to her shipping charts, and drew a sketch of herself and the mysterious senior holding hands. It was then she, Nepeta Leijon, knew she was going to fall for Karkat Vantas, and it would most definitely be a disaster.

Author's notes will always be down here, and I will answer any questions here as well!

So, now that the first part of the introduction is finished... Who's ready for more?! I am! I'll try updating at least once weekly, and if I have a break from school, twice or three times weekly. I type fast, don't worry! :DD Until next time!