By the time the two had gotten perhaps halfway home, Nepeta had given up on trying to carry her own weight and was leaning heavily against Karkat's shoulder. The Cancer had an arm wrapped around her waist to keep her stable, though he was tense and stiff and painfully careful of her stitches. Every few steps she stumbled, and he would stop to catch her and straighten her and carry on, not really letting her rest. She had to keep going... standing and taking a break would only wear her out more, and they were close now, anyways. Besides, if he let her sit, she probably wouldn't be all for standing again, and while Karkat had managed to carry her in from his lawn the first time, it hadn't exactly been easy. He was tired now, anyways. He might not be able to get her inside on his own if she was unable to stand herself.
Luckily for Karkat, when she finally did fall, they were already within meters of his hive.
He caught her when she stumbled, as usual, and grunted with the effort, but when he finally got her back up to her feet again, he could tell she was out. Her eyes were shut, her cheeks flushed green, and she was completely limp... definitely not awake, and it didn't take a doctor to tell. With a muttered curse, Karkat lifted her arm over his shoulder and began dragging her inside, left without another option. When they finally reached his main block, Karkat grimacing and puffing and Nepeta still out like a light, he lowered her onto the pile and moved away again to close the door- or, he would have, had she not cracked her eyes open and wrapped her fingers around his wrist with that incredibly tight grip of her's.
Karkat swore again, and turned to look at her, both confusion and something like anger but closer to concern evident on his features.
"I thought you had passed out?" He asked, almost incredulously, and Nepeta's only response was muttered and incoherent. Then she tugged him towards herself, and while weak, Karkat was unwilling to resist her and possibly hurt her in such a weak state (not to mention he was tired himself and her grip was stronger than he, though being as prideful as he was, he would never admit it.), and practically fell right on top of her. He was able to stop his descent, however, before he really hit her, but he was still elevated only inches above her, arms straining on either side of her head and nose just centimeters from her's.
"You can't be serious." Karkat muttered, struggling to keep a note of anger in his tone, but it was hard. The moment was seriously cheesy and probably the most idiotic romantic attempt he had ever even witnessed outside of one of his gooey romcoms, and aside from it startling him practically out of his wits, he found it quite honestly endearing. He loved that stupid romantic shit, the cheesy, mushy gushy stuff you could normally only find in something like that one movie with Troll Adam Sandler and the forgetful blonde chick... And perhaps this hadn't exactly been classified as cheesy yet, or even romantic, but... shit, it was close enough to make his heart pound and his spine crawl with that ever-present fear of that kind of relationship.
"Of course I am." Nepeta's voice was just over a whisper, and her eyes were suddenly huge as she peered up at him. Alright, maybe this wasn't such a good idea... yeah, she pitied him, maybe even more than that, but... was this really the way to go about showing it? Pulling the object of her affections right on top of her to announce her undying pity to him? Sure, he liked romcoms, and this was certainly a lot like them, but... seriously?
Alright, no, she couldn't be thinking this shit over now. She had, in her fatigued and hazy state, gotten herself into this situation, and there was no getting out now. So it was either she go through with whatever moronic thought had entered her mind upon acting, or...
In one quick motion, Nepeta released Karkat's wrist and curled her fingers into the front of his sweater, the pulled him down so she could press her lips against his. She hesitated for a moment before doing so, however, but then she was pushing hers to his, eyes squeezed shut tight as if she was afraid of seeing his reaction.
They remained that way for a long moment, and Nepeta could feel Karkat stiffen, then relax into the contact and finally pull gently away, eyes wide. Her own eyes opened as well when he did, and she looked... almost afraid. She knew she had fucked up, now she was just waiting for the reaction. And after a moment of staring at her, working through the possible repercussions and consequences of each of his possible reactions, Karkat allowed his lips to curve up a little, then leaned forward and returned the kiss with uncharacteristic softness.
