Aradia glanced at Karkat and Nepeta.

They're so cute and romantic together, but I feel so bad for Terezi...

She glanced towards the kitchen.

She went inside after she heard Nepeta and Karkat talking about the drawing... maybe she's had enough...

"Does anyone want a drink?" asked Aradia, to have a reason to go into the kitchen after Terezi.

"Uhh, no thanks Aradia," said Tavros, holding up a bottle of Faygo. "Gamzee gave me some Faygo. I don't think my taste buds are going to work... for at least a day..."

Aradia nodded. "Alright, I understand. Anyone else?"

"I would like some water please," said Kanaya.

"Do you have any strawberry juice?" asked Nepeta.

"I, uh...no?" said Aradia.

"Then I would like some chocolate milk please!"

"Okay. Karkat?"

"Frankly I'll have anything but that brain-numbing slime," said Karkat, pointing to the bottle of Faygo in Tavros's possession.

"Alright, be right back," said Aradia, entering the kitchen. She saw Vriska pulling the pizza out of the oven, looking very delicious in all of its cheesy glory. Sollux was putting utensils away and organizing the kitchen, which was nice of him. Terezi was just standing around. She had found the company of Sollux and Vriska to be more comforting than being in the living room with Nepeta and Karkat. Aradia frowned.

"Hey Aradia!" said Vriska. "How's the pizza?"

"It looks great!" said Aradia. "Thank you for this."

"No problem," said Vriska.

Aradia moved closer to Terezi and whispered. "We need to talk."

"I am not in the mood for talking about this anymore, Aradia," said Terezi with sadness in her voice. "But I did come to a realization."

"What was that?" asked Aradia.

"I can't just wait around for Karkat to fall out of love with Nepeta," she whispered to Aradia, turning more towards her friend's voice. "That's obviously not going to happen. If that moron is happy, then I'm happy too I guess..."

"But you AREN'T happy," replied Aradia. "I can tell."

"What I'm getting at is, maybe I should forget about Karkat and find someone else," said Terezi. "Someone I don't have to wait around for in the shadows."

"Who?"

Terezi shrugged. "I don't know. I'll get back to you on that."

Terezi smiled. "I'll be fine, Aradia. Thanks for caring about me. I'll go back to the living room, and I won't let Karkat or Nepeta mess with my fun." She glanced down. "Funny, I came here to fuck with him, but I don't want to anymore. He's so happy here, hanging out with Nepeta. I don't want to be a huge bitch like someone we know."

Aradia glanced at Vriska and tilted her head. Terezi practically sensed her friend's movements.

"I was actually talking about Eridan," said Terezi.

"Oh," said Aradia, and she giggled. Terezi shared the moment with her and laughed as well.

"If you two are done mumbling," said Vriska. "Help me put this on the table."

Terezi and Aradia helped Vriska lift the large pizza onto the kitchen table.

"That smells amazing," said Terezi. "And my powerful nostrils aren't detecting any poison."

Vriska threw her hands up. "I'm not gonna poison you fuckers! Jeez!"

Aradia smiled and went over what Aradia said. Terezi was sure to find someone for her. It may not be Karkat, but she'll be fine.

"Tho ith done?" asked Sollux. Vriska nodded.

"Now we need to wait for..."

DING DONG!

"Nevermind."

Aradia opened the door to Eridan, Feferi, and Equius.

"Hello everyone!" she said.

Feferi was the first to speak, smiling widely.

"Aradia! Hi! How are you? Wow! Your hive is soooo nice!"

"Thank you," replied Aradia.

"It is rather alright, I suppose," said Eridan, who received an elbow-jabbing from Feferi.

"Be nice," she said to him. And then to Aradia. "Don't mind him. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

Aradia was surprised her aquatic friend did not sneak a weird fish pun in there somewhere. Like "woke up on the frond side of the bed" or something like that. Maybe Feferi was learning to control herself.

"Good evening, Aradia," said Equius. Aradia had hoped that Equius wouldn't make things awkward. With his sweating, and the fact that she knew about his small crush on her. Aradia smiled awkwardly.

"Hello Equius," she said. "Well, come on in."

"Everyone else is already here?" asked Eridan with his accent.

"Yes," replied Aradia, guiding the rest of her friends into the house. Everyone on the couch looked up to see them, except for Karkat, with his eyes glued to the screen.

"Nepeta," said Equius. "I received your message. We need to talk."

Nepeta glanced at Karkat awkwardly. "Um..."

"Where is Sollux?" asked Eridan.

"Hello everyone!" said Feferi.

"Oh my god shut the fuck up," said Karkat, turning the TV volume up.

It was then that Vriska entered from the kitchen.

"Hey asshats, the pizza is done."


Since there was no room in the kitchen, everybody relocated to the living room with their pizza and plates and beverages. Aradia, Sollux, Tavros, Kanaya, Terezi, Vriska, Nepeta, Karkat, Equius, Eridan and Feferi were scattered about the couch, and three additional chairs. Karkat made sure nobody "sat in front of the fucking TV", and Aradia was just hoping her friends wouldn't make too much of a mess.

Aradia couldn't shake the feeling that she forgot something, but she was used to the feeling, and she thought she should focus more on her friends, so she stopped trying to think about it. She took a big bite out of the pizza, very happy with Vriska's handiwork.

"This pizza is delicious!" said Aradia. Everyone else agreed.

"Thanks, you guys," said Vriska. "It's really no problem!"

Nepeta took a bite and made a small pained noise. "I burned my tongue...!"

"Are you alright, honey?" said Karkat.

"Are you alright, Nepeta?" said Equius at the same time.

Karkat and Equius shared a glance, but Equius thought back to Nepeta's prior message sent to him by mistake, and gave a look of disgust.

"What the fuck kind of look is that?" asked Karkat.

"I do not feel comfortable talking about it," said Equius. Oh god, what is he going to do to poor Nepeta?!

Equius tried not to think about it too much, lest he vomit. The mere thought of his moirail, Nepeta, doing ANYTHING "100d" (with a mutant blood such as Karkat no less!) was enough to make his stomach churn.

"Ugh, this cheese is so..." began Eridan. He glanced at Vriska, who was waiting to hear what was wrong with her cheese.

"...great," he said, eating pizza. "Simply great."

Karkat had paused the movie, as there was no way he was missing more than he already had. According to him, it had already reached its halfway point, and he was eager to resume it.

I really hope Equius doesn't bug Nepeta and I, he thought. Especially since he wasn't supposed to know about the damn ravioli!