A few days later, Cronus came by the house. Nepeta had been the one to answer the door. Cronus was tall and a little foreboding, a cigarette dangling from his lips and a guitar in a soft case strapped to his back. He grinned at her, a grin that felt a little uncomfortable.
"Hey, Nep. Damn you're looking good today," he said.
"Um? That's kind of a weird thing to say," Nepeta blurted. It was always odd talking to Cronus. He scowled at her.
"Yeah, whatever. Is Kan home?"
"Uh…" Nepeta started to answer, before realizing that she didn't actually know. "Hang on." She let the door shut in Cronus' face as she darted upstairs. Kankri was indeed home, the open door of his bedroom being the giveaway. He always kept the door open when he was home, in the off chance one of the siblings came to him for advice. He was on his laptop when Nepeta knocked lightly on the door. Kankri looked up at her.
"Yes, Nepeta?"
"Um, Cronus is at the door for you?"
"Oh." Kankri let out a very long sigh. "Can you tell him I don't want to talk to him?" Nepeta frowned.
"No. Go downstairs and talk to him yourself."
"Nepeta, he cheated on me. I have nothing to say to him."
"Well I'm not going to let you put me in the middle; I'm not your messenger. Plus talking to Cronus is always weird?" Kankri let out another long sigh and stood up from his desk.
"Fine." Nepeta's eyes followed Kankri as he traipsed down the stairs. Nepeta walked into her own room and climbed up to her bed. Meulin was watching something—was that Aristocats?—on her laptop, but she paused it and looked up at Nepeta.
"What's up, Nep?"
"Cronus is here."
Meulin frowned. "Oh man, that guy?" The older girl huffed. "He's so weird and always hitting on everyone."
"I know, he made a comment to me just now!"
"Ewwww!" Meulin squealed. "You know, for a guy who's spent the last two years talking about nothing about sex, I don't think he's actually done it very much." Nepeta crinkled her brow.
"I don't really wanna talk about that, Mews." The two girls stopped talking, hearing two pairs of footsteps coming up the stairs, and the voices that came with them.

"–even know why you think I want to see you right now."
"Kan, please, just let me explain."
"You think you can explain why you slept with Damara?"
"It didn't mean anything! I was mad at you and I was horny, and I…" The door to Kankri's bedroom slammed shut, muffling the rest of the conversation. Nepeta could hear Kankri shouting and Cronus sound like he was pleading, but she couldn't make out the words anymore. After a while, Kankri's voice calmed, and the door opened again. Nepeta looked at Meulin, and they both just sort of shrugged at each other. It seemed like the two had discussed whatever they needed to discuss, because Cronus took his guitar out and started playing "Good Riddance". Karkat came home before too long and gave the boys some shit, too, especially since Cronus was playing nothing but the most clichéd acoustic guitar songs ever.

Feferi's New Year's party was that weekend. Nepeta couldn't say much of interest happened, at least, not to her personally. Aradia didn't show up to the party, for some reason, but at least Nepeta didn't have to feel bad about hoarding Equius' attention. But really, the most exciting thing that happened (beyond seeing which pairings were becoming reality) was Tavros getting totally hammered and yelling at Vriska. Actually, it was kind of awkward to watch. It started with the countdown. Vriska plopped herself into Tavros' lap. It was Tavros' laugh that actually caught Nepeta's attention, how genuine it sounded. It was a rare sound. Nepeta didn't hear him laugh very much, which she supposed might have to do with how he saw himself and the fact that Tav was a bit of a pushover. He smiled a lot and didn't seem generally unhappy, but she also knew he was very frustrated by Vriska. And this laugh was after the revelation that Gamzee had spiked the punch and therefore Tavros was very drunk.
"Waht're you doin'? he slurred at Vriska.
"I was gonna kiss you at midnight, you drunk fool," Vriska answered.
"Ahah!" Tavros said. He shifted a bit, then Vriska stood up, glancing around the room that she now had full attention of. "I, uh, no," Tavros said. "Nnnno. You don' wanna kis meee, you! Jus' wanna make… john… jealous." He gestured wildly with his arms, pointing at himself, then Vriska, then John. "An anyway! I don' think I wannaaa kiss you, anymore. You're uhhhh, a mean. Person. You are mean to me. I don' like it. And if I haaaad to geuss, I don' think that, uh, mister John likes it very much, either. I know… most of us? Don't like it either. And uh, that's just. Sad. Vriskers. That most of us don't really like you? You're… too mean, eheheh." Wow. So. That was really uncomfortable. Vriska looked wildly embarrassed, and then she just left. Nepeta couldn't say she blamed her; she probably would have left too if she'd been berated by someone she arguably had a crush on in front of all their friends. Feferi tried to make the best of the rest of the party, gathering everyone's attention and directing it towards the countdown. Nepeta smiled at Equius, who forced himself to smile back. It was clear everyone was kind of uncomfortable with what had just happened, but what was there really to do about it?

And then, a couple days later, Nepeta got a message from Equius.

centaursTesticle [CT] began pestering arsenicCatnip [AC]

CT: Nepeta
CT: I have some unfortunate news
AC: oh?
AC: what is it equius?
CT: Aradia…
CT: Broke up with me
AC: oh no!
AC: are you okay?
CT: I don't know.
CT: I've never felt like this before.
CT: It is like…
CT: My heart is crying.
CT: I don't really know how to explain it.
AC: aww
AC: do you want me to come over?
CT: Could you?
AC: of course!
AC: you know im always here for emotional support
AC: what kind of friend would i be if i didnt come console you right now?
AC: not a very good one in my opinion
AC: so i will be right over!

arsenicCatnip [AC] ceased pestering centaursTesticle [CT]

Nepeta shoved her phone into her pocket, told Solomon she was heading out, and hopped onto the bus. Equius' house wasn't far, but it would be a long walk. When she got to Equius' house, she knocked on the door, and it swung open, Aurthour on the other side. She waved at him, and he gave a small smile at her.
"Good afternoon, Miss Leijon."
"Hi Aurthour! Where's Equius?"
"In the garage," Aurthour explained.
"Okay, thanks!" Nepeta said before skipping off. Equius was indeed in the garage, welder's mask down while he worked intently on… something. Nepeta knew better than to walk in or surprise him while he was working, especially with fire, so she waited a moment. Equius tilted towards her, then held up a finger as if to say 'just a minute'. He finished what he was doing, lifted his mask, and set all the tools down. Only then did Nepeta enter the garage. Fire safety was everyone's business.
"Hello, Nepeta," Equius said. Nepeta hugged him tight.
"Hi, Equius." She sat down on the bench and promted Equius to do the same. "So… what happened?"
"It was odd. She asked me to go to the archery range with her, to which I said yes, of course, and we did have an interesting conversation in the car."
"Oh? About what?"
"She asked about my mother."
"Oh." It was a sensitive subject. Equius never brought it up, but his mother had been comatose for a very long time.
"I even took your advice, and called her 'darling'. Everything seemed fine, until we arrived at the range. I broke a bow, and she insisted that we share one. Being in such close proximity made me nervous… I… blast, where is my towel?" Nepeta stifled a laugh as Equius scrambled for a towel to dry himself. Big stinky sweatybutt. "And then, she just started yelling at me, yelling and crying and telling me I didn't actually care about her. And upon insisting that I do care, she began slapping me! But then she kissed me. It was… it was anger. I don't know. She made it clear she doesn't want to see me anymore, but I…"
"Wow, that sounds really weird. I've never thought of Aradia as the angry type. Maybe she's confused too!" Equius' eyes glanced around the room; he looked a little embarrassed.

"She has good reason to be angry."

"Hmm?"

"I have not been completely honest about how things came to be between me and her. You see, I was well aware of Vriska planning that game on Halloween. In fact, it was because of me that it was arranged at all."

Nepeta squinted at Equius, her brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I was… embarrassed to even be developing these feelings for Aradia. Her family… they are just so… low. I couldn't bring myself to ask her on a date in a traditional manner, I am not sure why I had such nerves around her. And Vriska was aware of my feelings, and she offered to help. The game was rigged from the very beginning. And once Aradia and I were alone, I was able to ask her out. Perhaps it was the seclusion; perhaps it was the darkness, but I kissed her while we were in the closet, and I asked her on a date, as you know. I suppose she found out about my tactless manipulation, and this is why she grew so angry with me."

Nepeta scowled at Equius and smacked him a couple times in the shoulder. "You big stupid dummy! How could you do that?"

"Ah, I know! It was incredibly foolish of me."

"Foolish? Equius, you lied to her!"

"I know, I know. Words cannot summate my guilt in regards to the entire debacle. I just… didn't know what else to do. I panicked, and I didn't know how to come clean about it."

"Hmm…" Nepeta pondered the situation for a moment. She couldn't really be mad at Equius; everyone made mistakes. He seemed to know he was in the wrong, so continuing to make him feel bad about it wasn't really fair. "It'll be okay, Equius. Sure, it doesn't feel good right now, but you'll be fine in the end."

"What made you feel better?" he asked, of course referring to Karkat's outburst at her.

"Meulin took me to get some ice cream."

"Ice cream does not seem like it will fix things."

"It won't. It's just nice in the moment. Only time will fix things." Nepeta patted Equius' arm gently. He may not have been showing it outwardly, but she could tell Equius was hurting. He wasn't the type to cry. Instead, he just grunted at her.

"Do you think I could get Aradia back? Maybe… maybe she could give me a second chance."

As much as it pained her to do so, Nepeta shook her head no. "You weren't honest with her. And I'm pretty sure she has a crush on Sollux…" Equius grunted again, and Nepeta sighed. "Do you want to go get some ice cream, Equius?"

"Yes, please."