The next day at school, we sat together in the morning before school. I had people coming up to me and telling me I did great last night, causing me to blush. The most surprising visitor, though, was Dave Strider. He walked up to me, hands in his pockets, leaned back nonchalantly.

"Hey. Nepeta. You did good last night. Maybe we could jam sometime." And then he walked away. I don't know why, but I just couldn't help but to laugh. The bell rang, and all the students went to their lockers to put away their stuff and get what they needed.

People kept coming up to me all day. Apparently, someone posted my performance on youtube, and suddenly I was very popular. This didn't help my anxiety, making me feel very nervous every time someone passed my seat. I hated having a lot of strangers talking to me, and the only people I knew were my friends I have had for years, and that's not many people.

By the time I got to lunch, I was about ready to have an anxiety attack. Karkat was already seated there, so I sat as close to him as I could, and tried to hide myself next to him, burying my face in his shoulder.

"Whoa, Nepeta, are you okay?"

"No... so many people...youtube... ugh.."

"What? You aren't making sense- and you're shaking like crazy! Are you okay?"

"Someone posted a video of me on youtube... seems like everyone in school has seen the video... I wanna cry, too many people are talking to me..."

"Oh, Nepeta, shhh... it's okay, come here." He said, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me closer to him on the bench. I trembled a little, and he just held me until Equius got there. He explained what happened, and Equius came over too to help me calm down. When people would come up to us, Equius would politely yet sternly tell them to go away, but Karkat, on the other hand, would yell at them to "piss off you god damn pissant, can't you see she's not in the mood, now go run back to your shitty table for your shitty lunch and stuff your goddamn cakehole instead of bothering her".

Lunch ended, and thanks to Karkat and Equius, I had significantly less visitors all day. It was raining outside, so we couldn't practice color guard outside. We practiced dance inside the gym a while, then we all went home. It was still raining, so Karkat and I shared an umbrella. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and held me close to him so I didn't get wet. The loud thunderclaps made me squeak, and Karkat just laughed and pulled me closer.

"My girlfriend is such a wimp"

"Am not!" Right after I said that, a loud clap of thunder sounded, and I jumped and squealed. "Dammit..."

"Don't worry, Nepeta, I'll protect you! I have a superpower."

"Do you now?"

"Yes indeed I do!" He said, dropping the umbrella, and leaning down to kiss me in the rain. I giggled softly and kissed back, cupping his face in my hands. It was sweet, until a vile yellow entered my vision. I broke away just as here shrill voice rang out.

"Karkat! Come on, you have chores, and you'll get a cold just standing there! Get in here!" She said, smirking a bit. I felt Karkat tense, then slump his shoulders and sigh.

"I will IM you tonight, okay? I promise. Okay?" He said, smiling softly.

"Okay!" I kissed his cheek and ran into my house, smiling uncontrollably.

I waited a few hours, strumming idly at my ukulele, writing, making doodles that had to do with my synesthesia. I have felt my heart drop, but never have I ever felt the flutter I did wen my computer finally dinged, and Karkat's name appeared. I smiled, and replied, and we talked for hours, about anything and everything. It was around one in the morning when I passed out in front of my laptop, smile gracing my face.

I awoke the next morning to voices downstairs. I sat up, and looked at my clock and gasped. It was almost noon! I got up and rushed to get dressed, and brushed my hair out and my teeth. I went downstairs, and Karkat, his Step-mother, and his father were in the Living room.

"There she is! You were tired, Nep!" My mom said laughing. I cringed inwardly, as all the attention was now on me, and shuffled into the kitchen. I reheated myself some leftovers, and Karkat met me in there, grabbing a cup to get some water.

"What's up? Why is everyone here?"

"Well, apparently, I'm staying here a few days. Since my brother is at that school trip thing, Dad and Kristy decided they could just drop me here and go on a little vacation for themselves." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Aww, that's sweet!"

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, since its the same trip your sister is on, I, apparently, get to stay in her room. Your mom gave me the green light to go check it out earlier, and it, ah, kinda smelled like weed."

"Yeeaahhh... she kinda has been sneaking a few joints. She had one right before se left for the trip, and forgot to air out the room. I'm just waiting for mom to get in there and FINALLY bust her for it."

"Damn."

"Yeah."

We talked for a bit, then the Vantas' had to go back home to pack, and I just lazed around in my room. Karkat came back a few hours later, and, as expected, when mom went to make Meulin's bed, there was quite the commotion. We heard the whole thing from my room, and I don't think we've ever laughed so hard.

After that, we had to eat dinner. We ate and talked for a while, then everyone went to bed. Around midnight, there was a soft knock on my door. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and went to open the door.

"Huh?"

"Hey.. can I come in here? I.. I had a bad dream."

"Sure, come on.." I said. I hugged him, but when I did, his cheeks felt wet. I took his face in my hands and wiped away a few tears with my thumbs, and kissed him gently, and just hugged tight for a moment. I pulled away after a bit, and lead him to my bed, and pulled a blanket over us. I wrapped my arms around him, and sang softly to him along with the music I had playing while I slept. He seemed to calm down after a bit, and soon, we fell fast asleep.


Sorry if it seems weird towards the end, I wrote this at three in the morning, and to be honest, most of these chapters are fillers sort of while I plan out major plots for a bit. Bear with me, this will get better, I promise!