In case anybody who's previously read this story is wondering what happened, I merged the introduction with the first chapter of the story. Also, sorry this chapter's a little on the late side, but arranging the dialogue in a way that I liked proved to be very hard. I've done it though, so here's chapter two.

%O%

Little Miracles:
Art Partners

Monday, March 2nd 2015

Karkat was among the last to shuffle into the room for his art class. It was a big, open space, and every surface was adorned with sketches, paintings, prints, and the occasional splatter of paint. Some wood and paper shavings hid away in the corners, behind shelves loaded with clay pots and wood sculptures. Cutout paper snowflakes hung from strings near the ceiling— remnants from christmas nobody had bothered to take down.

Karkat felt eyes staring at him almost immediately, and they weren't just the glances you get for being one of the late kids. He could tell that one particular set of green eyes was on him— eyes which belonged to the best artist in the room. She was one of the few people in the class who actually put some effort into her work there. She had shoulder length brown hair and a delicate, slender face. She always wore a green trench coat, and it had sort of become her thing.

And she annoyed the shit out of Karkat, nearly every day. Her name was Nepeta.

Karkat gave her a sideways glance, he couldn't help it. The second her eyes met his, they dropped back down to the doodle she'd been working on. She went back to drawing cats, and tried to pretend she hadn't been looking at him at all. Still, a hint of red graced her cheeks.

Karkat sat down on his usual stool near a corner of the room, groaning to himself. It was obvious she had a crush on him, he'd known it for months. Why couldn't people just leave him the hell alone? He didn't want a relationship with anybody. The only thing he wanted even less was this awkwardness between himself and a near-stranger.

With all the students settled in, their teacher began droning on about the small project they were all currently working on. They'd been drawing a house using perspective lines. It felt more like a geometry class than art, and Karkat wasn't pleased with it at all. The only reason he took the class was because his high school had an art requirement for its students. It was his junior year, and he had yet to satisfy it. So, there he was.

I could've signed up for any other fucking art course and avoided this whole mess. But no, I had to pick this one, he thought to himself.

"Karkat and Nepeta," the voice of his art teacher called out, stirring Karkat from his thoughts.

"What?" they both asked, sitting up. Karkat had been off in his own head, and Nepeta had been too busy drawing to really listen to what was going on, until now.

Mr Morrissey sighed, rather loudly. "As I've already explained to the class, you'll be working on this semester's final project in pairs. You two have to create a piece of work that demonstrates your skills as artists. I recommend employing what you've learned in this class." Then he made eye contact with Karkat. "If anything."

Normally, Karkat would have taken the opportunity to start some sort of scene, but the news he'd been given was all he could focus on at that moment.

Fuck! Why the hell did I take this course!? Karkat was freaking out in his own head. He was livid. It wasn't bad enough that she was always staring at him, now she was gonna talk to him, too. And he had to talk to her as well. He sat his head on his hand, and the force of his palm against his cheek was all that kept him from bashing his face into the table.

This is gonna suck ass, he thought.

%O%

Oh my god, this is so perfect, Nepeta thought. Maybe we can finally get to know each other!

She glanced over at him, and saw that he'd spaced out again. It always seemed like he was thinking really hard. Without really thinking about it, she stopped drawing and started chewing on the eraser end of her pencil. She couldn't help but look at him. He was so cute. He had black hair that was fairly short, and an absolute mess. Messy hair didn't always look good to her, but when it was on him, she couldn't complain. She couldn't complain at all… And he had those light grey eyes that glowed in the sunlight. His jawline was sharp, and clean shaven. His figure was rather thin, but he still had some narrow muscles.

She knew that this would be her chance, and she was going to try her best to get on his good side. Surely he had one, right?

Of course he does, she thought. Everybody has a good side.

%O%

At last, the bell rang, signalling that it was time for lunch. Karkat bolted out of the room before most of the other students had even gotten their books and art supplies packed up. He headed for the cafeteria, and on the way there he got another text from Terezi.

'H3Y YOU, W4NN4 34T LUNCH W1TH M3?'

Karkat figured he should at least respond, even though he didn't particularly want to.

'SORRY, IM ALREADY EATING WITH MY FRIENDS'

There, that oughta do it. Let her off nice and easy.

'4WWW. BUT W3 N3V3R H4NG OUT 4NYMOR3 :['

Fuck. Why did she have to be persistent?

'SOME OTHER TIME OKAY?'

'OK4Y'

'LOOK1NG FORW4RD TO 1T, K4RKL3S :]'

Karkat read that stupid nickname she always used and decided to just shut off his phone, as he approached the table his friends were sitting at. He dropped it harshly on the table, to signify where he'd be eating, then left to get his food. He didn't say a word to his friends, and they could tell by that look on his face that something was up. Chatter flared up between the four of them.

"What's his deal?" Sollux asked, his lisp hanging up on the 'S' sounds.

"Who cares? He's always angry about somethin'," Eridan responded. Sollux shrugged.

"Yeah but he's been, like, super pissed lately," Gamzee said. "He's starting to get me all motherfuckin' worried."

"Yes, I agree with Gamzee. He's not been himself at all recently," Kanaya added.

The group exchanged theories about Karkat. A few were pretty misguided, but others were more plausible. Meanwhile, Karkat grabbed a tray and trudged through the lunch line. He grabbed the essentials: a slice of pizza and some fries. It was his usual meal, a routine he'd fallen into a while back. On a whim, he scooped up some slop that looked like mashed potatoes and dumped it on his plate as well. After sliding his student ID at the counter, he started weaving through the crowd toward his table. But when Karkat returned to his friends, he found that the conversation between them had been snuffed out. He also noticed, with relief, that Eridan was gone.

"Hey," he droned as he sat down. "So, what were you all babbling about?"

"Not much," Sollux grumbled. He was sitting with his arms crossed, glaring down at his food tray. Karkat looked at Kanaya and Gamzee, noting their uneasiness. Kanaya was tapping away at her phone in her lap, eyes locked to the screen. Gamzee was slowly stirring the bowl of soup he'd gotten, with the familiar look on his face that told Karkat his mind was somewhere else.

"Okay, what the hell happened here?"

"Sollux and Eridan got into yet another argument," Kanaya said, not averting her gaze from a round of 2048. "He left our table in quite a huff."

"Good riddance," Karkat murmured through a bite of his pizza. Sollux nodded, and the two of them bumped fists. Sollux shrugged his annoyance off, and went back to eating.

"Why do we even let him hang out with us? He's a pompous douchebag," Karkat added, after swallowing his pizza.

"Aw, he ain't so bad," Gamzee said, and Karkat just stared at him.

"'Ain't so bad'? Really, he 'ain't so bad', huh?" Karkat asked, getting himself worked up. But he quickly remembered that he had something else to talk about, and he wasn't going to let this stupid tangent get the better of him. Karkat clamped his mouth shut, and took a breath to calm his nerves.

"Brother's just got a strong opinion on things and all—"

"Whatever. Look, that shit's not important right now." Karkat glared at Gamzee, but the oaf was too busy trying to balance his soup spoon on his finger to notice. "Something happened today, and… I need some fucking advice, okay?"

"Really?" Gamzee asked, with genuine curiosity. He gently set the spoon down by his bowl, shifting his full attention to Karkat. "And what is this situation that needs advising, best friend?"

"Please, do tell," Kanaya said, putting her phone away for the moment and lifting her head up. Karkat asking for advice was not a common occurrence, and it grabbed her attention.

"Yeah, what's up K?" Sollux added on, also wondering what was on his friend's mind. He stopped eating and turned to face Karkat.

With a sigh, Karkat put his elbows on the table so he could rest his head on his hands. They cupped either side of his face, following the sharp turn of his jaw.

"Okay, you know that girl in my shitty art class? The one who's got a crush on me?" he asked the table.

"Yeah?" they all replied, more or less in unison.

"Well, I got stuck working with her on this stupid semester project we're doing."

The table erupted into a mixture of laughter and "Ooooo"ing from his friends.

"Yeah, yeah, it's fucking hilarious! Laugh it up, shitheads," Karkat seethed.

Sollux just grinned at his friend. "That's it? That's your big dilemma? Is that why you've been so pissy today?"

One of Karkat's hands came down hard and slapped the table as he sat up straight. "I have not been fucking pissy today!" Sollux just raised an eyebrow and kept looking at him. Eventually, Karkat rolled his eyes.

"Okay, okay, so maybe I've been just a little bit more on edge than usual. But I don't know how I'm supposed to fucking handle this."

"What is there to handle?" Sollux asked. "She's your partner for the project, asshole. That's that."

"It's not that simple!" Karkat yelled.

"It's not huh?" Sollux retorted. "You think there's any chance you can be un-partnered?"

"Well… shit, no, there's no way. Mr Morrissey is such a hard ass."

"Word," Gamzee said, between mouthfuls of soup. "I've got that dude for woodcarving."

"Sounds like you're partners then," Sollux said, leaning back in his chair. "Just suck it up, K." Sollux was quiet for a moment, but then a question occurred to him. "What's so bad about being partnered with her, anyway?"

"What's so bad? Are you fucking serious? She's got a thing for me, dipshit! What if she tries to make a move or something while we're working on this project together?" Karkat's hands were in his hair now, not far from pulling some of it out.

"You tell her you're not interested, stupid."

"But I don't want to do that to her, I have no fucking idea how she'd take it... ugh." Karkat pushed his tray away and put his head down on the table, behind his arms.

Sollux didn't know what else to say, so he went back to what he'd been doing before, which was eyeballing the back of Eridan's head with disgust from across the cafeteria.

Kanaya decided it was her turn to try and reason through the issue with him. "You're still quite opposed to the prospect of romance," she said. "How have you been faring emotionally since your, uh, episode with Dave?"

"Fucking fantastic. I feel great. Life is wonderful." Karkat peeked out from behind his arms to glare at Kanaya and her stupid questions. She shook her head, frowning.

"Not well, I take it."

"I don't wanna talk about it." Karkat sighed heavily as he sat up. "So, I've got to get through this project with her, one way or another…" Karkat face-palmed, slouching in his chair. "I guess I'll just ride this shit out as best I can."

"Yeah, bro," Gamzee chimed in. "Why bother doing anything? Like, maybe it'll all be chill. Maybe she won't get all up in your business like you seem to be thinking she will."

Karkat looked across the table at Gamzee. "God, I fucking hope so. I mean, what the hell could I even do if she gets the wrong idea?" he asked.

"If I could offer a point for you to think about, Karkat," Kanaya cut back in. Everybody paused to look at her, so she continued. "You've never interacted with this girl. Not even once, is that correct?"

"Well, I mean…"

"Since the two of you will be working on this project together no matter what, you should try to befriend her. If you're successful, it'll make things go much more smoothly. Plus, you might find that she's actually a decent person."

Karkat just sighed. "Okay, fine, whatever. I'll fucking talk to the cat girl."

"That's the spirit, bro," Gamzee said.

So it was settled. Karkat would at least try to become friends with Nepeta, for the sake of making it less awkward to work on the project with her. Karkat tried to put the thought out of his mind and enjoy his lunch, but he had little success.

%O%

School was finally out for the day. The sun was getting low in the sky, and it cast a long shadow of Karkat's impatient figure across the parking lot. He stood by his car, leaning on the hood and tapping his foot impatiently. With a sigh, he whipped his arm around to take a look at his watch.

It's been 15 minutes. Where the hell is he? Karkat asked himself. He was pondering the idea of simply leaving his stupid friend behind when Gamzee came jogging over to the car.

"Shit. Sorry I'm late, bro," he said.

Karkat threw his hands in the air. "Finally! What the hell took you so long, Gamzee?"

"I's just talking to a friend of mine." Gamzee waved him off and went around the car to throw his stuff in the back seat. Karkat stopped leaning on the hood and turned around to look at Gamzee.

"Who, that kid in the wheelchair again?"

Gamzee paused for a moment, but then he nodded. "That's the one, bro… His name's Tavros, he's a cool dude," he said, standing by the passenger door. Karkat stood by his own door for a moment, looking at Gamzee over the silvery roof of the car. He seemed unsettled for some reason. Karkat couldn't help but feel like something was up, but he didn't care enough to keep talking about it.

"Whatever. Let's go."

They both got into the car. At last, Karkat used the key he'd been holding for a while, and the engine spun to life. Navigation wasn't difficult in the nearly empty lot. In moments, Karkat was out on the street. He took a left at the school's entrance, instead of the right Gamzee had expected.

"We gotta stop and get some gas," Karkat said.

"Oh, it's all good." Gamzee sat back into his seat and breathed a sigh of relief that the day was over. "Mind if I crank up some tunes?"

"Go for it," was all Karkat said. The day had left him frazzled, and he thought maybe some music could actually help. Gamzee started fumbling with the knobs, and eventually found a song he liked. It was a strange mix of reggae and electro, but Karkat didn't mind it too much.

%O%

If you have a little time, let me know what you think of the story so far. It really helps me out. Starting now, I'm going to respond to all the reviews I get, so you know how much I appreciate it. Keep in mind, you have to be logged into an account for me to PM you— if you leave a review with a random placeholder name I'll have no way to get back to you!