A/N: Oh my gog I am so sorry I'm taking forever to update this! Since school started and all my classes are just diving right in, I haven't had time to type at all! Hopefully the overall quality goes up, though, because I'm taking Creative Writing. Don't worry; Alex doesn't stick around! I just wanted a character for Nepeta to date who wasn't Karkat and I couldn't think of any non-OC's that were single and/or ship with Nepeta.
Chapter 5: Senior Year
"Do you ever find it odd," Rose began. "That in the group of twelve who have lived here their whole lives, everyone has an older sibling of the same gender and star sign (who are all the same age as each other), one parent of the same gender, and a six-letter first and last name scheme you share with the older siblings? Not to mention that there is one family group of each star sign and your typing colors are arranged in zodiac and rainbow order, starting with Aradia at dark red but skipping Karkat with gray? And no offense, but your names aren't exactly common. For the most part, they are associated with your star sign, as well. Don't you find that a bit weird?"
The twelve looked at each other, then shrugged. "Don't you find it odd that you all have four-letter first names, six-or-seven letter last names, names extremely similar to those of your parents, and a twin? Plus, Dave's an albino, Rose has pink eyes, you all type in your eye colors, you all moved here in the same year, and you knew each other before that?" Kanaya asked back.
The four looked at each other, copying the motions of the previous twelve. "Coincidence is a funny thing," Jade said, just as the end-of-lunch bell rang.
At the end of the day, Nepeta was exhausted. She didn't know why; it was only the start of school! She was capable of running off of very little sleep, so why was she tired now? Not to mention that her throat was killing.
But the next day, she climbed into the family car and drove to Terezi's house. "Hey Terezi!" she shouted out the window.
Terezi stuck her head out a second-story window. "Coming!" she yelled. A few moments later, she slid into the backseat. "Let's go!" the blind girl cackled.
Soon after, they arrived at Equius's house. He must've been waiting for her in the front room, because he was out the door as soon as she pulled up. He sat in the front seat and nodded a greeting. Nepeta smiled affectionately and drove to Karkat's house.
Karkat was always the last and the grumpiest. He had horrible insomnia; he never got enough sleep. And he wasn't much of a morning person to begin with. Terezi offered the boy a devious grin, which Karkat returned feebly. Terezi reached her hand over to latch onto Karkat's. Burning jealousy rose up in Nepeta's body and for once, it was pure jealousy, not any manner of pity or anything else mixed in. She just wanted Terezi out of there.
But she compressed the feeling and gripped the steering wheel tighter, forcing the car sharply around turns and braking suddenly.
"Jeez, Nepeta, take it fucking easy," Karkat muttered.
"Are you feeling alright? Shall I drive?" Equius pressed.
"I'm fine," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Gog, can't a girl drive a fucking car without the whole damn carpool jumping down her throat?"
"Alright, I'm taking over," Karkat said. "Pull the fuck over."
"I said I'm fine," Nepeta snapped. "And if you keep asking, I won't be."
"Fine, gog," Karkat said, holding up his hands as if in surrender. At least, the hand that wasn't practically glued to Terezi's. Anger and jealousy shook her body as she pulled sharply into the spot. "Everyone out," she ordered.
Her friends, sensing the negative emotion boiling in her mind, climbed out with their stuff and left her alone.
She didn't have a first period class, so she could sit in her car and sob.
It was guilt over her jealousy, her anger, her yelling. It was sadness over the fact that she'd never, not in a million years, be allowed to love the one person she adored completely. It was hopelessness over a secret she could never tell and a confession left forever unsaid. She just hugged her knees tightly against her chest and bawled.
She forgot that Karkat didn't have first period, either.
A knock on the car window. She jumped, startled, and looked out the window angrily, trying to project a "You get the fuck away" look.
She also forgot how loud Karkat could shout.
"NEPETA, YOU ROLL THIS FUCKING WONDOW DOWN RIGHT DAMN NOW!"
She rolled the window down a crack. "What?" she snapped.
"What the fuck is wrong?" he asked. "You're fucking bawling your eyes out in your car and you were all pissed on the way here."
"It's nothing," she said.
"What, is it a guy?" he asked.
She paused, then nodded. "Yeah…it's complicated."
"Well?" Karkat asked irritably.
"Well what?"
"Well are you going to tell me what's wrong now or will I have to wait here until you fucking spill?"
She shook her head, curling in on herself again. Sobs still shook her body, but now it was more of a constant whimpering cry than the vicious sobs from before.
It took a while, but eventually she stopped crying and started putting on makeup. She used the cosmetics mirror inside her blush to carefully make up her face so nothing seemed wrong. She used concealer to hide the tear tracks on her face and eye shadow to distract from the redness. The only visible makeup she wore was touch of mascara, to make her look aware and awake. She took a deep breath, set her shoulders back, and plastered a smile on her face. Gog, she was tired.
She threw her backpack over her shoulder and threaded her other arm through the other strap. "Come on!" she said to Karkat, going back to her normal bubbly self.
Karkat followed, shocked. As they walked through the doors, he asked, "Do all girls do that?"
"Most of us," Nepeta answered. "See you at lunch!" she said, splitting off for French 5 and leaving him wonder how many times she'd done that before.
She touched up her makeup in the bathroom just before lunch. She made sure to make it look like she wasn't wearing makeup at all, save that touch of mascara or eye shadow. It was art many of her female friends practiced. She pushed her short hair behind her ears and stood up straighter. Her coat covered up how skinny she'd gotten recently, though she'd been eating like normal. She was worrying herself; was she sick? She coughed heavily and bent over the sink, bracing her hands against the hard plastic. She rubbed her sore eyes and buttoned up her olive-green trench coat to hide that disturbing skinniness that was really starting to scare her.
She picked at her food at lunch. Equius was staring at her. "Eat," he ordered. She shook her head. Karkat was staring at her, too. Her eyes found her turkey/ham sub and stared at it, though she occasionally popped pieces of food in her mouth.
"You are not feeling well. You must go to the school medical professionals," Equius commanded.
Although her vision was going funny, as it did just before she fainted (she was a fainter and a blusher, what luck), she insisted, "I. Am. Fine." Just before she blacked out.
She came to in the nurse's office on a cot. "You've got to get to the hospital," the nurse said. "I recommend getting tested for mononucleosis."
Nepeta nodded. Mono? You've got to be kidding me, she thought.
But the nurse was right. She must've picked it up from that game of Spin-the-Bottle Terezi had talked her into back in August. She was exhausted and her throat killed, not to mention the fact that she was stressed and heartbroken. Her body was practically skin and bones. Her bony wrists and ankles scared her—what if she…what if she died?
She had odd dreams while she was sick. She dreamed that she had gray skin and black hair and candy-corn shaped horns. Her fingernails and toenails and horns were red shading to orange shading to yellow, although there was very little orange and no red on her nails. Her bones were also yellow and her blood was olive green. She didn't know how she knew this; she just did. Her eyes were also yellow, except her irises were sometimes her blood color, in the dreams when she was older. She still wore that green coat, like always, and a black T-shirt with an olive-green Leo symbol on it. She also wore gray straight-leg jeans, blue running shoes, and a blue cat hat. She was a hunter, raised by a white cat (her lusus) who shared a name with her old cat, Ponce de Leon.
Nothing changed in the dreams; they were like an animé with a defined plot. It was like she was watching the episodes out of order. In some she was as old as ten sweeps (twenty-one years or so), in some as young as four sweeps (eight years or so). Even in the youngest dreams, she was best friends with Equius. In the dreams, she called him her moirail.
In the best dreams, usually the oldest ones, Karkat was her boyfriend. She called him her matesprit, but it meant the same thing.
She wished so badly it was real.
Her dreams were so often better than her reality.
Her friends brought her all her work, and she kept up. But it was hard. She slept a lot, took a lot of cough meds, and kept up.
She hated being sick.
About a month later, she felt ready to face school again. She filled one pocket of her coat with cough drops and prepared to face the world.
She wasn't driving that day; Equius was. She sat in the passenger seat and Terezi and Karkat sat in the back. The tension was palpable, crackling in the air. "Did they fight again?" Nepeta asked Equius quietly. He nodded. She made a mental note to ask Karkat and/or Terezi later.
"What happened?" she asked Karkat concernedly at lunch.
"We fought," he answered tersely.
"About what?" she persisted.
"Uh…you," he answered. "Cuz I'd bring you work. And she didn't believe me."
"Why didn't she just ask me?" Nepeta questioned testily.
"I sure as fuck don't know, but she got all pissed and said I could get someone else to give you the work, but hell, we have four out of six fucking classes together, so what the hell, I'll fucking help out my friend."
Nepeta nodded, turning back to her food and contemplating her choices. She could talk to Terezi about it. She could also let it be. Or she could talk to Terezi as if she hadn't talked to Karkat and get her point of view.
The third option, definitely.
She had AP Psych (easiest AP class ever) with Terezi, so she talked with her good friend before class.
"Did you and Karkat fight again?" she asked sympathetically.
"Yeah," Terezi said.
"What about?" Nepeta questioned innocently.
"Uh…" Terezi looked uncomfortable. "Honestly? You won't piss off?"
"Course not," Nepeta said.
"Well…I guess it was really my fault this time. I mean, it's definitely been this fault before," (Nepeta didn't doubt that) "But this time…I got jealous cuz he was always at your place dropping off work. And I know you were sick with mono and shit, I just…I got jealous. And I was probably a bit PMS-y, you know how it is. I wish we could get back together…" Her voice seized up and Nepeta felt sorry for her friend, even though jealousy was still burning hot. "Nepeta…could you help?"
It pained Nepeta, but she nodded.
Gog, what had she gotten herself into?
It was Winter Formal, and she'd maneuvered around her friend's questions to set the two of them up with each other, although neither knew it. She'd been asked herself (finally) by Alex, a guy who sat next to her in AP Psych who she had a minor crush on. She had a nice, twice-worn dress ready and she would be doing her hair up this time. That is, if she could manage her short, unruly hair.
"Maman!" she called. She'd taken to calling her mother Maman since taking French 3 and meeting her great-aunt, who had visited from France.
"Yes, dear?" her mother called back.
"Can you help with my hair?" she asked, doing her jokingly pleading smile, even though her mother couldn't see it.
Her mother climbed the stairs to the second story of three bedrooms and two bathrooms and smiled. "Sit down," her mother said affectionately. Nepeta sat down on her rolling chair and let her mother fix her hair into something nice. She put on her own makeup and shoes and purse and then waited by the door.
When the doorbell rang, her stomach dropped into her shoes. Oh gog, he was here. She stood up quickly and answered the door, shaking nervously. "Hi," she said, smiling awkwardly. She felt her face turn scarlet and heat up. She bit her lip and looked down. He was really cute.
"Hello, are you Alex?" Nepeta's mom asked politely, emerging from the office.
Alex nodded. He was so much nicer than James. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Leijon," he said, pronouncing her awkward last name properly.
"Nice to meet you, too," Nepeta's mother smiled. "Go on, you two have fun. Curfew is midnight, Nepeta."
"Okay, Mom," Nepeta said. "See you!"
"Bye, dear," Nepeta's mom said. She'd already gotten the "don't do anything reckless or drink or do drugs and if you get pregnant so help me you will be in so much trouble" lecture. Twice.
"So, to the dance?" Nepeta said nervously. Her insides were Jello as she walked with him to his car. Oh gog, he was really cute. It was nice dealing with her own love life for once.
"So," she said, trying to think of a conversation started. Why was it so much easier to advise others than deal with her own love life? "How 'bout them Bears?"
He laughed, and she was glad for the détente. "I don't know, but the Science Olympiad team is doing pretty good."
"Oh, that's right, you've got, what, five events?" Nepeta asked. He was a science nerd, but she didn't mind. In fact, it was kind of hot.
"Yeah. Don't know if I can handle all of them at Regionals! I've got Circuit Lab, Compound Machines, Chem Lab, Forensics, and Materials Science."
"So all the chemistry and physics?"
"Basically…you've got Anatomy and Physiology ad Disease Detectives, right?"
"Yep. I did alright."
"You got first and second, didn't you?" he asked, and she was flattered that he noticed.
"Mm-hmm," she said. "Sorry, but I don't remember yours."
"It's okay, I didn't do so good. All fourths and fifths, a couple sixths."
"Are you kidding? That's great!" she exclaimed. "So, you excited for the dance?"
"I suppose," he said. "I think it'll be good, because I'll be dancing with the prettiest girl in the school."
It was a cheesy compliment, but Nepeta blushed nonetheless and replied, "I guess that means I'm stuck with the second-best-looking person there."
He smiled as they arrived at the school parking lot and pulled in. He wasn't a very good driver, she noticed. He parked crookedly and often seemed to forget that in Illinois, yellow lights were as good as red lights. But that was more her habit of scrutinizing people. She also noticed how he fumbled with the car door handle, indicating that he was nervous. He wasn't too much taller than her, not like James or Equius or even Eridan. It was nice, she would admit.
The Winter Formal wasn't really a big deal; Homecoming and Turnabout were much bigger. Well, and Prom. But all sixteen of them were there, including Terezi and Karkat, who both looked truly shocked. Nepeta suppressed a laugh.
"What is it?" Alex asked. He was observant.
"Oh, it's just a couple of friends I set up together and they're both really surprised," she said, gesturing to the couple in question.
"Them?" he asked incredulously. "My friend Leah was going on about how those two are on and off all the time and then they had a huge breakup or some shit…I don't know, but she was talking about it a lot for about a week."
"Oh yeah, they're always doing that," Nepeta said casually. She lowered her voice and added, "If you want to know the truth, I think they're really bad for each other."
"So why'd you set them up again?"
"Because she asked me to," Nepeta sighed. "Gog, I'm such a pushover."
"Gog?" he asked.
"It's a thing," she tried to explain. "When we were little, me and my old friends, we would always say 'gog' because our teachers made us. And I guess it stuck."
"Controlling teachers," Alex noted.
"No kidding." Nepeta rolled her eyes. But then she let her usual smile light up her face and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the school. "Come on, let's go!" she exclaimed.
He seemed to appreciated her optimism and bubbliness and tendency to romanticize. He shared her firm belief in the best of humanity; he also sought out the good in even the worst of people. Even when her teachers and classmates cynically analyzed the actions of politicians and historical figures to money and power, she argued that maybe whoever it was had been doing whatever for love or something positive.
"Tickets," the teacher at the door said, and Nepeta and Alex handed over their tickets. "Have a nice night," the teacher said with copious boredom. Nepeta smiled and walked in, hand and hand with her date.
It was a nice night: Chicago cold (under thirty degrees) and snowing lightly. The driving would be difficult when the dance ended at eleven, of course, but that didn't matter. A Chicago 'burbs native. Nepeta loved the snow.
She was contemplating her friend's dancing partners when suddenly, Alex pulled her into a spin and she twirled in a tight spiral, giggling. Her head went light and dizziness made her giggle even more. Alex caught her and she, once she was standing again, pulled him onto the dance floor.
After a long night of dancing with her hopefully-soon-to-be boyfriend, she was quite honestly exhausted. Her side hurt and her feet were covered with dust (because she danced barefoot as a rule). Alex and her walked arm-and-arm back to his car, and his smooth skin was warm and soft and it made her feel like her insides were doing the Macarena. She was still flushed a possibly dangerous color of red when he opened the door for her and she slid into the passenger seat.
As the drove home through the now-heavy snow, she promised herself that she'd drive next time.
Finally, the snow was too much and the traffic built up until they were forced to pull off the road and wait. There was silence in the car, because neither of them felt like turning on the radio.
"So…did you have fun?" she ventured.
"Yeah," he nodded. "You?"
She nodded. "It was nice," she said. There was a long, silent pause. She was about to say something hopefully mildly interesting when he slowly leaned over and she realized that he was going to try kiss her. She moved closer and gripped the skirt of her dress tightly, apprehensively.
When their lips met, she saw sparks crackle in front of her closed eyelids. His warmth was so near her own, his smooth lips barely brushing her own at first, then pressing harder as the kiss deepened.
Just as she slipped her lips open the tiniest bit, someone honking behind them startled her. "Traffic's moving," she managed.
"Right," he said, shifting the car from park to drive and driving her home.
When she got home, it was too snowy for them to exchange the sort of kiss she wanted, the deep kiss that made her feel like floating and melting at the same time. So she satisfied herself with a light brush of their lips and a parting, "Goodbye-I'll-call-you" type thing. She was still dancing as she walked though the front door and up the stairs to her room. 11:59, just on time. She collapsed on her bed, still in the olive-green dress that her mother said brought out her eyes, and stayed awake for two hours just from elation.
She woke up at twelve noon on Saturday, still in her dress and still on her bed. Her phone, sitting just next to her, had three messages. One from Alex (so he wasn't the crazy texter type), one from Terezi (she knew what that one said), and one from Equius (also very predictable).
Terezi's text was, as she'd guessed, asking about her night with Alex. Nepeta replied with her usual gushing over how great he was (because he was) and a question about Terezi and Karkat. Equius's text read as if it was fro an older brother, and Nepeta replied in kind. Alex's text read, "I'm free next Saturday, and I was wondering if you'd like to see a movie or something. If you're free too and everything."
He used good grammar and spelling, she noticed. She replied, also with her best grammar and spelling, "Sure, I'd love to! Seven o'clock showing at the Brook?" The Brook was the "shopping center" in their boring suburb.
"Sure," came the reply. Nepeta laughed aloud and scribbled the date in on her calendar. Gog, she was so smitten. Maybe she should message her sister. But her sister had classes on Saturdays, so maybe it was a bad idea. She contemplated her choices, then decided to call her sister that night.
Meanwhile, her friends were all gossiping over Jade and Dave dancing and Terezi and Karkat back together again and Aradia and Equius (it was a matter of time with that one) and Sollux and Feferi kissing and Tavros and Vriska finally breaking up (that relationship was quickly turning sour for both) and her and Alex at the dance together. As much as she did take a guilty pleasure in gossip and trashy magazines and the like, she was much too excited for something like conversation.
The next week was full of anticipation and nerves. She saw him every day in psych, but there was no real label for their relationship and there was always a teacher or Terezi there. So she didn't have much of a chance to talk to him, even make eye contact.
On Saturday, she actually wore something nice-looking. She almost always dressed for comfort, because it was school and it wasn't like she was trying to impress anyone. But today, today she would dress nicely.
"Mom! I'm going out! Can I take the car?" Nepeta shouted.
"With a boy?"
"His name is Alex Hunt and we're going to be at the theater at the Brook!"
"You can take the car and be back by ten!"
"Okay!" Nepeta called, swinging herself into the driver's seat of the Prius. Her first date since James, and this time with someone she actually liked. Not that she didn't like James, but Alex was so much…better.
The movie ended on a positive note and Nepeta smiled. It was really a cute movie, a chick flick honestly. But that was all right; it was a good, well-written movie with a strong female lead. "What'd you think?" she asked Alex.
"I thought it was good," he answered shortly. "I mean…I actually liked it."
She smiled. "Good," she said, taking his hand. It was nine-thirty or so. "I've got to get home," she said. "My mom'll get really pissed off otherwise."
"What about your dad?" he asked.
Her eyes found her shoes, as if the metallic toes of her flats could distract from the answer. "He died when I was three."
"Oh," Alex said. "Sorry."
"S'alright," she said. "I don't remember him too well."
There was an exceptionally long silence. "Well…good night," he said, but his hands were fidgeting and he was leaning over and…he was going to kiss her.
In a sudden rush of confidence, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
She wasn't the best or most experienced judger of kisses, but this one was next to perfect. His lips were soft, if a little bit chapped, and his hands brushed up her back to rest on the back of her neck and gently combed through her hair. It was odd, the new bliss that consumed her mind. But odd in the best of ways as they broke apart, breathless and happy. Nepeta pushed her brunette hair behind her ear and said, "So…call you?"
"Okay," he said, "See you!"
"Bye!" she called, waving. It that wasn't perfect, she didn't know what was.
She was applying to colleges that year, seven total. She was probably going to double major in theater and biology, which might be weird, but those were her passions.
Her life was pretty consistent for a long time; she and Alex went on dates once or twice a week, she hung out with her friends at lunch, she submitted applications to her colleges of choice, she did homework and tests, things happened.
Then Prom.
Prom wasn't the problem. It was that Animé Central, her last ACen of living in Chicago, was the same weekend. She and her con friends had agreed that they would share a hotel room already, not to mention that this was possibly her last ACen ever. She couldn't miss it!
She texted her con buddy Kate to ask for help.
hi kate! prom is the same weekend as acen and my boyfriends already asked me. what do i do?
R u kidding me, Liechtenstein? Go 2 Prom Friday and ACen Saturday & Sunday.
i guess that shouldve been obvious
It's OK
see you there!
C U!
Nepeta facepalmed very emphatically. That really should have been obvious.
She had all her cosplays ready. She was going to be Liechtenstein and Maka and possibly Canada. She had dress for Prom, too. It was short, strapless (please don't get mad, Mom), and olive-green. She was ridiculously excited and nervous and anxious and giddy. She and a few of his friends and her friends were all going to dinner at some fancy restaurant before, and she was staying in her room in the ACen hotel for the night. Gog, she was nervous.
She had the oddest friend, and Alex did too; they all squeezed into a party bus and plugged in someone's iPod to the least mainstream music she'd ever heard. And she loved it.
When it was her turn to play music, she couldn't help but play some animé fangirl songs.
The dinner was nice and all (she loved steak and mashed potatoes), and so were the pictures, but the best was the actual dance.
The best was dancing right next to Alex. The best was the sweet, probably laced punch that made her feel lightheaded and giggly (definitely spiked). The best was the dance music that made her want to dance. The best was the slow dance songs when she and Alex danced and they were so close together that she could feel his (slightly too fast) pulse and his breath on her skin. The best was the way he smiled nervously every time he asked her to dance, as if she'd say no. The best was the long, long kiss they shared as the last song. The best was the way she could feel the whole thing without her senses, the way her sister sometimes described feeling music after she went deaf.
The worst wasn't the car rides. The worst wasn't the popular bitches who were there. The worst wasn't the way they had to smile forever to take pictures. The worst wasn't even when Olivia from back in eighth fucking grade tried to get Nepeta to spill punch on her dress.
The worst was what happens after Prom.
She wasn't thinking about that.
All her friends and their dates left together, and it didn't take her long to realize exactly where they were going. Her knees turned to water, or perhaps soda was a better description, because her legs felt full of pins and needles. It was getting late, nearly midnight. Oh gog, oh gog, oh gog. Shit. Fucking shit.
"So…uh…Nepeta?" Alex asked, as the last song ended and people began to trickle out. "I…uh…I was wondering…"
She nodded. What was she supposed to do? It was like her entire mind was screaming at her, and all saying different things. She knew that of her female friends, Terezi and Vriska and Aradia would tell her to go for it. Jade and Kanaya and Feferi would advise against it. She didn't have a clue as to Rose. Karkat would tell her she should, Equius would give her a lecture for even considering it.
With her friends' advice useless, she thought of other people she trusted.
As she wondered what to do, her sister's advice came back to her. Wait until you can see it, Meulin had said once back in middle school, right after she became deaf. Wait until you can see the future with him. When you can imagine spending the rest of your life with him, marrying him, having children, coming home from work and seeing him, when that image is sharp in your mind, then it's okay. Just...be careful. She closed her eyes and pictured it. She pictured two small children with him at the father. She imagined coming home after a long night at the theater and seeing his face when he greeted her, kissed her, said goodnight to her. She found the image in her mind of their marriage, him and her exchanging vows, everything. She could feel the future they could have.
She thought about it a bit more.
She was ready.
She had a hotel room for tonight and tomorrow night because of ACen. She'd reserved far enough in advance that she had one in the main hotel that she was sharing with three people tonight, though not until two AM (she was certain of that), and probably more the next night. But it was only midnight. That left two hours.
"We could...go to my hotel room," Nepeta said, blushing a shade of crimson that bordered on overripe tomato. "It'll be empty until two AM."
"Really?" he asked.
She nodded, taking his hand. "Come on," she said, leading him to the room she'd reserved. (she'd checked in before Prom, just in case). He followed her into her room, closing and locking the door behind him.
When Nepeta's anime friends came to the room at 2 in the morning (luckily with no one drunk), she and Alex were feigning sleep on seperate beds. Kate fell asleep on the floor, Natalie on the couch, and Edward on the armchair. They'd figure out something better the next day.
"NEPETA!" Kate shouted, startling Nepeta from her happy slumber. "Come on, we're doing the makeup."
Once the three girls were alone in the bathroom, Kate turned to Nepeta and said, "So?"
"So what?" Nepeta asked, trying to sound innocent.
"So, who's the new guy? Last I checked, this room was for four of us, not five. And I do seem to remember our innocent little Liechtenstein having a boyfriend."
"Shut up," Nepeta muttered, half embarrassed and half still exhilarated.
"You and him…" Natalie began, pausing to drop her voice. "You and him did it?"
"Mind your own business," Nepeta said delicately, staring into the mirror as she brushed on some blush.
"You did!" Kate exclaimed.
"Spill," Natalie ordered. "Come on, we're con buddies!" And it was true. The four of them were convention friends; they only saw each other at cons and through tumblr. The best kind of friends to confide in. Nepeta's resolve dissolved and she did, in fact, spill.
"It was the single best moment of my life," she confessed. Her mind deluged her with random, sharp memories; his lips on hers, bodies entangled, his face right next to hers, the heat, the pain, the bliss.
Natalie gave her a significant look, applying some lipstick for Belarus. Kate, who was pulling her wig cap on for America, smiled deviously. "Want to give us the details?"
"No!" Nepeta exclaimed. "It's not like the two of you are so pure."
Kate smiled again, pulling her wig on over the wig cap and sticking in a couple bobby pins. "S'okay," she said. "I didn't tell you guys my first time."
"Thank you," Nepeta sighed, pulling on her own wig. Natalie was lucky; she had the perfect hair for Belarus.
The three girls emerged from the bathroom to see Edward in his England cosplay (they always coordinated) and Alex wearing Nepeta's Canada sweatshirt. "He said I could be Canada," Alex said, confused. His nerdom extended only into the world of science.
"Just talk quiet and act really polite," Nepeta said. Then she smiled the smile only her con friends ever saw, that grin that could only be followed by entering a convention. "Allons-y!"