A/N: I am so sorry it takes me so long to update! I try for every week, but usually I end up updating every two weeks. Thank you for reading and for putting up with the long updates!
THERE'S A PARTY AT DEVON'S ON FRIDAY.
:33 ooo is the first date going to be a party?
MAYBE
:33 ill meet you there at eight!
OK. COOL.
:33 someones being quiet
DO YOU THINK MAYBE I'M JUST AS NERVOUS AS YOU?
PRETEND I NEVER SAID THAT.
:33 its okay
:33 im nervous too karkitty!
THIS IS DUMB.
I'VE KNOWN YOU SINCE WE WERE FIVE.
THERE IS LITERALLY NO REASON TO BE NERVOUS AT ALL.
:33 maybe its beclaws you gave me a pretty rose?
[The number at 5554136262 is offline]
:33 karkitty?
SORRY, MY PHONE DISCONNECTS WHEN I CHECK MY HOMEWORK
SHIT, I'VE GOT AN ESSAY DUE TOMORROW.
:33 really, or is that just karkitty's silly little excuse?
REALLY, IT'S THE ROMANTIC LIT ONE
:33 thats tomorrow?
YEP
:33 i better go too!
:33 see you tomorrow!
:33 3
3
Nepeta laughed aloud and spun around in her cheap Ikea desk chair. Her first date with someone had never seemed so exciting! She was practically shaking with nerves. She was so light and teasing over text, but in person she wasn't sure she'd be able to think of a damn thing to say.
You've known him for years and years; just say what you always do.
She wasn't going to dress up too much, because this was not a formal thing, right? Right? Whatever. It was still Wednesday and there was still a romantic lit paper due tomorrow. Cringe.
After five long, painful hours of essay writing and printing (that tiny, shitty printer for her own room had been her best buy yet), she fell asleep with her face on the desk, her small nose smushed on the table.
Friday came far too fast and far too slow. She wasn't ready, but she was too ready, but there was too much to be done, but she was so bored because she had nothing to do but—
She took a deep, nervous breath and searched her (admittedly small) collection of semi-formal things. One fancy, olive-green dress she wore to Meulin's graduation and some other event her mother had taken her to over the summer, a friend of a friend's fiftieth anniversary or something. A nice skirt. Two fitted, V-neck shirts with lace. One short, semi-formal (damn that ridiculous word) dress. One pair of light green flats that were actually quite comfortable. She chose that dress, which was from freshman year event of some sort, and the flats, because she didn't bother buying heels she knew she'd ditch two seconds in. She brushed her hair one more time (which did absolutely nothing), carefully applied her makeup (which was a bit more effective), and set her shoulders back. Okay. She was ready.
Devon, a friend of a friend, was in a different dorm, but close enough that biking wasn't a problem (cars weren't allowed on the small campus). She checked her phone and—shit! She was late. Late for her first date, what a great start.
She ran in, a bit breathless, and hoped that she didn't have makeup pouring off her face. She checked in a mirror randomly placed on the wall and she did not look like a panda.
There was Karkat! She wove her way through her (varying levels of drunk) peers to Karkat, who was holding a Pepsi and standing very stiffly.
She put away her phone, still not used to plain old texting. Since Pesterchum had turned out to run on a virus that Sollux uncovered with a bit of careful hacking, she'd uninstalled the program and just stuck with texting. She did not have the computer skills to put up a firewall or something to protect her computer and those files, while containing nothing actually confidential, were precious to her.
She tapped her…boyfriend? Friend who was a boy? Date?…date on the shoulder. "Hi, Karkitty!"
He jumped and spun around, almost spilling his soda. "Hi," he said, trying to smile and ending up almost barring his teeth. "You look really pretty."
"Thanks," she said, blushing and looking at her shoes.
"Wait—did I say that out loud?"
"Yes, and I'm very glad you did."
"I…sorry."
"Why are you always sorry? It was a compliment. And I said thanks."
"I'm just sorta nervous," he admitted, staring at his Pepsi like it was his most recent random script idea.
"Me too," she grinned, and she was sure he could hear the nerves in her voice.
He closed his eyes for a microsecond. "This music is really fucking loud."
"Yeah. What song is this, anyways?"
"I can't hear shit."
"I think it's…that one song?"
"By that one dude?"
"Yeah, that one."
"I think so."
"Yeah, that's the chorus."
"Gog, who cares? All the songs by that one guy suck ass."
"Fair point."
Ten minutes of silence (between the two of them) passed.
"I've got some romcoms and movie-butter popcorn. Want to get out of this miserable conglomeration of morons?" Karkat asked, turning to Nepeta.
"Yeah."
He took her hand and led her out of the uncomfortably crowded room that smelled of alcohol and vomit and sweat.
Karkat opened the door without knocking. "My roommate's out of town this weekend. Leo's going to visit his family or some shit."
"Awesome," she said. She'd never been to his room before. The beds sat on opposite sides; both were messy as hell, though Leo's was a bit messier. Karkat looked around awkwardly. "Uh…I sorta don't know where my DVD player is. Or the popcorn. I think the microwave's over there…"
She shook her head fondly. "Look, I'll find the popcorn. I'm sure your DVD player is right where you always say you've left it—under the pile of dirty laundry with your laptop so no one steals out."
"Oh yeah…"
"Any time."
"If you weren't around I'd probably loose my left arm."
"As long as you've got your head on your shoulders."
He smiled and searched for the DVD player while she stuck the microwavable popcorn into the microwave and set the timer for three minutes.
"Which one? Hitch, She's the Man, Miss Congeniality…"
"Hitch, totally."
The microwave dinged and she poured the popcorn into a metal bowl. The two Pepsis that sat next to the pile of nonperishables might've been set there on purpose, or maybe not. Either way, she took those, too, and took the few steps to where he was struggling with the old, balky DVD player. She sat next to him on the bed (please don't let anyone take that the wrong way) and handed him a Pepsi. "Well, come on, press play!"
"I'm working on it, jeez!"
She giggled and nudged his neck with her nose. "Hitch then?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Sounds good to me, Karkitty."
"Uh…hey, Nepeta?"
"Yeah?"
"Uh…would it be cheesy if I said I don't want to spend another day without you?"
"Well…a bit. But…me too."
The popcorn bowl slowly emptied until the credits rolled and Nepeta was nearly (but not quite) asleep.
"Hey. I've gotta change the movie, you know."
"Oookaay."
He shifted just enough to switch DVDs, careful to put each disc back in its case. She moved the empty popcorn bowl and soda cans to the floor so she could sit right next to him. It was getting cold, and Nepeta was shivering badly. Gog, she hated the cold.
Karkat extracted a fluffy feathered comforter from somewhere and wrapped it around the both of them. He rested one arm around her shoulders and she nuzzled his neck again. He shrieked and pulled away. "You're cold!" he exclaimed.
"Cold hands, warm heart."
"What does that even mean?"
"Never mind."
The movie played until Nepeta felt her eyes droop and she shifted so her head was resting on his lap. He smiled and started idly twirling a lock of her hair. A sleepy smile spread across her face, when suddenly he dropped his hands and blurted, "Sorry, sorry, I…sorry."
"S'okay," she said. "I…I like it."
"Oh. Okay. Good. Uh…" He gently started playing with her hair again, but carefully and lightly, as if he was afraid she'd pull away. As if that would ever happen!
The second movie ended and it was late, midnight or one AM. "Karkitty?" Nepeta asked sleepily.
"Mm-hmm?" he answered, equally sleepy and much less able to fall asleep.
"Can I kiss you?" Maybe it was for the better that she was too tired for words; she'd never have that sort of courage fully awake.
"Sure."
She lifted her face (which had been resting on his shoulder) and closed the two-inch gap between the two of them.
She'd heard it said that when you kissed someone you loved, there would be sparks, but she never thought it could be taken literally.
It was like sparks crackling under her skin and jumping to contact him. His lips were impossibly soft and impossibly perfectly fit with hers. One of his hands rested on her waist while the other enmeshed itself in her messy hair, pressing in a way that should hurt but it didn't, it felt wonderful. She'd flung her arms around his shoulders and now she had firmly wrapped her arms around him, even though he was already close enough that she could feel his heartbeat, perfectly in sync with her own.
She was tempted to part her lips and see what would happen, but all her courage had been used in the first moment and now adrenalin was keeping her wide awake. And it was their first kiss, after all. That might be pushing it.
He was the first to pull away, but she didn't try to move to meet his lips again. Mostly because she was too tired, now that the adrenalin had run out, but a little because she was still really nervous around him.
"So…does that make us a couple?" he asked awkwardly.
"I guess so?" she answered. "Uh…do you want to be a couple?"
"Yeah," he answered slowly. "Do you?"
"Of course."
"Okay. So I guess…d'you wanna go to the movies tomorrow?" He said it all very fast, in one breath.
"Yeah. I'd love to," she answered, blushing bright scarlet. Her phone buzzed. "Who's that?" she snapped under her breath.
"Sorry, what?" he asked.
"Just my phone. Turned itself off," she answered, shoving the electronic back in her pocket. "I think I should probably heading home, before it gets dark."
"I'll walk you."
"No, it's alright."
"Fine, but call me when you get home, okay?"
"What do you think is going to happen? I'll be fine."
"I know, but still. You never know."
"Alright, fine. I'll call."
"See you tomorrow."
"See you, Karkitty." She accepted one last light kiss and left for home.
Lila was fast asleep and snoring loudly when Nepeta quietly unlocked the door and dangled the key from the hook on the wall. She pulled out her cell phone. Karkat was fifth on speed dial, after voicemail, her mother, her sister, and Equius.
"I'm home, safe and sound."
"Really? Great."
"Are you even trying to sleep, Karkitty?"
"...Yes…"
"When I hang up, you better turn off your computer and read a book until you fall asleep."
"What, read myself to sleep?"
"Yeah. I did it all the time in high school."
"Alright, fine. Then...see you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow, Karkitty."
When tomorrow came, it was much less anxiety-inducing than yesterday. She'd made sure to schedule a grand total of zero classes on Saturdays because she could just sleep when she was tired and eat when she was hungry and not worry about classes or normal human rhythms. Normal was overrated anyways.
She curled up on her bed for a catnap at around five. A nice, solid hour of sleep would do her tired mind some good. Especially when the nerves, though diminished, were by no means entirely gone. If normal nervousness was like butterflies, this was like some sort of insect battle to the death. Or maybe the butterfly version of World War II. Or maybe Karkat's habit of created overly elaborate metaphors was rubbing off on her.
This time, she chose her skirt, a present from her sister a couple years ago for some reason. Skirt, nice shirt, makeup, check. Now it was time to tackle her hair.
She was determined to brush her hair out properly this time. So she found the hairbrush, long since buried under more useful and more often used items, faced the mirror, and started on her bangs.
That wasn't so hard, now what it? she thought. But the next section of hair proved much harder. Because thick, short, hair that hadn't been washed in about a day or maybe two could never be easy to brush, could it? Her hair wasn't crazy-curly, like Feferi's, but it was wavy and hard to brush or style.
She finally got half her hair done and couldn't help but laugh when she looked in the mirror. Every single infomercial with the girl who was using whatever new hair product and half her hair was smooth and pretty and the other side was frizzy was now made so much sense. The right side of her head had been combed and brushed so that it was, if not at all pretty, at least smooth and in order. It was much better than nothing.
She was so close to being done with the other half of her hair; so close! But her phone buzzed on the counter and it was a text from Karkat: YOU HERE YET?
Shit.
Be there in a sec, she replied. How far away was the theater? Five minutes? If she biked, she could make it.
She jumped on her bike and sped to the theater, her hair flung behind her like a curtain. She screeched to a stop right outside the movie theater and ran in, breathless and shaking. She took a few deep breaths to calm her pounding heart and searched the lobby for Karkat.
"What took you?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"Honestly? I was trying to brush my hair."
"Well, it worked."
"You're kidding me."
"No, really! It...you look really nice."
She blushed. "You too. What movie?"
"Uh...I dunno. You choose."
"Well I don't know, either!" she teased. He rolled his eyes fondly.
"Are we really gonna do this?" he asked. "I don't want to be a stereotype couple who's just like, 'You hang up' 'No, you hang up'."
"And why not?"
"Because...because of reasons!"
"Someone's been spending too much time on a certain website."
"I spend a perfectly reasonable amount of time on Tumblr! Fuck you!"
"Why Karkitty, it's only the second date."
He looked intensely uncomfortable. "I'm only teasing," she added. She did enjoy sometimes saying things to make him squirm. "How about...whatever movie's in theater seven?"
"Why seven?"
"It's my lucky number."
"Mine too."
"I'll buy candy if you buy tickets."
"I can pay for it."
"Come on, don't worry about it. What sort of candy do you want?"
"Uh...you know those sour rainbow things?"
"Yeah."
"I really like those. But seriously, I can pay for this myself."
"Karkat." She placed her hands on her hips and looked at him as if over a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. "I've got this. It's called sharing."
"Okay, fine. Theater seven."
"Theater seven."
"Meet you back here in five?"
"Sounds good, Karkitty." She gave him a light peck on the lips and practically skipped to the candy counter. She pinched herself; this couldn't possibly be real. She was at the movies, with Karkat, and only Karkat, who liked her romantically, and who she had the courage to talk to, and make those sorts of jokes that Kate made, too. This could not possibly be real.
But it was, it was very real. It was as solid as the floor of theater seven and the seats in the theater and the warm, soft weight of his arm around her shoulders. It was as real as his hand gripping hers and her other hand holding onto the hem of her skirt with a white-knuckled grip because this was just too much.
"Karkitty?"
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to tell you...I kinda can't believe this is happening. Because I'm with...with you." Her face heated up about twenty degrees and she was sure she was that tomato-red color that was so embarrassing.
"Wait, why?"
"Because...I never thought you'd like me," she blurted in one breath. "At all. I mean, we were friends and all, but so were me and Equius, and he's like my brother. I just always assumed you wouldn't ever love me the way I love you and now...it's just unreal."
"You know, I thought the same thing."
"But didn't you know?"
"What, that you liked me? Well...I sorta did. But when you were going out with Alex and I was with Terezi, I sorta assumed you'd moved on. And I did, too."
"What a thing."
"Hm?"
"Something my mom used to say when something was just coincidental and crazy and...like this."
"But...but good?"
"Yeah. Very good."
"Nepeta?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, Karkitty."
Finals were the worst yet that year. If she was being honest, Karkat got her through the insane tests and essays and stress and lack of sleep, because he'd learned some tricks along the way for when you were too tired to function, because as a rule, he was always too tired to function.
The first time, she called him at one in the morning, practically hysterical from lack of sleep and stress and the fact that she had a ten-page paper on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks due the next day.
"Oh my gog, Karkitty, I'm never gonna get this done, it's too much work and if I fail this class I might not have enough credits to graduate and-"
"Nepeta. Calm down."
"But it's due tomorrow and all I've got down is the intro-"
"Nepeta. Seriously, listen for a fucking second. Okay. Take three deep breaths."
She took three of those deep, shaky breaths that happened when she was crying. "Okay."
"Now say this three times: I am more than my grades."
"I'm more than my grades. I'm more-more than my grades. I'm...I'm more than my grades."
"I am loved."
"I am loved."
"I am fine just the way I am."
"I am fine just the way I am."
"Great. Feeling better?"
"Kind of?"
"Good."
"How did you learn that?"
"Uh...remember the therapist in eleventh grade?"
"Yeah, of course."
"When I told him about the insomnia, he taught me this whole thing to help you destress and fall asleep. I guess I never really forgot it."
"Sounds like something my old yoga teacher would say."
"Yeah, he said it was a yoga meditation. It…it does usually help a lot."
"Thank you so much."
"Any time, Nepeta."
"Now you get some sleep."
"But I have an essay too, you know."
"Which one?"
A pause; he must be checking his obsessively organized lists. "I've gotta finish my script for film studies and a paper for botany."
"Good luck."
"Good luck to you too."
"Goodnight, Karkitty."
"Goodnight, Nepeta."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
That summer, she took the train home with Karkat and Kate and Kate's new boyfriend (her last girlfriend had dumped her for some guy named Fred).
"Mom, there's someone I'd like you to meet," Nepeta said after the obligatory hugs and how's-it-been's.
"Who, darling? A boyfriend, right?"
"Mom, meet my boyfriend, Karkat. Karkat, my mom."
"Oh my goodness! You!" Nepeta's mother exclaimed, hugging him. She winced. She'd forgotten to warn him about that. "I remember you! I hope you're taking good care of my daughter."
"Yeah," Karkat nodded, looking very nervous.
"As if you've never met my mom!" Nepeta whispered as his dad walked up.
"As if you've never met my dad."
"Fair point."
Karkat's dad was a good few inches taller than Karkat and very imposing to her. "Hi, Dad," Karkat said. "This is Nepeta. She's my girlfriend."
"Nice to see you again," Karkat's dad said, shaking her hand.
"Nice to see you, too," Nepeta smiled shakily. She hugged Karkat once and said, "Get some sleep, okay?"
"I will, jeez."
"See you."
"See you."
Nepeta climbed into the car with her mother and everything she'd brought to school and grinned widely. "So, tell me what's going on!" her mother smiled. "Meulin's visiting this weekend with her boyfriend."
"Mom," Nepeta began, shaking her head. "I've got loads to tell you."
Meulin's boyfriend turned out to be Kurloz, after...what was it? Four years of separation? Five? She'd lost count.
She missed family dinners. She missed eating dinner every night with her mother and her sister and something her mother cooked in thirty minutes, usually fish or chicken or spaghetti. Sometimes steak. Sometimes Lean Cuisine.
But she refused to ever let her mother cook alone again. So before Meulin came over (she was taking the train in from California), she joined her mother in the kitchen with one pot of boiling water, ten potatoes, three pounds of chicken, and a jar of marinade.
"How did finals go?"
"Fine, Mom. What about you?"
"Oh, nothing much. I've been taking classes at the park center."
"What sort of classes?"
"Writing, mostly. Swimming, too."
"Oh, how's that going?"
"Very well, love. But how has the weather been? Too cold?"
"Mom, I grew up here. I'm fine in a blizzard or two. How've the cats been? Mimi must be getting old."
"Mimi's had to go to the vet a good deal. Zero's just fine, of course, though I hardly ever know where he is anymore! Silly outdoors cat."
"Mimi's been going to the vet?"
"Don't worry, love. Just routine checkups."
Nepeta nodded like she believed it. She was twenty-one; why wasn't her mother letting on that Mimi was probably sick?
"Hey, Mom, could we maybe invite Karkat over to dinner, too?" she questioned carefully, wearing her old "please mom" smile.
"Of course, dear! Any time that works for him and his family."
"Thanks, Mom."
The cooking didn't take long; it was the chicken marinade recipe her mother got from a friend in New York and the mashed potatoes recipe in Joy of Cooking. Also microwave-steamed green beans grown in the pot garden on the back deck that had been there since Nepeta was five.
It was a perfectly fine family dinner, plus one. Kurloz didn't talk at all (Nepeta made a mental note to ask her sister again about that whole deal from...five years ago? Was that right?), but he did sign some and Meulin alternated between signing and sort-of shouting. She'd gotten better about the shouting recently, luckily for Nepeta's ears.
Senior year was pretty decent to start with, which is to say that renting a house with Kate and Lila and Emily and Amber from the cosplay club really wasn't too bad. The five-way cost split really helped out when it came to utilities and food money, and conventions, of course. Five members of the cosplay club did have a tendency to go to more conventions than they could afford.
"Please! You don't have to cosplay, I swear. Please just come."
"But I won't get anything!"
"Just on Sunday. Please? Sunday's the quietest."
Karkat made some sort of very flailing gesture before finally saying, "Fine. I'll go on Sunday. But I'm not dressing up."
"Thank you!" She kissed him and grinned. "Gotta get to vet science, see you tomorrow!"
"Bye," he said, and half a smile that was become ever more common lit up his face.
He was gorgeous when he smiled.
Sunday was the day she chose to wear her least outstanding cosplay. No wigs, no impossible makeup, no bright purple contacts, no elaborately sewn costumes. Just something that could be worn and get only a few weird looks, because it was pretty obvious that Karkat wasn't used to convention life.
"Did you sleep last night?"
"Damn, is that all you ever ask me?"
"I will until the answer is yes."
"It is literally a chemical problem with my brain. There is shit I can do about it."
"That won't stop me caring about you."
He blushed. "Touching," he said, but the sarcasm was a transparent sham.
There was a brief silence, the sort that contains uncountable amounts of understanding between two people who know each other like the same soul.
"Well, come on!" Nepeta grinned, grabbing his hand. She didn't know where she'd found this courage or whatever it was, but she was no longer afraid to take his hand or kiss him randomly in the middle of a date or crack a joke to make him squirm. Maybe it was just knowing that he loved her for who she was, who she'd always been, not who she could be.
Also, he was just as awkward as her and that was strangely confidence-boosting.
Graduation was rushing up like a speeding train. The Sunday at convention with Karkat had been a nice break, but now was finals and studying all over again.
Damn cummulative finals.
The tests and essays were getting ridiculous; Nepeta hardly slept and started living on energy drinks and whatever food Emily had stocked up on before the week started (because Emily was the only one in the whole house who had anything resembling foresight). A paper a night or so brought her to a grand total of five essays and six cummulative finals.
But once it was all over, it was time for graduation.
She took a deep breath. It had taken forever and a day, but Kate had finally done her hair in some crazy updo nice enough to wear out. Her drop earrings caught the light and matched her grandmother's old emerald necklace around her neck. The dress, her only formal dress, was an olive-green mermaid dress with a flared bottom and one strap. For once in her life, she was wearing heels, though they were kitten heels. Her makeup was done for dramatic effect, not natural looks. She looked at herself in the mirror and spun around. She normally wasn't too happy with her appearance, but this time, maybe she did look nice.
Emily emerged in a tight-cut aquamarine dress that Kate had talked her into wearing because it looked gorgeous on her, even if she didn't believe it. Her long, loosely curly hair was swept back and brushed smooth. She was also wearing small stud earrings and heels, because Emily was as small as Nepeta when it came to height. Amber was in the living room in burgundy and a brunette bun and Lila was doing her makeup in a black and white dress with a diamond pendant on a change. Kate herself was wearing bright pink and her blonde hair in a braided hairdo of some sort and very dramatically done makeup and ruby earrings from what Kate said was a long time ago. "Ready?" Kate asked, wearing a glowing smile.
"Ready," Nepeta answered. She smiled around at her housemates. "Let's do this."
They all prepared to take Emily's mother's car to the place where they'd graduate from school for what could be the last time. Nepeta was going to go for her master's in veterinary science, and hopefully her doctorate, but this...this was really leaving school. For the last time.
They were all lined up alphabetically, A to Z. Nepeta was (as usual) somewhere in the middle, as an L. Karkat was all the way near the end. She turned back to wave at him. "Good job," she mouthed. He nodded and gave her a thumbs up. Smiling, she turned to face front and waited for her turn.
Why was she so nervous? She'd already graduated; why worry? This was just a ceremony, a piece of paper, and a party. Okay, she was a bit nervous for the party, because of her interesting Prom, but the real source of her nerves was almost completely unknown.
Her mother waved from the audience, and Meulin signed something Nepeta didn't quite catch. Nepeta offered them a shaky smile in response.
There are several obligatory speeches before the names are called, and it seems like an eternity of people talking and talking and talking. She should've brought a book.
"Henrietta Aaronson."
The second-tallest girl Nepeta had ever met, after Aradia, marched up to the stage.
Names were called one by one by one, until it was finally the L's. "Nepeta Leijon." She stood and, making double-sure to not teeter in the high heels she was wearing for the second time in her life, walked carefully across the stage. Her smile, a complete facade, probably made her look far more confident than she actually was as she walked.
She collapsed into her seat as more names ticked by, only a few making a real impression.
"Karkat Vantas." And a few later: "Kate Zygerman."
The ceremony concluded with a few more speeches and one ironic quote from someone, sometime.
Finally, finally, they could stand and walk out and take off their shoes, because shoes in Nepeta's opinion were overrated. What was the point?
"Congratulation, love!" Nepeta's mom exclaimed, hugging her daughter tightly. "You've done so well!"
"Thanks, Mom," Nepeta grinned.
"Good job, little sister!" Meulin shouted. "I'm so proud of you."
"Aw, thanks, big sister," Nepeta half teased, signing the words for effect.
Meulin smiled widely. "You're welcome. Do you and your friends have some sort of party set up?"
"You bet."
"And is your old sister invited?"
"No."
Meulin grinned again. "Well, congrats, Little Miss Kitty-cat. I've gotta catch the first train back tomorrow."
"Why not the plane?"
Meulin shrugged. "Train's cheaper."
"And I must, too," Nepeta's mother agreed. "Have fun, love. See you soon!"
"See you, Mom."
She did have a party, hosted by her friend Jasmine at Jasmine's dorm room. All of her cosplay club friends were going, not to mention friends from classes and (of course) Karkat. Karkat had even gotten her flowers. She plucked one, a red rose, out of the mix, and tucked it behind her ear, securing the lovely flower with a bobby pin. "Thank you, Karkitty."
"You're welcome," he muttered, blushing.
"I got you something, too."
"Oh. Uh...thanks."
"You haven't even seen it yet," she teased.
He waved one hand and said, "I'm sure it'll be great."
"I got you a coffee mug," she smiled. "You drink too much of the stuff, might as well make your own coffee."
"This looks like a tea mug."
"Tea mugs are prettier than coffee ones."
"Good enough for me," he smiled, kissing her.
They were pretty close to Jasmine's room; the music was already audible. His warm, calloused hand, sweaty from the million-degree graduation hall, gripped hers lovingly. They'd stopped at her house and his dorm room for just long enough to drop off the variety of familial gifts, because neither wanted to go to this party alone.
"You know…you look really nice," Karkat said. "The dress and everything."
"Thanks," Nepeta blushed. She would never stop blushing when he called her pretty, she knew it. "You too. The whole pointy-shoulders tuxedo thing works on you."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Men in tuxedos always have weirdly pointy shoulders, and it looks…looks nice on you."
She wasn't sure in the dim light, but she thought he blushed, too.
The party was a lot of top-forty songs no one was quite sure they liked, a lot of finally legal alcohol, and a lot of people so deliriously happy to have passed that the whole room was full of vibrant happiness. And it was infectious; Nepeta danced and laughed and got just a little drunk with everyone else, never letting go of Karkat's hand.
It was about three in the morning when Karkat tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Hey. D'you want to go hang out on the roof?"
"That isn't some sort of innuendo, is it?"
"No, I literally mean the roof. My room was here last year and the view from the roof is really, really cool."
"Sure, I'll come."
Up on the roof, the view was, in fact, spectacular. There was complete silence between the two of them for a long, long time.
"Man, look at how long it's been!" she exclaimed suddenly, gazing up at the bright stars, easily visible from the dorm rooftop.
"What d'you mean?" he asked.
"Just…think about it! When we first met, how old were we? Five? And look at us now! We're seniors in college, dating! And…it's just all sort of crazy."
"Crazy good or crazy bad?"
"Crazy wonderful."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
A/N: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COMMENT
Really it means so much to me I can't even express it and I will love you forever.