The scrambled eggs were warm and comforting in Nepeta's stomach, and she was still tired. It was for these reasons that she opted to avoid the harsh coldness of the metal air vents and instead lethargically meandered through the hallways back to her room.
As Nepeta wandered, her mind did as well, thinking about her shipping wall. She planned to create some new ships when she returned, possibly involving Gamzee. She had realized over breakfast with him that she hadn't really shipped him much with anyone at all.
"Purrhaps a matespritship with Tavros," she mused quietly to herself, "or a even a moirallegiance with Karkat." Thinking about it now, it seemed so obvious, she wondered why she hadn't shipped it earlier. It occurred to her that the reason she didn't have many Gamzee ships was because he didn't strike her as the relationship type.
She shook her head at that thought, no matter how it persisted. "Everybody has to love!" she exclaimed, while rounding a corner and bumping into someone coming fast the other way.
Nepeta fell backwards, bracing herself with her hands but still landing uncomfortably on her tail. "Shit, sorry Nepeta," she heard a familiar voice say. Her cheeks blushed olive as she slowly looked up to behold the face of her flushed crush.
"Oh, hi Karkat," Nepeta managed, waiting for him to offer his hand to help her up. He didn't. Slightly peeved, she pushed herself onto her feet. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" she asked.
"I'm just heading over to Terezi's," Karkat said, beginning to brush past her. Nepeta clenched her fists and looked down.
"Oh!" she responded, perhaps much too loudly. "Well, I hope you have a good time." A note of bitterness crept into her voice, no matter how hard she tried to contain it. Karkat looked at her strangely as he walked away.
Nepeta stood there steaming, when she felt a large hand grip her shoulder. She spun around to see Gamzee standing behind her. She was surprised to see him. He almost never left his room.
"Careful, sis," Gamzee warned. "Don't all up and get your jealous on, it's motherfuckin' lame." Nepeta scratched the back of her head, annoyed.
"What do you want, Gamzee?" she hissed. Her friend backed away and held up his hands, offering her a small container with something yellow inside.
"I had some leftover scrambled eggs, so I thought you might want some more, in case you get hungry later," he explained, looking at the wall. Nepeta immediately felt bad about giving him a hard time, and politely accepted the container. They stood quietly for a minute, facing each other, Nepeta trying to read Gamzee's expression and Gamzee twiddling his thumbs. Finally he said, "Well, see you, sis," and strode away, lanky arms swinging.
Nepeta cocked her head to one side before turning and walking away. She wondered what had caused Gamzee to act so compassionate and awkward all of a sudden. Then she slapped herself in the forehead, getting a weird look from Eridan as he passed without so much as a nod. Of course Gamzee pitied her, what with her bad luck with Karkat.
She finally arrived back home, loudly greeting Equius, who mumbled a hello, being ever engrossed in his robotics work. In the end, Nepeta ended up back in her shipping room, equipped with her chalk and paints. She stared up at the wall and searched for drawings of Gamzee, but did not find a single one. So she picked up her paintbrush and got to work.
Having never depicted Gamzee before, she struggled to correctly capture the outline of his chin, the curve of his horns, and the wildness of his hair. After acceptably completing his head, she set to work on the hardest part, the face. She couldn't decide what expression to give Gamzee for the longest time, due to his tendency at mood swings. After being unable to settle on any of his silly, mindless, or murderous countenances, she finally drew him as she would want to see him most: happy. She carefully painted a smile and wide eyes. Sitting back on her haunches to admire her work, she encountered yet another problem.
Who to draw him with?