The sound of a doorbell buzzed on the other side of the door and Nepeta's body seemed to vibrate with the noise. She was nervous. She didn't go on many dates. Equius was great at scaring off potential romantic interests. And even when possible partners could get over the sweaty, bulky guy that was her boss and best friend they were lost as soon as she showed them any semblance of what she was really like. She looked cute and petite and when her appearance didn't exactly match up with her true self people tended to bail.
"The cat puns are getting old."
"Do you ever take off that dumb hat?"
"What the hell is shipping? Weird."
"You're into kickboxing?"
So many times she had tried to give a little of herself only to be completely shut down. Well, not this time. She had picked her outfit out purr-fectly, er, perfectly: A flower pattern dress that came just above her knees, girly and gentle, a pair of wedges that hurt like a motherfucker but looked absolutely darling, and a simple handbag, the same color of the stems of the flowers on her dress, where she kept her blue cat hat sealed away as a comfort item. She took a deep breath and waited for the door to open.
Terezi drew the door back and smiled out at Nepeta behind a pair of red pointed shades. Nepeta found them to have a devious air about them. They were absolutely stylish. Terezi's hair came down just past her shoulders, dark brown and mostly straight, only curling out and away from her face at the ends. Her complexion was a light mocha and her full lips a darker shade of brown. She was wearing jeans and a plain blue t-shirt, "Hey!" She took a whiff and tilted her head, "Where's your cat hat?"
Nepeta was thrown off by the question. It was normal and to be expected that she shouldn't wear it on dates right? "I left it at home. I thought I should look a bit more dressed up," She gestured to herself and then realized that Terezi couldn't actually see her and probably didn't care what she looked like, "Shit."
Terezi cackled, "Hey, it's fine! It's the thought that counts. I bet you look great. Although, I gotta say, I'm surprised to see you without your hat. I got the impression it was kind of an important thing of yours."
"Oh. No, it's just a normal old hat," A total lie right off the bat.
"Well, come in! I thought we could hang out in my apartment today. But if you got all gussied up did you want to go out instead?"
"It's fine if we stay here," Nepeta felt herself prickle with uncertainty. She felt dumb overdressing for nothing.
"I ordered pizza and I set up my Xbox. Do you play Call of Duty?"
Nepeta eyed the swanky gamer setup Terezi was sporting, "I… dabble in playing online games when I'm bored."
Terezi plopped down on her sofa and grabbed a controller, "Perfect! We can go on Xbox Live and pwn some noobs!"
Nepeta sat herself down delicately on the couch and picked up a second controller. She did more than dabble in video games. She whupped major ass. But now she had a problem. Would Terezi be okay with her being skillful at a shooter game? It wasn't very lady-like, but Terezi didn't even know that she was trying to look the part of a lady right now anyway so…
Terezi put on a headset and then handed one to Nepeta, "It's always funnier when you can hear them complaining," Terezi started the game and Nepeta resolved herself to play poorly. She really liked Terezi. She wasn't going to lose this one. The game started and immediately Terezi's character ran, gun blazing into the wall of a building. Oh right. She still couldn't see a goddamn thing.
"Is this how you usually play?"
"Yes. Why?" Terezi sounded unperturbed.
Nepeta shrugged it off, "No reason," Terezi was silly and fun to be around and, oh my god, absolutely horrible at Call of Duty. Like, how was Nepeta supposed to win when her teammate just ran into walls and stared at plants? Oops. She had been distracted and had accidentally thrown herself into the game. Nepeta already had a five person kill streak when she snapped out of her zone.
It was then that a guy on the opposing team tried to walk up to Terezi's character and knife her. Suddenly Terezi's character spun around, still firing away and earned herself a headshot.
Terezi snickered and spoke into the mic, "You just got taken out by a blind girl."
The guy on the other end flew into a rage. Nepeta heard him say something about how Terezi should shut up and make him a sandwich. She quickly went to the area the man respawned in and sniped him, "Learn some fucking manners and treat women with respect. It's not her fault you suck," The guy rage quit and she heard some other players laughing at the whole ordeal, "If no one else wants to be on my shit list I suggest you all get back to playing," She heard whoops of encouragement and even an, "Oh shit," before a hand wove into her hair and turned her face to meet Terezi's.
Their lips pressed together and Nepeta forgot how to breathe. Terezi felt coarse and warm against her contrastingly soft lips. She lifted her hand and cupped Terezi's cheek, high-boned and angled to give her a sharp look and a very beautiful slope to her face. She was gorgeous. And she felt amazing under her fingertips. The kiss broke and Nepeta saw that her character had died on the screen and was waiting to respawn. There were some protests coming from the mics but Terezi answered them back apologetically, "Sorry, guys. I distracted her. But I think we're done playing for the night anyway."
She pressed the power button on the console and everything went quiet except for the sound of Nepeta's heavy breathing.
"You're amazing," Terezi sighed almost wonderingly.
"You didn't think it was weird that I just went all out on those guys?"
"I thought it was hot as hell. Couldn't stop myself from reaching out and kissing you stupid. You sounded so fierce and cute," Fierce and cute! Now there were two words Nepeta had never heard strung together before. And certainly not used to describe her.
"I think you should know some things."
"I'm all ears… Well, I'm also nose, tongue, and feelers," Terezi said wiggling her fingers in front of Nepeta's face, "Basically anything but eyes. But right now I'll be ears if you want."
Nepeta giggled, "I brought my hat today. It's in my purse."
"I know," Terezi leaned in and rested her head against Nepeta's shoulder.
"You- You did?"
"Yeah, I smelled it. It smells so like you that I know for certain it's definitely something you treasure. You must wear it a lot."
"It must smell really bad if you can smell it from my purse…"
"No! Mostly it smells like blueberries because it's blue. But it also smells like you. Something earthy and living. Like the smell of sunlight and freshly mowed grass mixed together. I don't know how to describe it."
"Okay, but how did you know my hat was blue?"
"I have Synaesthesia. I associate smells with colors. My senses are all sorts of crossed. Really comes in handy when you're blind."
"That's amazing!"
"Thanks. So anything else you want to say?"
Nepeta took out her hat and placed it on her head, "I think I owe you a proper introduction," Nepeta paused and Terezi remained patiently waiting for her to continue, "My name is Nepeta Leijon. I like kickboxing, rping, gaming, and I ship characters together from various fictional universes and from various forms of media. I love cats. My mother was a veterinarian before she passed away five years ago in a car accident and she gave me my hat that year for my birthday so I really feel much better when it's with me. I have also screwed up every relationship I've ever been in because I have never lived up to anyone's expectations of what I look like," She sighed and then heard the silence fill up with the sound of her own heartbeat, loud and fast in her ears.
"Wow. That was a lot to take in," Terezi searched around for Nepeta's hand and intertwined their fingers, "You know, they say people shouldn't really give their entire selves away when they meet others."
Nepeta felt her face flush with embarrassment.
"But I have no visuals to make a first impression and I don't know your appearance to be predisposed into expecting anything from you. I can only make judgments based on what you tell me. I like hearing about your… everything and I'm glad you're the type who opens up and gives themselves to others completely and immediately. I really like knowing about other people but other people aren't very good at opening up. But you make it easy. I really love you."
Nepeta fell into Terezi's arms and snuggled into her embrace, "Thank you," She mumbled into her chest.
"You're supposed to say 'I love you' back'," Terezi took Nepeta's chin in her hand and tilted her face upward.
The doorbell rung and startled the two apart.
"Must be the pizza man," Terezi huffed.
Nepeta's stomach growled.
Terezi guffawed, "And just in time too!"
Nepeta reluctantly slid out of Terezi's lap as she stood up to answer the door.
"We can finish that after pizza," Terezi said winking over the rim of her shades.
Nepeta let a smile drip into the tone of her voice so Terezi would know how happy she was, "Sounds purr-fect."