Karkat didn't love her. But he knew she did. She watched him every time she could, in the dark he still felt her round golden eyes staring at him. But when he walked in the computer room, he knew she was taking a break from "Karkitty Sentry".
He made his way over to the computer and sat there. He didn't turn it on. Just sat there. Every now and then Karkat would turn his head to look in Nepeta's direction. Nothing. She was still a snoozing heap. He though about it, but no, he couldn't. There was just something so entrancing about her, something that drew him in, like he'd known her in a past life.
Nepeta woke up at about 7 AM. The lab was still not completely awake, as if it were a child just waking up and getting ready for a busy day at school. The only troll up was Sollux, still hunched over his computer, probably coding or something, but Nepeta couldn't tell.
"Sollux, have you seen Karkitty?" Nepeta asked the yellowblood sleepily.
"Nope. Thorry." He didn't turn away from his computer when he responded, as if he hadn't cared much.
"Oh.. okay." Nepeta twirled around in the swivel chair, slowly, though, so she wouldn't get dizzy. It was terrible to wait for Karkat, since he didn't come around the lab too much.
But then, as fate would have it, Karkat walked in looking grumpy as always, with bags under his eyes and tattered sleeves. He glanced at the olive blood girl, and for about half a second, Nepeta could tell his eyes lit up. He obviously wanted to see her here, but Nepeta doubted it was red-rom because he was already in that with Terezi. It almost seemed like it could have been.
Nepeta was dead in more ways than one. Ever since the thing Karkat had been in with Terezi. It felt like her dreams were crushed to tiny shattered pieces on the floor. Dreams don't come true.
--
One day Nepeta was seriously upset about it, and then she saw Terezi kiss him. Nepeta had blindly stomped over to the tealblood and almost beaten her senseless with just her fists. She'd earned herself a sickle drubbing by Karkat and ran away crying into her sleeves.
She stumbled into the boxes that covered her picture. No! No, it wouldn't happen. She kept telling herself that, and she always had. She threw the boxes away with all of her might, and sobbing, kicked at the wall and smeared the faces. She then wiped her face on her sleeves and ran off into the hallway.
--
Karkat saw it hard to see Nepeta run away. It looked as if she had no sense of balance, like a cat with tape around its body, bumping into things as she sobbed into her sleeve.
He followed the cat troll quietly, telling Terezi to stay put. The air felt cold on Karkat's cheeks, like an ice of sorrow had fallen over the lab. He then froze himself.
But his cheeks were hot and red, like little chili peppers.
She didn't see him. But he saw her. Every last inch of her hidden shipping wall section.
