Chapter Text
When they reached his respiteblock, they both plopped down on a pile of decorative throw pillows that Crabdad decided to splurge on. Karkat laid back and laced his fingers behind his head, and Nepeta wrestled with a pillow. When she realized what she was doing, she was positioned in such a way that her chest was resting on his stomach. Karkat sighed.
“So what went on between you two,” Nepeta asked, “did you guys have a fight, or what?” She crossed her arms underneath her head and looked up at him.
Karkat sighed and closed his eyes. “I dunno what happened. I’m not sure if it was something I said or just me being me, but she called me and we met up at the bench where we usually sit and talk and she said that it just wasn’t working out.”
“Aw, I’m sorry,” Nepeta consoled, “Would a hug help?” She slid up and wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled into his chest.
Karkat blushed and tensed up. He had never gotten a hug from anyone but Terezi and Crabdad, and those tended to be wholly fulfilling, but this one seemed different somehow. It felt more natural than anything he had ever done. Karkat relaxed and returned the hug. He felt something against his chest; a mere tickle at first, but then slowly growing into a steady, relaxing vibration. Was she… purring? Karkat had never known that some troll could purr...
“Heheh, that tickles,” Karkat said, chuckling. Nepeta smiled. She knew what she was doing. She started to purr louder, but Karkat knew her only weakness.
Karkat reached up and started tickling her sides. She jumped and flipped over onto her back where Karkat wrapped his arms around her, effectively constraining any movement. She struggled against his arms in vain.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” she whined, “you’re, like, twice my size!” Karkat couldn’t help but hear a small bit of amusement in her voice. He rolled over and flipped her so that they were facing each other. Nepeta took this as her move.
“I know, but sti-“ Nepeta reached up and tickled him and he dropped on top of her. His mouth met hers and they held the moment for what seemed like an eternity. When they finally broke the kiss, Karkat rolled over and faced away from her. He placed his hands on his head and started to chastise himself. Nepeta was still dazed, but came to when she heard Karkat’s incomprehensible babble.
“Hey,” she said, rolling over to him, “It’s ok, you don’t have to beat yourself up for that.”
Karkat didn’t hear her. Nepeta rolled her eyes and planted a kiss firmly on his lips.
“See? Better!” she said after a few seconds. Karkat was staring right at her with huge eyes. No one had ever done that before. Just return a kiss immediately without even thinking about it; not even Terezi. Nepeta snuggled up to him and sighed. Karkat came back to his senses and pulled Nepeta up to his chest. He put his arms around her and closed his eyes. He finally felt at peace with himself. Everything finally felt right in the world, just sitting there with Nepeta snuggled up against him. The silence was broken, minutes later, by a few choice words from Crabdad to come down and get dinner.
“We should do this more often,” Nepeta giggled. Karkat could only smile and nod in agreement. They rushed down the stairs and sat at the dinner table to have some of Crabdad’s famous lasagna. Not much was said that evening, save for the occasional banter between Karkat and Crabdad. When it came time for Nepeta to head back to her hive, she turned around and hugged Karkat.
“Tomorrow?” she asked. Karkat nodded and smiled with a wink.
“Tomorrow.”