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There was a lot of cute, dorky things to be said about distance. It made the heart grow fonder, you were connected by the red string of fate, and tons more, she was sure of it. But well, it never really made her feel any better. If anything, all the took from it was one word. Distance. That word resonated in her head and made her mood drop like a sack of potatoes. It was unavoidable of course. When ever people found out she was in a relationship, they started asking questions, and the main one was always ‘Where’s your partner?’. Nepeta had got rather good at soldiering through those conversations with a cheery smile and a small shrug.
'Back home.' She'd always reply. Though by 'Home' she meant the United States. She and Karkat hadn't lived near each other since they were in middle school, and they hadn't really started dating until high school when he was already several states away.
She wasn’t mad about the distance, or even upset by it. It just kind of made her heart twist in her chest, and beat extra hard when ever she thought of it. There were times she missed him, despite their frequent skype calls and the fact that they wrote letters to each other, actual pen and paper letters, like huge sappy dorks. Neither of them kept a good sleep schedule because they were always trying to edit it to get more time to talk. But still, some nights, she wished she could just curl up next to him and tell him how much she loved him with out the soft hush of her computer’s microphone.
But she had made her choice of schools, and when an exchange student opportunity popped up, she took it. He was happy for her, she was happy with it, but it made meeting impossible. It wasn’t like before, where they could plan to meet at a convention, to even steal away a whole week to visit one another. Though, gosh, she wished it was. Those weeks were the best. Those memories had to tide her over for now.
Perhaps that was what made days like today so special. With his birthday looming, Nepeta had planned. In fact, she had planned months in advance, when she first spotted the small video shop in town. Karkat did love movies, and foreign romcoms had to be interesting, right? Then came the snacks. You couldn’t watch a movie with out snacks right? And it wasn’t like she hadn’t totally taunted him with the delicious food she got to eat. After all, France was practically known for it’s cuisine. So she’d gathered some of her favorite snacks that she knew would survive the trip, several romcoms, and a few other special surprises and packed them up and mailed them off. Ever since then she had waited on pins and needles. She hadn’t told him she sent him something, wanting to surprise him. But she knew he was suspicious of something. She tried her best to play it cool, but well, she was excited!!
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Nepeta stopped nervously twirling her hair around her finger and looked at the camera perched on top of her laptop as he spoke.
“Of course I am!” She chirped, untangling her digits from her dark, curled strands. It had been almost a month since she sent the package! Why wasn’t it there yet? Customs must have really hated her. She tried to not look so put out, though.
“Just waiting for something.” Karkat gave her the most annoyed glare he could manage. He knew something was up. He always knew.
She nearly jumped where there was a knock at his door, loud enough to be heard even over skype. She tried her best not to look too excited, but it was hard not to! He gave her a critical, searching look before standing and she just giggled a bit nervously. She fidgeted until he came back, because it was very possible it wasn’t her gift. But when he returned carrying the big box, she knew it was.
“The fuck is this?” Nepeta couldn’t help but burst out laughing as he looked from the package to her. He was as blunt as ever.
“A purresent!” She managed after she calmed down, slipping into the familiarity comfort of nerdy puns.
“You’re birthday is coming up, and I thought it would be better to send it a bit early! Because, you know, customs.” She shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant about it, and failing miserably. He peered at her from her computer screen and then shrugged.
“Then I’ll wait until my birthday to open it.” That spurned Nepeta into action, she rolled onto her stomach and pouted at her camera.
“Nooooo!!!!” She whined, dragging out the word.
“I want to watch you open it! Come oooonnnnnnnn.” If he didn’t open it, she’d be forced to give him kitten eyes, and she didn’t want to resort to her secret weapon.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to. He just sighed heavily and sat back in his chair, pulling the box into his lap. Nepeta wiggled a bit, peering at her screen as he ripped through the box.
“You can read the card later.” She added, helpfully. He did, in fact, set the card aside and tackled the amount of packing peanuts in the box. It was kind of adorable, the way he cursed and grumbled about her ‘stuffing it more than a fucking thanksgiving turkey’. She may have overpacked it, just to get on his nerves a bit.
He found the snacks first.
“Because, you know, I always tell you how great they are. I tried to pick things I thought you’d like!” She rested her chin on her hands, kicking her feet behind her as he looked at all of them.
“Thank god. Listening to you talk about the food you get to eat, when I only have shitty fucking Mcdonalds was fucking terrible.” She rolled her eyes a bit. She knew there was more around where he lived, he was just too lazy to go get it. The movies just made his eyes widen.
“Nep, I can’t understand French.”
“Il ya sous-titres anglais.” She stuck her tongue out at the face he made. “They have English subtitles. I made sure of it.”
With those out of the way, he moved to put the box aside and she held up her hand.
“Wait, there’s one more thing. A second envelope.” He shrugged slightly and started digging again. This was the worst part. She chewed on her bottom lip as he found it. She watched as his brow furrowed slightly, and she managed not to giggle at the mumbled curses. She hoped he would like it. Part of her worried it might be too much. He finally got tired of trying to open it normally, and just ripped the top off of it. The look of slight confusion on his face made her heart drop into her stomach. Oh no, she had really messed up. A few of the photos fell from the envalope to land on the floor and he looked up at her. Even with the washed out light of his screen she could see the dark blush across his cheeks.
“N-Nepeta! These are-You’re-!!”
She just giggled, looking away as she felt warmth rise to her cheeks.
“Happy birthday, Karkat.”