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"Hey, why are you crying?"
Those were his first words when he stepped out of a coma.
And now?
Now he was breathing.
And not alone.
And cold.
And small.
And so very, very tired.
He didn't fully understand.
He had been somewhere, a deep, and dark, and neverending somewhere. All he had was his thoughts. And a face.
He didn't remember the face.
It was small, with round cheeks and a winning smile. Eyes that seemed to dance and glow with greens and greys. Short, dark hair fluttering around her pale face.
And it was a her.
He didn't know who the face was. She was cute, he knew that much. Her smile was the only thing he could remember and something else was there, but what was it? Hidden behind the grin he could tell secrets were stored. He wanted to know every single one of them. He needed to know something else was there, and that it wasn't just a face lacking a name.
And he would.
He had been drifting, neither standing nor sitting, in the bright void while thinking of her face. He remembered a flash, a memory, and suddenly people were around him and wonderful music played and they were dancing and they were alive and he was alive and--
"Hey, what're you doing sitting alone?"
The face -- the girl -- had said it, she had said something and she was standing in front of him and suddenly he wasn't in the red t-shirt or the jeans but in a white dress shirt and dark pants and he was alive and she was alive and smiling at him and--
And suddenly it was gone. He remembered feeling alone again but he remembered the music and her olive dress that matched her eyes and the way people swayed and suddenly he wasn't alone because he could hear her soft voice and he could see the smile on her face, the one smiling at him and only him, and he could just feel the music swelling up inside of him and--
And he wondered if he would ever see her again.
He hoped he would. For now all he could do was repeat the scene in his head a thousand times and wonder what might have happened.
Had he responded? He hoped he had. That girl was the only person he knew. He wanted to know more about her grin and her eyes and the leap in her step he suddenly knew she had because she always did it when she was happy and he knew it because he had made her happy once and, and--
There was another flash and suddenly the girl was with him and he was standing directly behind her. She didn't seem to notice but he felt himself grin and wrap his arms around her waist, setting his head down on her shoulder. He felt her jump in his arms.
"Oh, god, Karkat, don't do that!"
"Aw, but it's fun to scare you like that!"
And it was gone again. He knew. He knew his name was Karkat. He knew his last name was Vantas. He knew he had a brother named Kankri and a father named Silas and his voice was from his dad, soft but loud, and he knew the girl was, was --
. . . Who was she?
And suddenly he felt a blinding flash, brighter than the rest and more colorful than anything.
He was in a room, a small room, but packed with people. The girl was lounging in some beefy guy's lap and she was chattering to another girl with long black hair and bright pink lipstick. He felt a brief stab of jealously towards the man with the girl in his lap. But--
Where was he sitting?
Some guy was chilling next to him, lounging his legs over a boy with a mohawk and chatting animatedly with him. Two girls, one blonde and one with red glasses, were talking to each other. Some lanky guy with a purple strip in his hair was listening in beside them. A rather tall dude was standing and talking to a short, chubby girl and he could tell they were together. To his right was a girl with a long red skirt on, her hand placed carefully on the couch.
"Fef, come on! It'd be so great!"
"No, it wouldn't, because we'd all die!"
"But Feferi . . ."
"Equius, back me up here! Wouldn't it kill us all?"
"I'd have to agree, it very much would."
The girl frowned at her friend and lightly touched his cheek.
"But Equius . . ."
"But no."
"Come on, you're only saying that because you and her are dating!"
The girl with red shades and the other with blonde hair immediately turned their heads to look at them.
"Excuse me?"
"You two are dating and you didn't tell me?" The blonde one looked offended, why, he didn't know, but the girl with red shades seemed rather interested. Feferi and Equius traded looks of either embarassment or intimidation, he couldn't tell.
"Well, uh . . ." Equius tried to start but failed admittedly. The guy lounging his legs over mohawk dude stopped chatting to him. And, quite suddenly, he felt his own self speak.
"Well, yeah. You'd have probably run and told every damn person in a three mile radius, Vriska."
He didn't know how the name got off of his tounge and into the air, but it did.
"Told everybody?" Vriska looked incredulous,"No! No, I have been waiting for the moment you two would finally start fucking--"
"Uh, no, there is none of that--" Feferi tried to intervene, getting red in the face, but Vriska cut her off.
"Whatever!" Vriska interrupted,"God, was I the only one who's known you two are fucking perfect for each other since for-fucking-ever? Quick, show of hands, who knew?"
The girl raised her hand along with the chubby girl. He felt his own arm raise as well as the lounging guy's and his mohawk friend. The lady in the red skirt standing next to him did the same.
"Aradia, how long?" Vriska asked.
"Five months to this day, all because Feferi walked off with him on campus after class!" Aradia said and grinned at Feferi, whose face was considerably more red than ever before and turned downwards at her lap.
"Karkat?"
"Seven months. Equius helped Feferi up after she tripped and damn, was that cute." He felt himself saying this but didn't actually know if any of it was true.
"Gamzee?"
"Two weeks. Feferi wiped ice cream off his chin," Gamzee told them and gave Equius a little point. Equius looked rather embarrassed. The tall guy with Aradia suddenly spoke up.
"Wait, wait, wait, did someone go ice-creaming without me?"
"Oh my god, Sollux you weren't invited because you were at some dumb conference, I don't fucking know. Tavros?"
"More or less a year. I saw them sitting next to each other and randomly thought, hey, they're cute together," Tavros announced, smiling at Vriska. Vriska shook her head.
"Fucking weird, Kanaya?"
"I had a similar experience as Tavros, but only recently with myself clocking in at a month ago," Kanaya told her, smiling apologetically at Equius. Vriska nodded before turning to the girl.
"And, wait, let me guess, Nepeta was the one to introduce them."
And everything froze.
Nepeta.
Her name was Nepeta.
Her name was Nepeta and suddenly he remembered everything.
He remembered sights and smells and thunder and rain and pillows and cupcakes and lipstick and houses and college and something sweet and something warm but most importantly he remembered her.
Her name was Nepeta Leijon, and Karkat Vantas was madly in love with her.
And the scene was gone.
Not moments later a new scene evolved, bright and yellow and happy.
"Just pretend I'm her, okay!"
Karkat rolled his eyes as Gamzee ruffled his hair and did a little stance similar to how Nepeta would lean and put all her weight on one leg.
"Oh, Karkat, what ever do you need? Why did you call me here!" Gamzee's voice went extremely high and Karkat pretended to retch as Gamzee laughed.
"Karkat--just do--" Gamzee broke into laughing sobs without sign of stopping. Karkat rolled his eyes, clicking the button on the small, white recorder.
"Nep-- Gamzee, stop it! -- Nepeta, will you marry me?"
And suddenly lights flashed before his eyes. Bright ones. Something smashed. Noises were heard. People were seen. He felt something cold press against him. He felt something warm. Something hot. Something freezing. Blurry figures sped in and out but he was still and couldn't move and he wanted to reach out and touch something, touch someone, touch her. And, quite suddenly, he felt people around, standing. Someone burst in. Others followed. They scattered out. One person stood alone and stared. Light burst into the room. The person sat. Something warm pressed against his hand. Someone talked but it was as unclear and blurry as his vision. The warm thing tightened around his hand and suddenly someone else entered, as blurry as everyone else. They left just after giving the person a blurry object. The grip released and the person seemed to grab something else. Everything was unclear.
Until suddenly, it wasn't.
Somebody was crying.
He felt somebody wrap their arms around him.
He felt something wet on his face.
And, quite suddenly, he knew exactly where he was.
He saw the mass of dark hair sitting on him. He could feel them shaking with sobs. So he did the logical thing and wrapped his arms around the person and pulled them up a little bit, putting a hand on their head and brushing their hair. He made small shooshing noises in their ear. The person stopped immediately and freezed moving.
"Hey, why are you crying?"
He felt the head ease off of his shoulder.
Nepeta Leijon stared at him with wide eyes and tear tracks running down her face and a gaping mouth and miskempt hair but she was still Nepeta, and she was still utterly gorgeous.
"Karkat?"
Her soft, unsteady voice made him smile slightly and he loosened his grip on her.
"Nepeta."
Her eyes brimming with tears and her mouth forming a watery grin she grabbed him and pulled him forward and yelled,"Karkat!"
His face turned to surprise as she held him with all her might and proceeded sobbing again so he softly put his arms around her, trying to soothe her in the slightest way. He heard footsteps running and the door slammed open, revealing two people racing in with matching terrified faces. He looked up as they entered and smiled faintly.
Equius and Feferi stood next to each other with similar shocked looks as soon as their eyes turned towards them.
"Karkat?" Equius voice was first and it was as shocked as his face.
"K-Karkat? I-is . . ." Feferi's was next and it was wavering and starting to shake. Equius put a hand on her arm.
"Hey, you two." His voice was just loud enough to hear over Nepeta's sobbing and it was just enough for Feferi to break into tears and turn around and grab Equius and pull her arms around him and start shaking. Equius wrapped his arms around her and Feferi descended to the ground, Equius in tow.
More footsteps and suddenly Terezi was at the door with Gamzee. Terezi's eyes strayed to the two on the ground, one of whom shaking with sobs and the other who was still as a rock, holding each other tightly, while Gamzee's eyes strayed to the two on the bed. His eyes went directly from Nepeta then to Karkat then tears filled them and he wasn't able to see anymore and he grabbed the wall for support because obviously he wasn't able to do it himself. Terezi's eyes followed and suddenly widened with shock, an expression that seemed to be going around. Karkat smiled at her, rubbing Nepeta's back lightly.
"Hey, red eyes."
Terezi put a hand over her mouth and a muffled,"Hey, crabby," came out before she descended into sobbing and choking and Gamzee grabbed her and hugged her tight, her doing the same. Karkat looked back down at Nepeta and squeezed her.
"I'm . . . . I'm not dead. I'm right here, Nep. You can let go now."
"N-no."
"I'm gonna lose circulation if you grip so tightly."
"I th-thought I-I lost you."
"Me too."
Nepeta let go, soon enough. She let Gamzee hug him and Gamzee was still sobbing by the time it was over. Feferi practically flung herself into his arms and would only let go when Equius goaded her off and it was his turn and Karkat couldn't help but feel warm inside because he had never known Equius to be a hugger. Terezi had gripped his arm and held him close, probably breaking his spine, and before she let go whispered in his ear,"You had me worried there for a second, crabby."
Doctors visited and five minutes later the cord was off because he didn't need it anymore and Nepeta helped him up and out of bed and as soon as he was able to stand Nepeta grabbed his waist and stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him, square on the lips. It was warm and inviting and felt like a thousand people could be there but only she mattered, because she was the only thing that mattered. Nepeta let go and tightened her grip and he did the same and she told him,"I am never letting go of you ever again."
He really hoped she wouldn't.
Sollux and Eridan and Aradia and Tavros and Kanaya and Vriska all came in not an hour later ("It would've been sooner if we hadn't found ourselves in the middle of a fucking parade," Eridan had jabbed, his voice shaking), all together, and practically flung themselves into Karkat's arms. Kankri and Silas did the same but it was two days later and at Nepeta's house and it was in the driveway but it didn't matter to any of them because Silas had his son back and Kankri had his brother with him again and everything was okay. Karkat was told he couldn't drive for at least a month but other than that everything was okay.
Everything was okay again.
A week later everyone had settled down (Mostly) and he was sitting on the couch, Nepeta's head in his lap. They bought this couch together more than a year ago because it was extremely soft and comfy. He should've sat in it more but now he had plenty of time to do so, with somebody else if he wished. And he did.
"Hey, Nepeta?"
"Yes?"
"Please never let me do that again."
"I promise."
"Thanks."