Madam Puddifoot's Tea always seemed to calm stressed students and let their minds unwind from the cluttered thoughts of remembering potions to simply ignoring ignorant or rude comments from other houses. Needless to say, Feferi Peixes was there often, and more often lately due to the fact Eridan and herself were in a quarrel and the library was too much of a hot spot to run into him.

So, she was sitting in a back corner away from the various couples with a cup of warm Blackberry Tea with her studies sprawled across the table, and humming to herself, she read the recipies for her upcoming quiz and tried to ignore the disgusting feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was a painfully common feeling, a mixture of doubt/anger/and all around shitty emotions.

But, Feferi was a good enough actress to ignore this feeling and put on her bubbly fascade when confronted with others, but again she didn't expect others to be there. Her eyes were a direct sign to her stress, for they looked heavy and weak, and her usual perky posture was slumped forward.

Today sucked, and there isn't anything that could make it wor-... Correction. Karkat was here.

Not that that was a bad thing, it's just that she HATES when he can even hint to see Feferi's upset, for he has a rather harsh/blunt way of trying to cheer her up. Maybe, if he does see her, they could simply drink tea and act as if nothings wrong.

Maybe.

She caught a glimps of his catious look, and to be honest it was even more disheartening than what was actually bothering her. The fact that he looked like the thought of Feferi rambling to him about her personal problems made him wanna high-tail it outta there made her feel as if her problems were petty and annoying. Which to a lot of people they were, but mainly because she didn't talk about the underlying problems like her Mom, she simply covered those up with the Eridan bullshit (because Eridan was the only one who talked about her Mother with her)

But some smidge of decency struck Karkat that day when he actually walked over to her table and sat down. She knew he knew, it wasn't that hard to tell he did, but that wouldn't stop her from givin' a wide grin and straightening her demeanor before greeting him.

" Hey CrabCatch, whatchya' up to today? Got some time off I sea! "

Her expression quickly twisted into that of agitation before quickly returning her over enthusiastic smile once that god awful insult left his lips, because Karkat knew damn well that she was anything BUT a princess an she'd worked her ass off to get where she is today and she'll be damned if he was going to make it seem as if her problems were related to that if a girl who had everything handed to her. And the fact he wouldn't stop rambling out things that were wrong with her just made her boil in her own pot of irritation.

" Okay Karkat, how about you slow your roll for a couple of seconds so we can get just a feeew things STRAIGHT. If you ever call me 'princess' again I swear on Dumbledore's' word I will show you how much of a 'flippin' princess I am by kicking your rambling ass. And secondly, maaaybe if you would quit with the romance bullshit you cherish so much you'd realize that accusing me of possibly ruining something you CARE about it ISN'T going to make me feel like a better human being that I already am, because when people are upset they tend to feel as if they ruin everything (hint hint). So THANK YOU /SO MUCH/ for that one. And in case you actually do care what I'm upset about instead of me simply screwing your evening up, my unsupportive Mother who thinks I'm pretty much worthless unless I'm caring to her every wish has sent me yet ANOTHER letter of disappointment and since Eridan is too busy with his head up Sollux's ass he doesn't think that it's a "top priority" to deal with. And OBVIOUSLY it isn't yours either.

So! Enjoy your coffee! I'm going to pack up my things and walk aimlessly somewhere so I don't ruin your perfectly romance filled evening, although you've managed to kill that vibe in the air by pointing out the fact you relish in it. " Her tone was obviously fake optimism dripping with passive aggression, but that's how she dealt with things. And packing up her things is exactly what she was doing.

She paused with her book closed firmly in her hands, her eyes focused on the table top instead of Karkat's expression, (for she didn't want to start crying/ler him see her cry), when she heard his tone shift from something forced to genuine, allowing her body to release the tension caused by her rant. Her muscles relaxing as her grip on her supplies loosened, the books gently falling to the hard surface underneath.

She knew she went too far with her personal problems and insulted Karkat in response to a misunderstanding, and she felt like absolute shit. Dammit Fef, you need to calm down before jumping to conclusions.

"I-I'm sorry I blew up on you.. I've just been trying to keep everything together because I'm /fine/ and that word just triggered me and I shouldn't have piled my personal problems on to you.. There's no need to get the tab, and there's no need to apologize or try and make me feel better. You obviously came here to relax and I'm slowly turning that to shit... I'm sorry Crabcatch... " She still refused to look up at him, but she wasn't pretending anymore. This was Feferi in the raw, and scary truth of herself.

It was a true fact that people tended to ignore Karkat's harsh tone (most of the time), mainly because he was always like that about nearly everything you presented to him (except when he's not) and most simply don't see a point in arguing with him, and because he usually wins said arguments. But, again, with this in mind Feferi couldn't have really expected anything different from him, so she sat back down and listened to his mouth run a mile a minute. It was actually rather endearing how badly he tended to ramble, and small bit about swearing made her giggle.

But that one sentence about breathing caught her off guard, and by the time she had collected her thoughts to create a proper response relating to how special he actually was he had already moved on to another topic.

"Dammit Eridan, quit telling people things." She mumbled to no one in particular, always finding herself annoyed when she heard of Eridan spilling her personal problems among their other friends. But, that wasn't her concern right now.

" I pretty much gave you the jist of things in my small bitch attack, so there's not really anything else to cover. Unless you'd like to discuss how immensely sweet it is that you'd be so quick to filter that potty mouth a'yours for someone who just insulted you.. plus your hair is an absolute mess as always and it makes me want to fix it to highlight that cute lil' face. " She gave a ginger smile, her eyes focusing on him at last.

Feferi could always tell when Karkat got embarrassed, mainly because his tone of voice always seemed to lower down to a rather gruff position and he'd always blame it on a completely unrelated part of the conversation, if not the complete opposite of what caused said embarrassment. That, plus his eyes would always try and shuffle anywhere but in the sight of the embarrasser in order to conceal the flush in cheeks that was threatening to show through. She had only managed to see Karkat blush one time (at that point) after she pointed out the fact his gaze was wondering over her hips while walking one afternoon their 1st year.

Letting him finish his slur of advice and comfort before Feferi spoke again, her tone was much more relaxed than previously mentioned, and for once she was talking to someone other than Eridan like she did with Eridan.

" I understand that I'm not the most important relationship in Eridan's life, and I can live with that, but all I ask is that he at least PRETENDS to be concerned and focused with what I'm trying to deal with or talk about it. We've been so close for so many years, he's one of the only (if not the only) person I can talk to about anything. And he thinks just because I didn't want to 'marry him' when we were LITERALLY 8 years old that I didn't (doesn't) have feelings for him in that sense, and he always has to rub it in when he starts 'talking' to someone new... Concerning my Mom? I'd much rather ignore her letters for a few more years instead of brooding over the content in them, I'm surprised I haven't gotten the will power to simply throw them away before I dare open the wax seal...

I guess I just keep hoping that it's her saying she's sorry, and supports my decision to further my knowledge in magic and maybe make something of myself.. But I know it's not, and it never will be, so there's no use in getting worked up over it.. "

Her breathing was slowly started to get harder for her to handle when the painful thought of her mother's tight grip on her life flowed through her mind, and trying to calm down she shakily took a sip of her tea.

Feferi listened with intent to the long string of words Karkat spewed out at her, (although she really just loved listening to his voice) and for once in her life she finally heard his voice in a comforting tone. No sarcasm, no loud tone, nothing harsh, he was talking to her like she was an actual human being that he... Well.. Maybe cared about. She realized if she weren't there the next day he would know, he would care, and that was something she hadn't gotten from anyone else but Eridan in her entire life. It was actually really nice, and she felt a genuine smile peek across her plum colored lips. Not her usual oversized, rather annoying smile. No, it was just a normal smile, and with that her shoulders perked back up, her posture straightening before she took another sip of her tea.

" Thank you Karkat, I really appreciate the fact you even walked over to this table, let alone sacrifice time outta your day to come an'talk to me... I REELY enjoy your company and your advice is something I would've realized, but just avoided it for who knows how long.. So, again, thank you.. You don't understand how much it means t'me. " She was hoping to finally regain his gaze, so that he could see the pure emotion in her eyes when she spoke these words to him. People don't cherish Karkat the way they should, the way he deserves, but Feferi did, and always will. Even if he doesn't want her to.  

Breaking from her rather intense mood, she gave a small giggle before reaching a hand across the table and fixing a small strand of hair near his cheek. " Do you even know what a'hairbrush is? "