Chapter Text
“Isn’t all this beautiful?”
Kris, Susie, and Noelle were walking through Hometown, enjoying their break from school. The snow continued to fall, painting the world in white as they walked. Noelle was the happiest she’d ever been that season, spinning around with her arms outstretched to bask in the glory of the winter morning.
“Christmas is my favorite time of the year,” she exclaimed again, her eyes sparkling. “Don’t you all love it too?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Susie agreed, her eyes latched onto Noelle, who continued to spin around, snowflakes landing on her sleeves, her hair, her antlers.
Kris wasn’t the most religious person, but they did like Christmas, mainly because of the week-long break they got from school.
“And we’re all coming over to your house tonight for dinner!” she said, smiling. “Dess and Azzy will be home from college, and Susie’ll be there too!”
“The sunset’s really pretty,” Susie said, nudging Noelle’s arm with her elbow. She was blushing, Kris noticed with a smirk. “Kinda, um, romantic, right? We—”
“Oh my God, the sun’s setting?” Noelle yelped. “We’re supposed to be at Kris’s house for dinner soon! We have to get there!”
“Or we could do that,” Susie said, trying to hide her disappointment.
“Howdy, Kris!” Asriel was standing on the front step of the Dreemurr house, waving.
Kris smiled, running up to their brother.
“Have you gotten taller?” Asriel shook his head. “It hasn’t even been five months!”
“Has Dess gotten here yet?” Noelle asked, eyes shining.
“She called earlier,” Asriel explained. “Got stuck in traffic. She’ll be here soon.”
“Oh,” Noelle said, slightly crestfallen. “Well, I can wait.”
“... Susie.” Asriel nodded, smiling tightly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Um… nice to meet you too…” Susie’s voice trailed off.
The last time Asriel had been in Hometown, Susie was still Kris’s violent tormenter, Kris realized. They couldn’t blame him for his cold demeanor towards Susie.
“Susie’s chill now, Azzy,” Kris said.
“Well, in that case,” Asriel smiled, though it felt a bit forced. He held out a hand. “Nice to meet you, then, Susie.”
Susie shook his hand, unable to make eye contact. Kris could feel the awkward tension in the air. Then they all went into the house.
The Dreemurr residence was the most crowded it had ever been in months. Toriel was cooking in the kitchen as Carol Holiday discussed some new policy. Asgore was arranging flowers in a vase on the table, trying to ignore the stink eye Toriel would occasionally glance back to give him. Ghosts were milling about, reciting poetry (Rouxls), singing Christmas carols while sipping from ghostly wine glasses (Queen), staring at the decorations excitedly (Lancer), and complaining about everything (King). Christmas music filled the background with festivity.
“It’s so jolly here!” Lancer exclaimed, bouncing up and down.
“Sure is,” Susie said. “Pretty excited for today.”
“Who are you talking to?” Noelle whispered to Susie. “Is this a ghost thing?”
“Yeah, it’s a ghost thing,” Susie whispered back.
They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, and Kris saw Noelle blushing slightly. They raised an eyebrow knowingly at her and smirked. Noelle didn’t notice.
All of the sudden the door flew open and Dess Holiday was standing in the doorway.
“Dess!” Noelle cried happily, rushing over towards her sister. “Merry Christmas!”
“Yo, Elly!” Dess said, setting down the bag she’d brought in to let Noelle hug her. “Merry Christmas!”
“You’re late, December,” Carol said coldly.
“I got stuck in traffic.” Dess rolled her eyes. “God, Mom, why are you always on my case?”
Carol narrowed her eyes and stiffened her posture. The air in the room seemed to get colder for a second before Carol sighed, turned back to Toriel, and continued her conversation. Warmth returned to the household.
“You cut your hair,” Noelle noticed, trying to change the subject.
“I did,” Dess said, playing with a strand of hair. “You like it?”
“It looks cool,” Noelle whispered, her eyes shining.
Kris was just standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. So they walked into the kitchen, standing behind their mom and watching her cook.
“Greetings, my child!” Toriel exclaimed. “How was your little walk around town?”
“Where Is The Wine?” Queen asked, voice dripping with disapproval. “Everyone Knows You Need Wine For A Party, Kris. Have You Ever Even Had Wine Before?”
“I’m underage, Queen,” Kris mumbled quietly.
Toriel looked at them strangely.
“Uhm, I mean, it was a walk,” they said quickly. “Nice walk. Very nice outside.”
“Nice Save There,” Queen said, and then she walked through the wall to go bother someone else, still swirling her ghostly wine in her ghostly wineglass.
Then they saw Asriel by the stairs, and knew that he was about to go to their shared room. After all, he had just come home from college an hour ago.
The problem was, their room wasn’t exactly clean.
“Wait, Azzy—”
But Asriel was already opening the door and stepping inside. Even worse, Susie and Dess were also coming in. Even Lancer was joining the party, apparently.
“This room isn’t very clean,” Asriel remarked, picking a sweater off of the floor. Kris crossed their arms, trying to figure out a way to subtly shoo everyone out of the room.
“I haven’t had much time,” they said defensively.
Asriel frowned, worry written across his face. Kris turned their head away, shrugging.
“What?” they asked. “I’ve had a lot of schoolwork.”
He eventually gave up, and turned to study the walls.
“Did you move one of my glow-in-the-dark stars to your side of the room?” Asriel asked, tilting his head as he stared at the wall in the Dreemurr siblings’ bedroom.
“I did,” Susie said proudly. “Their side of the room looked too sad and empty.”
“It did, didn’t it?” Asriel said quietly, as if he were thinking. He stared at the star on Kris’s wall.
Their new light in the dark.
“I think dinner’s ready,” Kris interrupted, leaving the room quickly.
“Shit, for real?” Dess said, and spun around to race down the hallway towards the stairs.
“Hey Susie, what does ‘shit’ mean?” Lancer asked, his blue tongue sticking out of his mouth innocently.
Extra chairs had been brought in to make room for the guests, who were all squeezed at a too-small table. Nevertheless, a merry atmosphere hung around the room as everyone laughed and dined.
Perhaps it was because Rudy was finally starting to feel better, perhaps it was because Toriel and Asgore were willing to put aside their grievances for the sake of the holiday spirit, or perhaps it was simply because everyone was together again, but it felt like old times. It felt like when Kris was younger and the Holidays would come over for Christmas dinner and then she’d watch the Grinch or something with Noelle and Dess and Azzy in front of their old CRT television.
At first, Susie had moved around carefully, awkwardly, as if she didn’t want to break anything. But she’d gradually grown more comfortable until she was laughing right along with the rest of the group, as if she’d been there her whole life.
It wasn’t too long ago that Kris would dread having to see Susie again.
But now, they felt… safer… around her. Like everything would be okay.
In moments like these, it was hard to believe they ever feared her.
But sometimes, it wasn’t so easy to forget.
A couple days ago, Susie had been grinning dangerously, displaying an impressive array of sharp teeth, and Kris had instinctively taken a step back, all the old fear trickling back before they forced it back down again, telling themself that it’s okay, we’re friends now.
They could tell that Susie had noticed, and her smile had dimmed. Kris had immediately felt guilty.
They shook themself out of their thoughts. Susie was okay now. They were friends. They shouldn’t be too scared anymore.
The laughter of the room helped distract them from their thoughts.
“Oh, Kris!” Asriel said, snapping his fingers. “I almost forgot to tell you!”
“What?” Kris asked, poking their food with a fork.
“I met some friends at college! They’re humans, like you!”
“Really?” Kris asked, sitting up. They hadn’t thought they’d ever meet another human, like them.
“Yeah,” Asriel confirmed. “Chara and Frisk. They’re both pretty cool. They couldn’t come over here this time, but you should meet them soon!”
“Yeah, I guess I should,” Kris said. Asriel knew other humans? There were other humans out there? They wished that Chara and Frisk had been able to come.
Everyone else began to talk again and laugh and catch up with each other, but all Kris could think about was the fact that apparently they weren’t so alone anymore.
And then Carol Holiday opened her mouth.
“And how is college going for you, December?” Carol asked, feigning sweetness.
The entire room immediately tensed. Dess narrowed her eyes, focusing on her plate.
“I’m doing just fine, Mom,” she said quickly.
“Good,” Carol said. “You know we just want the best for you.”
The rest of the dinner was finished in an awkward silence, broken occasionally by Asgore trying to lighten the mood.
“Oh, God, Azzy, what if she finds out?”
Kris paused in the doorway before opening the door. Asriel and Dess were sitting on the steps of the back porch, despite the cold air. The window was cracked open, and from that small advantage, Kris could hear their conversation.
“Finds out that you dropped out of college?”
“All she’s talked about since I was practically in middle school was about sending me off to a good college to be a doctor or something! I’m not a fucking doctor!”
Dess was almost shouting.
“Did you tell her about the band you’re gonna start?”
“Obviously not, Asriel.” A humorless laugh. “And you aren’t gonna tell her.”
“Of course I won’t. You know I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Good.”
Kris turned away from the window, already feeling guilty about eavesdropping. They felt like just lying down in their room and sleeping for the rest of the night.
But they knew that Toriel would just drag them downstairs and force them to be social anyway, so they settled for sitting on the couch in the living room. The adults were talking in the kitchen, not even ten feet away, but Kris pretended they weren’t there. They leaned back into the cushions, becoming one with the couch. All the exhaustion from the day suddenly washed over them, and they felt they could never leave. They were one with the couch.
“Asriel! Dess! Why were you two outside?” Toriel exclaimed suddenly. “It’s below freezing!”
“We were just talking,” Asriel explained. “And it felt too crowded in here.”
“Just talking,” Carol said. “I’m sure.”
Dess dragged a hand over her exasperated face. “It wasn’t like that. Just stop, Mom, please. Stop.”
Dess didn’t even like boys like that, anyways. Although Kris knew that Dess would never tell Carol that. They knew Dess hated to let Carol have any control over her. And knowledge, Dess had said, can lead to control. Every single one of Dess’s girlfriends had been secret.
“Okay,” Carol said, holding up her hands. “You don’t need to yell at me, December. I’m just wondering if you’ve finally found yourself a partner.”
“Carol,” Rudy tried.
“Can we just watch a Christmas movie?” Noelle asked. “I hate it when everyone argues.”
But Carol and Dess didn’t hear her.
“Can you just stop trying to control every single aspect of my life?” Dess snapped. “It was annoying enough as a kid, but I’m an adult now.”
Kris noticed Tenna walk in through the wall. Judging by the look on his face, he had been listening to the whole thing.
“You are still my daughter, December,” Carol said, still in that cold tone.
“It’s Dess,” Dess shot back.
And Tenna held his hands out in front of the television, ghostly beads of sweat dripping down his forehead, until the TV switched on.
It was a Christmas special. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The volume was loud enough to startle everyone out of the argument.
“Sorry, Elly,” Dess said. “I… kind of got carried away.”
“It’s fine,” Noelle said, tugging Dess over to the couch by her sleeve.
“This has been happening all night, hasn’t it?” Dess sighed, falling onto the couch. She leaned onto the armrest and held her head in one hand.
“Let’s watch the movie,” Noelle said. “We do it every year, don’t we?”
Everyone sat down to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and gradually, the tension faded away as they got invested in the plot.
Kris remembered when they were a little kid— when Toriel and Asgore would fight. Kris would always find that the TV would mysteriously turn on, and they’d be distracted by it, and the volume of whatever program was on would drown out the sound of their parents arguing.
“Was that you?” Kris whispered to Tenna.
Tenna nodded, giving them a sad smile. He knew what they meant. “I’ve always found that TV can help provide a distraction from the pain.”
And maybe Tenna was right, maybe TV could help, because soon the tension from earlier turned to warmth, warmth and comfort, and maybe everything could be okay. Maybe Kris could pretend they were a little kid again, and everyone still loved each other. Maybe they could just pretend, as everyone was gathered around the TV, that everything was still okay.