Chapter Text
Things have been… pretty good recently, which is saying a lot. I’ve been able to hang out with Susie a little more recently because Noelle’s been busy with upcoming AP testing. And I’ve been hanging out with Berdly a lot more than I would have expected. On days we’re free after school, we typically meet up, and I’ve been… enjoying it?
Getting to know him, he’s really not that bad of a guy. He’s still unbelievably annoying, but he’s really nice and fun to hang out with. We usually end up at one of our homes, playing video games, watching movies, and occasionally actually studying. I’ve been making him watch more horror movies, increasing how scary they are. It’s fun to watch him jump at even the smallest things; he’ll grab onto my arm, which I can’t say I hate.
I scratch at the wood of my desk mindlessly as I zone out in class, Ms. Alphys teaching at the front of the class. She comes around a few moments later, passing out sheets of paper to everyone,
“Next, we’ll be starting a partner project on the history of different locations in Home Town. You can pick whichever one you’d like! The church, town hall, even a specific gravestone at the cemetery. Write a verbal presentation; most of the information can be found in the libra-” she says, the bell suddenly ringing overhead before she could finish. “A-And I want at least three pictures, one with you and your partner, of you guys at your chosen location.”
The class breaks almost immediately, students quickly packing up their backpacks, shoving the papers in hastily. I stand up as I start to put my things in my bag before getting an aggressive grab on my shoulder,
“Hey, dude! Don’t think I didn’t see you dozing off that whole time.” Susie says loudly next to me, her backpack already on her shoulder, half-zipped.
A chipper laugh comes from next to us, and we turn to see Noelle walking up to us, carefully slipping her tote bag onto her shoulder,
“Kris, you’ve been sleeping through class since we were little. When are you going to fix your sleep schedule?” She smiles warmly at me, reaching up to zip up Susie’s backpack. I bite back a laugh at how a light pink blush suddenly paints Susie’s cheeks as her girlfriend comes up next to her. “Well, the project sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Susie, do you want to be partners?”
Susie blinks down at her before looking over at me,
“Oh! Well, Kris and I were partners last time, so I th-”
Before she can finish, I feel an interrupting tug in my chest,
“You guys should be partners,” I say, looking up at them.
Dammit. It makes sense though; I probably would have said the same thing even if I were the one choosing. Of course they would want to work together; they are dating after all. A concerned look crosses Noelle’s face as she turns to me,
“Are you sure, Kris? Maybe we can ask Alph-”
“Never fear, Berdly’s here!” sounds loudly, and I turn to see the blue bird walking up to us. “I will gladly be Dear Krismas’s partner, so you two lovebirds can work together.”
Susie stares down at him for a moment before glancing back at me,
“Uh, I think Jockington needs a partner,” she says.
“It’s fine!” I say quickly before anything else can be chosen, “I’ll be Berdly’s partner.”
I can practically feel the irritation of It grow inside me. I’m aware of my duties regarding It, but… I need to take this for myself. I step closer to Berdly, much to his delight,
“Kris! You have no idea how stupendous this is. Just a cool gamer guy and gamer er… they!” he announces proudly, which I snort at.
Noelle and Susie interlace hands, and I fall into step alongside Berdly as my legs are pulled to follow everyone as we exit the classroom.
“Well, dear Kris, what location should we do our project on? I was thinking the graveyard, perhaps? It could be like the movie you showed me the other day.”
“Hey, no fair, jackass! I was going to make Noelle go to the graveyard with me at night and see if we can catch any ghosts.” Susie says, glaring over her shoulder at him.
Noelle makes a surprised sound before giggling nervously,
“Oh… that’s alright, Susie. What if we did somewhere else? I know there’s a lot of history within the church.”
“Oh, my beloved Noelle, wouldn’t that be cheating? You already know so much about the church with all your choral duties that take place there.” Berdly points out, holding up a feather.
Susie lights up at the idea as she pushes the main door to the school open, letting the sun from outside in. The light falls across us in a warm late-afternoon hue.
“Oh shit, you’re right, bird man! Noelle, let’s totally go to the church instead.”
I look over at Berdly, who has pride written all over his face. Noelle sighs in defeat,
“No… let’s just do the graveyard,” she says before putting on a determined smile. “Then we could all go! Ms Alphys said we could do individual gravestones, so we each can pick one.”
“Alright!” Susie says, punching her free fist in the air before we continue walking down the road.
__________
And that was how we ended up at the graveyard at midnight on Friday. We’re huddled in a group, Noelle gripping Susie’s arm as she holds out a flashlight shakily. We only had two flashlights, one for each pair. I found them under my brother’s bed after wrestling the Soul into its cage. I held onto the other while Berdly stayed close by, looking around frantically for any sound or movement. I glance at him before whispering up to Susie,
“Hey, what if we change the pairs? Berdly and Noelle go on their own.”
Susie snickers at this, earning a nervous pout from Noelle, who frowns back at me,
“I-I think we’re fine in our pairs, right, Kris? B-besides, it looks like Berdly needs reassurance as well.”
Upon hearing his name, Berdly looks back towards us, his expression frightened and confused,
“H-huh? Oh!” he quickly clears his throat, puffing his chest out. “W-why, I’m doing quite fine, my dearest Noelle; no need to worry Kris Cross Applesauce over here.
Susie gives him an unimpressed look before pushing forward into the graveyard,
“Uh-huh? Sure, dude, hey, me and Noelle are gonna go look up here; don’t leave without us.”
Berdly makes a small, strangled noise as he reaches out for them half-heartedly before dropping his hand dramatically,
“Alas… it appears it’s just us now, dearest Kris.”
I snort at this before grabbing his… hand? Wing? And pull him deeper into the graveyard,
“Relax, dude, they aren’t far. It’s a small graveyard. Let’s just pick which one we want to do and take our photo.”
He yelps quietly as he catches up to me, our intertwined hands falling between us but not separating. We come to a stop in front of the gravestones, and I shine the flashlight on them, illuminating the carved names and dates on them,
“Muttler… 200X to 201X…” Berdly mutters under his breath, “It looks like they might’ve been a part of those dug-up experiments from years ago; their death year is the same as when all of them were found.”
I nod along, silence falling over us for a moment. I turn to him, pointing to his pocket,
“We should take a photo,” I say. “We can check the library; I bet there’s a lot there.”
He looks down at me before smiling and pulling his phone out. We turn so the grave’s behind us, our hands still intertwined. Berdly holds his phone up, angling the camera to capture us. My head falls on his shoulder, a new habit I picked up from being close to him, and we both smile widely.
The camera flashes, capturing us together. He pulls his phone back to him, and we both look over the photo on the screen, slightly blurry from the flash. He scowls, bringing the phone up to his eyes,
“Why, this hardly does anything to capture my awesomeness,” he remarks, drawing a laugh from me. “Kris, we must retake this at once.”
I nod along, getting back into position next to him. He’s mid-lift, raising the phone to take the photo when a loud snap of a branch is heard a few feet away. He shrieks, and I barely have time to process anything before he’s jumping into my arms.
His wings hug tightly around my neck, and he nearly slips before I wrap my arms around his waist, pulling him against me without thinking. He buries his face into my shoulder, his beak poking and eliciting a surprised noise from me, causing warmth to spread across my cheeks. The flashlight slips from my hand, dropping to the grassy floor with a quiet thump as the light flickers out, leaving us only illuminated by the stars above us.
Silence falls over us, and all I can hear is our breaths as we cling tightly to each other, not daring to move or speak. I look over his shoulder and can see the distant light of Susie and Noelle’s flashlight from here. They’re further into the graveyard and seemingly tucked behind a tree, unaware of Berdly and me.
After a few moments, Berdly pulls back, clearing his throat awkwardly. His wings slip from around my neck, landing on my shoulders,
“Well! I apologize for jumping on you, my dearest Krismas; I was simply er… scaring whatever made that noise away!” he says quickly, shimmying away from me. Without thinking, I pull him back against me, surprise playing in both of our eyes. “Uh- Kris?”
I purse my lips, looking up at him before speaking,
“It’s fine if you were nervous; I don’t mind catching you,” I say quickly, turning my gaze towards the ground to hide the blush growing on my cheeks.
I can feel his eyes on me as I look away, hearing him swallow loudly. I internally punch myself for speaking without thinking, before I feel his wings wrap around my neck again. I turn, looking up at him in surprise. He clears his throat again before holding up a feather,
“Well, I suppose every player one does need his player two,” he says, chuckling to himself. I stare at him almost in disbelief and then in unimpressed. He looks down at me before returning his wing to my shoulder, a faint blush peeking out from beneath his feathers. “So, dearest Kris, will you be the gamer… Quing to my gamer King?”
I snort at this before I can stop myself, trying to fight back any laughter. He gives me a disgruntled look and is about to pull away again before I reach up, cupping his face. I pull him down, pressing my lips to the side of his beak gently.
His eyes widen in surprise, and he stands up, staring down at me. My hands hover on either side of his face awkwardly, unsure. He looks down at me, his eyes raking over my face almost analytically, and before I can say anything, he leans down, closing the gap between his beak and my lips.
And suddenly I’m kissing back. I’m kissing back?!
I gasp at the sudden sensation, my hands landing back against the softness of the feathers on his face. And Berdly, the cocky bastard, takes the opportunity to seize the upper hand in this. His wings snake around my waist, pulling me closer to him once again as he relishes the feeling of his beak against my lips.
Whatever… I’ll let him for today. I let out a quiet hum of contentment as I melt into him, my hands trailing across his cheeks, wrapping around his neck, my fingers raking through his feathers. We move against each other steadily, mapping out the feel of the other in this new sensation. Ah… that’s too corny; must be from the lack of oxygen to my head.
I pull back after a moment, chuckling as I catch him chasing after me through my bangs. I can see him blink down at me, his wings still loosely wrapped around my waist,
“This is… the part where I wake up, right? I fell asleep playing video games again?”
I breathe steadily before pressing one last peck to his beak, looking up at the outline of him against the pitch-black graveyard. I take one of his hands in mine, intertwining his feathers with my fingers again as I turn towards the exit,
“Come on, let g-” I start before I’m interrupted by a bright light hitting my face.
I shield my eyes quickly with my arm as I squint against the glowing light pointed at us,
“No. Fucking. Way.” A familiar voice filled with laughter sounded from behind the flashlight.
Susie drops the light down to our feet, her face full of amusement as she and Noelle stare at us in disbelief. Noelle gapes as she looks between us,
“U-uh, we finished taking our photos a-and when we looked back over here, your light was gone, so we thought-”
“That you guys got hurt! Not sucking face!” Susie interjects before keeling over with laughter.
I feel horror fall across my face as I look at them, Noelle shooting me a look full of sympathy and confusion. I feel Berdly shift beside me as he takes a step forward, chest puffed out,
“Alas…” Oh no, “It is true, there is a new superior couple in this town. Step aside and make way.”
He holds up our hands, still interlaced together, for them, and I just drop my forehead into my free hand.
“O-Oh! Wow! That’s amazing, you guys. Congrats.” Noelle says, smiling widely at us.
Susie continues to laugh wildly beside her, clutching her stomach, only receiving a smug smirk from Berdly,
“Laugh it up, dear Susan; we know who resides as the best couple here.”
She shakes her head, still thoroughly amused, before leaning down and picking up the forgotten flashlight and tossing it to me, which I catch clumsily against my chest with one hand. She tugs Noelle against her, slinging an arm around the doe-like monster’s shoulders before taking the lead as we exit the graveyard. I drop the hand from my face, looking up at Berdly, who smiles down at me. I feel the embarrassment melt away from my face as I smile back awkwardly. I let him tug me along, walking beside him back towards the Holiday home.