Chapter Text
“It’ll be okay Kris. you like their son, right?” Mama attempts to comfort them as they walk down the endless sidewalks. Kris tries to ignore every time she mentions Noelle’s “real” name, cause they know her real real name. They wish they could say something, but it was a secret. You’re not supposed to tell those, even when people are wrong.
It was still frustrating.
“Ya.” They respond, just to make Mama get off their back. They didn’t wanna go, but mama insisted that “Carol” was nice and it wouldn’t be that long anyway. It’s just piano lessons, she said. Why even learn piano, though? It’s not like they showed any interest in it anyway. It doesn’t look like they’re getting out of this though…
“We’re here, baby.” Mama catches their attention as the two stop in front of a large gate.
Kris had never been to the Holidays house before, and it had only been a few weeks since Kris had even been introduced to them outside of when the two families saw each other at church. A few days after their meeting Noelle, the Holidays had come by their house for the first time. They brought a tall green bottle of something that smelled gross, but they also brought some nice-smelling flowers. Kris had snuck some petals into their mouth when the parents weren’t looking. Noelle had almost told, but agreed to keep it between them after being offered some (they were pretty tasty).
Kris considers booking it as the gate opens, but decided their escape plan would have to wait until there weren’t any witnesses. Noelle could help. All those kids in teen movies Asriel watched got out through windows, so surely it wasn’t that hard.
Set in their escape plan, they followed mama through the gate and up the driveway.
…
Kris, admittedly, hadn’t seen a lot of houses at the ripe age of 6. They had one of the largest houses in town, and there weren’t a lot of people to compare houses with.
The Holiday’s, despite this, had the largest and simultaneously ugliest houses they had ever seen in their short life. The house was (1…2…3…- uh…) 8 stories tall and a blinding white in the light of the sun. And worse yet, it looked to be decorated for Christmas. The windows had huge red bows hanging over them, and the enormous doorway overhang was lined with tinsel. But the worst part. The thing had fricking candy canes on it. These people were crazy.
They’re already beginning to rethink their escape plan.
…
As Kris is led through the front door of the house, they begin scanning the (large, humongous) living room for doors that could lead outside. The one on the far end looks promising, as the other two both face into the… double stairwell. From the movies about rich people at hotels and castles. Who the frick were these people. As they’re guided through the door nearest to the front, however, something else quickly catches their eye.
There, sitting innocently on the kitchen counter, is a plate of brownies. Covered in sprinkles and frosted red.
My god.
Well… they can’t just run out the back while Carol is distracted anymore. As they turn their head toward the piano in the corner of the dining room, they once again decide to rethink their plan of action.
Preoccupied by their thoughts of iced brownies and piano, they almost miss when mama pulls her hand away and moves toward the door they had just come through.
They turn back to her just as she reaches for the knob, “mama!” They try to run after her, but their shoulder is caught by Carol’s hoof.
Mama turns back to them and smiles, crouching to their level. “I’ll just be in the living room, okay baby? I know being alone with someone new and trying new things can both be a bit scary, but it’ll be okay! You can be brave for mama right?”
…Kris was brave.
“Right…” as the word leaves their mouth, mama turns and leaves the room.
They’re brave. It’s just piano.
It’s just piano.
“I tried to teach December when she was your age.”
Kris jumps as Carol speaks to them directly for the first time since they entered her house. As they turn their face up to look Carol in the face, they realize Carol is already looking at them.
Carol leads them along by their shoulder as she continues speaking. “Alas, she would always run away when I reminded her about her lessons. I’m glad she at least picked up an instrument after all this time, even if the one of her choice was the guitar.”
Guitar sounded so much cooler than piano.
Carol turns away from them as they reach the grand piano in the corner, shining white with the lid propped open with a dowel. Their hand is slapped when they try to touch the surface of the lid. “Though I’m sure you’ll be a much better student than my own daughter, correct?” She finishes, her blue eyes boring into Kris’ skull.
“U-uh huh.” They answer her, just to get her to stop staring into their head like she could hear their thoughts.
She couldn’t do that, right?
“Good, now sit down child. We have work to do.”
…
Why does the music alphabet only go to G?
They honestly do try to retain what Carol had been telling them, about octaves and sharps and… squishes? What was it…
But it was just so much.
It had been an hour, surely. Maybe two.
They turn their eyes subtly up to the clock hanging on the wall and-
Oh no.
It had been 8 minutes?!
If they don’t find a way out of here, they're going to die. Brownies be damned.
“Focus Kris.” She grabs the top of their head and turns it back to the book of little lines and dots and letters. Apparently they weren’t as subtle as they thought they were. As they place their hands back on the keys, with a little foam block under their palms to hold their hands above the keys properly, Carol sighs.
“She did tell me… I believe it might be time for a break. I can see the effort you’re putting in, but I can also see that nothing else is getting into your brain without something in your stomach.” She turns to the platter of brownies on the counter across the room, and Kris’s heart soars. “Feel free to take a brownie, I just finished icing them before you and your mother arrived. You’re only allowed one though, do you understand?” She asks, turning back to them. They nod frantically in response.
They will not just be taking one.
She moves to leave the bench, and reaches out to Kris to help them off the bench as well. They leave the kitchen hand in (much stickier) hand, after picking up their brownies on the way out. Kris had stuffed two more into their pocket when Carol was turned away. This time, it seems the woman hadn’t picked up on their deceit. They must be improving as a master thief. Like Carmen Sandiego.
They make their way to the couch, where their mother is decidedly not. She lied to them! They would have to tell Asriel, he wouldn’t believe it either. And dad! How could she have done this?!
“You may join-“ Kris slaps their hands over their ears before they can hear Noelle’s other name. They were getting really tired of hearing it.
“Excuse me, Kris, you can’t just cover your ears when someone is speaking to you.” Carol glares their way, and they flush a bit.
“Sorry…”
“Your apology is accepted, as long as you refrain from such behavior in the future. Anyway, you may join my son in the back garden if you so choose.” They perk up at the suggestion of playing with Noelle. They hadn’t seen each other since church a few days ago, and they hadn’t even gotten to talk! Kris just had to settle for slipping a little note into her jacket pocket before sitting down in the pews for the sermon.
(They still hadn’t learned to write, so the note consisted mostly of little doodles of Noelle and Kris and a spider drawn as realistically as could be by a six-year-old with crayons that made Noelle audibly peep and almost get caught with it.)
They hop off the couch, nearly shouting a ‘yes please!’ As an after thought before running over to and bursting open the back door of the manor.
And there is Noelle.
She’s wearing a pair of overalls over a well-fitting t-shirt (unlike Kris’s own, no one really sold human sized clothes anywhere near HomeTown), pulling up flowering yellow weeds from a bed of boring-looking leaf-stalks.
She turns as the door knocks against the siding of the house, and runs over when she realizes who just came through the back door.
“Kris!!!” She screams on her way over to them, hopping on the tips of her toes. They’re pulled into a hug with so much force the two both fall over when she reaches them.
“Kris! I didn’t know you were coming over! You’re here! You-“ she glances down from them and to the, now fairly smooshed, brownie in their hand that they had dug out of their pocket. As a present.
“Oh my gosh!” She gasps as she shoves it in her mouth. Only to spit it back up into her hoofs.
“Is that sand?” She sticks out her tongue and Kris laughs and pulls the other brownie from their pocket for them to eat.
Noelle blanches. “It’s from your pocket? Gross Kris, how can you eat this!” But she’s giggling along with them, and she returns to her own brownie after brushing off the pocket lint.