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“Oh, shoot… I think I left the eggs in the car. Susie, would you be a dear and go get them for me?”
“Oh, uh, sure, Ms. Toriel, no worries!”
Susie shut the front door behind her as she wandered out towards Toriel’s vehicle. The sun had just set past the trees, and the breezy dusk air was pleasantly cool on the scales. She was grateful to get a little moment to take a breath - things were nice, but they were sort of… overwhelmingly nice, right now. And a little awkward, without Kris present. So, she took her time.
There was a hissing noise.
Susie perked up and listened. It wasn’t like a snake’s hiss, it was more steady and sustained. It was coming from the other side of the car.
“The hell is…?” She peeked around the corner, and stopped short.
“Kris, what the hell are you…?”
Kris was watching one of the car’s tires slowly deflate, letting its air out with a hiss that was starting to get quieter and weaker. They had a knife in their hand, which caught a bit of the light from the house’s windows and gleamed.
Slouched over, they turned their head to face Susie, still hanging it low, with their bangs spilling over their eyes, which seemed to shine a bright shade of crimson. They smiled an unnaturally wide grin, full of teeth.
Susie took a nervous step back, then an aggressive step forward. “H-hey, what the fuck, Kris!?”
They uttered one single quiet chuckle.
Susie’s hostile expression shifted - she was more confused than anything. “What, did your mom do something to piss you off? What, what is it?”
Kris put their empty hand on their forehead, still grinning way too wide. Their voice was quiet and trembling, almost raspy, when they spoke. “It loves Mom.”
“It- What?”
Kris took a weak, shambling step towards Susie, looking up at her. Their hand moved to their chest, gripping it like it was sore. “It’s going to be so upset, haha.”
Susie set a scowl on her face. “No. Don’t you dare start with this cryptic bullshit now, Kris, I get enough of that from Ralsei and everyone else. Say it straight. What, the hell, are you doing.”
Kris’ lanky form kept shambling, closer and closer to Susie. She couldn’t help but tremble a bit, but she stood her ground. She flinched when Kris reached out and grabbed her shoulder, peering up into her eyes from between their bangs.
Kris hoarsely forced out some more words. “In that basement. The puppet. You wanted to talk about it?” They were shorter than Susie, but they seemed to have an eerily tall presence, right now. Something about it had her feeling small, at least. They continued. “You asked if I was okay. And - And I’m really glad you were paying attention, like that. It felt. Really nice.” Their smile was just a bit softer, for a moment, a little less toothy - but still very, very wide.
Then, the smile fell, entirely, and Kris grabbed their forehead again. “It made me be honest. It made me say ‘No’.” They dropped the knife, and gripped their head in both hands, trembling, messing up their hair, staring at nothing with wide eyes. “It’s all its fault, it’s the one doing this to me, and - and it just said - Go ahead, go ahead and tell them you’re not okay! Tell them how much I’m hurting you! Tell them I’m driving you freaking insane, scream it, puppet! W-why? Why does - Why would it -”
Kris fell into a coughing fit, wrapping both of their arms around their stomach. When they caught their breath, they looked up at Susie with that toothy smile again, and a bit of spittle dribbling down the corner of their mouth. “Was it taunting me? Hahaha, was - was it - Laughing? O-o-or was it - pity? M-maybe it - it - it wanted to let me have a h-hug, but - but why won’t it stop? I-i-it knows it’s hurting me, a-and -”
Trembling, they doubled over, sinking to the ground, with a weak, plaintive, shivering whine.
Suzie was standing there, frozen. She was hopelessly confused, just… hoping more of an explanation was coming. She didn’t know if offering help was the right thing to do, here, or if she’d just get swatted away.
Kris groaned.
“T-the puppet died… when its strings were cut… S-shit, I need to put mine back on, haha…”
Kris, trembling and weak, got back to their feet. They looked up at Susie again.
“Haha… B-bad first impressions… don’t matter too much, to you, I h-hope? I want to be your friend… S-sorry we… Never really talked, before...”
They picked the knife up off the ground, and started to shamble, slowly, around the back of the house. They looked in pain, just trying to put one foot in front of the other.
Susie was still sort of stuck still, staring with wide eyes. She remembered to blink. She was still trying to process whatever the hell she was seeing, but… It didn’t feel like she had time to puzzle it all together right now.
“...H-hey, hold on a second, Kris.” She walked up to them, and they paused.
“...I can carry you. To the bathroom window, if, uh, if you need.” Susie offered, looking down and away, grimacing a bit. “No questions asked. That just… Really looks like it hurts.”
Kris smiled, almost softly but far too wide, and relaxed their posture, not taking any more steps forward.
“...That a yes?”
Kris’ eyes started to close, and they weakly nodded.
So, Susie hefted them up over her shoulder, and made her way around back to the window, which was wide open. She awkwardly stuffed her friend inside, where the sink was still noisily running.
Kris got back to their feet inside, and almost whispered, “Thanks again. For asking. If I was okay.” They chuckled.
Susie just hid her eyes under her hair and nodded.
“...Wait, oh shit,” Susie jumped and went wide-eyed. “Oh, fuck, your mom’s gonna blame me for slashing the tires! Kris - S-shit, you’re gonna have to tell her, or she’s gonna call the cops on me!”
Kris also went wide-eyed, and looked down at the knife in their hand, nervously. “...Oh no…”
With tired, hollow eyes, they looked back at Susie. “I… I can’t promise anything, Susie. I can’t… I… Oh no…”
They turned back towards the sink, and shambled towards it as fast as they could.
Susie couldn’t quite see what happened next. But, soon, Kris was standing tall, looking normal, washing their hands with a frustrated expression.
Susie just ran for the front door, grabbing the eggs on her way.
“You ever get… just, really curious how something works? And how it looks on the inside?” Kris asked, in their normal voice, awkward and failing to be nonchalant.
Toriel paused, and gave them an uneasy look. “...Well, certainly, from time to time. Why, did something happen?”
“I, uh.” The awkwardness and guilt was practically radiating from them. “I wondered how car tires look on the inside, and. Um. You… Don’t mind walking to school tomorrow, do you?”
Toriel slapped her own forehead, somehow making a loud smacking noise that echoed through the room even in spite of her fur and general fluffy softness.
Susie, standing back and staying quiet, couldn’t help but think ‘it’ looked as upset as ‘Kris’ had hoped, standing there all ashamed.