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“Hey, Noelle? Can I uh.. Pfft..”
“What’s up?”
“Promise you won’t tell on me?”
“Wha- Kris, what did you do?”
“Nothing! Yet.. Look, I ah- It’s kind of hard to explain-”
It wasn’t really all that difficult to explain, the only issue he was having was explaining it to her without getting in any trouble. But he wouldn’t know if he’d get into trouble until she’d heard him out, which was what made any of it difficult to explain in the slightest. Luckily for you, you’re not him, and you have the liberty of having a far more complete understanding of things.
There really wasn’t a whole lot to it. They were just gonna hang out, it was finally the weekend, and they could finally afford to do something that would eat into the next day, even if this was just supposed to be for the afternoon. The two of them had gone over to Noelle’s house, with the reasoning behind that being that Noelle’s mom was usually a little less helicopter-ey than Toriel. While that would have applied to just about anything, this time in particular Kris didn’t want someone staring over his shoulder.
It was Friday, and the two of them had just gotten back to her place. They could’ve done a whole lot, especially since they didn’t have anything planned for the afternoon, or even the weekend. Usually in cases like these they’d call up someone else just to make things more interesting, but that wouldn’t be the case this time.
Kris had kept his backpack nice and close to him the whole day. It wasn’t because there was any risk of someone actually going through it, he just couldn’t risk it. Now that the day was over, he was still holding it, because the reason he could’ve gotten in very big trouble was residing inside of it. The two of them sat on the couch. Kris had his backpack on his lap, and was struggling to hold eye contact with Noelle. She already seemed worried.. One of the reasons he’d come over here to do this was because she’d have the most tempered reactions to it. She looked more concerned for him than afraid, or like she was waiting for him to spill whatever it was he was about to do to the authorities.
“Kris?”
He squeezed his backpack in his palms before sighing, and unzipping it, making an absolutely massive deal about this. For a second, Noelle was concerned that he was going to have something really bad in there.
“A while ago, when Azzy came down here to visit us, he left uh.. This-”
He punctuated his sentence by pulling a somewhat small bottle out of his bag. It was flat, had a sealed, thin metal cap, and a clear liquid in it. She knew what it was in an instant, at least generally.
“Apparently he’s got this girlfriend that’s kinda.. Well, he said she was nice, but she did stuff like this-” he said, holding the bottle up so that she could actually read it. Something, something, handmade vodka.. How did proof work again?
“She gave it to him as a present, and he wanted to sort of.. A bunch of stuff. He didn’t wanna drink it since, y’know, he’s Azzy. And he didn’t just wanna give it back since she probably would’ve gotten him to if he tried.. So he gave it to me. To uh, ‘Remember’ him by, or something.”
“So.. Yeah, I guess you would get in trouble for having that.” she said neutrally, still mulling over how to feel about this in her head. He’d only really told her that he had it, he wasn’t planning on drinking it or anything.. Yet.
“I kind of.. You know, wanted to uh.. Try it.”
“Drinking it?”
“Yeah..”
She sat there silently for a second, trying to think of a way to properly deal with this. It was bad, but only really if they got caught. Or if he drank too much, or did something bad while he was drinking it, which would be really bad. Not just “You’re grounded!” bad, but actual, physical consequences.
“With.. With me?”
“Well.. Kind of. I didn’t think you really wanted to drink it yourself, but I didn’t think you’d freak out like uh..”
“Susie?”
“You know she’d just wanna drink too, and she’d get all crazy and like.. Eat something. Like a car-”
“Yeah..”
“I just wanted to try some, since he gave it to me and all. Just to know how it feels.. But I didn’t wanna do anything like that, so I thought if I went here, and did it with you..”
“Oh. That makes sense..”
“So?”
“Uh- Okay. I guess..” she said, regretting it immediately. Their school really drilled them about alcohol, and as much as she wanted to just “Go with it”, this wasn’t just a beer or two. This was the hard stuff.. What kind of girl was Asriel hanging out with?
That wasn’t important right now. What is was the fact that Kris was smiling pretty wide, as bad an idea as it seemed to her, he seemed pretty happy she was going along. So she was too, at least enough to hold her over.
“How much are you supposed to drink? Or uh.. You know, can you drink?”
“Azzy said it was just a small bottle, so I should be alright. I’m probably not gonna drink all of it though, you know, save some for later. Maybe watch Susie eat half of a car~” he said with total confidence that this would just be like drinking water, or juice. He screwed off the metal cap, only to look inside and see the filtered top. Noelle peered down into it when he shifted it towards her.
“Huh.. Is it- Do I have to pull this out?”
“Maybe it’s supposed to be like that. You know, like a ‘Fancy’ sort of thing.”
“Maybe..” he said, before bringing it up to his lips. He started to lift it up, and eventually it hit his lips, and he had the reaction that anyone drinking raw vodka for the first time would have. Coughing.
He’d swallowed the tiny bit he’d slipped into his mouth, only for it to burn his throat enough for him to start coughing. Noelle extended one of her hands, only to see that he was still sitting up just fine without it. It awkwardly hovered between them as he got the taste out of his mouth.
“Ugh, that was.. Really bad. I’m uh.. I can’t drink this.”
“Oh.. I’m sorry. Wait- Aren’t you supposed to mix it with stuff? Like those things in the tiny triangle glasses, they’re made with vodka, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Maybe this is like baking chocolate.. I wish he told me what I was supposed to do with it instead of just giving it to me.”
“Do you think he knows? I feel like Asriel wouldn’t even know how to open a beer. Like, the can kind.”
He chuckled, before putting the cap back on it. Baking chocolate was a good comparison, Toriel used it all the time, and it came in pretty big chunks. One day Kris managed to swipe one and bring it to school, thinking he’d be a paragon for sharing one of the largest chocolate bars anyone had ever laid eyes on. Susie was the only one who ate any after the first bite.
“Do you feel anything?”
“My mouth feels tingly, but that’s about it.”
“Huh..”
“What kind of stuff could we even mix it in? Your parents don’t drink.. My mom doesn’t drink..”
“Well- My parents drink sometimes .”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but only ever on- Well, not on , but around Christmas. They put something in eggnog, they always make two batches of it. I think I tried the one they told me not to get into, and it was nasty, so I just didn’t drink it..”
“Oh. Well, it’s May, so I don’t think they’ve got egg-nog in there. Do they?”
“Nah.. We do have cocoa though. My mom used to mix medicine in there so that I wouldn’t complain about taking it.”
“Wait.. Like, cough syrup?”
“Uh.. Yeah. It made more sense back then..”
“Well.. I guess that’s the closest thing I could think of to this.”
And just like that, they were making cocoa. Something Noelle was a lot more comfortable with, and something that nobody would suspect if they saw Kris drinking. It didn’t take a whole lot of time, Noelle more or less had making the beverage down to a science. In no time at all, she had two cups, one a bit fuller than the other. She’d shamelessly just made two cups, and poured a bit of Kris’ into her’s. He wouldn’t mind.
Kris topped off his drink with the clear liquid, hoping that at the very least it wouldn’t completely ruin the cocoa. He had no concept of what a shot, or a double shot was, and had no idea that his scrawny little body would be taking about half a night’s worth of drinking over the course of the next few hours.
The two of them sat back down on the couch, flipping on the TV as Kris took a sip of his drink. No coughing this time.
“Well?”
“It’s really not that bad. I mean, I taste it, but it’s sort of like.. Cinnamon candy. Or sour skittles, where it’s.. You know.”
“Yeah. Are you feeling anything?”
“Not really.. Maybe I’m like, immune to it or something.”
“Or maybe it just takes a little bit.”
“I guess we’ll find out..”
And they did. Kris drank pretty quickly, about as fast as Noelle was drinking hers. The only difference was that Kris’ cup had almost four shots in it, and it was going down as quickly as hot chocolate would have in the first place. Very soon he was feeling something, very.. Wobbly.
“Woah..”
“Kris?”
“Everything is like.. So soft..” he said, before setting his cup down. It almost didn’t make it to the side table. He felt just how wobbly he was, only to lean his head back. It really flopped onto the back of the couch, which made him laugh.
“Are you uh.. Are you alright?”
“Everything feels really weird.. Like, good weird, but still. It’s like, ‘Woah’.. Like, watch if I try to do this-” he said while trying to get up, only to stumble forward and laugh again.
This was the part where he’d want her to intervene, right? He almost just threw himself into the TV.. She stood up and put her arms around him in the most platonic way she could muster, only to work on guiding him back to the couch. He flopped down, and struggled to keep his head raised.
“Maybe you shouldn’t get up..”
“But walking is so fun , that was awesome! Everything was like.. Like everything was moving.”
“Didn’t you say everything was soft? Why don’t you uh.. Just sit on the nice, soft couch?” she said with a nervous smile, it would’ve felt incredibly awkward to talk like that to anyone that wasn’t as drunk as Kris was. He leaned his cheek on it, facing Noelle as he rubbed his face against it.
“But it’s so soft.. You know, we never.. You never.. I mean, we never really like, appreciate.. We’re always just sitting on it.”
So this is what drunk people were like. He looked at her like he was waiting for her to say something, but she was sober. She wasn’t anywhere near the level that he was, anything she said would’ve gone in one ear, and out the other. What was she supposed to say to that?
“Wow, your sweater is like.. How long have you been wearing that?”
“My sweater? I.. I wear these all the time.”
“Oh.. OH, yeah, wow, I uh.. I’m stupid, okay- You totally do.” he said, doing his best to sit up again.
“Noe-Ehll.” he said slowly, like he was trying to say it for the first time. Or like he was repeating a word that sounded just a little strange to say.
“Yeah?”
“Oh, uh.. Nothing. I was just saying your name, it sounds weird.. Like, Nough.. Ell. I like your sweater~”
She was a little caught off guard by that. It was a 180 from what he was talking about, he’d gone right back to talking about her sweater. Not only that, but it was a compliment.
“Oh.. Really? That’s.. Thank you.”
“No, but like.. I really like it. Them- All of them. They look really good on you.. Not in a weird way though.. You know, they just.. I dunno..”
She was blushing. She knew it was because it was drunk, but it still seemed like such a genuine compliment. Part of him had to be saying all of this after all.
“I understand. I uh.. Like how you do your hair~” she said in a meager attempt to do the same thing he was. Doing so sober was easier said than done, especially since that was the truth. He just sat there, staring at the ceiling for a little bit while the TV hummed out a show neither of them were paying attention to. Eventually, the silence was broken by Kris.
“I don’t like your sweaters.” he said bluntly, his eyes still fixed on the ceiling. She didn’t realize how much her heart had been fluttering at the comment until he’d retracted it. At this point it was just mean.
“What?”
“It’s not your sweaters. I like you.”
Just as she was starting to crumple on the inside, he turned it around. It was a slow lead-in that she’d taken at face value. But.. What?
“You like me? ”
“Yeah. Who doesn’t? You’re just so.. Awesome.” he said, starting to slur his words just a bit before he made an unexpected move. He slumped over, Noelle thought he was just sliding around again, but this time he kept going. Falling down until the side of his head was right on her lap. He laid there like that move was completely normal and warranted. Like Noelle wasn’t losing her mind over his words, and whatever he was doing now. Using her thighs like a pillow, with her skirt as a case. She’d brought her hands up, she couldn’t just rest them on his head..
Actually, she could do exactly that. He probably wouldn’t even remember it, he was drunk. But she was sober, she didn’t have the stones to do something like that, so one of her hands rested on the arm rest, the other on the back of the couch. She felt as awkward as he did relaxed. She kept screaming at herself internally that this was just because he was drunk, this was just his inebriated idea of a prank.
Or was it?
She didn’t really know a whole lot about alcohol, only the very mechanical things they’d taught her at school. You can’t drive well when you’re on it, your hand eye coordination worsens, and your inhibitions more or less disappear. So it was that.. But wouldn’t that mean it had to be there in the first place for him to want to say it? He did trust her the most out of everyone he knew, he was willing to act like this in front of her alone. They hung out all the time, worked on all their projects together, they even sat at the same lunch table.. Why was this coming as a surprise to her?
“Kris.. When you say you like me, and uhm.. That I’m ‘Awesome’, what do you-”
“Oh, like, I love you. You know, the second grade ‘Like-like’ thing.” he said bluntly, obviously a little irked at himself for not just coming out and saying it. It was as nonchalantly as someone could have confessed their feelings. It almost felt accidental, but it was enough to turn Noelle’s face red. That answered that.. The only thing left was to work out how she felt about him. She felt the same way, she wouldn’t be so absolutely thrilled with all of this if she didn’t. Could she tell him? If she said it while he was drunk, would he remember? Or care? Would it count? Would he just play it off as a joke once he sobered up?
Maybe she should drink some of that stuff.. Her heart was really pounding. Was it okay to drink it when you were excited like this? Kris just laid in her lap. He didn’t seem like he was waiting for a response, he’d just gotten it off his chest, and was unphased by it. It was called liquid courage for a reason..
When he started to roll around, it scared her. She was so in her own head that when Kris’ turned to press into her midriff, she jumped a little bit. He didn’t notice.. His face was buried into the lower part of the sweater he’d complimented earlier. His arms started to work their way around her back, trying to hug her in a very awkward position. She just let it happen, since she couldn’t really wrap her own arms around him without him sitting up, or standing, or something. She had to do something.. So she lowered the hand that had been on the back of the couch to his shoulder. He didn’t move, so she decided to rub his upper arm, and at least pretend like she wasn’t freaking out over this.
She was worried that this would only last as long as his buzz would. She wasn’t going to try to extend it by any means, or encourage this to happen again and again, she was just worried that when it was over, this would be too. That the only reason he was fine with any of this was because he was drunk. She was, she knew she was.. If he sobered up and said he wanted to do this- Well, maybe not this exactly, but if he wanted to go out and split a milkshake or something, she’d love that. But she wouldn’t know until he did.. She couldn’t make him promise anything now, all she could do was squeeze as much out of this as she could.
And so she decided that if she got one thing out of this, it would be a proper hug.
But that would involve getting him off of her lap, a place he seemed pretty set on staying for the time being. How to get him up..
“Hey Kris? Maybe you should try walking again-”
“Wuh? Like, with my legs?”
“Y-Yeah..”
“I guess so. I’m gonna need to do it even-shually..”
Anyone would’ve been dizzy getting up as fast as he did, the only reason he almost fell onto the other arm rest was because he was drunk. He brought his head up straight, instinctually waiting a second before rising. Noelle went with him, though it was mostly to enact her plan, she genuinely didn’t want him crashing into anything. He went to take a step, only for the exact thing she’d thought would happen, happened. She was close, so when he stumbled forward, she stepped right in front of him, stopping him pretty easily from going any further. He stood up as straight as he could, before the thoughts of walking left his head. He looked up at her, right into her eyes, and he stopped. Sure, he was a little bit wobbly, but with Noelle’s arms around him that was hardly a problem.
Before she could just do it, it happened. He did it for her. He leaned into her, and wrapped his arms around her waist. His head went just below her chin, her face was blazingly red. She did her best to enjoy it, why it was so much more exciting when he was the one doing it she couldn’t figure out. She pulled him into her, her mind racing at this, and what he’d said earlier. The thing she’d realized earlier ate at her as well, the fact that this had to be coming from some part of him. This wasn’t him being crazy, this was him doing what he wanted to, without anything like “Common sense” stopping him.
So why couldn’t she do that? She could, couldn’t she? If worse came to worst, if he remembered and decided to hold it against her, she’d just say she had a little bit to drink too.
“Kris?”
“Mmm..”
She started to push back just a tiny bit, to put some space between their chests to get his face away from her neck. His head slumped back again, he looked up at her with a “What’s going on” look instead of the deeper, stricken one from earlier. Noelle leaned in, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. When she pulled back, his cheeks were as red as his nose, and he was giggling. It was hard to tell if he thought it was funny, or if he was just giddy from the experience.
She’d really done it, she’d finally worked up the gumption to kiss him.. On the cheek. She was going to go for the lips originally, but thought that might be a little too much. She only realized after staying her hand, that it wasn’t. It wasn’t nearly enough. She had him right here, still a little phased from the first one..
So screw it, one more. This time on the lips, definitely.
That one shut him up. It was a little lengthier than the first one, but obviously a bit more intimate. Precipitated. As drunk as he was, he saw her stare at him for about a minute before deciding to go in for round two. He was no longer giggling, but his face was still red. Either his liquid courage was starting to wear off, or it was to overwhelm him, and make it hard for him to get a hold of himself.
“I uh.. I didn’t know that you uh..”
“Well, I do.”
“Yeah.. I don’t.. I don’t wanna be drunk anymore.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I dunno. This is starting to feel weird, my head’s all spinny.. It was funny at first, but now I.. I dunno..”
“Do you want some water or something?”
“Yesh please..”
So she sat him down, and got him a bottle of water. It wasn’t enough for him to turn sober, but it was a good first step. Something refreshing, to combat the passion he’d just dropped himself into a few minutes ago.
“Better?”
“Kinda.. I think I need to like, go sleep. For a while..”
“Yeah, I don’t think you should be walking home. You can sleep in the guest bedroom, if mom asks we’ll just say you were sick.”
“Okay.. Thanks, Noelle. Noe-”
“Alright, okay. Come on, you should probably get some sleep.”
She led him there, letting him hold onto her arm for support. He didn’t even slide under the tightly pressed covers, he just flopped onto the bedspread. She scrunched her nose at the sight, he was obviously trying to get comfortable without having to stand up, and ruin the bedspread.
So she tugged the blankets out of their hold in the mattress, and pulled them up. She had to slide her arms under his back, to no complaint from Kris, only to shove him in under them. She smiled as she saw him wriggle under them further.
“You should get in here with me..”
“What?”
“It’ll help me fall asleep. Come oooon..”
“Eheh, I uh.. O-Okay. Just until you fall asleep though!”
So in all of her clothes, she slid in with him. He put his arms around her, and just laid there. Most of the blankets were on his side, it was enough that she was wearing a sweater in the spring, let alone under a blanket. He might have seemed dead tired, but she knew he was still awake. Every time she tried to pull away from him, he’d give a little grunt and a squeeze, only for her to lean right back into him.
Eventually, he did fall asleep though, before anyone could notice he was in there. She went back outside, only to see the two cups on the nightstand. One of them still had a bit in it, the chances of someone smelling it were slim to none, but she wanted to make sure. He’d come over here for a reason, so he wouldn’t get caught. She poured it in the sink, and started washing the cups as she thought about what had just happened, and where she was going to ask him out once he sobered up.