Chapter Text
The heatwave that had hit Hometown was even worse than Kris had expected. The thermometer in their room climbed higher and higher each day, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky to protect the earth from the sun’s scorching rays. Not that many of Hometown’s residents had minded, or even noticed. For the vast majority of them, they had some way of surviving the inferno – both of Kris’ parents were covered in fur, a fairly common trait amongst Hometown residents, which shielded them from the worst of the heat enveloping the town. For the few that didn’t have such a defence mechanism, they all knew someone who would be able to help them, such as Monster Kid sticking close to Snowy, who was able to cool his friend down with magic.
Kris, unfortunately, did not enjoy such luxuries. As a human, they had no special adaptions to survive such extreme temperatures. Not only that, but the clothes they wore regularly only worsened their situation – their favourite green sweater was a major problem on a day like this, due to how thick and stuffy it was. It was such a problem, in fact, that after days of desperately trying to justify keeping it on to themselves, Kris forwent wearing it for the first time in recent memory, keeping on just the featureless white shirt they always had underneath, invisible to the world. They also took off their socks, and put on shorts instead of trousers, but these measures barely helped.
Recently, the heatwave had gotten so bad that they were virtually confined to their room, outside of going to the bathroom or getting more water. Air conditioning would have helped, but as Kris’ house was designed and built for monsters, this was never given thought during its construction. Therefore, they had to do whatever else they could to survive. They opened the windows as far as they could go, in vain hope that some cool breeze could enter through them, but kept the curtains draped over the window, to block out the blinding light. As this was not enough, Kris also buried themselves under their covers to further protect themselves. Only in this makeshift bunker could they avoid boiling to death.
Their only interactions on any given day were with Toriel, who, to her credit, was well aware of how much Kris was affected by temperatures like these, and did all she could to lessen their misery, including bringing meals upstairs to Fort Bedcovers, and giving them far more ice cream than she would normally. Additionally, Asgore had tried to visit Kris once, much to Toriel’s chagrin. He was almost never allowed into the house nowadays, today included. However, he did bring Kris’ favourite flavour of ice cream (albeit a budget version to reflect his budget lifestyle), which Toriel brought to them. When she did, Kris noticed that Toriel’s tone towards Asgore was far less pointed at that time than on most other occasions, making them smile.
Despite their mother’s kindness, the days were utter hell for the human. They obviously didn’t see any of their friends, who were no doubt capitalising on the great weather to spend their time outside. Before the wave struck, Kris and their friends had discussed going to the nearby beach together that weekend, spending the days there. Toriel had initially planned on taking Kris there with them, but quickly reconsidered after realising that temperatures this high would result in her having to pour Kris out of the car once they had arrived. As a result, Kris spent the days sleeping for far longer than usual, eating whatever their mother gave them, and thinking about the fun times their friends were having. Without them. The one good thing about such high temperatures was that their tears dried quickly, quickly enough so Toriel wouldn’t see.
After nearly a week of constant heat, constant boredom, and constant thinking about how much fun their friends were certainly having without them, Kris finally succumbed to boredom and took out of a book from a shelf outside their room. They needed a distraction now more than ever - due to Kris eating ice cream like, well, Kris, their mother informed them that they were all out, to the human’s despair. As it was a weekend, all local stores that could stock it were closed for the day, meaning Kris needed to keep their mind off how much a scoop or twenty would improve their mood and condition right now. After picking out a book based on its weird title and nothing else (Glubbslyme), Kris retreated to Fort Covers, more beads of sweat than usual already forming all over their body. Before managing to get more than a few pages deep, however, they heard the downstairs door opening. Kris put the book down, and listened intently, trying to guess who was at the door.
As far as they knew, all their friends were at the beach, as they said they would be, and their dad wouldn’t want to come back after last time. However, Kris still held onto the hope that he might have some ice cream to deliver to them. This hopeful idea went out the window when they realised that whoever was at the door was no longer there, and in fact, coming up the stairs. Knowing for sure it wasn’t their dad coming to save them, Kris sunk a little into their mattress. Still, they couldn’t help but be a little intrigued at who the guest could be, presuming they were coming to visit them. They were right.
As the door handle twisted and opened, Kris saw a brown hand on the side. Noelle’s. As she came in, Kris noticed she was wearing her usual attire – red/green jumper, and black skirt. Momentarily surprised, Kris remembered – “oh right, she has fur”. They felt a pang of jealousy go through them, eyes stinging slightly. Once the door was fully opened, Noelle stepped in.
“Hi Kris, what’ve you – oh my goodness, Krismas, you look terrible! Are you ok?” she rushed to Kris’ side at blazing speed. Despite eating and drinking more than usual, sleeping like a koala and taking incredibly frequent showers, none of that helped mask the fact that the heatwave had really been taking a toll on the human. Sweat still covered their face, which was now much paler than it had been just a few days ago. Their eyes looked tired and bloodshot, sleep not being able to hide the effects of sobbing. The hand holding the book was bony and dry, any attempts at rehydration foiled by Kris’ near constant sweating.
After falsely assuring Noelle that they were alright, and that Toriel was aware of how bad they had looked and felt all this time, a sceptical Noelle seemed to calm down. Before she could say anything, though, Kris noticed the air had gotten colder around them, ever so slightly. Looking to the cause of this blissful feeling, they noticed a box of some sort Noelle had put down on their bedside table
before fawning over them. They couldn’t believe it. It was a tub of premium chocolate ice cream. Noelle must have noticed them staring in awe, because she responded with a laugh.
“Fahahaha, took you long enough to notice! I noticed we had a big tub of ice cream in the freezer, so I figured we could share it together when I came to visit!” Noelle beamed as she said this, well aware of how much this gesture meant to the human, even without their current captivated stares in the tub’s direction. Luckily, there was still a scoop and clean bowl left over from the last time Kris had had ice cream, so they could get to eating it right away – though Kris knew very well they would make do without if they had to. Suffering from ice cream withdrawal though they were, they remembered enough manners to not suck up the entire tub in a matter of moments, leaving some for Noelle to enjoy, as well. Kris didn’t remember Noelle being particularly fond of chocolate ice cream, but they were too busy indulging in the heavenly treat to give it much thought.
“So, Kris.” Noelle punctuated the comfortable silence that had developed during and after the ice cream eating. “How are you feeling now? Did the ice cream help?” Kris nodded and said that it had, as they would to their mother, but this was the first time eating ice cream where it wasn’t quite a lie. Ice cream eating had been a sort of diversion, to distract them from the heat, and little more. As soon as it was eaten, the pain caused by the scorching temperature had returned. This time, though they still felt exhausted and their eyes were still aching, Kris had felt better than any time since the beginning of the heatwave. After affirming their answer several more times as much to an insistent Noelle (“Are you suuuuuuure?”) as to themselves, she finally seemed to believe them, and relaxed a little.
“I’m really happy to hear it” She sounded genuine, though a frown began growing at the corners of her face. “I came here to ask if you wanted to come outside for a little bit, enjoy the weather, y’know? But… we can stay inside if you’re not up for that.” Noelle’s voice was full of concern. As much as the human hated to disappoint her, they knew full well that they were physically incapable of going outside of their room for long, let alone the house. And yet… over the course of her very short visit, Kris had recovered much of their strength, as if by magic. Their arms and legs felt lighter to move, their head far clearer. As they touched their forehead, they couldn’t find a single bead of sweat on it. That ice cream they shared between them must have been really expensive, working so well where the store bought brands their parents bought had failed.
“Kris? Helloooooo?” Kris snapped back to reality to see Noelle waving a hand over their face, worry growing on her own. They must have spaced out while they were thinking things through. As they started blushing in shame, Noelle seemed to lose confidence in her words. “D-don’t worry if you’re not ready to go outside. I’m sure we can find something to do in here! Maybe we can go downstairs and play on your–“
“No, I can go. I…want to go.” Kris said, as if without thinking. It WAS a shame they had no chance to experience the outdoors in such unusually good weather this past week, and they had never felt better than now. Still, they felt sure this good fortune wouldn’t last if they went outside for long. But they could always back out if things got bad. Noelle would understand, and they’d just go back home to play Super Smashing Fighters or something. Maybe if they were lucky, Noelle would treat them to some more of this magical ice cream if they went outside. It was worth the risk.
“Are you sure? You look… actually, you look much better than before. That’s great! Still… we should ask your mum first, just to be safe, alright?” Noelle had noticed what they had, too, and was beaming with joy. They really were looking better, then. Kris nodded, and they proceeded to get off the bed and leave the room, side by side, ice cream tub, bowl and book left forgotten on the bed.