Work Text:
Kris sighed, they slept through class again. Mom wouldn’t be too happy about this. Picking up their stuff, they got ready to leave. Why couldn’t they just focus their brain on geometry? They knew they had the ability to understand it, but so much was happening, between Susie and Noelle whispering during the lesson, the tapping of pencils, the chewing of gum, the blowing of the air vent, they completely lost control and shut down, not that they had much control with the player inside of them, however, they seemed almost absent today, good, they were tired of the players antics.
“Kris?” Kris looked up from their packing to see the teacher standing there. Alphys looked rather disappointed, “Look, I won’t tell your mom about the sleeping, but please stop falling asleep in class.” Kris nodded, it was still too loud for them to regain their speech. Alphys sighed and looked up at Kris, “I know it has something to do with your being autistic Kris, I don’t know what, but it is. No one is stopping you from using your phone. It’s in your IEP after all. Just use it and tell me what’s wrong so that you can continue learning like the others.”
Kris thought on that, and turned on their phone, typing in a text to speech program Toriel found for them when they go non-speaking and pressing play, “Nothing is wrong, just having trouble with my energy, I’ll do my best to stay awake next time.” They looked at Alphys, satisfied with their answer, Alphys just sighed.
“Kris, don’t lie,” Kris didn’t know how Alphys saw through their lie, but wasn’t going to say anything, “I can’t just keep curving your grades because you can’t stay awake. You’re going to hate me for this but, I asked one of your classmates to help you out with Geometry. They’re very smart and have the capacity to be extremely patient with anyone.” Kris instantly knew she was talking about Noelle. She was really smart and patient. No one could faze Noelle without good reason, “Berdly should be waiting for you in the Library in town.”
Berdly?! She couldn’t be serious. They could genuinely feel the disgust on their face forming. Berdly? Patient? Bah ha! This had to be a joke, Berdly was the least patient, they always watched him yell at other classmates for not being anywhere near as smart as him.
“I know you don’t like Berdly,” understatement, “But I promise he’ll be patient with you. He’s also on special orders not to inform your mother he’s your tutor, he’ll pretend to be your friend around Toriel.” Great, now they had to pretend Berdly was their friend, “Kris, your tutor session starts at four, you have fifteen minutes, Susan is waiting outside of the door.”
Kris left with a huff, the last thing Kris heard was Alphys sigh in pity. When they left the noisy room, they regained their speech.
“Yo Kris!” Susie shouted, “You good? What’d Alphys yell at you for now?” She bumped them in the shoulder.
“Ah just a tutor,” they answered, “I suck at geometry so I have to have Noelle teach it to me all over again. I have to be there at four.” They lied, they didn’t want Susie to make fun of them for being tutored by Berdly of all people.
“Four?” Susie asked, “But I’m taking Noelle out at four. Are you sure?” What was it with everyone being able to see through their lies?
“Okay fine Noelle isn’t my tutor,” Kris sighed through a stutter. They stuttered frequently, it was part of being semi verbal, “Promise you won’t laugh when I tell you?”
“Course not, we’re homies you know,” Susie reassured them.
“Berdly’s my tutor.”
“Baha! Oh my god! Berdly!” Susie burst out laughing at the top of her lungs. Kris looked at her in annoyance, “Sorry, but it’s just, oh my god!” She continued laughing, Kris ignored it and just started talking.
“Backstabber,” Kris mumbled.
“Oh my bad that you were too busy thinking about super smashing fighters to be smart!” Susie jokes, knowing by now Kris wouldn’t be offended. The reference to Kris’s special interest felt like an invitation to talk about it.
“Oh speaking of which, recently super smashing fighters got an update,” they started, “This update is actually huge because it adds the most requested character of all, Crabeous. I mained them in sprawl when me and Asriel were little, and they’re still my favorite. I always loved their horns, but there were characters I liked more. The update drops tonight at eight and I was trying to get in one last feel of the game before it drops. Of course, I couldn’t play pre-update just yet because of school-”
“Damn that’s crazy,” Susie said nonchalantly. She didn’t even look in Kris’s direction.
“I was hoping that I would get to play the update as soon as it drops,” they continued on not realizing, “Of course, the stupid tutor session with Berdly is cutting into that, but I’m still determined. I was curious how the attacks would work since the control for Overall is different from Sprawl. I heard that they also totally nerfed Crabeous, but someone who played Crabeous in Sprawl could easily wipe the floor with anyone in Overall. The update also adds a stage that kind of reminds me of Ralsei’s castle you know? Although it’s missing the cauldron and fluffy boy.”
“That’s cool,” Susie tried getting out of the conversation, “Oh look! The library! You should go in, I have to get ready for my date with Noelle.” Susie barely managed to escape. It was only then that Kris realized that they were bothering Susie with their rambling. Why couldn’t they just be normal? It didn’t matter. Berdly was unfortunately waiting.
They walked into the library, already regretting not ditching Berdly to do something, anything else. The library, despite being advertised as one of the quietest places on the face of a planet, was incredibly loud. They knew it was hot, but the AC didn’t need to be cranked up that loud! And Temmie had no reason to be talking to an egg about boys so loudly! And the flip of every page in a book shouldn’t have been so loud. They wanted out, but among the chaos, the stupid blue bird called to them.
“Kris! There you are!” they should have ran while they had the chance, “We need to study. You keep sleeping in class and missing Ms. Alphys’s wonderful lessons! Thankfully, yours (but mostly Noelle and Susan’s) wonderful knight in shining armor is here! Now sit down and pay attention to my geometry lecture.” Kris looked up at Berdly in silence. Their voice had been lost to the chaos of the library's lies.
Before they knew it, they were pretending to listen to Berdly’s lecture. In truth, they were silently trying to block the noise around them, but it was impossible, they just couldn’t. Berdly droned on about triangles and Sohcahtoa or whatever and hypotenuse. It was all nonsense in the garble of noise around the young human.
“Kris?” it was only then that they realized Berdly knew they weren’t listening to what he was saying, “Are you ignoring me on purpose or do you have something to tell me?” Kris shook their head vigorously, “Then what is it that you need?” Kris looked at the table, they didn’t know how to explain to Berdly without sounding like a total dumbass. Or getting laughed at by the intellectual bird. Kris feared his judgment for some reason, but didn’t know why, “Kris, I know you have an application on your cellular device for communication. It would be beneficial for both of us if you used it to communicate.”
Kris slammed their palms onto the table reserved for students studying with a tutor. How did he know about the aac app?! They had been so careful trying to hide it! Not even Susie or the player was aware of it. The only way he would know is if Alphys, or perhaps even Noelle, told him.
“Ah my apologies,” Berdly looked a bit nervous my Kris’s sudden flash of anger, “I suppose that means it is dead then. I will allow you the liberty of writing it in the margins of my notes then what it is you require.” No getting out of telling Berdly huh? Or perhaps Kris’s streak of lies being discovered will break with him.
“I’m okay,” Kris wrote, “Just bored is all. Please continue.” They knew it was far-fetched, they’ve never written like this before. They were only mimicking Berdly’s personality and style to hide what’s under the surface, “There’s no need to worry or ask again.”
Berdly had to squint to read it because Kris didn’t want to disrupt Berdly’s neat and organized notes. After a moment of evaluation, Berdly looked up, completely unamused, “Kris I’m not an idiot you know,” that’s unfortunate, “It doesn’t take a genius like me to know you’re struggling with something. Just tell me what’s going on and we’ll figure it out.”
Kris once again scribbled on the neatly written notes Berdly left unattended, “Drop it. Nothing’s wrong.” They were getting pretty ticked off by Berdly’s persistence amidst the growing noise, “Just keep talking and I’ll figure it out.”
“Really?” Berdly asked, “In that case, explain to me what a right angle is?” Kris tensed up, they knew no matter how they answered, Berdly would use it against them.
Kris thought about it. They knew that something about the angle was 90. But 90 was such a disappointing number wasn’t it. Like it was lying about ever reaching 100. The sounds across the library muffled their thinking. Eventually, they couldn’t even figure anything out and just looked up at Berdly helplessly. Berdly seemed to be holding back laughter. They looked down at what they wrote, “Idiot that’s not quite 100.”
“Well you aren’t completely wrong,” Berdly tried collecting himself, “But all this proves is that you are definitely lying, and have a personal grudge against one of my favorite numbers.” Kris could have killed Berdly with a glare. “If you tell me what’s wrong then I’ll try my best to help you.”
“Nothing is wrong,” Kris wrote again, grumbling. The noise was starting to get to them, and not being able to rest as they pretended to listen to Berdly was making it difficult, “Just keep talking.”
“Kris,” Berdly said with a grave undertone, “I don’t think you should keep lying to yourself. Just tell me and we can deal with it.”
Kris didn’t process a word of what the blue monster said to them, because they were already over the edge. Every sound felt like a dagger being thrown against their ears. They just wanted to scratch out their brains and melt into the dirt. It was no wonder that the next time Berdly called their name they snapped.
Kris grabbed the closest thing to them, which was thankfully their backpack, and ran. They burst open the door of the unused computer lab and hid under a desk, covering their ears as they rocked back and forth, trying to calm down. They wished they had something in their bag to help them, but they didn’t, only their phone and school supplies. All they could do was hope that when they calmed down they could sneak out and avoid studying with Berdly.
“Kris,” Berdly quietly nudged the human, “You could have just told me you were overwhelmed. That’s what it was, yes?” No point hiding it now, they nodded in embarrassment, expecting to be berated by the monster for running away, but they only felt the soft boy’s feathers on their shoulder. They looked up to see Berdly smiling, “Well no wonder my amazing teachings went over your head and into the clouds. You were overstimulated! I hardly noticed! How foolish of me to ignore the body language of someone in need of a hero!” Kris raised an eyebrow at the bird, “I’m saying that I was so absorbed in teaching I forgot to pay attention to how you feel.”
Kris just looked away from Berdly. They tapped their fingers against the linoleum. They tried to focus on the patterned rat-a-tat-tat-tat sound they made. Berdly watched them silently before sitting next to them, swaying in rhythm with Kris and fiddling with a string attached to his shorts. Wait, it wasn’t a string, that’s-
“Believe it or not, I’m autistic too,” Kris shot Berdly a look as if to say “I believe it.” Berdly just laughed while continuing to fiddle with the stim toy, “The reason I knew you had the AAC app was because Ms. Alphy’s told me in the event that something like this may happen. She actually chose me to be your tutor for a reason other than my intellect. She figured I might understand you.” The two looked at each other for a second before Berdly let out a loose chuckle, “Yeah, she was wrong as heck. I don’t understand a thing about you. I don’t know anything about how being non-speaking feels, I don’t know what it feels like to be overstimulated more than understimulated, and I doubt you understand a thing about me.”
Kris gave him a blank stare. It felt surreal. Had Berdly really understood them? Berdly, overconfident and narcissistic Berdly, loud and annoying Berdly, doesn’t even think about talking to Kris without insulting them Berdly, was making a connection between the two of them.
Kris pulled out their phone, typing in a message, before deleting half of it and retyping it, turning the phone around to show it to him, “I don’t want to study.”
Berdly read the text before giving Kris a bored stare, “Yeah, no one wants to study, but it has to get done eventually. So would you rather do it now? Or at one in the morning when you’re exhausted and can’t remember anything?”
Kris turned their phone around and started typing, but deleted the message. They typed something else out and did the same thing. They went back and forth, writing and deleting messages, just trying to put the right words on the screen. Eventually Berdly stopped them by tapping the top of their phone screen.
“Just show me, it can’t be that bad,” Berdly said. Kris bit their lip and typed a few more words before showing the screen to Berdly.
“The game I like got updated today,” the screen read, “Me and Azzy used to play it together, and it’s been my special interest ever since. They added my favorite character and I’m really excited, but if I’m stuck studying, I’ll never get the chance to play it. Mom doesn’t understand, she thinks it’s stupid. Azzy’s not around either, so it won’t be the same. It” the message stopped there. Kris tucked their knees into their chest, looking at the ground. Berdly just put the phone on the ground and slid it gently towards Kris.
“Let’s get out of here, I think I know a better place to study,” Berdly picked up his books and turned to leave. Kris watched for a few seconds before standing up and following him out. The two left the library, and a sense of relief flooded over Kris, “Truly I don’t believe that the library was deserving of my superior tutoring lesson! Besides, a fellow gamer deserves true respect! Come Kris! We shall sit on the throne of gamers together and look down on the inferior non-gamers!”
Kris couldn’t help but smile while they watched the bird boast, eventually, the smile turned into laughter. As they laughed, Berdly fell silent as he watched them show a feeling other than angst. Once Kris got quiet, he kept going, making a loud show just to get them to smile. Kris had always been self conscious about the way they laughed, but Berdly loved the sound.
“Ah, here we are!” Berdly gestured towards his house, “My parents shall be attending to business elsewhere, so it should just be us. Perfect for a display of genius between two gamers! Let us partake in a battle of wits and passion in my room!”
“Passion?” Kris said, raising an eyebrow.
Berdly’s wing feathers ruffled slightly as he realized just what he said, “Ah! Passion for gaming of course! I have no intentions of displaying a passion for anything other than video games and geometry.”
“Sure thing blue bird,” Kris said, smirking at the monster boy. They weren’t sure, but they could have sworn Berdly’s feathers ruffled at that nickname.
Berdly led Kris inside and upstairs to his room. The walls were lined with posters of various games Kris had either known very little about or had been secretly obsessed with over their lifetime. His bedsheets were green and the pillow was regular old white, but next to his pillow was a display of plushies of his favorite video game characters. Kris tried not to get excited by the sight of a Crabeous plushie on his pillow.
“Uhm, please! Indulge yourself in a view of my vast collection!” Berdly said proudly, “I do believe you’ll be absolutely astounded by the games I have acquired over the years!”
Kris chuckled a little before lancing at the collection next to Berdly’s TV. (They tried to avoid showing obvious jealousy at the fact that Berdly has a TV in his room.) The collection seemed pretty standard. Minearts, Twinkledrops Hill, Empty Soldier, Splatforall, and-
“Overall!” Kris became visibly excited at the copy of their favorite game sitting right there, “I can’t believe it! You’re a fan of Super Smashing Fighters?”
“Of course I am, what idiot isn’t a fan of the genius franchise?” Berdly asked, picking the copy up from its resting place.
“Susie and Noelle couldn’t care less about it,” Kris said nonchalantly.
“Ah, well, Noelle and Susan simply do not have superior enough brains to appreciate the beauty of this game,” Berdly said, handing the case over to Kris. Their eyes raced over the cover. Berdly had the platinum edition, which means only one thing.
“And you got the update early!” Kris couldn’t contain their excitement. Toriel didn’t let them get the platinum edition because she believed they should be perfectly content with the standard edition.
“Indeed,” Berdly said, adjusting his glasses proudly, “The standard edition’s update drops at eight tonight, but mine updated at exactly 4:03 today. I even got the paid DLC because of the-”
“The NPC assistants!” Kris finished his sentence, “While not all of them are perfect, there’s some real winners like Frioknight and Frogadon!”
“E-exactly,” Berdly was completely caught off guard by Kris’s sudden display of passion. Or maybe it was just such a breathtaking sight to finally see them smile, “Uhm, so…geometry!”
“How could I ever want to focus on geometry with something so exciting right here!” Kris put the platinum edition copy up to their face and rubbed their temples against the cover before gently placing it back on Berdly’s television stand, “Sorry, uhm, got excited.”
“No I get it,” Berdly said, “Who wouldn’t react like that to their special interest being right there beckoning their call. Geometry feels like an afterthought right now.” Kris felt their face heat up slightly when Berdly smiled at them. Was this a crush? On…Berdly? If you told them yesterday they’d have a crush on the bird, they’d laugh in your face, but right now the truth was staring them in the face.
“You’re, like, the only person who’s actually understood me about my special interest,” Kris said, hiding their face. Why did he have to be so cute when he smiled at them? Oh god, why did they have to think he was cute?
“Well like I said, who wouldn’t be passionate about Super Smashing Fighters?” Berdly shrugged, his wing feathers ruffling up again, “Although, you are the only person who actually understands my passion for gaming. I mean, I know it’s kind of cringe and weird when I go on and on about it, but it’s like I can’t help myself. It’s so important to me, who cares if people think it’s cringe?”
Kris smiled and grabbed Berdly’s right wing and held it in their hand. Berdly’s hand was warm and his feathers ruffled like crazy. Kris had to admit, they could feel their face turning pink, “It doesn’t matter what people think is cringe. If they’re going to call us cringe, then let’s be cringe together.”
“I- uh- y-yeah! Let’s!” Berdly clasped Kris’s hand in their wing.
“So can we play Super Smashing fighters now?” Kris asked, bouncing on their toes.
“Geometry Kris,” Berdly couldn’t help but find it adorable the way that their face went from pure excitement to sheer annoyance, “But I have a proposition!”
“What?” Kris gave him a murderous look.
“Ah! Well, you see. If we manage to get through the basics quickly, then we can partake in a 1v1 in Super Smashing Fighters. Then after that we return to a geometry lesson. Once you understand that concept then we can play another round. And so on and so forth until I give you a pop quiz. If you pass that pop quiz, then our tutoring session will end. From there we will make a decision. Sound adequate to you?”
Kris thought about it for a second before nodding, “Let’s do it teach!”
“Excellent!” Berdly said, opening his school bag to place down his notes and papers, “Let the 1v1 of wits and gaming skill commence!”
At first it was an extremely tedious process, but after about three successful games of kicking Berdly’s feathered behind with their favorite character, Kris was begging Berdly to hurry up and explain the next equation to them so they could get to that next victory screen sooner.
“Come on! Next equation!” Kris was bouncing on their toes at Berdly’s coffee table, “I’m ready! Let’s do this!”
“Calm down Kris! I don’t have any new equations to teach you,” he said, reaching into his backpack, “You’ve gotten through everything I have to teach you. It’s quiz time.”
Kris watched him slam a set of papers on the table, sliding away the bottom half. Previously, they would have been distressed at the sight of all that math, but now, they looked at the paper with fiery determination in their eyes.
“Let’s do this!” Kris yelled, scribbling all over the paper.
By the time they were done, there was a mess of numbers everywhere on their paper. Berdly took the papers and compared them to his answer key. Kris was worried about ever mark he made with that red pen, watching his skeptical eyes run over their paper.
“You know, it’s strange,” Berdly said, “In class, you never strike me as more than a C student. Yet here you’ve managed to prove that this entire time you’ve been capable of being an above average A student.” Berdly placed down the paper. Kris looked at the score with stars in their eyes. 93%.
“Can we play Super Smashing Fighters now?” Kris asked.
“Well hang on, don’t you want to know what you did wrong?” Berdly asked, flipping to the question with a red x over it.
“Not really,” Kris shook their head, “This is my highest score in a while, I’m proud of myself regardless of what I did wrong. And I wanna play Super Smashing Fighters.”
“Ah, I see, well it should please you to know that I’m submitting this to Ms. Alphys tomorrow for your extra credit.” Kris’s ears pricked up, “Hopefully it will bring you from a C+ to a B-. I’m actually gaining extra credit by being here, not that I need it, I just like the idea of having a one hundred and one in Ms. Alphy’s class.”
“Can we play Super Smashing Fighters now?” Kris asked.
“Yes, of course,” Berdly said, “Although I wish you took more consideration into your academics-”
“Super Smashing Fighters time!” Kris said.
Berdly shrugged, sitting next to Kris, who was already gripping their player 2 console, “You know, I do have genuine romantic interest in you.”
“I- I like you too,” Kris said, hiding their blush behind their controller.
“So…does this mean we’re dating?” Berdly asked.
“I think so,” Kris said, “You can be my player 1. My gamer boyfriend, or BF for short.”
“And you can be my gamer theyfriend!” Berdly said excitedly, “My TF for short!”
“Don’t call me that,” Kris said with a genuine smile.
“What’s the matter? Not a fan of my superior ability to come up with couples pet names?” Berdly teased.
“You’re so cringe,” Kris teased, lightly pinching the feathers on Berdly’s cheek.
“I think you mean that we’re cringe my wonderful partner in crime and romance,” Berdly said, poking Kris’s cheek with his feather.
“Whatever blue bird,” Kris teased, “Pick a stage so I can wipe the floor with you and your stupid hawk.”
“That’s Captain Hawks to you Kris,” Berdly teased, “And I will not lose this time!”
Berdly won a total of once the entire night, and only because Kris had accidentally jumped off the side of the stage when the game started using a strobe light effect. Berdly couldn’t lie, neither of them were too pleased with the use of such an overstimulating graphic, but he didn’t say anything because it meant he finally got to hold one victory over Kris.
“One more,” Kris said, “Just one more game!”
“You said that the last eight times,” Berdly rolled his eyes, “How do I know this will actually be the last time?”
“Please just one more!” Kris begged, “Ever since Azzy left for college I’ve been playing by myself. This is the first time I’ve gotten to play with another person in a while.” Berdly’s heart melted, but that competitive twinkle was still in Kris’s eyes.
“Fine, one more round,” Berdly gave in, pressing start, “But don’t you dare expect to win.”
“You’re going down!” Kris said, leaning in to get a better grip on their controller.
About halfway through the game, Kris’s phone rang. But they didn’t answer.
“Kris,” Berdly said, focused on trying to fix the fact that Kris was comboing them left and right, “You’re getting a phone call.”
“It’s just my mom, let’s finish this first,” Kris said.
“Kris, I really think you should answer that,” Berdly said. Kris just ignored him, still hitting him with combo after combo. Berdly was thankful they didn’t play Senn, because they likely would have spammed T.O. Freeze until the other person inevitably loses.
“She’ll be fine,” Kris didn’t even seem to know what was going on outside of the game. Berdly huffed in annoyance and paused the game. Kris looked incredibly agitated, “Dude!”
“Answer your phone!” Berdly said. Kris rolled their eyes and answered their phone.
“Hello?” Kris glared at Berdly as they took the call.
“Kris, where are you?” Toriel spoke from the other end, “You were supposed to be home hours ago! Did you fall asleep in class again?”
“No mom, I’m at a friend’s house,” Kris huffed in annoyance, “We were just playing video games, that’s all.”
“A friend's house?” Kris couldn’t tell, but Toriel seemed excited over the phone, “Well, while I’m glad that you’re making friends, please understand that we have curfews for a reason Kris. Please come home quickly, otherwise your dinner will be cold.”
“Got it, love you mom,” Kris said before hanging up, “My mom said I have to come home.” They picked up the controller, “Now back to where we were.”
“What are you doing?” Berdly raised an eyebrow at them.
“Finishing the game?” Kris said, “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“You have to go home,” Berdly said.
“So?” Kris looked genuinely confused.
“So, let’s get you home!” Berdly said, “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t walk you home when your mother requested you return home?”
“But-”
“It’s almost eight o’clock anyways,” Berdly said, “Your game should be updated by the time you’re done eating dinner.”
“But I want to play with you!” Kris argued.
“We can play more tomorrow,” Berdly said, “For now, let’s get you home.”
Reluctantly, Kris grabbed their things and got up to leave. Berdly offered a wing to Kris so the two could walk together. Kris grabbed and held it as they walked together.
Eventually the two reached Kris’s doorstep.
“Allow me!” Berdly said, knocking on the door for Kris. Toriel was quick to answer it.
“Kris! There you are! I- oh hello,” Toriel was quick to change her demeanor for the person standing next to Kris, “You must be Kris’s friend.”
“Actually,” Kris said, holding up their hand intertwined with Berdly’s, “This is my boyfriend, Berdly.”
“K-kris!” Berdly’s feathers ruffled.
“Oh my!” Toriel smiled, “Nice to meet you Berdly, would you care to join us for dinner?”
“Ah, no thank you ma’am, I simply wished to see Kris to their doorstep,” Berdly said, “See you tomorrow Kris, I’ll be sure to kick your butt in Super Smashing fighters once and for all!” Berdly leaned in and brushed the curved end of his beak against Kris’s cheek, careful to avoid scratching them with the sharp edge.
“In your dreams blue bird,” Kris kissed Berdly on the cheek, watching his feathers ruffle like crazy. The two waved each other off, before Berdly disappeared around the corner.
“Well Kris, while I’m glad you’re making friends and forming connections, are you sure now is the time to be messing around with boys?” Toriel asked, letting them into the house.
Kris thought about the way Berdly’s face lit up at the sight of them, and how especially proud he looked when handing them their very first A in geometry, “Oh yeah, I’m sure. He’s definitely the one.”
Kris ate their dinner and anticipated the next day, when they would play Super Smashing Fighters as his player 2. So what if they were cringe, they were happy, and that’s all that mattered in the end.