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>It's a crisp, slightly chilly autumn afternoon
>The breeze singing over the lake sends a shiver down Kris's spine, and he burrows a little deeper into his sweater as he stares up at the cloudless sky
>A few leaves float by on the wind
>He watches them drift by, gnawing at the soggy, crumbling stick of chalk clenched between his teeth
>The taste is...
>Unique?
>"So?"
>Susie's eyes gleam golden from under her tangled mane
>Once, the sight would have made Kris's stomach twist with fear
>Now there's a different kind of anxiety altogether, as he tries to figure out how to let her down easy
>"How is it? Is it... like, doing anything for you?"
>Kris sighs, sitting up and planting his feet on the ground
>He gives the piece of chalk one or two more experimental sucks, then bites off the sodden end and spits the rest into his hands
>Tastes like...
>Tastes like the worst Sweet Tart in the world
>Chalk. It tastes like chalk, because it is chalk, he thinks
>He looks up at her and shakes his head
>It was Susie's idea
>Kris had gone and teased her one too many times about eating chalk, asked her which colors tasted best, and so on
>So Susie pointed out that Kris had never tried it (admittedly true)
>And so here they are, out by the lake, a twelve-pack of expensive foreign chalk ("The good shit", in her words) Susie stole from Alphys's desk on the picnic table between them
>Susie runs a hand through her hair as she gnaws on her stick
>"No good, huh?"
>"It's... not really my thing. Sorry."
>Susie chuckles
>"Hah, right. I'll see if I can find a chocolate-flavored kind next time."
>"I'd also take a moss-flavored chalk, if they have it..."
>"They don't."
>Kris raises an eyebrow as she turns away, a faint magenta flush rising to her cheeks
>She checked, huh?
>"A-Anyway... Sorry about that. And, uh... thanks for going along with it. I guess it's kind of a weird thing to ask you to do, huh?"
>He shrugs
>"It's no big deal. I mean, how long have you known me, Susie?"
>"Uh, not that long, dude."
>Kris blinks
>It's not the answer he was expecting
>"What?"
>Susie tilts her head back, scratching under her scaly chin with a single claw
>"I mean it's been what, a couple of months?"
>That can't be right
>It's been longer than that, obviously
>As if you could fit everything they've shared into a couple of months
>All the adventures, the near misses they escaped by the skin of their teeth
>All the stupid conversations about whether Dragon Blazers 2 was Literally Unplayably old or Dragon Blazers III was casual garbage for babies
>All the midnight snack runs to 'Sans'
>All those hours of quiet calm by the lake, at the diner or behind the school
>There's simply no way
>It's been years, hasn't it?
>Five or six, maybe more
>But as Kris thinks about it, he realizes she's right
>They really haven't known each other that long
>Susie's the new girl, after all
>Everything, the entire shared history of Kris and Susie, spans barely more than a single season
>And the history of Kris and Susie as friends, as opposed to a bully and her target...
>Weeks, at most.
>An incredibly short time, even by the standards of a teenager
>"Kris? You good, dude?"
>"Hm?"
>He looks up at Susie
>She rolls her chalk between her lips, sliding it from one corner of her mouth to the other
>Trying to look unconcerned, as she always does
>Failing, as she usually does
>"You got real quiet all of a sudden. Had to make sure you weren't freaking out on me."
>"I'm good."
>He stares out across the water, a sudden breeze ruffling his hair
>"I guess it just... feels like I've known you for longer than that."
>"Really?"
>Susie bites down on her chalk, the snap echoing through the quiet, chilly air
>"If you say so, man."
>He smiles wistfully
>"Sorry. I'm being weird, huh?"
>He knows he is
>But Susie is important to Kris
>So important that it feels like there's a dividing line in his life between Before Susie and After Susie
>A moment when suddenly every day...
>They weren't all fun. There are always bad days, always worse days. He knows there probably always will be.
>But suddenly even the worst ones became something he knew he could endure
>And while that's not all thanks to Susie, a lot of it is
>Because every day, he knows she'll be there
>Ready to play fighting games with him, and even agree (grudgingly) to use the bad controller
>Or to make him buy her ice cream, only to share most of it with him anyway
>Or to just sit there, quiet and huge and wordlessly comforting while he tries not to cry, and even when he cries anyway
>She is his best friend.
>He knows this, knows it sure as the sun rises in the morning, down to his bones
>But how long will that last?
>In the grand scheme of their lives, this friendship is barely a heartbeat, a fraction of a second
>How long will they be best friends?
>How long will they be friends at all?
>He doesn't want to forget her. He wants to believe she doesn't want to forget him, either.
>But he also knows that these things happen, no matter how much you don't want them
>So he clears his throat, wills his voice to steady itself
>"I guess I just wanted to say... Thanks for everything, Susie."
>Whoops.
>Now Susie's really worried, leaning across the bench and looming over him
>She pushes his hair back, squinting as she examines his carmine eyes
>"Are you *sure* you're good, Kris? You're acting really weird."
>He tries to smile, doesn't quite make it
>"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to say... like, even though we haven't been friends for that long, you've been really-"
>"The hell does that matter?"
>He stops himself
>There's genuine confusion on her face
>"Who gives a crap how long we've been friends? You're my buddy, Kris."
>"Yeah, but-"
>She grins, smacks him gently across the back of the head
>Well, "gently" by Susie standards. It still knocks his vision dizzy, makes him wince
>"Besides, if it only took us a couple weeks to become best buds, just imagine what we can do if we really put our minds to it!"
>Susie stands, plants her hands on her hips
>The late afternoon sun shines in her hair, makes her scales shimmer like mother-of-pearl
>"We're gonna be freaking invincible. Unstoppable! Best friends forever, dude!"
>His eyes go wide, and he realizes it
>He had it all wrong
>Had it backwards, to be precise
>The most special part of what he and Susie share isn't *the story so far*
>It's *the story that starts now*.
>All the stupid conversations they haven't had yet
>All the quiet moments in places they haven't seen yet
>All the snacks they haven't tried yet, the games they haven't played yet
>The adventures yet to come
>Kris smiles as he stands up off the bench, for real this time
>It's a radiant smile, from ear to ear
>And when Susie coughs and suddenly glances away, a slight violet flush in her cheeks, it might just be some chalk dust caught in her throat
>Or it might be something more, the first seed of something that has yet to bloom
>There's no way for Kris to know
>But for the first time in a long while, he doesn't fear the future
>Because no matter what, he knows Susie's going to be in it
>"Guess I'm stuck with you, huh?"
>"Obviously, dumbass. We're stuck with each other."
>Susie holds her hand out to Kris, jacket flowing behind her in the breeze
>"Now get your butt moving. Popato chisps are 2-for-1 at Sans right now and I'm *starving*."
>He takes her hand, feels the smoothness of her scales, the gentle warmth beneath them
>And together they set off, through the sunset and the evening breeze, towards Sans and chisps and home
>Towards a shared tomorrow.