Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   It’s over. His dreams, his career, his future. His life. It’s all over. He can only sit and watch as the numbers drop lower and lower. His heart follows the digits deep into his churning stomach. Where did it all go wrong? He did everything right, surely? So why, after all that he’s worked for… How could Berdly’s subscribers be dropping?  

   “Um, Berdly, can you put your phone up, please? I’m trying to teach.” 

   Berdly doesn’t look up, nor does he answer. Another number falls and he can hear a snicker come from behind him. He’s never been so humiliated before in his entire life.

   This… This horror. All of it is the work of his devious nemesis... Kris. Although they sit directly behind him, the mockery does not come from them. No, they prefer to deflate his ego in silence. 

   All he wanted was to provide justice for the speed-running community, that’s all! Was he a little hasty to compile a video debunking Kris’s new world record run? Yes, but who can blame him? The RNG Kris had was impossible and the moves they pulled off? Was that of a god? Even the masters could never pull off a play like that. The whole thing had to have been faked! 

   It was not.

   Many people came to Kris’s defense after he posted that video. A few of them even went as far as to create detailed evaluations on how, yes, they did manage to pull that off with no cheats or splices. The scoundrel. Now, his reputation is ruined. He’s not some kind of villain set out to ruin people’s success- that’s Kris’s job -but the internet has decided otherwise. How could he come back from this? Is there even a way for him to  come back from this? 

   Class has seemingly ended as everyone except him is making their way towards the door. In the crowd, he spots a blur of yellow and green fabric, and he’s struck with a brilliant idea. 

   “Kris! Wait a minute, Kris!” Berdly shouts to get their attention. Thankfully, everyone else is used to his antics and ignores him. The rest of his classmates file out of the room. Now, it’s just him and Kris… and unfortunately, Susie, who stopped with them. He jogs up to where they’re standing. He also tries to avoid eye contact with Susie, who’s looking very annoyed. 

   “...Whaddya want, Berdly?” 

   “Well, ahem, I was wishing to speak to your friend about a private matter… um,” She cocks an eyebrow, squinting at both him and Kris, “p- privately?” The two friends take a moment to share a look and Susie sighs. 

   “Yeah, sure, whatever. Just be quick. We gotta go, y’know, look around random buildings.” With that, she lazily waves them off. At the doorway, she peers back once more at them before slamming the classroom door behind her. Berdly also sighs, but one of relief. Meeting Kris’s gaze, he notices how intently they are eyeing him and Berdly can’t help the way his breath hitches. Asking his nemesis for help with the mess they technically created will be no easy task, one that he’s not sure he’s prepared for. Plus, he’s not, uh, actually sure what his plan is. All he knows is that he needs Kris. 

   With no idea what he’ll say, he starts to speak, “Kris… as I’m sure you know, my career is ruined. Heavens, you were probably happily watching the whole thing unfold. I, however, was not happy watching it. For your information, it was actually quite infuriating to see my fame plummet down into the double digits. I worked so hard to build up my brand! All those years I put blood, sweat, and tears into making the Level Up Legend  name a household name- just for one video on you to decimate it! It’s… insulting, really. A plebian like you being my downfall.” He pauses. Not because he has no idea what to say next, but rather to gauge Kris’s reaction…

   …Which is unreadable as always, minus the small smirk on their face. The bastard. 

   “I had figured that since this is technically your  doing, you would maybe… perhaps… Help me regain my fame…? It would only be right! Just think! Do you want to permanently destroy such a pillar of the gaming community? Could you live with yourself?” Kris’s smile only grows wider, “That was rhetorical, of course, don’t answer that. As for how you can assist me, well… I haven’t quite figured out the details! Don’t fret, however- you’re in the midst of a genius. We will get there eventually. So, what do you say?” 

   The human stares at him with their head cocked to the side, almost like they’re deciphering his intentions. This is odd since Berdly thinks his motives are very understandable and clear, but whatever. 10 seconds pass and he begins to doubt both Kris’s intentions and his own. He can feel himself growing anxious under their investigation. Why won’t they say anything? Do they… want him to beg or something? He’s so desperate, he might. Kris finally gives a barely noticeable nod. 

   “Wait, you will?! I mean, of course, you will,” Berdly reaches out and gives them a couple of quick pats on the shoulder, “I always had faith that you’d do what was right, Kris! I will send you my game plan when it is ready!” 

   “...Also, I may require your cell phone number to do so.” 

   His fingers linger over his screen. Typing and deleting. Retyping, cursing at himself for how he worded that sentence; deleting it because he doesn’t want to seem desperate. Typing and pausing. 

   “This is utterly ridiculous… Just… send it!” Berdly does not send it; instead, he looks over his message once more: 

   Hello, Kris. This is Berdly. I believe the best play for us would be to stream together and pretend to be friendly towards each other. Afterward, I will post edited versions of it on my channel. If people see us together, they’ll assume you’ve forgiven me for my supposed transgressions against you and therefore, forgive me as well. Let me know what you think of this plan. Thank you for being so willing to help. 

   Short, sweet, and straight to the point. It’s perfect. 

   …He still hovers over the button. Maybe if he just doesn’t think about it... Before he can think it over once more, he deletes the last sentence and hits send. After a couple of minutes, his phone buzzed from where he threw it down. 

   “👍”

   Kris… certainly has a way without words. He can’t help but feel a little annoyed after all the effort he put into his text, but hey, they agreed! A win is a win. Now, he just needs to work out a date!

   Today is the day. The webcam is in position, the stream is pulled up, and Berdly is a nervous wreck. Kris, sitting on a kitchen chair next to him, seems utterly calm. 

   “Are you ready, Kris? You know, there would be no trouble if you felt unprepared for this! We could even… take a couple extra minutes to start? No?” His co-host gives him a look of sympathy, “What? No, I’m perfectly fine! This is my life after all! As those excellent t-shirts state I eat, sleep, game, and repeat. In fact, I thrive when the camera is on me. All you do is… sit there… silently… Whatever, I’m starting it! No backing out now!” 

   The beginning of his livestream was rough. Berdly was totally out of his element having another person with him- which especially wasn’t eased by the other person being Kris. Why couldn’t he be with someone cooler like Jockington? All he can do is awkwardly reply to the few who are commenting in chat to fill the gaps of silence. Ending early and deciding to permanently delete his channel seems like a better option than going through with this. Or… that’s how it was for the first 30 minutes. Once he got into a game, his mood shifted. This, this is what he was made for. He didn’t even care that he was with his mortal enemy or that he was supposed to be doing an insane amount of ass-kissing towards them. Kris made a surprisingly entertaining person to hang out with. In between their moments of long quiet, they would occasionally chime in about whatever Berdly was squawking about. The chat exploded whenever they talked, and he could only slightly be ticked about it. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen his audience this active. In the rare moments the pair would joke around, hundreds of emotes would fill the sidebar. After a while, he couldn’t help but play into their various annoying bits. At one point, he turned to them to disclose a not-well-known fun fact about the game and walked directly into an enemy. Berdly was killed instantly, and he’d have to go back through at least five rooms… But… he couldn’t bring himself to scold Kris for making him die. Instead, he joined Kris in their giggles, quietly told them to shut up, and hit continue. 

   There’s a puzzle in the area up ahead. Despite his high IQ, puzzles have never really been his strongest suit. Now, if Berdly was alone, he would simply look up the answer after trying it a couple of times. Never in front of his chat, of course. They wouldn’t understand. Kris, however, seems to be oddly good at them, so why not ask them for advice? 

   “Kris, you’ve surely played through this level before, what do you recommend I do…” With his attention fully turned towards them, Berdly notices for the first time that Kris looks… nice. Oddly so. They must have done something different today to look good for the audience… Was it their clothes? Their hair? Maybe… is it the way they present themselves. Yes, that must be it. That horrible slouch they always seem to have is gone, replaced by a much better posture. Some of their hair had even been tucked behind their ears. To top it all off, compared to their regular shit-eating grin, the one they were wearing now seemed more, what’s the word? More comfortable. More… Gentle. As if they were truly enjoying their time with him- even though this is all a farce for views. Perhaps… it doesn’t have to stay a farce? 

   The mere thought of such a thing shocks him out of his thoughts. 

   “Oh! I think I, ahem, must’ve left the stove on! Yes, the stove! Do you smell the smoke wafting in here, Kris? I can’t believe I could be so simple minded! Maybe being in close proximity to you is having an effect on me... As in, shrinking my brain with your unintelligent aura! Aha! Haha! Ha… I should… go turn the stove off! Be right back, chat!” Flustered, he quickly hits the key bind to switch to his BRB screen and leaves the room. 

   Never mind, he is totally out of his element. Having to pretend to be friends with Kris is seriously messing him up. Sure, this stream was supposed to trick people into believing the two are cool with one another, but it’s making him lose sight of what’s important. Being an epic gamer. From beside him, he can hear a door open. 

   “Hello,” Berdly says begrudgingly, not looking up from his talons. Kris leans their back against the wall next to him. With his limited view, he can see them picking fluff off their sweater and can't help but feel a tinge of guilt. It seemed like they were having a good time before and now he’s gone and ruined it… over what? Kris smiling? No wonder they’re acting antsy. He glances up to look at their face and is met with an unsure expression. 

   He sighs, “Kris, I… did not really leave the oven on. I would never do anything as ridiculous as that! I… To tell you the truth, I became… a little overwhelmed. You see- joint streaming isn’t in my area of expertise and well… I’m sorry. For concerning you.” They visibly relax after he finishes but still shift their gaze away from him. 

   Berdly continues, “Even geniuses like me need a break, you know. Don’t fret, we’ll continue in a minute or two! You need to help me get back those subscribers, after all.” Seemingly satisfied, Kris nods and gives Berdly a small smile before walking back into his room. Crisis averted. Yes, he needs to focus his attention on his gameplay, but he’s realized that right now, Kris is equally important to him. He can’t have a good stream with everyone uncomfortable. Especially when they’re supposedly friends. Berdly quietly smiles to himself and readies himself to go back in. 

   “Anywho, that was Cat Petters 12: Return of the Ferals! Truthfully, I believe this may be my new favorite installment in the series! What?! You did not just say that, Kris! The Fourth Pet is nowhere close to this! Nostalgia aside, you have to admit to yourself it’s simply not a good game. It’s not even- Woah, thank you, therealpluey for the bits! It’s not even in the top 10 of best Cat Petters games! Chat, chat, no, you are all wrong!  You’re- you’re just siding with them to annoy me! Okay, that’s it, everyone, the stream's over. Nope, we’re done for today! Take this time to think about what you’ve all done.”

   Berdly clicks on the video before it can autoplay. Grinning to himself, he looks at the likes underneath. He can’t believe what he’s seeing. 15 thousand… Of course, his plan worked like he knew it would! He just didn’t suspect that he’d have such a positive reaction to it. This has somehow become his best-performing upload yet. Did everyone like this because it had Kris in it? No, surely not. After his week-long hiatus, he’s probably more charismatic than ever before. But… it wouldn’t hurt to see what everyone is saying…

   Likes mean nothing. Not to him. They can be bought and with the new system, you can’t even compare them to the dislikes on your videos. Comments, however. The comment section on a video shows what the people think. As he quickly skims past bots and unfunny humor, one comment in particular catches his eye. 

   11:43 omg the way he’s looking at them… why do I kinda ship it??? 

   Berdly’s non-existent eyebrows furrow. He reads it again to see if he’s mistaken. He scoffs, then laughs, then reads it once more. It doesn’t change. Surely, the… surprisingly high number of responses to this is telling them how utterly baffling it is to even think such a thing. 

   i dont ship real people butttttttttt 😭

   Kinda hope they keep making videos together, they have so much chemistry  

   gonna subscribe just to see if they ever start dating LOL

   He… doesn’t get it. Has everyone sustained brain damage? Chemistry? Start dating?  How could they possibly gather anything close to that from him and Kris? Sure, they were putting on an act of friends, but were romantically interested in one another? Such a thought had never even grazed his mind. 

   But…

   All of these replies share the same promising sentiment. They think that, somehow, Berdly has feelings for Kris. They think that if they keep watching Berdly’s channel, those feelings will eventually come out. That must be why his video is performing so well.

   From his extensive research in the field of romance, he knows what these people are craving. If this many viewers think there’s a ‘will they, won’t they’ situation at play here and are interested in it, why not… give it to them? It would be the same as acting! All he’d have to do is play into their delusions and the views would come pouring in. If they do it well enough, he may even start earning revenue. All he'd have to do is spend a couple of hours every week in front of a camera pretending to have some silly crush on his rival. Practically child’s play.

   Although it’s ridiculous, this could very much be the catalyst for Berdly’s return to greatness. All press is good press. Heh, he can already see his analytics skyrocketing. He can taste fame on the tip of his tongue; he can feel himself swimming through pools of his riches. 

   The only thing on his mind is a question: Why hasn’t he done this sooner?

   The other thing that only just now occurred to him is a different question: …How is he ever going to get Kris to agree to this?

Chapter Text

   “So… you want to do… What with Kris?” Noelle's nose twitches as she looks off into the distance, eyes scanning the room like she’s trying to decipher a confusing passage. Berdly groans. 

   “How many times must I explain it to you?! It’s quite simple. Everyone thinks that I’m in love with Kris, so I’m going to act like I am, in order for them to watch my channel!”

   “...Everyone thinks you’re in love with Kris?”

   “Noelle, trust me, I know how absurd it sounds, but I’m telling you, this is my chance! We always dreamed we’d be famous one day. Me, standing up on stage, accepting an award for best streamer of the year. You, helping me behind the scenes edit my content and manage my various social platforms. This opportunity, however odd, is our chance at stardom.” The silent library is filled with squawking and the sound of flapping feathers. On the table in front of them lies a notebook with the concepts of Berdly’s new plan written out. Noelle turns it to face her and reads it out loud.

   “Step one, tell Kris the plan. Step two… make various other plans for streams in which Kris and I like each other… You- uh, haven’t really thought this out yet, huh… Wait, have you not told Kris about this yet?” 

   “I have…,” Berdly starts, and Noelle lets out a little huff of relief, “not. I’m not quite sure how to tell them, honestly!”

   Her face drops, “Berdly, what.”

   “That is why I asked you to meet here! You know them much better than I! I was hoping you’d have a solution for me; possibly a method for how I should go about this dilemma…?”

   “Um, I barely speak to Kris now. We were friends when we were like… 13! And this… thing, is kind of a weird subject? I don’t know how you’d go about bringing this up to anyone, let alone Kris,” She tells him cautiously, “But maybe, you should just be honest with them. Tell them what you’re thinking, ya know? They’re… a jokester for sure, they might laugh at you, but it’s better to be upfront.” 

   Berdly considers this carefully, hand stroking his feathers like a goatee.

   “What about half-truths? White lies?”

   “...What could you possibly tell them white lies about?” 

   “Not important! Forget I ever mentioned it! Trust me, Noelle, I’ve got this handled! When I send over our next streams to you, make sure to edit them very romantically. Lots of unnecessarily long gazes!” Walking out the door, Berdly gives her some very cool finger guns. She doesn’t see them with her face buried in her hands, fingers in her hair.

   “uh huh,” She mutters under her palms. 

   At home, his room seems oddly quiet, the silence condemning him. It’s not that he doesn’t want to tell Kris his plan. Far from it. Convincing them to put on his previous performance was nerve-wracking and all they did was talk to each other. This was on a whole different level. How does one go about proposing such an idea?

   Maybe it would be best to not tell them at all? ...He can feel the array of video game figurines on his shelf judging him for even considering such an idea. No, of course, Berdly would never do such a thing. That would just be immoral.  

   Kris, from the old kitchen chair that’s still sitting in front of his desk, looks up from their phone to view the figures. They shift uncomfortably in their seat. Berdly clears his throat.

   Do you…” He trails off. Kris seems to be admiring his figures, still. Yes, his collection is impressive, but he would appreciate their attention. Whatever. More time for him to think about his course of action…

   He follows their gaze to the shelf dedicated to his Super Smash Fighters memorabilia. Every piece was meticulously positioned, deliberated over hours to find its perfect spot on his bookshelf. Two specific figurines are crammed oddly to stand beside one another on the same level. 

   “That,” Berdly clears his throat once again, trying to fix the sudden dryness in his mouth, “I didn’t do that, I don’t think… My mother must’ve done that. Always barging into my room…” He hurriedly hops off his bed and picks the ninja figure from its place, the bluebird next to it knocked over from his quick movements. “When did I even purchase this? Only noobs like Sheith… Oh, you main Sheith, don’t you, Kris? Ha, typical! Actually… you can just take it. I have no use for it.” Kris catches Sheith easily, observing it closely.

   Berdly fixes Falci upright, dusting off his plastic feathers. The specific shelf, consisting entirely of his favorite character and main, is returned to order; it appears a little emptier than it used to.

   “A- anyways, as I was saying… I actually have something to discuss with you before we begin our stream. Have you… looked at my video? From when we last streamed, that is?” He sputters out, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible. 

   Kris shakes their head no, making things harder than they have to be. Typical. Berdly strides over to his desk and reaches his arm around Kris’s shoulder to use his mouse. He always has his channel open, so simply showing instead of telling will be much easier. With a couple clicks and a single scroll, he sees his point. 

   “Read this comment here!” He exclaims, maybe a bit loud considering he’s still hovering over Kris’s shoulder, “ These 2 make me so happy, smiley face , but they are incredibly sus? And then, this one below it: Krispy Chicken Supremacy , in all caps… I’m not even sure what that one means! But, are you seeing what I’m seeing!? Kris, all these people are coming to my channel because they ship us! We’re their OTP’s! …So now that you have the backstory, let me tell you what I’ve asked you here for...”

   His rival has an odd expression on their face. Typically, getting any reaction other than mockery out of them would delight him, but now he feels awkward. 

   “I… I’ll give you half of the revenue? I mean, I was already planning to do so, just… You know what, why don’t you sit in my gamer chair instead of that thing? Much more comfortable, I spent a whole year’s allowance on it!” Kris is ushered into the chair and Berdly can only hope it doesn’t smell like gamer sweat. He sits down on Kris’s chair, which is unsurprisingly horrible. 

   “Hm…” He not-so-subtly glances at them to see if their expression has changed. Nope. The retro clock on his wall loudly ticks. 

   The stream was supposed to start five minutes ago and that wouldn’t have been a problem in the past, but now he has people waiting! People waiting to see the two flirt. The idea of which Kris is apparently very displeased. The room suddenly feels hot. 

   “Okay, um, how about this? We will continue on with our broadcast like normal and if you decide you want to go through with this… Just- just give me a sign!”

   Flocks of people appeared as soon as Berdly hit the button to start his live. He can’t even pick out a single old follower from the stream of comments pouring in. 

   “Hello, everyone! I know, we’re all excited to get to the gaming, but we’re going to wait a couple minutes for the late birds to join. Today, I figured that since most of you were very outspoken about loving the older Cat Petters games, we’ll go through and play some of them!” Switching over to his other monitor, he suddenly realizes he didn’t download any of them. Not a single one. He intended to while discussing plans with Kris, but since they never got around to doing that, he must’ve gotten side-tracked. 

   He starts unsurely, “So… change of plans. There’s no Cat Petters.” The chat is filled with MonkaS’s and various other emotes. “Give me slack, chat! I’ve been… uh… very busy lately! Must’ve slipped my mind. Happens to the smartest of us!” Most of the emoticons are quickly replaced by question marks. Berdly’s accidentally going through with his plan without intending to. The struggles of being a genius.  Kris looks amused by his mounting fuckups, at least.

   The rest of his ready-to-play games are those he’s already played on stream, minus the visual novel. Chat doesn’t need to know he has that. 

   Beside him, Kris mutters something to him, “What was that? …Oh! Okay, everyone! I’m going to download them right now and as Kris- surprisingly- brilliantly suggested, we’ll have a chatting stream in the meantime!”

   Has he ever done a stream in the Just Chatting category before? No, but they can figure something out. If only Kris had already agreed to his earlier question, then they could just do… whatever it is that people who like each other do for the whole duration. Speaking of his rival, perhaps they’ve made up their mind by now? 

   Berdly starts yapping about an upcoming title to the audience. What exactly he’s saying, not even he knows. It’s merely a distraction so he can very stealthily nudge Kris with his elbow. 

   Under the desk, he wiggles his fingers between the two of them and the monitors, makes a kissing gesture with both hands, then does his best impression of a question mark. Kris snickers. Berdly kicks their foot, trying to quietly tell them to be quiet. They kick him back, much harder, and he has to use every ounce of his being to not scream. Alright. He’ll leave them alone until they decide, since they want to be difficult. 

   Then, he feels something graze the abused part of his ankle. He glances down and discovers the source as the toe of Kris’s shoe. The rubber, decorated heavily with black permanent marker, gently rubs the spot. There must be a bruise forming there already, cause the touch sends sparks down his spine. Kris has their thumb up just out of the camera’s view. That was not what Berdly meant by giving him a sign; surely there was another way to do it without flustering him, but it’ll do. 

   “...I believe they might announce another addition in The Young Scrolls series. Personally, I’ve never been much of an enthusiast of the franchise, the games are too overly complicated in my opinion. They purposefully make it difficult to discourage those new in the gaming field. I’m an avid gamer, but I feel for the noobs out there! Aha! Speaking of noobs, Kris…” His attempt to seamlessly rope in a compliment is halted. He’s never admitted that he’s liked anything about Kris to himself, let alone a crowd of strangers. The only thing that comes to mind is:

   “They… are good at games. Perhaps, they would be good at Young Scrolls.” Berdly sputters out while nervously smoothing down his feathered head. There’s a timid minute of silence, “In fact… Kris and I should play Cat Petters 6 together! It is considered a roguelike, but there’s hardly a difference between roguelikes and action RPGs. Ah… I remember playing it when I was younger… Such a brilliant title. Truely, it was a masterpiece of its time... We will have to wait for it to finish downloading, of course…” 

   Horrifically saturated characters shuffle around the screen on a generic green grass background topped with a generic blue sky. In a font outdated several years, the colorful words: CAT PETTERS 6: EXPLORERS OF THE LITTER BOX hover above the little animals. The various options below are barely visible with everything happening around it. What a beautiful migraine-inducing title card. 

   “I remember the graphics appearing… more advanced when I was a chick. Hm… For your information, Kris, that so-called ‘red one’ is actually maroon, and its name is Torpip… Yes, it does sort of look like it’s in pain… Don’t- Don’t you dare laugh! This was my childhood!” 

   The two decide to take turns playing. Berdly starts off, taking them through to the second puzzle before ‘offering’ Kris to switch places. Kris gives him a knowing smirk, and he glares at their audacity.  Repeatedly, he interjects himself in the middle of important story beats in order to recite the dialogue from memory. Word for word.

   Occasionally, Berdly remembers the performance he’s meant to put on. Bringing himself to praise them on moves they pull off is the majority of it- brisk touches sprinkled in. Their sweater is surprisingly soft, despite its worn-down appearance, and he lingers nanoseconds longer each time to feel the fabric.

   After enough time has passed, he insists it’s his turn again since they haven’t bothered to ask him to take over for a whole hour. The chatters all protest, and Kris makes a proding remark about the audience liking them more than him on his own stream. Berdly flushes and forces the mouse out of their hand. 

   The story’s big plot twist is about to be revealed, and he wants to experience it firsthand.

   Feline, the party member who’s been with them since the beginning, slowly drops the hood of his cloak. The cute but atmospheric landscape is turned to pitch black. 

   “Shhhhhhhhh,” Berdly whispers and lightly elbows Kris, sensing a chuckle about to come from them. 

   When the color returns, Feline’s pixelated sprite has changed. Despite his name, Feline is actually a dog. Floppy ears and all. Even back then, he saw how silly this was. But he didn’t remember this scene and the game in its entirety for a silly plot twist. The background music completely switches the mood; the previous lighthearted tune is now morose. Eerie piano notes play as the characters discuss this revelation, which Berdly chooses not to read aloud this time.

   Kris wheels their chair a little closer to his. Surprisingly, they appear very engrossed in what is happening now. They’re so engrossed that they don’t notice their shoulder touching his own. Either that, or they’re doing it as part of their agreement. 

   He’s glad to see they’re also playing into the viewer’s fantasy but… they’re a bit too close for his comfort. From here, he can make out a glimpse of their eyes hiding behind their bangs. Their irises are… a shockingly vibrant shade of crimson. Kris slightly meets his gaze and Berdly can swear the red shines. Almost like… a block of redstone ore from Minecrap. He catches himself staring but decides to look a second more. 

   Noelle needs good clips to edit for the viewers, after all. 

   After a bit of arguing between the cast, the final boss battle has begun. When he was a child, he’d spend every evening practicing this fight. Hours would be spent ten feet away from his television, furiously mashing buttons- replaying over and over until he achieved a perfect no-hit run. Although he hadn’t touched the game in years, the moves are ingrained into his memory. Fingers dance over his keyboard without a thought. His mouse glides wildly across its mat like a dancer. Before he can process it, the battle is over. 

   “I… I actually did it…” Berdly speaks out loud without realizing it. Still leaning on his shoulder, the scrawny human applauds. He pushes them off of him playfully, “Yes, yes, I’m aware that I’m the most excellent gamer around. I’m very flattered, thank you for the kind words… Ah, don’t say anything! I already know you agree!” With a grin going from earhole to earhole, he speeds through the epilogue. It’s not quite intriguing to him, but he interacts with the various NPCs around before triggering the credits, as per Kris's request.

   The credits scroll by as Berdly responds to donations he missed previously. Lots of insults about his gameplay. Each one, he spends at least a minute arguing with much to the chat's amusement. Lots of compliments to his streaming partner about their gameplay and a few about their hair. Berdly analyzes the shaggy cut, for research, and declares that it's nothing special. He later corrects himself, “I suppose it’s nice, if you prefer that kind of hairstyle.” The last message is read, and the stream is quickly ended. Once his OBS is shut down, Berdly lets out a deep exhale.

   His hands fly to Kris’s shoulders, “Did you see how many donations we received? I say we head to the diner! You can get anything you want. It will be on me! Or, on us! It’s not important, let’s go! I’m famished!” 

   Late in the day, there are few customers besides them occupying the diner. They chat quietly amongst themselves; whispered words exchanged in between the scraping of plates. Multiple booths are open, but Berdly chooses the one currently being wiped down by Catti. She quietly hisses and throws down laminated menus, not bothering to finish cleaning. The two of them take their seats on opposite sides of the table. 

   “...What do you recommend? I don’t come here often,” He questions, already flipping through the menu. Many of the items don’t seem to be to his taste. Hopefully, Kris doesn’t suggest one of them. Most of their attention is focused on peeling the cheap leather off the booth, “Fries… Hm. For a plebian… you have an amazing palate.” 

   Catti comes back eventually, and they give her their simple order, an order of large fries and a hot chocolate. With her mouth covered by her hand, she bends down and says something in Kris’s ear that Berdly can’t make out from here. They chuckle and cover their mouth as well to reply. The whole time, they keep taking quick glances at him, almost like they don’t want him to notice they’re doing it. Berdly doesn’t know what to think about it. Well, other than feeling like a third wheel. He purses his non-existent lips in thought. They… do seem to gravitate to those with a certain style. Is it possible that…?  His heart weighs heavily in his chest.

   He chooses to ask them, in the least suspicious tone he can manage, “Are the two of you… friends?” Kris gives him an unsure shrug in return, “You seemed rather friendly with her. Giggling with one another in secret is something friends do, typically… What were you talking about, if you don’t mind me asking?” 

   A tray of crinkle-cut fries and a steaming hot chocolate are placed in front of them, respectively. 

   “We’re not serving anything else. We’re about to close. Here’s the bill.” Catti is already taking off her apron and folding it up. Before Berdly can pick at his sliced potatoes, Kris nods at the booklet that’s been placed in front of them. 

   “Right, I did say it was on me, didn’t I?” He laughs at his foolishness and opens it to see the damage, “A couple’s discount?! But Kris! We’re not…” They’re already slurping up their drink, most definitely burning the roof of their mouth. That’s what they were doing? Laughing about the idea of the two of them being together?

   “Aha, I can see why it was so funny, now! Quite a laughable notion, indeed!” The other patrons are disturbed by the sound of him cackling way harder than necessary. Berdly wipes a tear from his eye and watches as Kris goes in for another sip, smiling to themself. Perhaps, the donors from earlier were correct. Kris’s haircut does suit them.

   That thought is quickly erased from his mind. He eats a fry and begins to discuss what they should do for their next livestreams. 

   Eventually, during a heated debate over whether or not wave-dashing is truly considered cheating, they're told to leave. Not because they're causing a ruckus, which they are, but because they have to close. Deflated, Berdly courteously picks up their trash and walks out with Kris. They both stop at the front of the diner to look up. The sky is nothing like the title screen from their game. Fluffy orange clouds float above, covering the sun as its slowly replaced by the moon. Vibrant yellow is overtaken by a dark purple. It seems almost surreal to him. Here he is, admiring a beautiful sunset with his rival... Can he really consider them a rival anymore? Their devilish smile comes to mind, and he determines that yes, he definitely can. 

   Without taking his eyes off the landscape, he addresses them, "Kris, we've spent quite a lot of time together lately... I hate to do this, but I can admit that I... I've enjoyed it..." Berdly considers his next words. Even though he's used to it, he doesn't want Kris to laugh at him. Especially now, when he's trying to follow Noelle's advice and be somewhat truthful, "Kris... would you consider us friends?" 

   Kris focuses harder on a particular cloud that looks like a middle finger. And nods. 

   "...I also consider us friends. I'm glad to see we're on the same page... I'll text you later!" Before Kris can say anything, which he doubts they would, he waves goodbye and runs home. 

   Late at night, in his bed, he notices that his Sheith figure is back on the shelf. 

Chapter Text

   Class is slow, more so than usual. The packets Alphys passed out have long been forgotten as she hunches over her desk. Occasionally, girlish squeals come from her speakers, though it seems she doesn't realize it's audible to anyone else. That or she doesn't care.

   Berdly’s packet remains opened to the second page. That’s as far as he could manage on his own. Noelle usually helps him, but she is practically buried in her notebook. Both elbows lay on the table as she scribbles furiously on the paper. The only things he can make out from his spot are hearts and the color purple. Everyone else is in their own world. He turns in his chair to look at Kris. Susie is practically leaning on their desk, arms crossed over as she rants to them. 

   Berdly assumes their conversation is over something unintelligent.

   Kris is merely third in their class, so they’re definitely not above partaking in such a thing. He taps the end of his pencil on the paper, trying to conjure an answer up. 

   …Kris is third in their class, so they could theoretically help him, couldn’t they? The two of them are… friends now, after all. Looking back once more, he and his friend’s lesser friend lock eyes. He quickly turns his attention back to the packet. They’re not friends publicly, however. Having to ask, in front of everyone, for help from his rival would only make him a laughing stock. Especially from Susie, who’s focused her attention back on Kris. She seems to have a sore spot for him. Must be from his massive brain and her lack of one. Ah, jealousy. Such an emotion, Berdly has never experienced. He’s the cause of it, not the affected. 

   Whatever. Berdly can figure this out himself! He just… needs to think about it harder…

   The bell rings and the question goes unanswered. Berdly’s hand is in his feathers, gripping them like a lifeline. 

   A shadow looms over his desk, “Berdly, hey… Are you okay?” Noelle’s face is etched with concern. Her hand is clenched near her chest, not sure what to do, “You’ve just been looking at your paper all class and I… don’t think I’ve seen you write a single thing?” 

   “Noelle! Noelle, can we go to the library and assist one another with the homework? It’s a tricky one!” 

   “Sorry, I uh, actually have plans today… We can do it tomorrow? If you still need help?” The hand on her chest goes to rub her neck. 

   Berdly gawks at her, “You have… Well, I have plans as well! I simply want to get this finished before we have to rush through it tomorrow!”

   “It’s not due till next Thursday, Berdly.”

   “I- I know that! I won’t be able to focus with it incomplete, that’s all!”

   “What are you doing today that’s so important, anyway?” She says slowly, like speaking the words too fast will scare him away. 

   “...I will tell you if you tell me your plans first.” His eyes narrow as he challenges her.

   There’s a moment of silence as they look at each other awkwardly, in a stalemate. 

   “Let’s just work on it tomorrow.” Noelle concludes. It’s almost a punishment for his being untruthful, but Berdly must stand his ground on this matter. If she can’t be honest, neither will he! As her hoofs click away down the hall, he can’t help but ponder what she could possibly be doing.

   Berdly sits on his luxurious gaming chair at home, the packet’s second page still taunting him. He tilts his head to the side, then to the other side; he puts the packet under his lightbulb to see if looking at it in a different light will assist him. It does not. There’s a notification on his flipped-over phone that he declines to investigate. Procrastinating achieves nothing. Perhaps some soothing music will give him the brainpower that he needs. 

   Swiftly, he opens Yatube and begins to type in the search bar, when he’s stopped by a video in his recommendations.

   The video is simply titled: moss % speedrun. The thumbnail isn’t any better- a stock photo of moss. There was clearly no effort put into creating it, which reminds him of a certain someone… And Heavens above, of course, it’s Kris. Kris clearly isn't bothering to do their assignment and instead decided to- Berdly checks their profile- start a livestream.  Without him. He flips his phone over and gets confirmation. The notification shows that appleeater17 went live 10 minutes ago and they didn’t even bother to alert him themselves. Without processing it, Berdly clicks on the stream.

   Homework can wait.

   Their setup is, quite frankly, a mess. A LiveSplit timer sits at the top right-hand corner while their horribly lit face cam is placed in the corner below it. On the left is their chat that they never bother to read. Alerts for new subscribers go off every 5 seconds, blocking most of the upper portion of the screen. Berdly searches for his sticky notes. They may be friends, but Kris still isn’t above having their gameplay criticized. He rips off the previous one; the points on it he recognizes from his expose. Ah, simpler times. 

   When he faces the screen again, the chat is speeding by much faster than before. A mix of pride and embarrassment washes over him as he reads that all the messages are announcing his arrival. Kris glances over to the side with a neutral expression that quickly turns into amusement. Berdly’s phone rings. He jumps in his chair, pencil rolling off his desk to never be seen again. Hesitantly, he answers it.

   “Kris, I see you noticed my joining… I was merely stopping by to see how horribly you were doing! But, seeing how desperate you are for my attention… I suppose I’ll stay.” Berdly loudly announces in a smug tone, then hears his voice play back to him through the stream. The mute key on his computer is immediately pressed. It appears they have him on speakerphone. 

   Through their facecam, which is lit only by the blue light from their monitor, he can see Kris stifle a smile. They did that on purpose. The cretin. This will have to be a silent viewing for him unless he asks them to take him off speakerphone. Or ask them to add and call him on Discorn, but he can only imagine the kind of jokes that will arise from that. Listening to the game through Kris’s crackly phone mic will have to suffice. 

   They’re running the adventure mode of Super Smashing Fighters in the speedrunning category of moss. Which, by all typical standards of the speedrunning community, isn’t actually a real category. Kris had made it up themselves and everyone just accepted it as a new thing.

   Berdly has retrieved his notepad and a new pencil, to compile his list of what Kris can do better on this run. They’ve already reached the glacial ruins stage, but the only thing he’s managed to write down is, ‘ Got hit when they could’ve easily dodged ’. Irked, he continues watching in hopes of catching a slip-up; instead, he witnesses some of the best strats he’s ever seen. 

   “How did you-?!... He starts, then composes himself, “Ahem, excuse me. I’m simply… impressed… You’re very skilled, Kris…” Berdly crosses his arms bashfully, even though no one can see him. Kris’s mouth falls slightly open and their character stops on screen. An enemy jumps at the opportunity and knocks them into a spike trap.

   “...at the Subspace Emissary, that is.” Berdly finishes his sentence in shock. The tip of his beak is practically poking the screen as he tries to get a close look at what he just saw. Their character is moving once again as if nothing occurred, but the 116% damage at the bottom tells him everything he needs to know… Kris messed up! He grins and jots the mistake down. 

   Wait, how could they screw up in such a foolish way? Stopping mid-gameplay? Something like that has never happened once in all of Kris’s previous speed runs. The one difference Berdly can bring to mind is… him. No wonder they stream by themselves, if they’re so easily distracted by someone talking! He laughs to himself and the human glances over at their phone with a slight frown. 

   It’s been so simple. All this time Berdly’s spent hours picking apart their runs, trying to prove that they’re not as great as people think, and the solution has been right in front of him! For the next hour, he tries his best to be as annoying as possible. In the middle of important moments, when Kris is trying to pull off a time-saving skip or fighting enemies, he attempts to divert their attention. He’s unsuccessful. Everyone in the chat is amused. Kris, however, seems to be lost in thought. Despite this, they pull off another insane move, saving them ten whole seconds. 

   “Wowwww, Kris! I’m truly in awe of how excellent you are at this!” Berdly mocks them in a sweet voice, trying to sound as amazed and not peeved as he can manage. Wordlessly, Kris picks up their phone for a moment and places it back down, “...Hello, Kris? Kris, I said I’m impressed!” He grabs his own phone. Call ended.

   Redialing the number only leads to their voicemail. Strange… maybe they lost service? Unmuting the stream, he calls them again. Their default ringtone goes unnoticed as Kris plays through the level. It’s barely audible under video game sounds and Kris hitting their keys a little harder than usual, but the call is definitely going through. The chat is filled with awwwwws and LMAOs, but apparently, no one minds his absence much. Berdly huffs and watches the speed run to the very end. He angrily mutters the whole time.

   He stares at the now black video, autoplay is paused, “I can’t believe them!” Berdly complains to no one. The phone on his desk remains silent. Beside it lies the sticky notepad, its two bullet points remain unaccompanied. Grumbling, he rips off the note and thinks. Kris wasn’t actually upset with him, surely. Perhaps, he should send an apology- apologize for somehow offending them, but he decides against it. The paper is crumpled and lazily thrown at his trash can. He can’t even bother to pick it up off the floor. All he was doing was giving them a taste of their own medicine, really. When he really thinks about it-

   “They harass me relentlessly! Is it absolutely unbearable? Yes! But, I bear their torment and put on a cool and collected demeanor! I make one mocking comment towards them and suddenly, they’re ignoring me,” Berdly loudly whispers over their homework, desks pushed together for optimal knowledge collection. Noelle silently listens to his rant while she goes over the problems by herself, “They get under my skin, but do I blow them off without a single word or text? No! I don’t get it, Noelle, I really don’t! Honestly, I have more of a right to be upset at them.” 

   “Number 15 is 32.4,” Is all she says in return, not bothering to look up from her paper. 

   “Noelle… I would really appreciate your input on this matter.” 

   She doesn’t put her pencil down, “...What do you want me to say?”

   “What you think, of course!” 

   “Are you- are you sure… you want me to say what I… really think?” 

   “There’s no doubt!” 

   “I think… you should just talk to them. We’re highschoolers, not… y’know. Kids, I guess? And I told you to be honest with them! If it really bothers you when they… tease you… tell them that. Also, just apologize?” 

   “That’s not…” Berdly is apparently interested in the packet now. He can feel Noelle’s judging eyes burn holes in his head, “One can’t simply forfeit in a ranked match of standoffing. It’s a matter of pride! Besides… It doesn’t bother me when they quote on quote, ‘tease me’, Noelle… It’s as if… Imagine a fly smashing into the windshield of an airplane mid-flight…”

   “What?” Confused, she glances at what Berdly is doing. There’s nothing on his current page but scribbles.

   “It’s like…! Argh, I can’t put it into words, Noelle! My brain is programmed in a different language than yours; translating would be much too complicated! …I don’t mind it much, that’s all.” He enunciates his last two words for emphasis, so she doesn’t misconstrue the statement. 

   Despite that, she squints at him with a deliberating look, “...Okay… then all you have to do is say you’re sorry and everything can go back to… normal between you two.” Berdly opens his beak to speak but determines to leave it.

   “Okay,” He murmurs out defeatedly, “...may I borrow your eraser? …Please?” Noelle hands over her snowflake-shaped eraser with a sigh.

   As her friend meticulously rids his paper of graphite, careful not to get any shavings in his feathers, she looks over her shoulder. Huh. Kris is watching them silently with their eyes peering out above their arms. It seems like they were preparing to nap, but were distracted by their conversation instead. They turn and burrow their face down in a late attempt to not be caught. Noelle mulls it over and does a cautious peek behind them. Susie is in the process of devouring a mechanical pencil. 

   At least she isn’t acting weird today. 

   How does one go about apologizing? Making mistakes is impossibly rare for Berdly. Having to masterfully craft an apology for a mistake is almost unheard of. And extremely difficult- the fact that he’s still feeling sore from Kris’s ghosting doesn’t help in the slightest. Like much of what he usually does, he was hoping Noelle could solve it. 

   His fist hovers over the door, struggling to find a way to knock without spilling everything in his arms. He still can’t help but feel that he isn’t at fault, so coming up with something to say is difficult. People give gifts as an apology, surely? That’s simple enough. There’s no answer when he finally succeeds. 

   “Excuse me?” Berdly calls out to no one. No one responds. Taking a quick step back off the porch reveals that there’s no car in the driveway. He chooses to open the door, despite every fiber in his being screaming not to. Kris is truly a horrible influence, 

   “...Kris?” 

   Yet again, there’s no reply. Hopefully, they didn’t go somewhere with their mother, that would make this… rather awkward. And illegal. Though, it might be considered trespassing whether or not any person is home. Their house has hardly changed since he last stepped foot in the residence. The same furniture, the same TV that’s too outdated to play newer consoles, and the same fridge magnets holding the same photos.

   He cranes his neck to view the displayed polaroids closer. Practically all of them are of Kris and their brother. They’re younger, smiling wide with a couple teeth missing. Asriel is right by their side in most of them, the two stuck together like glue. A red horned headband is on their head in every picture. Berdly grins and chooses to question Kris about it later. If he manages to get forgiven, that is. Which he should be doing, instead of looking around their house like a stalker. He sneaks one last look before heading to Kris’s room. 

   “...Kris?” Berdly knocks on the door, choosing to use his talons instead of bothering with his hands. The door cracks open slightly. Kris sticks their head through the opening, appearing confused, “I… trespassed on your property… Forgive me.” He holds up the gifts. They fail to change their stupefied expression.

   Old hinges squeal as the door swings out the rest of the way. Berdly shifts nervously now that he’s suddenly fully in view. Should he have worn something nicer? He most definitely should’ve. Kris’s fingers graze his as they grab an item to look at. 

   “Ah… I see you picked the card! That’s not to say you’ll only receive one object out of the array I’ve brought! They’re all for you! The inside is…” Kris flips it open and he feels his face flush, “I- I didn’t have any time to write in it… I can’t comprehend why the available options are hope you get better soon or I’m glad your bike crashed. I thought ‘get better soon’ could possibly come across as disrespectful, which I am not! …I have the utmost respect for you?” Berdly doesn’t mean to pose it as a question, but it feels like he’s choosing all the incorrect dialogue options. 

   He winces as a petal falls from his bouquet when it’s grabbed, “That, ahem- I believe those are tulips. Mr. Dreemur suggested them.” Their face changed from bewildered to mortified, “I wasn’t sure what you liked! And as you know, your father owns the flower store, so I decided the best course of action would be to ask him for advice!” The wild swinging of wings as Berdly tries to explain himself is stopped. Nonchalantly, or as nonchalantly as he can manage, the final gift is handed over. 

   A heart-shaped box is turned over in their hands, currently being examined like the previous items. Unlike the ones that came before it, Berdly chooses to not provide an explanation. It’s chocolate. Everyone loves chocolate. Its container may be a little… suspicious to some. Still, everyone knows it's only sold packaged in the inaccurate depiction of a heart. There’s nothing to explain, he thinks to himself, taping a clawed toe on the floor. 

   “Kris, you may have gathered by now that there is… a reason behind these gifts. It is not a sudden act of charity. You see… I…” Berdly falters when he sees Kris watching him expectantly, rehearsed speech flying out of his mind. 

   “I… wanted to apologize. To you. Yes, I may have been attempting to cause an error in your gameplay by way of annoying you… I observed you make a mistake previously, so I thought perhaps, I could lead you to do it again? When I made a mockery of flattering you, it was simply that. I never intended to offend you. For that… I’m greatly sorry. Also,” He braces for what he’s about to utter, “Iadmireyourskillsasagamer! There, I said it! Don’t go lording it over me! …And don’t you dare think about sharing this to another soul!” Berdly blurts out. After a couple seconds of silence, he unsqueezes his tightly closed eyes to look at Kris. 

   Their mouth is open, ready to speak: 

   insidefriend donated five dollars: lol bro forgot to mute their mic let me grab my popcorn.

   Berdly rushes into their room, right to their barely functioning pc, “Kris, you’re streaming?!” He squawks in disbelief. They awkwardly walk up behind them, holding all his apology gifts, “You- don’t just proudly display those! Put those up!” His body forms a makeshift barrier in front of the webcam. He hurriedly waves them off, but they stay right where they are. 

   Kris is… nervously laughing at him. Unbelievable .

   “That’s- That’s it! Apology rescinded! I’m- I’m leaving!” 

   His entire feed is full of clips of him. Some are edited horribly, hearts circling both him and Kris. Most are moments where he slips up and says something embarrassing.

   One video, that he hesitantly clicks on, is just a view of Kris’s room. The volume is turned all the way down. He already knows what’s said. Berdly watches, humiliate, as he hurries into frame and then quickly runs back out. Kris is left standing there, gently gripping the items in their hands. They finally make their way to the computer. Slightly giggling, and with a bashful smile on their face, they sit down and place everything on their desk. Their game is unpaused and the clip ends. He rewinds the video and pauses it.

   The caption of the post reads, “they’re such losers omg i love them”. Berdly looks back at the snippet of Kris’s nervous face and slams the power-off button on his computer before he can think about it further. 

   What is wrong with people? And what is wrong with him?

Chapter Text

   The plan is catching fire in a way Berdly couldn’t have foreseen. Posts dedicated to analyzing his every move are as far as the finger can scroll. Sure, it might have been flattering at first, seeing his face everywhere he went. Such an idea used to be confined to his mind palace. Fame, up until now, was a dream that he thought he’d never get to live out. 

   Those fantasies never included Kris unless they were failing miserably. Now, he can’t see himself anywhere without his former arch-nemesis right beside him. The once glorious dreams have turned into nightmares. A nightmare where he’s friends with Kris… and actually enjoys it. He groans while pressing his forehead against the cool freezer, eyes squeezed shut. 

   Other customers of the convenience store shuffle around him so as to not interrupt. After a moment, he lifts his head up and grabs butter and unsweetened condensed milk out from the freezer. All of Berdly’s future purchases are placed ceremoniously on the counter.

   The skeleton cashier starts, hardly bothering to make eye contact, “so, looks like you’re, uh, having a big party.” 

   Berdly scoffs, “Hah! Hardly! It shall just be me and… a friend.” He enunciates the last part to ensure the man doesn’t get any funny ideas. 

   “...right.” 

   “I can’t believe you only sell off-brand Doritos at this establishment! I mean, really, you look like,” The cashier is scanned up and down, “Well, like you’d understand how vastly different the flavors of an off-brand product can be compared to a name-brand one! …I suppose I’ll have to just pray these inferior chips will suffice for my recipe…” Berdly trails off as he deliberates, in his head, the effects the chips may cause. 

   “sorry, can’t afford the fancy stuff. didn’t mean to give you a chip on your shoulder.” 

   “A- a chip? Pff, not only is that an idiotic phrase, but what would cause me to have a chip on my shoulder? Your assumption that I’m having a celebration because of my large amounts of snacks and caffeinated beverages, when I’m actually making a dessert for my gamer friend? Who, might I add, is HARDLY a friend?” 

   “...i was just joking with you, kid. but now that you mention it, this friend wouldn’t happen to be the one you came in for the other day…?” Sans questions him with a smirk. 

   “What will my total be, sir?” The amount is paid in bills and no more words are exchanged; Berdly rushes to shove everything in the bags- that he did not bring after his struggles the last time he came to the store- before he can be interrogated any longer.

   Thankfully, his walk up-town is peaceful. For a brief moment, he’s free from everyone’s baseless assumptions. The air is filled with nothing but the sounds of nature: leaves blowing in the wind and his distant cousins chirping a song. If only the weather was a tad hotter, it would be a perfect day for a sunbath… Perhaps he’ll do an outdoor stream soon. It’s not exactly his cup of tea, but viewers love IRL content and he’s in a sudden good mood. 

   When he finally reaches the door, it only takes one knock for it to be answered. Berdly chirps out a greeting, but Kris is already walking away towards the kitchen. Wow. Do they act this impolitely towards everyone? Panting, he follows them and deposits the groceries on their counter. In his best impression of someone not out-of-shape, he leans his elbows back next to the bags and groans. 

   “What? No, I don’t need a minute, Kris... Ha… no, I also didn’t require your help. Thank you for your concern, but those bags were nothing. Even a small child could carry those.” Kris hands him a glass of water. He unsuspiciously gulps it down, “...Don’t give me that look. I know you’re not any more athletic than I.” They choose to ignore that and walk over to the laptop sitting on their windowsill, Berdly sighs. 

   After a couple seconds of typing and tapping on the keyboard, Kris gestures over to it and steps out of the way. 

   “Kris! Did you really…! Ahem. Hello, chat.” He clears the frustration and any leftover exhaustion from his voice, “As you can see from the title, which you should’ve read, we’ve hit two hundred thousand followers! Well, I have. Kris already reached that milestone on their own channel.” The sentence is ended with a glare that does nothing but amuse his acquaintance. 

   “So, I’ve asked them to help me craft a pie with their baking expertise to celebrate the occasion! We aren’t adhering to the meta for this pie, however. This... This is my special recipe.” Everyone, including Kris, is confused. Berdly may have neglected to tell them what exactly they would be making. It’s part of the surprise, “A Gamer’s Delight, as I like to call it! The ingredients are rather simple.” The liters of Mountain Dew and off-brand Doritos are presented to the webcam and hundreds of messages run past his eyes before he gets to read them. He gets the jist of it, though, mainly disgust and horror. There’s no attempt to argue with the chatters. They’ll see how wonderful it is soon enough. 

   The first step is the most important: the syrup. Somehow, Berdly always manages to caramelize the mixture, so he tasks Kris to handle it. Soda is poured into a pot along with granulated sugar. Meanwhile, he handles the very difficult task of crushing the chips. Waiting for the Mountain Dew to boil, Berdly mixes the orange dust with melted butter and presses it into a pie tin. Kris watches this unnerved. He pretends he doesn’t see them staring, holding himself back from complaining. They seem to get the idea and quickly whip their head around to focus back on the stovetop. Every so often, they crane their neck over to look at the recipe written on a crumpled notebook page. 

   After the amalgamation is cooled, Kris adds whipped cream and the condensed milk to a mixing bowl. Only a quarter of the syrup is poured into it. Berdly, seeing this, jumps to intervene. He reaches one arm around them to grab the pot handle, the other grasping the bowl. 

   “You have to add more than that! Didn’t you look at the recipe? With such a miniscule amount, you’ll barely taste the acidic goodness!” As he chastises them, he guides the pot over and in front of him, Kris awkwardly ladles the rest out. He tilts his head to ensure all of it has been added. It smells very strongly of… apples. Another sniff is all it takes for him to finally realize how close he is to the human. 

   Their back is pressed against him, their warmth managing to seep through the thick sweater. His feathered hand rests over the top of theirs on the handle. He’s suddenly very aware of how warm humans are- and how smooth their skin is. Cautiously glancing down, he meets Kris’s eyes looking up at him.  Whether they’re upset with him or not, it’s impossible to tell. He wishes, in the back of his mind, that he could understand what they’re really thinking. There must be something else underneath their trickster behavior and excellent gaming prowess, right? 

   The bowl of ingredients clatters to the ground as he jumps back. They both look at it wordlessly while it pours into the crevices of the tiled floor, not making an effort at first to clean it up. Berdly feels more out of breath now than he was before. 

   He adjusts the collar of his shirt, “...I wasn’t aware it was near the edge, it was supposed to go on the counter. Ah ha, how simpleminded of me…  I- I’ll clean it up, no worries! Where are your towels, Kris…?” Berdly bumbles out in a desperate attempt to cover his fumble. All he needs is a break, that’s all. His strenuous workout earlier has depleted his smart brain cells. He’ll be fine after they recover.

   Despite his volunteering, Kris leaves to grab the towels themself and Berdly is left standing like a newgen at Comic-Con. The webcam is still on him. Viewers are still watching, though he neglects to see what they’re saying. But, he remains in his current position and nervously smooths his feathers down. 

   There’s nothing to worry about. Everything is technically going to plan, at least in the viewers’ eyes. Kris was never a good actor the last time he checked. When their school put on a play for the whole town, they were cast as a tree, but they couldn’t even manage that. Somehow, they were the worst one on stage even though they had the most basic role: breaking character and biting the lead actress. Clearly, their performance has improved since then.

   Berdly didn’t have an explanation for himself like that. The only act he can put on is one of a skilled gamer, but that’s his true nature. Sure, he’d pretended like he wanted to look at his rival more than he truly did in their past streams. That was nothing more than a farce. Now? If people regard that moment as romantic when he didn’t intend it to be, what does that say about him? 

   Could it be… He’s been so skilled at acting that he’s been unknowingly method-acting this entire time? Berdly grins at his genius. And, at the chat, which is still on watching him silently go through various emotions.

   When Kris returns with something to clean the mess, he finally decides to help. Regardless of his apparent revelation, he focuses all his attention on washing the bowl and quelling the burning feeling in his chest. 

   “Well, thankfully I foresaw something like this occurring.” Berdly exhales, “We still have enough of the ingredients needed for our pie. Kris, you… Actually, I can handle cooking the syrup this time. You can continue cleaning. It’s more along the lines of your skillset. “ He sniggers, even though his heart is, unusually, not in it.

   This time around, the pie batter is mixed and transferred on top of the crust without incident. The oven is set to 400°F and a timer is dialed to 20 minutes. They don’t talk the entire time; not to each other, that is. To not think about their previous exchange, Berdly goes on a rant about consoles. An argument starts between him and the chat. He desperately begs them to consider his side while they do nothing but successfully rage-bait him. There have been many debates between him and Kris over the topic, mostly when they were still mortal enemies. When he makes a point that they’d typically disagree about, he glances over his shoulder at them. Kris looks back but chooses not to respond. He huffs.

   Any previous apprehension he felt dissolved as soon as the pie was pulled out of the oven. 

   “To all the haters, I’d just like to ask: what do you have to say for yourselves now?!” With oven mitts on, he proudly holds the pie tin up to the laptop. To everyone but him, it appears to be a baked mound of radioactive sludge. The vents Berdly had added are mostly covered up by the lumpy, oozy top of the desert. Areas that were sprinkled with leftover chip crust are sunken in and filled with puddles of raw Mountain Dew mixture. 

   Kris silently grabs and lights a scented candle to cover up the smell this will inevitably cause. 

   From his pocket, Berdly pulls out colorful decorative candles. After a minute of painstakingly organizing them, he puts his hands on his hips and admires the pie. The top now displays the number 200000 , “They didn’t have any K s.” He admits. 

   When Kris lights them, he closes his eyes and blows them out, “...What?! No, you can’t know what I wished for!” Berdly scoffs as he waves Kris off to go get a knife. 

   The inside of the pie is unsurprisingly goopy with clumps of baking soda strewn throughout. Graciously, the first slice is handed to Kris. Their face is covered with concern.Right, they need a fork to eat it! He opens almost every drawer before he finds the utensils, quickly giving them a fork once he finds it. 

   M3rcedesBenz donated 15 dollars: Please, take my money and go buy something actually edible. 

   “Pff, nonsense! I’m telling you all, this is the best pie around! Go on, Kris! Take a bite!”  He watches them with anticipation, still posing arrogantly. With shaky hands, Kris puts a small piece on their fork and shoves it in their mouth. They chew it slowly. 

   “So…? What do you think?!” Berdly squawks excitedly and they grimace before giving him a pained smile and nod, “See, even Kris likes it! Let me taste this masterpiece myself…” Thankfully, Kris doesn’t seem to want anymore, so he saves the rest. More for him to savor later. 

   With a couple words appreciating his fans for supporting him, he ends the stream. Even though he was yapping moments before, the room goes eerily quiet as soon as the camera light flickers off.  It’s not that he doesn’t want to, far from it. He’d do anything to fill the awkward silence they’re now faced with, but the heavy atmosphere prevents him from doing so. Berdly tries to help put everything away. Kris ends up having to point to where each item is meant to go, damaging his ego even further. 

   Once the counters are clean, they face each other; it isn’t very successful. Berdly chooses to not make eye contact, “Well… I should be off!” He states confidently while looking anything but. With the Tupperware container containing the leftover pie in hand, he doesn’t start toward the door.

   “...Thank you for trying my pie,” He adds hastily, “Or more accurately, you’re welcome for getting to try my pie. Ha…” Would it be wise for him to say more? There are so many words swarming in his head and yet, he can’t form any into an actual sentence. Looking at Kris provides him no answer. 

   The front door unlocks. 

   “Sorry, honey! I know I said I’d be home late, but I didn’t mean to be gone so long!” Toriel starts apologetically. She doesn’t spot him immediately, too engrossed in her story about a copy machine, but she stills once she does. 

   “Ms. Dreemur… Hello.” Berdly grimaces. 

   “Berdly,” She furrows her brows, “Kris, you didn’t tell me you’d have a… friend over?” He follows Toriel’s gaze to Kris. They only shrug- being no help whatsoever.

   “Excuse me, ma’am, but I was actually just about to leave.” Now, he hastily walks towards the door.

   “Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

   “Ah, no, that’s quite alright. My hunger bar is already full, I don’t-”

   “You can never be too full.” She says matter of factly, already gently guiding Berdly back to the kitchen. 

   “Actually, it’s a scientific fact that you can!” Berdly declares. 

   “Hehe, I guess we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?” Kris appears mortified, but Toriel pays them no mind. He’s sure that she’d kick him to the curb if she knew they were uncomfortable. They don’t say a word, however. Berdly restrains himself from pleading with Kris to save him from this predicament. 

   Unfortunately, he concludes there will be no escaping and resigns to help her prepare the meal.

   The food is burnt. Multiple times, in fact. It’s not done intentionally as he’s trying his best to impress his old teacher, but it happens. She only laughs it off and instructs him on how to do it correctly with such kindness; it makes him want to stay longer. He watches Kris chop various vegetables, strangely fascinated. Toriel catches Berdly and gives him a knowing smile that makes him add way too much pepper to their food. 

   When the meal is finished, they sit together at the table. Berdly sits at one end of the table while she takes the seat at the other; Kris decides on the chair closest to their mother. 

   “Wow, Ms. Dreemur! This is truly delightful!” He mumbles out with a beak full of spaghetti. How could he have possibly wanted to get out of this? 

   “Oh, you’re too kind!” She feigns embarrassment and smiles ear to ear. 

   “I see where Kris gets their cooking ability from!” 

   Toriel’s smile turns into a curious grin, “Oh?” She questions in a tone that makes Kris kick him under the table. 

   “Ouch! I mean, ah, yes! Actually, the reason I came here was so Kris could assist me in making a pie. I must say, it turned out amazingly!” For some reason, this makes Toriel tussle Kris’s hair playfully, which they take with a groan. 

   “Honey, I didn’t know the two of you were such close friends!” They groan louder, “Kris would always come home and complain about you bothering them about the overdue book. Or, they’d tell me about how you asked them to play video games again . So, I thought that-” Kris slides out of her grasp, making her scoot back in her chair. 

   “Thought that what?” Berdly asks, intrigued and dying to know more about their true opinion of him.

   “Oh, I shouldn’t. I think they’re quite fed up with me.” She jokes. He opens his mouth to pry further, but Kris kicks him again and the idea is instantly forgotten. 

   “I know I am…!” He says while wincing from the pain.

   “Hehe. You know, they originally asked me to teach them to cook because of my spaghetti. They said it looked like worms in blood! It was so strange, but of course, I let them start helping me…” Toriel continues divulging more information than she should for the rest of the dinner. In between stories, Berdly inquires about certain parts and goes on spiels about random topics. Kris begrudgingly listens and eats their food. 

   He insists on helping her wash the dishes afterward. It’s the smart thing to do- gather more information about his friend and co-streamer. The water runs cold over their hands as the plates are scrubbed more than necessary. 

   Once they finish, Kris practically drags him out the door. It’s slightly humid out, but cool in a way reminiscent of late winter nights. They don’t look at him the entire walk to his house. Their untied shoelaces drag alongside his shoes, which he steps on occasionally and chastises them for, but they don’t bother to fix them. Silence is comfortable this time. He doesn’t feel the need to fill its gaps with meaningless words like he often does. He spends the time observing Kris: their annoying shoelaces, their annoying hair that blows in his face, the annoying small smile that never falters the whole time. When they reach the steps, he forces himself to avert his gaze. 

   His hand rests on the doorknob, “Kris.” He addresses them without turning around, “I wished… I wished that we will continue broadcasting together.” The door is thrown open and slammed shut before they can respond. 

   Berdly stands right at the entrance, shocked at what he just uttered. With his entire body set aflame, he realizes that the fire that is their plan may be more serious than he thought. 

   It’s a dangerous wildfire. One that’s engulfed him without his knowledge. And he fears he can already feel himself crumble to ash. 

   He should talk to Noelle.

Chapter Text

   Talk to Noelle he does not. Berdly can surely figure out this little issue on his own. To even call it an issue is to make a grand hyperbole. Although she is a genius, she lacks expertise in the field of romance, which this ‘situation’ doesn’t really call for. His situation with Kris can’t be described as romance. To outsiders, sure, but that’s a farce. Yes, this is maybe different from other friendships and he doesn’t know what to classify his feelings as, but that doesn’t automatically mean he has feelings for them. 

   It’s a secret third thing. Secret to everyone, including himself. Intrigue, perhaps… That’s it. Kris is quite a mysterious individual, so of course becoming close to them will sprout a form of passion. Not passion, passion, per se. It’s better likened to an investment. No doubt, Susie’s faced the same dilemma. As a certified smart boy, he must know the ins and outs of everything he comes across. If it happens to be them, there’s nothing he can do about it… 

   But learn. The fluttering he feels in his chest is nothing but the drive for knowledge; a drive he will fulfill by learning everything about Kris. If he knows what goes on in the empty caverns of their brains, what makes their neurons fire, this fixation on them will disappear! He needs to up the ante of his live performances. Gauge their reactions to him both on and off screen- and eventually, he’ll have all the puzzle pieces he needs. The best part is that everyone will be none the wiser that this experiment is ever going on. 

   Berdly retrieves an old notepad from the recesses of his drawer and begins a bullet-point list. 

Kris

• Excellent gamer
• Excellent baker
• Smells like apples
• Red eyes
• Number 3 smartest

   Well, it’s a start. He erases ‘smells like apples’ and decides to leave the space blank for now. All that’s left is to schedule another stream with them. One that’s sure to reveal their deepest secrets. 

   “Kris, are you ready for our grand IRL outdoor stream today?!” Berdly exclaims as soon as he opens his front door. Kris still has their fist up from where they had just knocked, not expecting him to be there that fast. Ha, already catching them off guard. 

   Just like the weather, things are heating up … Maybe too hot, actually. Despite his instructions via text , they did not dress for the weather, choosing instead to wear the same outfit they always do. If he looks closely, he can already see a bead of sweat forming on their neck .  

   “...Did you not read my message.” He scoffs, “No, you did! I can see right here that you specifically reacted to the message, where I told you to wear light clothing, with a thumbs up emoticon. You just… chose not to do so? That’s…” Kris rolls their eyes under their bangs. Or he assumes they do, since they turn their head to the side and he can’t actually see anything above their nose. 

   “You are aware that it’s almost 90 degrees today, are you not? I even sent you the weather forecast, Kris! For you to so blatantly ignore my request, I can’t help but think,” Berdly pauses to actually think. Could it be that he was too obvious in his texts? Too eager to do a stream outside that they saw through him and discovered his secret plan, “...you did this on purpose?” 

   They cross their arms and continue giving him the cold shoulder in response. Maybe not, “Hmph. Well… you’re going to have to change if we’re to do this stream. Do you happen to have a set of spare clothes on you…? Actually, nevermind, you don’t have a semblance of foresight. How about… I'll, ah… lend you some of mine? No, I insist. Just- come in…!” Before he or Kris can change their minds, he grabs their wrist to drag them up to his room. They let their hand dangle in his grasp as they lazily follow behind him. His parents are home, so he wishes they would pick up the pace, but the two manage to go unnoticed. He gently closes the door behind them.

   “Unbelievable,” He mutters under his breath, turning around to find Kris standing awkwardly by his shelves, “You can take a seat on my bed, if you’d like… I must ask, did you not have any other options to wear today?  I mean, surely you realize that an old sweater is hardly fit for a hot day! I can handle it, of course, but you humans aren’t as adaptable!” They glare up at him from the bed, annoyed. Berdly feels himself sweat, even though he’s the one correctly dressed for the heat. He clears his throat and begins to rummage through his closet. After a couple hmm’s and ahh’s- and much deliberation - he unveils the outfit he’s picked out for Kris.  

   In each hand he holds a hanger, one holding a graphic t-shirt and the other a pair of khaki shorts, "Even though I hate to do it… I shall lend you my clothes. Keyword, LEND! These are some of my best and you're lucky you even get to wear them, alright? I just… don't feel like treating you, in the RNG you catch heat stroke." He finishes with a huff and tosses the clothes at Kris's head. They let the garments slowly slide off onto their lap before reading the shirt:

   Video Games HAVE TAUGHT ME THAT If You Are FIGHTING ENEMIES On Your Journey YOU ARE GOING THE RIGHT WAY 

   “I suppose, you can… change… here. I’ll- I’ll stand watch outside the door!” He slams the door behind him before Kris can comment, then silently curses himself for slamming the door loudly. 

   Outside the room, Berdly pulls his trusty notepad from his pocket and a wooden pencil from behind his non-existent earlobe. Glancing over his shoulder at the closed-off room, he quickly scribbles, in neat handwriting, a new point onto the list. 

• Either purposefully ignores my advice or is fatuous. 

   After going over his work, he nods his head in silent agreement and returns his research tools to their previous locations. Hinges hesitantly creak behind him.  

    “Ah, Kris! I wasn’t doing-” Berdly whips around in fear that he’s been spotted and stops in his tracks. Before him stands Kris, dressed in one of his signature outfits. To any onlookers, it’s evident that the clothes on their body don’t belong to them. The graphic tee hangs farther than any fitting shirt should. If it was any longer, it’d be a dress on them. The shorts, while still at an acceptable height, go past their knees. He’s not much larger than them in stature, but he prefers looser garments, so the difference is drastic. 

   It’s a fashion crime. No respectable person would ever imagine wearing something so obviously not suited for them. But. For some reason, Berdly finds… It suits them. 

   “Right- ahem…! We’re late enough as is, we shouldn’t dawdle!” Berdly waves both them and his thoughts off, “...What- Why does it matter what I think?! It’s…You look… passable! Thanks to the mere fact it’s my clothing, no doubt! …You’d- You’d get a D+ on it! Is that an acceptable answer for you?! Please, let us go forth on our journey, and stop asking idiotic questions!” 

   The main issue with doing an outdoor stream isn’t the weather or potential people you may come across , but where it will take place . If they lived in an urban area, there’d be dozens upon dozens of interesting places for them to visit. In Hometown, they have about… none. It’s never bothered Berdly before now. Why would he go outside anyway when there are games indoors? All he ever goes out for is school, work, and sunbathing. 

   Only today, with Kris’s phone camera pointed at his face, does he realize this town is dreadfully small. 

   “No, Prunsel. Thank you for your 5 dollars, but we’re not just ‘walking around’ for the whole day! That’s ludicrous! We’re…” Berdly points at the camera defensively, “It’s…! It’s a far walk to our destination! And the whole point of today is that we’re not speedrunning! Be patient!” He sneakily looks at Kris for help on where to go. They don’t have telepathy, but he hopes they’ll know what he’s thinking just by his face, and it seems like they do. Free from the camera’s view, they shrug and snicker at him. 

   “...Damnit.” He murmurs and storms off down the street. To where exactly… no one knows. But if there’s a will, there’s a way he’ll magically find somewhere to make content. Sans’s store is automatically disqualified. He doesn’t bother to give it a second thought as they walk by; it’s just a no. They’d be accosted the moment they entered. There are plenty enough unfunny jokes from Kris , Berdly doesn’t need a middle-aged skeleton adding to it.

   Peering inside the windows, he can see the exact booth they sat on before. People do film inside restaurants, don’t they? Kris almost bumps into him as he abruptly stops at the storefront. 

   “Kris, what do you say we enter QC’s? The last time we went was a… pleasant… experience! It could be fun?” Berdly asks with a coy smile. This is where they made it official. Officially, friends, that is. He can’t help the wistful sigh that escapes him while Kris presses the phone against the glass. Within the diner, Catti’s ears flatten when she sees them. He witnesses this and swings the door open regardless.

   “...No.” Catti says bluntly. 

   “Wha- What?! We haven’t even done anything to merit this!” He sputters.

   “No recording allowed… It’s our policy.”

   “Ha! Since when?!” 

   “...Now.” The door is promptly closed right in front of Berdly’s beak. He spins around with his hands on his hips and an awkward expression on his face, “Ah… It appears they’re closed! How unfortunate… Be quiet, Kris...”  Kris silently suppresses a laugh and steps back to make way for him. No matter, there’s an ICE-E'S P”E”ZZA right next door. It might not be the finest establishment, but honestly? That makes it better than the diner. More entertainment equals more content. 

   “Think of it like an old circus!” He explains to the audience, “You don’t pay for tickets to eat the food- the food is nauseating! It’s more of a… how do I put this? …It’s more of a freakshow. This is where the lowest of the low go for work as soon as they flunk out of school. Speaking of which- when is Susie’s next shift, Kris?” 

   There’s a hasty apology thrown out as they enter the pizzeria. 

   Berdly is already regretting his decision as soon as they step foot in the establishment. Ignoring- but nearly stepping into the massive puddle of pizza sauce, he walks up to the register and requests their order all by himself. Not that he had much of a choice, but he did it valiantly . Like a true gentleman. Kris doesn’t appreciate his chivalry, apparently. They’re recording a worker in the back tossing dough in the air. With one hand, he turns the camera back to his face.

   “That’s impolite, Kris. Have a semblance of decency, for Heaven's sake!” He chastises them as they slowly pan back to the worker, who now has dough on their face, “...Let us find a table.” 

   Now at the cleaner-looking table of the two, Berdly fights with Kris’s phone. The wide distance between his seat and theirs makes it difficult to capture both of them in view. Whenever he manages to get the right angle, the phone slides back down with a thud. Tilting it doesn’t help. Taking half of the napkins from their holder and forming a makeshift tripod doesn’t help either , somehow . If only there were a smarter way to do this. How do streamers typically do it? He sticks his tongue out the side of his beak as he attempts a much better method. 

   After another minute of fumbling with the camera, he glances up, exasperated, to find Kris is no longer sitting in front of him. He turns his head to the side and is met with their bemused expression. The phone practically leaps from his hands as he jumps. Cooly, he scrambles to catch it across the table. 

   “Ha, I- I didn’t see you there! I wasn't alarmed by your presence, I merely…” Berdly picks up the first thing he sees, “...had the desire to grab napkins! It’s, ahem, sweltering in here. Not surprising that a place like this can’t afford to put in an air conditioning unit…” Using an ungodly number of napkins, he dabs the sweat off his forehead. He’s NOT sweating because of Kris. It’s not like they’re making him nervous just by sitting near him! Sure, it wasn’t hot in the building before, but the weather is unpredictable.  

   “Curse you, climate change…” He mutters under his breath. Seemingly oblivious to his plight, Kris props the phone up against a ketchup bottle. They scoot an inch closer to him as they do so. Ugh. It’s not fair that they can remain so level-headed through all of this. 

   If only… If only there were a way to throw them off their guard. He’s out to learn everything possible about them, so what can he do to make them feel as he does at this very moment ? The heat doesn’t seem to bother them; their heat resistance stat has probably been upped from wearing that sweater 24/7. 

   Perhaps… they would be vulnerable to his charms. Berdly hasn’t met a single person that wouldn’t fall for his rizz, whether he did it intentionally or not. Kris doesn’t seem interested, but all he needs is to lay it on thick! It’s genius. He can find out more about them based on how they react and give the audience content at the same time . Two birds with one stone! 

   Before anyone can process it, and question if it’s truly a good idea, Berdly throws his arm over Kris’s shoulder. 

   “Hm.” He says, totally normal.

   “I wonder when our pizza pie will be finished. I haven’t had to wait this long since I preordered Donkey King Bonanza! Ha… I still haven’t received my copy of that…” Still normal, pointedly looking up at the ceiling. He gauges Kris’s reaction from the corner of his eye. They quickly whip their head in the opposite direction, smacking him in the face with their hair. A greasy uncut pizza is laid onto the table, nearly knocking over the stream in the process . The waiter places a knife on top of it. Berdly’s arm jolts back to his side. 

   “Much appreciated!” He sputters out to the employee already walking away, “...Kris, I hate to say I told you so, which I did, but this looks absolutely inedible… And you’re consuming it! Kris!” Kris has cut themselves a slice directly from the middle with no regard for the crust. With a mouth full of slop, they get another horribly cut piece and shove it in Berdly’s direction. There’s no escape. His only exit is blocked by this biohazard-wielding monster. Considering dropping all decorum and leaping over the back of the booth, he scoots all the way against the wall. He can only watch in horror as it slowly makes its way closer and closer to his beak…

   xXapesscreamingXx donated $8: they just flirting while his mod calls him out in chat LOL  

   Completely caught off guard, and now free from the pizza, Berdly whips out his own phone to view the chat. The messages are flying by faster than normal . It’s impossible to try and scroll up and find it on his own. After a moment of struggling to remember, he types a command prompt to show all of Noelle’s previous comments. 

   holidaygirl1225: OMG sorry I’m late… Is Kris wearing your lucky shirt??? Or am I going nuts??? XD 

   Kris’s wide grin slowly faded to confusion as they leaned in to see the message for themself. Upon further inspection, it seems he has , indeed, given them his lucky shirt. It hasn’t been his lucky shirt for what feels like centuries, so how was he supposed to realize that? Sure, looking at it now, he can see how faded the colors are and how tattered the seams are, but he wasn’t thinking about that! He was thinking about Kris and their desperate need for a better outfit! And- 

   “Sorry to cut it short folks, but I’ve foolishly forgotten that I’m scheduled to work today! It just, ah, slipped my mind. It happens to everyone! I’m not ending the stream because of that , of course not, coincidences happen all the time… A-And, for the record, we were NOT flirting! Goodbye, chatters!” 

   His phone immediately begins ringing, still powered on in his hands. Berdly quickly excuses himself to take the call and waits for Kris to slowly scoot their way out of the booth. He almost slips on the puddle of sauce that no one has bothered to clean up on his way out. After stepping to the side of the restaurant, he hesitantly accepts the call. 

   “Are you, like, okay?? Cheezus, that was… weird to watch…” 

   “Are you manifesting my downfall?! First, Kris, now you, Noelle! My best friend, betraying me! Trying to destroy my online reputation…! Why would you mention the shirt?!” Berdly yells at the speaker in a hushed tone. 

   “...Huh? Sorry… I didn’t think it’d be a big deal? I mean, I thought you gave them your clothes to like… make people think you’re together? That’s the whole point of your guys' streams… I just thought it’d help if I said something about it!” 

   “Well- Yes! That was the intention! The idea behind the livestreams, not… I don’t know.” 

   “You… don’t know? Don’t know what??” Her confused expression is almost visible through her voice.

   “My feelings...” He whispers dramatically, sweat pouring off of him. There’s a blatant silence on the other line. Berdly solemnly hangs his head as he waits for Noelle’s response.

   “...Um. You-”  

   “It’s true! I - I, the smartest man around, am feeling conflicted… about my feelings,” He peeks around the corner to make sure there are no prying ears , “ My feelings… towards my co host …”  

   “Wha- w-wait, Berdly-” 

   “At first, I believed it was stemming from my drive for knowledge! I considered speaking to you privately, but no, foolish as I am… I thought I could handle the situation on my own. That there was no situation to be dealt with! I’m starting to see now… that I was wrong.” 

   “Hold- Hold on! You, uh, have a crush on Kris…?” Noelle stammers out before Berdly can begin ranting again. 

   “Well, I- I mean… Is that what you think this is? A… crush?!” He asks her. 

   “Uh,” Her phone picks up the sounds of her fidgeting with something in the middle of the quiet, “I… I don’t really know how you feel, Berdly. I guess it’d explain a lot…” 

   He takes off his glasses to wipe the fog from its lenses , deep in thought . Just the idea of having a crush on Kris would be shocking to him a month ago, but now, he’s not sure what to make of it. Sure, they’re almost as competent as both Noelle and him in the smarts department. Intelligence is attractive. That’s why he’s such a lady killer, of course. On the other wing, Kris is extremely infuriating. They achieve levels of annoyance previously thought unfeasible. Five minutes ago, they were trying to make him eat ICE ‘E’ PEZZA! If he truly does… have those feelings for them, it seems they’re immune to his charms. So much so… they may even despise him. Only someone with a secret vendetta would pull the stunts they do. 

   Berdly sighs deeply, “There’s no point in discussing it further. Even if I did… any efforts I make… will be for nought.” 

   “What? Come on, Berdly, you can’t just tell me about this and then give up on it! They already agreed to pretend to flirt with you, would they really hate you doing it for real?” She pleads. 

   “It’s- It’s not flirting. It’s masquerading to outsiders that we have deeply hidden affection for one another.” He corrects with a mutter, crossing his arm against his chest even though she can’t see him. 

   “...Harhar, very funny. But, y’know, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be with someone even if it’s… pointless... Which, I don’t think it is! You guys would, um, be good together? Like… in the way that you’re both really weird ?” He chooses to ignore that last sentence; her nonexistent pay is most definitely getting docked later.

   “Alright. Noelle, you’ve lowered my hesitance bar by about 54%! If I do go through with this, what’s the next step?” 

   “Uh, to go home and think about it? …Wait, where’s Kris? Did you just leave them in there?”

   “Ha, indeed I did! I will…! Go deal with that! …Maybe?” 

   “Yeah???” He disconnects the call. There is no longer a need for advice- for now, he’ll definitely need her advice later- there is only a need to conclude his day with Kris… Kris, who he is confirmed to have a romantic interest in. He has to go in there… and talk to them… and not do anything about it? What does ‘thinking about it’ even entail? Surely, that means he should halt any behavior that could reflect on his current sensibilities… Or should he set them free into the wild like a bad pet in Cat Petters? …Not doing anything different may be the best option. Just act normal. His cool , awesome, normal persona. 

   He saunters back to his abandoned friend with his feathers puffed as far as they can go . There’s no point in smoothing them down. That would show nervousness in his actions.

   “Th- They always do that,” Berdly states as he stands in front of Kris, who has made their way back to their previous seat. They were deeply invested in an ASMR soap-cutting video, “Actually, forget I said anything! Let me assist you on your journey home! With no ulterior motives!” He offers his hand to them, then quickly takes it back. Apparently, they didn’t notice it and wordlessly walked ahead of him. Berdly scuttles to catch up with them. 

   Unlike their previous walk, there’s no silence, just meaningless video game knowledge. Words spill out of him so fast he’s not even sure that what he’s saying is true. Part of him sort of hopes that Kris, in their strange wisdom, will notice a mistake and call him out on it. They don’t. He kind of wishes they’d make a snarky comment or teasing remark right now like they usually do. With the combination of today’s weather and the heat in his face, Kris’s cool words would be… familiar, at least; even if they’d undoubtedly agitate him. Almost as if they’d heard his prayers, they mumble beside him. 

   Berdly stops in his tracks , “You- You wished we could’ve hung out longer?!” They scoff and start walking off without him, “It’s not that I don’t share the sentiment! Ugh, slow down! I’m just… shocked, is all. Really!”

   The two of them are already on Kris’s driveway. Enigmatically, they don’t go to open the door, despite their hurry to leave mere seconds ago. Are they… waiting for him to say something? He starts to say something, then stops out of fear it’ll be the wrong thing . Maybe it’d be wise to put Noelle’s words into practice. Be truthful. Not truthful, truthful, but a smidgen wouldn’t hurt. 

   “I’d- Ahem. If it would please you… I wouldn’t be opposed to game together tomorrow evening? I’ll have to check my schedule, of course! And well, it’d have to be after school, we can’t skip our education…” He nervously pushes his glasses up out of habit, “That sounds ‘good’ to you? Excellent! I will, ah, see you then?” 

   Kris chuckles at that, for reasons unknown that make Berdly simultaneously peeved and flustered, and walks inside. Left alone outside their house, he doesn’t do anything but stare at the empty air in front of him. It’s not long enough to be considered loitering. He’s escaped justice once, he doesn’t need to test his luck once again. But he looks and ponders at the spot they used to take up. 

   Then, he skips the entire way to his job. Even the fact that he’s not actually scheduled to work today can’t dampen his mood. Worrying about anything related to his new VN route will have to wait. It’s important to celebrate beating a level , it makes all the other victories even sweeter! 

   Plus, they let him behind the counter besides the fact! 

   He smothers himself with his pillow at night; the reality of his situation dawning on him.

Chapter Text

   “What- this looks nothing like me! Why am I so malnourished…? And why is Kris the buff one?!” Berdly complained as he began to furiously type on his brand-new keyboard. With all the attention the channel’s getting, he decided it would be alright to splurge on a little treat for himself. It just came in the mail today. It’s a beautifully crafted mechanical keyboard, outfitted with RGB lights and keys that make a satisfying clacking noise. There’s no doubt in his mind that it’ll make Kris envious once they see it… and he’s absolutely demolishing it. 

   All evening, he’s been stuck scrolling on social media, leaving argumentative comments under any post he sees fit. As to how he got here, he’s ah… not actually sure. Originally, he was going to be productive once he returned home from school! He must’ve blacked out in between then and now. That’s the only sane explanation for his actions. Purposefully seeking out the hashtags of the ship between you and your friend/new crush is embarrassing. So… that’s not what he did. Berdly cautiously double checks that he’s on his alternate account instead of his main before posting his hate comment. 

   Almost instantly, he receives a reply about how obvious it is that this is Berdly and questioning if he knows ‘it’s legal now’. He hurries to click off the tab. Whatever, he was about to get off of it anyways. It wouldn’t be smart to have Kris walk in on him looking at fanart of them. Maybe he should finally do what he was planning on doing. His awesome gamer chair squeaks as he swivels around, looking for a task.

   Noelle helped him finish their homework at school, and there’s no use studying on his own, so academics aren’t an option. He would tidy the area up if there was anything to tidy. Keeping his room pristine is one of his top priorities- can’t have dust ruining his collection. There’s no sense in leaving a mess in his man cave. Well, there is sense in the single mess he currently has. Berdly’s eyes drift over to the ground by the foot of his bed. 

   Kris’s sweater hasn’t moved at all since they left it on his floor, its sleeves spread out in a way that Berdly has to tip-toe around it. He’s chosen to not look too hard at it since he first spotted it. Just the sight of having dirty clothes lying around makes him uncomfortable. However, it feels like it’d be an invasion of privacy to touch a garment that is clearly so precious to his compatriot. They wear the thing everywhere and they were forced to leave it behind in his domicile. Sure, it was absolutely their fault for being so careless, but he’ll keep it exactly how they left it regardless. Even though the thing is probably covered in goat fur. He winces and swivels back around. 

   The minutes tick by slowly on his phone. Kris said they had something to attend to before they could come over and foolishly, Berdly told them to show up at any time. Really, any time? He restrains himself from flipping his phone over again to see if an hour has somehow gone by in five seconds. If he knew when they’d show up, maybe he could watch a video or play a round of Super Smashing Fighters, but he doesn’t! Heavens, he went as far as to say it would be fine for them to just walk straight in his house without knocking first. In fact, he left the door unlocked! Why on Earth would he do that? It’s barely been a day since he realized he had… feelings of a certain nature… and he’s already acting like a buffoon! Maybe he scared them off and that’s why they’re still not here at- he checks the clock despite the fact he told himself not to- 6:27 PM. The desk shakes as he slams his elbows onto it, hands slowly dragging up his face while he loudly groans. 

   Quietly, his bedroom door creaks open, like the person behind is hesitant to fully open it. Of course, it’s Kris. What marvelous timing. They’re probably scared since he was… making strange noises like a wild animal. He suppresses another groan of embarrassment to look up at them.  

   Kris is wearing the same exact sweater as the one that resides on the floor behind Berdly. They didn’t have that on at school, did they? Sure, he purposefully avoided looking at them, afraid that he’d somehow make a fool of himself, but… He wipes his glasses clean and fixes them back on his face to ensure he’s not seeing things. 

   Barely audible, he realizes, “Is that- You… Own multiple of the same sweater…I see…” How could he be so foolish? How could Kris be so weird? Of all people he could’ve chosen to fall for, it had to be them? He sighs dramatically. The heart wants what it wants. 

   “Ahem,” He rushes over and opens the door, making a grand sweeping gesture for them to enter, “Your knitted apparel is right there. I monitored its safety for the duration of its stay, so I’m glad to inform you it was not damaged in any way! Ah, ah, no need to thank me! Returning it to you and seeing the smile it brings you is thanks enough…” The grin on Kris’s face isn’t what he’d describe as appreciative or adoring… more like they’re trying their damndest to not make fun of him, but it’s a smile, nonetheless. Berdly fake coughs away the giddy feeling it gives him. 

    After picking their sweater off of the ground, Berdly motions for them to sit down. He considers fussing at them for messing up his perfectly made bed; in lieu, he opts to shove a controller at them and then, more considerately, take a seat beside them. Kris doesn’t waste a second, pulling up Super Smashing Fighters on his tv before Berdly can get prepared. 

  “Ha, I must warn you Kris. In the days since our last session, I’ve been honing my skills! Even with your cheat codes and hack clients, I doubt you’ll beat me. You’re lucky we’re not streaming at the moment, because if we were… the fail compilations would be legendary!” Kris rolls their eyes and lightly shoves him. He muffles a squawk while they browse the character select screen, not even bothering to look at Falci. Berdly’s cursor immediately goes to his favorite blue bird main but pauses. 

   “Uh, b- before we begin! There’s a topic I wish for you to propound. It’s about our little… act … I was pondering it earlier. Brainstorming, as one might say. Receiving hundreds of thunderbolts of ideas! In my internal discussion I realized a very big flaw in our current operations: We… don’t actually do anything romantic Sure, people will see us look at one another once and run with it, but that’s too simple!” Berdly stops mid-rant to compose himself. His feathers, which poofed up without his knowledge, are quickly smoothed out along with the creases in his shirt. The controller in Kris’s hand stills as they stare at him. 

   “It’s good enough for content now, but what about in a week? A fortnight? People will get bored of the same shtick! There’s no entertaining gameplay loop to be had! So, I have a proposition. Or perhaps an addition to my previous proposition. I believe, after putting countless hours of thought into the matter… that we should ‘up the ante’ for our little charade. Wait, I already know what you’re going to ask! ‘ Oh, but Berdly, how do we ‘up the ante’ exactly? ’ Let me tell you, my dear companion.” Pulling items off the shelf, Berdly displays multiple DVD cases to Kris, “...I hear your questions, Kris. Yes, I did show you movies instead of telling you what my suggestion was... BUT! This! Is actually my suggestion! Well, part of it. You see, these films and shows of the romantic variety will be our study guide on how to improve our performance! All we have to do is copy moments we observed in front of the camera and people will love it! In fact, we can even watch them right now! …If you’d like?” 

   Kris looks longingly at the controller in their hands, then at Berdly. He feels his face heat up under their gaze. They slowly, and maybe hesitantly, nod. 

   “Alright!” Berdly puts both of their controllers back before Kris can reconsider and spreads the DVDs across his bed, “Hmmmmm. Which one will start off our movie marathon…?” 

   The first movie they watched wasn’t the greatest. Nor was the one after that.

   “Hm? Where did I get these from…? You see, Noelle has a wide collection of DVDs in her room, so I simply borrowed some from her! …Yes, that might be why they’ve all been about Christmas…” Multiple hours have already been spent with nothing to show for it. His trusty notepad, which he’s been hiding on his side opposite of Kris, has gone neglected. It’s yearning for information, ideas, …or really anything at this point. But these pointless Hallmark films are providing nothing. It’s been the same plot both times and Berdly can’t exactly do anything festive-adjacent in the middle of summer. 

   The only plot beat they could possibly follow, besides the typical meet cute, is getting engaged and it’s a bit too soon for that. Not that he’s seriously considering it! They’re both still so young and he needs to keep his options open; a man of his caliber will have all sorts of suitors looking for his hand! That type of commitment just isn’t for him at the moment, no matter how appealing it may be to see Kris in a suit… or dress… or whatever they might wear… A horrible image of Kris at the altar wearing their same outfit flashes in his mind. He shudders.

   “...Is this really the only outfit you own? Perhaps… you own something more formal…?” Kris pauses their current movie to give him a sour face, “I mean- there’s nothing wrong with it! It- It suits you! …Actually! Forget I mentioned it!” Berdly stutters as he snatches the remote from them and quickly presses play. 

   “I actually got recommended this one from the Teenz Corner in the library.” Berdly interrupts the episode they’re watching for the tenth time. Kris lazily turns their head from where it’s nested into his pillows, not paying any attention to the show. Their marathon has gone on for a while now, the bedroom lights getting turned off somewhere along the way to copy the dimmed sun outside; the flatscreen mounted upon the wall illuminates the foot of his bed with a blue glow. It just barely reaches the side of Kris’s face, but Berdly is fully in it, trying his best to make mental notes of the anime. This isn’t suitable lighting to use his notepad in. 

   He leans in as the main characters do the same. Really observing the way they look into each other’s wide, sparkly eyes while their fingers interlock. They slowly lean in with fluttering eyelashes, the distance between them growing smaller and smaller. 

   “This can’t possibly be serious! Are they about to kiss?! There’s been no buildup! Where’s the anticipation?! The intrigue?! Whoever recommended this is utterly tasteless,” He quickly calms himself and lowers the volume of his voice, not wanting to wake anyone up, “Imagine starting up a game and having the plot twist revealed immediately. See, it’s animes like this that gives the whole genre a bad image! I can’t stand another minute of this.” He grabs the remote and presses pause before placing it out of reach on his desk. Stuck on the TV is a frame of their faces mere centimeters apart, lips parted and horrible side profiles on full display. It reminds him of a few pieces of fan art he saw prior… Poorly made. Berdly scoffs and flops down onto the bed next to Kris. 

   “I suppose the overtime clock has run out.” He looks at Kris, who has all but made themself at home. Their eyes are on him, but it’s obvious they’re desperately fighting off sleep and losing. They’re not planning on falling asleep here, are they? 

   “Kris,” Berdly picks up Kris’s hand by the wrist and lightly shakes it, “Krissss… You aren’t permitted to sleep here! My parents don’t even know you’re over!” Their eyes open wide, but they still don’t make any attempt to get up. They barely even move their head, just making quick glances between him and his hand grabbing theirs. Curse his heart, making an action as simple as touching their wrist awkward. If they didn’t think he was odd before, they definitely do now. 

   He can’t help the nervousness bubbling up in his throat, “Uh… This is… I- I figured I should test out some of the moves I saw from the anime. Yeah, accidental hand holding and grazing is a staple in romantic animated media! Ha, you weren’t aware of that? Have you really been half asleep this entire time?” Kris makes a noise in response. Maybe out of embarrassment, or agreement… or annoyance- Berdly can never tell with them, but hopefully it means they bought his excuse. 

   Quietly, they slip out of his grasp. Not breaking eye contact, they intertwine their fingers with his in a tight grip. They’re… holding hands. His mouth falls agape. Sure, he was, in a way, holding their hand before, but this is a whole different level! He’s never held hands with anyone! It feels like electricity is shooting out from between their palms and traveling throughout his entire body.

   “Kris?! What on Earth are you…! Wh- I- I know what I said! …Yes, it’s an excellent idea for us both to… level up our charisma stat before our next stream, but…” The words die at the tip of his beak. Kris has fully turned their attention to the anime they hadn’t cared about the entire time, ignoring him. It doesn’t seem like they’re affected by the situation in the slightest. Whatever, two can play at that game! A tiny huff escapes Berdly as he tries to mimic them, staring at the frozen screen and not thinking about anything else at all. 

   Very quickly, he gives up and very subtly peeks at Kris. With the television’s hue highlighting their features, they look almost surreal. The wispy edges of their hair shine in the light while the rest of them blends in with the room. It’s like a dream: sitting here, his rival’s shoulder touching his, their hand in his that’s getting a little sweaty from how hot he is… Maybe he died from shock, and this is all the makings of his mind. 

   Kris locks eyes with him. Before he can stutter out an excuse for his staring problem, they make an exaggerated show of wiping their now free hand on their sweater. Any ounce of admiration is instantly vaporized. 

   “Wha- I should be the one doing that, not you!” He exclaims while furiously rubbing his feathers all over his shirt, “It’s- It is unbelievable how uncivilized you are! First, you weren’t viewing the anime, and now…! And here I thought you were actually invested in putting more effort into baiting our audience! I should have known!” They only giggle and put their hands up to shield themselves from his tantrum. 

   Once Berdly calms down and Kris starts to leave, he deflates. Oh, to have fallen for someone so insistent on trolling him. How will he ever pursue a relationship with them when any sliver of romance is turned into a joke? In the chance that he does succeed, what if they see it as part of their clickbait? He lets out a dramatic sigh, which Kris snickers at.

   Halfway out his window- Berdly assured them it would be fine to leave through the front door, they didn’t listen- Kris stops. They turn around and give him the finger, accompanied by a genuine smile. Despite his annoyance, he unwittingly grins back. It doesn’t leave him as he watches them walk away without bothering to close the window behind them. 

   Ah, even despite their unruly behavior, he finds himself enamored. Sure, there’s a chance it’ll never turn fruitful, but what is love if not a series of challenges one must face? They may be esoteric in nature, but he’s a prodigy, and he’ll be damned if he lets it end his run. 

   “Wow, Kris! That play was quite… sugoi, if I may say!” Berdly comments in Kris’s livestream chat.

   brothers.dirty: @LevelUpLegends yeah go ahead and log off bro 🥀