Chapter Text
“H-Hey Susie!” Noelle’s voice spoke from over the phone. “My mom isn’t gonna be home today so I was just wondering if you’d like to come over to my house today. Uhm… if you’re free, that is.”
“Oh, sure! I’d love to!”
“Really??” Noelle sounded overjoyed. “That’s great! I’ll—”
“Can Kris come too?”
The line was silent for a moment.
“Uhm?? Sure?? Yeah??”
“Awesome! We’ll be right over!”
Outside the Holiday Residence, a blanket of snow draped over the lawn. Snowflakes glistened as they swirled in the air.
Susie and Kris were messing around outside while Noelle was inside making hot cocoa. They both played in the snow, even making a snowman together. Susie built the body while Kris used random junk from their inventory to make the face and arms.
The face was lopsided, one arm was way bigger than the other, and the head was bigger than the body. Seriously, it was a shock it could even stay balanced.
“Haha, it looks terrible.” Susie grinned. “I wish Ralsei could be here to see this. I bet he’d love to do dumb stuff like play in the snow and make a snowman. I’d throw a bunch of snowballs in his face.”
Susie snickered at the thought, but then her smile faltered.
“It sucks that Ralsei can’t come to the real world and do all this fun winter crap with us. I wish there was some way we could all hang out together like this with him.”
Kris was quiet, as usual.
“Ah.. sorry for getting all sappy. We can always have fun with Ralsei in other ways.”
Susie sat down on the shoveled pavement leading up to Noelle’s house. Kris sat down beside her.
“Isn’t it crazy how huge Noelle’s house is? It looks like a castle.” Susie commented. “I love to visit her house, it’s cool as hell. But I also love going to your house, you know? Yours is nice and cozy.”
Susie looked toward Kris and noticed their cheeks were awfully flushed from the cold.
“Dude, your face is super red,” She said, “You need me to warm it up or something?”
She proceeded to take her hand out of her glove and place it on Kris’s cold cheek.
Kris’s eyes widened.
“Hey, what the hell? Your face got even more red.” She snickered.
Embarrassed, Kris looked away. However, their expression softened and they gently nuzzled their face into Susie’s touch.
Susie froze, her eyes now widening as well.
“K-Kris?” She blushed, but quickly recovered her composure, “Damn, guess you really were cold, huh.”
The moment was suddenly interrupted by the door swinging up and a familiar voice.
“Kris, Susie? Are you—”
Susie flinched away from Kris, as if burned, and turned her head to see Noelle staring at the two. “N-Noelle!”
Noelle was silent as she looked at Susie, and then Kris, and then Susie again. Her face appeared almost… frustrated?
“Uhm…? I just wanted to say the hot cocoa is ready…” Noelle spoke, confusion evident in her voice.
“Oh, sweet!” Susie nearly jumped from where she was sitting, “Kris, you coming?”
Kris was still for a moment, but they eventually stood up and joined Noelle and Susie inside.
“(…Let’s not talk about what happened back there.)” Susie whispered to Kris.
Inside the Holiday Residence, Noelle guided Kris and Susie to the kitchen. There on the island were three cups of hot cocoa. Each had a swirl of whipped cream, a drizzle of hot fudge, and a long peppermint stick poking out. Susie could feel herself salivate from the warm chocolatey smell.
Not wasting any time, Susie brought the mug up to her face and began chugging it down. She pulled away and noticed Noelle staring at her.
“Holy shit, that’s really good!” Susie exclaimed, eyebrows raised.
Noelle was still staring, this time giggling a bit to herself.
“What? Is there something on my face?”
“N-no!” Noelle stuttered, blushing a little.
Suddenly, Kris reached out and wiped the whipped cream off of Susie’s face. They then licked the whipped cream off of their hand.
Maybe she was imagining things, but Susie could’ve sworn she saw Noelle’s eye twitch.
“…Anyways! I’m really glad you like the hot cocoa. I remember Dess used to make it like this all the time. When Kris and Azzy would come over, we’d all hang out by the fireplace as we drank hot cocoa. I remember one time I sat extra close because I was freezing after Kris hit me right in the face with a snowball!”
Susie laughed. “You did that, Kris? Pfft, that’s hilarious! Hey, after this we should all go out and have a snowball fight.”
“That would be really fun!” Noelle smiled.
Susie turned her attention to Kris again.
“Dude, Kris, you alright? You haven’t touched your hot cocoa. You better have some before I steal it and drink it all.” Susie teased. However, her threat wasn’t entirely empty.
“Fahaha, you really like it that much? I’ll make sure to make more for you the next time you come over. O-oh, and for you too, Kris!”
Kris picked up the mug and took a sip.
“See, Kris? Isn’t it great?”
Kris nodded, a faint smile on their face.
It was sort of… cute.
Cute? …The hell am I thinking?
“Hey, Susie,” Noelle spoke suddenly, “Thank you for coming over.” She smiled, her voice soft. “I enjoy spending time with you and Kris.”
“Of course, man! This was super fun, we should hang out like this more often.”
Noelle blushed. “Y-yeah, we should!”
Noelle was smiling warmly. Her cheeks were always kinda red when she was around Susie.
Absent-mindedly, Susie wondered what Noelle’s hair tasted like. She already knew Kris’s hair tastes like apples. Noelle’s hair probably tastes like cinnamon or nutmeg. Maybe Noelle would let her taste her shampoo some time…?
Susie was drawn from her thoughts when she noticed Kris smiling again. She wasn’t sure what they were smiling about, but she caught herself staring. There was something special about that smile. They didn’t really… emote often, so she found it sweet when they did.
Jeez, I need to stop thinking weird things.
She took a slow drink of her cocoa, trying to hide the heat in her face.