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This was always bound to happen.
He was an irresistible bird after all, so it was no wonder he had both monsters and humans alike fighting for his hand in the tantalizing world of romance.
Having fair maidens such as Noelle and Susie fall for him, capturing the heart of Kris, someone who was just as skilled in games as he himself was, and even catching the attention of another adorable fluffy monster guy (Ralsei) from afar too, he truly had a diverse cast of people just itching to be with him.
Of course, hearing all their love confessions to him all at once, under the cherry blossom tree behind school like they were all in the climax of some romcom together, was enough to make even the best of birds when it came to multitasking feel overwhelmed. I mean each of them all had their own charms that choosing any single one of them had been impossible.
Noelle had always been ever dedicated to him, she had always stuck by his side from the very beginning even when no one else had and she was the sole reason he was the smart bird he was today because of how much she had taken the time to teach him things.
However, Susie was great in the aspect that she was the first person that really assured him that it didn’t matter if he was smart or dumb, since true friends would always still care about him no matter how high his IQ level was (even if it was pretty high by itself).
Kris on the other hand felt like one of his only proper rivals in the world, they were not only one of the few people that could keep up with him, but they also inspired him to work harder too with how surprisingly skilled they could be in certain aspects as well. Kris was his number one gamer rival for life and they did always say to make sure to keep your enemies close, so what better way to keep a rival close to him then by getting into a romantic relationship with them?
And when it came to Ralsei he was… He was… Well, he was there too!
Ah, what was he saying? There were many great qualities about the other goat too! He hadn’t known the other man as long as the rest of them, but Ralsei really was surprisingly doting when it came to the people he cared about. He was always checking in on him making sure he was alright, he was always making him cakes so he could refuel in the middle of a particularly challenging gaming sensation, and he was always helping clean up around him too and as a neat freak like him, he found that last quality very attractive. Plus, he couldn’t forget to mention that as a bonus that Ralsei was a real cutie too.
If Ralsei had been a Princess trapped in a castle, then he surely would’ve dropped everything to rescue him with his heroic skills right away.
Noelle, Susie, Kris, and Ralsei, they were all such amazing choices for partners that he did the only reasonable thing anyone would do in the situation and decided to go out with them all at once! I mean a gamer knew how to spread their love to multiple games so why couldn’t they do it with multiple people too?
Which is how in the end he managed to convince each of his friends to join in one massive polycule over their united love for him.
“That’s not what happened at all,” Susie cut into the blue bird’s delusions fantasies and said.
It was almost a gift really with how much Berdly could twist reality in that little bird brain of his to make situations seem to be solely about himself when that wasn’t the case at all.
“Yeah, we were all dating each other before we invited you to the polycule, so that’s why we came to confess our love for you at once, so we could see if you were interested in joining too,” Noelle awkwardly scratched the back of her head and corrected him.
She hated raining on the other bird’s parade but she didn’t want to let a large misunderstanding like this to continue either.
“We really do love you, Berdly,” Ralsei emphasized, “but Noelle’s right Kris already used their matchmaker extraordinaire powers to help us realize our feelings for each other before we ended up asking you out.”
Whether Berdly had accepted their feelings for him or not had no bearing on the rest of them dating each other and being in a polyamorous relationship with one another.
“You did?!” Berdly turned to his rival in love (Kris) and asked, “What did you tell them?!”
Kris gave a vague look that said “cue the flashback” to answer Berdly’s question.
…
“Wha-?! You think all of us should date each other as one big group because it’s obvious we all have feelings for each other?!” Noelle surprisingly shouted out at Kris’s sudden suggestion.
Her, Susie, and Kris dating wasn’t all that far-fetched of an idea. I mean Susie did need her emotional support human whenever she went and she couldn’t deny that she had a certain fondness for both Susie and Kris in different ways, but Ralsei too? She hardly even knew the guy! Though it's not like she actually thought she would be all that opposed to dating Ralsei too, he did seem like a real cutie patootie both inside and out. Plus, he also seemed like the type of guy that knew how to treat his partners right so maybe it was possible that she could also be down to dating him too.
“…”
“You do make some rather good points there Kris,” Ralsei embarrassingly responded with a light blush on his face after hearing their arguments about why this would be a good idea.
Kris was right if all of them did go out then it surely would all bring them closer to each other in ways they couldn’t have before.
“I mean sure I don’t hate you all,” Susie flusteredly responded with a light blush on her face, “so I guess something like that isn’t totally impossible but…”
It didn’t stop her from thinking something like this was totally embarrassing in her mind. Sure, she liked Kris, Ralsei, and Noelle a lot and she didn’t think she would mind getting closer to them, but she had no idea what they’d do as a couple (quadruple?) together since she’d never been in a relationship before, so she couldn’t help but feel awkward about it even if she wasn’t against it.
“…”
“Eh?! What do you mean you want to also ask Berdly if he could be in a relationship with us too?!” Noelle, Susie, and even Ralsei all shouted out at the same time in response to Kris’s sudden suggestion.
How far was Kris planning on growing their ever expanding polyamorous circle?! Could it even be considered a freaking circle at this point?! Wouldn’t a polyamorous pentagon be more accurate in this case?!
“…”
“Wait, so that’s why you gathered us all here without Berdly here at first even though you wanted to ultimately invite him to the relationship too?” Noelle began to translate Kris’s silent look and said, “Because we are all in such denial of our crush on him because of how much of a pathetic loser he is that you had to stage an intervention for us to come terms to our feelings for him?”
Some might say that was extreme lengths for Kris to go, but after knowing Berdly personally herself, as much as she cared about the guy Kris’s approach here wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
“Well, sure he can be a little enthusiastic and nitpicky about certain things, but Berdly ultimately seems like he’s always got his heart in the right place, and I like him so I wouldn’t mind going out with him,” Ralsei shyly spoke up and said.
“Yeah, I agree Berdly can be a bit much sometimes, but I really do think he’s a good guy at the end of the day, so I wouldn't be opposed to asking him out too,” Noelle quietly agreed.
Ralsei was right, while some could describe Berdly as a bit of a handful (which she herself could be inclined to agree sometimes too), he did always have the best of intentions by doing anything to protect the people he cared about in any way he could, so she knew that he was ultimately a good bird at heart.
“What about you Susie?” Ralsei turned to the other monster and asked, “How do you feel about asking Berdly out too?”
The taller girl seemed lost in thought on what that implied for a few moments. She had a hard time thinking that one person would ever like her enough to go out with like that, but now suggesting that it was possible that four people could like her all that much at once? It was a lot for a person like her to take in who wasn’t frequently used to being accepted by other people, so of course it was taking her some time to process this all.
“Damn it! Stop looking at me with your puppy dog eyes like that Kris!” Susie flusteredly shouted back at their friend, “I’m okay with asking out Berdly too!”
They just kept looking at her with this sad look in their eyes that they just couldn’t say no too!
Not that she wasn’t going to be okay with it otherwise, if Berdly went out with then she could get him to do all the work she didn’t want to do, which made it seem like a pretty sweet situation for herself.
…
“And so that’s how you all ended up asking me out?” Berdly responded to that story.
Kris was the one responsible for landing him in his current harem?
Kris nodded their head in approval, before they pulled a metal Pokémon ball out of their pocket and gave him a look that said, “Yep, when it comes to love I’m going to catch every last monster out there and assemble them in my harem and you’re the last monster I need to complete my monsterdex.”
“Ah, a completionist I finally understand…” Berdly responded, seeing where Kris was going with all of this.
They wanted to catch them all in their metaphorical metal balls of love to complete their collection and as a fellow gamer he certainly couldn’t stand in the way of the grind.
So that’s why he let himself willingly submit to Kris, he let himself be captured in their ball of love and be the final monster they needed to complete their monsterdex.