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“Hey man, I’ve been meaning to ask, uh… Why is the side of your room so empty?”
Kris led Susie into their room, for not the first time.
Kris shrugged. “Never felt like decorating,” they mumbled.
“Never felt like decorating?” Susie repeated. “Come on man, we gotta bedazzle it at least a little bit in here. We should steal some colored paper from the school and make our own posters,” Susie grinned.
Kris chuckled. “Maybe.”
Susie made herself at home and flopped onto Kris’ bed. “Sooo… what did you wanna do?”
Kris didn’t really know why they invited Susie over. They had nothing else planned, but generally, would rather spend more of their time with Susie than less.
Kris shrugged and sat carefully on the edge of their bed, as if it wasn’t theirs. They were careful to give Susie space, even though she was… sprawled all over their own bed.
Susie gave it a minute, then spoke up again. “Really? Nothing? Eh, I’m still fine with that.”
After another moment, Susie rolled out onto her back and put her arms out. “C’mere.”
Kris’ eyes widened. “H-Huh?”
“I said, c’mere,” Susie repeated, and opened her arms wider.
Kris just stared. “I really don’t know what you’re asking me.”
“Oh,” Susie laughed. “I wanted to give you a hug,” she clarified.
“Oh,” Kris breathed.
Susie stared back at them awkwardly.
Kris began to lean forward carefully.
“Y-You don’t have to if you don’t want to, dumbass,” Susie interjected, causing Kris to freeze. “I just… I thought it’d be nice.”
Kris sat there, their arms half-outstretched.
“I… I wanted to.”
“W-Well, then,” Susie opened her arms again. “Come on in.”
Kris scooted closer to Susie and tried to figure out how to hug her, since she was nearly laying down.
Being careful with their movements, Kris ended up almost entirely on top of Susie, their head resting in the crook of her neck. Their arms rested gently alongside Susie.
Feeling their face burn at the contact, Kris felt Susie’s arms carefully drape over their back in a hug.
“I-Is this alright?” Kris heard Susie’s voice mutter from above their head.
Kris nodded, their hair tickling Susie’s neck.
Kris felt Susie’s chest rise and fall with each breath she took.
“I’m not… crushing you, are I?” Kris asked.
“Nah, you’re not, don’t worry,” Susie laughed, making Kris shake. “You’re pretty wimpy,” she remarked, and to emphasize, she squeezed Kris tighter.
Kris’ face must be as red as the SOUL at this point, and they hoped Susie couldn’t feel the heat of their cheeks against her skin.
At Kris’ silence, Susie looked down at them. “Uh… bro, are you good?”
“I’m fine,” Kris said, their voice strained.
“Alright, whatever you say,” Susie shrugged. “Let me know when you wanna stop doing this.”
Never, Kris thought selfishly.
Kris tightened their arms around Susie. They could hear her heart beat in her chest. It wasn’t going nearly as fast as Kris’ heart. SOUL. Whatever was in there.
Susie suddenly moved one of her hands up to Kris’ head and began to stroke it slightly.
“Your hair’s kinda greasy, dude,” she laughed. “Let me know if you wanna try my shampoo sometime.”
Kris tensed up at the touch.
“Yo, you good, dude?” Susie asked, noticing Kris’ sudden tightness.
“I’m good. Just… wasn’t expecting that.”
“Sorry,” Susie chuckled. “I’ll give a warning next time.”
The two laid there for a bit in silence. Susie continued giving Kris’ hair gentle strokes, while Kris’ mind was flying with thoughts. They had never cuddled with someone like this, much less someone they had feelings for.
It was… nice.
So, so nice.
Kris finally fully untensed and melted into Susie.
“Haha... there we go. Took you a bit, huh?”
Kris gently nodded. “‘M not used to this,” they muttered into Susie’s skin.
“If it makes you feel better, I’m not either,” Susie admitted. “But… this is nice right now. And it works for us.”
Kris nodded in agreement. “We should show this to Ralsei. Do you think he’d wanna join?” Kris asked.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Susie boisterously affirmed. “That fluffy guy would be hella fun to cuddle with.” Kris could hear the grin in her voice.
“And I bet he probably needs it too,” she added, a bit less energetic. “We should get a bed for his room and break it in with a big group cuddle.”
“Mmm… good idea,” Kris muttered sleepily.
“You getting tired? Don’t fall asleep on me now, I can’t be here all day,” Susie said.
“Sorry,” Kris said, trying to blink the sleepiness out of their eyes.
Susie hesitated in thought for a moment. “A-Actually, it’s fine. I’m not in a rush. You probably need the sleep after everything we did, anyway.”
Kris could barely remember the Titan battle at this point. It rendered them so exhausted and they hadn’t fully recovered yet.
“Just… get some rest, Kris,” was the last thing Kris heard before drifting off in Susie’s arms.
~~~~~
When Kris awoke, it was dark out.
Curse you, Evening-nap-that-will-keep-me-up-all-night, Kris thought.
Kris heard loud snoring from over their head. Seems like Susie passed out eventually, too.
When Kris gently shifted to let their arm free from the sleepy pins and needles, Susie awoke with a jump.
“WHA- oh, um…” Susie blinked sleep out of her eyes. “H-Hi, Kris.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”
“It’s fine,” she assured them. “I’m just… a light sleeper, sometimes.”
Kris took note of that, for whatever reason.
Susie craned her neck to look at Kris’ bedside clock.
“Jeez, it’s like, 11pm. I won’t even be tired enough to go to bed normally,” she laughed.
“Do you need to get back home?” Kris asked.
Susie thought for a moment, looking down, but averting Kris’ eyes.
“Nah, whatever’s fine. I can go with the flow.”
“You sure? It’s late. I’d get in trouble if I were out this late,” Kris said. It was only until after they said it that they realized that was not the case the night prior.
“It’s really fine, dude,” Susie assured. “We can just keep chilling. Or I can go, if you want me t-”
“No-” Kris blurted. Their face flushed.
Susie stared. “Alright, I don’t have to go. We can make this a, uhh… in-promptu sleepover,” she grinned.
Kris smiled back. “Didn’t we already sleep, though?”
“Haha, I like your smile,” Susie suddenly said, completely forgetting the question. “You should smile more.”
“Oh, um,” Kris flushed. “T-Thank you?”
“Just take the compliment, dude,” she laughed.
Kris averted her eyes. They weren’t used to compliments. Or much attention at all, really.
“Damn, I didn’t know humans could get this red. You look like a tomato,” Susie observed. “Wait, is that like, offensive to humans or something?”
Kris giggled. “It’s fine. I think it’s funny.”
“Whatever you say, tomato-face,” she teased. “As long as I’m not, uh, accidentally being mean.”
“Didn’t you shove me into a locker like 3 days ago,” Kris pointed out.
Susie, now the one blushing, turned away from Kris. “Listen, I’ve had, uhhh… what do they call it…” she trailed off, thinking hard. “Character development! I’ve had character development, dude. I’m a different person now.”
Kris chuckled. “You might as well be. Susie from 3 days ago would not have agreed to a tea party with Ralsei.”
“This character development thing is pretty sweet, dude,” Susie said, tropeishly putting her arms behind her head. Kris suddenly missed her touch.
Pretending they were not now chilly from Susie’s warmth leaving their back, Kris giggled. “Maybe I’ll try it sometime.”
Putting her arms back at her sides instead of back on Kris, Susie looked around. “Uhh… well, what should we do now if we’re too tired to go back to bed?”
Kris shrugged. “Would you wanna play MASH?”
“Mash? Are we doing something with potatoes this late?”
Kris giggled. “No, it’s a game people play at sleepovers. It like, predicts your future. I used to play it with Noelle when we were younger.”
“Future, huh? I wonder if it’ll fill in the rest of the prophecy,” Susie joked.
Kris pulled out an old sketchbook from under their bed and a pencil.
“Let’s do you first,” Kris said as they started writing down the categories.
“Huh, I never knew we were both lefties,” Susie remarked.
Kris smiled a little. “You get how it is. Smudges all over your hand.”
“Exactly, dude! It gets so messy!”
Kris chuckled. “So, MASH stands for “Mansion”, “Apartment”, “Shack”, and “House”. One of those will be the building you live in.”
“Woah, imagine if I had a mansion and made a Dark World in it,” Susie wondered. “Lancer wouldn’t need all that space!”
Kris laughed again. They hadn’t had this much fun in a while. “And next is, um… love options.”
“Love options?” Susie asked.
“Like, who you’ll end up with in the future. So, give me four people to write down.”
“FOUR?!” she shrieked. Kris gently shushed her and pointed towards the wall where his mother’s room was.
“Oh, right, sorry,” Susie whispered. “Um… this is embarrassing,” she laughed. “Maybe, um… Noelle...?”
Kris wrote down Noelle without commenting.
“And who else, hmm…” Susie thought. “Uh, maybe Ralsei just for fun?”
Ralsei went underneath Noelle on Kris’ paper.
“Hmm, I’m already running out of ideas,” Susie admitted.
“What about Berdly?” Kris jokingly suggested.
“DO NOT WRITE BERDLY,” Susie exclaimed, to which Kris put their finger to their mouth again.
“Sorry again,” Susie said, while Kris wrote down Berdly anyway.
“And, uh, who else…” Susie thought. She looked at Kris, averted her eyes, and looked back at them again. “Maybe, um… you?”
Kris’ face went red again.
“Heh, you turned all tomato-y again,” Susie joked weakly. Her own face was quite similar.
Kris looked back down at their paper, and carefully signed Kris under the romance options.
“Now, next is, um… number of kids,” Kris said, finally looking back up at Susie.
“Kids? Ew, kids are gross,” she said. “Can you put zero for all of them?”
“No,” Kris said, smirking and sticking out their tongue playfully.
“Uh, okay. How about, 0, 2, 69, and, um… 420,” she smirked.
“Four hundred and twenty kids?!” Kris asked.
“Just for the bit,” she said as Kris wrote down the numbers.
“Now, next is-”
“Ugh, how long does this go on for?” Susie groaned.
“We can stop here, if you want. I just need a number to count.”
“A number? Hmm, I’m feeling a… seven.”
Kris counted down the lines, and crossed out Berdly.
“No Berdly for you,” Kris said in a jokingly sad tone.
“Hell yeah!” Susie fist pumped.
Apartment got crossed off next, then 2 for the number of kids. Next to go was Ralsei, then House, then Shack.
“And… you get a mansion,” Kris said while circling it. “Lucky.”
“Dude, this game is awesome,” Susie grinned.
0 for the number of kids was next to go.
“Guess you’re getting either 69, or 420 kids,” Kris warned.
“Oh nooo,” Susie whined. “Guess I did this to myself.”
Noelle got crossed off next. Which leaves…
“Oh,” Kris says.
“What is it? Your face is doing that thing again,” Susie teased.
“Um, the romance option is… me.”
“Oh, alright,” Susie said. Her tone and face don’t say anything about how she feels about it.
To lighten the mood, 69 is the last to go, leaving 420 as the number of kids.
“So, to summarize,” Kris starts, writing down the result, “you’ll be in a mansion with me and our 420 kids.”
“Heh, that doesn’t sound too bad,” Susie said. “Our kids will have plenty of space and with enough money to have a mansion, I’m sure we can hire lots of babysitters,” she grinned.
Kris laughed. The amount of kids were funny, but Kris considering a future with Susie made their heart twist uncomfortably. They liked the idea of it.
“So, do you wanna do one too?” Susie asked.
“I… I’m a little tired,” Kris said, amidst their thoughts. “I might go back to bed soon.”
“Sure, whatever you want,” Susie said, stretching her arms and settling back on Kris’ bed. “You mind if I keep sleeping here?”
“No, not at all,” Kris said. “I just, um… need to change.”
“Right, I’ll turn away,” Susie said, shifting to look towards the wall.
Peeling off their sweater, Kris changed into a loose t-shirt to sleep in and shorts. When they turned back around, Susie had taken off her hoodie as well.
“Um, ready to go to bed?” Kris asked.
“Sure,” Susie said, lifting up the covers to let Kris in.
Kris shut off the light and carefully climbed into their bed next to Susie.
Turning to their side, away from Susie, Kris felt Susie’s arm reach over them and pull them closer.
“Uh, is this alright?” Susie whispered, her voice close to Kris’ ear.
“Y-Yeah,” Kris replied. Susie radiated heat onto their back and they tried to settle into it.
They were even closer than they were before. It felt like Susie was enveloping them and they could not get enough.
It was embarrassing, how easily they got addicted to the closeness.
Let’s hope, when they both awoke, they wanted to stay like that.