Chapter Text
Impatiently bobbing her leg, Dess kept a close eye on the forest path in front of her. The boy she was waiting for was annoyingly late, which was especially sad considering she had already shown up late herself. She thought to herself how frustrating it was that she tried to show up fashionably late only for his dumb ass to ACTUALLY be for real late. A burst of laughter erupted from the party going on in the distance behind her, and the deer girl slightly tensed up in response. She glanced towards the party, considering briefly the idea of going alone, but quickly deciding not to. She definitely was not going to walk over there alone, and if he wasn’t coming then she didn't really want to go at all anyways. Dess stood up and let out a frustrated sigh. She wasn’t too fond of Bratty and would've gladly taken the chance to mock her stupid party if that shithead hadn't invited her specifically. She mumbled to herself “God damnit, Asriel.” Almost immediately afterwards, she heard a voice chirp up in response.
“Dess?! Did I hear my name just now?” A coy voice came from a smiling goat boy walking up from out of view, giving her a mischievous look. Dess felt a wash of relief at the sight of him, and then remembered why she was frustrated in the first place, regaining her previously held annoyance.
“Azzy, you dick!! Where were you?! I’ve been waiting for, like, EVER!” She hissed back with an aggressive tone, lightly punching him in the arm, to which Asriel responded by clutching his arm and howling in makeshift agony.
“Oh GOD! MY ARM!! Dess, I think you broke it!??!!” Asriel moaned sarcastically, stifling a chuckle. Dess rolled her eyes as hard she could manage, but let out a small laugh as well. As Asriel reared his head back in exaggerated pain, Dess noticed a strange lack of fur on Asriel’s long ears, adopting a confused expression which the boy quickly picked up on.
”Ahh, I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t notice it that quickly” Asriel put his hand over his ear, covering the bald spot as he started to explain. “You see, that’s.. kind of why I’m so late. I was actually ready about 15 minutes early, but-“
“Let me guess. Kris?” Dess interrupted, raising a knowing eyebrow. Asriel laughed loudly in response, shaking his head in embarrassment. He opened his mouth to respond, but then just looked at her and shrugged. “Oh my GOD, that little fucking twerp! What the hell did they do to you this time? When I get my hands on that kid…” Dess asked, exasperated, as she clenched her fist and made a violent gesture.
"Well, I was getting ready to go, but Kris told me they had this idea." Asriel began to explain as he started walking towards the party with Dess following right besides him. “I guess they thought my ears would look, as they put it, ‘really cute’ if they were wrapped on top of my head like a ribbon.” Dess could not help but let out a laugh at that, and Asriel responded with a nervous chuckle. She began to imagine Asriel with a big bow on his head as he continued to speak. “Unfortunately, they quickly came to terms with the reality that my ears are not nearly as long and pliable as they had imagined. Of course, any normal person would’ve given up here, but we both know Kris is FAR more tenacious than that. So… They kept trying other things." Asriel shook his head and smiled. "They were so determined to make it work, I practically had to rip them off of me to get out the door! I was even, like, checking behind me to make sure they weren't still following me.“
“So, I suppose this lack of fur is the result of some kind of a glue disaster?” Dess raised an eyebrow with a smirk on her face to which Asriel pursed his lips and nodded, wincing at the painful memory. He felt awkward about the bald spots, but always felt plenty comfortable around Dess. Dess wondered if he would have skipped out on the event entirely if he probably hadn’t known she was waiting for him. Her leftover animosity towards his lateness quickly faded. She opened her mouth to say something, but was promptly interrupted as the partygoers who caught sight of Asriel immediately erupted with excitement at the sight of him. Dess internally fought a pang of jealousy as she walked in after him as pretty much everyone was just focused on him. Normally, she didn't mind being ignored, but watching everyone dote on Asriel made some dark feelings stir in her heart. Dark feelings that were made all the worse once an alligator girl with bright hair excitedly ran up to Asriel.
“OMIGOSH, Azzy!!! I am, like, SOOO glad you made it!! We were JUST about to play truth or dare, and I just KNOW you’ll make it SOOO much more fun!!!” Bratty said as she had already begun to drag him away. Asriel started to protest, but was completely ignored. It wasn't long before he had been brought into a circle with a couple friends from class, including Catty and that weird cat guy that no one can ever remember the name of. The thought of watching this mess unfold did sound very appealing to Dess, so she took a seat opposite of Asriel in the circle and gave him a mischievous look. She thought the nervous face he was making was hilarious and made a point to remember it, stifling a laugh at the thought of teasing him about it later as Bratty plopped down next to her and knocked her to the side, interrupting her thoughts once again.
"OKAY OKAY OKAY" Bratty loudly proclaimed, causing Dess to wince and cover her ear that was facing Bratty. "So, I JUST went, so I'm going to askkk, ummm, you..!!!" She pointed towards the cat boy that was sitting next to Dess. "Truth or Dare?!"
"Seriously, you STILL don't remember my name?? I TOLD you my name like, four times today!" The cat boy started to freak out. "My name is cool and awesome and befitting of a man of my stature and it's frankly INSULTING that you can't even take the time to remember something as simple as a-" He started to ramble, before Bratty interrupted with a cold expression on her face.
"Sorryyy but, like, I don't think I heard "Truth" or "Dare" anywhere in all that crap you just said..." She looked at him with half-lidded eyes, which caused him to slightly hang his head in shame.
”Whatever, man... Truth, I guess." He mumbled. Bratty clapped her hands together and her demeanor became much more cheerful.
"Perrrfect!!!! In that case I HAVE to know what the hell is going on between you and that blue-eared guy!! I swear, every time I go to ICE-E's, he's flirting with you!" Bratty looked intently, as if she was planning on asking this for some time now. In response, the poor cat boy started to blush and stammer.
"WHAT. Him???" He looked away as he started to ramble. "No, no no buddy, you don't understand, It's not flirting at all! He's literally just a friendly guy is all!! He's like, just trying to help me out! There's nothing weird about that-" In the midst of the boy’s desperate explanation, Dess noticed a shadow emerging from the trees in the distance. She squinted, curious as to who it was back there, but her curiosity was answered by a shout from Asriel.
"KRIS!!??? WHAT THE HELL??" Asriel stood up and carefully stepped around the Truth or Dare circle before running into the woods. The members of the group looked at each other in confusion, some bringing up that they should go after him, but it wasn't long before Asriel reappeared, this time with his younger sibling, Kris, in tow. Kris gave the group a signature creepy smile and waved.
"Dude, no way! I thought you said you made sure they didn't follow you!?" Dess let out a loud, obnoxious laugh, pointing at the two Dreemurr kids as Asriel covered his face with his hands, scowling in shame as Kris' creepy smile only got wider.
"I mean, I thought I did! It's late, I figured they wouldn't be THAT determined-" Asriel was cut off by Kris unexpectedly jumping onto Asriel's back. "Ow-hey! Dude, what the hell are you-" Asriel tried to protest, grasping at Kris as they grabbed his ears and then pulled out a ribbon from their pocket. They then proceeded to tie Asriel's ears together on top of his head, beginning to giggle as they relished in their devious misdeed. Dess had started cracking up as soon as she realized what was happening. Asriel covered his face in his hands until Kris hopped off of his back and admired their creation. The group erupted in laughter as Asriel stood up straight and took his hands away from his face, revealing his embarrassed expression alongside his whacky new style of wearing his ears. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he just let everyone get their laughs out. As the laughs finally calmed down, he finally spoke up.
"Alright alright, come on Kris, I gotta get you home." Asriel said, grabbing Kris by the hand. They started to resist, seemingly wanting to stay, when Bratty piped up.
"WAITTT AZZYYY come onn!! Let them stick around for a bit! It's not like we're THAT much older than them or whatever, it'll be fine!" She tapped the spot beside her. "They can sit right here and play with us!" Asriel instinctively started to shake his head and walk away while Kris desperately resisted his pull. Dess decided to finally speak up.
"I know y'alls mom is probably gonna freak or whatever, but..." Dess gave a small shrug. "They're already here, right? Can't be TOO much harm in having Kris around for just, like, one round? Come on Azzy, I'll walk home with you guys if you do!" She gave her best pleading face to Asriel, which caused him to roll his eyes. He opened his mouth to protest, but then thought for a second and smiled at Dess. He then sat back down, with Kris sitting down behind him.
"Fine, just one round. No one involve Kris, okay? They're just gonna watch." Asriel said as Kris nodded behind him. Everyone in the group agreed, and then Bratty spoke up once again.
"Umm, who was going last? I, like, totally forget!!" She laughed and playfully bonked her head, to which the cat boy sarcastically responded.
"It was ME, and I'll have you know I already ANSWERED your stupid question, and I'm NOT repeating it. Especially since NONE of you listened AT ALL." He pouted, but Bratty just shrugged.
"Oops! Guess I didn't care as much as I thought! Whatever, come on, just pick someone!" She gestured to the group with an expectant look on her face.
"Whatever. Azzy, Truth or Dare." At first, the cat boy just sulked after asking, but Asriel asked if he was okay, before continuing the game, which made the previously tormented cat boy look a lot happier.
"I think I'll just go with Tru-OW" Asriel started to answer, before Kris punched his arm. He shot an angry look at them, met only by another creepy smile. "Alright, fine, I'll go with a Dare." He said, dejectedly.
"Aw, why do you look so scared, buddy? That's the fun one! I dare ya... to SPIN... THE BOTTLE." He broke out an empty soda bottle and laid it in the middle of the group. Asriel chuckled confidently and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Seriously? That's all? You want me to just spin a bottle-" Kris tugged at their brother's sleeve and whispered in his ear, which caused his facial expression to slowly darken. "Wait, I have to KISS whoever it points to??" A look of horror spread across Asriel's face, but the group had already gotten invested and had all started chanting "SPIN THE BOTTLE! SPIN THE BOTTLE!" A strange feeling began to bubble up inside of Dess. While it would no doubt be hilarious to watch Asriel squirm at trying to kiss someone, knowing all too well the kind of guy he was, but for some reason the thought of him kissing someone was making her mad. As Asriel put the bottle in the middle of the group and prepared to spin it, the thought crossed her mind that the bottle could point to HER. She desperately tried to shake this thought as the bottle was spinning around, but the thought of Asriel kissing her had now infected her mind in a way she found difficult to regain control over. She was so focused on this thought that she didn't even notice the bottle had begun to slow its spinning, the tip creeping towards pointing straight at her. However, at the very last moment, Bratty nudged Dess out of the way, taking advantage of the fact that she was wrapped up in her thoughts, and made a fake shocked face.
"AZZY OMIGOSHHH, we TOTALLY have to kiss now!!" She exclaimed, and quickly crawled closer to Azzy with a devious smile. Dess, now snapped back into reality, had realized what had just happened and, despite wanting to protest the result, knew how that would sound to a group like this. She made the decision to cover up her anger and do her best to keep cool. She wanted to look deviously entertained, but her rage was embarrassingly visible on her face. Fortunately for her, everyone else was busy focusing on the alligator girl now leaning into Asriel. He knew this would be his first kiss, but he was hesitating strongly about giving it away during a game of Truth or Dare.
"W-wait, Bratty, we don't actually have t-" He started to protest, but Bratty gave him an annoyed look.
”Are you chickening out, Dreemurr boy? She said, inches away from his face. He gave an uncertain grin and shook his head, and then leaned in towards Bratty. Watching all of this transpire, Dess briefly thought about how easy it would be to grab Bratty's hair and rip her away from him, but she shook the thought away and simply just grit her teeth and looked away. She was feeling really stupid for the jealousy currently exploding inside of her and started to berate herself for being this emotionally invested in the situation until Bratty's unimpressed voice cut through her internal monologue.
"Dude, Azzy, it's over. It was just a quick peck. You can open your eyes now." Bratty laughed as she backed away from Asriel who still had his eyes shut as hard as he possibly could with his lips pursed. Kris and the rest of the group were simply giggling at his reaction, especially considering he had done all of this with his ears still tied up in a ribbon.
"OKAY!! Alright!!! Time for us to go, right Kris?? Right Dess? Let's go!!" Asriel laughed sheepishly, grabbing Kris' hand and getting up quickly. Snapping back to reality at the mention of her name, Dess quickly got up to follow.
"Wait, wait!!! Before you go, you gotta pick someone to go next!!" Bratty shouted as they walked away. Asriel sighed and looked back at them with confusion and Dess whispered into his ear.
"Whatever, uh, I dare you to make out with Catty, okay? Bye." Asriel said as he turned back around and continued walking. Bratty's jaw dropped as a terrified look spread across her face and a chorus of "ooo"s spread across the group. Asriel, Kris, and Dess left the party as Catty and Bratty both protested the dare. They walked silently for a bit, Dess being unsure what to say considering how torn up Asriel looked, but eventually she couldn't help but speak up.
“Hey, uh, dude, are you alright?” Dess asked, feeling a bit embarrassed herself. “You seemed a little upset. Maybe I'm wrong, though. I'm kinda bad at picking up these kinds of things.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m good” Asriel gave a half smile. “It’s just, a stupid thing. Don’t worry about it!” He tried to smile but it was obvious to Dess there was more on his mind.
“Don’t give me that shit, man.” Dess lightly punched his shoulder. “You better talk or else I’m gonna make you regret it.” She shot her fist up to his face, stopping right before it collided with his snout and smiled at him.
Asriel, at first, didn’t respond. It wasn’t until Kris also punched his other shoulder that he finally spoke up. “I just! I dunno. I guess I was hoping my first kiss would be a bit more special.” He shook his head. “Stupid, stupid, I know. I mean. I’m already older than most people were when they got their first kiss so it shouldn’t really matter to me.”
“Dude, that’s not stupid at all.” Dess responded, with a small laugh. “I mean, it is kinda pathetic.” She laughed as Asriel groaned in response, but she continued. “I totally get it, I wanted the same for a long time.” They exited the woods and walked onto the street, turning the corner towards the northern part of town.
“Like, past tense?” Asriel asked with a curious tone in his voice.
“Eh, I guess." Dess grit her teeth and gave a small shrug. "Guess I kinda just gave up on the potential of it happening.” She admitted, with a disingenuous smile on her face. They turned the corner towards Toriel’s house. “But whatever, not about my sorry ass.” She threw up her hands in a shrugging motion and tried her best to sound hopeful as she continued. “Just, like, think about it this way, dude. Your next kiss will kinda still be your first kiss. Just, like, the first one you WANTED to have, yknow? That’s also special, right?” She tilted her head at him and he looked back with a hopeful expression on his face.
“Yeah.. I guess that’s true.” He was silent for a moment before speaking again. “Really didn’t expect that kind of thing out of someone like you, Dess.” She made a pissed expression and was about to start complaining until Asriel loudly interrupted her. “ BUTTT I am only gonna feel better if you have some hope too alright? Even if you gave up already.” They approached the entrance to Asriel’s house, as Dess responded.
“Alright, alright, whatever you say.” Dess started to walk away and weakly waved goodbye. “Go on and get inside, your mom probably already called the cops. You two have been gone for a whole 20 minutes, after all.” She tried to hide the disappointment and annoyance she was feeling in her voice. She had really wanted to spend more time with him, but understood the situation. As Kris ran into the home and Asriel followed right behind them, she daydreamed about playing some melancholy songs on her guitar once she was home. Before she could leave the driveway, though, Asriel spoke up once more.
“Tommorow, okay? I’ll come get you tomorrow and we’ll make up for lost time!" Asriel shouted after her, which made her smile.
“You better!” She shouted, as Asriel smiled back and closed the door behind him. Dess stood there for a bit, staring at Toriel’s house from the driveway. Something about that night just made her not want to go home. She considered waiting for the lights to go off and then sneaking in, waking up Asriel and forcing him to spend more time with her right now. Selfishly, she didn’t want to wait until tomorrow. She even considered barging in right now, knowing Toriel would be probably be plenty welcoming. Despite her love of playfully tormenting Asriel, she silently reprimanded herself for having such thoughts to overstep on a night that had already clearly been hard on him. She tried to turn to walk away but her legs did not respond. Her body was stunned as her mind wandered towards thoughts of Asriel and the kiss he had just shared with Bratty. It ticked her off just to think about it, but what the hell was there to do about it now? She stared at the Dreemurr home until an idea popped into her head. Considering she clearly wasn't in the mood to go home, Dess decided she would be bugging Asriel tonight after all.
She watched the window to Asriel and Kris' room and waited for the light to flicker off. When it finally did after a short couple minutes, she made her move. Thankfully, she was pretty experienced with climbing due to her experience sneaking out of the Holiday mansion in the past. She found her way up to the roof of the Dreemurr household and lightly tapped on the window to Asriel and Kris' room while she hung off the roof like a monkey. After a couple minutes, the window slowly opened and a confused Asriel's head poked out, not initially seeing Dess until she whispered a soft "Boo!" Startled, Asriel's head jolted to look at her, and he recoiled in surprise.
"D-Dess?? What the hell are you doing on top of my house!?" Asriel whispered, just loud enough to get across the fact that he was super confused but quiet enough as to not wake his family. Dess laughed softly and offered her hand to help him up on top of the roof with her. He took her hand after a brief hesitation and gave a small yelp when she pulled him up to the roof. She mockingly mimicked his little yelp before giving him a grin and laying back against the roof. She pointed up at the night sky above them.
"Check it out. Preeeeetty cool stuff, right?" She stared at the sight of the stars above her. Asriel joined her, taking his own gander at the tapestry in the sky. After a couple moments of peaceful silence, Dess spoke up again. "I know I talk a lot about going to big cities with Elly, but I think this vibe is one of the things I'll never forget about this shithole." Asriel laughed and shook his head in response.
"Yeahh, it is kind of a shithole, isn’t it.” He sighed deeply before continuing. “I know what you mean, though. Nowhere in the world is going to feel like this." He looked back at her. "Though, I think it has a lot more to do with the people we're with rather than the place we're at." Dess hesitated on a response, feeling a bunch of words bunch up in her throat in response. Before she could find a way to organize those words into a coherent response, Asriel continued. "By the way, any reason why you wanted to do this tonight? I guess I had just figured you were eager to get home."
"Blehh, who needs a reason." Dess shook her hand dismissively, finding a response much easier this time. "The stars are cool. That reason enough for you?" She raised an eyebrow at him, to which he laughed and nodded.
"Yeah, I guess that's good enough." Asriel responded, but he continued looking at her. She looked back at the stars, mostly to break eye contact as she felt embarrassed knowing he was looking right at her. Asriel moved closer to Dess as he continued speaking. "You know, Dess, this is exactly what I was talking about earlier."
She scoffed, and gestured upwards. “What, the stars? I don’t remember that." She asked sarcastically, as she also scooched closer to Asriel.
"No, no!!” He lightly jabbed her shoulder. "I meant, like, something special. When I said I wanted something special for a.. uh.. you know.." He tried to clarify, but got choked up in the middle of his sentence. Dess once again lowered her sight towards him, thinking about just how close they were now. She gave him a playful grin.
"You don't say? I'm glad to hear that, man." She looked him in the eyes as she continued. "I know you had it, uh, kinda rough today. So I'm glad I could help, or something."
Asriel shook his head. "Are you kidding? Today was the best. Got to hang out with you and Kris. Pretty much all I can ask for. Would've been even better if Noelle was there, too." Dess smiled at the mention of her sister, but decided to change the subject.
”Well, glad YOU had fun, but, you know, your ugly fucking alligator girlfriend was kinda pissing me off." Dess sarcastically widened her eyes and shook her head mockingly as she spoke. "When I saw you two about to kiss, I felt this like, weird feeling.” Asriel raised an eyebrow at her as she started mimicking violent actions. “Like I just wanted to shove her stupid face into one of Toriel's pies." She and Asriel both laughed at the thought before he responded.
"Aww, jealous YOU didn't get to kiss Bratty tonight?" Asriel bit back with a snarky tone, earning him a groan from Dess.
"GOD no, I'll take ANY other girl in the world, just not her." She said loudly, violently shaking her head as she responded. Asriel followed up with another question quickly, though.
"Annddd what about boys?" He asked coyly with a curious expression, to which she could only respond with intrigued confusion.
"And what ABOUT boys, exactly?" Dess asked, laughing and tilting her head.
"Liiiike... Goat boys, specifically." Asriel tossed away his pretense. "Particularly goat boys whose names started with 'A'.” Dess could only scoff that.
"Ok, you can do a LOT better than that, man. At least try to be subtle next time." She laughed and continued. "But, yeah, I''ll take goat boys. ESPECIALLY ones whose names start with 'A'". While we're at it, I happen to have a penchant for names ending in '-sriel." She put on a joking tone as she said that, getting a couple giggles out of Asriel.
"Maaan, have I got some AMAZING news for you!" Asriel said, playfully leaning in towards her "You know, I'm actually, like, kinda glad to hear it pissed you off." He admitted, looking intently at her. Dess brought her face even closer towards him and smirked devilishly.
“Oh yeah? And why is that, Dreemurr?” She whispered, their faces now mere centimeters apart.
Asriel whispered back. “Because I was pissed it wasn’t you.” They both had the same idea. Time felt like it slowed down and before they knew it, they were locked in a kiss. Dess struggled to hold back her feelings as they swelled within her, wanting to pull him even closer and kiss him even deeper, but couldn’t find the confidence to do so before Asriel leaned away due to the desire to look at her face. She had absolutely no idea what to do or say, so she just stared blankly at him, nervously laughing, until Asriel spoke up.
"Okay, so, for the record. If I ever talk about my awesome first kiss that I got tonight? Just know I'm talking about this one." Asriel joked, which caused Dess to relax, letting out a loud scoff before quickly closing her hands over her mouth when she remembered that she had to be quiet considering how late it was. Noticing her reaction, Asriel stood up and offered Dess his hand this time. "I really don’t know what I did to deserve someone like you in my life but, I dunno. I'm, uh, really glad I did it." Dess wanted so badly to reciprocate the feeling, to show him how she felt with words. She wanted to tell him she wanted to shove him back down into the roof and make out with him until the sun came up.
The only thing she managed to say, however, was: “Guess you’re just lucky, Az.” She immediately cringed lightly after this, but Asriel just laughed in response, taking her by the hand and helping her climb both slowly and quietly back into the house. They tiptoed through the rooms as Asriel lead her back to the front door. As she walked out, he spoke up again.
"Okay, for real this time, I'll see ya tommorow..?" Asriel asked, making a stupidly corny finger gun motion, to which Dess raised her eyebrows at.
"You better.” She smiled and started to walk away, but continued talking. “For the record, Az, you don’t have to ask.” She turned her head around and looked at him, standing still for a moment to say one last thing. “I’d rather hang out with you than do just about anything else.”
He smiled at her, and hesitated to respond. Before he could manage, she ran over with a mischievous smile and shut the door between them herself, expediting the farewell process. Feeling stupid for not saying something, he stared at the door blankly for a moment, before taking off for the bathroom.
This time, Dess’s legs had no issue carrying her away from the Dreemurr residence. She walked away with a very satisfied look on her face, thinking about all the things she wanted to do with Asriel Dreemurr.