Chapter Text
“Ughhh, the heat is fucking killing me, man!”
Susie groaned with her head tilted back as Kris nodded in response to what she said. They were both collectively sweating their asses off.
The summer heat was not helping their situation. The sun was blazing, slowly melting their popsicles right in their hands as the both of them tried their best to hurry up and eat it. At least they found a bench to relax at … but with extremely little shade underneath.
Stretched out arm on the seat behind Kris, Susie took in their presence. Kris’s face beaded with sweat as their eyes were still covered with the same overgrown bangs they’ve had since they first met.
Surely that wasn’t helping their case, she figured. Though, it’s not like she could say much. Her bangs were almost past her eyes by now and she had to move them out of the way all the damn time. It pissed her off but right now, it wasn’t something to worry about. She’ll deal with it later regardless of how it was making her own forehead sweat even more. The heat was roasting her despite the fact she had taken the side with the least amount of shade for Kris. Not like she wanted to see them overheat and pass out. Of course, she wasn’t going to admit that out loud so she just showed it in her own way.
She huffed out a quiet chuckle as she continued to analyze Kris once more. Their dark hair was pulled back in a small ponytail with a blue scrunchie. The colors reminded Susie of their Dark World self. Kris’s skin always being a vibrant blue for some reason… She shrugged it off. Probably just magic world shit.
Every time they had traveled to the dark world, Susie would always catch herself staring in battle. Whether that be waiting for Kris to tell Ralsei and her what move to pull next or not, she couldn’t help but be entranced by the way they’d swing their sword to block attacks or even just pull off that armor look. Maybe it was just admiration, the way they’d never seem scared going into battle and always being able to calm the enemy down in order to recruit them. It’s what she… enjoyed about them, their ability to never give up, even in tight situations.
She focuses her attention to the real world, noticing Kris finally sat up straight. They leaned against the bench before dropping their head. Susie’s face slightly burned up —convincing herself it was just the sun hitting her— as Kris’s bangs softly fell out the way to look straight at her. Their head was now resting on Susie’s sprawled out arm, bright red eyes making contact with her brown ones.
Her heart skipped a beat as the sides of her mouth tugged upwards into a smile. She chuckled a response, “What?” It took a moment for Kris to answer, eyes slowly darting around before they spoke up.
“Do you not want it?” They said softly, slowly raising their hand to point at her melting popsicle. She snapped her attention back at her snack and cursed at her sticky hand. Kris giggled while they watched her lick the sweetness off her palm. They had already finished their own, now just fidgetting with the stick in their hand.
“I DO want it! I just…” She looked away for a moment, face still slightly red and now she couldn’t tell if it was because of the heat or not at this point, “Just got a little distracted ‘bout… some stuff.”
Kris didn’t ask what Susie was thinking about, instead just looked down at their popsicle stick. Once they sat up, Susie’s mood was brought slightly down. She already missed the pressure against her arm and hoped Kris put their head back again. But she noticed their attention was brought elsewhere. She sat up as well and waited for them to speak, popsicle in her mouth now. Kris thinks for a moment, taking less time than before to come up with something to say.
“Hey,” Kris started off, turning back to Susie. They tilt their head and point off in the distance, “Noticed something over there.”
Susie doesn’t give it another thought before turning the direction they point at. As she opened her mouth, Kris hurriedly grabs Susie’s hand that’s holding the popsicle and brings it to their mouth, taking a huge chunk off of it. Giving off the largest grin ever as they look back at her like nothing happened.
“KRIS?! Oh, you jackass!” Susie cackles and immediately gets back at Kris. Kris yelps as Susie’s teeth softly dig into their forearm. It causes Kris’s giggle to rise up in volume and thrash around in their seat. Susie hesitates for a moment as the sound of Kris’s adorable laughter fills the air. It makes her let out one of her own, teeth still clamped to their arm. The laughter from Kris dies down slightly as they get ready to take a bite out of Susie’s hand.
Susie brings her other arms in front and pushes their face away from her hand. She unclamps her jaw and finishes the rest of her popsicle before tossing the stick aside. Kris makes an attempt to bite her hand through their fit of giggles, smiling as wide as they can while they bite down on her hand successfully this time.
As much and she was trying not to show it, the bite wasn’t hurting. But it sure as hell was tickling her. Susie starts her own fit of giggles while trying to pry Kris’s mouth off.
“G-Get off me you little twerp!” Susie huffed out, face burning as she wrestled her hand back from Kris. She finally managed to shove Kris off as the both of them snorted with whatever fighting that was. “If you wanted another popsicle you could have asked! We could have just gone back to the store.”
Kris’s smile was still as big as ever as she said this. But they shook their head and, if their bangs weren’t covering their eyes, darted away.
“No, it’s fine… I just wanted to mess around with you.” Kris turned their head away at the last line and Susie could have swore their ears turned a slight shade of pink.
“Besides,” Kris began once again, “Your popsicle was the better flavor.” Which earned them an eye roll from Susie.
“Yeah, yeah, That’s just your fault for not being fast enough.” She snorts, ruffling Kris’s hair. A smile still being present on Kris was just enough for her in the moment. She grinned to herself this time as she got up from the bench and stretched. “We should start heading to your place now, huh? I bet it way cooler in there than it is out here.”
Kris looks up at her, an eye slightly visible through dark hair as it makes contact with Susie’s. It takes a couple seconds before they give a response —Susie has noticed this a lot— their mouth agape as if figuring out what to say. Eventually, they nod and stand up with her, now leading the way back to their house.
It left her with a weird feeling, hanging out with Kris. She didn’t know what it was or if it was even a good feeling. But she wasn't going to talk about it. She just hoped Kris didn’t leave her side.