Chapter Text
“So… the entire time, you were under the control of this being from another universe? The… angel?” Berdly asked.
Kris nodded. They couldn’t look him in the eye. They just stared down at their hands, watching themselves pull at their own fingers nervously.
“And it was the one that made you, ah, date me?” Berdly said.
Kris gulped.
“I-I’m sorry,” they said. “I know it… it’s…”
“Don’t apologize! It isn’t your fault in the slightest, Kris!” Berdly said. “As you said, you were not the one in control!”
Berdly laughed a familiar laugh; that forced, self-conceited sound Kris used to know as his only laugh. They looked up, watching him puff out his chest feathers through the gaps in their bangs, and felt their heart sink further. They knew this was going to destroy his ego, but there was nothing they could do. He had to know the truth.
“I did think it strange you were suddenly so openly affectionate with me, though of course I could not fault you for falling for a pinnacle of perfection such as myself…” Berdly coughed into his fist, the performance breaking for but a moment. “However, I now see it was not you throwing yourself at my feet, but a being from another world altogether, likewise stunned by my pristine intellect and ruggedly handsome exterior!”
“Berdly…” Kris sighed. They thought maybe it would help to explain that, while they weren’t the one in control, they still remembered everything that happened—they still remembered the change in him, how he opened up and showed Kris his real, unguarded self—but what would really be the point? They still had to break up. There was no way around it.
A relationship that started while one party was literally possessed could not continue. Kris knew it, and they knew Berdly knew it, too.
It was for the best that everything went back to normal. Even if that meant Berdly acting like this.
“Don’t flatter yourself too much,” they said.
“Hah! Back to your usual tsundere ways, then, Kris?” Berdly crossed his arms. He was putting up a brave face, but behind his challenging expression, there was hurt in his eyes.
Kris looked away again.
“Shut up. I just… figured I owed you an explanation,” they said. “But, yeah. We have to break up. You get it, right?”
“Ahem.” Berdly coughed into his fist again, and the facade broke. “I understand, yes. Thank you for… for telling me.”
Kris lingered just a moment, some tension in the silence screaming that there was more to say, but neither of them could say it.
“Cool. Yeah. See you.”
…
It started with the festival.
Actually, it started before the festival, if Kris was being honest. The soul seemed interested in Berdly from day one. Every time there was an option to choose him or agree with him or bring him up unnecessarily, the soul went for it. Kris did their best to play it off like they were joking most of the time, but sometimes it was just too blatant.
Like the prize box in the library dark world. It would have been so easy to just hand it off to Ralsei or Susie, or even Noelle, but no. It wanted to give the gift to Berdly.
Kris felt their shoulders shrink under their friend’s confused gazes as they turned and gave the gift to him. To make matters worse, the stupid plushie inside was a shirtless Berdly, somewhat reminiscent of the awful golden statue the soul made them stare at until Noelle called them out on it three times.
But he seemed genuinely flattered that they’d chosen him, and that was the trouble, really. That soft crinkle in his eyes, a little confused by Kris’s actions, but mostly endeared. A tiny moment of the bravado peeling back, and the insecure boy inside peeking through.
Kris actually felt something for him. They weren’t sure what at first, but they felt it.
When the soul made them tell Berdly they’d go to the festival with him, surprising him with their voice on Noelle’s phone, they heard it there, too. The genuine surprise, the baffled blustering, the adorable shock that someone would actually want him.
It shouldn’t have been a shock that the soul had them tell Ralsei they were taking Berdly to the festival, too. Still, they groaned and repeated his name, covering their face with their hands as their cheeks grew red.
There was no denying at that point what the soul’s intention was. They just didn’t know how far it would take it.
“It seems you’ve won by default,” Berdly had announced with a huff when Susie and Noelle brushed him off to spend the day together. “Don’t look so triumphant! It was merely a technicality.”
Kris was certain they did not look triumphant.
“V-very well then… I suppose we should…” Berdly looked around, a little lost.
Kris felt the soul making a choice, and the next words out of their mouth were: “Let’s ride the ferris wheel.”
“So forward!” Berdly’s feathers puffed up. He was actually kind of cute when he was flustered. “But, I suppose I shan’t deny an adoring fan. Though, heh, I did not think my effortless charm would entice you so easily, Kris. What happened to that hard, tsundere exterior?”
Kris stared at him blankly. Berdly coughed, and his false confidence drained away again.
“Ah, um, right. Ferris wheel. Lead the way.”
Berdly walked behind them, while the soul pulled Kris around the festival. Despite its urgency to bring up the ferris wheel, it now seemed interested in looking at every single booth. It made Kris play the water-gun game several times, then because they’d already run out of money, when they approached the snack cart, Berdly had to pay for the two cotton candies they ordered. It was mildly mortifying, but he seemed happy it “provide,” as he said.
Finally, they made it to the ferris wheel. Susie and Noelle were in line ahead of them, chatting and laughing. Kris was torn, half happy for them, half annoyed that they seemed to have completely forgotten they were there.
Berdly wasn’t bad company, though. Kris didn’t find his mannerisms so abrasive, just mildly annoying. Flustered as he was by their sudden and uncharacteristic interest in him, however, his demeanor actually verged on endearing. The poor guy was so clearly desperate for positive attention, he’d even take it from Kris.
They tossed their finished cotton candy cones in the trash before boarding the ferris wheel. They sat across from one another, feet dangling over the benches, both just a little too short to touch the floor.
The ride operator closed their door and spun the wheel enough to load the next compartment, then the next, until finally the wheel was full and the ride could start. They slowly rode up into the air, and Kris looked out the window over all of Hometown, and the golden leaves of the autumn forest surrounding it.
“Quite the view,” Berdly said.
“Mn,” Kris agreed.
They looked at Berdly, and he turned to meet their gaze.
“I hate to ask this, but… I cannot help thinking perhaps this entire day… Kris, you are not pranking me, are you?”
Kris clenched their jaw, careful of whatever answer was about to form on their tongue. Strangely, looking into Berdly’s guarded gaze, they were more worried about the soul choosing to tell him it was a prank. It felt too cruel, at this point, to hurt him like that.
Of course, if they could speak for themselves, they probably would have chosen a middle ground.
No, it’s not a prank, but just a friend thing. I like hanging out with you as a friend. Not everything has to be romantic.
Unfortunately, those were not the words the soul chose for them.
“It’s not a prank,” they said.
“So… you really did want to go to the festival with me?” Berdly’s feathered hands intertwined in his lap, fingers toying together nervously. “Why?”
Kris gulped. They couldn’t decide whether to muffle this answer, and in their indecision ended up turning away and half-mumbling it, like they were embarrassed. Like they were genuine.
“I like you.”
“Oh. Oh!” Berdly looked shocked. The ferris wheel lurched to a stop with them at the top of the ride. The cart swayed slightly, side to side.
“Th-that’s—I mean—I thought—” Berdly blinked his eyes a few times, and Kris swore it looked like he was going to cry. “I’m flattered, Kris! Really, I’m… I’m…”
“You don’t have to pretend you like me back,” Kris said, their own words. They didn’t want to contradict themselves, but they didn’t want him to end up doing what he did with Noelle and feeling obligated to reciprocate.
“Huh? N-no, that’s—” Berdly cleared his throat. He glanced out the window, where the sky was starting to tinge pink as the sun got low.
His eyes landed back on Kris, and he’d never looked more honest.
“I just… I didn’t think this was possible. I didn't dare hope…” His wings wrung together again. “I just pushed the feelings down.”
Kris startled. He wasn’t saying what they thought he was saying, was he?
“I mean, that whole tsundere thing, it was only a joke! And to think—ah. Aha. Oh, Kris.” Berdly covered his face and shook his head. “My heart is fluttering! What have you done to me?”
Kris gulped.
“Um. Nothing?” they mumbled.
Berdly ugly-laughed, snorting and tittering. It was weirdly cute.
“I should have known! Of course, the answer was obvious. My gamer soulmate was in front of me all along.” He shook his head, smiling and giddy, and took Kris’s hands in his own. “Kris, will you do me the honor of being my player two?”
Kris suppressed a laugh. They actually kind of wanted to say yes, but the answer bubbled up unbidden, chosen by someone else. The word was not their own. The decision never theirs to make.
“Yes.”
…
It took a few days for things to settle back into normalcy in Hometown. The town worked together to clear away the debris and repair the destruction the roaring brought, though most fixes were haphazard and temporary for the time being. Everyone was a little weird around Kris, and that didn’t seem like it was going to stop any time soon, but somehow the school managed to reopen, and their mother drove them in on Monday morning.
They pushed open the door with their shoulder, trying to slide silently into the classroom. Of course, everyone looked up. They were a few minutes late, as usual, and Kris withered under the room of concerned gazes.
It seemed like the whole damn town knew that they’d been possessed and caused a catastrophic event. At least most people didn’t know that those two things didn’t actually correlate, but the people who did know were staring at them with the most uncertainty in their eyes.
Kris couldn’t look at Susie. Or Noelle. And least of all Berdly.
They shuffled over to their seat and plopped down.
“Um. Right, well. As I was saying… I know everyone’s a l-little shaken up right now, so, I thought, we’d just t-take it easy for a while,” Alphys said.
Kris laid their head down on their desk, covering their face with their arms. They couldn’t stand the feeling of their classmates sneaking glances at them. They especially couldn’t stand the glare they felt drilling into the back of their head.
Susie tapped the back of their foot with her toes. Kris’s shoulders tensed, but they kept themselves from reacting otherwise.
“Dude. Earth to Kris?” she whispered.
Kris didn’t answer.
She sighed, and seemed to give up. Kris felt something snap in their chest. A wet film covered their eyes. With their head down, no one could see them crying.