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“Good morning, sleepy head!”
Asriel said, with a too loud tone for Chara’s freshly awoken ears, and sat on the floor to meet the younger child’s eye level. “How can you even sleep so long? Do all humans do that?”
“Maybe.” Chara answered. They slowly sat up and shielded their eyes from the artificial light coming from the lamp. It was a harsh wake up method, but at least effective. “Why did you even wake me up? Isn’t it the weekend?” The child added, with irritation in their voice.
“Well, it is.” The older boy admitted, placing his head on the bed. “But I just couldn’t wait anymore! You don’t want to sleep through your whole birthday, do you?”
Chara’s mind went blank for a second. Is it really today?
“I guess not.” The human replied after a second of silence. They slid out of the bed, making Asriel stand up and move to give them space. “Why are you so excited anyway? It’s not your birthday.”
“It isn’t, but I bought you something super cool!” The monster answered with enthusiasm, watching Chara slowly wander to their wardrobe, searching in their face a similar emotion to his. “I can’t wait to see your reaction!”
“ ‘something super cool’? “ Chara repeated with slight interest, searching through the clothes to find something appropriate for the occasion. “What is it?”
“I can’t tell you! It’s a surprise!”
“It’s not really a surprise if you told me about it.”
“Oh shush! You still don’t know what it is!”
“Well, anyway.” Asriel added, heading to the door. “Dress up and go to the living room! We all are already waiting for you!”
And with that, the older child left, leaving Chara with their own thoughts.
Ten years. Chara thought, pulling a sweater over their head. It was their tenth birthday, third in the underground.
It was weird. As morbid as it was, they didn’t think they would even reach double digits. Especially since they tripped on that vine three years ago,
they were almost certain that when they hit the ground, it would be the end.
But it wasn’t.
It was a beginning, a beginning to something much better. Since they fell down, they saw so many wonderful places, things and people, too.
Since they fell down, they met Asriel.
They would be caught dead before admitting it, but Asriel was someone…diffrent. Well, besides being a goat-like creature that could shoot fire balls.
Asriel was someone Chara spent almost every day and night with, someone they could truly trust and even weirder, someone who trusted them.
He seemed so excited about that present… The child thought, now fully clothed, sitting on the bed. I wish I could give him something that would make him happy…
Then, a thought passed Chara's mind that made them shiver in embarrassment. The human sat silent for few seconds on their bed before their thoughts won and they bent over to grab something under their bed.
It was a small, white box, tied shut with a red ribbon. Mrs. Mom helped them wrap it up a few weeks ago, after they bought that thing. It was just a very dumb purchase on impulse, and now they deeply regretted it.
It was two, golden heart lockets. One representing a human soul, the other one a monster soul. Both of them could play a simple melody if activated with a key and both had engraved “Best Friends Forever” on their back.
At first they thought it was cute, but now they thought it was embarrassing.
It was true they were close with Asriel, but was it enough to call them their “best friend”? He never called them that before and they certainly didn’t either. They knew each other only for barely three years, was it truly enough time to call it the “best” friendship?
What if he gets weirded out by it? Chara was sure he wouldn’t be mean about it, but surely not excited. All those lockets did for them was just causing unnecessary stress everyday that he’ll somehow find them and they will have to explain.
Suddenly, their train of thought was broken by a knock on the door. They twitched from surprise.
“Um…are you done? We’re all still waiting for you, you know?” The muffled wake up call from Asriel made them feel embarrassed, again. How long were they even sitting here, anyway?
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” They responded by quickly throwing the box under their bed and walking up at a fast pace out of their bedroom.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Their birthday was fine.
On the surface, they had a cake bought from the store, two or three presents if they were lucky and then everyone would just ignore them for the rest of the day. In a way, they even missed it.
It wasn’t bad though, not by any means. Just…exhausting.
It was evening when Chara was finally left alone. No parents, no monsters coming in every hour to wish them happy birthday or give them tons of presents that they didn’t even want, just they, and they alone…and Asriel, of course.
“Today was fun, Chara!” The older boy said, jumping on his bed. “Don’t you think so?”
“Yeah, it was…” The younger one replied, following their brothers footsteps and falling face first on their pillow. “I liked your present, by the way.” They added, rolling over to face him. “But honestly, by the way you were hyping this up, I thought you brought something more-”
“That wasn’t the present.”
“...huh?”
The boy seemingly couldn’t hold it anymore and started giggling, before getting out of the bed. “It was just a cover up! I think mom would kill me if I gave you this on your birthday!"
Chara, now really confused, sat up on their bed and watched as Asriel bent over to grab something under his own bed.
What possibly could he buy that he needed to hide it from Mrs. Mom? The human wondered as their friend pulled out a similar box from the one they held a few hours ago.. It looked very similar to the box Mrs. Mom helped Chara pack, but it was larger and the ribbon was tightened messier and it barely held everything together - It was obvious he tied it himself.
“What is it?” Chara asked, finally getting out of the bed to grab the box. “See it for yourself! Hehehe…” The boy replied, handing it over.
The human pulled the ribbon and let it fall on the ground, the same with the top.
It was…a dagger. It looked freshly new, and sharp. Chara carefully grabbed it and turned it back and forth, inspecting it. The handle was golden and cold, in the middle, it had a red heart, similar in shade to Chara’s soul.
“You…bought me a knife?” The child looked at Asriel with a mix of emotions. Excitement, confusion and…bearly containable laughter.
“It’s not even a knife! It’s a dagger, a completely different thing!”
“But…why? Who even allowed you to buy that?”
“It’s for gardening.”
“You like doing it and you always share tools with dad…I thought you could have your own.” Asriel explained. “You…don’t like it?”
Chara went silent for a moment, just a moment, before letting out a giggle. “You’re kidding? I love it! You just give me a knife, why would I hate it?!”
“Hey! be quiet or mom and dad will hear!” Asriel shushed them. “Try to…try to hide it from them alright?”
“I will, I will! Don’t worry!” Chara replied, heading over to their bed and tossing the weapon under it. “I’ll hide it somewhere they never look.”
“That’s good.” Asriel sighed with relief and sat down at his bed. “I’m happy you like it, Chara. I love to see you smile, hehe…you… barely do it.”
Chara froze, still turned back to Asriel, when suddenly their lips started moving by themself. “You know, I…um…”
“You…what?”
“...nah, it’s dumb.” The young one quickly muttered before turning to Asriel. “Forget it.”
“No, tell me! I wanna know!”
Chara didn’t know what to say, they just berated themself in their head before breaking the silence with a sigh. “You’ll think it’s stupid.”
“No, I won’t! Please tell me!”
The human looked away for a second, before turning away quickly and grabbing the presents from under their bed. “I…Have something for you, too.” They explained, still facing Asriel backwards.
“Really? But it’s not my birthday.” Asriel replied, standing up and taking a step forward to his friend.
“I know…I bought it a few weeks ago, after my third anniversary here.” Chara replied. “But…it’s dumb.”
“It’s not! I’m sure of that.” The boy said, trying to be encouraging. The younger one just sighed and quickly turned around, before shoving the box into Asriel's hands. “Then here you go.”
The older friend didn’t waste time, eagerly opening the present, maybe even more eagerly than Chara just seconds ago.
“Huh, what’s that?” Asriel said, picking up one of the lockets.
“It’s um…” Chara looked away, embarrassed. “It’s like…friendship lockets. Maybe it’s more of a human thing, I guess….”
“Friendship lockets…?” Asriel repeated, inspecting it more carefully before his eyes stopped on the writing engraved behind it. “Oh Chara…”
“I know it’s dumb! You don’t have to be fake nice about it like you-” The human replied, looking back at their friend, whose eyes became teary. “Wait…are you…crying?”
“What? N-No!” Asriel replied, quickly whipping away the tears with his sleeve. “Only dumb babies cry…I’m a big kid, you know!”
“Then what happened?”
“It’s just…” The boy said, looking down at the locket in his hand again. “I’m so…happy!”
“You…are?”
“Of course! I would never think you would…that you think I’m your best friend !” Asriel explained, clutching the locket in his hand tighter. “I never had a best friend before!”
“...me too.”
“Well then.” The older monster said, grabbing the other locket from the box and reaching his hand to Chara. “I promise I will wear it forever if you will too.”
The child took the golden locket from his paw.
“I promise.”