Chapter Text
"Fahaha, Dad! I can't just say that to her! I'd die. I'd literally die."
Noelle's giggles echoed from inside her father's hospital room. She hadn't even noticed the door had opened. She was distracted in talking to her father. She had barely had time to visit him with how hectic school had been lately. The assignments, the piles of homework... And of course, now Ms. Alphys had assigned the class a group project... Inbetween everything, she barely had any time to see him. He was probably so lonely in that hospital room all alone...
"Noelle. Sweetheart. The first time I'd laid eyes on your mother..." Rudy's raspy voice piped up. "...I walked right up to her and told her she was a HOT piece of work." He said, seemingly bragging by the way he was grinning.
"...Really?" Noelle asked, smoothing down a piece of her hair that had stuck up.
"Yeah, and she slapped me so hard I blacked out!" Rudy finished, laughing loudly, before his laughter turned into wheezy coughing. Noelle laughed back, trying to mask her concern for his wheezing.
"Fahaha..! That doesn't help at all, Dad!" She said, covering her mouth as if she was apologizing for smiling too hard. All this time, while they had been talking, about Dragon Blazers, about his condition, and about... Susie... She hadn't even noticed Kris walk in, just... watching her talk, with that emotionless expression on their face.
A glance at her watch had snapped Noelle out of her confusion. "Oh, it's getting late... Guess I better go. I've got homework." She said, beginning to gather her belongings into her bag.
Rudy's smile fell slightly. "Uh oh. I hear your group project voice." He said, giving her a skeptical look. "Bird guy again? What's his name... Nerdly?" He grinned, attempting to jab her with his elbow from his bed, but missing.
"Um, it's Berdly, dad..." Noelle corrected, giving him a sheepish smile and putting a hand on his arm. "He's not that bad, he's just-" She started.
Rudy interrupted. "I'll kick his aaaahhhh... Uhh, tail." He said, correcting himself, but still giving her a grin, showing what he really meant.
"Fahaha... You're not even supposed to get up, Dad." She laughed quietly, slinging her bag over her shoulder.
Rudy rolled his eyes. "Bring him by the window, I'll throw something at him!" He said, giving his daughter a challenging look and shaking his fist playfully.
"Goodbye, Dad." Noelle interrupted after adjusting the little angel doll on Rudy's counter, poor thing looked like it was about to fall over. She began to turn towards the door, attempting stop him from making anymore threats to her friends.
"Bye, honey." Rudy said, finally giving up his threats to Berdly and waving goodbye. He settled back down on his bed, shifting slightly under the uncomfortable covers.
As Noelle began to leave the room, she suddenly stopped, finding herself face-to-face with Kris. She paused, feeling a bit awkward. She glanced downward at her shoes. What to say? She couldn't just walk past them without acknowledging them..!
"Oh..? Um.." She started, forcing her head back up to meet Kris's eyes- or, what she could tell were their eyes, it was always hard to tell with all of that hair in their face- and giving them an awkward smile. "Hi, Kris..?" She said, before quickly exiting the room.
That was terribly awkward.
As she left the hospital, she could faintly hear Kris and Rudy conversing, or... Something like that. Kris didn't talk much.
"Well, jingle my bells! Krismas came early!"
She heard Rudy say as she left. That was the last time she heard her father's voice that night. She waved to the person at the desk before walking out the front door and starting her short trek home. That was weird. Kris never visited Dad. Normally it was Mr. Asgore, or, sometimes, Ms. Toriel. Kris hadn't visited him in a few months.
It's nice they finally came to visit, I guess..?
She thought as she walked up past ICE-E's and left by Catti's house, eventually making it to the house's gate. Locked. She had to have the key somewhere, right...? She sat down and dug around in her backpack...
No key. Great.
"What are you doing...?" A quiet, familiar voice piped up from behind her. She turned around, and... Sure enough, Kris actually came to... Talk to her? What was going on?
"O-Oh..! Hey, Kris..!" She said, giving them a sheepish smile. "Did you need help with your homework again..?" She asked. Kris just tilted their head. They looked like a dog. "I.. I knew you were having trouble last time, so, uh..." she said, beginning to shuffle through her bag again. "I have a few things ready for you, in case you-" she said, before Kris interrupted her.
"...I'm not here for that." They said. That set Noelle back a bit.
She tilted her head slightly to the side. "You... What..?" She asked.
"I'm here to talk to you, Noelle." Kris said, leaning on the gate and crossing their arms, looking down at her.
"Oh, um, sure..!" She said, giving them a little smile. "What did you want to talk about?" She asked.
"Um..." They said, looking down and seeming a bit embarrassed. "Just wanted to see how you and Rudy were." They admitted.
Noelles eyebrows raised in surprise, and her ears flicked. "Um, I'm doing alright, Kris..." She said awkwardly. "But, um, what makes you ask-"
"-Why are you sitting outside?" They asked again, glancing at the fence they were leaning on.
"Umm, I lost my key, faha..." She said, giving a half grin, half grimace as she looked away. "I just need to wait for my mom to come back, she has the spare key..." She said.
Without another word, Kris got off of where they were leaning and... Began to climb the fence?!
"Kris!? What are you doing-?!" She asked, staring up at them in bewilderment.
"Do you wanna get in or not?" They asked, cocking their head to the side and holding out a hand for Noelle to take from atop the fence. She hesitated for a moment, and eventually obliged and climbed up the fence, using Kris's hand like a rope to pull her up. After a few moments of staring at them, bewildered, as they sat on top of the fence, all she could muster was a quiet "thank you" before hopping down and running back to her house. As she looked back she saw Kris give a thumbs up before jumping down onto the other side and presumably continuing home.