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Berdly’s POV
~~•~~~~•~~~~•~~
Berdly looked out his window and observed the full moon. The sun had now completely set, leaving only a few visible specks in the sky in its slumber. He grabbed his diary off his bed, and sat on the windowsill that was situated right above his bed.
It had been awhile since he had written in his diary, but recently, he had a lot on his mind, and no one to talk about it with. The diary was about halfway full with entries. He started writing in it when his mother had forced him to get more serious about school a few years ago, but very quickly, the daily entries had slowed down to weekly, then monthly, then not at all.
He found a clean page, and lifted his official Dragon Blazers branded pencil to the first line. He started to write: “It appears I have found myself” nope. That didn't sound right for this. He scratched it out until it was a solid blotch of black. Unfortunately, erasing wasn't an option because he had used this pencil so many times that the eraser had been completely flattened. Though, not like he could erase it properly with how hard he was pressing his pencil to the paper.
He started writing again: “I have realized something extremely integral today” no no NO. He scratched it out again as his brows furrowed harder. He had to think about this. He moved his pencil to the third line. “I have come to a baffling realization today.” Ok, he supposed he could work with this. He continued the paragraph: “I had previously suspected that I may have had feelings for Susan after my fascinating dream at the library, which I may write about soon.” He tapped his pencil aggressively against the pages.
“However, my shift at the library today was rather uneventful, like most days, and I had plenty of time to carefully reconsider my feelings.” Berdly bit his beak. How in the world was he supposed to just write this out??? “And I have come to the understanding that I don't have feelings for Susie,” He couldn't believe he was writing this. “but rather, Kris.” He slammed the diary shut. This was so stupid. He held his legs tight to his chest and looked out the window attempting to distract himself. His eyes glided over the grass, the tops of buildings in the distance, and then the tops of the trees with a bright green shade, but frustratingly enough, the bright green shade solely reminded him of the blindingly hideous neon green color of Kris's sweater he had seen them wear every day for two years now.
Why did all this crush stuff need to be so difficult? He had never felt this way about anyone before. How could he have ever convinced himself he liked Noelle or Susie??? This felt so different. He practically suffocated every time a thought of Kris forced its way into his head. They were a complete troll, prankster, ragebaiter, rebel, really any slightly annoying trait someone could have, but somehow he felt he needed to significantly step himself up for them. Although those things about them were true, he never thought about them much that way. If anything, he'd describe them as beautiful, strategic, precise, caring, and most of all, determined.
This whole situation felt like a blessing from the Angel, and torture at the same time. It was insufferable, yet somehow the best feeling he had felt in years.
He sat in silence. These feelings were strangely new, yet so strong. His want to suppress these feelings only made them twice as poignant. He had always thought of Kris as his rival; as someone who would be thrilled to get a good laugh at his expense, someone who he would gladly play against in Dragon Blazers or Minecrap (and always end up losing against them), someone who he could direct insults to (with all good intentions of course), and someone he could go to if he needed a distraction. But recently, all those things started feeling so cruel. He wanted to be more to them than someone to simply have a good laugh at, or play games with.
But obviously, that would never happen. There was no way someone like Kris would feel the same way. He went back to looking outside, and caught sight of the school. He did have a test tomorrow, maybe he could study to get his mind off this crush stuff for a bit-
His thought process was interrupted by a lively jingle from his phone: his notification sound. But who would be texting him? Let alone at this hour. He grabbed his phone sitting flat in front of him on the windowsill. The brightness of his screen caused him to flinch when he held it to his face. When his eyes adjusted to the brightness and properly read the screen, his eyes widened and his cheeks flushed in horror. It was Kris.
Kris' POV
~~•~~~~•~~~~•~~
Kris had been trying to fall asleep for 2 hours now. They had pulled an all-nighter last night rigging Berdly's house with TNT in Minecrap. Then Noelle decided to come over to get advice on how to ask Susie out to the upcoming festival. In the end, they decided to go to sleep early today. It's not like they had anything better to do.
Yet somehow, by some horrific tragedy, they continued to stay awake. The Angel must be getting payback for all the sleepless nights they had caused Noelle to have when she was 7 after pretending to be a human under her bed… Well, they were, but they supposed the thought of having a monster under their bed gave them some sense of fear when they were very little, so they didn't think about it too much.
Something they very much did think about was being the only human in Hometown. It was an insecurity they had ever since they were adopted, that was why they wore that oh-so-treasured red horned headband when they were younger. They had never fit in with their family, personality or appearance-wise. They had been furious when anyone would imply that they were different in any way, so they were absolutely crushed when they found out they wouldn't grow horns like the rest of their adoptive family. They had even had a massive tantrum in third grade when someone called their obviously goat horns: devil horns.
They spun around on their bed and looked across the bedroom to their brother’s side, which sadly had no brother in it. Asriel left for college two years ago, giving some of his blindingly hideous neon green sweaters to Kris as a hand-me-down. Despite how ugly the sweater was, and how embarrassing it was to wear in public, they missed their brother dearly, and they wore it everywhere as a sort of remembrance or mourning for him being gone. Ok, he wasn't gone, just away, but it was all the same to them.
They turned again, facing the ceiling. Their eyes shifted to the singular glowing green star on their wall, that had been thrown there by Susie not too long ago when they had a sleepover together. She had taken it from Asriel’s side of the room after complaining about how he had all the cool stuff in the room, a notion Kris shared with her.
He had every inch of his shelves filled with trophies and other nick-nacks he cared about. Meanwhile, Kris’ side of the room was completely barren, besides the ominous, empty bird cage in the corner with a blood stain next to it, which no one dared to question. Of course, Kris was happy for their brother, but they couldn't help but feel jealous.
Asriel cared so much about everyone, and everyone cared so much about him, as made obvious by how no one in Hometown could shut up about him. Again, Kris loved him, but it was beginning to become a bit sad how every time they tried to talk to some of the adults, they just brought up how they miss Asriel, and barely acknowledged them. Kris wasn't one to actively seek out a really good reputation or anything, pranks and other mischievous things interested them far more, but it felt like no one had anything good to say about them.
They tried to turn their attention to the star on their wall again. It's best to keep their mind off all that stuff for now. Yet somehow, they found something equally distracting to turn their attention to. The glowing star had reminded them of Berdly's glow in the dark armor from the dark world.
They wished they were near him right now. The thought of just talking to him made them strangely happy. They knew they had a crush on the blue bird for a few weeks now, but the whole situation with the dark world made them like him more somehow. They were a bit confused with themself when they initially realized, but quickly grew to accept it.
What's not to like? Well, they could think of a few things, but whatever. He was pretty cute (at least to their standards). He had good music taste (Like, who doesn't like Matsune Hiku???). He had a slightly annoying personality, but they knew it was all just an act. They loved the way his feathers fluffed up when it was cold, or when he was embarrassed. And- wait. Why in the world did they know that about Berdly? Since when did they pay that close attention to him? They didn't even notice how red their cheeks had gotten until they became an even darker crimson at the thought of Berdly's feathers poofing up.
Ok, best to stop thinking about all this now before they realize they'd been practically stalking him or something.
They shifted on the bed again until they were facing the wall. Their eyes traced over the bumps and cracks of the yellow paint. They had made out a bump that looked similar to their teacher’s face. Then another that looked like a dress. They glanced over to the tiny hole in the wall that had been there ever since they started living here. They had theorized it came from a nail that held some kind of painting, before being taken off and cleared out like the rest of their side, in preparation for their arrival.
…
MAN they were bored.
…
Their stomach growled. Apparently they were hungry too. Tonight was one of those nights where they wished their mom made a butterscotch cinnamon pie, that they would gladly devour when she was asleep. Come to think of it, what food did they have right now? They figured they weren't going to sleep anytime soon, so they might as well check.
They slowly crept down the stairs that led to the kitchen. They noticed the lights were off downstairs, which was odd because their mother turned them off when going to bed, and she usually stayed up until about an hour from now. Yet sure enough, she was fast asleep in her reading chair, which she called Chairiel.
They opened the fridge door to find absolutely nothing but disappointment. A lone ketchup bottle stood inside. A remnant of a few nights before when that stupid skeleton was at their house.
They closed the door. Whatever. It's whatever. Who cares? Not them. As much as they didn't want to admit it, the whole situation with their mom and that dumb skeleton from the convenience store pissed them off to no end, but thinking about it never got them anywhere, so it was best they didn't think about it at all, just like any other problem they seemed to face.
They needed something to redirect their attention to immediately, something that could last awhile, and frustratingly enough, sleeping didn't seem to be an option. But what could they do? They couldn't watch TV because they gave it away not too long ago. They couldn't play games on their brother's crappy computer because the sound was broken and played way too loud for their mom not to hear. They couldn't eat anything. They wouldn't think of anything.
Well, they could think of one thing.
They couldn't help but want to see Berdly, and since their mom was asleep, she wouldn't notice if they left for a while. They went back to their room and picked up their phone from their bedside table. They scrolled through their contacts until they found the one they were looking for: Burghley.
Their cheeks flushed once again. Here goes nothing…
Berdly's POV
~~•~~~~•~~~~•~~
“hey”
Is what the text read.
WHAT WAS HE SUPPOSED TO SAY TO THAT???!?!?!?!!!!???
Saying ‘Hey’ back at them sounded too lazy, and he wanted them to think he was cool! But he also didn't want to overdo it! What if Kris realized he had a crush on them? They would think he was weird. He didn't want that.
“Hello Kristopher.” He replied
Horrible. That sounded way too straightforward and stern. Maybe he should have ended it with an exclamation mark? Before he could delete the text and retype it, Kris had already replied.
“can i come over”
OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!?!?!! Kris wanted to come to his house right NOW??? He'd want nothing more obviously, but ever since he had realized his crush, it was hard to simply look at them without becoming completely flustered. If they came over, they'd surely find out about his feelings.
“sorry is it a bad time?” Kris texted.
HOW LONG HAS BERDLY BEEN OVERTHINKING??????? HE MADE THEM WAIT SO LONG THEY WERE WORRIED ABOUT HIM!!!! OK, he could fix this…
Breath in.
Breath out.
Ok.
“No no Dearest Kris, your timing is adequate. Because my parents are gone for the week, I suppose I will let you enter my abode, even if it is at an unflattering hour.”
Why did he always come off as mean? It drove him crazy sometimes. He didn't mean to come off so condescending, it just happened naturally, as stupid as that sounds.
“k be there in 5”
FIVE MINUTES??!!?! HIS ROOM WAS A MESS! He needed to start cleaning immediately! He observed the plethora of cups on different surfaces, and clothes strewn out all over the floor. He didn't usually let his room get messy, but that was usually because his parents were there to enforce it. Because his parents were on their business trip a few hours away, he didn't feel a need to clean it, but now he desperately wished he did.
He frantically started stacking the cups and bringing them to the kitchen sink. He could worry about putting them in the dishwasher later, he didn't expect Kris to go to the kitchen since it was only a few hours past dinner time. He then grabbed as many clothes as he could fit in his arms and brought them to the bathroom hamper.
When he got back to his room, he was confused when he heard small knocking noises coming from his window. He slowly walked closer. Maybe it was the nearby tree rubbing against his window- KRIS???????
Kris was hanging on for dear life from his window! He immediately yanked it open and grabbed their hands, his face getting warm at the sight of them.
“KRIS WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING??”
He pulled them into his room with all his might until they fell like a ragdoll onto his bed.
“You could have just knocked on the door!” Berdly pestered.
“I thought your parents would hear and be mad.” Kris said, voice monotone as always, not that it made it sound any less beautiful.
“I told you in my text! They're on a business trip!”
“Oh, my bad.”
Berdly scoffed. The least sincere apology anyone could give, but he'd gladly take it from Kris.
“Well, I guess it was worth it to see you get so worked up.” Kris teased.
Berdly's feathers instantly fluffed up. Kris started cackling uncontrollably… and blushing?
He took this time to realize that they weren't in their usual green sweater, but in a short sleeved black shirt that had some kind of metal band printed on the front. As if they couldn't get any prettier.
“S-sorry,” They paused to laugh “sorry. Anyway, do you uh, have anything to do?”
Oh Angel. He had been so busy cleaning his room, he hadn't thought of what they would do together when they arrived!
“O-of course I have something for you to do! W-whyever would you question that?”
Their eyes were always covered by their bangs, but he could tell they were giving him a deadpan look.
“Cool. What is it?”
GAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!! HE SUCKED AT THIS!
“How would you feel about a rematch in Super Smashing Fighters, my dearest rival?” It stung him a bit to simply address them as his rival, but he'd been doing it for so long, it was just instinct now.
“Oh hell yea!” Kris beamed “I'm gonna kick your ass!”
It wasn't every day he got to see Kris smile this much, and knowing he was the cause felt really nice.
He walked over to his console and booted it up. He made sure he didn't have the crappy controller this time, just to ensure there was no cheating.
“Oh I forgot to ask, is your mom ok with you being over right now?” Berdly asked as he handed Kris their controller. He genuinely did care if they snook out, they could hurt themselves! Though honestly, if they snook out just for him, it would be pretty flattering. But that's besides the point, he didn't want either of them to get in trouble with Toriel. She can be really scary when she's mad.
“Oh uh, yea she's cool with it.”
“Ah, ok. Good.”
Silence filled the room as they started to select their characters.
“By the way, I like your pajamas.”
… Did Kris just compliment him? This was definitely unusual. He could feel his face getting even hotter. OH MY GOD! WAIT! HE WAS IN HIS PAJAMAS!!!! In his panic to clean his room, he'd also forgotten to change too! He felt ridiculous wearing the mint green garments, especially when he had other, cooler options. He relished in the thought of Kris fawning over him in one of his funny gaming shirts, but, if Kris liked it…
“You good?” Kris said, snapping him out of his daze.
“Ah! Of course Kris!” He chuckled nervously. UGH HE SOUNDED RIDICULOUS!!!! This whole situation was ridiculous! He took a deep breath and selected his character.
“3, 2, 1, START!” Shouted the announcer in the game.
~~•~~~~•~~~~•~~
10 Minutes Later
~~•~~~~•~~~~•~~
The score was now 0-6
“This is absolutely preposterous! You must be cheating! I must have given you the good controller by accident!” Berdly shouted.
Kris held their controller up “You gave me the bootleg. I think it's a skill issue.”
“It is not a skill issue, thank you very much! You only won because you kept wavedashing!”
“You wouldn't say that if you could pull it off.” Kris grinned.
“I can pull it off,” He said, lying through his teeth. “I just... choose not to because it was never intended to be a real game feature!”
“Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, I'm hungry. Do you have any food?” Kris said dismissively.
“Ah ah! You think you can try to get me to slowly accept your foul play by redirecting my attention to- HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!!”
“The kitchen? I'm hungry.”
“But it's not clean in there!” Berdly shouted as he stood up to case after Kris.
Kris sped up when they realized they were being pursued. They sprinted down the stairs, Berdly following close behind.
“Get back here you scoundrel!”
“Ha! Scoundrel???” They said as they reached the bottom of the steps and sprinted down the hallway that connected the kitchen to the living room. “Why do you care so much anyway-” Kris rounded the corner to the kitchen, but they failed to consider how easy it was to slip on the smooth wooden floor, and toppled over.
“Kris! Are you ok?” Berdly rushed to their side, only to be met with Kris turning around with a big smile on their face.
“Pfft- yea I'm good” Kris said as they laughed off the pain in their arm. Why would they be sad when they had Berdly here? He held out his hand for them to take, and they did. Their hand felt so soft and warm in his, the same feeling from when he pulled them into his room from the window, but he was so worried they were going to fall, that he barely had any time to acknowledge how it felt. Were all humans this warm? However, he noticed something he failed to do when pulling them through the window. Their nails were painted in black nail polish. He didn't think he had ever seen them paint their nails before. When one of his fingers brushed over their nails, he noticed it was slightly tacky too, like it had been painted not too long ago. Why would Kris paint their nails right before coming to hang out with him?
They glanced around the room while Berdly helped them up. “What were you talking about, it looks clean in here to me.” Kris said, quickly trying to change the topic from their embarrassing fall. They were being honest though, it did look clean, albeit very boring. It had a more modern look to it. Not crazy expensive with marble or anything, just whites, blacks and greys. Very plain. Especially when there was nothing to be seen on the counters or cabinets.
“Well… there's some cups in the sink from me this week.”
“Oh um, ok?” Kris walked into the kitchen fully and started opening random cabinets, having to stand on their tip toes to reach some, in hopes of revealing a treasure cove of snacks. Berdly chuckled at the sight. He had about 3 inches on them, something he would flaunt whenever he got the chance. His arms were a bit longer too, so things they struggled to reach, he could usually do with ease.
“Worry not Kris, allow me to assist you.” He smirked as he reached in front of them to open the cabinet closest to the fridge, having completely forgotten about the whole awkward moment that just transpired.
“Yea whatever.” They said turning away from him to hide their blush, and reaching into the opened cabinet to find something edible, which wouldn't be too hard because one of their favorite foods was moss.
“However, I ask that you have some self control. Since my parents aren't around, there's no one to restalk the snacks if they are all eaten.”
“You're gonna have to hold me back then, cuz’ I haven't eaten today.” They said, turning to him with their arms full of birdseed and Doritos. He completely glossed over the fact that they had ignored his request.
“Kris! You should have said something sooner! I would've made something for you!”
“Nah, it's ok, I didn't wanna bother you.” They said as they hung their head lower.
“That's not what matters, Kris! Put those back, I'll find something to make for you.” Kris wasn't in the mood to argue anymore, so they did what he said.
He opened the fridge to piece together what he could make. “Apologies, Kris, I don't have much at the moment.” He scratched the side of his head to appear deep in thought. “How do you feel about some sandwiches?”
“Sure, I don't care.” They said as they found a stool on the kitchen island. They said they didn't care because they really didn't. They'd gladly take whatever Berdly offered them.
“Ok, what would you like on them?”
“Surprise me.” They said with a smile only noticeable if you were looking for it. Berdly noticed.
And surprise them he did, because they expected him to pull out some random things from the fridge, slap it on some bread, and be done, but that's not at all how it went down. Berdly pulled out a cutting board and started dicing an array of things. Kris didn't keep track of what though, partly because they wanted to keep it a surprise, but mostly because they were too distracted looking at his vibrant blue feathers, and the way just the smallest bit of moonlight reflected off of them from the sliding glass door in the back of the living room. Anyway, he then carefully selected some other ingredients from the fridge to add, They still paid little attention to the specifics though. Apparently, Berdly cared a lot more about the quality of food that they ate more than they did because he put great effort into making this sandwich. Well, a lot more than Kris ever would.
“Here you are my dearest rival!” Berdly said, sliding a plate across the counter with two sandwiches on it, as he made his way to sit next to them.
Kris wasted no time absolutely devouring them, although when they were done, they wished they had taken more time, they tasted great! Compared to their occasional quick snacks or moss, it was a good step up! A solid 8.6/10, would eat again! Though, nothing could top their mom's butterscotch cinnamon pie.
“Heaven's to Betsy, Kris! I'm surprised you haven't choked yet!” He said watching as they swallowed their last few bites of their sandwich. “Besides,” He started, receding back into his persona “hasn't your mother ever taught you some table manners?”.
Kris shrugged “Don’t you swallow stuff whole?” “For your information, Kristine; I can, but I don't. It's incredibly impolite, and can be quite messy. A lesson I'm surprised you haven't learned by now.” He said smugly as he gestured to their shirt.
Kris looked down to see several bread crumbs along with a piece of lettuce that was laying just on top of the red logo on their T-shirt. Kris took the piece of lettuce and shoved it in their mouth, and used their other hand to dust off the crumbs in unpredictable directions. Berdly watched with the most annoyed expression he could muster, and scoffed for what felt like the tenth time today. “Truly uncivilized.” He wasn't really annoyed at them, he actually found it quite funny, but he needed some way to dissipate the unwavering blush on his face that only seemed to grow the longer he was around them. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to be working.
“Is it always this cold here?” Kris questioned mockingly, changing the topic yet again. “If you must know, yes, it is. As it is for most avian monsters, my feathers tend to block heat in easily, so I need to turn the air conditioning at a lower temperature to compensate.” Yet again, he was already overthinking the words he spoke. “However I can understand how it may be uncomfortable for you, so if you'd like me to turn it up, it would be my pleasure.” He said, attempting to do a small bow while still sitting down.
Oh my angel, why had they fallen for this nerd. “No. I'll just get a blanket.” They said eyeing a particular blanket that was neatly folded and draped on the couch in the living room. “Ah, of course.”
Kris made their way to the living room after Berdly had taken their plate and put it in the sink for them (they were going to do it themself, but he insisted he should because they're “the guest” and his “generosity has no bounds” or something lame like that… Kris had found it oddly endearing for some reason though).
Kris sat dead center on the couch with a blanket right over their shoulder and legs, which they were holding tight to their chest. Berdly sat down about 3 feet or so away from them. He wanted to sit closer, but he feared he would turn so red you might mistake him for a cardinal if he got even an inch closer.
“Since you are the guest, I suppose I will also allow you the privilege to choose what we watch.” Berdly said, handing the living room TV remote to them. Although he knew it was the nice thing to do, his real intentions were to find out things they watch. Berdly knew them for a long time, and by extension, things they liked. He knew they had a shared interest in Dragon Blazers and Minecrap, and he also knew their love for pranks (mostly because he was the victim to the majority of them), among other things. Strangely enough, the shows and movies they liked were not something he was knowledgeable about.
Kris had “flo” typed in when they clicked on the second option.
“FlowerFluffGirls?” Berdly questioned out loud. He always assumed they would watch more edgy shows or movies. Admittedly, he had never watched the movie, nor the show that came soon after.
“Yea, it's Fucking awesome.”
“It always seemed like a simple show for young children to me.”
“Probably its target audience, but it's cool cuz’ the girls beat the crap out of the villains in every episode.” Now that was what he was expecting.
He watched the intro play out. “Sugar, spice, and everything nice.” The narrator said. Soon, the chemical X exploded, and 3 girls emerged from the smoke it caused. The 3 girls who were the main characters of the show looked a bit uncanny to him. He wondered why a show that supposedly had so much violence would be targeted towards such young children. It could be an incrediblely bad influence! He wondered if Kris watched this when they were younger. It would certainly make sense!
The movie kept playing out as normal, but he couldn't help but glance at Kris every now and then. It seemed every thought ended with thinking about them.
“You sure you're not cold?” Kris said as they lifted the blanket. Oh Angel. Did Kris seriously want to sit that close to him? “S-sure!” WHY WAS HE DOING THIS TO HIMSELF????!!?!?!??? He sounded way too happy, and that wasn't even a proper answer to their question!
Kris threw the blanket over him, and he scooted to the side until their arms touched. His mind blanked. He had to be blushing profusely by now. He thought about gliding his hand down their arm and grabbing their hand, and them softly grabbing his back- UGH! Why did these thoughts keep appearing in his head??? He had to pull himself together for them! He gulped loudly as he forced his eyes to look back to the tv screen, but that was the last thing on his mind.
He looked at the time displayed on the clock just above the tv, it read 10:09. The movie was slightly past halfway done now, and he was starting to get a bit drowsy, but Kris seemed much more tired. Their head hung low just slightly more than usual, and they were no longer watching the movie. His point felt especially proven when they slumped over and fell to the side on his shoulder.
There was no way this was happening. He had to be dreaming. But he knew the truth. He knew this was real, despite how unreal this night had felt, especially right now.
He examined their face, which he could now see more than half of. Their eye just slightly peeked out of 2 strands of hair, an incrediblely rare sight. And maybe he was just imagining things, but he swore he could see just the smallest smile tugging at the corner of their mouth. Sometimes the wind would blow just right, or he would be at just the right angle to see more of their face. He never knew why they hid it under all their bangs though. Of course, they had their reasons, and he respected whatever they were, but if it was about insecurity, he would never understand why. He had always thought of them as quite striking, and recently, absolutely gorgeous.
He had found himself thinking about them for quite awhile now, and he was starting to nod off. But just before he could fall asleep, he slowly moved his head to rest on theirs.
He didn't know if they would wake up. Maybe they would be confused. Maybe they would get up and yell at him. But it was a risk he was willing to take. He wanted to be closer with them.
He wanted to be more than just rivals.