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Today has been an absolute disaster for the human. They had to third wheel for their childhood friend and their best friend, they dealt with a dark world, and it all felt very sad. The soul has become dormant (Thank GOD) but they felt no energy to truly do anything besides sleep. Whatever, they will always be the crappy human in Hometown.
The festival was quiet while Kris walked home. What was the sounds of children and games has turned into a ghost town. Considering how overwhelmed they got today, it was probably a good thing everything was quiet.
Then a certain bluebird showed up, and Kris felt horrible again.
Kris had feelings for the bird when he wasn't being an annoying hack. He was genuinely a good person, but his nerd persona pushed alot of people away, Kris included. Kris tried to move away from Berdly, but unfortunately fate was horrid today.
"Kris? You don't look okay. I know having your heart crushed by your own suitors probably didn't help, but I wanted to offer you a place at my abode" Berdly seemed... Off. Usually his nerd persona would be turned up to 11 when trying to help people, but this was... normal? Or, as normal as Berdly can be. Kris honestly thought it was a decent idea, in case their mother got drunk with that damn skeleton again, but wanted to ensure something first.
"Don't insult me, and be respectful, but yes" Kris signed. Berdly seemed to become anxious, but responded. "If its any consolation, it was a bad day for me as well. I don't have it in my heart to insult you tonight, let's just go"
Kris was utterly shocked, but proceeded to walk with Berdly anyway. Berdly? Admitting he had a bad day? Did Toriel finally find someone and stop drinking? Whatever it might be Kris was NOT complaining, just means that they will have an easier time.
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With the help of Berdly showing Kris the proper way of getting up the tree, Kris managed to sneak into the birds room. The whole day felt off, and his room even more so. Gone was the wall of action figures, replaced by a few posters that he probably bought with his library job. The TV seemed updated, and his nest seemed more comfortable.
What shocked Kris the most was the two pride flags that were definitely not there the last time the two hung out. The first one was the Bi flag, which wasn't really a shock to Kris, considering he did try to start the most gender-inclusive polycule in hometown apparently.
What did shock Kris however was the trans flag.
Berdly seemed to notice Kris's expression, and immediately cowered, scared of Kris pulling a prank or something horrible like that.
"I-I didn't w-want you to s-see that yet" Berdly stuttered while putting away the cup with the flags. He was obviously nervous, which Kris isn't really concerned about. Even in a queer-friendly place like hometown, coming out is weird as fuck. Kris would know from experience.
"As much as I love pissing you off, disclosing your identity without permission is a totally horrible move" Kris reassured the bird, Berdly seemingly more comfortable than earlier. "Thank you. I just found out I was trans yesterday, and I am scared"
"You changed your whole perception of yourself, you are allowed to be scared. You have any pronouns or things you support?" Kris wanted to make sure that if Berdly used different pronouns, that they can be supportive.
"Berdly is fine, since it's pretty gender neutral. She/her for pronouns, I guess" Berdly reaffirmed. She seemed a little off, but in a different way than earlier that night. Berdly always seemed tense like she was hiding a dead body in the lake, but here? Her wings looked nice, her face wasn't layered in 10 pounds of cringe, and she was breathing normally for once.
It was cute, Kris thought.
"Well, congrats on the transition. Suprised you got rid of the action figure collection though, you seemed pretty excited about that." Kris said, shaking her wing. Berdly shrugged, "Wasn't because I was disinterested, because I still have them. It took up too much space and I bought a keyboard."
"You play piano?" Kris asked. They weren't really suprised by the idea, but Berdly seemed more into the sciences than music. "I had a few lessons from Ms. Boom since you stopped playing. It felt comforting to me." Berdly responded. With the whole possession thing going on, Kris wasn't feeling comfortable with playing it in the entity's presence. At the very least, the soul seemed to really want Berdly and them to be romantic partners, which Kris isn't opposed to.
The door opened to Berdly's room, and his dad appeared at the doorway. He took one look at Kris before responding. "Ah, didn't see you come in! Just wanted to let my daughter know that I was home." He shook berdly's plume feathers, which made her happy in a way that wasn't forced. "You're Kris, right?"
"Guilty as charged" Kris stated. Berdly's dad left the room, and the two teens are alone again. "Not forcing anything on you, but do you want to play a game that doesn't involve me losing to you 50 times?" Berdly laughed. Kris nodded, and Berdly pulled out her collection of games. Apparently Kris never knew she had a copy of Theme Park Tycoon 2, which Kris played to the point the disk couldn't work anymore.
"Haven't played TPT2 in years, you wanna play that?" Kris asked, Berdly put back the disk and headed to her computer. Kris was confused, which Berdly picked up on. "I have an open source version here, Allows more complex creations... and more opportunities to grief my creations" Berdly joked, looking at Kris with an endearing smug. Kris chuckled, before pulling up a random chair and watched as she played the game. For someone who sucked at puzzles in the Cyber World, Berdly did know how to be creative with her parks.
The two teens had a comfortable slience, and Kris became lost in thought. As much as Noelle and Susie would make fun of them for, they thought Berdly was a good romantic partner. Sure, her nerdiness and personality rub people the wrong way, but she was a genuinely good person and she was good at alot of the homemaking tasks. Maybe if Kris worked with her, she can meet them halfway and become a good couple?
Kris thought it was time to confess, Susie cockblocking be DAMNED.
Berdly seemed to be in the rythym of a particular map, when Kris made the first move. "Hey Berdly, did you have anything next week?" Kris requested. The plan was already shattered into pieces, so the longest this whole dark world stuff would last was probably two days. Berdly looked over to Kris. "Besides maintaining my straight A's? Not much. No Library shifts next week with the whole Undyne thing" Berdly responded. "There is this interactive art thing in Ebbot, and I wanted to know if you wanted to go with me, only us"
Berdly got flustered by what Kris said, and a small blush came upon her face. "I-I would be flattered Kris! One question, is this a date?"
Welp, now is better than never.
"Y-yeah. Honestly you are cool when you aren't an asshole." Kris stated. Berdly made the cutest chirp, face becoming bluer than a blueberry, before saying her next words.
"I love you as well, Kris." Berdly mumbled. Kris managed to catch it, before giving a quick kiss to the bluebirds cheek. Berdly.exe stopped responding after that maneuver, and Kris realized that they probably should sleep soon. "Anyways, I got to take a shower, Is that okay?". Berdly nodded, and showed Kris the way to the bathroom.
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Berdly was nuzzled close to Kris, and she felt very weird by this particular moment. Never in her life has she let anyone into her Nest, let alone someone who she admired from afar. Kris seemed to sleep quickly, dimmed by the dark light after Berdly shut down her computer. Berdly unfortunately didn't have the same luck, and her Brain had things to say.
Kris was always nice to her, and she responded with calling them a prankster and "The lowly number 3". It kinda made her feel bad about everything that happened today, but it felt like it wasn't as bad as originally thought. If Susie could become a good person, and start dating her best friend? Maybe Berdly could also become a decent person.
She petted Kris's hair, falling asleep in the darkness of the moonlight.