Work Text:
Despite no longer striving for the title of smartest in his class, Berdly liked to keep a strict studying schedule. For example, on weekends like today he’d wake up at 6:30am sharp, get changed, pack his bag, and go downstairs at 7am to make himself breakfast. After that, he’d leave for the library. That gave him 2 hours and 20 minutes of focused study time before his shift began, which lasted from 10am until 2pm with a 30-minute break at 12. He’d then make his way to the church, where he’d help Ms. Boom tidy and organize events until 3:30pm, where he’d head home and study for another 2 hours. He would then make himself dinner, and spend the rest of the evening playing video games. At 9:30pm he would change again, brush his teeth, and go to bed.
This was how it went most of the time, and Berdly liked it that way. Keeping track of his time like this allowed him to ensure he was optimising it to the best of his ability, and kept him on track to get a good GPA and get into a good university. A set schedule gave him full control over what he did with his life. He knew exactly what would happen, where he had to go, and how it would happen. And he prided himself on keeping it that way, but sometimes life had other plans.
His day started as normal, waking to the sharp chiptune of his alarm and the very first dregs of the winter sun creeping through his blinds. He’d pulled on a comfortable shirt, selected his study material for the day, and walked downstairs to the kitchen to make a filling breakfast of One toasted peanut butter & jelly sandwich. Walking over to the bread bin, he took the lid off with a flourish, reached inside and curled his wing around… nothing?
Berdly paused. He peered into the bread bin to find that yes, it was empty. He checked the fridge just in case, but alas. He found nothing besides some slightly-stale wraps, and that simply wouldn’t do. It seemed like his parents had forgotten to stock up on food for him before they left for their business trip…
Which! Was completely fine! He was a smart, independent, nearly-adult! Grocery shopping would be a breeze. He’d just make a quick trip to the store that strange skeleton man owned, buy some essentials, and get back to his schedule as soon as he could. It was fine.
Taking a moment to smooth down his feathers, Berdly grabbed an old shopping bag from its place in a nearby cupboard (it’d be wasteful to throw away a good shopping bag, after all!), pulled his coat from its hook by the door, and walked out into the crisp winter air.
Very few of Hometown’s residents were awake at this time of day. As he walked through the streets of his neighborhood, he could count the number of lights he saw on with his fingers. The world was a pensive sort of quiet, with the only sound he heard being the tapping of his claws against concrete. His breath came out in little cloudy puffs in front of him that disappeared in the early winter sunrise. He entertained himself by watching them rise until he found himself standing in front of ‘Sans, thankfully displaying a regular open sign and not the dreaded clopen.
Pushing the door open with a chime, Berdly found that the store was, as he predicted, empty except for a worker at the cash register. Sporting a black collared shirt with a pink apron tied around the front, they were slumped against the counter, seemingly asleep. Atop folded arms rested a familiar head of messy brown hair, and wait a minute, was that…
“…Kris?!”
The human in question blearily lifted their head off the counter, blinking the sleep from their eyes before they came to focus on Berdly. They stared for a moment before replying, “Oh. Hey Berdly.”
He stared at them, unable to move. They stared unwaveringly back. His beak moved to form words, but nothing came out, so he just continued staring. Kris tilted their head like a confused puppy after about a minute of their impromptu staring contest.
“ …D’you need anythi-”
“What are you doing here.”
They just looked at him with the same blank, half-asleep expression. “I’m… working?”
“Since when?!” Berdly threw his wings up into the air, gesturing wildly. Kris raised their hand to their mouth in thought, a motion that Berdly couldn’t help but follow.
“Uh… about 2 weeks now? I think. That sounds about right,” they hummed noncommittally.
“Oh.” Berdly frowned to himself, wondering how on earth he missed this key information. Clearing his throat, he responded, “Hm- Well, I’m glad to see you finally contributing something to society, rather than spending all your time idling with Susie doing… whatever it is you normally do.”
“Eat moss sometimes.”
“Sure. Whatever. Either way, good work.” He paused, realising he wasn’t entirely sure where he was going with this. One question stuck out in his head.
“Er… why, though?” He asked, “And why ‘Sans?"
They simply shrugged. “Felt like a change in routine. And ‘Sans was hiring.”
Berdly just stared at them. Felt like a change in routine? They just… went ahead and did that? But why? Did they even think about the disruptions? The organisation and re-organisation required? That they could just change their routine and try something different, just for the hell of it, was unthinkably… wrong! How could they even know what they were doing, changing things so flippantly, how-
“Are you just gonna stand there and stare at me or did you wanna buy something?”
Kris’ voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and Berdly felt his feathers puff up. “Er- I- Well- Yes! As a matter of fact, I did!” he spluttered, snatching a basket off the (thankfully smaller than usual) stack before turning to the shelves of produce with his beak held high. He heard Kris mumble something to themself before they slumped back against the counter with a soft thump.
Berdly quickly busied himself with finding the items he needed. He quickly located the bread, pulling a couple loaves off the shelf for good measure. Looking around the store, he figured he’d stock up on other things he needed. Pasta, veggies, milk and coffee grounds were all added to his basket until he felt satisfied he had enough food to last him at least until his parents were home. That only left… right, checking out and paying for his items. He glanced back at Kris, who had somehow managed to fall asleep again in the 5 minutes it took him to find everything.
Walking over, he nudged their shoulder gently. “Kris, can you stay awake for more than 5 seconds? I need you to actually do your job.”
With a small grumble, they lifted their head up from the counter, making grabby hands at the basket. Berdly snorted at the action and hoisted it up onto the counter for them to begin scanning his items.
“Do you not get scolded by the skeleton man for sleeping on the job?” he remarked.
Kris glanced up from where they were smoothing out the barcode on the spaghetti packaging. “Who, Sans?”
“Yes. I can’t imagine he’d be happy to see you slacking off.”
Again, they only shrugged. “S’not like he can do anything about it. He’s the janitor.”
“What.”
Berdly just stared at them while they continued scanning his items. “The store… literally has his name on the front.”
“Yeah.”
“He opens and closes it.”
“Usually, yeah.”
“He was the one who interviewed you, no?”
“I wouldn’t really call it an interview, but sure.”
“So he’s the manager and owner of the store.”
“Nah, he’s just the janitor."
Berdly stammered for a few moments, trying to come up with some kind of response, before surrendering with a groan. “Even though your logic is, quite frankly, absurd, it is… too early in the morning for me to deal with your antics. Just give me my things.”
Their lips twitching into a little smirk, Kris resumed scanning the produce. The store hummed with the sound of the refrigerator running and the intermittent beeps of the barcode scanner, and Berdly contented himself to watch them, a small, barely-noticeable smile pulling at his own mouth.
“That’ll be… $36.72,” they said, “Cash or card?”
Berdly held out his credit card, and Kris nodded towards the card reader. It made a satisfying little chime as he paid for his items and spat his receipt out. He began packing away his purchases carefully, making sure to leave the softer items for last. Kris tilted to the side to watch the street outside through the windows, humming thoughtfully to themself.
“It’s pretty cold out,” they said after a moment.
Berdly paused midway through shoving a carton of milk into his bag. “Quite,” he responded, “This is the warmest coat I own, and even then my walk here left me cold.”
Kris rapped their knuckles against the counter, before turning away. “Wait here a sec.”
Confused, Berdly stayed where he was. The last of the produce was packed safely away in the bag and slung over his shoulder. Outside, he could hear the sound of residents waking up and walking through the street, going about their days. After a long moment Kris returned, now cradling a paper cup with steam rising tantalisingly from the top.
“Here,” they offered, “It’s not as good as QC’s, but it’ll help warm you up.”
Peering into the cup, Berdly saw that it was filled with hot chocolate. He blinked, trying to find something to say.
“…You can’t try to sell me things now, Kris. I’ve already paid,” he said after a moment.
They held the cup out more. “It’s free. Got it from the staff room.”
He relented, taking the cup with a soft huff. “You have a staff room back there?” he asked.
“Maybe not a staff room,” they replied, “But there’s a few chairs and a coffee machine. Also ketchup, for some reason.”
Yeah, that’s about what he expected. “Well, thank you anyways, Kris. I shall take my leave.”
“Um.” Kris shifted a little. “Before you go. Are you free tomorrow?”
Berdly turned back to squint at them suspiciously. “Why do you ask…?”
“Me, Noelle and Susie are going for lunch at QC’s tomorrow. You could come if you want.”
Berdly clicked his tongue. “Alas, Kris, I have a very busy schedule tomorrow. My apologies,” he replied.
“Oh.” Near imperceptibly, their expression fell. “S’cool. But it’d be nice to see you sometime.”
Something about the way they spoke made Berdly’s heart ache, and he paused. When was the last time he just… spent time with someone outside of studying? No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t remember, which only served to make him feel even worse. Maybe one hang-out wouldn’t hurt. His parents were out of town, and he was pretty on top of his studies.
“…I might be able to squeeze in some time,” he said after a moment, “I’ll talk to Ms. Boom about it.”
The small smile returned to Kris’ face, and the weight in Berdly’s chest lifted. “I’ll text you the details later. Stay warm, ok?”
“I will. Farewell, Kris.”
They waved at him as he stepped through the door into the winter chill with renewed vigour. Gently swirling the drink in his hand, he took a sip and was pleasantly surprised by its taste. It was quite rich for what he assumed to be instant hot chocolate, and its warmth spread through his body nicely. He carefully cradled it as he began the journey back home, the steam curling around his face in soft little wisps.
When he got back, about half of the drink was gone. He placed the remainder on the dining table while he went about unpacking the groceries. A quick glance at the clock told him that the time was now 7:43am, and yet he found he was not nearly as agitated by that as he would have been. His encounter with Kris had put him almost completely at ease, and he finished his morning routine with a strange sense of content bubbling in his chest. He still found himself smiling when he arrived at the library at 8:10am, and he smiled all through his early-morning study session. The morning part of his shift went smoothly, and by the time his lunch break rolled around his phone lit up with a message from Kris.
Kriscrossapplesaus: were gonna meet at qcs around 2 but you can arrive whenever
Kriscrossapplesaus: ik noelles gonna be 30mins late shes got cross country
Smartgenius: My shift at the library ends at 2pm, so I will arrive at 2:10pm most likely. Make sure you save a seat for me and Noelle.
Kriscrossapplesaus: *librarby
Kriscrossapplesaus: will do. cya then
He’d still need to talk to Ms. Boom, but knowing her, she’d gladly give him the day off. Berdly found that he was actually excited to spend time with his friends properly after so long. Maybe, if tomorrow went well, he’d see if he could shift around his schedule so he could hang out with them more. After all, a little change couldn’t hurt.