Archive of Our Own

It all kind of started with the teacup ride, where all good things start, of course.

The three had gone back to the ride after hours of Kris watching Susie and Noelle hang out, of Kris watching Susie and Noelle share snacks, and of Kris watching Susie and Noelle be an all lovey-dovey cutsie couple.

They were happy for them, but they were also third wheeling so hard they felt as though they were becoming circular and made of rubber. They could even be put on a bike, perhaps.

The three of them had checked out most of what the festival had to offer before they made their way back to the teacup ride once it finally had two whole fully rideable teacups, and Susie had insisted she and Noelle go for a ride.

“C'mon, I promise I won't spin it too fast,” Susie said.

“Alright…” Noelle agreed, hesitant but excited.

So the two hopped on. Kris stayed off to the side because like every activity in this festival, there was only room for two. Not three.

So they watched. Susie laughed as she spun the teacup faster and faster and Noelle was laughing as her hair was whipped up by the wind.

Except the teacup didn't slow down. Noelle started to get nervous at some point. Kris could barely hear her telling Susie to slow down before the ride broke off from its post in the ground and the entire ride was sent hurtling off to the left, spinning like a frisbee as it destroyed everything in its path.

They looked at Sans, who just shrugged from where he lazily leaned against the table. “It was supposed to do that.”

Kris started the walk to where they assumed the ride had ended up. There was a trail of complete and utter destruction where the ride had struck through: the road was torn up, Temmie had been crushed (but held a thumb up), and one of the cinnamon bun stands had been knocked over. The bunny running it was crying and QC looked vaguely disappointed. Other than that everyone seemed okay.

They looked over the stand blocking the path and down the road.

“Ouch…” Noelle muttered, sitting up and holding her leg.

“Hey, are you okay?” Susie jumped up, seemingly unharmed, and ran to Noelle with a worried expression on her face.

“Oh! Uh, yeah, it's nothi-”

“Noelle, you're injured!” Susie shouted over her, panicked. She scooped up Noelle, who yelped, and suddenly did not look worried about her leg anymore, and quickly grabbed Susie's shoulders.

“Susie it's fine!-” she squeaked, blushing.

“We need to get you fixed up so we can go on more rides!” She said, running south through the trees and bushes in the direction of the hospital. She left a susie-shaped hole in the bush as she disappeared.

Conveniently (or very inconveniently, actually), the road down to the hospital had been blocked by a group of outlaw dogs knighting Napstablook with a toy hammer.

Maybe they should just go back home. Until they had to participate in dark world activities, like everyday for the past week, of course.

They were about to turn around and go home when they heard footsteps running towards them.

“Kris, hey Kris!” Said a familiar voice from behind them, and they deliberately didn't turn around as he approached.

Berdly walked up next to them, somehow managing to look smug and worried at the same exact time.

“Kris, I heard a loud crash coming from this direction, and I suddenly remembered your third wheel “date” with Noelle and Susan! Me, being Noelle's wingman of course, had to make sure everything was okay.” He expressed dramatically, looking around.

Eventually his eyes caught onto the crashed teacup ride that had ended up sideways leaning against the Pezza shop. Berdly gasped too loudly, running as close as he could with the collapsed cinnamon bun stand still in the way.

“Oh my god, Kris!” He shouted, turning towards Kris. “I thought I could trust you to protect Susan and Noelle dearest, but obviously I cannot. They must be crushed underneath that awful contraption, scared and confused, grasping onto each other for comfort.” He speculated in a panic.

They definitely were not. They wondered if they should tell him that.

“I- no- we need to save them.” Berdly clenched his wing into a fist, gaining a dramatic gleam in his eye.

The teacup ride was as thin as a plate. Anyone could see underneath it. They really wondered if Berdly was looking at the same thing they were.

Kris had barely any time to react before Berdly had jumped up onto one of the stalls' support beams, using the momentum to vault himself over and land on one knee on the other side. He stood up and turned towards Kris, proud of himself.

“See that? I learned how to do it in a pretty cool dream I had once. Obviously, the skills I gained from it transferred into real life, just like those “isekai” shows I watch,” he gloated, smirking smugly, despite looking slightly out of breath.

Kris stepped forward and ducked through the gap in the stall. They may or may not have grabbed a bun on the way through.

Berdly looked absolutely befuddled, and Kris couldn't say they weren't entertained a bit.

“O-oh. Well, of course someone like you would take the easy way through life. It seems like you don't really care enough to save Susie and Noelle as much as I do!” He puffed out his chest and tilted his head up like he was superior for doing a big jump or whatever.

“They're not even there,” they pointed out, motioning to the smoking ride.

Berdly looked at the ride. Walked around it once. Looked at the Susie-shaped hole in the bush. Laughed a little while slicking back his feathers.

“Yes, I should've known my dearest’ would make it out of this precarious situation relatively unharmed. I should have more faith in them!” He exclaimed, grinning sharply. He quickly turned back to Kris, as though the entire speech had been rehearsed.

“Well, it seems as if you've been abandoned by those lovers, like a sad puppy cast to the streets.” He waved his hand, like he was narrating Kris’s backstory or something.

“Fate seems to have brought us together, Kris. It was telling me that you have won the contest for my love! Instead of us both third and fourth wheeling Susie and Noelle, we can become the wheels of the new “bike of love”.” Berdly exaggerated his proposition by throwing his wing over Kris’s shoulder and waving his hand towards the sky. They wondered if he learned that from Queen.

Kris felt the overwhelming, unexplainable urge to punch him. They couldn't really tell why, though.

“Well, I wonder what we should do first? Me, being the gentleman I am, had waited for my date to arrive before trying any of the festival activities, of course.” He paused, turning painstakingly slow yet purposefully towards the ferris wheel.

“Well, what do you say?” He turned towards them, a genuine smile on his face.

—

They got on the ferris wheel.

They didn't know why they were going along with this. They also saw Sans wink at them as they were boarding. They didn't know skeletons could do that and now they felt weird.

They sat down on one side and watched Berdly hesitate before sitting on the opposite side, nonchalantly leaning back in his seat and throwing a wing over the backrest.

Their capsule started to move, and Kris could swear it was slightly slower than usual. Maybe being stuck in a confined space with Berdly was just making them go insane.

“Oh, look! There they are!” Berdly pointed out the window and Kris followed his gaze. They saw Noelle down outside the hospital, a small pink bandaid on her leg, cheering Susie on while she arm wrestled a suspiciously long dog.

Susie won. She grabbed a dog treat off the table and shoved it in her mouth.

“They're so happy and perfect, even without us, the outcasts…” Berdly said dejectedly in a way they could tell he wasn't actually that sad and was just being dramatic.

“Well, us two will have twice as much fun! They'll see us winning… twice as many arm wrestling competitions!” He grinned victoriously even though they both knew his arm would break like a twig if he tried that.

The ferris wheel continued to move and they stared out the window. They liked being able to see their town from up high.

“I guess now is a good time to mention I've already planned out how this date will go,” Berdly said, pulling out a piece of paper labelled “rizzing plans” written in really bad cursive.

He wasn't this serious about the festival date, was he?

“Of course I made it to fit anyone that would be my winning partner, and this ferris wheel ride was simply just step two of my ingenious plan…” he grinned.

“...what was step one?” Kris asked.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Berdly scoffed, holding the paper up as though Kris would lunge for it like a rabid dog. They weren't, but honestly they were thinking about it. “This valuable piece of knowledge was meant for my eyes only. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose any of the numbered steps here.”

He tucked the paper slyly back into his pocket. “We will have a wondrous day together, I'll make sure of it,” he said, sounding surprisingly genuine.

Kris actually considered continuing this date. Susie and Noelle were obviously having a good time and had gotten used to each other's presence without Kris there for neutral grounds.

Maybe this weird date was a way Kris could try and have a good time and to test out all of the festival activities without being a third wheel.

They would give Berdly a chance. It probably wouldn't hurt. Physically at least. It might hurt their pride a little.

Eventually the ferris wheel slowed to a stop and the both of them hopped off the ride. Kris looked down the road and noted the mess had swiftly been cleaned up by the dog bandits along with Napstablook, who now had a crown on his head.

“You see that?” Berdly pointed at the ghost. “We'll both have crowns when we become the festival's king and highness.”

“Who'd you vote for?” they asked.

“Us, of course.”

There was a pause.

“Um.” Berdly chucked nervously. “I mean, I will vote for us. Of course I haven't voted. Yet. Even though I was standing right next… to the…”

There was another pause. Sans snicked from his stall behind them. Kris decided to ignore him.

“Okay maybe I did vote, it doesn't matter. The next thing on our list was supposed to be cinnamon buns, but…” Berdly trailed off as he motioned to the stall which had been rebuilt into something vaguely horse shaped. The bunny in charge of the stand was still violently sobbing.

“Unfortunately phase three will have to simply be skipped until they fix this,” Berdly sighed. “Well, no matter. C'mon, Kris!”

The both of them took a couple steps away from the ferris wheel into the crossroads before Kris grabbed Berdly’s sleeve, tugging him to a stop. They pulled out the cinnamon bun they'd taken.

“Hey! Why didn't you tell me you had this earlier? Now we can continue step three!” Berdly exclaimed.

“If we stuck around any longer I would've punched the skeleton.” Kris pointed a thumb behind them.

“Really? Well if you don't like him I guess I don't either.” Berdly waved his hand, plucking the bun out of Kris’s outstretched palm. He inspected it closely before making a sound of disgust as the frosting stuck to his feathers.

“Here,” he huffed, splitting it in half and handing Kris a piece.

They hadn't actually had the chance to try one of the buns, even though they were hungry from skipping both dinner last night and breakfast that morning. They bit into it and savored the sweetness and the way it seemed to melt in their mouth. They finished it off quickly with a small smile, feeling slightly fuller than before.

They glanced up and noticed Berdly staring. He quickly looked away, shoving the rest of his bun into his beak before wiping the crumbs from his wings. He coughed, trying to cover it up with a chuckle.

“That was pretty good. It looks like you enjoyed your half,” he said, then pointed to their face. “You have frosting all over your mouth.”

Kris was about to wipe their face with their sleeve when Berdly stopped them.

“Not to worry, I have this.” He stuck out a wing, using his other to fish an entire hand towel with a smiling yellow duck on the front out of somewhere. Kris couldn't help but think the duck sucked ass.

Before Berdly could raise the towel to their mouth, Kris stuck out their tongue and just… licked all the way around their own face. They happily enjoyed the last bit of frosting on their tongue.

Berdly looked slightly weirdly disappointed before he tucked the towel back wherever he got it and laughed it off.

“haha. Well, I think it's time we move onto the next activity,” he said quickly, and motioned for Kris to follow him, and soon they were off down south, towards the takoyaki stand.

“No takoyaki,” they muttered. If they were right and those balls were made from the octopus in the lake, then they didn't really want any.

Berdly paused, glancing at them. “I don't know what your sudden problem with takoyaki is, but fortunately for you, it wasn't even on my list.” He grinned, before leading them to the hammer game.

“This is such a simple game,” he said, stopping in front of the machine. “But I wanted to try it out to see if I- or uh, we could ring the bell. Together.” he sniffed smugly, picking up a hammer. Kris did the same, moving to the other side.

“Alright, Kris, on the count of three,” he started, raising the hammer. “three.. two.. one!”

Berdly swung down with all his strength before tripping and falling over with a squawk.

He landed onto both of the pads, making the bell ring loudly. Kris jumped, startled by the commotion, and ended up lightly bopping Berdly on the top of his head with their hammer.

Berdly quickly stood and dusted himself off, grabbing the hammers and carefully placing them to make it look like no one even grabbed them in the first place. “Well, um. We seem to have rung the bell! That's good, right?” He asked, seeming satisfied when Kris slowly nodded.

“Let's hope no one saw that absolute failure of ours and move on.” He gently ushered them in the opposite direction. They were definitely going to bring up this moment in any future arguments they might have.

Eventually they both ended up in the church, and even though Kris had seen it all, Berdly hadn't yet, and insisted they check it out.

“What does it mean to be banned for holding hands in the eye bowl..?” Berdly asked, squinting at the sign.

Catti just sighed, resting her chin on her palm. “You get banned. For holding hands in the eye bowl.”

“Ah, yes, I understand. Hand holding in the bowl of eyes is by far the worst thing you could do in this place,” Berdly stated. Kris honestly couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

Kris didn't really care. They had stuck their hand in the bowl a while ago and were now wiggling their fingers through it.

Wet.

“Hey, I thought it was above people like us to stick our hands in eye bowls.” Berdly said from next to them before pausing. “Then again I suppose you don't seem to care much about harboring diseases.”

“Susie and Noelle stuck their hands in here with me earlier.” They pointed out, wiggling their fingers. The eyeballs moved unnervingly.

Berdly hesitated before approaching, sticking a feather in. He shivered at the feeling before abruptly pulling back.

“Can't take it?” Kris teased with a smirk.

Berdly huffed before shoving his entire hand back in. “It's just grapes covered in… ominous slime.”

“It's starch,”

“Oh.”

There was a pause of silence. Kris felt a wet feather brush their hand before they were both stepping back from the bowl of eyeballs.

He wasn't trying to… hold their hand, was he? no, that was impossible.

“You weren't holding hands in there. I hope.” Catti asked from her booth.

Berdly scoffed. “Of course not. We're not rule breakers here.”

Catti stared. “Kris would absolutely break rules.”

Berdly sighed. “Unfortunately, I think you'd be right. Kris, we should leave before you do something that would get you permanently banned.”

Berdly turned and saw Kris latch both of their hands together before dipping them into the bowl. He glanced back at Catti.

“Well, it seems Kris has found a loophole to this weird rule. What do you have to say about it now?” Berdly asked, leaning across the desk.

—

They ended up both being kicked out.

It turns out handholding wasn't allowed, even if it was yourself.

“Kris, I know you're extremely upset about being thrown out of the church, but I'm here to help you through these very hard times.” Berdly said, taking their shoulders in his wings.

“Time for… step six.” He said dramatically, and so he took Kris back up the road, but they didn't make it far before running into Susie, who had approximately six ice cream cones stacked on her head, and Noelle, who was giggling and holding her hand.

The both of them perked up when they saw Kris, and then equally deflated upon seeing Berdly next to them. They seemed to recover quickly though.

“Hey, Kris! We were looking for you. We kinda lost you after the uh… incident.” Susie said, rubbing the back of her neck.

Noelle chuckled. “It looks like you're having fun too..?” She asked, though it sounded a lot like she was questioning how much they actually wanted to get away from Berdly.

They gave her a thumbs up. It actually wasn't going as bad as they initially expected.

“We are having fun actually. You see, me and Kris, being the third and fourth wheels, have combined to form not just a bike, but a motorcycle of love.” Berdly tilted his head up, looking a lot more smug than he needed to. Kris cringed.

“Oh! Uh… congrats?” Noelle smiled nervously before letting go of Susie's hand and stepping towards Kris. “Hey, could I talk to you for a sec?”

Kris nodded and they both moved a bit away from their respective dates.

“So I know at the start of this you were kind of acting as our tour guide, but um..” she blushed. “It's kind of been fun hanging out with Susie… alone. We were planning to go to the lake after getting ice cream.”

Kris could pick up what she was putting down. They could go along with this, and even their soul seemed partial to staying with Berdly. For some reason.

They placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded (somehow) dramatically. She smiled in relief.

The both of them made their way back to Susie and Berdly. Ice cream cones littered the ground. Susie was laughing. Berdly had a glob of ice cream on his head. He looked mad.

“C'mon, your feathers are like… waterproof, aren't they?” She laughed, punching him in the shoulder.

“Ow. I'll have you know I spent a lot of time getting my feathers to look wonderful for my potential date this morning, and now they're covered in…” he gasped. “Chocolate ice cream! Birds are deathly allergic to this stuff!”

“You're not eating it. You'll be fine.” She snickered, and grinned at seeing Noelle. “Hey, where'd you run off to?”

“Obviously Noelle was planning to ditch Susie to come with us.” Berdly grinned despite the chocolate ice cream dripping very slowly down his forehead.

“Nah, she would never. Right Noelle?”

Noelle chuckled and stood next to her. “Faha! Yeah, I'm sorry, Berdly, but no…”

Noelle blushed and took Susie's hand back in hers with a shy smile. “Uh.. we'll be down at the lake if you need us! You guys can continue your date.”

The two of them turned and left, off in the direction of the flower shop.

Berdly sighed fondly, clasping his hands together. “Ah, look at those two love birds, going to the lake to confess their burning romantic feelings for each other. I should have thought of that…”

Kris glanced at him. He paused.

“I mean. The lake part. Hey, Kris? We should get this disgusting sweet stuff out of my feathers before it dries.”

Kris pointed to the school. They were pretty close by.

“Ah, yes you genius! The water fountain.” He exclaimed, heading off to the school. “I forget you have good ideas sometimes!”

They actually were thinking about spraying him down with the hose, but they guessed that worked too.

Kris scoffed and followed him, down the road, past the library, and to the school where he so gracefully held the door open for them.

They then watched him hand them his glasses before dunking his head beneath the water fountain.

“Agh- don't worry Kris!-” he spluttered as water ran into his eye before he moved too fast and bumped his head on the dispenser. “This will come out- splsplslps ah it's in my mouth..!- augh.. come out quickly!”

Eventually the water shut off and he stood up straight, shaking his head. Kris had to shield their face as water droplets sprinkled the hall. His feathers puffed up after he stopped, making Kris laugh.

“You look stupid.”

Berdly grumbled and desperately combed his feathers back into place until he looked somewhat presentable. “There. Do I still look stupid now?” He scoffed, spreading his wings.

Kris snickered and nodded before taking his glasses and stepping forward to reach up and put them back on his beak. They stepped back and tilted their head.

“Now you look better.” They smiled.

Berdly blinked, his feathers fluffing up again. He scrambled to flatten them as he turned away.

He turned back a moment later, grinning like nothing happened. “Well, Kris, it's good that you think so highly of me! Now, we can move on with our date. The next step was going to be ice cream, but…” he frowned. “I know how disgusted you must be after witnessing that catastrophic event. We should definitely do something else.”

“Like what?”

Berdly pondered. He took out his rizzing plans™ sheet and squinted at the page. “Hm. It seems the next thing on the list was the parade, but that doesn't start for another twenty minutes.”

The both of them glanced up and out of the school windows. The sun was starting to set outside, casting a golden-red light on the school.

Kris opened the front door and sat on one of the steps. They patted the spot next to them.

“It's like the universe knew the festival was happening and decided to grace us with such a beautiful day.” Berdly sighed, sitting down and leaning back on his hands.

Kris slouched over, tired. Their lack of sleep from last night and running around all day after eating nothing but a cinnamon bun was shockingly draining. Who could've guessed.

They yawned, blinking slowly.

“Ah, tired are we? I guess today was rather adventurous,” Berdly said, “you know, if you ever need someone to lean on, then by all means I'm right here.” He chuckled.

Kris considered it. He was probably joking but he did offer. Plus, it wasn't like there was anyone around to see. And hold this over them. Except Berdly of course. Which he might. Which he definitely will. Oh well.

Kris slumped against him, leaning their head against his shoulder. He tensed up for a moment, which made them feel a bit smug.

He seemed to relax though, and… didn't say anything, which surprised them. They would admit it was nice though.

They decided to close their eyes for a moment and immediately felt themselves dozing off. Were they really that tired?

Whatever. Resting their eyes for just a moment probably wouldn't hurt….

—

Something was nudging them, very gently, in the arm. They muttered an annoyed groan and it stopped for a moment. Before coming back. They opened their eyes and sat up, a bit groggy.

Oh yeah. Him.

“It's good to know you find me that comfortable to nap on. The parade is starting soon, so as much as I hated to, I had to wake you from your beauty sleep.” Berdly sniffed.

Wow. Had they slept the full 20 minutes?

Berdly stood, pulling them up along with him. He fixed his glasses where they looked a bit skewed.

“So,” he said as they walked, “I know this date was the best one you've ever been on, but, out of curiosity, how would you rate it on a scale of ten?” He asked hopefully.

“9.”

“Why not a ten?”

“No ice cream.”

“Well, your majesty,” he snarked, “we can get ice cream after the parade.”

And then he paused, before his frown shifted into a smirk. “See? This perfect date, constructed by me, can make even the most reserved characters (you) happy.”

The two of them walked up the road to the neighborhood. It was dark now, but houses and shops were lit up by twinkling lights. Everyone seemed to be hanging out around or inside the gate leading to the holiday home, waiting for the announcement of the festival's king and queen.

“Here, wait,” Berdly said, motioning for Kris to stay in place before he was running down the road. He came back a moment later, panting, a small yellow flower in hand.

“Here, for my m’theydy.” He smiled and held out the flower, but before Kris could take it, Berdly had already reached out to tuck it in their hair. He drew back with a grin. They felt their face heat up and glanced away, trying to get a hold of themselves.

“...Thanks.” They muttered.

“Let us go, it seems like the announcements are starting!” He said, taking their hand in his to gently tug them along until the two were walking side by side.

They glanced up as they walked. Berdly somehow seemed both smug and nervous at the same exact time.

Eventually everyone crowded in the Holiday’s front yard, facing the small stage blocking their front door. There were a few lights and it was relatively dark aside from the stage, which had spotlights pointed at its center.

It seemed that mostly everyone was here; the competing bunnies from the cinnamon bun contest had combined to make horse buns (cinnamon buns sold from a horse), Temmie was still crushed but was determined to continue making art, and there were multiple monsters (mainly cats) dancing on top of the snail guys car.

The crowd chattered excitedly as Kris and Berdly found a spot to stand near the back. Berdly hadn't let go of their hand, and they found themselves not really wanting him to.

“Who do you think will win?” Berdly asked. Kris just shrugged. They'd voted for Susie and Noelle at the deer's request. There weren't any other very popular couples as far as they were aware.

“Hey, guys!” Susie’s voice came through the crowd, and they glanced up to see her holding a blushing Noelle's hand, pulling her through the crowd. They both had an ice cream cone in either hand, Susie's had a giant bite in the side.

“Well, if it isn't our two favorite love birds.” Berdly smirked. “Have fun at the lake?”

Susie grinned and Noelle blushed harder, a small smile on her face. “Uh.. yeah! It was… fun.” She chuckled.

“We thought about staying there, but y'know, we didn't want to leave you alone with this guy.” She snickered. Berdly huffed.

“We had a great time, I'll have you know.”

“We can tell..” Noelle smiled, glancing down at their intertwined hands, then back up. “Neat flower, by the way.”

Berdly closed his mouth and looked away. Kris blushed, reaching up to brush their hand against the flower in their hair.

“Oh, Kris, you won't believe what happened on our way over here!” Susie started. Her ice cream cone was already gone. “So Rudy was putting up the lights, yeah? And somehow right as we were walking by, he slipped!” Her hand waved as she retold the story, before she grinned smugly. “Thankfully, I jumped beneath him before anything bad could've happened.”

“Yeah…” Noelle sighed in relief. “Thankfully he wasn't hurt, but I banned him from putting up any more lights this year!”

“Wow, Susie, that was just so… courageous.” Berdly sniffed, wiping a tear from his eye. “He must think of you as a hero.”

“Uh… yeah, sure.” Susie blushed a bit at the title.

“Hey, guys, the announcements are starting.” Noelle pointed out as Carol walked up on stage. “It's a good thing we're near the back of the crowd, she can't see us..!” She whispered to Susie, who smirked and gripped her hand a bit tighter.

The monsters in the crowd settled down as Carol set down the box of votes on a small table. She gave a small speech about how grateful she was to be the mayor of such a wonderful town before she sighed and announced who the king and queen would be.

The winners of this year's festival were

Drumroll

Jockington for king,

And

Jockington for queen.

There was silence before the crowd let out a cheer and Jokington slithered on stage, smiling widely. Carol looked like she was barely holding a composed smile on her face as she placed the first crown on his head, and then the second crown on top of the first.

Kris glanced at Berdly, who looked flabbergasted, then to Noelle, who looked a bit disappointed but not surprised. Susie looked disappointed as well, but also a bit relieved.

“You know… I don't think we had to get picked.” Susie turned to Noelle. “I had a bunch of fun today, and I don't need us to be picked to confirm it.”

Noelle smiled, laughing softly. “I'm… kind of glad we didn't get chosen. I can't imagine everyone watching us while my mom gave us our crowns…” she shook her head in embarrassment.

Susie laughed. “And having to lead the parade too? Imagine if we went the wrong way by accident!”

“Faha! Yeah, that'd be so embarrassing! Maybe it's a good thing Jockington gets to do this instead.” Noelle laughed. “Anyways, we can keep hanging out! The festival would be over if we'd gotten picked…”

The crowd seemed to calm down, and everyone split up to chat and find their partners to prepare for the parade.

Berdly seemed to sigh dejectedly, letting go of their hand to motion towards the sky. “It's so sad that not even Noelle and Susie were crowned! It seems that not everyone can see that they're the most loving pair in the town…!”

“Did you even vote for them?” Kris asked.

Berdly paused before sighing again. “Fine, I admit it. I voted for me, and… you. To be king and queen.” He muttered, smoothing back his feathers. “I mean obviously Susie and Noelle were together, so in order to vote myself king, you were the next option…” He trailed off, probably running out of excuses.

Kris smirked. Berdly sputtered. “Stop looking so smug! You definitely weren't my first choice.”

“Okay. Sure.” Somehow, they didn't believe him.

Berdly took their hand again, confident since he'd done it successfully once before. “Well, since everyone will be distracted by the parade, we can go get your ice cream.”

“You guys aren't joining the parade either?” Susie asked.

“Well, I mean we could…” Berdly glanced towards Kris, who thought about it. Their soul yearned for the frozen cream.

“We're getting ice cream,” they stated.

“Nice.” Susie nodded.

“We'll probably join the parade. At the back. So we can sneak away after.” Noelle grinned sneakily.

Eventually everyone gathered in a group near the gate and funneled into rows of two following Jockington, who had donned a full kings robe and had a scepter wrapped in his tail. Catti walked beside him, looking a bit happier than she had earlier.

Noelle giggled as everyone filtered out, and she tugged Susie along as they both followed behind.

Eventually the Holiday's yard was left empty, the stage spotlights had been shut off, leaving only the strung up Christmas lights lighting the yard.

“Look at all those happy couples, walking hand in hand down to the city hall to… do what?” Berdly asked.

Kris shrugged. They'd never been part of the parade and they guessed they weren't joining this year either. They assumed everyone kind of just stood around before splitting up and going home.

“No time to stand around. We don't even know if the ice cream stand is still open!” Berdly started walking, pulling them along.

“We can steal some.”

“What?? We're not evil, Kris.” He paused. “Well I'm not evil. Whether you are is debatable.”

They arrived at the ice cream stand quickly. There was in fact no more skeleton stood next to it, but there was a note placed on top.

“Out 4 lunch. Welcome 2 grab scoops urself.”

“Ah, perfect!” Berdly exclaimed, flipping the lid open. Kris grabbed two cones and held them out as Berdly expertly flipped the scooper, reaching into the bins to take out scoops of strawberry and vanilla. They were placed upon the outstretched cones.

Kris handed Berdly his cone and he took it with a grin.

“You know Kris, the lake isn't occupied right now.” He nudged them, raising his eyebrows.

Kris huffed, and the two started walking as they ate their ice cream. The streets were quiet and empty aside from the couple they'd spotted giggling as they ran out of QC’s diner with a plate of cookies (they still left money after).

“So,” Berdly started, “how would you rate this date now?”

Kris stayed quiet and tapped their chin, acting like they were thinking very hard about it. Berdly was practically bouncing on his feet.

“...10.”

Berdly cheered, fist pumping. Kris smiled.

“Hah! I knew you would inevitably come around to enjoy our date, even if it was the result of your abandonment.” He teased. “I like to think my amazing check list planned out by me did all the work here though,” he said, slipping his hand into his pocket and pulling out the folded sheet of paper and waving it around.

Kris felt the sudden urge to grab it out of his hand. Conveniently, their soul seemed to agree with them.

They took the last bite of their cone before reaching out and snatching the paper from his hand. He squeaked and scrambled to get it back, but Kris had already darted past him towards the quiet shore of the lake.

“Hey! Don't read that! it's for me, the date creator, only!” He squawked, nearly tripping on a root as he ran after them.

Kris ignored him and slowed down, stopping at the front of the lake. It was dark, but the moon lit up the lake just enough to see. They looked down and flipped open the page.

The top was labelled “perfect human date”, and under that was a numbered list.

1. Get Kris alone.

Well, off to a good start.

“This date was meant for me. Specifically.” They stated.

Berdly jogged up to them, panting. He slicked his feathers back nervously. “Fine. I admit it was. But Susie and Noelle were just so close, I knew they would date each other and you would end up third wheeling…” He sighed.

Kris glanced at him sceptically before continuing to read through the list.

2. Ferris wheel of love
3. Share cinnamon buns + tokoyaki
4. Hammer game of love and strength
5. Haunted house (of love?)
6. Ice cream
7. Crowning of royalty
8. ♡ couples parade ♡
8.5. now ice cream
9. Lake date
10. Confess

They barely read the last number before Berdly was grabbing the paper from their hands, crumpling it up and shoving it in his pocket.

What did it mean by “confess”?

“Kris, you didn't… read all the way through, did you?”

He wrung his hands together, looking nervous.

“I did.”

Berdly turned towards the lake, somber. “Okay, fine, I admit. I didn't really want to take Noelle or Susie on a date. I wanted to take you. For a while now.” He kicked his foot into the sand, disturbing the calm lake water. The light breeze ruffled his feathers and he tried to smooth them back down.

“I really like playing games with you, and even if our fiery arguments get seriously passionate,” he said, waving a hand dramatically, “I just know they are simply good fun. Fun I… like having with you.” He glanced up, gauging their expression.

“I… like you, Kris.”

They stared at him. Was that what “confession” meant? Him confessing his love?

…He loved them?

“Now, I know this is a lot to take in of course, and you must be entirely overwhelmed with emotion, but it's perfectly okay to take your time with this revelation.” He said, though he was tapping his foot and looked actually incredibly impatient. And nervous. And a bit doubtful.

“This isn't a joke, is it?” Kris asked quietly.

“What?” Berdly choked, “of course it isn't! Do you really doubt my intense feelings for you?” He asked. “I thought it was mutual. You're the one who asked me to the festival yesterday after all.” He huffed, crossing his arms.

They had done that. Mostly as a joke. He never really took them seriously, so they didn't think he'd start now.

Berdly uncrossed his arms, glancing sideways at them. “Is it… not mutual?” He asked, his voice small.

Was it?

They had fun today, admittedly more than they'd had with Susie and Noelle.

He made them happy. Happy enough to forget about dark worlds and the prophecy for even just a day.

They liked hanging out and playing games with him, even if he did boast once in a while. He seemed to have gotten better since his “dream” in cyber city.

They looked at him. He was actually kind of cute when he was nervous.

They guessed it was mutual.

They smiled and glanced down, carefully taking his hand in theirs. He looked up at them, eyes wide.

“Yeah,” they said, “I like you too.”

Berdly's face broke out into a grin and he pulled his hand back, opting to instead throw his arms over their shoulders in a hug.

“Yes!” He celebrated, pulling back after a moment with his hands still on their arms. “Now Susie and Noelle won't be the only power couple in town!” He smirked.

They cringed a little at that, but it also made them laugh. They really did love him. How hadn't they figured it out sooner?

“Soon everyone in this town will know of our sweet love, and next year we'll be crowned as royalty.” He anticipated.

“That's a long time from now.” They countered.

“Yes, but obviously we'll still be together by then.”

Of course. If they actually came out of everything happening with them, Susie and Ralsei unscathed. They decided to ignore that though, just for tonight at least.

“Looks like this was the end of your list.” They pointed out. “What now?”

Berdly seemed to deflate as he looked down, disappointed, before perking up with an idea. “Uh, actually, I fear you may be incorrect,” he said, pulling out the crumpled paper and a pencil.

He meticulously uncrumpled it and carefully smoothed it out before he jotted something down and handed it to Kris. They took it and read the new part.

11. Eat snacks and play games until death

Kris grinned at the new plan, neatly folding the paper to shove into their own pocket. “I'm keeping this.”

Berdly waved a hand. “Yes, yes. Keep it as proof of our wonderful date. That way you can look back on it and remember this day, and the start of our beautiful romance…”

“Sure.” They grinned, taking his hand. He smiled and squeezed their hand, and They both started walking back towards the flower shop. “C'mon, birdy.”

“Birdy?” He sputtered at the name.

“Cause you're a bird.” They pointed out. “Or are you too good for nicknames?”

Berdly scoffed. “Being a connoisseur of love, I am well adapted to the many concepts within dating, Krissy, Krit chance, Kristopher.”

Kris stuck out their tongue at the names. “Those suck.”

Berdly blushed as he glared. “I'll think of one eventually! These things take time, you know. Although I don't suppose someone like you has done much research on dating.”

They were about to prove him wrong when they passed by the flower shop, and the sight of it made their stomach drop and their blood freeze cold.

Asgore's shop had been cast in complete and total darkness, and the door was wide open, allowing black smoke to rise up into the night.

They'd forgotten this was happening.

They glanced at Berdly, who'd noticed them suddenly paused and followed their gaze.

Please don't notice the fountain please don't notice the fountain please-

“Huh. This kind of looks like the computer lab from that weird dream I had the other night,” he muttered, pausing in front of the shop.

“It's probably nothing.” They suggested, but Berdly's expression shifted to concerned.

“There might be a fire somewhere in there creating all this smoke!” He pointed out, letting go of their hand to step towards the door. “Stay back, Kris. I'll just take a peek inside to make sure Mr. Asgore's okay!”

He stepped towards the doorway and Kris ran after him, but before they could grab his sleeve to yank him back, he'd already stepped inside. Darkness quickly overtook him and he had disappeared within seconds. Kris stepped back, startled.

Shit. There was no way Kris and Susie would be able to pass this off as a dream now.

Susie. They should probably find her, but…

They glanced around the deserted streets one more time before they let out a long sigh and stepped through the doorway, their body lurching as they fell into darkness.

Knowing Susie, she'd probably stumble across this fountain eventually.

It was fine, because they would protect their friends. They needed to make sure of it.