Work Text:
Dess knew Kris was different. Well, that was the obvious—everyone in town knew he was a human, a prankster, and a creepy little jerk. But he was her creepy little jerk, right along with Asriel and Noelle, and that didn't change just because he was different in a new way.
The four of them were at her and Noelle's house. Now that Dess was twelve, she was old enough to watch everyone else while their parents were busy. (Well, it was her-and-Asriel, but he was only almost eleven, so she got final say.) Mrs. Toriel needed to go to the big grocery store out of town, and all the rest were working. She'd wanted to bring them all, but Kris had hissed and crawled behind the couch where his mom couldn't reach, and Asriel needed to work on his project, so they'd been left alone with the assurance that they could walk anywhere they needed if something came up, and a reminder of all the emergency numbers, and...yadda yadda.
Dess wanted to go adventuring right away, but it turned out that Asriel really did have to do homework (fifth graders were finishing the unit on storm systems this week, while sixth graders were starting fossils, so she'd finished her homework in like three seconds because it was still review), so for the first half hour she set Noelle up with papers and crayons, and Dess practiced piano. Kris wandered out from under the couch eventually, got grumbled at by Asriel for interrupting him, stared at Noelle until Noelle shouted for Dess, and then he actually came over to practice piano with Dess. Which was great and all, except—
Except Kris was better at piano. A third grader was better at piano than Dess and that made her as mad as it made her want to shrug and say piano wasn't that great anyway, just to have a reason that she wasn't as good as he was.
Dess slapped her fingers on the keys (Kris jumped--Asriel uttered a hey) and stood. "Okay, new game! Kris, come help me get some stuff from my room. Elly, do you want to come too?"
Her little sister hummed and kicked her feet, and Dess smothered a twitch of impatience. Kris was already wiping down the piano with the cloth from under the bench. "...yeah, okay," Noelle said. Dess helped her put away the colors, glancing up at Kris to make sure he didn't squish his fingers under the piano cover again.
"You better be done by the time we get back down, Azzy," Dess threatened—Asriel scowled at her and, when the kids weren't looking, stuck his tongue out at her. Dess shot a rude gesture she'd seen Dad make in traffic back at him, and flung herself up the stairs after Kris and Noelle before he could try and get her.
When they were safely ensconced in her room, Dess adjusted the corner mirror so it faced her bed. "Who wants a mani-pedi?"
For her and Noelle, that meant the bucket of nail polish, but it was easy to get their feet done with the big brush after a quick scrub. Their hands all took a lot longer, because the brushes were tiny. Dess wasn't sure what made her ask, but as she was finishing Noelle's hands, she glanced over at Kris. He wasn't facing their direction, but he was leaning close, and there was a wistful look on his face.
Boys weren't supposed to like girly stuff. People thought that was weird.
She wasn't a total nerd like Azzy, but every adult thought it was safe enough to let kids wander the librarby, and she'd read some things that she was pretty sure the adults would ban if she breathed a word to anyone: this was how she knew what a bodice and a member and a homosexual was. It was how she knew she liked girls and boys, and learned what to look for on the computer to find even more things her parents would freak out over. This was all to say—Kris liked it when she put Mom's girly gifts on them, and kind of, lisped, and didn't hang out with any of the other boys, and, well... Maybe I should show them those books, Dess thought.
"You wanna pick a color for your toes and your fingernails, Krismas?"
Kris lit up like, well, a Christmas tree, and dove into the box, entirely forgetting about his role as nail polish holder and spilling the gold all over Dess' carpet. ("It's fine, maybe Mom will finally let me pick out a new color! I'm sick of the dainty ice princess shtick.")
It didn't take long, even if Dess got clumsy in a few spots. Soon, they were grinning down at their wriggling fingers and toes, colored alternating pale green and pink.
"That looks great!" Noelle chirped, and bumped her face into Kris' shoulder, making them giggle and bump her back. Dess grinned at the two of them in the mirror, flashing her purple nails over their heads.
Later, when they had collected Azzy from stressing about his project, they all wandered around town, showing off their nails and hooves. Asriel kept looking at Kris when he wasn't looking, but Dess just shrugged at Azzy, so he didn't say anything.
It was mostly incident-free. Kris seemed to like getting reactions from people, so if a neighbor he knew raised their eyebrows at him, or did a double-take at his nails, he just gave them an evil grin or pulled a face. So Dess didn't think twice when they walked up to Mr. Asgore, and Kris bound up to him like an excited puppy.
"Kids!" Asgore knelt and caught Kris in one arm, and hugged Asriel with the other. Noelle leaned against Dess, still a little intimidated by his size, and Dess wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Even so, Noelle mumbled at the ground, "look, Mr. Dreemurr," and showed him her hooves, glinty gold in the spring afternoon.
"Gold! And purple! Look at you two--proper royal princesses!" Noelle blushed and Dess grinned.
"Daddy," Kris whispered, tugging on Asgore's ear. Asgore looked down at him, and was met by Kris' bright grin and colorful nails.
Oh, no, Dess thought, just in time for Mr. Dreemurr to throw his head back and laugh. It wasn't a chuckle of appreciation - it was like Kris had told the funniest joke of a lifetime. His nose wrinkled, too, and he scoffed between guffaws, like it was borderline impossible.
Asgore didn't see Kris' smile freeze and wilt. He didn't see the way his son shuffled away, twisting his hands into his pockets and staring at the ground. Azzy did, and he went ramrod-straight, eyes darting between Kris and Asgore.
Dess stepped forward. "I forced Kris!" She claimed--their head jerked towards her, but she was already spinning the lie, and couldn't look at them. "I wanted to practice, and Azzy was gonna be next, but when we ran outside we got distracted. Right?" She stared at Asriel hard, while Asgore was still recovering, wiping his tears of mirth away.
Asriel stammered for a moment, but he managed to follow her lead. "Yeah! She sat on Kris!" Kris said nothing, his head still bowed, and Asgore tussled both his sons' heads.
"My parents used to put me in a dress when I was in trouble," he whispered conspiratorially. Dess choked. "Luckily, yours is nothing a little nail polish remover can't handle." Mr. Dreemurr pushed himself up to his standing height, towering over them all. With his cap on, Dess couldn't see his eyes. "Go on and play, girls and boys. Tell your mother I'll be home for supper."
They all chorused goodbye. Dess and Asriel exchanged a look, and glanced at Kris, who still hadn't moved. "Let's go home," Azzy said, finally.
Dess set Kris and Noelle up with some creepypasta threads on her computer, and called Asriel in for an emergency meeting in her closet. They spoke in furious whispers.
"Why'd your dad do that?"
"I, I guess he, um." Asriel shrugged, looking troubled. Dess scrubbed a hand through her hair.
"Does he hate, you know..."
"What?"
Dess hesitated. It felt like saying a serious bad word—or like opening a box that could never be closed. Was it safe?
Asriel was her best friend. If it wasn't safe with him, it would never be safe with anyone. Dess lowered her voice so she was almost mouthing the words. "Does he hate gay people?"
"But..." Asriel shuffled. "But Kris isn't—gay."
"Azzy."
Asriel growled and relented. "I don't know! Mom and Dad don't talk about that stuff at home!"
"Ugh." Dess punched one of the numerous Valentines plushies Mom always got her and Noelle—the stupid things always ended up in her closet for some reason. "Do you know if they'll, like, kill Kris, if he's gay?"
That was what people always warned about, online; being thrown out of your family or killed, or sometimes nothing but a terrible quiet between family members until the gay one left.
"I don't know!" Asriel clapped his hands over his mouth, and they waited. Neither of their siblings said anything. "Dad's parents, like, tortured him or something with girl clothes, how can we...fight that?"
"I'm thinking." Dess bit her knuckle; Asriel went silent. "...would you hate me if I was gay?"
"You can't be gay, you're a girl!"
"Fine, a les-bean." Asriel stared at her blankly. "A girl who likes girls, Azzy!"
"I mean--no." Asriel paused. "You aren't, right?"
Halfway? "It doesn't matter, Azzy!" Dess hissed, pushing the thought away. "We're gonna tell them I am."
"What? Who?"
"Everyone! That way we can see what your parents do."
"But what about your parents?"
"Dad won't let Mom kill me," Dess said, hoping she sounded much more confident than she felt. "We, we can move to the city if it doesn't work out."
Asriel looked about ready to cry. Dess bit her lip, and then leaned forward to hug him. "Come on, I'm the oldest. I have to take care of you all, right?" He sniffled into her shirt. "Don't get snot on me, Azzy."
When they came out, Noelle was leaning back in the computer chair, chewing on her hair. It didn't look like she was reading anymore. "Where's Kris?" Azzy asked.
"He went to the bathroom," Noelle said, staring at her nails. "Why's everyone sad?"
Dess exchanged another look with her best friend, and Asriel went to knock on her bathroom door. While he asked Kris if he was okay, Dess looked back at Noelle. "Mr. Dreemurr hurt Kris' feelings when he laughed at the nail polish," Dess explained. "He thinks it's funny when boys do things that are—girl things," she finished lamely.
"Oh." Noelle looked down at her skirt. "Is a, a girly-boy bad?"
"No. I'm a tom-boy, right?"
"Dess, Kris locked himself in," Asriel said, voice high with worry. Dess grimaced and went to her junk drawer, looking for her magnetic ICE-E's card. It was pretty easy to slip it between the door and the lock, which was a simple twist one.
"How do you know how to do that?"
"I used to lock myself out of my bathroom all the time, and Mom would lecture me about responsibility for like, a whole hour." The lock clicked. "Don't tell her."
Kris was standing on the stool at Dess' sink, scrubbing his nails under the running tap. Dess sighed and reached for her cabinet.
"This'll get it off easier," Dess said. Kris stopped moving. "Come on, sit on the tub's edge."
Kris did, slowly and jerkily. Dess sucked air through her teeth when she saw his nailbeds, torn and bloody from where he'd ripped into them. "Careful, dude," Dess mumbled, and shook the fluid out onto a cotton ball. He'd managed to chip the paint off. Kris didn't say anything, but Dess noticed a glimmer on his cheeks.
"Kris..." Asriel sat on the tub next to Kris, but Kris flinched, so he didn't hug them. Dess, who was great for doing stupid things but not so good at knowing what to say to comfort Kris, kept her mouth shut. "Is someone who plays--hocky and soccer and baseball girly?" Kris shook his head. "But Dess does, right? Is she--bad?"
"It's different," Kris mumbled. "Girls can like boy things." Asriel went quiet, and Dess bit her lip again.
"Your Dad's girly!" Noelle piped up. She'd come to stand at the bathroom door at some point, and was now hanging off the frame with two hands. "He likes flowers! He gives everyone flowers!"
"Yeah!" Asriel cut in, grinning. "And, and he cries more than mom! He's a crybaby!" That got Kris giggling, even as he hiccuped tears. The room relaxed, and he leaned against Asriel, one red horn crushing into his brother's shoulder. He held his feet up to Dess, so she could take the nail polish off.
"Your mom doesn't give you two baths anymore, right?" Dess checked. Kris shook his head, and Asriel wrinkled his nose and muttered, "only when it's combing-day."
When everyone finished giggling, Dess shoved Kris' feet off her lap. "Then get those stinkers off! We're doing Azzy's next."
"I can't wear shoes, I can't hide my feet!" Azzy wailed as Kris threw his arms around Asriel to hold him in place. Dess cackled and grabbed an ankle. "Noelle! Get the nail polish!"