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Kris didn’t hate Noelle at all. She was one of their childhood best friends; they grew up together. There was no way Kris hated Noelle… they just hated how she so clearly had a crush on their girlfriend. Now, of course, they hardly had any right to feel this way, considering no one even knew the two were dating. However, Kris was a jealous person, most likely built up from years of being the only human in Hometown and the youngest sibling in a family full of notable townsfolk.
Kris and Susie had started dating a few weeks ago, taking it slow after a long-winded conversation during one of their visits to Castle Town. The two had been walking around the castle with Ralsei, helping move things into his previous empty room as part of their mission to make it homier. The trio laughed loudly as Susie joked around with the bookshelf she was carrying, faking a chest press with it as Kris and Ralsei carried stacks of books next to her.
When walking past her room, Queen came out upon hearing the teenagers’ voices. As they paused their renovations, making small talk with the darkner, Susie made a playful remark about something she and Kris had done in Hometown, rustling their hair as she spoke. Queen, immediately locking onto this, commented on how good the two looked together, causing Susie to immediately burn up before Kris even had the chance to say anything,
“What-? That’s such a dumb thing to say-” she had begun to ramble, her purple scales turning a pinker shade from how much she was blushing. “I mean, come on! That’s crazy! Right, Kris?”
Kris just stared ahead, their blue cheeks flaring up under their bangs. They just glanced away, trying to conceal how quickly the shade of their face was changing before Susie could notice. Unfortunately for them, Susie had noticed and quickly dragged the human away and back down to the floor their rooms sat on, leaving Ralsei and Queen with the items for his room. She dragged Kris to their room, although it might as well have been both of their room, considering how often Susie slept in there, and sat them down on the edge of the bed.
Now, three weeks later, the couple sat at a table across from the unknowing Berdly and Noelle. It was around 7 pm on Friday, after the group had finished up a long study session at the library, well short if you exclude all the arguing between Susie and Berdly and all the teasing coming from Kris.
Considering they were all hanging out already, Noelle wondered about continuing down near the lake, and Berdly suggested getting ice cream as they passed Sans’s grocery store. Kris begrudgingly agreed, not intending to get ice cream until Susie ordered for them at the counter, forcing them to thank the skeleton behind the counter as they took the cold treat. It now sits on the picnic table, untouched for the most part until Susie reminds them to eat it before it melts,
“Susan, I’m not saying you’re necessarily bad at video games; I’m just saying I’ll most definitely beat you at Super Smashing Fighters,” Berdly says from across the table.
“And I’m saying I’ll beat you up before you even get the chance to try.” Susie snorts as she finishes off the last of her ice cream.
“Um… what if we all played Cat Petterz? They recently added co-op so we could all play together.” Noelle kindly suggests, trying to break up the arguing within the group.
“Oh, my beloved Noelle, they also have co-op in Super Smashing Fighters! We’ve played it before, so we could all play it together… and that way I could prove to Susan that there’s no way she could beat me!"
“Well then, it wouldn’t be just you I’m playing against! Of course I couldn’t beat you with Noelle,” Susie exclaims.
Kris and Noelle laugh together at this, watching the antics of the others,
“Oh, that’s nice of you to say, Susie.” Noelle laughs, her cheeks flushing slightly.
It was a subtle blush, one that could be written off as natural or due to the chill in the air from fall approaching, but not one that escaped Kris’s notice.
They had been aware of Noelle's feelings for Susie for a while, the way she got nervous around her, and how she always blushed when Susie spoke to her. They never really minded. Even before they and Susie started going out, they had kind of thought Susie and Noelle would end up together in the end, as they had assumed that was what made sense.
They were pleasantly surprised when Susie pulled them away that day in Castle Town, confessing that she had started having feelings for them. They stared at her in surprise as Susie rambled on about how she felt, before quickly interjecting and reciprocating her feelings. The two talked for a while about how long each had felt the way they did and where they wanted to go from there, their hands intertwined the entire time. Their discussion ended sweetly, with a quick, awkward kiss before they walked out hand-in-hand, Susie immediately informing Ralsei once they tracked him down.
The two had initially decided to keep their relationship a secret for the first few weeks, which silently disappointed both of them. It was a first for both of them, and they wanted to make sure they were doing everything right for the other before they made anything public. But that was why Kris still didn’t pay much mind to Noelle’s feelings for Susie, because they knew, due to much reassurance, that Susie really did like them. And that was all they cared about, especially knowing they liked her back equally.
The press of a cold, slightly damp cup against their hand snaps them out of their thoughts. They look up at Susie, who was sliding their cup of ice cream, something blue, closer to them,
“Dude, eat your ice cream before I do; it’s turning into soup,” she laughs, ruffling their hair.
They smile up at her before they pull the cup closer, taking a bite of the mysterious flavor,
“Susan, ice cream can’t actually turn into soup; you know that, right? That’s not even how soup is made,” Berdly lectures, holding a feather up. Before Susie can make any kind of remark, his phone buzzes, lighting up on the table, igniting an irritated groan from the blue bird, “Ugh, I forgot I start clarinet lessons tomorrow; now I won’t have time to finish the last level of Smash Bros.”
“Oh, that’s cool; I didn’t know you wanted to learn clarinet, Berdly!” Noelle pipes up.
“My mom wants me to learn clarinet. She thinks it’ll look good on college applications, which I guess she isn’t necessarily wrong…” he grumbles before lighting up as he looks over at Kris, “Kris! My dearest Kris, you used to take lessons for piano, right? Any sage advice for your most adored friend?”
Kris has to stop themselves from laughing as they glance up at Susie, who has the most bewildered expression as she hears Berdly address Kris. They swallow a bite of half-melted ice cream before turning to him, shrugging,
“My mom taught me,” they reply. “I didn’t like it in the beginning, but now I enjoy playing.”
Berdly nods, eyes squinted as if paying deep attention,
“I see… well, that’s no good; I don’t believe dear Toriel is teaching me.”
“You call Kris’s mom by her first name…?” Susie speculates, even more confused now, as she looks at Berdly.
“Oh, Mrs. Dreemurr has always been such a good teacher; she leads the church choir in warm-ups,” Noelle says, smiling softly as she turns to Susie. “I was actually thinking of asking her to teach me piano as well!”
This catches Kris’s attention as they finish off the cup of ice cream, glancing up at Noelle from behind their bangs. Piano had always been their thing. Of course they’d never thought of it like this, but something about this rubbed them the wrong way,
“Cool!” Susie remarks next to Kris.
Kris glances up at her, feeling silent irritation run under their skin. That was what she had said to them when they first played piano for her in the dark world. The compliment she gave them was for a song personally picked out for her. Kris clears their throat as they stare down at the cup of ice cream, stirring the remnants around, pressing slightly into Susie’s side,
“I’d have to check in with Mom… she’s been pretty busy with her job as principal, especially considering winter break is coming up…”
Noelle sits up as Kris starts talking, her eyes flickering to where they were pressed up against Susie, nodding along with what they are saying,
“Oh! Right, of course, I didn’t mean like right now at all, just sometime in the future maybe…” Noelle rambles.
Kris smiles, nodding,
“Yeah? Well, whenever you learn, we should have a little friendly competition,” they remark, resting their head on Susie’s shoulder, “Susie can judge us; she really loves hearing me play.”
They feel Susie move next to them, casually wrapping an arm around them without thinking about it. It had become a habit for them over the past few weeks; they were already touchy as friends, constantly roughhousing and messing with each other, but now they were always wrapped around each other when they had a moment alone.
Susie seems to realize a second later what she had done, previously distracted by Berdly texting his mom actively across from her. She looks down at Kris nestled into her side, a blush spreading across her face as she looks across the table to where a now-shocked Noelle sits. She quickly removes her arm from around Kris, holding her hands up in defense,
“O-oh… sorry dude, I didn’t mean…”
“It’s okay,” Kris says simply, not moving from where they were leaning against Susie.
Noelle sits frozen in front of them, gaping at the two teens nestled up together across from her,
“A-are you two-?” she starts,
“Yep.” Kris quickly interjects.
Silence falls across the table aside from the furious typing of Berdly, still distracted by his phone. Susie hesitantly places her arm back around Kris, smiling nervously at Noelle,
“What?!” Noelle practically shrieks before settling herself, “I-I mean, how? When?”
“A few weeks ago…” Susie answers, “We were going to keep it a secret but…”
“We figured we’d tell you guys now,” Kris says, shy cheerfulness written across their face, acting as if they hadn’t intended for this reaction.
Noelle continues to stare at them, her eyes flickering between the two. Kris could’ve sworn they saw her eye twitch when she looked at them. She nods slowly before clearing her throat and forcing a smile on her face,
“W-well, congratulations! I’m so happy for you two,” she says sweetly. She clears her throat before standing up, taking her empty ice cream cup with her as she walks to the trash can. After briefly checking her phone, she turns back awkwardly to the group, “Oh, it’s getting pretty late, fahaha… I should probably head back home.”
She awkwardly packs up her bag, trying and failing to not to make eye contact with the two across from her. The momentary silence is interrupted by a loud sigh from the previously distracted Berdly next to her,
“Alas, I’m afraid I must be off as well,” he says as he stands up, packing up his bag alongside Noelle, “Shall we walk together, dear Noelle?”
“Hm? Oh… sure, Berdly,” she says, smiling softly as she slings her bag over her shoulder, walking towards the path out of the picnic area, “Bye, guys!”
“Tally ho, dear friends!” Berdly calls over his shoulder as he waves goodbye to the other two.
Silence falls upon the couple as they wave goodbye to their friends, Susie’s arm still around Kris.
“So… we’re going to your house, right?” Susie asks hesitantly after a moment.
__________
Shortly after Noelle and Berdly left, the two quietly walk up the road to Kris’s house, their hands intertwined between them. The house looms in front of them as they walk up the short street to the human’s home. Kris pulls their house key out from their bag, unlocking the front door as they step inside, their hands detangling the second they walk through the door frame. Susie’s snout immediately raises a little bit, recognizing the smell of something cooking in the kitchen,
“Hello?” a kind voice calls from the kitchen.
“Hi, Mom,” Kris calls back as they pull their shoes off in the entryway.
There’s a beat of silence before soft footsteps are heard coming down the hall to the living room,
“Oh, Kris! I didn’t know how late you would be coming back.” Toriel says as she walks up to them, hugging Kris before hugging Susie, “Susie, it’s good to see you as always. I assume you’re staying for dinner?”
Susie awkwardly hugs Toriel back after tugging her boots off,
“Yeah, sure, thanks, Kris’s mom,” she says, almost nervous.
Toriel laughs, patting Susie’s shoulder before walking back to the kitchen, “You can just call me Toriel, honey,” she calls over her shoulder. “Dinner’s almost ready; I’ll call you two when it’s done.”
The two ascend the stairs up to Kris’s room, almost on instinct from how often they hang out at their house. Kris pushes open the door to their room, dropping their backpack at the foot of their bed. They close the door behind them, leaving it open a crack to listen for their mom. They plop down on the edge of their bed, stretching their legs out in front of them as Susie hesitantly drops her backpack next to theirs. She stands in front of Kris before sitting down next to them, her head lowered slightly as if in deep thought,
“I… uh,” she starts hesitantly, as if trying to find the words, “I thought we were waiting to tell people.”
Kris freezes at her words, looking over at the dragoness. They messed up; in the midst of their jealousy, they hadn’t considered how Susie might feel about suddenly telling their friends. They got so caught up with Noelle’s completely innocent want to play piano that they hadn’t thought past themselves and their annoyance. Susie must hate them now, she was surely going to break up with them and never-
“Not that I mind!” she speaks up, cutting through their thoughts, “I was just a little surprised, dude. I thought you wanted to wait to tell anyone.”
Kris looks at her before shaking their head,
“Oh… no!” they say, a little louder than they had intended, bringing out a surprised expression from Susie, “I said that in the dark world because I thought it would make you more comfortable; you’re usually closed off about stuff in your life. It took us a while to talk about anything in our lives when we were still just friends, so I just thought…”
Susie barks out a laugh at that, throwing her head back much to Kris’s surprise,
“Dude, you thought I wanted to keep it a secret? I’ve been wanting to tell people since we were in the dark world. Shit… I almost told Alphys, of all people, last week. She pulled me after class to discuss how my grades have been getting better, and I almost mentioned how I was studying more with my partner. Ugh, you dumbass, we could’ve told so many people.” She says, laughing as she leans back on the bed on her arms before turning to Kris, “But uh… out of curiosity, why did you randomly tell Noelle and Berdly today?”
Kris tenses up at that, turning away from Susie as their ears start burning,
“Um… I was jealous.” They mumble, feeling Susie shift closer to hear them.
“Jealous?!” Susie all but shouts before stifling a laugh.
“I know!” they exclaim, burying their head in their hands out of embarrassment, their red ears peeking out, “Noelle mentioned wanting to learn piano, and then you called her cool, so… I don’t know. It was the same thing you said to me when I played for you in the dark world, I just thought you would find her better than me or something and…”
Kris doesn’t even finish their sentence before they feel large hands peeling theirs off their face. Susie holds their hands, looking at them with a genuinely confused expression,
“You thought I would find Noelle cooler than you?” she asks. Kris nods quietly as they look down, their smaller chapped hands cupped in Susie’s scaly ones, “I mean… she’s great, I guess, always so… chipper. But, I mean, she’s not you, dude.”
Now it’s Kris’s turn to look surprised as they glance up, their eyes landing on Susie’s face which shies away, her cheeks turning pinker as they stare at her,
“That’s a pretty corny thing to say though but… hey! Stop looking at me like that.” She puts her hands over Kris’s face, pulling a laugh out of them.
They push her hands away before reaching up and pulling her face closer to theirs, pressing a soft kiss to the side of her snout,
“You’re right… it was pretty corny,” they say against her scales.
“Alright, alright, sappy,” she says, pushing them away playfully.
They laugh as they wrap their arms around her neck, not letting her push them far. Susie pulls them into her lap, their legs falling on either side of her as they settle against her. She pushes herself back, leaning against the wall the bed was pushed up against.
Kris smiles down at her before leaning down and pressing their lips to hers. Susie smiles as she wraps her arms around them, pulling them back in for another kiss. Their lips move against each other in a now-practiced ease after many clumsy kisses over the past few weeks.
Kris reaches a hand up into her hair, running their fingers through the purple strands. They loved her hair, the way it fell over her shoulders and blew around her perfectly when they fell to Castle Town. They loved the way it changed colors in the dark world and how it felt between their fingers.
Susie laughs, breaking their kiss, much to Kris’s disappointment. She brings her hand up, pushing Kris’s bangs up,
“Dude, you gotta cut your bangs or at least pin them up; they keep getting, uh… caught,” she says as she looks in their eyes, a shy blush across her cheeks, “And your eyes aren’t awful to look at.”
Kris punches her shoulder lovingly as they laugh,
“Gee, thanks, I guess yours aren’t too bad either.” They laugh together for a moment before locking eyes again. Susie wraps her arm around them again, dropping their bangs before pressing another kiss to their lips. Kris is about to press back when they hear a voice from downstairs,
“Kris! Susie! Dinner’s ready if you two are hungry.” Toriel calls up to them.
Susie perks up immediately, turning away from Kris to where the voice carried up the stairs from where Toriel called them. Kris snorts as they watch their girlfriend get excited over the announcement of dinner. They slide off her before walking out of their bedroom downstairs, with Susie right on their heels.
They laugh as they walk purposefully slowly down the stairs, watching Susie try to get around them to the ground floor before they do. Susie shakes Kris by the shoulders as they enter the kitchen, both of them pausing when they see Toriel at the kitchen table with three plates made up. Toriel glances between the two of them before hiding a knowing smile,
“I fixed you each up a plate; I made lasagna tonight,” she says, “There are ingredients to make pie if you two want to help me after dinner.”
The two nod quickly as they take their seats across from Toriel, quickly digging into their dinners while sharing a glance.