Chapter Text
"Kris? Kris, are you awake?"
Kris peeled their face off of their sleeve. They had rested their head on their arm for just a moment at the start of class, but it seemed that moment had led to nearly an hour's rest. Once their eyes had adjusted to the light of the classroom, they saw Berdly standing next to their desk.
"...yeah. I'm awake. why?" Kris lied, putting on their best impression of someone that was totally not sleeping. Berdly didn't buy it.
"Well, as you..." Berdly's eyes squinted "wakefully rested your head, Ms. Alphys explained a history project for the class. Now, on account of Noelle running off to pair with Susie for the assignment, it appears I have been cast to work with the third smartest of the class."
Kris nodded. "so... Jockington?" they joked.
"No, Kris... you." Berdly sighed with a slight sneer, with another one of Kris's jokes clearly flying over his head. It was almost funny how much this happened.
A slight smile grew on Kris's face. "Okay. By the way, I was listening too hard to hear, what's the project again?"
Berdly raised an eyebrow, somewhat pitying Kris's lower form of consciousness. "We have been assigned to pick a historical event and create a presentation about it."
Kris nodded slowly as if they had already knew that.
A trademark annoying smirk appeared on Berdly's beak. "Fret not, if you need assistance learning to write, I can teach you."
Kris made an intentionally stupid facial expression and clutched a pencil in their fist while scribbling messy letters onto the sheet of paper in front of them.
"Ha! It appears my presence is essential for us to achieve even a passing score!" Berdly spoke with an over-the-top smug tone.
Kris dropped the pencil, stifling a laugh. "Yup, 'm too stupid to work. Guess I gotta play on the computer."
After a long conversation where Kris switched the topic away from schoolwork a multitude of times, the bell rang for the school day to end.
Berdly stared at Kris with slightly squinted eyes as he collected his belongings to leave. "Just so you know, we will be finishing this as homework together."
"Okay. So, today?"
"I suppose today will suffice, so long as we actually work!"
The two did not get a single word written down. Instead, they played Super Smashing Fighters on the television at Kris's house. After 9 rounds, an obvious victor was emerging with a score of 3 - 6.
"Kris!! That isn't a legitimate tactic!! That's a cheat!!" Berdly squawked, the feathers on his head puffing up in frustration. He had lost three times in a row now.
"Nope, just skill. Get better." Kris teased, withholding laughter as Berdly was yelling at them. They could practically see the smoke coming out of his ears.
"No! It! Isn't! If you were playing FAIR, then the score would be 0-9!" Berdly yelled, metaphorical smoke coming out of his ears.
Kris giggled. "So you'd lose more..."
"In my favor! 0-9 in my favor!" Berdly clarified.
"...and what's the score now?" Kris asked, comfortably leaning back against the couch before executing a finishing move.
"Six to thr-- UGH! SEVEN TO THREE." Berdly quietly admitted the score, interrupted by another loss. "Whatever, let's just do something else..." Berdly pouted.
"You're not getting that mad from being a loser, are you?" Kris inquired with an extremely smug intonation.
"NO--" Berdly readjusted his tone, "No, I just would like to change tasks... away from this." Berdly said as he put his cool, 'smart guy' personality back on.
Kris stared at Berdly with a tilted head, silently asking 'and do what?'.
As if their unasked question was answered, Toriel walked into the room, holding a mug in each hand.
"Children, would you like hot chocolate?
Kris and Berdly looked at the mugs, then each other, both with the same expression of excitement on their faces.
Kris nodded frantically. They grabbed the mug with two hands with a mumble of a 'thank you' and took a big sip. Kris's head quickly recoiled from the heat.
Berdly accepted the hot chocolate with feathered fingers around the handle of the mug. "Why thank you, Ms Dreemurr, I very much appreciate your offer."
"You can just call me Toriel, child." Toriel stated, a small shock to Berdly. He hadn't interacted with her very much since she was his elementary teacher, and that's what people called her at school.
Berdly, observing Kris's involuntary reaction to the hot drink, blew at the surface for a moment to cool it down before carefully dipping his beak in. It tasted really good, but the temperature sent a small shock throughout his beak. His head shot upwards, taking a few drops of hot chocolate into the air, where they landed across the top of his beak. He glanced upwards with embarrassment in his eyes, to check if Kris had seen what had just happened. To his horror, his eyes landed on Kris as they put a hand over their mouth, stifling a laugh at the sight of the mess Berdly had made.
"What??? It was hot..." Berdly defensively whined at Kris, although in a hushed tone as to not upset their mother. When he noticed them staring at his beak he quickly wiped it down with a handkerchief.
"I'm glad you two enjoy the drinks, although I apologize for the temperature." Toriel chimed, reading a book in her favorite chair (which Kris called 'Chariel')
"It's really no issue, Ms., uh... Toriel. It's good!" Berdly reassured.
Kris and Berdly talked for a while, playfully arguing over the best fighting game characters, music, and pen ink colors (which was basically Berdly arguing with himself while Kris watched). Eventually, the topic landed on which foods are best. That being brought up made Kris remember they were really hungry and had a guest over, so out of courtesy they asked Berdly if he wanted to stay for dinner. Berdly agreed, but he did have to ask Toriel what the family was having; he had a restrictive diet as a bird monster.
"Why, we're having steamed vegetables and..." Toriel closed her eyes, trying to come up with another dish that goes with steamed veggies last-second, because she remembered she would originally make it with chicken.
Kris thought to themself, please don't say roast chicken please don't say roast chicken don't say roast chicken...
"...And rice. Pardon me, for a moment there I forgot what rice was called!" Toriel laughed quietly with a hand over her mouth. Kris almost sighed from relief that she wasn't making the common veggies and chicken dinner. That would be such a disaster with Berdly over.
After a while of Kris and Berdly somewhat peacefully chatting about fighting game mechanics and strategies, the mugs of hot chocolate were finished and dinner was served. Berdly was surprised at how good the meal tasted; not because he expected Kris's mom to be a bad cook or anything, but because all the times that his own mother had made the dish she hadn't bothered to put on much seasoning. Berdly had long since accepted that meals were just to fuel the body and brain.
"Toriel, this is... really good. What did you use to season it?" Berdly asked between bites of broccoli and carrot.
"Why, nothing much, only some olive oil and minced garlic, as well as a onion powder" Toriel explained.
Berdly's eyes widened slightly upon learning that making a good meal was apparently easy.
Eventually, the meal was finished (mostly by Berdly) and the sun started to set. Kris had asked Berdly if he wanted to sleep over, but he couldn't, it was a school night, after all. Kris settled on walking him home. The walk was mostly silent until they arrived at his house.
"See you tomorrow, at school. We'll just do the project then" Kris mumbled in their usual monotone voice, but people knew that didn't mean they were uninterested in whatever they were talking about. It was just how they spoke.
"That's right," Berdly squawked at Kris, "We have homework to do. The video game was a cheap, although alluring ploy to make me forget the academic task at hand. Curses!"
"Oh no, guess we gotta do it tomorrow..." Kris mumbled with sarcasm (like they would say every sentence).
The two parted, and the sun set.