Chapter Text
It was quite the average morning. Berdly got up with his alarm, completed his morning hygiene routine, checked his work schedule to ensure he wasn’t shirking his librarby duties, and, upon seeing his schedule clear, sat down to play video games. He scrolled through his steam library, waiting for something to catch his eye. Not much. He shook his head. He didn’t feel like grinding away at anything today. He got up and took his console off the charger. Plenty of games. None seemed crazy interesting. He loaded up Mistglade Farmer, sitting down on the couch. His parents were out of town again, or maybe he’d finally indulge them in playing one of their board games. His Aunt Martlet was supposed to be watching him. Keywords: supposed to. She probably managed to get dragged into shenanigans somewhere. Honestly, Berdly often felt like he was the one keeping an eye on her. But no matter.
He loaded up one of his oldest saves and started to walk around the town. He’d already triple-optimized his farm by now, and he didn’t really want to do the farm work in it anyhow. He wandered aimlessly, breaking bushes with his sword, skipping through NPC dialogue to see if there was anything new. Nope. He sighed. Maybe he didn’t really want to play this game, either. He was running out of things to do. Maybe he’d check if Ms. Alphys had extra credit or something.
He made his character run back to the save point, only to be intercepted by the beginnings of a cutscene. He sat up- this was his furthest save, which meant this was actually something new! The romanceable character he’d been… well, romancing, for lack of a better word, was picking flowers along the path, in all of their 16-bit glory. His character walked up to them, and a little exclamation mark appeared above their head.
“Ah! I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you,” the NPC said, in the generic 16-bit sound and font. “I was just, um…”
Dialogue options! Berdly perused them, tapping the bottom of his beak. He hadn’t read the wiki for this game, and he didn’t know the optimal option. He’d have to guess.
-Let me carry those for you
-[present gift- 7 items in inventory]
-Who are the flowers for?
Despite the improper grammar, he decided on the third option. It seemed like the most likely to further the cutscene. The NPC looked around and continued, its icon changed to the blushing, flustered variant. He expected nothing more. After all, it was a romanceable character, and this was evidently a romance cutscene, as he could tell from the flowers. His thoughts wandered to Noelle for a split second. Maybe she’d gotten used to the idea of Kris and Susie dating by now? Or maybe Susie and Kris were just goofing off in the library, and Kris was available? He shook his head. No need to dwell on everyone’s complicated love life. He was probably enough of a catch whoever ended up left out would come crawling. Anyways. Video game.
“They were, uh…”
He pressed A, skimming through most of the dialogue as it came up. He could probably just guess what it was saying, but this was his first run of this game, and he couldn’t morally skip it all if he wasn’t speedrunning.
“Well, I guess they were for you. If you want them!”
-Thank you!
-How much?
-You’re wasting your time.
Berdly couldn’t help but shake his head at the terribly written dialogue, but he ended up choosing the first one. He considered unlocking the shop, but he had chests full of flowers already anyways. Might as well see the sappy cutscene.
He skimmed through the dialogue as the NPC and player character shared a cute little moment, but it was just making him more and more aware of how he had bungled his chance with Noelle and Kris and Susie were now taken. It seemed like everyone was unavailable these days. The NPC and player character were now holding hands, on a bench, discussing the NPC’s backstory. Pretty much what he already expected- a lonely artist who moved out to the country for inspiration, and somehow found the player character instead. He began to spam the A button to get through the cutscene. It was cute, but he really just wanted to save and quit and do something else.
The dialogue ended, but the cutscene wasn’t over. The player character sprung to their feet. The NPC stood next to them for a second. They took a step closer, so the heads on the sprites overlapped, and a small heart appeared above them. 16-bit kiss. Cute. He supposed. Maybe if he’d actually kissed someone before, he’d find it more enticing. Or something. He found the save point, but realized he hadn’t done anything in-game worth saving and he might as well not waste the day. He turned it off and set it on the counter. Now what?
He checked for extra credit work. Nope. He checked for spare shifts at the library. None of those either. He sighed. If he was going to be bored anyways, might as well grind for exp in Dragon Blazers…
He sat down and booted up the game, but closed it on the login screen. He didn’t want to do that, either. Sweet Angel, what did he want to do? He was running out of options. Maybe he’d call on Noelle? No way he was going to ask her out again after that whole fiasco, but he could at least check in to see if she was doing okay. Maybe they could work on their project some more. It was mostly done by now, but he’d like something to do.
He dialed her number, feeling foolish. Chances were, she might assume he was trying to see if she was over Susie yet to ask her out again. He wasn’t that fixated on finding a partner. It wasn’t his fault if he was somewhat of an opportunist. He’d been sure he’d heard of ‘rebound partners’ somewhere, and he’d been confident he would nicely fill that role. Maybe-
The buzzing stopped before letting him leave a message. Noelle had hung up on him. Typical. He’d probably brought this upon himself. He was about to set his phone down when texting notifications went off.
Noelle: Sorry!! I can’t talk rn but I’m doing really good
Noelle: Thanks for checking in with Susie and everything tho
Noelle: Apparently the three of us are a thing now? Idrk it’s weird but it’s kinda great actually idk lol
Berdly… didn’t know what to make of that. He put his phone in his pocket. He blinked a couple times.
If Noelle was happy?
Suddenly, he realized the problem in this situation. If all three of them were dating- which suddenly seemed like a very foreseeable, very likely occurrence- there was no one left for him. And given their treatment of him at the festival, they probably were highly against him tagging along, as a friend or lover. He pulled some of his molt feathers, beginning to worry. The three of them were together, and having fun, and being happy. And he was alone. And probably would be, until a nasty breakup came between them, or any of the other people at school even bothered to remember his name. Which seemed unlikely, in either case. That… was an issue. That was a problem. That put an end to his plans, to say the least.
He got up and walked over to the window, gazing out over the trees blocking the rest of Hometown from view. He thought about it a little harder. He shook his head, laughing a little to himself. If they were all happy together, what did he need to be a rebound for? No one needed him. No one frankly would’ve liked to date him very much, anyways. In fact, this was probably a very fortunate turn of events. Yes, this spared him from his moral obligation to date whichever one of them was left out, despite his own personal sacrifice. He had missed absolutely nothing worth having. Or- or something.
He lay down on the couch, curling up and hugging his wings around himself. Yeah. He wasn’t missing anything. He could finally stop worrying about all of this. He could finally stop putting himself out there, and having his vulnerability bludgeoned by the +2 to hit club of rejection. He could finally-
Oh, who was he kidding. What the heck would his father think? What the heck would his mother say? They were worried enough about his freaking social development. Freaking social skills this, freaking peer relationships that. Damn his stupid social skills. He could tell that there was a lot to be wished for. He could freaking tell his peers thought he was weird, and frankly stupid. He was trying hard enough. He frankly didn’t give a damn about his stupid social skills, when he was the only kid in his grade with a job (fine, an internship) and the smartest (that was a lie. He knew it, and he said it anyways) kid in the school. Who would care if he could interact well with others when they’d already written him off as the weirdo who grinds Dragon Blazers all day? He couldn’t bring himself to care if everyone hated him. He frankly couldn’t give a damn if no one remembered his name. He frankly couldn’t give a f-
The door opened, and he scrambled to sit normally. What kind of freaking weirdo would wrap his wings around one of the throw pillows and hold it like a lifeline? A freaking weirdo who had terrible social skills and was going to die alone. Or something.
“Oh, you’re up already!” Martlet said, taking off her scarf and hanging it around the hook. “It’s only nine! I thought you said you were sleeping in today?”
“I was,” Berdly said, trying his best to ignore his puffy feathers. If he stopped thinking about it, maybe they’d soften back down before she noticed.
She set her bag down, turned to look at him, and furrowed her brow. She noticed.
“Are you okay?” she asked, sitting down beside him. He shook his head. Shoot. That was the wrong thing. He nodded.
“I’m fine,” he said. “I’m not working today, so I was going to study.”
“All day?” she said, becoming more worried by the minute. Da- dang. (He shouldn’t curse. He knew that.)
“Something like that,” he said.
“Well, you could take a break and play Super Smashing Fighters with me!”
He shook his head.
“I don’t feel like playing games today.”
“Well, now I know something’s wrong,” she said. Berdly sighed, sinking back into the couch.
“I do more than play video games, Martlet.”
“Yeah, but you like to. So, what’s wrong?” She seemed to realize she was being a little pushy and stood up. She looked around. “Or… or something like that. How are you, I guess? All I hear from your parents is how well you’re doing in school. Which is good, but… kinda boring.”
“I’m doing fine,” Berdly lied. He wished it didn’t feel so blatantly like one, but it did. He shook his head. “I’m… I don’t know. I- I had this whole thing planned out, but it kind of… fell apart.”
Martlet nodded, walking into the kitchen. She put a kettle on the heat and found a couple mugs. Berdly couldn’t help but feel some sort of comfort at this. Martlet usually made hot chocolate when she came to watch him, which he’d forgotten about. He felt a little sense of anticipation in his gut, and gave in.
“What would you do if your only three options all started dating each other?”
She cocked her head, thinking..
“Oddly specific, but I guess… huh.” She tapped the bottom of her beak, squinting at the air in front of her. Berdly picked up the throw pillow again. If he was going to be all vulnerable and open, he might as well hug the pillow. “Define options.”
“Well,” he paused. Maybe trying to explain this to Martlet, of all people, was a mistake. Ah, well. Better than his parents, at the very least. Or Susie, or Kris, or Noelle… Who else did he even have? “You know. Your friends. That you kind of just… knew you’d end up dating, eventually.”
She furrowed her brow, resting her elbows on the table. Berdly hugged the pillow a little tighter. Perhaps he was delusional and entitled to think that, and she would not spare his feelings to tell him that. But this was Martlet he was talking about.
“Like, you have crushes on them?” she said. Berdly… hesitated. Was that what that meant?
“I… believe so?” he saw her still-confused face and elaborated. “They’re my options. Of course I like them all, they’re all favorable for their various reasons.”
She’d finished the hot chocolate and sat next to him, handing him a mug. He left the pillow in his lap, resting his elbows on it to take a sip. She did make excellent hot chocolate.
“So… I guess I’m just a little confused. Is the problem that you have no one left, or that you’re fourth-wheeling?”
“Both,” he said, hunching his shoulders. It didn’t really help to hear it all laid out like that. It’s not like your dateable options dated each other and left you to rot alone in Mistglade Farmer. Or any game, for that matter. “...not to mention Mom and Dad’s concern about my social prowess.”
“Oh. That’s just a them thing,” she said, rolling her eyes. “They’re weird about it. I was a lot weirder than you, and I’m fine now!”
Great. How comforting. He shook his head. He was being rather unfair. She was trying to help.
“Yeah,” he mumbled, taking another sip of cocoa. It was only September. Probably way too early for cocoa. He took another sip.
She nodded. Berdly couldn’t fathom what else she could possibly say. She could probably tell he was asking for a solution, but he doubted she had one. Begging to be included, if only as a friend, seemed pretty clearly his last resort. Which he had evidently fallen to. How on Earth had he let this happen? By lying in wait for one of the three to be left out of their YA-Romance-style love triangle?
“Huh,” she said. How profound. He was really going to get somewhere with this. He really should’ve just kept his thoughts to himself. “So… there’s no fixing your parents.”
“How comforting,” he muttered. She laughed.
“It’s okay, they’ll probably stop bothering you eventually! …Eventually. Anyways, are you sure they’ve actually locked you out forever, or-”
“Judging by their demeanor at the festival, yes,” he said. She cocked her head.
“What happened at the festival?”
“Well,” he said, gripping his mug a little tighter. “I called to ask Noelle to go with me. And when she was going to say yes, Susie took the phone and started yelling at me that she didn’t want to. Which… well, it’s Susie. I realized that she probably needed a date herself, and asked, but by then Kris had the phone, and started singing the wrong number song…” he shook his head. He probably should’ve gathered they were all having a great time without him. “By then, I figured I’d take whoever ended up left out. Which, appeared to be Kris, by then. But Susie and Noelle dragged them away before they could accept my offer.”
“Huh,” she said again. Truly words of wisdom. Berdly was regretting this more and more by the second. At least he got hot chocolate. “Well… sounds like none of them want to date you.”
“Clearly.”
“Did you ever actually want to date them, or were you just worried about your parents?”
“Of course I-” he stopped short. Yes? Did he actually? Of course he did! Dating was an important part of growing up, and an important part of life! And he was getting sick of hugging throw pillows instead of people. But that was a minor factor, and completely irrelevant to the argument at hand. …What was he arguing, again?”
Martlet laughed, and his feathers puffed up again. Stupid feathers. He hugged his pillow to his chest again, looking pointedly in the other direction. She fumbled through an apology.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you, I just-” she paused a second, holding her mug up to her beak, as if he couldn’t tell she was stifling another giggle. At another stern look from Berdly, she got up and walked over to her bag “Look, I- I don’t know how strict your parents are about… gay stuff, I guess, but-”
“I know what gay people are, Martlet,” Berdly said. “I know what poly people are, too. That’s not the issue here.”
“Well, I’m just saying-” She took out a big old book and dropped it on the coffee table. It shook the whole thing.
“What the heck is that,” he said, holding his hot chocolate protectively away from the monster of a book. It must’ve been twenty pounds, at least.
“It’s my big old label book!” she said, smiling proudly. She fluffed the feathers on the back of her head. “To be honest, I mostly carry it around in case I need a counterweight. But this isn’t the first time it’s come in handy!”
“What.” Berdly looked at the book. The cover was covered in dozens of flags, and he only recognized a couple. “Why do you have this?”
“I think I got it when Clover was staying with me? Because I wanted to be supportive, and stuff! It might’ve been kinda overkill.”
“You think?” he said, tentatively flipping the cover. The table of contents spanned multiple pages. “I am not going to read all this.”
“Well, yeah,” she said, sliding the book over closer to her- it slid the whole table, but only slightly- and flipping through some pages. “There’s like, a quiz in here, or something, and I thought-”
“You’re making me take the am i gay quiz?”
“No! It’s a different one! It’s- here.”
She slid the book and a pencil over to him, the page open to what looked like a teen magazine quiz. There were erased pencil marks around some of the options.
“Have you taken this?”
“I got it secondhand!”
Berdly rolled his eyes but reluctantly began to take the quiz. If it would get her to put this ridiculous book away. The page was titled Aro-Ace Spectrum Quiz. He shook his head. He was vaguely aware of this, but he’d heard his father mention it in passing as a phase and an excuse. It occurred to him that maybe he should just stop listening to his parents about this stuff. He read the first question.