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“Don’t do drugs,” they used to say, “drugs are bad for you! If you take a drug, you will get all the diseases, and you will die badly!”
And now Toriel was the one saying that it might help if Tenna gave the ol’ kush-kush devil’s lettuce a go. Tenna had been the one to remind Toriel that HE was the one who was always cranking up the volume when “a very special episode” came on, and made sure the kids were paying attention to whichever character was giving a PSA on the dangers of Molly and her many dreadful brothers.
“Well,” Toriel said with a tiny giggle. His eyes crinkled when he smiled and ducked his head bashfully. “Yes. It is true that I am of the mind that it is best to avoid using anything that is not prescribed by a doctor when possible. But…well, for one thing, it IS a natural substance that comes from a plant. It is not something cooked up in some shady, dirty lab. Most of the time, anyhow.”
“So should I go smoking some poison ivy, then?” Tenna snickered. They were sitting at the kitchen table over tea. The sun wasn’t up yet. Kris was, last he checked, curled up in bed with Asriel. Asriel was halfway to falling off of the bed with nary a blanket to his name, while the human child slept wrapped in several with their back pressed against the wall. “Good golly, Tori. Where would I even get some, anyhow?”
They both blinked at their shared usage of the word. Are you talking yourself into it, too? It’s alright if so. It’s just…funny, I suppose.
“There is a dispensary in the next town over,” Toriel explained lightly, “I have checked online, and it says all that is needed is a valid ID. It could make for a fun little day trip while the children are in school.”
“I don’t have an ID. Tori,” Tenna gasped, horrified, “are you gonna buy me some marijuana?”
“I am going to SHARE some marijuana with you, Mr. Tenna. If you would like to give it a try, that is. And you do not have to! I merely think that it might…help. With some things that we both struggle with.”
And that was how he wound up with a joint pinched between his claws as he stood on the back patio. Not only that, but while they were getting the ‘goods’, the kind folks at the dispensary had gone and given Toriel a little packet of recipes as a first time customer bonus! So Toriel had gone ahead and bit the stoner bullet and whipped up a batch of brownies using the ‘flower’ they’d gotten.
They smelled like normal brownies for the most part. Upon a good few whiffs of the ones Toriel had given him in a little tupperware, Tenna could pick up a rather herbal kick to the chocolatey treats. For his first time, though, he was going to stick to a joint. He could smoke, see how he felt, and if it was nice, he’d go ahead and munch on a brownie the next time he was partaking.
He understood that eating any sort of edible gave you a much stronger dose than smoking one joint. So far, he had taken a few tentative puffs, and…nothing.
I might NEED to eat a brownie to feel anything. I’m a bigger guy.
Tenna also knew he needed to give it time. If he went ahead and ate one, knowing his luck, it would hit him HARD, and he’d wind up greening out on the living room floor for the kids to find him when they came down for breakfast tomorrow. So, he was a good little first time weed boy. He brought the joint to his mouth and drew in a quick huff.
He’d smoked before. He used to smoke those big, ‘manly’ cigars a certain little email always had tucked in his suit pocket. And he always HATED the smell. Nevermind the taste. But he did it because he couldn’t look all silly with the guy who was going to get him back in the spotlight and help him set things right with his family! He was a business man! He had to be worth the time, worth the bother of giving him that damn secret.
…sometimes, Tenna missed when the smell of tobacco had a certain excitement to it. Now it just made him sick. And angry…and sad, sure. Sure. What-the-fuck-ever.
This, though? It tasted like a pizza restaurant! Herbal and earthy, with a bit of pepper spice to it when the smoke filled his head. He exhaled long and deep. Smoke billowed out from his two side vents as well as from his ‘o’ shaped mouth.
Don’t think about my shitty ex. I am getting high. Don’t think about anything bad or evil while high. That’s how you get a bad trip. And I would like a nice trip because well, I like nice things.
It was late in the day. It was a weekend evening, so the whisper of the highway was clear enough to hear over the wind of the encroaching storm. It was supposed to be a heavy rain with some booms, but not too much in terms of wind. Tenna could see where the gray sheet of clouds was rolling in towards Home Town over the shadowy treeline. The sky above the house was a dying shade of dusty blue. The sun had all but vanished, leaving only the glow in the sky near the west as night leaked over like oil.
He could smell the rain. A wet earthy odor mixed with that of the herb. Leaves rustled in a low breeze that brought the storm ever closer.
This is nice, Tenna thought, am I high yet? How do I know when I’m high?
He felt a bit warm. He was tingly. He felt calm and content to just stand here with the golden light from the living room spilling from behind him as he stood and watched the storm come in. He looked down at how his shadow stretched across the patio. The light caught on all the little flecks and pebbles of the patio’s concrete, revealing how it shimmered, and how many little cracks and miniscule canyons marred the vast, gray plane. It made him think of that one movie- An Insect's Life! That scene with the bird and the grasshopper…damn, that was kind of scary for a kid’s movie, wasn’t it? He felt really sorry for that guy. Like, he was the bad guy, but still, that was scary.
If he had eyes, he’d blink. Oh. I think I’m high.
He decided to try speaking. “Hello?”
His own voice rippled through his head. He thought of a gong, and all those science shows that showed how soundwaves echoed outwards whenever you hit it. His head felt like that. Yup. Yup.
Tenna sure was high!
Okay. I am high. Now what?
He looked at the joint. It was halfway burned through. He then looked back out into the yard. The trees had a deep blue tinge that made him think of water. The leaves rippled in the wind, and it sounded like a hundred winged insects buzzing as they took flight.
Okay this is scary. I’m going inside. The bugs and wind can’t get me inside. Wind isn’t allowed inside.
He snuffed out the joint. He would tuck it…somewhere…he went inside and slid the door shut behind him. It was warm and not windy inside of the living room, because living rooms were warm, not windy places. He found a metal tin in one of the drawers in the coffee table and figured it was as good of a place as any to keep the remaining half of the joint.
Look at me, responsible. I’m so good at being weed. High.
“Hi,” he said aloud, laughing. He was knelt down in between the table and the couch. He pushed the drawer shut as he giggled. Everything tingled. His hands were pins and needles.
“...hullo…?”
Tenna gasped so hard he almost choked. Quickly, he hurried to stand up. He hurried too much because that made him dizzy, but it was fine. He whirled around and leaned into the kitchen.
“Kris?” he said as soon as he saw them standing at the counter, “hey, hon! When, uh…when did you come in?”
“Just a bit ago? I ‘unno,” they shrugged without turning around. There was a plate on the counter next to them. They were standing in front of…something, on the counter.
“Oh,” said Tenna, “I must not’ve heard you, ‘cause I was out back. What’re you up to?”
Kris turned their head and shifted to the side slightly. Tenna immediately saw what it was that they were standing in front of. He looked quickly between the small tupperware, the plate, saw the crumbs all over, and felt something inside of his head click into place for long enough for him to feel really, REALLY stupid and VERY bad and scared and guilty.
“Brownies,” Kris said simply.
“...brownies,” Tenna repeated. He was gripping the doorframe with one claw while the other floated half-clenched in the air by his head. When did he start doing that? That was a weird thing to do with his hand while his little nibling looked at him all confused and kind of worried.
“...oh,” Kris said softly, “sorry. Was I…those weren’t for me, right? Sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Tenna said quickly, “it’s okay, Kris. I’m not…mad. I’m. Hm.” Tenna ducked and brought his clawtips together, wondering briefly how to tell them they were going to get so high it would be kind of stupid without freaking them out. “Those. Were. NOT. For you. Yes. That’s correct.”
“Yeah. My bad. They uh…they were good, though. Sorry.”
They still had some crumbs on their lips. Tenna mentally hit himself very hard on the head, then he smiled, and he pressed his palms together near his chest as he took a big, deep breath.
“Kris. Honey. How are you FEELING right now?”
“Uhm. I ate brownies. So. Happy? But also I feel bad ‘cause those weren’t for me.”
“Okay okay okay IT’S OKAY you ate those. I am not worried about the brownies, Kris.” Tenna stepped over with his hands still clasped in front of him. He gingerly shut the tupperware. Kris watched him throw the plate into the sink with worried little eyes. His little worried baby.
Oooh, baby puppy…
“I’m s’rry,” they said again quietly.
Tenna’s chest wobbled. They WHINED. WHIMPERED. BECAUSE THEY WERE A LITTLE BABY PUPPY OF A KID. And he went and left the brownies out RIGHT THERE where they could go and-
“Honey baby, how many did you eat? The brownies.”
Kris’ eyes twitched when they blinked. “...uh…why? Also you’re talking like Queen, kinda.”
Tenna did not know how to answer the second part of that sentence. Tenna was a first time weed boy, and that was fine. He was fine. But Kris was small and the size of three apples, and they were like a little puppy, and he, the grown-up adult person (was he the grown dog in this situation…that was so scary) had to be: responsible.
He kneeled down. It was easy when he was too high to feel like he had a body. He HAD a body, but it was warm and far away. So he could just drop down onto his knees and not worry about what his back and hips and shoulders would say when he had to get back up.
Putting his hands on Kris’ shoulders, he leaned in and said very VERY calmly, “Kris my honey sweetie pie baby honey little STAR! You. Ate…some weed brownies!”
He thought that maybe if he smiled they wouldn’t freak out.
Kris stared at him blankly for a whole five seconds. Then, softly, they said, “I ate a whats.”
“Weed brownies! Ya know! The sorts with weed in ‘em! Hhhhhow many of those did you eat, kiddo? Can ya remember?” He chuckled a strained laugh as he cocked his head. His feelers wobbled and twitched slightly.
Kris stared and stared. They blinked one time in the course of several more long, heavy seconds. “Uh. Like. Five.”
GREAT!!! FANTASTIC! OH THAT’S WONDERFUL. THAT’S JUST- oh my fucking god my poor fucking baby.
“Tenna,” they said. They were already shaking.
“That’s my name, yes! Kris, honey, it’s okay. It is gonna be okay, Kris.”
“Tenna am I gonna die.”
“What? What? No. Kris. You will not die from the weed brownies.”
“But it’s drug.”
“Kris, look at me.”
They did. Tenna gently cupped their cheek. He saw that the red of their eyes was now a thin, halo-esque ring around the black of their pupils, and wondered, damn, just how fast is that metabolism of yours?
He then remembered that Toriel and himself were both big guys, being a Boss Monster and a CRT respectively, whereas Kris, tall as they were compared to most, was still a tiny human who weighed all of about 130-ish as per their last check-up.
You are very small, and you just ate five pot brownies baked by a fat fluffy monster. Oh, you poor sweet thing.
He suddenly felt just so, so soft with them. How strong they were when they had to be a hero of legend, and now they were shaking like a left because they were scared they’d die because they ate some stoner treats.
Kris made a little frail noise of horror when Tenna took them under the arms and went to stand up. They kicked their legs helplessly as they struggled. “Wait wait wait, what’re we doing? Am I gonna drugs? I’m drugs? Am I drugs?”
“I think so, dear. But it’s okay. You’re alright…”
Tenna was curious that they were so talkative right now. Not that it bothered him or anything. He just figured that Kris would be the sort to get quieter when they were high, let alone from five whole weed brownies.
Kris made another, smaller noise when he got them situated in his arms. He cradled them with their head burrowed into the crook of his neck, while his arms supported them as he stood up all the way with a muffled grunt of his own. They squirmed a little before they went back to trembling idly.
“You’re alright,” he repeated in a low whisper, “you just need to lay down, hon. That’s all.”
“I’m drugs,” they squeaked, horrified.
“Yes. Yes, you are.”
“Don’t laugh DON’T LAUGH! Papa’s gonna KILL ME!”
“No. No, he won’t.”
Oddly enough, for being well and truly stoned himself, he was very calm right now. He was worried sick for his kid, sure, but he didn’t feel too anxious about this situation as he would’ve, were it not for the big thick blanket smothering the part of his head that liked to scream the moment someone moved the furniture in a room a few inches to the right.
“Ohhh…hi, honey…” Tenna nuzzled Kris’ hair and hummed into their brown curls. His antennas tapped away at their head in soft, comforting touches that made loose, stray strands stick upright as they stuck onto the metallic orbs before falling back away.
“Sniffing me,” Kris said in a brief lapse back into their regular flat tone.
“Ain’t my fault you go around smellin’ like apples. Oh, wait wait wait. Are you hungry?”
Kris went, “hhh”, and leaned their head against his shoulder. Tenna chuckled. Their eyes were big and wide, but their eyelids kept twitching as if they were trying to shut them, but couldn’t quite commit to it yet.
“We’ll lay down, and then think about snacks. Yeah? That sound good?”
Kris nodded absently. There was something ‘far away’ to their face that made a fresh hot worry coil at the top of his throat. It’s okay, it’s okay. You’ll come back down, eventually. And Uncle Tenna is here to catch you.
~~~
Before long, Kris was situated. Tenna had some of their PJs on hand from the last time they slept over, and they managed to get changed on their own without any trouble. Now they were laying flat on their back under the weighted blanket and comforter.
“Doing alright over there?”
“Spinning.”
“Oh! Do you feel like you’re gonna be sick?”
Tenna was already moving to go get a trash can. Kris cleared their throat, “ah-um…um…no. I’m gonna spin away, though.”
He stopped near the door. He looked at them and snickered softly. He’d only smoked half of the joint, so he could feel himself coming down bit by bit. It was like the weed was still inside of his body, filling him with fuzzy warmth and air, but his head was cleared up at this point. Talking didn’t make his screen go all wobbly anymore.
“Spinning,” Kris said in a short, fearful note of a voice.
Tenna walked over to sit on the edge of the bed opposite of where Kris was laying. When the mattress dipped, they slid towards him slightly. Clearly this did not help much with their current spinning situation. They squeaked and whipped their head towards him in a panic.
“Falling?” they asked him beseechingly. Were they about to cry? Or were they coming down already, somehow?
Tenna scooted over to lay down next to them. He hugged them, careful not to squeeze too tight when they slid into his chest. He braced for his brain to shove some awful thought into the space between him and holding his poor stoned nibling, only to find himself mentally grasping at the empty nothing it gave himself instead.
This is exactly the sort of thing Toriel was talking about with it helping with “stuff”. Wow.
“I’m falling,” Kris whispered dramatically. Wide, near-black eyes looked up and down and twitched when they landed on his screen. “Your face is a deadly something.”
“You’re not falling. I’ve got ya.”
Tenna dimmed his display by a few notches. Kris whimpered into his chest as they pressed their cheek against it, hugging him back as much as they could with one hand and a body full of THC.
“I feel like I’m at the festival,” Kris said, “but it’s goin’ and it’s goin’ and I’m gonna fly off. I’m gonna spin and land in the lake. And I will drown, and die. Ahh. Ahh. Ahh…!”
They yelled three soft, half-hearted yells that were muffled when Tenna leaned down to kiss the top of their head.
“Kissin’ me,” they said flatly.
Tenna tried and failed to bite back a coo. “Ohhh…my poor, poor baby. It’s okay. It’s alright. You just gotta sleep, hon. You’ll feel better in the morning.”
“My mouth’s bad.”
The phrase “cotton mouth” blinked into Tenna’s head. He hummed while looking at Kris thoughtfully. He could hurry downstairs to get them some water, sure, but they were calm now that he was holding them. He worried moving would put them back into a spin.
“I’m hungry.”
That was another thing he wanted to help with. He could use a snack himself, too. But he didn’t want to leave them when they might freak out again.
“Kris? Honey?”
“Why am I honey?”
Tenna laughed a bit, “eheh! Well, ‘cause you’re a sweet little thing, of course!”
“Love me? Sweet me?”
“Of course I love you! You’re a sweet and lovely kid!”
Kris went, “ohh!” Like they simply had never considered that before. Then they smiled and said, “I keep thinking that this is all too nice and something bad has to happen because it’s too nice and I have to pay for everything.”
Tenna’s mouth vanished from his screen at THAT…INSIGHTFUL REMARK. His feelers dipped towards Kris’ face. They really seemed to like the tickles from his static. It probably grounded them and took their mind off of the spinning and the falling.
“Nothing b…”
He started to say, “nothing bad is going to happen”, before remembering that could never be true, because something bad COULD always happen. And for a second, he raged silently at the unfairness of it all. Then he tried again, taking a breath as he said softly, “...a kid like you has already ‘paid’ enough, Kris. You don’t…if something bad did happen, you know you can always come to me or your dad, or your brother, or Queen, right?”
“Huh,” they said.
It’s okay. You can’t really talk right now. But I’ll talk, and I’ll be as honest as I can.
“...good things are allowed to happen to you, Kris.”
They didn’t say anything when he slowly unwound his arms and slipped over the mattress. They were now laying on their side, curled up, with their right hand resting on the pillow. Their left arm was jammed underneath it. It was almost like in this state, they subconsciously wanted to ‘put it away’ so they didn’t have to see it and think about anything related to it.
“I’m gonna go get some stuff,” he said, “I will be riiiight back, okie dokie?”
It was only when he was walking out into the hall that he heard them rasp and whisper a very dramatic, “goodbye…!”
Silly kid…
He wondered while he was down there if he should text or call Toriel. Susie, Ralsei, Noelle, and Berdly were all having a sleep over at Noelle’s place tonight. Toriel knew that Kris was either with them there or next door here with him already. He just didn’t know how to tell Toriel that Kris had eaten five weed brownies without wanting to throw up and then maybe die about it.
No. No. It would just be a bit stressful, and he would worry, and we’d both worry. But chances are Kris will wake up tomorrow and just be a bit sleepy and confused. I should tell him.
Tenna did decide that he’d wait until Kris was asleep. He didn’t want to keep them waiting up there alone.
Two bottled waters. A few bags of chips. Some Orio cookies in a zip bag. He also went and got some baby carrots so he could at least tell himself he tried to encourage some healthy ‘munchie habits’ while babysitting his stoned nibling.
With all of this he went back upstairs. “I’m baaaaack. How’re you doing?”
“I’m in trouble.”
It took a lot not to drop everything. Still! The weed was working its wonders on him yet! Tenna calmly set it all on the nightstand and asked them calmly what they meant by that.
“I was bad. And she fell in. And I didn’t get her out. And then I was bad a bunch. And you died. And it was all scary. And I lied. And I keep making you and everyone else feel real sorry for me. I dunno how to stop making people feel sorry for me.”
Stay calm. Stay calm. Don’t cry. They don’t need you to cry right now. They need to be held so they stop spinning.
“I don’t like it. I’m not havin’ fun.”
Don’t cry. Your baby needs you.
Tenna at least allowed himself a shaky sigh when he crawled back into the bed. He laced an arm around their shoulder to lift them off the pillow. In return, they squeezed the middle of his forearm. Their long fingers wouldn’t even be able to connect if they grabbed him by the wrist.
“Here, Kris. Water will help. Can you drink some water, starshine?”
They opened their mouth. He held them upright in bed and brought the bottle to their lips. They wanted to chug the whole thing, but Tenna made sure to only tilt it when they swallowed some so it didn’t make a mess all over the bed.
When the bottle was empty, Tenna set it on the stand, and hooked his other arm around Kris. They fell forward, head lulling.
“Forever and ever,” they mumbled, “and then…what? I’m sorry.” Kris lifted their head towards him, blinking like they’d just woken up. Their pupils were still wide as full moons. “Uncle Tenna, I don’t like the brownies.”
“I got some chips. You want some chips?”
Tenna then watched in mild terror as his beloved creator-child proceeded to all but inhale several bags of chips. He had sipped away at about half of the bottle of water he’d brought for himself, but when he noticed Kris staring, he offered it, and decided he’d just get a glass when he called Toriel as they chugged away.
“Were you dying of thirst?” he asked playfully.
Kris looked at him, deadly serious. In a dire tone they said, “you died one time and I stabbed you in a video game.”
One of his feelers gave a small twitch as he processed. “...yes. That. Happened.”
Kris then pointed over his shoulder. “Can I have the Orios?”
“Could you eat a few carrots first, maybe? Please? For me?”
“Will that make me helping them kill you all better?”
…how on earth do I answer that in a way that isn’t awful?
“It will make me…happy! But you don’t have to if you really don’t want to. I-” he paused, struggling. But this was a hell of a lot easier than it would’ve been if he was fully sober. Somehow, he knew that. “...Kris. Do you wanna eat some carrots, hon?”
“Okay. Carrots.”
“Yes. Carrots.”
They ate half a bag before their eyelids started to droop. They sure powered through it, though. He almost offered the cookies, but he could see that they were finally starting to drift off. The anxiety keeping them awake was probably mellowed now they had a full belly.
“Ya wanna lay down again, superstar?”
They nodded fervently. Tenna cooed a low, deep croon and helped them get all situated. He took his time smoothing down the comforter while Kris shifted their shoulders and sank against the large, soft white pillow. They leaned into his hand when he reached out to pat their head.
“Uncle Tenna.”
“Kris?”
“I don’t like the brownies.”
They said it with a sour expression that made Tenna snort. “Pfft! Well, I can’t say I blame you.”
“Uncle Tenna, I am on the moon,” they then said plainly. They were looking upwards and off to the side. He glanced to check and confirmed that they were gazing out the window, where the moon would probably be if it weren’t for the cloud cover. Rain was starting to patter against the window pane.
“Oh? And what’s that like? How’s the weather up there tonight?”
“Rain,” they answered, “it’s a lot. It’s gonna wash out my head, I think.”
“You sure do get chatty like this, huh?”
“Catty?”
“No, hon. Chatty. Talkative.”
“...Catti?”
“Oh, sweetheart…how about you just focus on the moon, yeah? And the rain? Do you wanna go to bed, Kris?”
“I wanna get off the ride but okay yeah sure. Moon’s hiding. I’m hiding from everybody.”
“How come?”
“‘Cause if Papa knows I ate all of those and went to the moon, he’s gonna be pissed,” Kris said. Their voice hitched into a mouse-like squeak of despair. Despite their tone, though, their face was entirely flat, and they were laying utterly still on the mattress. “Doooon’t look. I’m high and it’s bad up here.”
“Kris, are you sleepy?”
“I’m puppy.”
“Is puppy sleepy? Does puppy wanna go to bed?”
“Puppy wanna fucking break from it all. Yes.”
“Then go to sleep, silly.”
“Okay,” Kris said LOUDLY, and then they closed their eyes.
Tenna did his best to be as quiet as possible in turning off the lights. He’d deal with the empty bags and bottles in the morning. For now, he slipped out into the hall, and crept downstairs so he could break the news to Toriel.
“...and well, now I’ve got them sleeping in my bed. If they wake up when I’m not there, they might get a bit spooked. So I’ll head back up there once we’re done talking. But for now, I think they should be alright once it’s worn off.”
Toriel’s voice had a hazy quality to it through the receiver. “Yes, that should be fine. I do not think they will have any trouble in the morning.”
“Again, I’m so sorry, Tori. I should’ve…I dunno. Labeled ‘em, or something.”
“Ohhh…Mr. Tenna. No, no. It is alright. Kris will be fine. That is all that I…” he trailed off for a moment. “...sorry. I had one.”
“Ah.” Tenna clicked his tongue.
The rain was heavy and steady on the sliding glass door, now. Tenna gazed out into the downpour with the reflected glow of his own screen caught in the glass. A solid white square hovered in the wet black void and flickered when Toriel, to his wonderment and surprise, laughed.
“What?” Tenna asked while Toriel cackled. He was smiling despite his confusion. He gripped the phone tight and leaned closer to the receiver. “What? W-what’s so funny?”
“We are all…high! Up on the moon.”
Tenna almost wanted to tell him that his buzz was worn off. He also wondered if, maybe, it’d help if he had the rest of that joint, somehow, before he laid down with Kris. But…he did suppose that he was still a bit fuzzy inside. Enough to where he quickly found his mouth splitting into a proper smile as he joined in on Toriel’s cackling.
“The PSAs,” he managed between a fit of giggles, “Tori. Tori. WE FAILED. WE HAVE BECOME THE VERY THING-”
“-THAT WE SWORE TO FIGHT AGAINST!!”
This was for whatever reason profoundly hysterical to them both. Vaguely, Tenna could hear Asriel asking, “what’s so funny?” in the background of Toriel’s end of the line. He sputtered a fresh laugh and leaned forward, gripping the kitchen doorway as he struggled to stay upright.
“It’s so over,” he lamented.
“Yes,” Toriel agreed, “Mr. Tenna, we are fucked.”
“We blew it, Tori.”
“We blew WHO now?”
“OH, you’re not THAT high. You’re worse than Kris!”
“We are fucked beyond belief, Mr. Tenna.”
He gasped so hard. He dropped and caught the phone. “TORI!!” he then remembered Kris and dropped his voice into a whispered hiss, “good GRIEF. Toriel…the censors…whatever happened to the old goat who kept my parental locks on?!”
“I am so sorry about that,” Toriel blurted, “that sounds like it was deeply frustrating for you. That was rather fucked up.”
“Well I mean, yeah, it wasn’t always the BEST when uh…but it’s fine. I’m fine. See? Fuck. Sex. Drugs. We are on drugs. You, me, Kris. Family BONDING, ah ha ha!”
“Family b- HEE HEE HEE HEE!!”
Fresh, loud laughter spilled through the speaker. Tenna’s static bubbled and popped happily.
“Family BONDING! With DRUGS! HEE HEE!!”
“What the HELL are you people even doing?” asked Asriel, flabbergasted.
In unison Tenna and Toriel both chided at him sternly, “language.”
“Wah- DAD, ARE YOU HIGH?!”
They started to laugh again. Thunder rumbled in the distance, deep and low and easy. It mumbled in the ears of a half-asleep, entirely stoned human who was laying stiff as a board as they spiraled under the weighted bed covers.
Spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning.
They had the blanket pulled over their head. Anytime they looked outside, the walls were wobbling, and that made the spinning worse. The rain was loud. So, so loud. It made everything wobble and ripple when it hammered on the window and hammered on their skull. Everything was painted and the rain would wash it all away if they looked outside of the blanket for too long.
They twitched when the door opened. No don’t look at me. I’m high.
“Kris? You awake, sweetheart?”
Kris went to say, “yeah, kinda.”
What they actually said sounded something more like, “yyyya-ha, hhhhhhhhhh.”
“...gonna take that as a ‘kinda’.”
A warm body crawled into bed next to them. Kris wormed their way towards it. A pair of steady arms wrapped them around the shoulders and pulled them close, allowing them to rest their ear against Tenna’s chest. A steady static current rumbled through his system. A rhythmic tick, tick, tick chimed alongside the electronic drone.
It was so loud. They were so glad he wasn’t dead.
“Hi, baby. You doing alright?”
He was sniffing them with his feelers, again. Their hair was gonna get all staticky and prickly. They hummed, annoyed, and too stoned to speak anymore, and snuggled closer, while Tenna cooed, and started to trace light patterns into their upper back with the tips of his metallic claws. All the tingles made them go all melty. Their head was one big, rippling pool.
Tenna smiled against their curls as he mumbled sweetly into their hair, “you’re alright…you’ll be alright…it’s okay…it’s okay…”
He then sighed a heavy sigh. Kris pried one of their eyes open, and watched the white glow of his screen switch off. Their reflection squinted at them through the black glass. Tenna chuckled and very gently pinched their cheek.
“Sleepy time, kiddo. No chasin’ you around the room tonight, okay?”
Goddamn and fuck it all. I can’t have shit.
“I know. I’m so cruel to you,” Tenna said when they whined.
Now Kris was going to go to bed OUT OF SPITE and in an ANGRY PISSED OFF WAY. They shut their eyes, IN AN ANGRY WAY. They then proceeded to fall backwards into the ripples of their brain, and found themself drifting on their back down a dark river in a quiet glade. Lush ferns swayed peacefully. The rain was soft and kind. Their mouth tasted like wet dirt warmed by a dark sun. They were vast and cool and warmly hollow inside. They let go of their thoughts, and the water washed them far and away.
They let the river take them off to sleep.