Work Text:
>It shouldn’t have been a big deal.
>Especially not with her. She was Susie, of course she's just fucking around. Roughhousing, that's all it was. She'd always been the most physical one, shoving Kris and Ralsei around in an unspoken show of strength. Really, those things shouldn't get to Kris.
>But it was just this new habit. This new, stupid, damn habit.
>They don't know why exactly it started, just that it did.
>They were sitting in class, drifting peacefully back to sleep after rushing through the math worksheet Alphys woke them for.
>The only thing on Kris' mind was how to get Berdly to stop quibbling with Noelle over every minor notational error, as he proved to be loudly and obnoxiously pedantic about the slightest difference in solutions.
>While contemplating the optimal place on his feathers to throw a pencil so that it may annoy him the most, a sudden tug sent thoughts of disrupting the birdbrain straight to the back of their mind.
>Kris jolted back, biting back a guttural moan. Electricity coursed through their entire body, coming from their scalp, going lower and lower until pooling below their stomach.
>"Hey dumbass!" Susie whispered for the fourth time, unbeknownst to Kris. She let go of the fistful of Kris' hair.
>Still breathing heavily, Kris' head snapped back to view her toothy grin.
>"Geez, guess I know how to wake you from now on." Susie barked out a laugh. "Jus' wanted to borrow your paper. Don't worry, I'll screw up a few."
>It was about now that Kris would try to actually help Susie, but they could feel their face heating up as words refused to come out.
>They turned and wordlessly passed the paper without making further eye contact, head slamming back down.
>They sighed.
>Shit.
>
>It progressed from there, becoming more frequent day by day.
>Unfortunately, that doesn't correlate with getting more used to it, Kris thought as they walked down the darkly dappled trail towards Ralsei's castle.
>In fact, it had gotten worse. By the end of the week, even a few strands being playfully pulled caused an all-too-long semi-aroused seizure on Kris' part.
>This was mostly their fault. They probably should have told her to stop by about the third time, but they always felt unable to speak in the immediate aftermath and too awkward to bring it up a few minutes after.
>(Deep down, they knew that if they truly wanted her to stop, they would've already said so.)
>Despite their troubles, Kris knew they had to put an end to it.
>She was their best friend, for Angel's sake. There was no reason to be letting some stupid teasing get to them.
>They would call her out for it as soon as she ended up doing it again. It would be a quick fix. A stern scolding, a quickly-forgiven apology, and all of it would be over.
>Just as soon as-
>Kris' head jerked back as they let out a inaudible whimper, finally realizing what Susie was saying as she trailed behind them.
>"Soooooo slooooow. Can you walk any slower, dude?"
>"S-Susie, don't be mean..." Ralsei gently admonished.
>Kris steadied themself despite the ambush. This was their chance.
>However, they didn't anticipate Susie not letting go of their hair, causing it to hurt even more as they turned to face her.
>This was unprecedented.
>Fuck.
>They probably should have prepared their words in advance as well, Susie beating them to the punch verbally.
>"Heh, it's like I'm walking a dog, minus the collar."
>The mental image of being collared and leashed by the dragoness unfortunately created even more inner turmoil for the poor human.
>Susie walked past them, giving one more tug for good measure, muttering in their ear. "C'mon, no woof this time?"
>Kris SHUDDERED.
>Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
>
>It all came to a head at the lake later that evening.
>As the they trudged down to the water in silence, a usual ritual for the two, Kris struck.
>"Susie, stop."
>Susie halted immediately, prepared to give full attention to Kris who very rarely went above 30 decibels when speaking.
>She turned to meet Kris' neutral expression as they drew a breath.
>"Susie, you need to stop pulling my hair." They said evenly.
>Her eyes widened and her maw contorted into a sheepish grin.
>That was not what she was expecting.
>She tripped over her words. "Uh? Err..."
>Her face flushed. Frankly, she was shocked at the sudden callout. "My bad... I'm just... I'm just messing with you, dude..."
>Kris' expression remained unchanged. Shit, that was an awful apology! She thought.
>"Did it- Did it hurt??" She offered, not knowing what else would appease the human.
>
>Kris internally cringed at her question.
>Yeah it hurt, but... that's not the problem...
>They gulped.
>How do you tell your 100 percent platonic best friend that the way they kept pulling your hair was turning you on?
>She called them a freak affectionately nowadays, but Kris knew that the admission would veer the nickname back into bullying territory quickly.
>Kris shook their head, and quietly spoke again. "Don't worry about it, just don't do it anymore."
>
>As they sat in their usual positions along the bank, their usually meditative way to end off the day felt anything but.
>Kris was mad at her, she was sure of it. The worst part was that it was completely preventable.
>She wasn't stupid, she noticed the way they'd seize up and stop anything they were doing whenever she tugged on their scalp.
>She was such an ASSHOLE, doing it when it was clear they'd had enough already.
>But nooooo, she just can't find any other way to show Kris how much they mean to her, and now she was well on her way towards driving a wedge between them both.
>She bet all of her other roughhousing pissed Kris off the same, and they were just too nice to do anything, and soon enough, she'd be acting like the same Susie that was bullying them viciously up to a few weeks back.
>Kris stood up abruptly.
>"I'm hungry. Mom's making pie. C'mon." They said as they turned around, clearly unaware of Susie's emotional spiraling.
>She stared blankly for a second, but her stomach growling interrupted her. "Shit, I'm down!"
>As they walked back off towards the Dreemurr's house, she resolved that she wouldn't lay another claw on Kris ever again. Maybe she'd even cut down on the swearing, for that matter.
>She was just starting to make a friend, and she can't afford to mess that up.
>
>"You're such a little shit! Fuck dude, you're so fucking annoying!" She snarled as she shoved Kris hard across their couch, the human snorting as they got manhandled.
>Okay, so maybe the whole swearing thing was a bit overkill.
>So was the roughhousing, it seemed, as Kris adamantly told her the day after the lake that she was allowed to keep pushing them around.
>For some reason, it seemed it was just the hair-pulling that got to them.
>Regardless, everything went back to normal shortly after their brief talk.
>On weekends Toriel would be out during the evenings, sometimes staying out all night. Recently, she seemed to become more open to the idea of Kris home alone, as long as they were with Susie.
>Kris clearly didn't feel like talking about it too much (muttering some expletives about the convenience store janitor), but the unsupervised all-day sleepovers were amazing, and the two weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
>It was 8pm, and after a botched attempt at dinner followed up with a emergency delivery from ICE-E's, the pair felt dubiously satiated enough by the P"e"zza and leftover pie to settle down for some video games.
>Kris' usual game of choice, Super Smashing Fighters, was the only game violent enough to appease the dragoness, which consequentially meant Susie lost a lot and Kris won a lot.
>This eventually culminated in Kris, armed with a shit-eating grin and the knock-off controller they handicapped themselves with, trying to find the most effective way to piss Susie off.
>They had gotten it down to a fine science, picking Steven from Minecrap every time and repeatedly build-comboing her no matter what fighter she picked, teabagging after every successive three-stock.
>Kris expected it to go like a typical match against Berdly: a bit of rage, followed by an eventual concession of Kris' superiority and moving onto a game more fun for the both of them.
>What Kris didn't account for was the fact that Susie wasn't 60 pounds soaking wet, and would in fact do anything to get at least one win before the night was over, including pushing them around.
>They didn't mind it at all, as this turned her from an awful player to a formidable opponent in her own right, giving Kris yet another hefty handicap as they attempted another combo.
>Yep, there she went. Kris snorted.
>"HEY, IS THIS FUNNY TO YOU!?" Susie was fuming. Even a last minute shove didn't get them off guard. Kris couldn't help but grin at the emotions they were provoking, stifling a giggle.
>"Run it again, you smiley little bastard." Susie muttered, glaring at the human.
>
>As the subsequent match carried on, Susie began laying it on thick.
>A shove that Kris miraculously recovered as to not fall off the couch.
>An attempt to grab for their controller, swiftly jerked away by the human's agile hands.
>A growl in their ear, which seemed to not faze the human but made their face burn a little brighter.
>Despite her attempts not working, Kris purposefully grew sloppy just to give her some hope. Now they were 1 to 1. The next kill would win it for her.
>Susie saw them perch at the ledge of the map. She ran in, headstrong, ready to deal the killing blow.
>Kris planned for this to happen, and set their plan into action.
>Kris jumped over her, leaving her character vulnerable, and began a combo.
>"NO!" yelled Susie. Kris only laughed harder.
>She thought she had it right there, but now she was going to lose. She was this close!
>No! She thought. there was no way that she'd spent the last 2 hours getting her ass kicked just to lose this close to victory!
>She needed to distract them again. She needed to win.
>Without thinking, she reached out and pulled Kris' hair.
>They made a sound she had never heard from them before.
>"Nhhhhahhh~!"
>
>
>
>They dropped the controller, unmoving.
>Susie had won.
>But neither of them were focused on the game anymore. Both were mortified for entirely different reasons.
>Susie spoke first. "Kris, I'm s-"
>"I have to go."
>"To the bathroom."
>Kris briskly walked upstairs, which was decidedly not where the bathroom was located.
>Susie heard a door slam.
>Her eyes were still wide open.
>She put her head in her hands.
>She gripped her own hair for once, squeezing and pulling, trying to feel one fraction of the pain that she'd been making Kris feel all this time.
>Tears threatened to fall.
>God, she was such a dumbass.
>She violated the one boundary that Kris had, and now they probably never wanted to talk to her again.
>She should just save herself the embarrassment and leave now.
>No.
>Kris is one of the only genuinely good things to ever happen to her, and she'd be an idiot if she didn't do everything she could to fix this friendship.
>She messed up, but if she could just apologize, take responsibility, hell, maybe even grovel and cry a little... It should all turn out okay.
>Kris would forgive her, she knew they would.
>
>Susie would never forgive them, they knew she wouldn't.
>She would never forgive them if she found out they were really just the freak she used to bully, but even worse.
>They were a sick, twisted pervert who got off on the idea of their best friend Susie tugging on their hair.
>And now, they nearly let it slip.
>It would be fine though. They would cool off in their bedroom, come back, and make up a nonspecific excuse for the embarrassing moan they let out.
>They'd play some more video games, and eventually she'd forget it even happened.
>Then, they would remind her to please not pull their hair, and maybe she'd apologize again, and everything would be fine.
>It would all work out.
>That was all Kris thought, until they heard a gentle knocking on their door.
>"Hey dude, can I come in?"
>Shit.
>Kris made no effort to grant her permission, knowing that their voice wouldn't carry anyways.
>It was over, Kris knew that much.
>Eventually, she opened the door slowly to see Kris sitting on their bed, expression neutral as ever and face returning to its typical color.
>She shuffled towards them, but eventually elected to stand near the corner between the computer desk and wall and attempt to make herself look as small as possible.
>She started. "Look, we both know what happened back there, and I'm not just gonna let it slide."
>Kris' heart dropped. All their plans went out the window as they braced for impact.
>(On a related note, they mentally calculated the likelihood of them surviving a dive straight through their unopened window into the yard.)
>Here came the dreaded words:
>"I just want to say... I'm sorry."
>Huh?
>Kris stared incredulously, but Susie's eyes were trained on the ground.
>"I shouldn't have... you know, pulled your hair, and I know it was the one thing you said not to do, and... I know it was your one boundary, and I..."
>Hello?
>Was this some form of reverse-psychology interrogation?
>Kris cut in. "Su-"
>Susie continued on. "I'm just sorry I've been a bad f-friend to you all this time. I tease you, I shove you, I copy off your work in class, a-and I..."
>Kris tried again. "It's-"
>Her voice broke. "I understand if you hate me, because I've been real-really shitty to you, dude. Before we were even friends. And I keep just fucking up and I'm just scared you'll not want to be... you'll stop being my-"
>"SUSIE!"
>Her eyes shot up as Kris made a loud noise for the second time in 10 minutes. They seemed to be breathing heavily.
>Susie was shocked. Did she make it worse? "Dude, I-I'm sorry?"
>Now it was Kris' turn to cut her off. "No, just... stop. Please, let me talk."
>Their voice seemed to fill up the room, despite the fact that they were still speaking at a normal volume.
>They patted the bed.
>Susie meekly followed and sat next to them as they visibly relaxed.
>They put their hand on Susie's and looked her in the eye.
>"I'm not mad at you. It's okay. Mistakes happen. I don't care about you bullying me anymore. Even back then, I knew that wasn't really you, and you've changed a lot since then." Kris went back down to their usual level of volume.
>"You're my best friend, and I'm never going to stop wanting to be that way."
>"Shoving me, calling me names, asking permission instead of just copying, that's how you show affection, right?" Susie nodded hesitantly.
>"Well, I love when you do that. It's what makes you, you. So please don't try to stop being you, okay?" This was probably the most words Kris had spoken since they had became friends.
>Susie sniffled. "Geez, you're so corny sometimes. It makes me want to puke." Despite her tough posturing, a sappy smile made its way across her face.
>Kris gave her hand a squeeze. Happy tears gathered slightly at the corner of Susie's eyes.
>Suddenly, the content smile washed off Kris' face after they realized what they still had to do. They retracted their hand and shifted slightly away from her.
>"I need to tell you why you shouldn't pull my hair."
>Susie looked ashamed again. Knowing what this was leading into, she quietly replied, "It was because of the apple thing, right?"
>Kris swapped out the tense look for a puzzled one, then realized what she was getting at. "No, it's not that."
>They fiddled with their hands, staring intently at their lap. Might as well get it over with.
>"The reason you shouldn't pull my hair is because..." They trailed off.
>Susie was on the edge of her seat. "Because...?" She prompted.
>"It um..." Kris was bright red at this point, ears flushing in tandem with their face.
>Susie was confused, but elected to not push it. "Look, dude, it's fine. It's clearly not something you want to talk about. I'll be downstairs, and we can just chill. How's that sound?"
>No response. Kris seemed to shrink further into themselves, if anything.
>She patted their back.
>Just as she was about to stand up, Kris burst out. "It turns me on!"
>Susie snapped to attention, facing Kris immediately.
>WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?
>Kris tried again, body facing her. "It um... feels really good for me when you pull my hair... So I don't think you should..."
>The two sat there for a moment, Kris going back to thinking about the window exit plan, and Susie letting the implications of Kris' statement fully dawn upon her.
>Finally, Susie spoke. "Why shouldn't I?"
>It was Kris' turn to be caught off-guard. "Huh?" They say dumbly.
>"If it feels good..." Susie reached around to grab a fistful of Kris' bangs and pulled hard, forcing them to turn and face her. "Why shouldn't I do it?" She gave a toothy grin as she let go.
>Kris gasped, loudly.
>WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?
>Susie hopped off the bed, hair covering her eyes, only to shove Kris fully onto the mattress.
>Kris, fully paralyzed, watched with both terror and rapidly increasing arousal as Susie climbed on top of them, straddling them.
>"Well? You can't even say?"
>She tutted menacingly. "You had me worried our friendship was ruined."
>"All because I kept pulling your pretty little locks."
>"But you know what, Kris?"
>"I think I kind of want to ruin it now."
>Kris was going to DIE.