Chapter 1: A Moment’s Respite
Summary:
Susie finds somewhere to rest, and Noelle has a chat with her mother.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Susie lumbered through the doors of Hometown High. Even though the doors were unlocked (the only things worth stealing were answer keys, which were in locked classrooms), Susie still had the unmistakable feeling that she was somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be. That was fine, though. She wasn’t planning on staying in the school.
She reached the end of the hallway and yanked open the door to the supply closet. The already dark room became even darker, and Susie readied herself to jump. Before she did, though, she checked behind herself one last time.
“Still just me, huh?” She whispered to no one.
Susie stepped back, then ran and jumped into Castle Town.
Susie was used to entering dark worlds now. First, she felt the familiar feeling of magic pouring into her body. Then, she saw her clothes change to her preferred vest and combat boots, and her scales became a lighter shade. That part was still hard to adjust to, but at least she didn’t turn blue. After a few seconds of falling, she finally felt her feet touch ground. A few darkners gathered around, clearly surprised to see one of the lightners in town at night. More importantly, Susie saw a particular mass of green and white fluff making his way through the crowd.
“Susie! W-what are you doing here?” Ralsei asked, pleasant surprise in his voice.
“I, uh…” Susie thought about her next words carefully. “I didn’t want to spend the night at home. Then I remembered, I have a bed here! So, uh, ya mind if I crash at your place for the night?”
Ralsei cocked his head in confusion. “Of course I don’t mind, but wouldn’t you rather stay with Kris and Ms. Toriel?”
“It’s just…” Susie had hoped to avoid talking about this. “Toriel’s... not the best to be around right now.
Ralsei’s expression became somber. “She’s drinking, isn’t she?”
“Wait, you know about that? How do you-”
Susie was interrupted by a flash from the sky, at the point where the light world intersected with Castle Town, that signaled someone entering the dark world. Sure enough, Susie saw a blue human descend from above and land in front of her.
“Kris!” Susie exclaimed, rushing to their side with Ralsei. “I thought you weren’t gonna show up!”
“Sorry. I got held up,” Kris said in their usual, flat voice. Now that she could take a closer look, Susie could tell something was off with Kris. At first glance their expression was as blank as always, but something about them projected an aura of nervousness.
“Are you doing alright?”
Kris hesitated, as if deciding how to answer. “I’m better now,” they mumbled.
“Well, I’m happy to see you, Kris,” Ralsei said warmly. “I suppose this means you’re also spending the night?” Kris nodded, and Susie had an idea.
“Wait… Ralsei, I know you can’t go to the festival tomorrow. So what if tonight, we all had a big sleepover together to make up for it!” Susie didn’t mention it, but the three of them needed the down time, too. Between this and the festival, maybe the next twenty-four hours could just be fun; no roaring knight, and no prophecies.
“A sleepover?” Ralsei blushed. “… I’d like that, Susie. Kris?”
Kris nodded vigorously.
“Perfect! But first,shouldn’t you two dry off?”
“Dry off? Whaddya me- Oh...”
Susie looked down at herself and Kris and noticed they were indeed dripping wet. Guess she’d forgotten how hard it was raining.
“No worries! I can help in the castle! Just follow me!” Ralsei smiled and led the way to castle town.
“Wait, so you had fire magic this WHOLE TIME and you NEVER thought to use it in battle?!” Susie shouted as Ralsei used the heat from a fireball to help her and Kris dry off.
Ralsei’s eyes widened as he realized what he was doing. “Oh! I… I’m not very good in a fight, Susie. I’m sure you’ve noticed.” Ralsei looked more nervous than usual. “My niche is supporting you and Kris, so me using my fire magic in battle would be unnecessary.”
“Dude, you sound like me with my healing magic. And look at me now!” Susie threw up green sparkles with her right arm.
Ralsei looked away from Susie, and his magic flickered. “That’s healing magic, Susie. That helps people. Fire… I’d rather use it for something like this.” Ralsei focused, and the flames came back to full strength. “Now, I’d really rather not talk about it, if that’s okay with you.”
“Ralsei, I… fine. If you say so.” Susie clamped her snout shut and sat in silence. After a few minutes, her and Kris were totally dry.
“There! Now, I can’t merge your rooms like I did earlier today on such short notice, so we’ll have to share someone’s room, if that’s alright with you two.”
Kris flashed a thumbs up.
“Yeah, let’s do Kris’s room! Mine’s probably too, uh, spiky for you.”
Kris nodded. “I can show you my moss collection.”
“Hell yeah dude!” Susie exclaimed.
“What is it with you two and moss?” Ralsei wondered.
Ralsei had moved his couch cushion (which came to the dark world with Kris) into Kris’s room, and Susie had managed to carry her bed in as well. Kris had seemed strangely cool with sharing their bed with Susie, but it was a little too small for Susie to be comfortable. Susie allowed herself to relax on top of her bed sheets, taking her first breather all day.
“So, uh… not as much to do in our bedrooms, now that I think about it,” Susie said.
“Nonsense! We could make friendship bracelets!” Ralsei replied from his surprisingly comfortable cushion.
“PASS!” Susie laughed uproariously, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Ralsei smiling and Kris snickering. “What else you got, toothpaste boy?”
“Hmm… I could recite you a story?”
“What kinda story?”
“Let’s see…” Ralsei cleared his throat. “A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that today…”
Listening to Ralsei’s soothing voice, the tolls of today’s adventures finally started to catch up to Susie. She closed her eyes, and drifted off into the land of sleep.
“Ooh, Susie, look! I want that one!” Noelle pointed at a carnival stand. Sitting on the prize rack was a giant stuffed polar bear wearing a Santa Claus hat. It was perfect for Noelle.
“Arright,” Susie said with a grin. “Mr. carny guy, how much for a round of- wait, NERDLY!?”
Susie stepped back in surprise. Behind the stand was an-all-too familiar bluebird, dressed in ugly pinstripes. Actually, maybe that suited him...
“What are you even doing here? Don’t you work at the library?”
Berdly shook his head and smirked. “A guy can have two volunteer jobs, can he not, Susie?”
Susie ignored a strange feeling in her stomach that something was off. If it would make Noelle happy, she could put up with Berdly for a few minutes.
“Whatever. Just tell me how to play.”
“Why, the rules are so simple, even you can play!” Berdly turned around and pointed at an empty bottle on a stool. “All you have to do is hit this bottle, and you win!”
Susie turned around to check on Noelle. The doe had stars in her eyes, and her hands were clasped together. She seemed to sense Susie’s unspoken question and nodded enthusiastically.
“You’re on, birdbrain!” Berdly handed Susie three plastic balls and stepped out of the way. Susie took aim at the bottle, readied the first ball and chucked it at her target. It made it halfway across the distance between her and the bottle before landing on the ground in an unceremonious thud.
“Come on, I thought brute force was all you were good for? Put some muscle in it!” Berdly said mockingly. Susie ignored his comment and prepared her next throw. This time, the ball flew past the spot where the first one landed… and bounced against the tent wall behind the bottle.
Berdly sucked air in through his beak. “Ouch, only one more try left! Better make it count!”
“You don’t gotta remind me!” Susie narrowed her eyes and focused on the bottle. She reared her throwing arm back and chucked the ball with all her might. Berdly looked with shock as the ball soared through the air, and then nailed him in the forehead.
“Dammit!” Susie shouted. She turned to Noelle with an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sorry Noelle, it just…” Susie trailed off when she saw Noelle’s devastated face.
“Susie.. You couldn’t even do something that simple?”
“What? Noelle, I-”
“I guess you’re not as cool as I thought…” said a familiar, flat voice. Susie wheeled around and saw Kris’s piercing red eyes glaring at her.
“Kris? Wait, it’s-”
Susie was interrupted again, this time by a tender, high-pitched voice. “Susie, look how you hurt Noelle! Maybe you’re no hero after all.”
Susie fell to her knees. “Ralsei, Kris, Noelle… It’s not what it looks like, I… I just wanted to… I…”
“How could I ever think you could protect Kris? Protect me? You know what it said, Susie.”
“TO SAVE THE WORLDS, THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY.”
Please, Susie thought. Please don’t finish that sentence. She opened an eye to peek at Ralsei, who looked just as stern. He opened his mouth to speak, and Susie winced.
“Susie, Kris, it’s time to wake up!”
“Ugh… Ralsei… five more minutes…” Susie groaned.
“Susie, it’s almost noon! The festival starts in an hour!”
Susie and Kris shot up and looked at each other. Ralsei was sitting politely in the middle of the room, as if he had been waiting for them to wake up.
“Shit! Noelle’s going to be waiting on me! We haven’t even gotten the church darkners!” Susie said. Kris smirked at something.
“Er, Noelle’s waiting on both of us!”
“You still have enough time to get ready! Ooh, maybe now this a chance to make use of your wardrobes!” Ralsei beamed. “You haven’t actually gotten to use them yet, after all!”
“I mean, would it matter? We’re going right back to the light world anyways,” Susie countered.
“Maybe not there, but it would help you feel more refreshed! Also, any outfit changes should carry over to other dark worlds.”
“Eh, why not then,” Susie said, stretching out of bed.
“Great! I’ll, uh, get out of the way.” Ralsei swiftly walked out the front door.
“So, Kris, whatcha got in there?”
Kris turned their face away from Susie, seemingly hiding a blush.
“I want to surprise you,” they mumbled.
“Surprise me? Man, you’re a total dork,” Susie teased. She heard Kris laugh quietly.
“Fine, I’ll let you do your thing, Kris.” Susie walked out and closed the door behind her to walk to her room.
Truth be told, Susie was happy with what she was wearing. In the light world, she didn’t get the chance to fully express herself with clothing, but here she could go all out- spikes, combat boots, sleeveless shirts and vests, you name it. And so while she normally had no choice, now she was spoiled for choice.
Clothing in general had always been difficult for Susie. Choosing to present herself in a more masculine way would already be difficult for most girls, and Susie wasn’t like most girls. Sure, most people were respectful on the outside, but she could tell she was treated differently. When factoring in that she changed schools at least every three years, it became easy to distance herself.
In the dark world though, Susie could just be Susie.
Susie had elected to wear an outfit similar to her original one, but with even pointier spikes- to make herself seem more dangerous, she told Ralsei. The two waited patiently until Kris’s door finally opened.
Where their hair usually was the same as it was whenever they woke up, today they had tied it into a ponytail with a blue ribbon. But most noticeably, they had also removed the pink mantle from its usual place around their neck, instead wearing it around their waist like a makeshift skirt.
“Woah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear something like that!” Susie remarked. Kris looked like they were embarrassed.
“I just… masculine stuff is easier in the light world. I wanted to try this out here.”
“Well, I think it looks cool as hell,” Susie said with a grin.
“While I wouldn’t, erm, say it like Susie, I do think you look lovely, Kris.”
And just for a moment, through Kris’s constant deadpan, Susie saw Kris smile.
Noelle and her mother ate their breakfast in silence for what felt like half an hour. The two had only made small talk since Carol scolded Noelle yesterday, and she still seemed angry today. For as much as Noelle didn’t want to risk starting another lecture, she knew she had to say something, so she finally decided to break the silence.
“So, mom… I’m thinking of going to visit dad at the hospital later. You could always come too, if you want?” The last part was a bluff. Noelle knew her mother would decline.
“Noelle, today’s the festival. I’m sorry, but I’ll be way too busy to visit.” She placed her fingers on her temples. “Besides, you’re just going to use this as an excuse to sneak away to the festival with that girl, aren’t you?”
Noelle looked away from her mother. “S-Susie’s not so bad, once you get to know her-”
“She was mocking December!” Carol was standing up now. “And don’t think I don’t hear about her from Ms. Alphys and the other parents! That is not the kind of girl I want anywhere near my daughter!”
“Mom, I…” Noelle’s voice grew imperceptibly soft.
“Couldn’t you find some other girl to go with? Or maybe you could go with Kris, as friends? I’m sure they’d like to reconnect with you,” Carol said pointedly.
“I guess I could do that…” Most likely, Kris would be with Susie at the festival. Maybe if Noelle just played along, she could get her mom off her back and go to the festival with Susie!
“Yeah, I think I will do that! I’m still going to visit dad first, though. Love you mom!” Noelle blurted out the last sentence especially quickly.
Carol’s expression was mostly neutral, but Noelle swore she could see a hint of a smirk. “Of course, dear. Now head along. I have to make a call before work.”
Notes:
On Kris’s presentation: What I get from the game itself is that Kris would prefer to present femme or masc depending on how they feel that day, but their clothes are mostly hand-me-downs from Asriel. So in the dark world, they get the freedom to actually experiment with femininity. Also, it’s an excuse to give Kris a wardrobe change during a big turning point in the plot. Lotta gender stuff this chapter, but I promise it’s not the main focus, I just think about it a lot as one of those devilish transgenders myself.
Also, Berdly fans, this isn’t a “Berdly sucks” fic, don’t worry. His behavior in Susie’s dream is entirely how she perceives him, not how he actually is.
Chapter 2 is mostly done, so it should be posted next Friday!
Chapter 2: Preparations
Summary:
The Holidays have some conversations.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Susie peeked through the school’s entrance. Thankfully, nobody seemed to be paying attention. In fact, everyone in town seemed to be busy with the festival being set up on main street. Games and rides stretched from the church to QC’s, and an impressively sized (for a small town festival) Ferris wheel sat at the end.
“Coast is clear, Kris. Just gotta get to the church to pick up the darkners. Come on!” Susie whispered.
The two teens slid out of the door, trying to not draw attention to themselves, when Susie heard a phone ring. She whipped her head around to see an embarrassed Kris answer it.
“Hey mom. Sorry, I got held up.”
Susie couldn’t hear Toriel on the other end.
“I’m with Susie, yeah.”
A long pause.
“Yeah, I’ll be back in time for dinner.”
“Got it. I’ll talk to you later.” Kris hung up the phone.
“Hey, your mom okay?” Susie asked.
“Yeah, just hungover. She’s probably not gonna want to talk about last night.”
“Fine with me,” Susie grumbled. “I’m not gonna want to talk about that either.”
The pair walked to the church in awkward silence.
Noelle blushed. “Daaaad! For the last time, we’re going as friends! Besides, Kris’ll be there, that would be weird!”
“Fahaha!” Rudy laughed. “And did Susie ever say it was a friendship date?”
“I-I mean, she obviously only sees me that way!” Noelle stammered.
“She asked to study with you at the house.”
“I have the second best grades in class, and I know she can’t stand Berdly.”
“And then she showed up with a red rose.”
“Which she ate! Actually, I’m still not sure what that one meant…”
“Right, then the two of you hung out in your room while you talked about riding Ferris wheels together.”
Noelle winced. She may have told a little white lie about who’s room they’d been in. Rudy might have been tamer than her mother, but Dess was a sore spot for the whole family.
She also winced because Rudy’s last point meant she’d have to acknowledge the real reason she was so sure Susie didn’t feel the same way.
“Dad… she only brought that up because she saw that old picture of me and Kris. On Friday, the two of them disappeared in a closet for the entire school day, then suddenly the two of them are inseparable?”
Rudy’s cocky grin softened. “Ah. So you think her and Kris are…?” Noelle nodded.
Rudy continued. “Well, way I see it, today’s your chance to get closure.”
Noelle felt a pang of anxiety. Was he about to suggest what she thought he was about to suggest?
Rudy must have noticed the panic on Noelle’s face. “Look sugarplum, I know it’s scary, but you’ll have all day to get closer to her! If you can get her alone, you can just tell her how you really feel. Even if she doesn’t feel the same way, at least you’ll know.”
Noelle shook her head fervently. “B-but she’ll think I’m weird, and then she won’t want to be around me anymore, and it’ll all be my fault and-”
“Sugarplum, you’re spiraling. For what it’s worth, I don’t think any of that is true, but it’s up to you. Just think about it, okay?”
Noelle’s breathing steadied. “Okay. Yeah, I will. Maybe… maybe it won’t be so bad,” Noelle lied.
“Attagirl!” Rudy looked at the clock on the wall. “Now, the festival should be starting soon! Don’t you have a not-date to get to?”
Noelle followed his gaze. The clock read 11:55- she was almost late!
“Crap! I lost track of time!” Noelle squeaked. “Sorry dad, I’ll talk to you later!”
Rudy smiled and waved Noelle off as she bolted out of the room. Oh, who was she kidding? She couldn’t tell Susie how she felt! Maybe Susie liked the nice, smart, good-girl Noelle, but could she really like all of Noelle? Could she really like a girl like her? Noelle could deal with Susie being mean to her, but what if she didn’t even want to be around her? Noelle took a deep breath.
She could do this, right?
The festival was finally in full swing. Susie only saw a little bit of it on the way to the church and back, but now it seemed like the entire population of Hometown was here. Various carnival games and rides lined the streets, full of monsters Susie had never even seen before. She thought that finding a pair of antlers in a crowd would be easy, but Noelle was nowhere to be seen.
“Kris, you don’t think her mom grounded her or something, do you?”
Kris shook their head. “No. I don’t think so.”
Susie made a perplexed face. How were they so certain? Carol seemed pretty mad yesterday.
“Well, you know her mom better than I do,” Susie said, deciding it wasn’t worth asking about. “There’s plenty for us to do while we wait. Let’s see…”
Susie’s eyes wandered over to a food truck.
“Hell yeah! Fried butter! Come on Kris, we gotta try some of that!” Susie rushed to get in line while Kris eagerly followed behind her.
After a few minutes waiting, Susie and Kris admired their prizes: two sticks of oil, covered in breadcrumbs, deep-fried in more oil, with a wooden stick to hold it with. Angel bless America. Before Susie could take a bite, she heard a familiar voice.
“Susie! Kris! There you are!” Noelle gave a cute smile. “Sorry I’m late! I lost track of time with my dad, and… what are you two eating?”
“Fried butter. Want a bite? Wait, vegetarians can eat butter, right?”
“Y-yeah, but… I’ll think I’ll pass on this one! You two uh… go ahead.”
Susie shrugged. “Suit yourself!” She opened her mouth and chomped down on the snack, stick and all, and she could have sworn she saw Noelle’s eyes widen.
“W-wow, that was…” Noelle cleared her throat. “That was impressive! Is it, like… actually good?”
“It’s great! Right, Kris?” Susie eyed her friend, who was thoughtfully chewing their butter.
“Tastes like a heart attack,” they flatly stated, causing Susie and Noelle to burst into laughter, even if Susie knew they got that joke from Lancer.
When Susie finished laughing, she realized she wasn’t sure what to actually do at a festival. Noelle said she liked scary things, right? Rides are scary!
“Alright, it’s ride time! Let’s do…” Susie looked around, until she settled on the one closest to her. “That one!”
Kris followed Susie, but Noelle lagged behind. “Wait Susie, are you sure? Susie?”
But Susie was already on her way.
Notes:
For any readers who aren't from the US, I feel the need to clarify that fried butter is very real. I haven't had it and I have no desire to try it but it seems like something Susie and Kris would enjoy because they're freaks. By the way, i thought i remembered Rudy calling Noelle "sugarplum" being canon, but my friend didn't remember that and I can't find any evidence of it now. So if I accidentally absorbed that from a fanfic, there's your explanation.
Sorry this chapter is so short! If I kept it going there wouldn't be a natural stopping point for a long time, so I had to cut it off here. Next chapter is going to be the (half) titular festival, so stay tuned for that!
Chapter Text
Chapter 3: Band-Aid
Noelle squeezed through the crowd to try to catch up with Susie and Kris. She could run pretty fast, but she couldn’t exactly break into a sprint in a festival like this. She’d forgotten to tell Susie she hated carnival rides. With how quickly they get set up and taken down, Noelle had a hard time feeling secure in any of them. And now, Susie was rushing to ride one, and Noelle had to explain to her that she didn’t want to.
When she caught up to Kris and Susie, they were already in line. The ride consisted of a large spinning post with arms stretching out from the sides, with chairs attached to them with chains.
“Noelle, check it out!” Susie pointed to the contraption. “It spins around, and the seats fly out because of… uh…”
“Centrifugal force,” Noelle murmured.
“Yeah! Citrus bugle! C’mon, you can sit next to me!” Susie grinned, but Noelle could barely pay attention. What was she going to do? She would be miserable the whole ride, but she couldn’t disappoint Susie! Maybe it would be fine if she-
“Noelle, you alright? You seem like you’re freaking out,” Susie asked in a concerned voice.
“Huh? Oh, I’m totally fine! Don’t worry about me, fahaha!” Noelle averted her gaze from Susie.
“Noelle, we can do something else if you don’t wanna ride this one,” Susie tried reassuring her.
“No, it’s fine, I promise, I just have to-”
“Hey, Noelle, listen to me.” Susie gently placed a hand on Noelle’s shoulder, and Noelle tried not to react too much to that. “Look, you shouldn’t make yourself do something you don’t wanna do for my sake.” Susie unsubtly glanced at Kris, who nodded in agreement.
“It’s just… you seemed like you wanted to…”
“I wanted to hang out with you. And there’s plenty of stuff we can do here that you would enjoy.”
“Susie, Kris, I… Thank you,” Noelle said, exhaling. Hearing that Susie wanted to spend time with her made Noelle’s heart skip a beat, but she didn’t let herself jump to conclusions. She obviously meant a totally platonic hangout.
“It’s nothin’,” Susie said and shrugged. “Probably shoulda asked this the first time, but what do you like to do at this thing?”
“Pumpkin carving?” Susie asked, eyeing the orange gourds with suspicion.
Noelle giggled. “Well, this is the fall festival, and Halloween is right around the corner! This way you can have a little pumpkin of your own.”
“...My own, huh? You know, I’ve never actually carved a pumpkin before,” Susie said, slightly embarrassed.
“What?!” Noelle gasped. “Kris. We have to fix this, ASAP!” Noelle walked over to the monster selling pumpkins, who waved with one of her six hands.
“Hello, deary! Would you like to buy any pumpkins? All proceeds go to real spiders~.”
“Yes, three, please!” Noelle handed the spider monster some cash. She sure seemed excited.
“Isn’t your family’s thing Christmas?” Susie asked.
“Yeah, but Halloween’s still a holiday, and we appreciate all holidays. Now, my cousin Alucard and their family…” Noelle trailed off.
“I know what I’m carving,” Kris said, seemingly trying to get the conversation back on track.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Noelle asked.
“… You’ll see,” they mumbled. Susie wondered why Kris was so big on surprises suddenly. First with the wardrobe change, and now they were being secretive again. Were they embarrassed about something? Why were they only showing it now?
“Oh, how mysterious, Kris. It’s probably going to be another mangled face to mess with me again!” Noelle teased.
Kris silently got to work, using their own knife to cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin. They deliberately faced away from the two girls to hide what they were carving. Susie rolled her eyes and turned to Noelle.
“So, uh. I don’t actually know what I’m doing here. Do I just, like, stab a face into it?”
“Uh, you want my help?” Noelle asked, a hint of panic in her voice. “I, uh, thought you’d want Kris’s help!”
Susie’s brow furrowed. Why would she “I mean, they seem pretty busy right now.” Susie’s breath dropped to a whisper. “Plus, I’d rather ask the holiday girl about the holiday stuff.”
Noelle tried her best to hide her face from Susie, but she could still see her face turning red.
“Uh, of course! I guess that makes sense, fahaha!” Noelle laughed nervously.
Noelle proceeded to demonstrate to Susie how to cut a hole into the top of the pumpkin and remove the insides. Despite Noelle’s protests, Susie also ate said insides, and remarked that they were “not bad.”
“Alright, and now we draw a face…”
“And there you go, Susie! You did it!” Noelle exclaimed. Susie admired her handiwork: a haphazardly carved jack-o-lantern that vaguely resembled Jackenstein. May as well go for something familiar, Susie figured. Noelle’s was similar, but with some differences here and there, along with being generally “neater.”
“Kris, what the hell are you even doing over there!” Susie shouted. They held up a finger to ask for one more moment, made a few more cuts, then turned their pumpkin around. Instead of a traditional face, they had carved a side profile of a girl with a snout and messy hair.
“Dude, when did you become an artist- WAIT, IS THAT ME??? THAT’S SICK!!!”
Kris blushed and averted their gaze, but Noelle didn’t seem as happy. She wore a smile, but something in her eyes seemed to suggest that she was annoyed by something. Maybe she was jealous of something...
“Uh, sorry Noelle, I don’t think they have time to make a carving of you,” Susie said.
Noelle seemed to realize what was going on. “What? Oh, that’s not… I’m fine! Promise! It’s uh, a nice jack-o-lantern!” Kris, for their part, now looked even more mortified, and Susie panicked as she tried to get the situation back on track. Why did she always have to be the emotionally mature one in situations like this? She still thought naming herself “ass” was the funniest joke ever, for the Angel’s sake!
“Uh, so, do you guys wanna-”
“Ah, Noelle! Kris!” A particularly annoying bluebird interrupted Susie’s jumbled attempt to salvage things. “Ah. And Susan… Well, never fear, I am here to sweep all of you off of your feet!”
“Ah, Berdly! It’s… so… nice to… see you…” Noelle said, seemingly growing 3 sizes smaller.
“Berdly! Can’t you learn to take a goddamn hint?!” Susie barked. “And for the last time, Susan’s not even my real name!”
“Hush, Susan! Yes, you may have rudely interrupted dear Noelle on the phone yesterday, but I recall she was in the process of accepting! And for you to try to pry my dear Noelle and I apart… you must be madly in love with me as well!”
Susie felt her jaw drop to the floor. She had to take a second to make sure she even heard Berdly correctly. “Dude. I- No. Not in a million years.”
“Oh, no need to play hard to get, Susan!” Berdly said, in a sing-song voice. “And not to worry! You and Noelle can both go to the festival with me! Oh, and Kris too, if they’d like,” he added halfheartedly. Some kind of emotion washed over Kris’s face, but Susie couldn’t tell what it was.
Susie tried to think of a way to get out of this. Berdly was being weird to Susie right now, but she could eventually wear him down and convince him she really wasn’t interested, and she had full faith in Kris’s ability to not let others decide their actions. Noelle, on the other hand, might end up marrying the guy at this rate. And if Susie tried stepping in again, he’d just think it was because she was jealous! Of Noelle!
“That’s, uh, great, Berdly! But I need to, uh, use the bathroom first! Susie, Kris, could you two, uh, come with?” Noelle asked in a tone that suggested she wasn’t really asking.
“Us? Yeah, sure, I guess.” Susie figured if Noelle needed to use the bathroom now of all times, it must be important. Was it like… that time of the month? It would explain why she wanted her and Kris to join her. But surely Noelle realized-
“Yeah, no problem,” Kris said, cutting off Susie’s train of thought.
“Ah, of course that’s okay!” Berdly said. “I will wait for my three co-gamers as long as you need!”
“Great, thanks Berdly!” Noelle didn’t waste any time and rushed away towards the nearest restroom, Kris and Susie in tow.
Noelle led her friends around the festival for about a minute, until she was sure they were out of earshot. Why couldn’t she just tell Berdly no? Saying ‘no’ in her dream was easy, but the real world was another matter. What if she told him no, and he realized how selfish she really was? What if everyone realized?
“Noelle, I think we passed the bathroom. Like, five of them, actually,” Susie said, looking around with a confused expression.
Susie’s obliviousness finally managed to break through Noelle’s panic, just a little.
“Faha, Susie! I don’t actually have to use the bathroom!”
Susie’s eyes widened as she realized her mistake. “Oh. OH. You wanted to talk about what to do about Berdly?”
Noelle nodded. “I need to figure out a way to get out of dating Berdly without hurting his feelings!”
“Okay, crazy idea, you could try telling him no,” Susie suggested facetiously.
“I said without hurting his feelings!” Noelle corrected.
“Noelle, sometimes you have to hurt people’s feelings,” Kris said flatly.
“That’s easy for you to say, Kris! You don’t care what other people think! The whole school would think I’m some selfish… that I don’t care about his feelings,” Noelle said, managing to stop herself from saying something else. “And then they wouldn’t like me.”
Susie looked bewildered. “Is that what you think about yourself? Look, Kris and I are here, and we both like you. Right, Kris?” Susie glanced at her friend, who mumbled a “yeah” in agreement. “Guys like Berdly can only understand a hard ‘no.’ You just gotta… uh… rip the band-aid off! And if anyone’s mean to you, I’ll just beat the crap outta ‘em!” Susie gave a toothy grin and smacked her fist into her open palm, and Noelle felt her heart flutter.
“Alright, I’ll… I’ll give it a try!” Noelle steeled herself and prepared to find Berdly again when she heard a particular voice.
“Noelle? Ah, Noelle, my dear, there you are! Berdly said.
“Ah, Berdly… I thought you were going to wait!” Noelle nervously responded.
“I did, but you three took so long, I started to get worried you were lost! And it seems as if you were!” Berdly smiled smugly, which always looked strange with a beak. “Now, I can lead you to the restroom, and we can begin our festival date posthaste!”
Noelle looked to Susie for help, but Susie only stared at her in a way that said “You know what to do.” There was no way around it now. Noelle took a deep breath…
“Berdly, I’m not going to the festival with you.”
Berdly was literally taken aback, stumbling a little. “B-but why? It’s Susan, isn’t it?! She pressured you into-”
“No, Berdly, that’s not it. I mean, I don’t even like guys!”
“Wait, you don’t? Why didn’t you tell me? This whole time I thought you liked me!
“You didn’t exactly make it easy, dude,” Susie said. “You’re not exactly the best listener.”
Berdly was sweating bullets now. “Well, what about you, Susan? W-we can still go toge-”
“Nope. No way. You can’t even get my name right.”
Berdly looked around wildly, and his eyes finally landed on Kris. “Ah, Kris, my old Super Smashing Fighters pal! What d-do you say?”
Noelle expected them to turn him down immediately, but they didn’t. Kris paused for what must have been ten whole seconds. It was as if they were at war with themself. Surely they weren’t actually considering...?
“Sure. I’ll go,” they said. Their face immediately scrunched up afterwards, but the deal was done.
“Oh, Kris, I knew I could rely on you!” Berdly said, palpable relief in his voice. Before Noelle or Susie could even process Kris saying yes, Berdly was already dragging them off. “Let’s go hit the arcade! Oh, wait, do you think anywhere has caramel…” Berdly’s voice trailed off before Noelle could hear the rest of his sentence.
“D-Do you know anything about that?” Noelle asked Susie.
“Not at all,” Susie answered, shaking her head. “I guess if they wanted to, I shouldn’t stop them? But like, this is new. Guess it’s just us, then?”
Noelle decided not to think about Kris and Berdly. There was no way she was going to understand that one. Whatever was going on with that, it meant that she was alone with Susie! And after turning Berdly down went so well, maybe she’d be able to follow up on her promise to her dad!
“Oh yeah, also, I didn’t realize you like girls too,” Susie said nonchalantly. “We can totally be like, best friends. With our mutual interest. In women.”
Or maybe it would be just as hard as Noelle thought.
Notes:
Noelle's hatred of carnival rides was directly inspired by my own. The specific one from this chapter is one I was peer-pressured into riding on at the state fair once and I hated it the whole time (I was fine, I'm not like mad at those people or anything). They had a random metal bar for safety but it felt kind of pointless when the real danger was from one of the chains the chairs were attached to failing. I did see a big pumpkin at the fair though that was cool.
Also, Kris my little skrunklypoo, I'm so sorry but you're being possessed by Gaster's strongest himejin and they're kinda clueless. I'm sure Berdly's not that bad, at least.
My backlog of chapters has officially run dry, so from now on I'm actually writing them all entirely between updates. I should still be okay with the biweekly schedule but we'll see!
also alucard is the roaring kni-
syrupeon on Chapter 1 Mon 11 Aug 2025 05:39PM UTC
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vevader_3 on Chapter 1 Mon 11 Aug 2025 09:41PM UTC
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