Work Text
Everyone Has Problems
Chapter 1: Ignored
Midnight. If anyone happened to be awake at this point, they would hopefully realize that the time had come for them to rest. Plans to attend, places to be, people to meet, and friends to be with. For now, however, was the time to relax and let slumber fall upon one's body. Without the proper energy, how could they do everything they wanted to the next day? It was a typical routine for just about everyone in Hometown. Even the most regular of routines, however, are broken.The Dreemurr household was deathly silent, for the most part. Both participants of the household had gone to bed hours ago, preparing for the day ahead of them. In one of the bedrooms laid the only human inhabitant of the town: Kris. Unfortunately for him, he could not find it within himself to allow his body to drift off to sleep. Especially not with that soft, gentle noise that filled his eardrums every few seconds.
Thump... thump... thump...
Kris hated it. He loathed it. Not because the noise was keeping him awake. Rather, he hated the source of the noise itself. Slowly shifting his head upwards, his unblinking red eyes piercing the darkness of his room as his gaze immediately fell upon the end of the bed. A small, rusted, forgotten toy wagon sat there, with an even more rusted and worn bird cage. His eyes narrowed, his vision slowly got adjusted to the source of the noise. It was as red as Kris's eyes, though it seemed to glow even more so.That stupid soul. Kris knew that it had been with him as far back as he could remember, but had never really liked it. Some days, the soul would stay confined in it's cage for a few days, but it always found it's way back to his chest again. Despite different tactics, such as covering the cage with a blanket, or taping the door to the cage shut, to even throwing the soul out the window, it found it's way back to Kris. He never understood how or why this happened, so he just stopped trying all together. He just hoped he would become lucky enough to not have to wake up and feel that thumping beat in his chest.Under the covers, Kris let his fingers feel over the outline of their knife, gently caressing it so he wouldn't accidentally injure himself and get blood all over the covers. Again. The tiniest grin formed on his face as he watched the heart twitch in place. It was scared.
Good.
Kris had no idea why he was cursed with it to begin with. He was always the weird kid. The quiet kid. The freaky kid. That's who he was, no question. He never fit in, no matter how hard anyone tried to reassure him. Kris may have been quiet, but he wasn't stupid. He knew what he was, and he wasn't a monster like everyone else. No one else was like him. Despite this, Kris felt... invisible for the most part. No one ever approached him. He coasted along with his grades, above average at best, barely passing at worst. Unless Kris felt compelled to talk to someone first, no one spoke to him. After awhile, Kris just stopped trying, and let everyone carry on with their own lives.Kris accepted this, for the most part. It was what it was, and he couldn't change it. It wasn't until one day that Kris felt his chest... thump. It scared him, placing a hand over it to feel it. It was warm, and comforting in a sense. A sensation Kris never truly felt before. It wasn't until school later that day did Kris garner their opinion for the new sensation: hatred. It wasn't until later still that Kris realized how desperately he needed friendship. It hurt him, knowing that everyone was judging him. The awkward, creepy kid barely had anyone to call a friend. Even with the local bully, Susie, he barely crossed into her consciousness. The whole day, Kris barely payed any attention to class, instead opting to head straight home immediately after the bell.Toriel, his adoptive mother, often asked Kris how his day was. As usual, he remained quiet. Ever since his older brother had moved away to college, each day seemed emptier and emptier. There was almost no point in even trying to do anything. With these new revelations, however, Kris's mind moved at 100 miles a minute. Every thought climbed in and assaulted his brain. Why couldn't he do anything about his loneliness? Why couldn't he live up to Asriel? Why did he allow himself to be so isolated? Why why WHY?Once alone, Kris did everything he could to remove it from his own chest. He felt it beat helplessly in his hand as he stared on in dismayed horror. What was this thing? Had it always been there? Why was he still holding it?! Looking on the opposite side of the bedroom was the abandoned bed of his older brother. Resting in the corner was an empty birdcage, the only memory left of an old family pet. Kris hurried over to it, opening the metal door with one hand and throwing the soul in as hard as possible, quickly slamming the door shut.He watched the heart thrash around the cage, both the heart and the human scared out of their wits. After awhile, it remained still, resigned to it's fate. Kris let out a deep sigh of relief, feeling themselves sit upon their own bed. He was finally free of this cursed... thing....so why wasn't this making him feel better? The thoughts weren't gone entirely. Kris was already aware of the fact that he was seen as a loner. Despite feeling numb and dull to any sort of pain towards these ideas, Kris felt even more depressed. Now, however, he felt even less compelled to do anything about it. He felt greedy for desiring anyone's attention whenever he wanted. It hurt.That night, he felt it was for the best. Why would anyone want to be his friend anyways? Quiet, creepy, ominous Kris. That's who he was, and nothing could change that.These thoughts refilled the human's mind as he stared at the cage opposite of his bed. The soul remained still this night, though Kris's gaze would not remove itself from it. The heart slumped down, hitting against the floor of the cage, giving up for the night.Kris felt better. Not a lot, but slightly. His own head slumped down back onto his pillow, closing his eyes for the first time tonight. He knew everyone merely tolerated him, and some even hated him. He knew it....did he?Now that he thought about it, that wasn't entirely the case. Susie was now his friend, technically. The whole Dark World incident happened only a few hours ago, and was still quite fresh in their mind. Ralsei and Lancer were their friends, too. They all respected Kris's leadership, bravery, and courage. Kris turned in his bed, sighing gently. That wasn't him, though. That was the soul....but was that the case? They all still looked up to Kris, didn't they? He lead everyone to the King, showing mercy to every adversary they crossed....and also, what about the rest of the class? Noelle was the closest thing to a friend for the longest time, after all. She was always kind, always patient and sweet. Even if she never approached Kris on her own that often, she never seemed to be against talking with him. Monster Kid, as well. He tended to be very chummy with Kris, keeping a conversation going for quite awhile whenever prompted. Temmie was... well, Temmie.Drake was okay, similar to Monster Kid. He always tried too hard to be funny, but never seemed to treat Kris as something different. Neither did Jockington, who was always smiling as hard as he could to anyone, as well as boasting about his own skills about sports. Catti was... indifferent? It was hard to read her expressions most of the time, due to the fact that her eyes were often looking downwards, usually at her phone. She barely seemed irritated whenever someone interrupted her, preferring to stick to herself. She reminded Kris a lot of himself, in some ways.Then there was Berdly. Kris didn't like Berdly, and he were pretty sure he didn't like him back. Always acting so smarmy and condescending. It was like he was just asking for his face to be punched in. Then again, he acted like that towards everyone, didn't he? He's heard many an annoyed grunt from various classmates after he shows everyone up with his "superior intellect", which has happened more than once. So it definitely wasn't just Kris.But these were his classmates. They all probably felt some sort of obligation to be friendly, right?...but what about the other citizens of Hometown? Catty was very friendly to him. Almost too friendly. Bratty as well, even if she just wanted something out of him. Father Alvin was always very kind, though he was like that towards everyone. Oddly enough, Burgerpants of all monsters found himself becoming close to the human. Kris always noticed that, despite his constant ramblings about work, he never seemed uncomfortable around him.Ms Alphys was... interesting, to say the least. While definitely smart, she was incredibly weird, and very socially awkward. Her taste in fiction was very niche as well, but that only made her a much more interesting teacher to deal with. Ms Alphys liked all of her students, and always voiced concern for Kris whenever they were showing signs of struggling. Even if she didn't always succeed in giving proper assistance, she always meant well.There was also Rudolph Holiday. Much like his daughter, he was incredibly nice and patient, and very jovial, despite his situation. The first time Kris had ever visited him in the hospital, Rudy was surprised, but welcoming. He seemed quite proud of him for having matured enough to become more sociable. His pride for Kris was almost visible, shining through his worn face....and of course, there was his family. Despite not being a monster like him, it was clear that they kept him close to their hearts, and Kris returned the favor. Toriel was as motherly and caring as ever, of course. Asgore, despite not living in the same house anymore, loved both of his children as much as he possibly could. As for Asriel, well... Kris missed him. A lot. Probably more than anyone else. The two were practically inseparable. It hurt a lot when Asriel had to move away. It was an extremely long, unbearable good-bye.Kris wondered if Asriel missed him as much as he did.Kris's eyes felt heavy as his brain kept trying to reason with itself, reassuring the human that he was not as hated as he felt he was. Just before Kris fell asleep, he thought he heard the sound of a metal door creaking open...Kris's eyes opened up as the sound of knocking was heard."Kriiiis! Time to get up! I do not want you to be late for school again," Toriel called out. The human checked the time, noticing that he had not overslept today. He still felt very groggy, and would've loved nothing more than to drift back off to sleep for another hour or so. Something kept him from doing so, though. Very slowly, Kris managed to lift himself off of the bed, adjusting so that he was now sitting up. After a quick glance over at the cage at the end of their bed, Kris reaffirmed that the soul had gotten out again. He clutched his palm to their chest, feeling for it's pulse.
Thump... thump... thump...
With a sigh, Kris let his hand hang limply to his side. It was too early to deal with it, now. Hopefully, he could ignore it for the day and continue about his boring routine. Like every day, Kris shuffled on his standard clothing before heading downstairs. Despite looking as cheerful as a serial killer, Toriel smiled brightly to Kris as he shambled to the table. "Good morning, Kris. I'm glad to see you up earlier today," She greeted, gently setting a plate of pancakes and sausage in front of him. The human merely nodded silently, helping himself to breakfast. "Did you sleep well last night?" She decided to ask.Kris answered by giving another nod, an answer which satisfied his adoptive mother quite nicely. She was used to Kris being nonverbal, so it never surprised her whenever he said nothing. She smiled sweetly to him as she ate her own food. "I'm glad to hear. Try not to dally too much, though, okay?" Another nod came from Kris as he hungrily ate. Toriel's cooking was always incredible.The ride to the school was very uninteresting, as it usually was. Kris stared out of the window at all the houses as they passed by. It was strange to think that just yesterday, he found themselves talking to everybody, which everyone found welcoming, if a little unusual. Kris wasn't sure if he liked being this social just yet, regardless of the unwelcome guest in his chest.Kris found it strange to walk onto school grounds when there were so many other students around, heading inside the school. One of the main reasons he preferred to sleep in was mostly due to the fact that he could avoid everyone by being late. However, since he had decided to arrive on time, it couldn't be avoided.Right as he unbuckled his seat belt, Toriel turned to him, a concerned look on her face. "...you know, Kris, if it embarrasses you, I don't have to walk with you to the school. I understand you are getting older and want to be more... independent I suppose," She started.The human looked up at her, shaking his head in response. In all honesty, he didn't really care what others thought. He was already a weirdo in everyoe's eyes, so why bother trying to change their view of them? Besides, holding his adoptive mom's hand made him feel... good. While not too keen on hugging, the small gesture of affection was actually greatly appreciated by the human.Toriel gave a small smile, nodding to him. "If you say so, my child." With that, she unbuckled and exited the car with him. Gently, she gripped his hand and slowly began to walk into the building. As expected, they gained quite a few stares from a few of the other students. They were all smart enough to know not to laugh a teacher, let alone her own child. Ms Toriel was very nice, but everyone knew to not do anything to make her angry.Regardless of how everyone must have felt about the sight, Kris held onto his mother's hand, walking alongside her into the building. Once inside, they would share a quick hug with each other before parting ways. As usual, no one seemed to really notice Kris's existence, which may have been for the better. Despite the fact that he obviously didn't care what others thought about him at this point, he still didn't want to waste energy about it, if confronted.Kris had been late so many times, he had almost forgotten what it was like to show up on time. As expected, Berdly and Noelle were already seated. The two were huddled around the latter's desk, looking over their already completed project. Temmie was also there, reading a graphic novel, a hard boiled egg resting on the corner of her desk. As Kris shambled his way to his desk, silently pondering on what to do his project with Susie about, the sound of a semi-surprised Berdly was made known."Kris? You're actually here on time?" He began with a genuine tone of disbelief. "Well, you know what they say about broken clocks," Berdly continued, his usual smarmy grin on his beak. "I'll be really impressed if you manage to get a passing grade on your project. If you turn it in on time, that is."His usual response was as it always had been: silently walking past, ignoring the smug bird. The only thing that would constitute any acknowledgment of the comment involved Kris rolling his red eyes, which were hidden by his long, unkempt hair.As he sat down in his desk (dead center, as always), Noelle spoke up, trying her best to defend him. "Hey, c'mon Berdly. I'm fairly certain that Kris hasn't finished it yet. Heck, I'm pretty sure we're the only ones who are! Ms Alphys did assign the project yesterday." The reindeer stated.At that point, Kris had already seated himself, pretending that he wasn't eavesdropping in on the conversation. Of course, whether they cared or not probably didn't matter, due to the fact that there were very few other students at the time being. A couple more seemed to be walking in, but that didn't stop the two smartest students in the class."Noelle," Berdly began in a condescending tone that everyone was overly familiar with, "He's paired up with Susie. I highly doubt that a couple of delinquents are going to come up with something within the deadline." Kris dug out his notebook and a pencil, twirling it idly to help occupy himself. Apparently, if you have the track record of being a mischievous prankster at a young age, it's held over you for the rest of your life. The next thing Berdly said is what finally made Kris freeze up a bit."... they might even skip classes and... 'hang out' in the supply closet again."Kris's hand froze, his body shaking some. Not out of anger, but out of embarrassment. Thinking about it now, they had been gone the whole day yesterday. Did everyone think that they had..?Noelle flushed almost as brightly as Kris did, almost sharing the same amount of embarrassment. "B-berdly! D-don't say stuff like that out loud!" She squeaked, trying to keep her voice to a semi-whisper. "Besides, they would've gotten... c-caught if they were doing... that..." The flustered deer continued, trying to avoid making the obvious too obvious. Kris seemed to notice a small amount of envy in her voice, which didn't go unnoticed by her nerdy friend."Are you sure you're not just jealous?""Ugh..!" She huffed, already turning her back to him and heading to her own desk. "You're impossible."Kris broke out of his shock of the earlier accusation in order to hide the tiniest little laugh. Berdly wasn't wrong, as it was pretty obvious to... well, everyone, that Noelle had a certain crush on a certain purple mean girl. Noelle's face was as red as a Christmas sweater, trying her best to hide her blushing face, having turned her head away from the others. Berdly just sat back in his seat, seemingly satisfied with riling up his friend.Kris began to wonder if explaining that he didn't do that with Susie would actually do him any good. Most of the other students probably wouldn't believe him, albeit in a sort of 'wink wink nudge nudge' type of way. He had a feeling that he should explain to Noelle first, although he figured that she would end up initiating the conversation anyways. The rest of the class had begun to file in, glancing curiously at the embarrassed reindeer (who was very intrigued with whatever was written in her notebook, at this point), as well as looking towards Kris before turning away at the last second.As usual, MK sat to Kris's right. He had no idea why they still felt a little bitter of his comments about Susie yesterday, but he did. She was not as bad as she makes herself out to be, and hopefully after traversing in the Dark World, she opened herself up a bit more. Even if she didn't, it was still no excuse for talking behind her back like that.Apparently, MK noticed that Kris had stiffened up a little, almost willingly trying to ignore him. With a guilty look on his face, he decided to try and apologize. Monster Kid liked Kris, and honestly didn't want to get on his bad side. With a bit of a humorless and guilty laugh, he tried to start up a conversation. "...y-yo, Kris..! Uh... sorry about all that junk I said yesterday. I, uh... didn't know you'd take it so hard," He began, kicking his feet idly. Kris had turned his attention to him, his face neutral as always. If his eyebrows were visible, one of them would be raised."I mean, I keep hearing talk about you two hanging out yesterday. Heh, guess I got the memo a bit late, huh..?" He continued, a small, yet innocent, smile on his face. From what Kris could tell, MK was more... naive than the others. While any of the other classmates could sense the double meaning, he took it in a literal sense. Despite looking guilty, and a bit nervous, he gave a small laugh. "Haha... I mean, yo, that's pretty cool! At least she's going easier on you." Kris couldn't help but feel himself lighten up a little. After all, he knew MK meant no harm by what he said. He, like everyone else, had no real idea what really went on. For the most part, he wanted it to stay that way. Who'd believe that the supply closet was actually a portal to a different world?It was easier for Kris to simply shrug and give a small thumbs up as a way of showing forgiveness. In almost an instant, MK lightened up even more, gratefully accepting Kris's message. "Cool! Thanks, man! Uh... good luck on your project," He finished, becoming a little bit awkward as he ran out of material to continue on. Not that Kris could blame him, of course. One of the easiest parts about not talking a lot is that people don't expect you to say much.At this point, just about everyone finished getting seated, preparing everything they would need for the class. Ms Alphys came in last, holding her own stack of books, as well as a small box of personal chalk. "Let's hope I don't lose these again..." She muttered to herself, turning to the class. "Uh... g-good morning everyone! How is everyone's projects, um... going?" She asked, already feeling somewhat nervous as she addressed her own class. After about 10 seconds of awkward silence, Alphys cleared her throat, trying to continue as if someone had answered. "Well, uh... let me just... take attendance real quick and we can... get started," She said, trailing off awkwardly.Because of the fact that Alphys already knew the entire class by memory, she made no movement for any sort of clipboard. Instead, she would scan over the class, her eyes falling to one empty desk, located right behind Kris. "W-well, as we can see, it looks like-" the teacher wouldn't be able to finish her initial thought, as the door to the classroom was opened suddenly, slamming against the wall. This made quite a few students jump, though Kris was quite relieved to see Susie standing at the doorway, holding an old, worn out backpack over her shoulder as she walked in, using her foot to slam the door behind her casually. While Ms Alphys stared with wide eyes as the last student moved to her desk. It was clear she wasn't in a hurry.She'd avoid people's gazes, much like Kris often would. However, when she passed by his desk, Susie turned her head to him and flashed a grin. "Sup," She'd greet simply. He responded with a small, yet genuine, smile, lifting up a hand with a small wave. Satisfied with that, she'd sit herself at her own desk, her own grin not fading away from her face.After a few seconds, Ms Alphys found her voice again. "... like everyone's here! G-great!" Her tone was that of relief, moving over to her blackboard and beginning to write on it with a fresh piece of chalk. From that moment on, everyone knew that the rest of the class period would not be interesting in the slightest. The only noises heard was Alphys talking and asking questions, along with the occasional answer from someone, as well as the shuffling of papers and pencils.Halfway into class, Susie gently jabbed a claw into Kris's left shoulder. Not enough to hurt, of course, but with enough force to get his attention quickly. Quickly turning his head to the dragon behind them, he waited to see what she had to say. He certainly had a hunch as to what it would be, though."After school?" She'd murmur simply. Kris gave a subtle nod to her, the two sharing a small smile between each other before returning to note taking. Well, for Susie, it was more along the lines of scribbling idly in her notebook. Their short conversation, if you could call it that, was subtle and quiet enough that they weren't caught.At least Kris had something to look forward to later. A visit to the Dark World to see Ralsei, Lancer, and everyone else would do them some good. They didn't know what was in store for them when they all returned, but that only made Kris more excited.If it weren't for the fact that plenty of students were leaving the school, there would have been a much bigger crowd around two certain schoolmates, who were trying to pull open the supply closet door, sometimes even banging on them. One was almost instantly recognizable, since she often liked to terrorize other students on her own free time. She, in particular, was banging and yelling the loudest.Susie slammed one more fist against the supply door, huffing out with a low growl. "Dammit! Did the janitor already lock it or something? The hell's going on?!" She yelled aloud, mostly to herself. Kris, who was standing right next to her, was still trying the handle of the door. No matter how hard he pushed or pulled, the door would not budge.Panic was starting to set in for the human. There had to be a way in. There must be. The thought of being away from a world where they had more friends was literally right behind this door. As Kris jiggled the handle, yanking with all of his might, his dreaded soul pulsed within them. He was determined to get this door open. He knew that if he tried hard enough, it would open. He would get to see everyone again. He could stay as long as they wanted, and go on adventures, and eat cake, and make jokes, and have fun. He could do this as many times as they want, so long as he get this angel-forsaken door open.Kris did not know how long the two of them were trying to get in, but at some point, he felt a firm palm place itself on their shoulder. "Kris," Susie's voice began. Her voice was low, although clearly saddened with this discovery. The human didn't hear her and kept desperately pulling. His mouth was contorted into a pained frown, their breathing picking up, almost hyperventilating. "Kris! Come on, man, we can't get in. Let go of the handle..!"At this point, Susie was trying to pull Kris off of the handle. His knuckles were chalk white, firmly gripping the handle as if letting go would kill him. The handle was digging into his hand so deeply, it threatened to draw blood. It wasn't until Susie placed her hand on his, letting out a sharp yell. "Kris, let go!" Her voice was not mean, rather stern, filled with immense worry.Kris held his breath for a bit as he heard Susie, and he suddenly, yet unwillingly, let go. If it wasn't for the fact that she was holding his hand, it would be shaking like a leaf in the wind. Under his bangs, his eyes were wide, tears already starting to form. His frown was even deeper, showing grim acceptance. He was unable to meet his friend's eyes as she lead him away. Susie gently let go of his hand, which fell limply to his side. Just looking at his saddened state made her own mood plummet even further. The two of them understood why the other was so downtrodden about this whole ordeal. Neither one of them had a friend before the two fell into the Dark World. An entire world that they could've visited and reunited with: gone.For the longest time, the two of them stood near the supply room doors, neither one of them even bothering to look in it's direction. Kris's breathing had steadied, although his depressing mood was palpable. Even though minutes passed, it would feel like hours before Susie finally spoke up once again, giving him a gentle push. She was trying her best to smile, although it looked quite forced. "Hey. Let's try again tomorrow. Maybe we'll just have to try earlier tomorrow. Whatcha say?" He looked up at her, trying to meet her eyes. It was difficult, since the two often kept their eyes covered by their hair, but somehow they made it work. Kris gave her a small nod.Now that he was friends with Susie, he couldn't help but feel much more at ease with her. While he wasn't comfortable doing so, he knew that if he needed to vent to her or talk to her about something, she'd most likely allow him. He knows that she's not a therapist, but he isn't either. He'd be willing to listen to her if she ever needed it. Kris knew that the two were still getting used to their friendship, so it would take some time for it to get to that point.Susie leaned against the wall, letting go of Kris's shoulder. With her disappointment, her thoughtful expression came across as more sullen than she probably meant it to be. She looked up at him once more. "So uh... how about we get this dumb project started?" Kris's eyebrow raised a little, somewhat confused. He knew for a fact that schoolwork was the last thing in the world that Susie would want to do. Before he could give an answer that wasn't a blank stare, she gave a small smile, turning away and slowly walking out of the building, her hands in her pockets. "I'll see ya in the library."Wordlessly, he watched his friend slowly walk out. Kris stood in place for awhile, mulling everything over for awhile. He decided to push the thought of why she'd offer to do homework to the side and thought about other things. Mainly, the supply room door. He felt scared. Not just because he may not be able to see his new friends again, but because of the desperation he felt towards it. Without looking anywhere else, Kris pulled his hand up to his chest, feeling for that familiar pulse.
Thump... thump... thump...
His fingers wrapped around his sweater gently, letting out a soft sigh through his nose. It was that familiar emotion of loneliness, one that he wanted to change. A desperate need for companionship in any form. He briefly considered immediately going after Susie, but something stopped him. Perhaps she needed her own alone time for a bit? Kris dug his phone out, looking at the illuminated screen for awhile. He knew he was going to meet up with her, but maybe he'd wait just a few more minutes. It was evident the two needed to sort some things out, mentally. Before Kris could call Toriel, however, another voice quickly caught his attention. "...Kris? Um... do you have a minute?"It was Noelle, standing just a few feet away. A small smile graced her face, but her face expressed obvious worry. Before he could ask how much of that scene she saw, she pretty much answered it for him with her next statement. "I uh... saw you and Susie trying to get in." Her statements were quiet, and she had noticeable trouble trying to keep any sort of eye contact.Kris looked down, almost ashamed of himself for displaying such behavior in front of others. He gave a single nod, the side of his mouth lifting up into a humorless grimace. Upon looking back up, he noticed her own smile had faded away, although she was still looking off to the side. For awhile, she said nothing. Noelle was smart, though, and seeing how they were acting upon seeing the doors shut told a different story than what the rumors had told. Susie and Kris's actions were not in mild disappointment, were not playful, or humorous. Just seeing the two of them so downtrodden made her own heart hurt.After spending some time trying to find the right words to start with, Noelle finally looked up at him. "... are you two okay?" She asked simply, not being able to start with something less blunt. Kris gave a mere shrug, unsure of how to answer her question."Well... whatever is going on with you two and... the supply closet?" She continued, glancing towards the doors for a second before turning back to him. "I'd very much like to help. I mean, you don't have to tell me right now, if you're not up for it!" She rushed, not wanting to pressure her friend in any manner. "It's just... I've seen that expression before, Kris," Noelle sighed. Kris understood what she was referring to. She thankfully didn't elaborate, correctly assuming that he would immediately understand.He felt the same way when Asriel moved off to college.The next few days after he moved, Kris had began to isolate himself from others, somewhat. At school, they participated even less than before. If Kris was quiet before, he never even uttered a sound. Barely acknowledged anybody. His grades began to slip, as well. To put it bluntly, Kris was an emotional disaster. Rather than let it all out, he had let it bottle up, not wanting to make a scene or bother anyone.Despite how stupid he felt just standing there, staring at the floor, limp as a doll yet stiff as a statue, he couldn't help it. He felt drained. Empty. He failed to realize that Noelle had stepped a bit closer, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. This caused his head to lift up slowly, greeting her. She still looked very concerned, but was smiling gently to him once more."Please don't let whatever's happening get you down. I might not understand what's going on, but I can tell that... you and Susie are really close," She began, flushing some. "D-don't worry, I don't mean it that way. At least, I don't think...?" She trailed off, unsure about her own theory. She tilted her head to Kris, raising an eyebrow quizzically. Kris responded by shaking his head quite vigorously.With a small, somewhat relieved sigh, she smiled a tad brighter. "Great..! I mean, I thought so. After all, those were just rumors," Noelle went on. "But anyways, that's not the point. I don't know why, but yesterday, you were more... talkative. Not just with the rest of the class, but around town, as well! Even my dad said... you came to visit," She said, trailing off as a somewhat somber look flashed across her face. She shook herself out of her minor daze and kept on. "A-and that's good, honestly!"Kris knew the reason why he was so talkative, and it was because of that overactive soul of his. That wasn't him, was it? All he's ever known was the fact that everyone thought he was weird and creepy. Did... him being that sociable really mean that much..?"Kris, please don't let whatever's been going on hurt you too much," Noelle said, her genuine smile growing, radiating warmth. "Even if you don't know it, you mean a lot to a lot of people. It... it'd be nice to see you be happy again." She concluded, sighing gently.He felt... touched, to say the least. His body and soul felt warm. He had no idea why, but... it felt nice. Kris felt... validated. To hear from one of his oldest friends that he meant a lot struck a chord with him. Slowly, yet surely, he gently patted at her hand in a gentle manner. The corners of his mouth slowly turned upwards, gracing a tiny, yet genuine, smile of his own. He was thankful that no one was able to see his eyes, as they were tearing up.Noelle beamed to him, giving a nod. "Please take care of yourself, Kris." She finally removed her hand, Kris doing the same and letting it fall to his side. In an instant, Noelle's eyes lit up, letting out a small 'oh!'. She began to scramble her hands in her bag, as if remembering something."Before I forget, uh... I know that you and Susie were gone all day yesterday and didn't get the uh... project info. So..!" She outstretched a had, holding a small stack of papers, stapled at the corner. "Here you go!" Kris gently took the papers, giving a small nod before putting them into his own bag. At this point, she pulled her own bag up over her shoulder, unsure of what else to add."Uhh... well... talk to you later..!" The reindeer concluded, turning and walking out of the building, waving him off. "...tellSusieIsaidhi," She muttered as she left, feeling her face flush some. Kris scratched his head a bit as he pulled his own bag up. He let out a sigh, feeling his smile unable to fade away from his face. His soul kept pulsing within him. He had no idea why, but... he welcomed it. It felt nice, now. He was filled with a new found determination to do better.The first thing he would do is pull his phone out, dialing up Toriel. He had a project with Susie to work on.Susie couldn't help but stay extra quiet as she walked down the sidewalk. Despite the voice in her head that was begging her to go home and collapse on her bed, her feet trudged on, subconsciously moving her towards the library (infamously known as the "Librarby"). She hid her outward expression as well as she always had, though her brain worked overtime.Not only was she confused as to why the two of them were unable to get through, but she was very confused about Kris's reaction. Confused and concerned. Was Susie sad that they would have to wait another day? Was she scared that they might never even see the Dark World again? Of course she was. However, there was something terrifying and incredibly dismal about the way Kris reacted. Fear, desperation, loneliness. These were but a few of the most distinct of emotions she could read. It was a stark contrast to how Kris acted previously. Neutral and cold, before shaping up to become a leader, and a great one at that. His ability to give orders was quite amazing to behold (even if she didn't give him the satisfaction of following them, sometimes).Susie knew what it was like to be like that, too. She was never popular, and had trouble making friends too. She could certainly remember a deep feeling of remorse, wondering if she'd die alone and friendless. For the first time in a long time, her slow shuffle came to a halt, one certain memory flashing before her mind.Yesterday morning. The image of her pinning Kris to the lockers with one hand, openly threatening him. It almost caught her off guard that he barely seemed to react. Almost... welcomed it. She didn't go through with it, naturally, and it was slowly revealed to Kris that she had little to no capacity to actually kill anyone. Harm them? Definitely. Kill them? Never.The dragon girl stared at her feet in regret. The two of them were more alike than she thought. Neither one of them had put in any effort to really try and make friends. With one day stuck together, they quickly grew close to each other. Susie realized that he needed her as much as she needed him. Even when she and Lancer gave Kris and Ralsei a hard time, neither one gave up. For the first time, Susie felt as though she could trust someone."...he deserves the same," Susie said to herself, aloud, if quietly. She continued her way to the library, a smile slowly forming. "I don't know if we'll see the others again. But until then, I know Kris needs someone he can count on. Even if it's... me," She concluded putting herself down somewhat. This didn't stop her from smiling to herself, feeling a bit determined. "Y'know what? I'm gonna be there for him. He was for me. It's only right."Susie stared up the library for a bit, giving out a small exhale, stepping forward. "...but man, this project is gonna suck." To help sell that point home, a few seconds after stepping into the library, she was met with an overly annoying voice."You're here? In a building with books?! Wow, first Kris shows up on time, now this! I have to be dreaming."Susie turned a glaring gaze to Berdly. He was sitting behind the counter, an open book laying in front of him. He had an eyebrow raised, as well as that dumb smug grin. Susie's fists tingled a little bit."Oh wow, Nerdly works at the library. Shocker," Susie replied, deciding to walk ahead towards the shelves.Berdly rolled his eyes, returning to his book. "At least it's more useful than... whatever it is you do after school," He snarked. Susie grumbled a bit, her eyes scanning blankly among the book spines. "Do you even know what you're looking for?"Susie froze, blinking a little bit as she stared ahead. After a minute passed by, Susie's smile grew, showing off her sharp teeth, her eyes widening."...shit."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Everyone Has Problems
Chapter 2: Encouragement
Thankfully for Susie, she wouldn't have to wait too long before she figured out what the project was even supposed to be about. Due to the school being close by, Kris would only take about five or ten minutes by foot. He was very fortunate that his mother had allowed him free time, as long as he kept her updated on what was happening. She was always looking out for his safety, after all. Even if he was just doing his project with Susie.Kris noticed that Toriel seemed especially excited when he brought up the fact that he may hang out with her for a little afterwards. He was expecting her to be a bit cautious, maybe even saying no. However, it definitely surprised the human when she brightly responded into the phone, "Of course, my child! Just please be sure you are home by 6:30, okay? I do not want you to miss dinner." Thinking about it now, she was probably just as enthusiastic as he was that he finally found someone who was actually willing to share his company.In almost no time, the library doors were before him. Even though he never saw himself as an especially intelligent individual, Kris always enjoyed the library. It was quiet, somewhat cozy, and had that certain smell to it that only libraries had. Of course, like every good thing, there had to be a few negatives thrown in for good measure. For one thing, it always bothered the human about that horrendous misspelling. Whether or not anyone else knew about was beyond him. Maybe it costed too much to fix? He didn't know. The second negative would make itself aware the moment Kris stepped through the door."Hey, Kris. 'How To Draw Dragons' is still overdue. The total's $64.43 now," Came the bored voice of Berdly. The human had glanced over towards the front desk, noticing that Berdly was more focused on The History of The Science Of Mathematics. Kris couldn't help but think about how big of a nerd this guy was."Oh, by the way, if you're looking for your partner, she went that way," He droned on, not even looking up as he pointed a feathered finger straight across. "I do believe she's trying to look like she's doing something productive." Kris looked where Berdly pointed, and sure enough, there she was.Susie was standing before the shelves, a finger idly scanning each spine. She wouldn't pull any of them out, but every now and then, she'd nod her head before moving onto the next one. If she was trying to act like she was looking for a specific book, she was doing so very badly. Neither the bird nor the human waited for either one to continue the conversation, so Kris walked to stand right beside her. She was so invested in her "research" that she didn't even hear him sneak up. Didn't help that he was known for being very quiet in the first place, even when he moved.It wasn't until Kris cleared his throat, making sure to do it loud enough so that Susie could hear him. Because he wasn't so used to using his voice to get anyone's attention, it still sounded very restrained. Thankfully for the somewhat awkward human, it was enough to grab her attention, making her flinch just a tad. She glanced downwards at the him as he peered up to her. "Oh, Kris! There ya are. Thought I was gonna do this project all by myself, heh..." She chuckled, rubbing her arm a little.Kris tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow to her. Despite half of his face being hidden, she still seemed to be able to read what he was conveying. "Well, uh..." She began awkwardly, feeling herself sweat a bit as she glanced back to the shelf of books she had been scanning. "Just doing some... research. Haven't found anything really useful yet, though," Susie explained, blowing a bit of hair out of her face in a small huff. "Probably doesn't have what we're lookin' for..."Kris grinned a tiny bit, shaking his head as he pulled off his backpack. Susie peeked back down, raising an eyebrow of her own. "Whatcha got there?" She asked as he began to rummage around his bag. Kris soon pulled up a small stack of papers, holding it out towards her. Susie blinked a couple of times before quickly snatching it out of his hand, grinning widely. "Nice. Now we can actually get started."The two of them would share a nearby table to look through the pages. For the next few minutes, the two of them would sit in silence, looking over the papers a few times as they thought. Truthfully, neither one of them really knew how to start their project, let alone where they should be looking. Kris was re-reading the topic for probably the fifth time today.
Topic: Research ways on how relations between humans and monsters have grown stronger, and how it can continue to prosper. Be sure to properly cite all sources!
The human looked up to his partner, who had her pencil in her mouth, moving it side to side with her tongue in a bored fashion. Kris set the papers down and leaned back, shifting his sight towards the shelves of books. This caught the gaze of Susie, who removed the pencil from her mouth and looked towards him. "...so uh, guess we gotta start looking through books, huh?" She leaned back in her chair, grinning at him. "Since you seem to have some sort of idea on what to do, why not find us somethin' to read? I assume that's where we start, right?" With a small shrug and a nod, Kris got out of his seat and walked towards the shelves he had been eyeing earlier.With him being distracted for awhile, Susie's grin slowly faded as she thought a bit more to herself. Normally, Hell would have to freeze over first before the dragon would get started on any sort of homework, especially if it was in a timely manner. Even though she has someone she could consider a friend at this point, working on school work was far from being number one on her list of stuff to do. Lazing around, throwing rocks at buildings, kicking over garbage cans, and seeing how many french fries she could fit into her mouth were a far better way to pass the time, in her own personal opinion.If that was the case, why was she sitting around in the library like a nerd? Her first thought immediately went over to Kris. It was very obvious at this point that the two were close, and that Kris was willing to put any differences between the two behind him, and move onto making their friendship stronger. As the aforementioned human began to gather up a few books into his arms, she shook her head again. 'Even though we're friends, doesn't mean we gotta be a couple of Berdlies. Hell, I'm sure he'd like to do something else as much as I do!' Susie thought, snorting a tiny bit to herself. By this point, Kris had returned, gently dropping off a small pile of various history books in the center of their work space. It didn't encourage either of them that they were all rather old and musty looking, so the risk of outdated information was very feasible. Still, research was research. Maybe the books were a lot more informative than they looked?Kris had sat himself down, removing a book from the pile and offering it to his new found friend. Susie blinked out of her daze for a second before retrieving it, giving a small, somewhat forced, smile. "Er... thanks," She replied simply, flipping open the book and scanning through the pages. Kris gave a small nod as he reached for a book for himself. Soon, he was silently looking through the book for any information that would be helpful to the project.Susie, on the other hand, was still distracted by her own thoughts. Despite letting her eyes move from word to word, she didn't actually retain anything. Rather, her brain came to a sort of conclusion as to why she was even looking at a history book in the first place. Memories of their adventure in the Dark World soon arose. Not only was Kris willing to be patient and team up with her, but he proved himself to be a great leader, even going as far as to protect her. At this point, she had finally managed to put her finger on what had made her so avid to actually put in an effort.She realized that she felt as if she owed him. While she would've loved to just pile the work on someone else, she didn't have the heart to do it this time. Not to Kris. Susie sighed through her nose a little bit as she slowly refocused her attention back to the open book before her. On the bright side, maybe two people working on the project would take less time than one."Eugh, this sucks, man..." The dragon girl muttered. Susie was leaning forward, resting her cheek against her hand with a look of boredom quite evident on her face. At this point in their research, about a half hour had passed them by. A sheet of paper laid dormant in the middle, next to a closed text book. About half of the paper was filled in with bullet points of notes about what they had just looked up. The handwriting was small and tidy, fitting the human's script. Not to say that Susie hadn't been helping with what he should write, but her handwriting was not as neat as her friend's.At the moment, however, the two of them were already quite burnt out on looking through the same books, reading about the same general information. Even Kris was looking a bit worn down, drooping forwards a little. Susie noticed that he was nodding off a couple of times, barely able to keep himself from an impromptu cat nap.Kris lifted his head up slightly, giving a small nod to Susie's comment. At this, she leaned back in her chair, letting out a loud mix of a sigh and a yawn. "C'mon, we've been at this for awhile now. How about we continue tomorrow?" The human nodded, setting down the pencil in his hand before straightening his back, stretching a little. A few small groans came from him, his bones popping a bit. The noise of him cracking his bones freaked Susie out a little, though mostly because she was unfamiliar with human anatomy. Hopefully, this was normal.Before either one of them could continue their current conversation, Kris heard something that piqued his interest somewhat. His gaze turned to the right a little, peering over to the table behind Susie. The only occupant at the table was Temmie (well, two if you counted her egg), and she was concentrating very hard on something."Mmmrrrrf... NO! Drawring... not good enough!" The small monster exclaimed in a loud huff, quickly crumbling up a sheet of paper and throwing it as hard as she could. The paper landed about a foot away from her, landing near a pile of similarly discarded papers. In an instant, Temmie was scribbling something new on a fresh sheet of paper, her tongue sticking upwards as she concentrated on it, sweating profusely as if she were defusing a bomb. At this point, Susie had turned her attention to the strange girl, raising an eyebrow."What's she causin' a ruckus about?" She would wonder aloud, her eyes moving to the stack of paper balls. Kris replied with a small shrug, leaning forward a little more. For the first time in awhile, he'd actually open his mouth to speak."Sounds as if she's frustrated about her art," The human whispered, his voice not carrying much volume or power. It was almost as if he was trying to get the hang of speaking once again (which wasn't too abnormal, since he was a bit of a mute most of the time). Due to him suddenly speaking, it surprised the dragon a little, quickly turning her head towards him.Instead of saying something about his sudden voice and making him uncomfortable, Susie merely cleared her throat and nodded. "Y-yeah, looks like it. Never really took her as an artist," She continued on, her gaze turning back to the vibrating monster, who was tossing another ball into the pile before her.Watching Temmie toss away her drawings like trash was a sight that Kris was all too familiar with. After all, he had dabbled in art when he was younger. Or at least, he tried to. In all honesty, Kris wasn't very good at drawing. At first, the human had found it fun to draw along with Asriel, enjoying each others' company and showing off their finished product. Like all things, his brother improved with each session, his art becoming impressive to look at. As for Kris, he felt as if his style had stagnated, and showed no signs of improvement no matter how hard he tried. This discouraged him heavily, and it got to the point where Kris was unhappy with anything he put on paper. He too remembers throwing away crumples of rejected drawings, even ripping some apart into tiny little shreds.He also remembered the crestfallen look on his brother's face when he saw Kris do this. Due to his frustration, the human didn't notice or even care, angry at himself, at his artwork, and at his inability to do anything correctly. Before Asriel could even say anything, Kris slammed the pencil down on the table and stormed out, feeling to angry and ashamed at himself to even look him in the eye. Since then, he hasn't even considered even opening his sketchbook.His tantrum still ate away at his mind somewhat, his guilt festering in the back of his mind. He knew that what he did was over dramatic and was no reason for him to give up on a hobby that he somewhat enjoyed, for the most part. Even if he couldn't keep up with his brother, he knew how much fun they'd have drawing and talking with each other. Seeing Temmie get frustrated at her own art made him feel, for lack of a better term, bad.In a sudden action that surprised him and Susie, he got and began to make his way over to the other table. "Hey, where are ya goin?" She asked, her eyes wide with intrigue."Gonna see if I can help," Kris answered simply, slowly shuffling towards her table. His soul was thumping a little harder in his chest. While it wasn't an unusual action for him to meet with people first, he still felt a little overwhelmed. Sure, it was just Temmie, but what if she didn't want him around? What if she didn't take his advice? What if he made things worse? These, plus plenty more thoughts buzzed around his skull, which seemed to grow in volume as he finally reached the table, close to the drawing Temmie.Thankfully for the socially awkward human, she seemed much too preoccupied to really notice him standing there, which gave Kris enough time to get a quick peek at what she was drawing. He was quite surprised to see very professional work being sketched and drawn out. It wasn't until he was practically peering over her shoulder did he realize just how fast she was actually using her pencil. In quick, vibrating movements, she'd have multiple lines drawn, erased, and redrawn. As for the actual art itself, the human was very amazed that Temmie was able to draw things in an extremely realistic, professional manner. It was almost... off-putting just how much detail she could put into her work.Before the frustrated girl could crumble this one up, though, Kris cleared his throat quietly. "Um... hey, Temmie," He greeted shyly. At this, Temmie's mood seemed to nearly jump to the ceiling in surprise, since she was unaware anyone was even looking at her. Once she finally landed in her chair, she turned towards Kris, almost immediately lightening up."KRISP! Awawa... don't scare Tem like dat!" She exclaimed to the human.He gave a small, sheepish grin, rubbing his left arm with his right. "S-sorry about that. I just wanted to say that... well, I think you're art is really good..!" He explained to her.Temmie smiled brightly up at him, laughing some. "Thank! Tem wishes she was better, tho..." She lamented, her gaze looking a little disappointed.The human took this as incentive to sit in the seat next to her, Susie watching from her own table curiously. She would merely observe silently, intrigued by Kris's sudden attitude to want to help this girl. In her own opinion, Temmie was strange. Very strange. For the most part, though, no one really knew a whole lot about her. Was this why Kris was talking with her all of a sudden?"I think it's great as it is," Kris replied to her, unfolding a crumbled piece of paper from the large pile before them. Just like the one he saw before, it seemed very professionally done, with a lot more skill than Temmie looked like she possessed. "Must've taken you a long time to get this good.""Ya ya, Tem been drawing since Tem was lil!" She replied, nodding eagerly to him. After that, though, she looked down, looking guilty. "Parents tell Tem... 'NO art! must focus... to go to colleg! work hardest on academinetics!'" Temmie sighed, drooping forward a little. "Tem... don't like study. Tem parents don't like when Tem do art, and Tem no wanna disappoint..."The human thought about this for a little. Apparently, there was more to her than meets the eye. After a few seconds, he decided to try and give her a little encouragement. "...but what do you want to do?" He began simply.The monster girl tilted her head, a confused look on her face. "Awawa... well, Tem wanna do art! Want... to be better! But... Tem also wanna be successful!""With art like this, I'd say you could be!" Kris replied, holding up on of the drawings to her. "In the end, it's up to you what you want to do. No matter what anyone says, you have the final say in it. If your parents don't approve... well, it's a shame they don't realize your vast talent for what it's worth." The human continued on, his smile, while small, showing genuine appreciation for the girl's work.When he noticed Temmie was looking a little apprehensive about the whole thing, his mind went back to the day he gave on drawing himself. He continued on, saying "As for improvement, I think you're a great artist already. You'll definitely get even better if you keep going, so please don't give up."After a bit of thinking, Temmie beamed up at the human, nodding. "Okies! Tem go to cool leg... ART coolege!" She decided loudly. "Tem like art, so Tem DO arts!""Glad to hear!" Kris laughed gently, slowly getting up from his seat. "I hope to see more from you. That is, if you don't mind sharing it."Temmie nodded at him, smiling widely with her tail wagging behind her fervently. "Ya ya! Thank you, Krisp!" With that, Temmie got out a fresh sheet of paper and began drawing. While she was vibrating just as intensely as she usually would, her concentrated look showed a more content look for her work. Kris nodded and slowly made his way back to his own table. Each time he felt his soul pulse, it felt slightly warmer. Not uncomfortably so, but it was definitely noticeable.As he sat down, Susie's attention turned back to Kris, her face still showing intrigue and slight confusion. It took her awhile before she could find her voice. "Uh... well, she seems happy, doesn't she?" She asked, grinning awkwardly. The human responded with a simple nod, his smile still evident on his face. "Guess your way with words is still as strong as it was in the Dark World, huh?" She said with a slight chuckle, leaning against her chair some more.At this, Kris gave a small shrug. "I suppose. I just told her what I would've wanted to hear in her situation," He replied."Similar to the advice Ralsei gave to me, right?" She continued, grinning a toothy smile.With a small laugh, the human nodded. "Yeah, guess so." After a few seconds of silence, Kris spoke up once more. "Still, it felt kind of... wrong to see her want to give up. With how much she has going for her, it'd be unfair if she threw it all away."Susie listened to him, nodding her head a bit. In her head, she felt that Kris was in the same situation. He has so much potential for many things, even if she doesn't know what they all are at the moment. It wasn't the case with her, where everyone expected her to fail. Being a bully for most of her life, a lot of people tended to look down on her, seeing her as nothing but a future delinquent. For Kris? It just seemed like... no one really cared. He could graffiti a wall, get straight A's, win an award, or get caught stealing something, and most monsters wouldn't really notice either way. There was a lack of guidance for him, even if it wasn't on purpose.Rather than vent all this to her friend, though, Susie merely mumbled out, "Yeah." Without sharing much else between each other, the two silently agreed to keep working on their project for the rest of the time they had. Susie hoped that she would gain the nerve to act more like a proper friend to Kris. She wasn't as good at speaking as he was, ironically, so she knew it would take some time. She just hoped she wouldn't keep him waiting too long.The next morning, Kris found himself waking up early once again. Despite being groggy and wanting to go back to sleep, he slowly fumbled his way out of bed and got dressed. With his hand against his chest, he reaffirmed that the soul was still inside of him. For whatever reason, he felt as though the soul... helped him, in a sense. He had enough confidence to show empathy and be helpful to a classmate. It felt good. He took great care to make sure that it stayed inside of him. The soul wouldn't be leaving his body anytime soon, he felt.Just like any other day, he was driven to school by Toriel, walking in while holding her hand. Just like before, he didn't mind the action. He even welcomed the small hug that they often shared before parting ways. With a little bit more energy, he walked into his class room. Just like before, Noelle, Berdly, and Temmie were some of the only students hanging around. Kris noticed that Temmie was drawing excitedly inside of a sketchbook. One thing Kris did not expect, however, was Susie, leaning back in her seat, feet up on her desk. From the looks of it, she wasn't a morning person either, and was planning on catching a quick nap before class (even though she probably would've fallen asleep during class anyways).When Kris took his seat, the small scraping noise the chair made woke Susie up, who elicited a snort. "Guh..? Oh, sup Kris?" She asked tiredly, letting out a big yawn. He grinned towards her and gave a thumbs up. "Nice... thought I'd see if coming to school early would be good for me," She continued, letting out another yawn. "And I've concluded that no, it's not." At this, Kris gave a small laugh, nodding."Yeah, not a fan myself. At least we got some time to kill," He replied. Soon, the sound of paper shuffling was heard, a pencil clattering against the top of a desk. They wouldn't have long to guess who made the noise before the answer was given."Krisp! Hoi!" Came the excitable voice of Temmie, turning her body towards the two. "Tem... made art!" She exclaimed, holding up her sketchbook towards the other two. The human gently retrieved it from her grasp, looking at the page. Susie curiously leaned over his shoulder to take a glance at it as well. The drawing was a sketch of the two of them, posing in what could only be described as the "radical-90's-backs-up-against-each-others" pose. They even had the sunglasses and everything. While a little goofy to think about, the drawing itself was very well done, as Kris expected. He gave his response with a thumbs up and a nod, smiling wide.Susie couldn't help but keep staring at the picture. He didn't really know what she was thinking until she gave a loud laugh. "Oh man, this kicks ASS!" She looked up from the sketchbook, showing her sharp teeth in a wide smile of her own. "Temmie, you're awesome at this." As Kris gave her back the notebook, the vibrating girl in question beamed with pride, looking even more enthusiastic."Ya ya! Tem think.. you two are... COOL!" She replied, starting to sweat a little. "Tem used to be frighten of Suse... BUT! No more! Right?" She asked, lifting an eyebrow and tilting her head."Yeah, you got nothin' to worry about. Not worth my time to act like that anymore," Susie replied, leaning back in her chair with a shrug."Tem feels glads! Suse and Krisp frens... now TEMMIE! Is frens too!" She exclaimed. Susie blinked at her statement, but Kris nodded at her."We don't mind..! You're really cool, Tem," Kris responded."R-right!" Susie said suddenly, finding her voice. "Uh... hope we can get to know each other better.""Ya ya, same!"From his own desk, Berdly peered up from his notebook. While he was studying recent notes in case of a pop quiz, he couldn't help but overhear the three talking to each other. Even as the halls filled with the voices of other students, his mind began to go into overdrive. Why were these three getting along? He knew he heard Kris talking to Temmie in the library the other day, and it only puzzled him even more. Now Susie was joining in their conversation? The metaphorical light bulb lit up above his head as he reached a theory.They were stringing her along for something.That had to be it. Why else would the silent weirdo try to get friendly with the innocent (if incredibly energetic) girl? These two were up to something. His eyes narrowed as his eyes went back to his notebook. He'd have to keep a close eye on Kris and Susie so that others wouldn't fall for whatever trap they were setting up.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Everyone Has Problems
Chapter 3: Adversity
It was a rare occurrence in and of itself to catch Susie in the library, let alone see her go in there at least five times a week. Even stranger was the fact that she was doing it with the least talkative member of Ms Alphys's classroom, Kris. Regardless of their reputation, the two of them still managed to find time to do research and actually write some information down that would help with their school project.Of course, during their second visit to the library, the two would come to the realization that they didn't have to spend all of their free time at the library. After all, they felt as if they were making enough progress that they started to end their sessions a little earlier. Homework was never fun, and no one could really hold loud or fun conversations with each other without being shushed incessantly by the librarian. In many cases, Berdly. Without wanting to be in the same company as the annoying geek, Susie and Kris would only spend about an hour and a half inside of the library before wrapping up their work for the day and leaving, heading to whatever hang out spot they decided for the day.More often than not, the two found themselves inside of QC's Diner, where Susie often ordered herself a snack and Kris got himself a hot cocoa. The two shared stories with each other, laughing very loudly at jokes and enjoying each other's company. Quite often, a waitress came by to remind the two to keep their noise level to a minimum, though the two friends heeded this warning for only a few minutes before going back to their boisterous laughter. Patrons and staff alike would look over at the pair, with a curious glance or a perturbed glare.Catti, despite her neutral and stoic demeanor, had raised her eyebrows as she saw the two hanging out. Much like the rest of their classmates, she was still getting used to the fact that Kris and Susie were actually friends. There was really no other way of putting this kind of behavior. What other kind of person would cheer on another one as they tried to shove in as many fries as possible into their mouth?While slightly less unusual, everyone else in Alphys's classroom noticed that Temmie was being a lot more talkative to Kris and Susie. Ever since the day in the library where Kris encouraged Temmie on her artistic abilities, she's been a lot more receptive to the two of them. Susie didn't have any qualms about this, even if she could be seen as a bit... hyperactive at times. Regardless, the small, vibrating monster girl greeted Kris and Susie with her usual vigor each time she saw them, and even engaged in small talk with them. While the topics were extremely varied and a little out of the ordinary, it was still welcomed by all three of them.Of course, it wasn't just Kris, Susie, and Temmie who seemed to enjoy this newfound camaraderie. Noelle was quite pleased to see Kris open up a little bit more to be sociable. Despite the fact that she had trouble finding the courage within herself to go and introduce herself to Susie, the doe was still glad to know she was starting to get along with other people, in a sense. The dragon girl seemed to be the most comfortable around Kris, as it was no secret to anyone anymore that the two were close friends. In the middle of one class period, Noelle found herself fiddling with her pencil absentmindedly, her eyes drifting over to the two classmates. Kris was either focused intently on the lesson Ms Alphys was teaching, or not focused at all and just really good at faking it. Not that she could fully blame him, as this was probably the fifth lesson their teacher had given that was based on a human and monster war, featuring giant battle mechs and wand wielding girls.Susie was a lot less subtle, as she was slumped over the back of her chair, fast asleep. She snored quite obviously, but no one seemed to pay this any mind. It was quite normal for the dragon, after all. Noelle found herself gazing at her for a little too long, thankfully catching herself before returning her eyes to the front. It was also not a secret that the doe had feelings for Susie. In fact, the only one that seemingly wasn't aware of this fact was the dragon girl herself. While Noelle idly scribbled something in her notebook, making herself look occupied, she began to formulate a small plan."I don't think it would be a bad idea to try and ask eventually..." Noelle thought, eyes starting to glaze over as she got lost in her own imagination. "Maybe I could ask Kris for help? I'm pretty sure he'd introduce me if I asked," She continued, starting to feel unsure of herself. "I don't wanna seem desperate. I'd literally die if I had to ask Susie myself, though."With a small nod to herself, she straightened up in her seat, coming to her own conclusion. "When I feel like I'm ready, I'll ask Kris. I just hope he doesn't seem wierded out by it..." She thought, looking towards him once more. Noelle wasn't exactly sure how Kris felt about her. Despite seeming slightly more happy, Kris hadn't taken a lot of time out of his schedule to speak to her. It was understandable, since he had a project to worry about with Susie, but the doe couldn't help but feel as if they weren't as close as they had been when they were younger. Noelle came to another conclusion, one she felt was slightly more important than trying to be requited with her crush. "...but first, I need to talk to Kris more. We'd both appreciate it."There was one student who was visibly unsure and almost disgusted of the sudden friendships that Kris seemed to be partaking in. Anytime Berdly saw Kris and Susie talking or hanging out with each other, he couldn't keep himself from sneering. Even when Asriel was still around and Kris was at his most 'active', to put it, he had never really put effort into making a good name of himself. The human was hanging out with another student who was not known for being friendly. What's more is that the only other student who he would even consider his intellectual equal, Noelle, did not seem to have a problem with this. This only confused and concerned him more, fueling his theory that the two were up to something. Gaining everyone's trust for something huge, and he had no idea what that thing could even be.Well, he certainly wasn't going to let them get the drop on him! He was far too smart to fall for whatever shenanigans they would try to do. Even if they weren't up to anything, it would take a lot more than a couple of small, friendly gestures to have him forget the number of spitballs spat at him by a bored purple dragon girl.Monster Kid was on his way to class, which was not unusual. After all, he was just another teenager in Hometown, and it was just another common occurrence to him. His orange poncho fluttered gently as his legs carried him as quickly as they could. Around his neck was the thick, yet shortened, strap of a rather heavy looking back. MK showed no signs of weariness from having to carry this large, somewhat cumbersome bag, however, since he was quite used to it at this point. He made sure to keep the strap shortened up enough so that he may open it easier. After all, with no arms, how else was he supposed to?For anyone else, this would've brought a bit of difficulty to their center of balance, since they would have no arms to help balance themselves out. However, MK is practically a master of his core, able to stay on his two feet despite the heavy bag around his neck. It definitely took some getting used to, however, as MK wasn't always so deft with his body.The hardest part about this, though, was the fact that he often dealt with a few older students who often looked to him as a joke. A monster with no arms? Easy target. Many times, he's had to play 'keep away' with his books, which almost always ended with him on the ground, buried underneath a pile of books that his bullies 'accidentally' dropped on him. Sometimes, Noelle or Kris would help him through it, but quite often, he'd have to use his mouth to repack his bag and hurry onto his next class. Of course, he'd end up being late, but at the very least, he was never chewed out about it. MK kept rolling with the punches, though. He wanted to do everything he could to keep going, and by the Angel, he was going to do it!One day, after school, the armless monster followed two of his fellow classmates: Susie and Kris. Despite the fact that Susie used to be one of the bullies who would make fun of his impaired motor abilities, he still decided to try and see if he could get to know her better. After all, if Kris could somehow get close with his former tormentor, then maybe he could as well? Admittedly, he was a little nervous, due to the fact that it was still Susie, and despite being more friendly around Kris, she wasn't really putting in effort to come across as a more sociable monster.With these thoughts still wriggling around in his brain, the yellow and orange monster called out, "Yo guys, wait up one sec!"The pair turned around towards MK, both of them sharing a somewhat confused look. Kris politely lifted a hand and gave a wave to him while Susie merely raised an eyebrow, her face remaining somewhat stoic as MK got closer. In her mind, she was just wondering what he needed with them. She found herself somewhat annoyed around him most of the time, due to his very casual, happy-go-lucky attitude. She had no idea what he wanted from them, but she had no idea if she could really deal with him."Whatcha want?" Susie asked bluntly. "Don't you have a partner to do a project with?" She clearly didn't want to be bothered, but Kris didn't seem to mind one way or the other."Well, uh, Snowdrake said he had business to deal with, heh... to be honest, he's been dealing with business every other day. Dunno why, he's been really secretive about it," MK rambled a bit, feeling a little awkward with his introduction. Very quickly, before Susie could scoff at him, he continued on, his enthusiasm returning to his voice. "Yo, but, that's fine! I was just wondering if it'd be okay to hang with you guys for a bit! I mean, I'm not doing anything, and you guys seem pretty cool! So uh... wh-what do you think?"If it was just Susie by herself, she would've given a flat 'no' to him and continued on her way. Heck, if this were a few weeks ago before she and Kris got close together, she'd toss his bag atop the lockers and leave him to struggle. If he was dumb enough to get close enough to her, at least. However, Kris didn't seem to mind the extra company, as he gave a small shrug with a little smile, waving his hand towards the group, offering him to follow along with them.Quickly catching up to the two, MK smiled brightly to the two. "Awesome!" With that, he and Kris started walking off, with Susie taking just a couple of seconds to herself before catching up. It wasn't like she was bummed out by his company, but it felt a little intrusive to her, though she didn't fully know why. She appreciated her time alone with Kris, since he was probably the first person to grow comfortable around her. Susie wasn't sure if she was quite ready to be a social as Kris was slowly becoming. For the time being, it didn't seem like she had a lot of say in the matter. If Kris figured that he could hang with them for a bit, why not? He's a natural leader of sorts, even if he wasn't aware of it.For a little bit, no one really made the effort to start a conversation. It was correctly assumed by Susie that they were all feeling somewhat awkward, unsure of how to start any sort of small talk without sounding stupid. MK took it upon himself to start up a line of conversation. "Yo, so uh... how's your project coming along, guys?"Both Susie and Kris gave a similar answer. Kris waved his hand in a 'so-so' movement while Susie merely shrugged. "Eh, y'know. It's comin'," She replied simply."Ah yeah, same on my end," MK responded. "The researching is always the hardest part, in my opinion. Hah, I don't even think we're halfway done with that part yet. I hope Ms Alphys doesn't mind if we're a little bit late," He went on.Kris responded with an understanding nod, while Susie's thoughts drifted elsewhere. Before she could really stop herself, she asked aloud, "How are you able to open books?" Even as Kris quickly looked over, a somewhat shocked look on his face, she went on. "I mean, I don't think the library would appreciate you, erm... biting into the pages."Despite feeling a bit dumb about asking her question, MK didn't seem to really mind. He just gave out a small laugh. "Hah, nah, they don't. I got chewed out pretty badly the first time I tried. Thankfully, I've always had someone help me out! Snowy's been my go-to guy for it, but like I said, he's been off doing his own thing lately, so... I'm just kinda left doing my own thing.""Ah. I see," Susie replied simply, looking down somewhat. She didn't know why she was uncomfortable with MK. Much like her previous bullying with Kris, the thoughts of her past actions towards him starting to creep back into her skull. She had given him a hard time, hiding his belongings and tripping him up and whatnot. Was she cool? No question about it. She was always cool. Did she feel guilty? Also yes, but she had no idea why. She had no connection with MK like she did with Kris, so she had no idea why guilt was starting to seep into her brain in such a way.After a little bit of thinking, she turned to MK and spoke her thoughts, cutting to the point in the only way she knew how: bluntly. "Why do you wanna hang around me? I caused hell for you. If I were you, I'd just keep avoiding someone like me," She asked. Kris fidgeted with his hands in an uncomfortable manner, unsure of what to do. He too was aware of MK's past incidents with the dragon girl.This was the first time that MK seemed a little hesitant towards giving an answer. "Well, uh... that did happen, yeah. But yo, I'm willing to let it slide! The past is the past, y'know? Kris is pretty cool with you, and like, you caused a lot of trouble for him too!" He said, giving a small laugh. He noticed the other two looking slightly more uncomfortable about being told this, so he quickly cleared his throat and continued. "Erm, but y'know... none of us can really undo all that. Heck, I wouldn't mind hanging around you either! Just with a little less... bullying?" He suggested, looking to her with a wide, if unsure, smile.Susie turned to him as well, with Kris peering up at Susie with a neutral gaze. While waiting for her answer, she sighed and rubbed the back of her head. "...yeah, I was kinda... cruel, wasn't I," She said, not really asking a question, instead reprimanding herself in a sense. With a small nudge from Kris, she caught herself and cleared her throat. "...sorry," She added in hesitantly.With a big smile, MK replied, "Yo, don't worry 'bout it! Glad we could put that behind us!"Kris gave a small smile of his own, while Susie still seemed dumbfounded. She expected a little bit of a grace period, or even for him to say 'no', but he was already willing to forgive her? It frustrated her, and she couldn't help but have the thought of 'That was way too fast of a response!' ring around inside of her mind.The three of them enjoyed their walk together, however, conversation starting to liven up a bit. They shared interests, talked about school, and even dissed on Berdly for a good long while. After some time, Susie split off from the group, saying that she had to head home for the day, leaving MK and Kris to walk beside one another as they headed to the armless monster's home.After a few seconds of silence, MK turned to Kris and started up a new line of conversation, a bit of hesitation evident in his voice. "Yo, Kris... okay if I ask something a bit... I dunno, personal?"The human turned to him, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. He couldn't help but snark, "Only if it's not a question as to if we're dating or not."MK laughed a bit and shook his head, looking a bit... serious. "Heh, nah, nothing like that. It's just... well... have you ever felt like a... burden?"This surprised Kris in a sense, as he most certainly did. He had no idea where this question even came from, however. Wanting to see where MK is going, he replied with a simple shrug. "I guess so. I think that's normal for everyone, isn't it?"The monster boy sighed and also did a shrug of sorts. "Maybe? I'm not sure. Like, I don't want it to bother me, and I think I do a pretty good job at not... well, bumming myself out about it, I guess," He rambled on, looking more and more unsure of himself, as if not sure of how to really phrase his concerns.Kris gave a patient look to him and let him continue on whenever he felt like he was ready. After some time, MK found his words and went on. "I mean, I've always figured that there was no point in sulking about my form. I've learned how to live with it well enough, I suppose. I would be lying if I said it hadn't, uh... caused trouble for me before. Y'know, with bullies or activities or anything.""It's not your fault, though," Kris replied. "It's wrong of them to take advantage of you like that.""Hah, yeah, it is," MK said, giving a mirthless laugh. "It's not just that, though. I mean, I can deal with all that, honestly. Not a big deal, y'know?" He said, giving a small side eyed glance to Kris, a small smile still on his face. "But, yo, I'm just... tired of being... pitied, in a sense."The two slowed down as they neared his building, Kris feeling more concerned, but also very close to MK, in a sense. After all, he too knew what it was liked to be pitied. The only human with no friends was often paired up out of pity or got to join in on games out of pity. He imagined that MK went through all the same stuff. He also figured that since MK kept a more upbeat, positive attitude most of the time, it made him seem more like an easy target to be picked on or pitied."I dunno, yo, it just feels a bit... insulting? Like, I know I can't do some stuff as well as others, but like, it's not a reason to think I can't do anything," He continued, sighing as he leaned against the brick wall of the building. After a few seconds, Kris joined him and looked at him."You want to be treated like everyone else, right?""Yeah, pretty much," He said, nodding in agreement. "It just feels weird to ask for it, y'know?""Yeah, I get you," Kris stated simply, putting his hands in his pockets. As much as Kris wanted to reassure MK, he felt his thoughts corral themselves into a dead end. He had no perfect answer, due to the fact that he did not have the same experiences. Similar, yes, but exact, no. The human knew how different he was from MK, and comparing the two wouldn't exactly be fair. "...sorry I'm not much help right now."At this, MK merely smiled and turned to him. "Yo, don't worry about it, Kris. Guess I just, like, needed to vent it a little bit. Get it off my chest, y'know?" He replied.Kris gave a nod and a small grin. "I get ya." After a little bit of silence, the human found his voice once more. "Well I mean, I'm here for ya, if you ever need anything. Whether it's a venting session or anything else."MK's eyes lit up brightly. "W-wow, thanks, Kris! Yo, you're even cooler than I thought!"He merely gave a shrug, unable to keep a cheesy, happy grin from appearing on his face. "Hey, we're friends aren't we?""Yeah!" The monster boy nodded eagerly. "I'd say so!"With that, he turned to his door, smiling brightly. "Yo, I'll see you tomorrow, Kris!" The human gave a nod and a thumbs up before turning to walk off. After a few steps, he heard his voice once more."Uh, yo Kris! Could you, uh, help me with the key please?"The next day at school, Kris was heading down the halls, peering around idly as he walked to his first class. As he passed by a few lockers, he saw MK using his tail tip to try and put in his combination into the lock. Despite the fact that he visibly struggled, his tongue sticking out in visible concentration.In a movement that surprised both MK and Kris, Susie suddenly walked up to the locker, slamming her palm against the door. Kris gulped and watched in silence, neither one of them aware that he was nearby. MK looked up at her, now visibly confused.Instead of saying something insulting or doing something mean, however, she removed her hand from the locker and rubbed her neck. "...hey uh, need some help?"MK smiled up at her and nodded. "Oh, hey Susie! I'd definitely appreciate it!" As he read off his combination to the dragon girl, Kris felt himself exhale, as he realized he had been holding his breath. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Kris always felt as though Susie would return to her ways, regardless of their friendship. This action on her part, however, seemed to dismiss these suspicions in him that she was starting to move away from those sort of actions.As the dragon girl started to undo his lock, MK had looked over and saw him standing there, calling out to him. "Yo, Kris! Great to see ya, man!" Susie peered behind her and gave a small wave to her friend. At this, the human walked over to the group, feeling much more relaxed at this point.Peering in a far corner, behind a large potted plant, a pair of eyes was watching with heavy suspicion through some thick glasses. Berdly jotted down a bunch of words into a notebook that he carried on him, his mind going a million miles a minute."So they've already converted Monster Kid... poor guy..." He muttered to himself. "He always was terribly naive..." With a quick motion, he shut his notebook and glared at the group, stewing in his thoughts. "Mark my words, Dreemurr, I will not let your shenanigans get by my watchful gaze...""Um, Berdly?" Came the voice of a certain soft spoken doe. At this, the nerdy bird let out a squawk of shock as he fell backwards, hitting his head against the wall."GAAHK!" He exclaimed, rubbing his head as a worried Noelle quickly helped him up."S-sorry! I was just wondering what you were doing behind a plant..." She eyed the open notebook on the floor, opened to a page with large, underlined words that read, 'DON'T TRUST THEM!'As Noelle raised a suspicious eyebrow to Berdly, he scrambled the notebook close to his chest and backed into the classroom. "Don't. Tell them. Anything," He hissed to her mysteriously as he backed away, not breaking eye contact with the doe.Noelle merely rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Ugh, I swear... if you weren't my friend I'd say some... pretty hurtful things!"At this point, Kris, Susie, and MK had gotten to the door of their classroom, fully unaware of what just happened. "Yo, everything okay?" MK asked curiously.Noelle turned back around, laughing nervously. "Er, yeah! I think? Just Berdly being weird," she answered."Nerdly acting like a dweeb? That's not new," Susie snorted, the other two snickering some. Noelle joined in some, feeling her face flush a bit."Hah, yeah, guess you're right," The doe replied, walking in with everyone, getting ready for a new day of classes.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Everyone Has Problems
Chapter 4: Coping
Susie didn't really mind that Kris was slowly becoming more popular with their fellow classmates. She considered it a good thing. Heck, if she were a bit better at being more outgoing and upfront with her own emotions, she'd be putting in an effort into making friends as well. The dragon girl typically found herself uncomfortable around unknown company, regardless of how nice they were. Susie was familiar with the sense of being betrayed and no matter how hard she tried to make herself numb to it, it still hurt.With Kris, though, she had this innate sense of familiarity with him. Whether or not she was being naive about it, she didn't care. Kris was her closest friend, and for a little bit, her only friend. Seeing as how he was probably the only one to ever put in an effort into getting to know her past her rough, rude, and often times violent demeanor, she soon realized he wasn't going to betray or abandon her trust anytime soon.That's why she always found herself trying to make time for him. MK, Temmie, and occasionally Noelle were okay to be with, but sometimes she just wanted to chill with Kris. Susie found their long hang out sessions relaxing, even if they sometimes went through long periods of not even saying anything. It was comforting, in a sense. Because of the fact that Kris had been slowly making himself more open, however, it was often times hard to find alone time with the human. The best solution that Susie could come up with was to just change areas that they would be at. One day it could be the diner, the next it could be the lake. Sometimes it was in the alleyway or behind the school.Today, it was the graveyard. Whether or not it was just teenagers being brooding or edgy or not, the two couldn't help but find the somewhat somber environment comforting, in a sense. The graveyard wasn't big enough to get lost in, as it was quite small, at least compared to the usual cemetery that came to mind when a person thought of the word. Regardless, there was a certain charm to it, one that was not lost upon the dragon girl and the human.Since it was currently rather empty, the two shared the stone bench together, which was commemorating the late Gerson Boom. Susie was not too familiar with the old turtle, but Kris relayed a few stories about him, from the time that he knew him, anyways. On the rare occasion that his family managed to drag him to the House of Worship, they would always be greeted by Gerson, who despite his age, was quite boisterous and loud, his big booming voice extremely friendly. His sermons were just as powerful as his voice, and often times, Kris only agreed to follow along just so he could see the old tortoise again.The human also told Susie that he also used to be a teacher in the school. Not only that, but he contributed quite a lot to the history, publishing and writing quite a few books. Susie recalled seeing the name quite a few times during their study time at the library. "Damn, he seemed like quite an important guy, huh?" She asked aloud, looking around the cemetery casually. Kris noticed that she was holding a piece of chalk in her hand as if it were a cigarette. He couldn't help but smirk a bit at the sight, though Susie didn't notice this."Guess that's why we're sittin' on a bench in memory of him, huh?" She continued on, shrugging with a small smile. "If it were me, I'd be a little pissed if all I was left was a bench, heh." She lifted her hand up to nibble at the end of her piece of chalk. "Though, with how much he did, guess a bench was just a neat little send off."Kris responded with a bit of a nod, leaning back against the bench, hands behind his head. After about a minute or two of silence, Susie spoke up once again. "Hey, Kris? Odd question, but do you think there's an afterlife?" She asked, tilting her head in his direction, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. Kris looked back, somewhat confused by her question. Not so much what she meant, but more so where she was going with it."Like, I don't think we just turn to dust and blow away once we're done, but personally? I think it'd kinda suck being a ghost," She continued, snickering some. "It'd be boring as hell, just standing around, seeing everyone go about their lives while you just have to stand there, unable to join them." Her smile slowly deteriorated, her statement sounding a lot more depressing than she meant for it to be. Kris said nothing, but gave a mixture of a shrug and a nod, as well as a grimace that said 'yeah, that would suck, huh?'"Yeah, I'd be pissed off about it," Susie responded bleakly, nibbling another small chunk off of her chalk piece. "Wouldn't be fair, y'know? It'd get lonely, being unable to talk to those you actually like. I can't imagine other ghosts' lives are as interesting," Susie said, her smile picking up again. "I mean, how interesting can one be, honestly? Hearing them groan and complain all the time? It'd be torture, honestly."Kris nodded, his own grin starting to show up as he let out a bit of a laugh himself. The two sat in silence for a little bit longer, the only noise being the wind blowing through the trees. Since autumn was fast approaching, many of the leaves fell off, littering the ground with a mixture of orange and brown. The air was quite brisk as well, the wind making the two friends' hair flow with it. Susie couldn't help but shiver a bit, though she'd refuse to actually admit she was getting cold. She was too tough for that.She wasn't as dumb as people made her out to be, though, and knew that remaining in this kind of temperature wouldn't be too good for her. She was cold blooded, after all. "Well, I gotta be heading home for now, Kris," She'd say, standing up and shoving the rest of the chalk piece into her mouth. "I'll see you tomorrow," She muttered, her voice slightly muffled between the crunch of the calcium. Kris nodded and waved to her, his smile still evident on his face."See ya," He replied quietly, watching as she left the cemetery. The human remained by himself for a little while longer, relaxing on the bench by himself. He found the cool air comforting, and couldn't help but shut his eyes. Feeling a bit lazy, the human was starting to drift off into slumber. The only thing that kept him from fully dozing off was the somewhat quiet sound of someone walking.It was somewhat chilling, though Kris just figured it was just another visitor to the cemetery. Regardless, it was still a little terrifying, considering he was by himself. Being a human, he couldn't help but remain motionless, his eyes shut behind his thick, long bangs. The sounds were quiet, leaves crunching quietly underneath footfalls, which seemed to scrap the ground below. The noise was slowly getting closer, yet remained a good distance away from him. At one point, the noise stopped, and he thought he could hear.. muttering? It was too quiet to make out, but was still off putting to hear, since he was the only other person who was around.After a few seconds, he heard the muttering stop, as well as what sounded like the ruffling of something. The footfalls were much quicker and louder, though quickly grew quieter. It was sudden, so Kris couldn't help but shoot up from his seat, his eyes fully opening. While the human couldn't really make out what was running, he did see something. Was it a ghost? Was this cemetery really haunted? Figuring it was best to not stick around and find out, the boy got up from the bench and began to head out. As he walked by the gravestones, his peripheral vision did catch something quite bright, which stood out against the brown and orange environment. He moved his head to the left, an eyebrow raised as he slowed his walking down.'Those flowers weren't there before, were they?' He thought to himself, looking at the gravestone, carved with a snowflake on it. Sure enough, at the base was a bouquet of blue and white flowers. No doubt that they came from his dad's flower shop, but... who left them? This question stuck with Kris the whole time he walked home. He considered visiting his dad to ask about it, but figured that being late for dinner wouldn't please his mom, especially if the reason was to visit Asgore.The ride to school was as typical as it usually was. Considering that Kris had been on time these past few weeks, it wasn't really seen as unusual from his classmates anymore. Even Susie was starting to show up on time. Not always, but the effort wasn't lost on others. Today, she seemed to be running at least a few minutes late, as the only other students in the classroom currently were Noelle, Berdly, and Temmie, which was usual. However, one voice called out to Kris almost the exact moment he walked in, which came from one certain feathered classmate. Strangely enough, it wasn't Berdly."Hey, Kris, how was yer lil get together with Susie yesterday?" Came the over exaggerated Southern drawl of Snowy, the self proclaimed 'class comedian'. Everyone who has been in his compnay for more than a minute can attest to how unfunny he was, often finding his attempts at humor quite forced, obnoxious, and just flat out unfunny. The human couldn't help but roll his eyes a little at this as he made his way to his seat.It was a bit weird to see Snowy in his seat so early, as he usually wasn't in his seat this early. Berdly called back to him, his voice already sounding quite tired of his shenanigans. "How late to the party are you? Those two have been hanging together for awhile now," He sighed, adjusting his glasses. "Nothing but trouble, if you ask me."The human couldn't help but think, 'no one asked you,' giving a small glare to the bothersome bird. As he took his seat, Snowy couldn't resist but continue on with his own routine. "Yeah, there are all sorts of trouble two can do all alone," He said, his voice returning to a very heavy accent that he often described as 'northern', whatever that meant. "If you're not careful, you're gonna make Noelle over there jealous!" He continued on, noticing the doe bury her face deeper into the book she was reading, hiding her blushing face of irritation. "Guess he's just into gals who could bury him into the ground, hah!"At this joke, it was obvious that no one was really laughing or even amused by his attempt at humor. Noelle kept her nose against her book while Berdly's often smug face was adorned with annoyed confusion as he stared towards Snowy. Kris merely avoided eye contact, his brain starting to form thoughts in between his own annoyed comments. 'How'd he know Susie and I were hanging out together yesterday?'Even as the class started to fill up, Snowy continued on, making jokes about Susie and Kris coming together to make wedding plans, and other such similar comments, which quickly annoyed everyone else. The only time he stopped was when Susie walked into the class room, the snowdrake quickly shutting his beak with a loud throat clearing. At this, a few others actually snickered at his clear show of cowardice around the dragon. As she got closer towards her seat, she looked to Snowy and then to Kris, an eyebrow cocked. She looked back to Snowy. "What's so funny?" She asked the bird, who was clearly uncomfortable."Oh..! Hah, it was nothin'!" He replied, doing his best to not upset her.The dragon rolled her eyes and sat at her seat. "What else is new. None of your lame jokes are funny anyways," She said, snickering a bit. Kris couldn't hide his own smile from this, a few others unable to hide a chuckle themselves."Yo, she got you good!" MK replied, turning behind him towards Snowy, who looked less than pleased. As he started grumbling under his breath, Alphys came into the classroom just as the bell rang."A-alright everyone, settle down! Uh, I know we like to have fun, b-but it's time for, uh... learning!" She greeted, somewhat awkwardly. This got everyone's attention, thankfully, and the class continued on as normal.After classes, Susie and Kris decided to stick around in the classroom together for a little bit, going over their project a little bit. They were just about halfway done with it, and wanted to make sure they were on the right track. While it seemed like everyone was leaving, MK made his way over to the two. Susie gave a small nod of recognition to him, "Oh hey, sup?" She greeted casually."Hey! Uh, hope I'm not interrupting anything, but uh... well, I'm kinda left by myself. Again," He said with a small laugh. The two weren't too surprised, as they saw Snowy as one of the first to leave the classroom, and quite quickly at that. He didn't even give a cheesy one liner as he left. If he did, they weren't listening to him anyways."Yeah, we saw Snowy leave in a hurry. Kinda odd for him, but guess he's off to come up with more lame jokes," Susie replied, snorting a bit."Haha, yeah, that might be it!" MK replied, leaning against his desk. "Still, it's kinda... odd. He's usually open about a lot of things, yet he hasn't mentioned what he's been doing lately. Hope it's nothing bad," He said, trailing off a little."Couldn't be anything too bad, right? I don't think he's really clever enough to pull anything off," Susie replied with a shrug."What do you think, Kris?" MK asked, turning his attention to the human. Both monsters took notice of the fact that he was in deep thought, a hand resting on his chin as he looked downwards. "Yo, Kris..? What's on your mind?" He asked, tilting his head curiously.An idea sparked in his mind, having a small idea of what was going on. As he stood up, a small, knowing grin was on his face. "I think I have an idea," He began, his quiet voice sounding more audible to the two, since the classroom was already quite empty."Oh shit, whatcha got?" Susie said, already interested. At this, Kris shook his head, lifting a hand."...I think it'd be best if I went by myself this time. Might overwhelm him if we all go." Before the others could interject or refuse, he was already heading towards the door, waving a hand. "See you guys later," He'd say to them before leaving the room entirely."Wh-hey!" Susie called out, standing up in her seat. She sighed and slumped back into her chair as he left, knowing it was useless to try and stop him. When he had a plan of action, he was one to take it. Even when they weren't in the Dark World, he was still a leader, even if he didn't fully realize this. It didn't stop Susie from feeling somewhat annoyed by his sudden action."...yo, what do we do until then?" MK asked the dragon, who replied with a shrug."No clue.""...wanna compare notes and essays?" The monster asked, somewhat hopeful to get somewhere with his project.With a small snort, Susie shook her head. "Hell no."The human made a sort of beeline for the cemetery. He already knew the route to take from the school, past the House of Worship, and down a small trail. Soon enough, the view of four gravestones came into view, as well as the familiar silhouette of a certain classmate of his. He was standing in front of one of the gravestones, talking to it. Every so often, he'd let out a small laugh, though his expression was still one wrought with sadness.It wasn't until the human silently made his way closer that he realized just which gravestone Snowy was standing in front of. As his eyes caught the outline of the snowflake, his own eyes widened a bit in realization. 'Oh,' Was all Kris could think.At this point, Snowy must've heard the sound of someone walking, the leaves crunching below his feet. In a sudden action, the bird let out a surprised squawk and turned his attention to Kris. "Ack, Kris! What're you doing here?" He asked in an almost accusatory tone. He tried to play off his surprise, letting out a small laugh. "Heh, decided to not bring your girlfriend along?" Snowy ruffled his feathers a little, the human raising an eyebrow. Kris said nothing, not taking any offense to what he had said.The bird became slightly more uncomfortable as he said nothing, merely staring at him. "...oh, heh! I guess you're wonderin' what I'm doin' here, huh?" He asked, his laugh peppering into his sentences every so often. "Well I mean, just tryin' to be cool y'know! Just uh... chillin' on these gravestones like the cool guy I am!" Kris moved his head around Snowy, taking a closer look at the stone he was standing in front of. Despite trying to hide the words, he wasn't really doing that great of a job.
"Crystal
A proud mother"
As Kris read these words aloud, Snowy sighed, his feathers drooping a bit. "...well, ya caught me, I suppose," He sighed, looking to the human. A small smile graced his beak as he tried to recover some sort of humor. "I mean, who hasn't been caught before, huh?" He chuckled mirthlessly, stepping to the side a little. Kris waited patiently, knowing that Snowy needed to get something off of his chest. It took a few seconds, with Snowy sighing a little, clearing his throat, looking back up at Kris."Yeah, that's my ma," He started, clearly already forming a lump in his throat. "I come here often to visit her. Leave her a flower and talk to her. Sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours. I feel like I owe it to her, y'know?" He said, shifting around a bit. "...she... left me and my dad when I was still pretty young. My dad felt like it was his fault that she left us. Heh, heck, he still feels like it's his fault..." He trailed off, clearing his throat again.At this, Kris gently placed a hand on his shoulder, above his wing, and lead him towards the bench. He followed along, looking quite solemn at this point. The human looked to him patiently, allowing Snowy to go his own pace. It took another minute or so, but he finally went on."Y'see, back when she was alive, me and my dad... well, we kinda got into it a lot. He thought it was kinda dumb of me to consider a career in comedy. Said I should go for somethin' else. My ma, however, was always proud of me no matter what. Always told me to go for what made me happy to do," He said with another small laugh."...she fell ill one day. It was quite sudden, too," Snowy continued, looking downwards towards his feet. "She fought it all the way through, though, and me and my dad were with her the whole way. The doctor, however, said that she didn't have too long. We still don't know what really caused it. But it happened so fast. One mornin', I woke up and my dad was there. He... didn't have good news, to put it lightly," He said, grimacing as his eyes started to shimmer. It was clear he was holding back tears.Kris nodded solemnly, sitting in silence with Snowy for awhile as he took time to find his words once again. This was probably the first time he saw the bird have trouble looking for something to say. "...it was tough. Heck, it's still tough. Me and my dad, we cried together a good long while." At this, Snowy looked up, a small smile gracing his beak once more. "He said he was wrong for holdin' me back from what I loved, and that ma helped him realize that. He said that her last words here that she was proud of me, and that my dad should do anything to help me through tough times," At this point, tears were silently, yet shamelessly, starting to trickle down his feathers. Kris gently put a hand on his shoulder once more, feeling quite bad for him. "I've been tryin' to return the favor to him, though I dunno if I'm doin' that good of a job."Kris looked to him, speaking up after saying nothing the whole time. "...I'm sure you staying with him makes him happier than anything," Kris stated, showing a small, comforting smile. Snowy looked his way and chuckled, nodding as he used a wing to wipe a few tears."Heh, yeah, I hope so too." The two sat together for a bit longer before Snowy looked back to the human. "...I miss her, Kris. I've used humor to help me get through all this, but lately... I dunno, it just feels like it hasn't really been workin'.""Have you told anyone else about this?" Kris asked quietly, with the bird responding with a shake of his head."Nah. I figure it's best to not bring it up," He replied. "Gotta keep some sort of reputation, y'know? I don't wanna bring anyone down with my depressing past. Wouldn't feel right, y'know? I'd rather make people laugh."Kris nodded at this, understanding where he was coming from. To cope with his own sadness, Snowy tended to err towards humor. Even if he wasn't too great at it, it felt like that was all he had. "...you know you gotta let loose how you really feel, right?" Kris offered. "It'll definitely help. I mean, I could never know what you've been through. But confiding does help."Snowy nodded and sighed, looking quite tired and sad, yet accepting. "...yeah, it does," He stated simply. "Hope ya don't mind my ramblings for a little longer. I think I need it right now."Kris gave a small, encouraging smile. "I'm right here for you."For the next half hour, Snowy confided in Kris how he felt about everything. His desperation to live as though nothing had happened, but knowing that nothing he could say or do would make it happen. He cried and let Kris comfort him to the best of his ability. They were both teenagers, and had no real idea of how to really help each other through this. Kris figured, though, that the best way was to just be there for him."It's just... not fair, y'know?" Snowy sniffled, winding down a little bit. "I dunno if that's greedy or what, but... me and my dad didn't have to lose her."Kris nodded with him. "You and your dad visit her frequently, it seems. You two are continuing on, despite your loss, and doing your best to make her proud. I think you're doing a great job in doing so," The human stated.Snowy turned his attention to him, smiling and nodding. "...hey, thanks Kris. It means a lot. Honest," He responded, wiping his eyes once more. "Do ya really think my ma would be proud of us if she were still alive?""I know she would," He answered. "A mother's love is unlike any other."Snowy nodded and got up off the bench. "I can't thank ya enough, Kris. You're a cool guy. And uh... sorry for my jokes earlier. Guess I was just a bit bitter..." He said in an apologetic tone, looking away in shame."Don't worry about it," Kris said, standing up himself and smiling."Nah, it wasn't in good taste," Snowy continued. "I wanna do better. I wanna make people laugh and make em happy! So I'm gonna try harder," He said with confidence. "I hafta head home now, Kris. My dad's not gonna be too happy if I'm out too late. Thanks again," He said."Not a problem. I'm here for you," The human stated, smiling as he waved off his new friend. He genuinely felt like he grew closer to Snowy, regardless of his poor taste in humor. The bird seemed a bit more lively and content, now that he actually had someone to confide in. Kris was glad about this, knowing the bird would do better for himself.Sure enough, during the next day of class, Snowy seemed a lot more friendly, and content. His attempts at jokes were a bit more rare, but were actually quite funny. It was a good sign when he made a joke about Alphys being late, due to watching another all night marathon of her favorite tv show, and actually garnered a few laughs, especially from Kris. This seemed to increase the snowdrake's confidence, making his comedy a lot more effortless, but just as humorous.Naturally, Susie noticed this as well, and whispered to Kris at one point during class, "I take it you had something to do with this?"The human merely nodded to her, responding with a whisper of his own. "Tell ya after class." Sure enough, MK and Snowy were actually working together on their project, heading to the library together. MK couldn't help but be impressed with how much funnier the bird was, the two friends becoming even closer.Kris made sure to explain how he had a heart to heart with Snowy to Susie, who quickly understood this. The dragon smiled widely and ruffled his hair in a friendly manner. "Heh, just can't help but help others, huh? Guess it's just in your nature," She laughed, walking out of the classroom with him.Naturally, this just added to Berdly's conspiracy about Kris. Now he had Snowy on his side? If he wasn't careful, he'd soon turn the whole classroom against him! Who was next? The options were growing smaller and smaller, and this just put the bird on edge. He just had to stay on his toes and keep a watch on the human even more! It was clear that he wanted something from his fellow classmates. It was up to him to find out what it was...Kris couldn't help but still feel a little depressed. It wasn't Snowy's fault, but after hearing about his story, he still felt... defenseless. His brother was off to college, and his dad no longer lived in the same house as them anymore. Kris didn't want to imagine what his life would be like without Toriel. Even though she obviously wasn't his biological mother, she still raised him as if he were her own. He was her son, no matter what.The human decided to head straight home today, with Susie realizing that he had something on his mind. Of course, wanting to prove that she could be just as helpful as he was, she tried to prod him for information. "Hey, Kris, you okay?""I'm fine. I think... I think I just gotta see my mom," He responded with a small, sad smile.Susie's eyebrows raised up as she nodded. "...ah. Well, let's try again tomorrow, okay? Let me know if ya need anything," She'd say, patting his shoulder as they split off into different directions."I will," He called back, starting to pick up his pace as he headed home. There was an almost paranoid feeling inside of him, which increased as he got closer to his house. As he slowly opened the door, he couldn't help but imagine the worse. What if she wasn't home? What if he was alone? What if something happened? What if..."Hello again, Kris! You are home earlier than usual," Toriel called out, standing in front of the oven, making dinner. Kris looked up at her, his fears melting away almost immediately. Seeing her stand there made him happy, yet sad at the same time. His eyes welled up a bit as he smiled at her."...yeah, you could say that," He responded, reaching under his bangs to wipe his eyes.Being a mother, this didn't go unnoticed from Toriel. "Are you alright? What is wrong?" She asked, showing concern. In response, Kris merely walked closer and flung his arms around her waist, hugging onto her. This surprised the motherly goat woman, as Kris very rarely initiated these acts of affection. She was quick to return it, still watching with parental concern."I'm fine," He replied simply. "...I love you, mom.""Well, I love you too, Kris," She responded, smiling gently. He held their hug for awhile, not wanting to let go of her. This might be the last time he's able to hug her and show just how much she means to him. "...do you want to talk about anything?"The boy looked up and shook his head. He didn't have to wipe his eyes, as Toriel did it for him, brushing his hair out of his face before doing so. "No, I think I'm fine now. Thank you. For everything," He said."...you are very welcome, my child," She sighed lovingly, rubbing his head and back in a soothing manner.The two shared their hug a bit longer before letting go. Kris made sure to make a mental note to let her know just how much she meant to him more often.