Kris was a great many things. He was a pint sized virtuoso on the piano to both the delight and dismay of his mother who wished he would play more often. He was shy and withdrawn to anyone but those closest to him, a position that until recently was a title held by his brother alone. He was also apparently creepy to a great deal of the townsfolk, but he expected that of the monsters who didn't talk to him and assumed his borderline silence was the result of a lack of moral fibre.
One thing Kris was not, however, was stupid.
After an attempt or two had been made to make it back to the other world with no success, Kris decided if they couldn't hang out in the Darkner world, he would make a concerted effort to bridge the gap here. He saw most of the other kids walking in together, and having never had a reason to do so before, decided he would give that a go as a start. He had a vague idea where she disappeared to after most school days so one morning he got up early, told his mom he was walking to school, then waited where he knew she'd pass. Honestly, the most difficult part had been convincing Toriel he would be safe on his own.
Turns out she apparently lived on the outskirts of town, hence her general tardiness, and Kris managed to wrangle a better meeting spot for them out of her as they walked in. She did tell him not to come to the house itself though, apparently it was too far out for him to bother trekking so far, and that it was easier to meet halfway.
His problems began at the next step.
The bell rang, transforming the anticipation in the class into movement.
"N-now everyone remember to bring in your homework tomorrow. I can't extend the deadline on this one!" Alphys cried to the quickly retreating crowd. She would if he asked of course. She was the 'cool' teacher after all. Thankfully he had already finished it the night before, a thought he relished as he slung his bag onto his back and made his way into the halls.
Kris scoured the corridors looking for his friend who really should not have been this hard to find. Thankfully there was no one wondering where he was to distract him. He was as friendless as Susie was and had sat alone eating his lunch on a bench just far enough away from the field behind the school where everyone else was making the most of the crisp autumn weather. But he had never seen her out there, so he knew where not to look. He was on the cusp of giving up and just asking her the next time he walked in with her before he stopped dead in his tracks.
'I'm an idiot'
He marched to the back of the school to the closet. As per usual, it was locked, prompting a sad sigh, before he turned to the mostly barren classroom on his right and opened the door. A card was midway through being idly tossed across the room to join several others. Some were very distant but clearly the appeal had run out over time as most had fallen on the checkerboard in the middle of the room. Susie turned to glare at the intruder, a scathing remark already on her mind before she caught sight of who it was.
"Oh. Hey"
He nodded in greeting as he closed the door behind him.
"How was, uh...math?" she asked. Kris shrugged his shoulders before settling in next to her, brushing aside the chess pieces she had probably been considering throwing next. He assumed the door they both leaned against that led to the closet was locked as well. She always checked.
"Boring"
"Yeah, that sounds like math" she chuckled, flinging another card. It span in the air and neatly slid underneath the cabinet of game materials. She sighed and reached for another in front of her but was cut off by her stomach groaning. She cursed under her breath before sliding her knees closer to her.
"Hungry?" he asked softly.
"Huh?"
Opening his bag up, he withdrew the tupperware Toriel had set out for him that morning. Ever since he started leaving early she had started getting them ready the night before. He shook it gently in Susie's direction as he tilted his head slightly.
"Nah, I'm fine dude. I uh, ate before you got here"
He didn't buy that for a second, but pretended not to question it as he tucked into his sandwich, but not before putting his slice of butterscotch and cinnamon pie between them and pretending not to watch as Susie's hunger inevitably won out over her pride.
"Well, ok, I guess I forgot about dessert! Heh! Thanks, Kris"
Susie didn't so much eat things as she did inhale them. The slice was gone within seconds. In all the time he had known her, he had never seen her eating lunch with the rest of the class, or eating lunch at all. In fact the only thing he had seen her eat outside of the Darkner world was chalk and he had been around monsters long enough to know that chalk a good meal does not make. That her ragged clothes and unkempt rucksack didn't tip him off sooner was a mistake he did not want to repeat.
Kris was NOT stupid. Thankfully, he was quite the glutton.
Convincing Toriel that he was still quite hungry at school was quite easy. She had taken precautions against his eating habits years back, and even gone so far as to warn some of their friends to watch their foodstuffs. Father Alvin's fruit juice was never safe when he was around and Toriel was beginning to run out of hiding spots for any chocolate she kept around the house. When he told her he was getting hunger pains during lessons she almost doubled his portion sizes overnight. Just to be safe though, he grabbed packs of crisps as snacks in the afternoon and immediately put them in his bag once he got to his room.
"Dude, seriously. Did you steal this from the cafeteria or something?"
He practically had to up end his backpack to get everything he had hoarded out.
"No, my mum gave it to me"
"And she's okay with feeding a kid who isn't hers? Your mom's nice Kris, but not that nice. Hell, no one's THAT nice..."
She trailed off wistfully, running her pointed nails over her ill fitting jacket before one finally snagged in a small hole.
"She doesn't know"
"She doe-" she cut herself short as she gasped loudly before devolving into a full on roar of a laugh. "She doesn't...Your mom actually thinks you're eating all of this!?"
He nodded. Susie's laughter turned into chuckling.
"Holy shit, really? How are you so small?"
Kris shrugged before starting on his crisps.
"Heh. Humans are so weird" she said before doing her new trick of making his lunch vanish.
"Just me I think". Susie paused from her consumption for a second to look over her smaller friend with a furrowed brow.
"You're not weird, you're interesting" she concluded. She said it so matter of factly that Kris turned his head in surprise but Susie was so busy tearing into her next morsel that she didn't even notice.
'Interesting?' He smiled to himself. He liked the sound of that. He was used to being the subject of concerned stares of strangers where the concern was not meant for him, or the endless fussing and platitudes from his family. This felt different. He relaxed against the closet door.
"You're interesting too"
"Heh, thanks, you weirdo"
He resisted the urge to remind her she had just told him he wasn't weird. He was pretty okay if it was Susie calling him weird.
Their lunch was spent teaching Susie several two-person card games that Asriel had taught him when their mom had grounded them both for troublemaking. He debated trying to teach her chess too but that was too boring even for him. Eventually though, the bell rang out again. They could hear the cries outside as students slowly trudged their way back to class. Susie groaned.
"Ugh, c'mon then. At least you're in my class this time"
Kris gestured to some of the food they hadn't managed to eat as he packed a few items away.
"Huh. Could've sworn we got through all that...Eh, just means we have something to snack on later"
Kris nodded his agreement and opened the door for her. He was unsure as to whether it was his company or the lack of hunger itself that had quelled her usual appetite but he smiled all the same.
