Hello, this contains spoilers for Chapter 2. This is assuming that the portal that Kris opened won't suck them in until later in the day.

The day after they defeat the Queen and free the Cyber World really feels like any other day. Kris wakes up, flushes the toilet, eats a piece of pie, and spends the morning with his mother. Well, it's a little different to wake up on the couch next to Susie, but outside of that everything's completely ordinary.

The yanking their heart from their body incident which occurred twice the night prior doesn't feel like it'll happen again today, but Kris can't be 100% sure. Their heart seems to be beating steadily in place for the moment, and after the hearty pie breakfast Kris's mom walks both kids to school. She says it's, "for the sunshine and vitamin D," and Kris doesn't mind enough to disagree.

They reach the school after about a ten-minute walk and are still somehow fifteen minutes early. Kris heads inside with a brief goodbye to their mom, though they're not exactly excited for eight hours of sitting in a desk. Susie is equally thrilled, but she makes her annoyance known as they enter the school. "Man, we are freaking heroes and we still can't get out of school. Lame…" she grumbles the last word under her breath.

The two of them swing by their lockers, Kris to get a book and Susie to get a piece of chalk, then head to class. Susie ingests the chalk before they even get there, complaining that she should've grabbed two.

"You can go get another if you want." Kris says pointedly as they push open the door to the classroom. This would make Susie late for class of course, but timeliness isn't something she's shown concern for in the past.

This time though, she shakes her head, "Nah, not worth the trouble."

Kris simply shrugs as they enter the classroom. About half the desks are filled, notably Berdly is already inside, but Noelle hasn't arrived yet. Kris takes their seat with Susie taking up her usual spot behind them. Berdly rotates in his seat and starts to chat in Kris's direction, to which they half listen but don't really process whatever he's saying. It all sounds like mumbo jumbo, something about the internet and this crazy dream he had.

Kris is about ready to pass out on their desk when the classroom door swinging open catches their eye. Noelle enters, a stack of books cradled in her arms. She's glancing their way, so Kris raises one hand in a half wave. She doesn't react, and Kris realizes her gaze is beyond Kris's desk. Kris doesn't even need to turn to know she's looking direcly at Susie.

Something must have happened, because Noelle's cheeks flair pink and her eyes shift to the ground. She shuffles over to her desk and sits down wordlessly, not even looking up at Berdly when he turns his attention towards her.

Alphys enters the room a moment later, shutting the door with a silent click and starting class. This is the part that always loses Kris's interest. They try to pay attention, but slowly yet surely their eyes start to slide shut…

The day goes by in a sleepy blur, Kris isn't sure how much class they actually were awake for, but it was probably more than the previous day. Probably… Either way, in a flash the bell signaling the end of the day rings, and the students rush out of the classroom. The only one who stays behind is Susie, and she leans against Kris's desk as she waits for them to gather their stuff.

"We gonna find another portal today?" Susie cracks her knuckles, "I need to knock a few heads together."

"No violence." Kris reminds her and rises from the desk. "I don't know where we'd find one," they admit. Kris can think of a few places they could check. The police station, the diner, or the pizza place. Any could have a portal today. "How about we check QC's Diner?" They suggest. "Catti isn't working today."

Susie agrees, though threatens that if Catti actually is working she'll smash Kris's skull in. The two of them walk in comfortable silence over to the diner, and much to Susie's delight Catti isn't working. They grab a booth to the left, Susie immediately slouching and propping her feet up on the opposite seat next to Kris.

"Nothing's happening, I think this is a bust." Susie frowns slightly, "Not like I'm disappointed or anything, I just really wanted to find another world to conquer."

"We probably will tomorrow." Kris assures her. They pull a menu out from where they were tucked next to the wall, though Kris already knows what they want.

Susie also grabs one, looking over it quickly before tossing it down on the table. Something seems to be on her mind. She fidgets her hands together and glances towards the door before back down at the table, her thumb working it's way across the knuckles on her opposite hand.

Kris deliberates asking her what's wrong. They're curious, but it also could be an invasion of privacy. Then again, when did Kris ever care about invading someone's privacy. "What's bothering you?"

Susie makes eye contact with Kris and takes a deep breath, "It's just, did you see Noelle today? The way she looked at me."

"Uh…" Kris tries to think back, their day was mostly filled with sleep. "I'm not sure."

The owner of the restaurant interrupts them, coming over to take their orders. Kris orders a hot chocolate and Susie orders a burger. The owner gives them a warm smile and leaves them be, promising to return with food shortly.

Kris tries again to recollect on any weird looks or actions from that day. "When she first came in this morning?"

"Yes!" Susie bangs her fist on the table, causing the monster sitting at the booth behind her to jump in surprise. Kris of course doesn't react. "That's exactly what I'm talking about, man I can't believe you didn't notice. She looked right at me, and for a moment I thought she knew that yesterday was real. Then she turned as red as a tomato for some reason, and she wouldn't look at me again for the entire day." Susie huffs and crosses her arms. "I don't get it; she kept saying she thought it was a dream."

Kris nods, "Yeah, I heard her say that." Kris glances towards the kitchen, eyes looking out for their hot chocolate. "Maybe the look was about something else."

"Something else?!" Susie's voice gets louder at the suggestion. "Like what? Nothing's changed, sure she's been embarrassed around me before, but never like that." She uncrosses her arms and braces both hands against the side of the table. "You gotta help me out here."

Kris pauses to consider their answer, and the two sit in silence for about a minute. The owner brings the food, and Kris happily takes a sip of their hot chocolate. It's piping hot and burns their tongue, but they relish it nonetheless.

Susie laughs at their eagerness and eats her burger in a few quick bites. "Gonna leave me hanging, huh?"

Kris flattens their lips in a flat line and thinks as they stare at the hot chocolate in front of them. What Susie should do really depends on the result she wants. Does Susie want more of Noelle's attention, or less? Kris thinks they know the answer, but they need to find out for sure. "You could invite her to go to the city festival, then ask her yourself."

Susie splutters instantly, a little bit of half chewed burger flying out of her mouth and landing on the table between them. "Isn't that going a bit too far?"

Kris gives her their usual level eyed stare, "It would answer your question."

"Damn Kris, have I ever told you how smart you are?" Susie picks up the half chewed burger bit and jams it back in her mouth. "But you're wrong on one part, I don't want to take Noelle to the festival."

Kris cocks one eyebrow. "Your tail says otherwise."

Susie visibly recoils, checking behind her back. After a second she turns back to Kris, leaning all the way over the table so their faces are about an inch apart. "NOTHING is twitching, got that?" She practically spits in their face.

Anyone else might smile in this instance, but Kris maintains their usual flat-line expression. "Got it."

Susie pulls a few coins out of her pockets and throws them on the table. "Let's talk about something else. Maybe we should try the alleyway next, to see if there's a portal there."

Kris agrees and continues drinking their hot chocolate. After a few minutes they're both done, so Kris puts coins on the table as well and the two head out. They walk over to the alleyway, which despite not having a portal, does have some fresh milk. Susie enjoys the milk and the two hastily run away when someone rounds the corner, laughing as they dash into the park.

The water's edge is clear, so the two of them start picking up rocks and skipping them into the lake. Susie is unsurprisingly much better at the activity than Kris, and she's able to get each rock to skip at least three times with very little practice.

They throw silently for a few minutes, the only sound being the rocks bouncing against the water.

Susie eventually breaks the silence. "Did I tell you about the ferris wheel? The one Noelle and I went on."

Kris shakes their head no; this is the first time they're hearing about it.

Susie throws another rock before continuing, "Man, it was so… different from what I was expecting." She backtracks, "Noelle is different I mean, not the ferris wheel that was whatever. Like, I've always known that she's nice, but I didn't know that she likes scary things, or that she's so brave." Susie picks up another rock, but just stares at it. "She said she likes me because I break the rules, but sometimes I wish I could follow them, be a little more normal you know? So I can follow in her footsteps." Susie launches the rock with extra force, but this one has too much spin and bounces only once before sinking into the lake. "I must sound nuts, I don't even know what I'm saying."

Kris sits down at the edge of the lake, crossing their legs. "You seem worried."

"I'm not worried!" Susie collapses next to Kris, one leg pointing straight out and the other knee bent up to rest her arms on. "Okay, maybe I am a little."

Kris hesitates to respond, their eyes locked on the water in front of them. Interpersonal relationships aren't exactly their strength, they still miss Asriel every day. "You could ask Lancer for advice."

"Lancer? Nah, I don't want to bother him with this." Susie sighs, "He wouldn't know what do anyway. He'd probably just tell me to prank her."

"We could prank her." Kris says in all seriousness, but chuckles when Susie gives them a playful shove. "Just kidding."

"I think I just need to see her again, talk things out." Susie stands up roughly, brushing the dirt off her pants. "I've never had trouble facing my problems, and I'm not going to start today!" She reaches out with one hand and pulls Kris to their feet. "I'd feel more confident if I were holding my axe though."

"You don't need it." Kris re-assures her. "She's probably at the library."

"Okay." Susie gulps, "Let's do this."

Susie is sure that she must be out of her mind. She gets one weird look before class and suddenly her whole world is falling apart. She can't stop seeing Noelle's blushing face in her mind, the way she looked directly at her before tearing her eyes away. It's ingrained in her brain every time Susie closes her eyes and it's driving her insane.

So, Kris suggesting she invite Noelle to the festival, it sounded like a crazy idea at first, but with every step they take closer to the library she's warming up more and more to it. The two of them did spend quite a long time together in the Cyber World, and it was a pretty pleasant experience if Susie does say so herself, which of course she does. More time can't be bad, well unless she says something stupid and drives her away.

Though, she's already said a lot of dumb things to Noelle, and nothing's caused her to leave yet. Well, except for whatever thought passed through Noelle's head this morning, since she wouldn't look at Susie for the whole rest of the day.

She groans to herself; Kris is right she's worrying about it too much. They're walking wordless next to her, sorting through their backpack as the two of them walk. The library appears ahead of them, and Susie's shoes suddenly feel heavy as butterflies rip through her stomach. She's never felt nervous for a fight or a battle, so why does her gut suddenly feel like it's doing somersaults?

Kris pushes ahead of her and into the library, maybe sensing her hesitation. They're good at stuff like that. She follows Kris towards the computer rooms to the left, trying to regain the confidence she felt by the lake. She just needs to talk to Noelle, to figure out what's going on between them and how she can restore their friendship. Easy peasy, she can do this.

Kris stops in front of the door and the two of them peer into the computer room. She's not sure whether to feel relieved or even more nervous when she spots Noelle and Berdly inside. The two of them are facing away from the door, hunched over a few books and some papers. Though they are clearly doing schoolwork, they appear to be talking about something personal.

"What if I made her a bouquet out of chalk, do you think she'd like that?" The annoying know it all Berdly asks.

Noelle shrugs her shoulders softly, "Oh, I don't know, maybe…"

Kris apparently decides the conversation is worth cutting off and pushes into the room, leaving Susie to stumble after them. They walk across the room confidently and tap Berdly on the shoulder. "Hey, can you help me with a tough math problem? My homework is out front."

Berdly agrees eagerly and excuses himself, though he pauses in the door when he spots Susie. "Susan! Oh, why hello there, it's great to see you on this fine day."

Susie blinks, why oh why is he so annoying. She remembers in the back of her mind that they are friends now and she needs to be nice. "Hey Berdly."

Kris clears their throat, drawing Berdly's attention back to them. "Oh yes, I will go help our dear friend Kris and then I will be back to converse more. Farewell for now." Berdly motions broadly with one wing and exits the room. Kris gives Susie their standard look, but somehow this one is more meaningful. Susie gulps as Kris swings the door shut and leads Berdly away, most likely to the tables near the entrance.

Noelle has stood up from the table at this point through all the commotion. She turns to face Susie, a hint of her blush from this morning already gracing her cheeks. Her eyes are locked on her hands which are knitted together in front of her. "It's nice of you to come visit, are you working on your school project now?"

"Uh… yeah! I mean… no, we aren't working on the project." Susie lets out a loud laugh which breaks up some of her nerves, "We probably won't even finish that thing."

Noelle frowns. "You need to finish it!" She raises her voice at her slightly, her hands parting to make cute little fists, "How are you going to pass the class without it?"

Susie shrugs with an eye roll, surprised at the strong reaction. "Dunno, don't really care."

Noelle bites her lip and knits her eyebrows together, "If you guys need help, once we're done with ours, I'd be happy to…"

Susie realizes she may have gone a bit too far as Noelle's clearly upset, her head drooping and not from embarrassment this time. "No, no no it's okay! We did start on it the other day, really! We'll finish it for sure, just not today. We'll be fine."

Noelle glances up, a small smile returning to her face. "Okay, you promise?"

Susie nods, "I promise. Hey… uh, I actually came by to see how you were doing."

Noelle's smile gets a little bigger, "Really? Well that's so nice! I'm doing great! We're almost done with our project." Noelle motions behind her at the stack of papers, "We just have some editing to do and we'll be ready to turn it in."

Susie's genuinely impressed and nods her head in appreciation, "Wow you guys are fast."

Noelle leans against the table, her hands once again coming together. "Thank you! You know… if you're in class the next time we have a project, we could work on it together." Noelle's voice comes out a bit quieter than normal, and the statement shocks Susie. "If you wanted."

"You'd want to work with me over Berdly? I might hurt your grade." Susie retorts. She looks down at her hands dangling at her sides, what is she even supposed to do with these? Usually, she doesn't think about her hands at all, but right now she has no clue where to put them. She ends up stuffing them into her pockets and leaning against the wall by the door.

She glances back up and sees Noelle shaking her head, "It wouldn't hurt my grade at all, I'm sure we could make a lovely project together."

Susie's heart swells at her optimism, no one has ever had such faith in her. "Alrighty. Let's plan for it then, I'll be there for sure." Noelle blushes even deeper, and this time turns away from Susie to look down at the desk. Susie's not sure what to say next, but she remembers Kris's idea from earlier and figures it can't hurt to at least try. "Uh, Noelle… Do you have any plans for the festival?"

Noelle spins back towards Susie so quickly she's surprised Noelle's head doesn't fly off. Her eyes have widened, though she just stares at her for a good twenty seconds, her smile turning into a full grin, showing off her teeth cutely. She finally responds shyly, "No, I don't have plans. Do you?"

"Only to drag Kris around and eat free food." Susie shrugs, then realizes she made a mistake when Noelle's expression starts to wane. "But I mean, I'll ditch them to hang out with you, if you want. I'd uh, like to go with you."

Noelle looks away again, this time at the clock on the wall. "This has to be a dream." Her eyes flick back to Susie. "Will you pinch me?"

Pinch her? Susie pushes off the wall to cross the room, stopping next to her and raising one hand. She reaches out with her right hand, but instead of a pinch goes for a gentle nudge on Noelle's arm. Noelle's skin is warm and leaves Susie's hand tingling as she pulls away. She also gets a whiff of lemony warm scent as she steps back, she can't remember ever noticing it before but it's intoxicating to her now.

Noelle's face is red all the way up to her ears at this point. "Well, I'm still here, so I guess it's not a dream. Yes! I'd love to go with you."

Susie's face breaks out in a wide grin, all the pressure and stress from a few moments prior evaporated. This time she knocks against Noelle's shoulder with her whole fist out of excitement. "All right! I mean, great. Sorry, I hope that didn't hurt you."

Noelle giggles, raising her own hand to gently pat Susie on the arm affectionately. "You're fine, don't worry about it. You could never hurt me."

Susie's ears are ringing from the contact and adrenaline. "Okay, so I'll pick you up at your house that day. Uhhh, I'll figure out the time later."

Noelle smiles softly, "Sounds good."

"Great." Susie glances up at the time and realizes she's left Kris alone with Berdly for far too long. "Okay, I'm gonna go, see you later Noelle."

"Bye Susie."

Susie turns and practically dashes into the library's lobby, looking around for Kris and the most recent addition to their squad. She sees them at a table near the front. Berdly is reading from some book, and Kris is wearing their usual bored expression but kind of looks like they're about to stab Berdly at any moment.

Susie runs over and grabs Kris by the arm. "Thanks Berdly, we gotta go." She drags Kris out of the library, a permanent smile plastered on her face.