Foreword:

Here's another story set in the world of Deltarune. This one's much more conventional than You-Like - it's a simple and somewhat-sweet story about young people figuring themselves out, and eating inordinate amounts of dessert in the process.

Just as a warning, there is a small amount of Kralsei, mostly one-sided, and complicated somewhat by the interjections of a third party. So if you're not into that, this may not be the story for you.

As always, I'm happy to receive any feedback you may have, and if you liked it, do let me know in some way, as I am a weak human being who craves the approval of strangers. Thank you for reading! :)

Sarcasm, Secrets and Starfait

'Hey, Kris… w-would you, um…'

From behind his large green spectacles, Ralsei's eyes darted around the courtyard, desperate to look anywhere but at the human stood next to him. His cheeks were flushed pink, matching the scarf he was currently trying to bury his face in. He took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and tried again.

'Would… would you l-like to… um, come to the-'

'Coming through, losers!'

Susie shot between the two of them, carrying an ecstatic Lancer on her back. The spades prince screamed and waved his arms in the air as he was hurtled this way and that at top speed.

'D… don't run so fast, please…!' the prince called after them, trying to sound authoritative and failing.

'Sorry, Toothpaste Boy! The Susie express doesn't have any brakes on it!' Lancer called back.

'Haha, that's right, Toothpaste Boy!' added Susie as she swerved back for a second shot at them. Kris stepped deftly out of the way, allowing them to pass harmlessly by.

'S-someone's going to get hurt…!' Ralsei pleaded, to no effect whatsoever. If anything, this seemed to make her run even faster, causing Lancer's shrieking to reach ultrasonic pitch. Kris watched them as they sped towards Castle Town, hurtling between buildings and just barely avoiding colliding with the townsfolk.

'Well, at least she's having fun, huh Kris?' said Ralsei with a small smile. 'They really bring out the best in each other, don't they?'

Kris nodded thoughtfully. Then they gestured to their companion, as if to ask what he was going to say. Though they suspected they already knew what it was.

'…oh! Right, I was just… with Swatch running the c-café now… perhaps you'd like to, um, go there?'

They continued to stare, waiting for the rest of the sentence. Ralsei began to blush again.

'As in, um, together…' he squeaked, 'with… me?'

Kris blinked. That all-too-familiar sensation was forming in their chest, which meant the SOUL was stirring, and a choice was about to be made. Of course, they already knew how it would decide – for some reason, it seemed to possess a strong preference for Ralsei, choosing to give him the best equipment and showering him with praise and affection. It didn't matter what Kris wanted. It never did, really.

'That sounds lovely,' they said, thinking of all the other things they could be doing instead.

The prince's face lit up like a Christmas tree, a dopey smile spreading across his cheeks. 'That's… I mean… great! Thank… er, did you… shall we…?'

Kris led on, and together they exited the castle. The town's ghostly blue light shone softly in the dark, otherworldly and yet strangely familiar, comforting and yet slightly melancholic. No shadows fell here, despite the strange shapes of the buildings. Ralsei must have lived here, in this beautiful, haunting place, all by himself, for his entire life. The thought was… sobering. And yet, he was always so chipper, like nothing troubled him at all. Perhaps that was only since they'd become his friend… it was impossible to say.

Susie and Lancer were long gone by the time they reached the café. There were a few darkners sat at tables, sipping their drinks, soaking in the relaxing ambience or chatting with their companions. At the main bar, Swatch sparkled as they set to polishing the silverware for the seventh time that evening.

'Kris, why don't you, um, take a seat? I'll get us something and bring it over, ok?'

Kris looked over the tables. There were a few nestled in the far corner, furthest from the door… the one by the window looked particularly inviting. But then, perhaps a centre table would be more suitable for something like this. And knowing Ralsei, he likely asked ahead to ensure the window seat was left empty on purpose. Yes, a centre table would be best, Kris decided, before walking over and seating themself right next to the window.

Just like old times, they supposed.

Ralsei was deliberating at the counter over what to get, and a line of impatient darkners was forming behind him. Experimentally, Kris tried breathing hard on the window pane, but the glass refused to fog up. And so they just watched the dark world go by outside, wondering if darkners slept, or went to school, or had families. Did Darkners adopt? Perhaps, if Queen's treatment of Lancer was anything to go by. But then, those two were already quite similar to begin with…

'Oh, you're back here, Kris!' said Ralsei, disrupting their train of thought. 'Sorry I took so long, haha.'

The prince gently set a tray down onto the table, before taking a seat opposite Kris. There was only one glass on the tray, filled with a luxuriously-decorated dessert of some kind. Next to the ornate glass lay two long silver spoons, their heads resting gently against one another.

'…I wanted to surprise you, Kris…' said Ralsei with a shy smile. 'I had it made especially – it's a dark candy starfait, with… well, why don't you, um, try it…?'

Kris eyed the dessert. Mounds of soft ice cream and delicate custard were layered with pieces of mallow-like dark candy that showed up like abyssal stars in a milky-white sky. They reached out and grabbed both spoons, one in each hand.

'Haha, Kris! You can't eat all that by yourself!' giggled Ralsei. 'You'll get sick!'

A little smile crept over Kris's face. They looked him in the eyes as they raised both spoons, as if to say 'Can't I?'

Ralsei looked away, hands fidgeting on the table. 'Err, I mean… if you want to, I suppose… It is a little… um, large, though, and I… I thought we could, maybe… share…?'

The human thought about this, and then gave a small nod, holding out one of the spoons to the prince, handle-first. Haltingly, Ralsei took it, mumbling a little 'Thank you' into his scarf.

They waited there, spoons in hand, for what felt like ages, waiting to see who would go first. After about thirty seconds or so, Kris went in, gathering up as much starfait as they could on their dainty spoon. As they broke the surface of the dessert, the smell of marshmallows washed over them, bringing back bittersweet memories of long ago. Before they could think about that anymore, they stuffed it into their mouth.

Kris's eyes widened.

It had been colder than they had expected, a small chill running through them as it filled their mouth, but the cream itself was velvety smooth and rich, and the dark candy melted away into sweet nothingness on their tongue. And there was… something else there, too. Something hard, slightly bitter tasting, but not unpleasantly so. Kris tentatively bit into it, and it gave with a satisfying snap, loosing small shards of sweet, rich chocolate that went off like fireworks amongst the cream and marshmallows. It was so delicious, so cloyingly sweet that Kris felt like they might cry.

'D… do you like it?' said Ralsei, burying himself in the folds of his scarf again. 'I… I know chocolate is your favourite, so I… got them to make it up especially...'

Gritting their teeth, Kris gave a little nod. Seeing this, Ralsei's smile widened, and he seemed to relax a bit.

'That makes me very happy, Kris.'

He took a small spoonful of starfait and lifted it elegantly to his mouth. He closed his eyes and hummed contentedly. The two of them took turns chipping away at the mountainous dessert between them. Not many words passed across the table, but even the silence was rather comfortable. This was… nice.

It wasn't like Kris disliked Ralsei, particularly. He was thoughtful, considerate, understanding, respectful… his mere presence was soothing and reassuring, injecting much-needed calm in the dynamic between them, him and the more rambunctious Susie. And yes, he could be somewhat… much, at times… but if you were going to have too much of something, might as well be something nice, right?

'So Kris, do you ever do stuff like this?' asked Ralsei in between bites. 'Back in the light world, I mean.'

They recalled the old ritual they shared with their brother, before he left for college - hot chocolate at QC's, window seat, just spending some time together, away from the watchful eyes at school, away from all the chaos back home. In many strange ways, this was a recreation of that ritual - the details were different, but the broad strokes were all there. Did Ralsei somehow know about those times…? But then, if so, why would he ask about them…?

Kris shook their head. Technically, it wasn't lying, because they didn't do that anymore.

The prince's expression turned thoughtful. '…I see. So, you've… never done anything like this with… with Susie, then?'

Taken aback by this question, they didn't respond right away. It was difficult to imagine her sitting still long enough to do anything like this with them… and yet, something about the idea made Kris feel strange… all hot and fluttery in the chest, in a way that had nothing to do with the SOUL.

'I guess not,' said Ralsei. 'That's a shame, Kris. You should treat her one day – I'm sure both of you would enjoy that!'

Kris noted the way he said that, how he seemed so quietly pleased at the thought that he was the first one.

They fell back into companionable silence, continuing their attack on the starfait. Kris had to admit (though they didn't exactly like to) that there was something rather pleasant about just hanging out with Ralsei like this, watching him take exorbitant care not to spill anything onto his clothes, his fluffy little face scrunched up in concentration as he guided the spoon to his mouth. There was something rather compelling about his boundless earnestness, his complete lack of airs and fronts, his eagerness to please his friends. Indeed, if it wasn't for the SOUL's constant interference, perhaps there could be something…

'How are the young masters enjoying their starfait?'

They looked up. A swatchling stood respectfully by their table, wings clasped together in front of them. Kris wondered how someone so bulky and angular could look so refined and reserved, or how they could move so silently among the tables, like swans on the surface of a tranquil lake. Their mouth still full of dessert, Kris shot them a thumbs-up.

'Very good,' said the waiter in a singsong voice. 'And the prince?'

Ralsei adjusted his glasses, smiled sweetly, and said, 'This is absolutely disgusting. The worst thing I've ever eaten!'

Kris almost spat everything out over him, eyes agog at the normally-demure prince's uncharacteristic utterance. Seeing their expression, Ralsei stuck his tongue out and winked, which to their eyes was even stranger to see.

To their credit, however, the waiter kept their unflappable composure. 'How regrettable. I shall bring a suitable alternative. No charge, of course.'

This was enough to shatter what passed for Ralsei's swagger, and he stood up at once, nearly falling over himself with how mortified he was. 'Um… s-sorry! I didn't mean… I was being, um… sarcastic! The starfait is wonderful! Thank you so much.'

The swatchling's expression did not change. 'Of course. How droll. Please do call if we can be of assistance.'

Once they had left, the prince slumped back into his seat, tugging anxiously at his long floppy ears. Then, suddenly remembering who he was with, he pulled himself back upright and offered Kris a weak smile.

'I, um, suppose I overdid it, haha,' he said, in a voice that was little more than a whimper. '…b-but at least I'm getting better at it! …um, do you think…?'

The human blinked once or twice, then shovelled another spoonful of starfait into their face to avoid having to give an answer.

Ralsei gave out a huge sigh, seeming to deflate before Kris's eyes. '…Susie makes it look so easy. I guess she's had lots of practice, but… somehow, you can just tell, you know? She says things a certain way, and you just… know. That's a real skill… I think.'

Kris nodded. She certainly had sarcasm down to a fine art. Along with swearing, snarling, hitting things really hard… if you didn't know her, you'd give her a very wide berth in the school corridors. But underneath all that, beneath the hard scales, wild hair and rows upon terrifying rows of teeth, there beat the heart of a true hero and a loyal friend.

'I'm… really glad to have her as a friend. And…'

Ralsei looked over at Kris again, staring directly into their eyes with an intensity that caught the human off-guard.

'I… just wanted you to know, Kris, that I… really appreciate everything you do for me. Y… you're the b-best friend I could have ever asked for, and you… um, really… mean a lot to me…'

Now the boy was blushing so brightly he could be seen from outer space, and yet his gaze never fell away from Kris's.

'I… in fact, I… umm…'

Something in Kris's chest began to stir. Something was about to happen, and yet again, they would have no control over what it would be. The fingers of their right hand began to curl and twitch, seemingly of their own volition. And they couldn't get them to stop.

'…oh, I'm sorry…' said Ralsei, suddenly breaking-eye contact. 'I didn't mean to… haha, get off-track like that. H-how about we, um, finish this lovely starfait before—'

Kris's hand reached over and took Ralsei's, stopping the prince dead. Almost as if the contact was burning him, he tried to withdraw it, but the human gripped it tighter, fingers digging into the soft fur.

'K… K… Kris?! W-what are you…?!'

'You mean a lot to me, too.'

The prince's eyes became little pin-pricks of shock. 'O… oh! That's, um… do… do you really… mean that…?'

Kris leaned forward with a warm smile, and said, in a voice so quiet it was almost a monotone, 'I do.'

Ralsei blinked, completely unmoving. He seemed frozen in place, eyes glassy, blushing furiously. Neither of them spoke for a moment. When he finally did open his mouth, the voice that came out of it sounded faraway, as if rousing from a beautiful dream.

'…you really are wonderful… you know that… don't you?'

His fingers found Kris's and interlocked with them, squeezing their hand tightly, as if afraid that if he let go, they would be lost forever. From somewhere in their chest, the SOUL was doing cartwheels.

'…K… Kris, I… I…'

The door to the café flew open with a terrifying crash, and Ralsei jumped out of his seat at once, letting go of Kris's hand in the process. The heavy tread of combat boots thundered towards their table.

'…so this is where you two ran off to,' said the newcomer.

'S… Susie!' said the prince, trying to pull himself together and not quite succeeding. 'W… where's Lancer…?'

'Past his bedtime, apparently,' she scowled. 'Queen said if he didn't go to his room right away, she'd hit us with her ultimate attack...'

'…I suppose she cares, at least…'

'Pssh. I mean, I coulda handled it, EASY, but… well, y'know…'

She frowned, looking from Kris to Ralsei. '…hey, I'm not… interrupting anythin', am I?'

Kris shook their head vehemently. Susie leaned in, one amber eye narrowed, her brow creased with thought. Then, she straightened, appearing to have reached a conclusion.

'Yeah. Think I got the measure of it,' she said quietly. 'I see what's goin' on here.'

If it were possible for Ralsei to turn any whiter than he already was, he would have done so in that moment.

'W-w-w-what do you… Kris and I don't…'

'Nah. It's fine, y'know. No judgment here. Nope. It's cool. But, uh, lemme ask you two something.'

'Um… Susie…?'

Slowly, she grinned, revealing rows of yellowed, needle-like teeth. Then she thumped the table with her clenched fist, rattling everything on top of it and causing Ralsei to jump backwards again with a little yelp. The café fell deathly silent, all eyes turned to the unfolding scene.

'Did you REALLY think you could keep this from me?' she growled. 'Thought you could just… sneak off while I was distracted, huh?'

'I-it's not what you think, Susie…! W-w-we were just…'

'Oh, I KNOW what you two were doing. I saw through the window. So, you see, there's no use denying it…'

She lunged forward, clasping her hands over the spoons and wrenching them out of Kris and Ralsei's grasp. There was a mad gleam in her eyes, the same sort of look a starved beast might give a wounded animal.

'…you're HOGGING ALL THE DESSERT FOR YOURSELVES!'

She set upon the remains of the starfait like a thing possessed, cramming fistfuls of cream and marshmallow into her gaping maw, before completely abandoning the attempt, grabbing the dessert glass with both hands, and draining its contents in one go. Kris and Ralsei looked at each other over the carnage.

'Oh,' he said, somewhat crestfallen. 'I… ought to have seen this coming, I suppose.'

Kris just smiled.

'Not bad,' said Susie, setting the glass down and wiping her face with the back of her arm. 'I've got, like, millions of marshmallow-things stuck in my teeth now, though.'

'…well, I'm glad you enjoyed it, Susie,' said Ralsei with a sweet little smile. 'Next time we'll bring you too! And Lancer, if he wants to come.'

'Yeah, cool,' she replied, using one long talon to pick between her teeth. '…anyways, Kris. Think it's about time we got back. Your mom's gonna start wondering where you got to.'

'Oh, yes Kris!' said the prince, adopting his stern, Ralsei-knows-best expression. 'You mustn't make your family worry about you!'

'…you gonna try banishing us again, eh Ralsei?'

His expression became a notch more devious. 'I might, if you two don't step on it!'

'Yeah, it was nice to see you too,' she grinned. 'Don't be too long, Kris.'

'Bye Susie!' he called after her. 'Don't forget to do your homework!'

'YOU'RE NOT MY DAD, RALSEI!' she snarled back from the door, raising a chuckle from the prince. Kris went to follow her, waving goodbye to their friend.

'Wait, Kris,' Ralsei called to them, reaching out an arm as if to stop them. 'Um, I just wanted to say thanks. For today. It was really nice to hang out with you.'

Kris nodded, patting their stomach as if to say, 'thanks for the meal'.

'And… um, about… all that stuff I said… just now…'

Not a single noise interrupted the silence in the café, as the diners and waiters leaned in to see how this would play out.

'That was… well, it was… just sarcasm. So, um, you don't need to worry about it, ok?'

The sense of disappointment emanating from the surrounding diners was almost palpable. Kris studied Ralsei intently from beneath their dark hair. He squirmed a bit, his earlier bashfulness returning to him.

'…you should get going, before Susie carries you off,' he said. 'I'll… see you again tomorrow, ok?'

This seemed to satisfy them. They smiled, gave him a little thumbs-up, and then went outside to catch up with Susie.

'What took you so damn long?' said Susie, once they reached the gateway back into the Light World. 'What, did you wanna hold his hand again? Stare into his eyes a little longer, huh?'

She laughed uproariously at this, but choked it back when she saw the dirty look Kris shot her.

'What?! That's what I saw, alright?! Look, you can do what you want, 's'not like I care. If you like the little weirdo… well, no judgment, like I said.'

They looked away, and Susie gave a frustrated snort. But she couldn't completely hide the concern in her face.

'Uhh… Kris?' she said, haltingly. 'I've been meaning to ask for a little while now… everything… ok?'

The human looked at her, still saying nothing. Then they turned away again.

'…can't say, huh.'

Kris shrugged. But when they felt Susie's hand rest gently on their shoulder, they looked up again, caught off-guard by the gesture.

She smiled down at them. 'When you wanna talk… I'm here for you, alright? And Ralsei will be, too. s'what friends are for, right?'

After a moment, Kris nodded with a small smile of their own, as if to say 'Thank you.'

'It's just…' and now Susie frowned, claw stroking her chin. 'I've noticed some things. When Ralsei's around, you… act differently. I dunno how to explain it, exactly. But it's a bit like… you almost… become someone else?'

Kris said nothing. What could they say to that, after all? She'd hit far, far closer to the mark than she'd ever know, and a small part of them wanted to reveal everything, the constant dread that at any time, control of their own body could be yanked from them without any warning. But another, altogether greater part of them, feared exactly what she would end up doing if she did find out about it.

'Thing is, I've seen the way he looks at you. And lemme tell you, Kris… he's got it BAD. I mean, like, hearing-wedding-bells bad… uh… I guess what I'm tryna say is, be careful how you act around him. You might think you're being kind, but you shouldn't play around with someone else's heart. You… could end up breaking it. Y'know?'

They recalled that moment back in the café, when their hand had reached out to take Ralsei's, without any intent or input of their own. It was the SOUL doing those things. Whoever or whatever was controlling it, it decided to act this way around him, without pausing to consider its puppet's feelings or desires. The question remained, though they were too frightened to properly acknowledge it; just how far would it go? How much would it take?

Susie must have seen something of Kris's internal conflict in their expression, because she then said, 'Hey, don't take it to heart, aright? I'm, uh… prolly just overthinking things. It's been a long day. Now, we gonna get going or what?'

They stepped into the light together. Back to the real world, for what it was worth. Another day of adventure and friendship had come to an end. But they'd be back tomorrow, and it'd be even better than ever.

Kris would make sure of that… SOUL or no SOUL.