Apples
"So would you rather have 100 pieces of chalk, or 10 of Ralsei's cakes?"
Admittedly, you hadn't given it much thought. While you knew Ralsei's confections were cauldron-fresh, you hadn't exactly tried eating chalk before. Not that it sounded very appetizing, but the special pleasure that came across Susie's face when popping them into her maw like popcorn did give you pause. Maybe it would be like some of the chalkier candies your mother bought for you and your brother after school days. Would different colors have different flavors? Red would be strawberry, but would yellow be banana or lemon? Wait, but there was always raspberry too. And technically dragon fruit. You wonder if Susie has ever tried dragon fruit. Would it be rude to ask that?
While considering the flavor combinations of a pack of mixed-color chalk, you barely even noticed the fist connecting with your arm. "Hey freak, it was an easy question. Why do you always seem to get stuck on this shit? I mean, cake is awesome, but come on, it's chalk." Rubbing your arm from the less than casual punch, you noticed Susie was smiling despite her annoyance. Normally, that smile would have set alarms off in your head, but between your adventures in the Dark World and moments like these, some part of you is comforted by the sharp teeth shining back.
You and Susie had been spending most of your free time together as of late, between classes and out of school. The conversations would start awkwardly, Susie initially trying to bring up the weather or how Berdly looked like even more of a nerd than usual. After which, silence. You were never one to hold much of a conversation, but with Susie's clear inexperience in having social interactions without threats of bodily harm, and your preference towards listening rather than actually voicing your thoughts, it was a struggle.
That is, until last week when you broke the ice and asked, "Who would win? Temmie, or Snowy?"
Susie's eyes lit up at the hypothetical, immediately breaking into the play-by-play, "Well Temmie's got speed. That's obvious, freak shakes like she's about to lift off the second the bell rings. But Snowy is pretty bulky. I could see him taking some serious hits before going down."
This became part of your routine now, sitting down for lunch, coming up with scenarios that became more and more absurd the longer you'd go. You still preferred to keep your mouth shut when possible, but these discussions launched Susie into long tirades of how fights would work and, now, which food should be eaten. It was more fun than you'd ever admit to her.
You lean further into the tree you and Susie had picked out during lunch break. The bark crested against your sweater, likely carrying with it a number of unnoticeable splinters and sap into the dense cloth. Autumn was showing it's face in full, with the canopy above you softly dropping yellowed leaves all around. Stifling a small chuckle, you remembered a few days ago when Susie got up from where you were now sitting, only to carry with her half a dozen leaves mashed into her mane. You were never a fan of the outdoors, though fall had its appeal.
You looked out onto the schoolyard, enjoying the small amount of peace you had being so far away from the students running about. Susie hardly sought out others during break, which suited you just fine. You asked her before if she had ever tried to spend time with everyone else, only receiving a limited and muted response.
"I mean, they have their thing and I have…mine. They know what's up. Besides, I have enough weirdos to deal with now. I got that huggy wimp and Lancer down in the Dark World, and now I gotta deal with your quiet ass all the time." Despite Susie's insults, you could always notice a small smile breaking out on her face even with her attempts to hide it. Keeping your hair long was likely your only saving grace during those moments, otherwise Susie would be teasing you about the goofy grin plastered on your face.
Still, it was a sudden change of pace. You never avoided others in the past, but they were just…there. School came and went without much issue, in which you were perfectly satisfied blending into the background. But after adventuring through the Dark World, becoming a so-called hero, and actually getting to know the purple dragon girl sitting next to you, there was no way you wouldn't cling to those you found so much comfort in. Some part of it just felt natural, why wouldn't you spend time together after everything you went through? You were friends, right? Yeah, this is what friends do.
Another punch to the shoulder. At this rate your ignorance was going to lead to a dead arm. "Come on man, give me something to work with! Screw it, how about this. Would you rather fight Ralsei or-"
The distant chime of the school bell announced the end of whatever thought Susie had concocted. "Goddamn it. Come on, we just have math with Alphys and then we're out."
You start to push yourself up from the grass below, taking with you a few of the blades from where you sat. Susie began to stand up slowly, showing just how comfortable she had been nestled against the tree (the heavy imprint in the grass suggested as much). Leaning her head back, you could see her yellow eyes peak out from underneath the low-hanging mane, glowing ever so slightly with the reflected sun. Had her eyes always been so pretty? Pretty cool you mean, super cool.
Upon setting herself upright, she began to stretch her arms into the air, connecting her hands right at the fingertips. You realize in the moment just how much taller she is than you. 6ft? 7ft? It was hard to say, but she towered over you none the less.
"What? Is there some shit on my back or something?" Damn it, she caught you staring. What's the point of having hair covering your eyes if people can tell what you're looking at anyway?
"N-No, sorry. Just looking at the tree." She looks at you with confusion, glancing at the tree behind her, then back at you to deliver a skeptical stare back. You feel your face begin heating up, your cheeks flaring more than you'd like.
"Come on, let's just get to class," you weakly state, quickly turning towards the school and your increasingly red face away from her.
There's that same tightness in your chest. At first you thought it was just part of your nervousness throughout social encounters. After all, you really only spent time with your family and a few friends when you were little. But there was something else to the feeling. The sensation only ever occurred with Susie, a tightening in your chest and sudden loss for words you had so neatly thought up only moments ago. You think to yourself how this all began after leaving the Dark World for the first time, where she smiled back at you, placed her arm on your shoulder, and…
There it is again, that same tightness in your chest. You push yourself to shake away the thoughts, moving your feet in an effort to somehow physically leave the headspace that plagued you.
Only a few steps in and you notice yourself being grabbed by heavy arms, purple scales reflecting with the sunlight beaming down. You're slightly lifted off the ground, your feet dangling, only able to touch the earth beneath with the tips of your shoes. Is she hugging you?
You quickly realize what was thought to be an embrace is now a chokehold, one arm pushed underneath your neck, chin buried in the crook of the surprisingly muscular dragon's bicep. Then, the realization slowly creeps up on you, the horror beyond all defining was about to occur.
"Gotcha, can't escape from a noogie now nerd!" You felt a knuckle grind into the top of your head, quickly erasing any and all hair styling you once had (which admittedly, was none). You struggled to escape from the hold, only eliciting a hearty laugh from the scaled brute behind you. The deep rumblings of her laughter resonated throughout her chest, lifting you up further with every heave of air at your expense.
"Susie, come on! Let me go already, class is gonna start soon!" No mercy in sight it seems, your fate is sealed in a seemingly endless assault to your scalp's wellbeing.
Suddenly, the purple brute's attack stops. Both confusion and relief hit you. While you're not going to question the brutality coming to an end, you still find yourself buried in the dragon's arm, feet barely able to scrape the ground below. Craning your neck as far up as possible you observe Susie…sniffing?
"Wha-," you're immediately cut off from whatever question rose from your throat as the mauve dragoness brings you closer to her nose, breathing in your hair's scent.
"Apples." You stare in confusion, awaiting a follow-up to what was at least within the top 10 of most confusing statements you'd heard out of her.
"Dude, you smell like apples. What the hell, is that what I was smelling all the time?" She almost sounded angry, as if you were hiding some world-ending secret up until this very moment. You feel her arm slacken, enough for you to catch your breath and see the annoyed face above you.
"I've been smelling goddamn apples for years in class, it was your dumbass the entire time?"
Your hair, that's why she was smelling it. Of course, you had been using that ICE-E's Apple Scented Hair Wash for years now. You never thought it carried much of a scent, but it at least left your hair feeling clean enough to get through the day. She had been smelling it for years?
You look back up and notice a faint hue of a darker purple forming on Susie's face. Did you make her angry? She was the one who was suddenly sniffing your hair, why was she angry? Wait, but that means during class she…?
"Wait, you could smell my hair?" You look up to see a still stunned Susie, hoping that your muffled voice pushed past her arm's embrace on your face. It was the first time you'd ever seen Susie at a loss for words. There were plenty of moments where she would defer to you for ACTing (especially when flirting proved the most effective strategy). But rarely was she left speechless.
"Well, yeah. I-I mean no, not like that you freak. Like, when I was passing by your desk, or when I would lean forward in my chair. It just happened, okay! Stop smiling!"
Were you smiling? You didn't even realize until now that you had been holding back a grin throughout the confession.
"Look, I just got hungry during class sometimes and that stupid smell didn't help! I just thought it was some shit from Berdly's lunch or something, I don't know!"
At this point you couldn't hold back a cackle, muffled as it was through Susie's arm. Upon hearing this, you were immediately dropped from the hold, barely catching yourself on your feet. Looking up, you saw Susie did not share the same joy you had just experienced, an embarrassed frown painted on her face as she stared holes through the ground.
"Sorry, sorry! It's just, I didn't think anyone could smell it. It's just some shampoo my mom buys me." With an ornery look on her face, you realize now is the time to give her something in return. It was the least you could do.
"My mom says it makes my hair smell good, alright? I can't use the animal shampoo my brother uses." There it is, the smirk on her face. That's what you were looking for.
"Y-Yeah, I mean, I bet you could use the animal shampoo. It'd probably make you smell better than you usually do anyway!" Susie stood with a self-satisfied grin on her face, now given a point of teasing on a silver platter. There was still a hint of dark purple across her face, but now covered by her lips stretching to show razor sharp teeth. You'd probably regret confessing that later, but for now it was enough to see balance restored. And Susie smiling.
There was that tightness in your chest again.
"Come on freak, Alphys is probably wondering if we got lost looking for chalk again." She waved you over, clearly brushing off what had just occurred. You start walking with Susie in tow, trying to make sense of what just happened. Was she smelling your hair during class? Maybe she was just passing by and she had a sense of smell only dragons are capable of. But then, wouldn't you have picked up on apples throughout the day due to your hair covering much of your face? You can smell parts of it, but only if you get close enough and…
"Hey, freak." You turn to see Susie towering over you, eyes to the ground.
"The shampoo smells okay, I guess. Just, like, I don't know. Apples are cool."
You remind yourself to pick up more shampoo on your way home.
...
Wait, a girl sniffed your hair what the hell.