Truthfully, Susie really didn't mind their lunch sessions despite all evidence to the contrary. She barely spoke to Kris before their trip to the Darkner world and for obvious reasons, he barely said anything to her either, but there was one interaction between them that she would not allow herself to forget.

She could not get it out of her head how he had gone limp in her hand as she all but hoisted him up by the neck and told him in hushed tones that "Quiet people piss me off". She had nothing against quiet people. She was quite quiet herself unless someone made the effort to annoy her or get in her way. Perhaps it just weighed on her mind thanks to the King of Spades unintentionally parroting it word for word like he was trying to kill her with guilt alone.

So no, her lunches spent with her quiet friend didn't bug her in the least. Which is why his question left her slightly confused.

"Do you want to go outside?"

"Nah. Why?"

He shrugged. "Just thought it would be nice for a change"

Susie grimaced before focusing back on the checkers game between them.

"Don't lie to me, man"

"M'not"

"You're hiding something then"

Kris fidgeted as he jumped his piece over two of her own.

"I thought the others might be nicer to you if we showed them you're not a bully anymore"

For some reason, that really stung. The checker she was about to move hung in midair.

"Does it bother you that you're friends with a bully now?" she asked when she realised he was waiting for her to respond. Judging from his hands nervously wringing his jumper, it was a topic he had been trying to find some way of phrasing delicately.

"No," he said almost instantly. Susie huffed and fidgeted with one of the holes in her jeans.

"I told you not to lie to me. I treated you like shit for like, three-quarters of our journey, not to mention how I was to you before then". Kris sat back from the board that had been quite clearly disregarded in favour of the new topic.

"You did"

"And?!"

"I forgave you"

She turned her head up and laughed like it was the funniest thing she had heard.

"Hah! Don't make me laugh! You can't just sweep it all under the rug like I didn-"

"Yes I can", he said resolutely, turning to stare at her. "Why wouldn't I?" Her eyes narrowed threateningly.

"Don't give me that shit!" she yelled accusingly, making Kris flinch and look downward. "God, you sound just like him! You think if I just act nice and play friendly with everyone, that they'll forget everything I've done!? New flash for you Kris. Not everyone is like you and Ralsei!"

"They might do" he managed to murmur out before-

"YOU THINK I DIDN'T TRY!?"

The board was upended as she stood up.

"I was difficult to talk to! To play with! TO BE NEAR! SO THEY DIDN'T TRY!"

Susie managed to loom over him without even trying. It suddenly felt very claustrophobic in the tiny room.

He panicked.

"I'm sorry! I-"

"GET OUT"

He did.

She spent minutes just standing and collecting herself by taking huge, shuddering breaths.

Without a target, her rage slowly simmered down. Checkers littered the floor. The room had never exactly been tidy but the huge hole where the board had been suddenly felt stark and lonely.

'They hadn't even tried'

She slumped back against the closet door.

'The only ones that did were…'

o - o - o - o - o

Kris skirted his way around the school, following the path that ran alongside the building. He passed the bench he used to sit on for lunch before finally stopping near the end.

The way the field curved around the building meant that a small section of the path had to follow to accommodate but there was no real need to follow it all the way around. Very few did, leaving a tiny area of tarmac near the end that was even sheltered from the elements by the buildings sloping roof. It wasn't often occupied, was large enough not to be cramped and it was a difficult spot for teachers to adequately patrol so it suited his needs whenever he had wanted to be alone before.

And right now, he needed to be alone.

Susie's mood hadn't exactly improved after her episode in the closet. She had reduced her discontent down to a single punch when the closet refused to budge now but her lack of enthusiasm for violence against the doors that had bait and switched them was more disheartening than it was a sign of improvement. He thought some time when she wasn't leaning against or staring at them might take her mind off it a little.

That wasn't to say his reasons were entirely altruistic though.

Kris had a fear.

While they hung out a lot at school and more than a few times wandered town in the afternoon to the never-ending worry of Toriel, he always held the niggling doubt that one day she would get bored of it. That she'd tire of just hanging out and talking. That she might forsake the friendless kid who played card games with her in an abandoned classroom. Discard the boy that no one else would play with because he had been 'creepy'. Abandon him like his parents had when he didn't meet their expectations of what a good child should be.

He didn't notice the shadows behind him until one of their owners grabbed him by the back of his jumper and hoisted him up. He was twisted around roughly and…

'Oh…'

There were a lot of people standing there. Enough to make the tiny space feel very crowded all of a sudden. He grimaced. He didn't know a lot of them. Those that he did hung on the periphery, close enough to see what was going on but not enough that he could hope they would intervene.

Not that they would anyway.

"Kris," said the one holding him. How did they know his name? Did it matter?

He swallowed something sharp that wasn't there.

"It has come to our attention that you've been spending an awful lot of time with Susie"

The grip around his collar tightened.

"Care to explain?"

The knot in his throat mimicked it.

"I thought not. Doesn't matter anyway"

"H-hey guys" a new voice piped up. MK slipped through the small crowd with practised ease. "C'mon, it's hardly Kris's fault that-"

"Shut up, unless you want me to make your eyes match!"

He would've applauded MK's bravery in other circumstances. Kris highly doubted he had any idea who those accosting him were either. Again, if he was in any other situation, he would probably be impressed that Susie was managing to bully those in the years above her.

"So," he said, returning his attention to Kris as MK dipped back between the crowds and sprinted off. "You're the one Susie finally decides to give a shit about?"

They didn't know him. Which meant they didn't know who his mother was. They must also not have noticed that another teacher had already seen the situation brewing, meaning MK had probably alerted someone after he slipped away. Kris must have smiled at the thought of their reactions when they found out because not only was he pushed hard against the wall, but upwards as well. He could practically feel the fibres of his jumper tearing as he was lifted off the ground.

"Nothing personal kid, but you're gonna wish she didn't"

"HEY!"

'Oh, thank god' he thought as he was dropped back down as his aggressor whirled around in shock.

Kris had a vague recollection of the final moments of their matchup with the Spade King. He remembered the initial strike after Ralsei, the innocent kid, had healed him. He recalled his decision to jump in front of Susie and the futility of it as yet more spades rained down on the both of them. The sucker punch of an uppercut afterwards had sent him flying backwards, weightless before crumpling back on the bridge.

Every inch of his form had been in agony as the king had picked him back up and for a scant few seconds, he silently begged the tyrant to keep monologuing so he wouldn't be tempted to enact his threat against Lancer earlier on him. Or perhaps that would've been the more merciful death? Ruminating on it always turned his stomach. He didn't even notice the spades above him as the king repeated Susie's words back to him one last time. That had been the most painful thing about the whole encounter.

The relief of being dropped unceremoniously back on the bridge was matched only from hearing the voice he heard from behind the monarch. The fury on his behalf had been quite touching really.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!"

If she had been furious then, she was absolutely livid now.

Students practically ran out of her path as she made her way to his attacker, who surprisingly hadn't run off.

"Well, well, well..."

'Wait, why was he so smug?'

"YOU THINK I WON'T KICK YOUR ASS FOR HIM OR SOMETHING?! BECAUSE I ABSOLUTELY WOULD!"

"Haha! I believe you. You just can't is all"

"I'LL SHOW YOU CAN'T!"

But before she could so much as raise her fist, Kris had grabbed her arm.

"Hah! No wonder you hang around him, Susie! He's smarter than you! Course, he hangs around you to begin with so not much smarter, but still!"

"The fuck are you talking about?" Susie asked, traces of nervousness entering her tone. He sneered.

"If you fight me, you get expelled! There's even a teacher here to watch it happen!"

Susie suddenly felt like she had just been dropped in a pool of piranhas. Her head spun around in panic to find who he was talking about before suddenly turning as white as her scales allowed her to. Kris already knew who and was similarly petrified.

Alphys.

Of course, it had to have been Alphys on duty that day. Alphys, who had been the subject of Susie's low-level intimidation by way of silence and creating situations that she found it difficult to talk in for who knows how long now. Alphys, who had probably been as freaked out as everyone else to hear Susie raise her voice.

Of course, it had to be the only teacher who might have a bias against her.

"So… Got anything else to say before you leave forever, freak?" he said, almost comically rubbing his fist into a palm.

She grit her teeth as Kris clenched his fists. This was it. What they had all been waiting for.

Her head dipped low in an attempt to regain as much intimidation as she had lost, her clenched eyes that threatened to leak at any moment hidden from the world.

Having to leave school because she defended Kris? She smiled sadly. At least she could say it had been worth it.

"I didn't think s-"

CRACK

Kris was suddenly very aware that his thumb was throbbing. At least the blood on it wasn't his.

"AAAAGH!"

Kris was intimately aware that whenever he walked anywhere with Susie, he was summarily ignored. Even though he was only a head shorter, anything that wasn't at her eye level from when people looked at her and anything below knee height from people trying to get by without catching her ire was a massive blind spot. A fact he had ruthlessly taken advantage of. Apparently, he had been useful bait and nothing more to the guy who was now bent double, clutching his nose. Still...he could easily bounce back…

Kris had a stainless record despite his delinquent past. His pranking with Asriel had been almost legendary to such a small town. None of it had ever really bordered into criminal territory, however. Would he really jeopardise his future school prospects to defend his best friend?

Moving away from Susie, who was just as stunned as everyone else, he delivered a swift kick to his stomach and watched as he let go off his nose to grasp at his stomach as he wheezed on the floor.

Yes. Yes, he would.

"Alright, break it up!"

o - o - o - o - o

The first thing Susie demonstrated to him after Toriel had got done promising him that he would be talking with Father Alvin as soon as she could next get a hold of him, was how to correctly throw a punch...After she was done laughing at how stupid he had been.

Putting your thumb in the middle of your fist was apparently a very bad idea. As in, if he had any more strength behind it, he could have broken it. Thankfully the angle he had come from and the fact that there had been no effort to block, dodge or even stagger it had done most of the damage for him.

They had both decided to spend the afternoon at the diner as soon as Kris had been able to give his mother the slip. Toriel's fury had only been curtailed by the fact that it had been her son who had technically instigated the violence, despite MK's testimony that he had probably felt pretty threatened. After making sure his thumb was okay and that he was well and truly aware of how much trouble he was in while simultaneously praising him for standing up for himself, she let him go.

Susie was sat almost around him in one of the booths as she inspected the bandaging.

"God, they never wrap these things properly"

Inspected and then corrected.

He really couldn't complain. When it was rewrapped, it felt much more secure, and it didn't feel like it was cutting off his blood flow anymore. Susie admired her work before her smile fell. She coughed awkwardly.

"H-hey Kris"

"Hmm?" He looked up at her to find her unable to meet his gaze.

"Thanks..."

"It's okay"

"No I mean…" she turned, seemingly forcing herself to face him. "For everything"

"You would've done the same for me"

"Heh. You know, I almost did" she chuckled before the comfortable silence fell back between them. Kris felt a fool for thinking she wasn't satisfied with this sort of exchange. The warm smile across the maw that had once terrified him spoke of her unwillingness to be anywhere else. Their comfortable silence was disrupted as Kris guiltily fiddled with his bandaging before speaking.

"I'm sorry about lunch. I really thought you'd be happier if we tried to make some more friends". She sighed tiredly.

"L-look. I appreciate it dude but...I don't care about them! They made their minds up about me ages ago! You're the only one who doesn't want me kicked out of this piece of shit school...You're the only one I care about..." she said, draping an arm over his shoulder.

"That makes two of us," he said, rolling his uninjured thumb over the hand attached to it fondly.

His other thumb still ached. Thank god it was nearly the weekend. Even seeing Father Alvin meant he might be able to pinch some sick fruit juice again.