Kris's return to school the following day was filled with noticeable differences from the norm. For a start, his mother had made it crystal clear that she would not be so lenient if yesterday sparked a trend with his behaviour. His heavily bandaged thumb hung awkwardly out of his pocket and occasionally throbbed in the chilly morning air.

But the most obvious change was that he was far less ignored than he had been.

For someone who spent very little time talking, Kris had been used to listening a lot instead, which meant he often picked up on a lot of the things said about him behind his back and sometimes right in front of him like he wasn't even there. The sudden absence of sound threw him a little as he walked between classes.

He would've chalked it up to walking with Susie as he had been doing for several days now, following in the shadow she cast like a lost puppy. They often didn't speak until they reached the abandoned classroom after all, as both of them seemed much more comfortable and open only speaking with each other. Thus, they noticed their peers falling silent around them as they walked the halls even more than they otherwise would.

The reason he noticed now was that he was alone.

His journey to their usual lunch spot was fraught with students moving out of his way as he approached, a decency he was not used to in the slightest. Before Susie, he had to be as careful as MK was at watching their own personal space, lest someone move into it without noticing him before knocking him over.

Were they afraid of him now? It seemed unlikely that it was because of him directly. He had only sucker punched and winded someone, neither of which were particularly difficult to pull off. It was much more likely that, now they knew Susie would stand up for Kris, they were trying to watch themselves around him.

The fact that they were speaking in hushed tones did not deter Kris at all from trying to listen in on them as usual.

Just as he was approaching the corridor that held the traitorous closet, he managed to catch something particularly intriguing as he rounded a corner. Both voices were familiar to him so he decided that, as soon as he had disappeared from their view, he turned and listened as intently he could without looking too suspicious.

One was a voice he didn't actually mind hearing. A soft and melodic tone that belonged to an old friend and infrequent tormentee of his, Noelle Holiday. Kris and his dad occasionally visited her father in the hospital to this day and they were good friends of their family. Heck, Rudolph was practically considered a friend to the entire town. He'd never quite forget the look on her face when he had grabbed her feet from under her bed that one time. Her father certainly seemed adamant to make sure he didn't at least.

The other…

To be fair to Berdly, he hadn't always been awful. In fact, he was only ever really awful to Kris. He presumed it had something to do with how close Noelle had once been to him before they slowly drifted apart. Even to this day, like MK, she was friendly enough to say hello and lend him pencils every now and again. There was a point that Berdly had gotten noticeably more antagonistic towards him and, strangely enough, it coincided almost exactly with when he started sitting closer to Noelle in classes.

"I bet he's going to see her again"

"Hmm? Oh, Kris? If you're talking about Susie then probably. They've been quite close recently"

"Well, let's see how long that lasts after she blitzes his grade on the project"

'Shit'. He really needed to get that done soon actually.

"Berdly, c'mon!" she admonished. "It's nice that Susie has a friend now. Can't you be happy for them?"

"Little bit more than friends, I'd say" he snarked back cheekily.

Noelle probably said something quite curt while attempting to be kind back to him, and Berdly most likely waved her off while trying to make himself look better in comparison in a way that could not be more obvious if he wrote the words "DATE ME" on the front of their project folder.

Kris wasn't listening anymore. There was a high pitched whistling sound in his head as he stared into the middle distance.

It wasn't that Berdly had loosely insinuated that he and Susie were….dating.

It was that as soon as the words had left his beak, Kris's mind had pulled a fast one by filling his thoughts with image after image of scandalous, unthinkable, friendship-destroying…

...really quite pleasant scenarios.

'Oh no'

He leant against the wall for support.

'Oh no'

Kris had never had a crush before. The only time he had even flirted with such an idea was when he and Noelle were quite young and their parents had all agreed (In front of them no less) that they were very cute together. Back then, like right now, Kris's brain had pulled a 'what if' and he found himself blushing and refusing to play with her for the rest of the day out of embarrassment. The adults had found it all highly amusing of course.

His face was aflame as he realised not only was this quite a large problem but also that it was something he would have to deal with in the very immediate future.

The classroom was at the end of the hall.

She was waiting for him inside.

Her.

o - o - o - o - o

"You took your time"

He stammered a response as he closed the door.

"S-sorry". She snorted lightly.

"Relax, dork. I'm just messing with ya. What have you got today?"

"Usual," he said, passing his bag to her and watching as she tipped it open.

"Sweet!" she shouted, a familiar tupperware in her hands. "Your mom makes the best pies, Kris!"

He chuckled. "I know"

"So how was P.E?"

"Huh?"

She took a break from peeling the lid off the flaky treasure to peer through her dense nest of hair at him. "Didn't you just have P.E? Your face is all red"

"Oh! Yeah. Didn't hear you. It was fine"

He only managed to grow redder as she took note of his flushed face but thankfully she seemed far too preoccupied with the pie to read into it.

Susie usually finished her part of their lunch much faster than Kris did but for some reason, she really savoured the slices of pie he brought. Actually, come to think of it, she usually took her time with anything sweet he happened to bring with him.

They passed the time as usual with Kris desperately trying not to think too hard about his revelation in the hall before he suddenly remembered his OTHER revelation in the hall.

"Oh! Susie?"

"Mmm?"

"I just remembered, we still need to do that project for Alphys"

"Ah, crud. When's it due in?" she asked.

"Monday"

Her head whipped around.

"What?!" She stood up, sending a few pawns skidding across the floor from beneath her. "Crap! We haven't even started!"

He presumed she was going for his bag when she reached over but he soon found himself tucked under her arm. Her sudden act caused him to flail madly in her grip for a second or two before he instinctively realised that he really had no chance of escaping her hold. The hand holding his chest was remarkably careful not to prick him with the sharp ends of her fingers.

"W-woah!"

"C'mon, if we start now we can at least try and get a passing grade!"

"Susie!"

"What?"

"I've already started it"

She looked almost affronted. "Y-you've...?"

"Yeah, I was just gonna ask if you could help me with the rest"

From his new position nestled comfortably in the crook of her arm, he could see her eyes filled with concern. She shifted her gaze away from him.

"Kris?"

"Yeah?"

"You didn't do it by yourself because-"

He cut her off at the pass.

"No. Of course not". She didn't seem very convinced. "Susie, c'mon. You know I didn't think you'd want me to do it all by myself"

Kris hung there like a dead body in the water as she silently contemplated what he was asking. Frowning, he pressed his hand against the underside of the one holding him up, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"...Certainly looked like it" she mumbled a little cantankerously. He did note that she playfully rolled her eyes a little at him.

"I just started it and forgot it even existed" he joked. "I mean really, do I look like a nerd to you?"

That, apparently, broke the spell. She started laughing nervously before it reached her usual loud, rasping laugh. Pressed against her side as he was, he could feel it rippling through her chest.

"You trying to tell me you're not smart now?"

Kris let out a gasping sort of laugh himself. "Are you kidding? I'm...I dunno what kind of smart I am but it isn't book smart"

"You're no Nerdly, that's for sure"

He snorted into a hand.

Susie was still quite highly strung about her previous bullying towards him. He didn't understand it. It had been more recent, sure, but she had done much worse to everyone else to be honest. He hadn't been around to see it but she had apparently put MK in a trash bin once and there had been an incident with the aforementioned nerd bird and some balloons filled with paint.

Honestly, the worst thing she had really done was the threat of imminent face eating and looking back on it without the shock of being shoved against a locker, the threat had no weight to it at all. She wasn't stupid and he knew that. Being expelled and being expelled plus severe jail time were not equals in anyone's world.

In fact, with time diluting his initial reaction to it, all he could really remember was being absurdly close to her mouth and-

"Y-you can put me down now by the way"

"Huh? O-oh right!"

He suddenly had a need to not be being groped bodily by her.

o - o - o - o - o

Introducing Susie to Toriel after the supply closets deceit had been...Well, it had been something.

Toriel knew Susie by reputation of course. Practically everyone in the school did but she was in charge of the younger classes and wasn't so involved with anyone their age besides Kris himself. She only vaguely remembered her as the shy, purple, friendless little girl who played on her own. Toriel had tried a great number of times to get her involved with the rest of the class but after a while it was clear they just would not play ball. Eventually, she settled with occasionally sacrificing a lunch break to entertain the poor girl herself. She wasn't so sure when her abrupt personality shift had taken place but she had been saddened by the news nonetheless.

"Kris!" she yelped as she heard the door open cautiously, sleeves rolled up as she scrubbed furiously at a plate.

"Hi, mom"

"Where on earth have you been!?" She turned to the fridge to grab a kitchen towel and began drying her hands off. "I was this close to calling you! I have been worried si-" she turned to face him and all conversational momentum stopped.

Any misgivings she may have had about the new Susie were tossed out the window as she followed Kris in. She was tentatively given a wave.

"Hello, Miss Tori-Uh...Miss Dreemurr…"

The Susie that Alphys had warned her about was a huge intimidating figure, who barely spoke and when she did, conveyed subtle hints of intimidation to both students and staff alike. She could certainly see where some of that had come from. She occasionally saw her in the corridors and even from a distance, Toriel could tell that she almost matched her own height. Now that she was much closer and bathed in the warm light of the house, she could also see she wasn't exactly a beanpole like Asriel had been either.

But still, no matter how intimidating she or anyone else thought she was, Kris was still in front of her acting as a barrier of sorts between her and the girl. Not that he needed to be there, of course. Toriel could put two and two together. A new friend at school? More lunch than usual? The dark patch in his jumper?

She smiled warmly.

"Hello to you too, Susie. Why don't you both come in? I will put some cocoa on"

o - o - o - o - o

"Oh, Susie!" she exclaimed, "You brought Kris home on time for once!"

"Moooom!"

"Hey, Miss Dreemurr" Susie said, ignoring Kris elbowing her in the side.

"What brings the both of you back so soon?"

"We have a project to do", Kris said in as he removed his shoes, his injured thumb slowing him down slightly.

"Well, I am glad to see you are keeping him on the straight and narrow" Susie heard a dull thud behind her as Toriel tittered behind a finely furred hand.

"Moooooooooooooom!"

She kicked her own shoes off next to his. "Is it cool if I stay over, by the way?"

Toriel almost dropped the pan she was holding. He had gone from having a new friend to having them over for sleepovers? Frankly, she could not have been more proud.

"Of course you can!

"Thanks"

"Now, both of you have a seat at the table. Dinner is almost finished, and as long as you get there before Kris, I am sure there will be enough to go around"

"Oh my god, you're worse than Asriel!"

o - o - o - o - o

Kris crossed the metal threshold strip into his shared room and promptly fell onto his bed from the weight of the food they had both been given. Even Susie, who he had never seen willingly turn down food, looked particularly sated as she slumped down next to him. Honestly, it was as though Toriel permanently planned to be hosting more people than she had over.

Although with Kris's appetite, one could hardly blame her.

"So", Kris started, pulling over the bag he had practically dragged in with him, "do you want to start this now or tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, please. I need time to digest, dude". He let it tumble off the bed with a push.

"Agreed"

The sound of insects chittering constantly outside was an autumn classic and one that set his mind at ease. Kris could feel his eyelids threatening to dip every time he closed them, the warmth of the house and the pleasant weight of a full stomach lulling him into a very contented state. Usually, the knowledge of an impending weekend and the lack of an early start meant he would be well on his way to sleeping by now. The only reason he wasn't indulging was that he had a guest. Toriel did not raise bad hosts.

Susie, meanwhile, was too busy questioning a few things to fall prey to sleep.

She had been round to Kris's house a few times now which was a feat in and of itself considering she had honestly expected the first to be the last. Her friend's mother was a teacher at their school, she HAD to know who she was and everything she had done.

Yet every time she stepped into the house, she had been greeted with food, company and a curious sense of belonging that she couldn't quite shake. There was no doubt that her own home did not compare to Kris's, but that was no reason for her chest to tighten as it did when he had led her in by the hand the first time, nor any of the following.

Sighing to herself, she took a look around the room again. When she had first seen it, she had been quite upset with herself at how she'd personified Kris in her mind before they'd become friends.

He had initially seemed aloof and distant to basically everyone. Even those she knew he at least got along with didn't actively hang out with him. At first, she had mistakenly thought he considered himself too good for everyone at the school. Adopted into a home of boss monsters, having a universally beloved and protective older sibling who involved him in everything while being the only human in an entire town of monsters and living in a pretty cushy house.

She had loathed him on sight.

Since she sat behind him in homeroom, she often took great pleasure in messing with him before the days start and end. She bumped into him as they got up, pelted him mercilessly with whatever she had to hand and on the rare occasion she arrived before him she pulled the chair out from under him as he went to sit down. Thankfully, he had been so quiet and mild mannered that it was kept to a minimum outside of those instances. She could've said the same of Asriel of course but at least he had earned his popularity. Kris had just been given it, no strings attached.

It took seeing his room to realise how wrong she'd been.

Kris's side of the room was stark and barren compared to the memorabilia-laden shelves of Asriel's side. Some of the photos on his side and even down the hall had Kris within them but they all made him look uncomfortable somehow, like he had been photoshopped in. Asriel's trophies practically glimmered in the low light, and Susie had to wonder how she would have the wherewithal to even get out of bed in the morning if a more socially accepted and loved version of themselves was sleeping just across from them.

Right now though, she was newly fixated on the only memento Kris had to his name.

Above his bed, still sparkling very slightly, was the black ball of junk he had found in his pocket after their trip to the dark world. He had shown it to her a few days after their return while she was wrapped up in wondering how to get back there, searching for any clues that might help. It was slightly sticky to the touch, smelling vaguely of marshmallow and seemed unnaturally brittle, like the slightest fall would cause it to shatter.

For her, it was the only remnant of their time together in the Darkner world. It was a tiny ball of black plastic, stickers and god knows what else…

And now it proudly sat front and centre on his shelf like it easily compared to the glimmer of gold across the room.

The tightness returned, and with it, an old worry of hers blossomed into thought.

She nudged him gently, "Hey, Kris?"

"Mmm, yeah?"

"What are you gonna do when you leave school?"

He straightened up a little. "Where's this coming from?"

"Just...all this thinking about the project, I guess. College isn't that far away anymore"

He nodded, more to himself than to her.

"I hadn't really thought about it much" he admitted. "I think mom wants me to go to university like my brother…"

"...Oh, yeah?" she prompted, a slight tremor to her voice.

"But, I don't think I'm smart enough for it. Not really"

"Hah! You and me both!" she laughed, slinging an arm around his shoulder. He smiled up at her before returning her question.

"What about you?"

"Huh? Oh, um" she stammered. "I really don't know. If you don't think you're smart enough to get accepted then I have no chance really". Susie could feel his hand wrap around her own comfortingly as she tried to laugh that off as well. Instead, she let out a frustrated sigh before returning the grasp. "Thanks, man, but we both know that's true"

"Well…I know something will turn up for you"

There he went again with that tone. That self-assurance that everything would turn out okay...

"Dude. Don't" she warned.

She let out a shaky breath as Kris interrupted her. "Susie-"

...When she knew it wouldn't.

"NO!" she cried, just barely restraining her voice so Toriel didn't come running. "You don't know what's going to happen! But I do! I'm gonna wind up in some bullshit, dead-end job with shit pay just lik-"

"Susie!"

"What?"

"Back in the closet...You remember when I said I wouldn't leave?"

She almost choked on something.

"If you're stuck in some job that you hate then you'd better believe I'm gonna be right there with you"

It didn't make sense to her. It hadn't back then either but it had made her feel better, albeit temporarily. Kris may not have had amazing grades but he didn't have misdemeanours to drag him down. He had a family to help him reach for things that she couldn't even hope to get to.

She didn't understand why he would throw that away.

She couldn't.

"...Why?"

Kris faltered, his confidence wavering slightly.

He suddenly knew what the next words had to be.

She towered over him even as she leant defeated against the wall beside him. His voice refused to work as her mouth hung slightly ajar. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time all over again. Hell, he was probably even closer than before.

Kris decided that was fine. It worked to his advantage actually.

Leaning up, he gently pressed his lips to hers.

Kris had always been just fine without words anyway.

"?!"

Susie spluttered but said nothing as he fell back against the wall. The sounds of the outside world became more and more prominent despite his thundering heart as Kris's confidence plummeted. He shuddered with a terrified energy, hot and cold chills running through him.

"Kris"

He nodded, twitching slightly.

"If you actually meant that…"

Her fingers had curled into fists at her side, shaking very slightly. He grimaced.

"D-do it again"

Thinking he had somehow misheard, he spun his head to look back up at her. Aside from the occasional twitch, she hadn't moved a muscle. The shadow of her hair covered her eyes like a thick fog once more but being as close as was already he could see how tightly they were clenched.

Waiting.

Heart still roaring in his ears, he adjusted himself before craning up to meet her again.

He held firm against her for longer this time as if he was trying to prove a point, his motions slower. More deliberate. It was only cut short as her hands finally shifted, reaching up to grab his shoulders and ever so gently disconnecting them.

Kris shot her a nervous smile as her eyes became visible once again.

He had about half a second to ready himself after she returned it.

She crashed into him in typical Susie fashion before he was practically assaulted. Her lips, which had remained statuesque in both his prior attempts, moved dynamically against his own. Excitement peaked every now and again as he felt a tiny spike of something hard and unyielding brush against his lip. He would've said it was a struggle to keep up but they were both as inexperienced as the other and all he could do to anchor himself was return her fevered grasp by losing his hands in her thick hair. All in all, it was a complete mess of a kiss.

He could not have been happier.

Eventually, the need to breathe won out. Kris fell back to the sheets, panting as he stared slack-jawed up at the ceiling before he felt her grip once again. Before he could even attempt to use the voice was so sure had abandoned him in his time of need to ask for a second to recuperate, she had already surprised him by simply bringing him closer to her chest. He wondered if it was so he wouldn't notice exactly how red she had gotten.

He had.

She looked even pinker than when she entered the dark world.

"So...are we?"

"I think so"

"...Good"

"Yeah"

It was too early for the dreaded L word. His throat closing earlier was a clear testament to that and neither was sure what to say now that they were so entrenched into a situation they had gotten into almost entirely by accident. Susie managed it after a tense pause.

"You'd better mean it though. Don't think I won't still deck you just because of...this"

Kris laughed. Even during a tender moment like this, there had to be the threat of violence. It wouldn't have been Susie if there wasn't. She couldn't help saying the last word with a staggering level of care though.

"You know I do. Besides" he continued, a playful smile tugging at his lip. "If I find another way back to the Dark world, Lancer would be awfully upset if I didn't have you along with me"

"Heh. Toothpaste boy might actually get mad if I don't bring you back with me too"

He chuckled as she pulled him in even closer.

At the end of the day, one thing was certain as they shared in their G-rated afterglow.

"So...Is that offer to eat my face still available?"

Kris would be abusing his right to fluster her with flirting at every given opportunity.

o - o - o - o - o

The door opened slightly, a crack of light cascading onto Asriel's side of the room.

"Kris?..."

No response. The door didn't so much as squeak as she opened it another inch so she could poke her head around.

"Honey? Is everything-"

She had to stop herself from gasping, lest she wake the pair of them.

Susie was curled up around Kris like a giant cat, one large hand wrapped up in the yellow band of his jumper. There was a small rustle of the covers as Kris leaned into the crook of her neck unconsciously from his mother's disturbance.

Toriel closed the door and tried not to skip to her own bedroom.