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It was a hot summer day. Birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, and on days like these, kids like you…
…are finally on summer break!
Drowning out the sound of Mrs. Alphys voice, a loud bell rang over the school's speakers and chaos erupted across the school.
The children all clambered out of the school doors, running home to their families.
All of them except for 6.
“Kris, can you believe it?!” Susie shouts, grabbing the human by the shoulders and shaking them roughly. Said human is unbothered by the manhandling, smiling up at their friend. The monster grins widely, positively roiling with excitement. “This is the first summer we get to spend together with our friends!”
Noelle walks up next to them, putting her hand on Susie’s shoulder. “Maybe you should stop, Suz, I think they’re getting dizzy…?” Indeed, their face was turning green.
“Oops.” Susie mumbles, sheepishly dropping them and rubbing the back of her head. Noelle giggles, like soft bells chiming in the wind. “Anyways…” she continues, “You’re all coming to my house later, right? For the sleepover?”
“Of course we are, dear Noelle!” Chirped Berdly, adjusting his grip on his textbooks. They weren’t necessary for today, but he brought them anyway- ‘just in case there’s a pop quiz!’ He had exclaimed!
There wasn’t.
Clearing his throat, he looked smugly at the group, “I assume we are ALL going to be working on our summer reading tonight?”
Most of the group groaned, but one adjusted his glasses with a shy smile. “We’re exempt from that, remember?” said Ralsei.
“Yep, yep, yep!” Lancer grinned, bouncing up and down. “No homework for us! We’re too cool for school!”
At this, Berdly himself groaned. “You darkners are exempt because you weren’t here before, but us lightners still have to do it!”
“Oh come on, man!” Susie scowled, crossing her arms. Lancer slid beside her, copying her pose. “Why do we have to do it now??? It’s the first day of summer and you already want to go back to school!”
Berdly squawked, feathers ruffling up. “W-wh! No! I just want to finish it quickly so I don’t have to worry about it!” He tilts his beak up at her. “You know, instead of procrastinating like SOME people did with their project!”
“Hey,” Noelle butts in, raising and lowering her hands in a desperate attempt to keep the peace. “They were busying saving the worlds! Cut them some slack.”
“Yeah, cut me up some pants, birdbrains!” The lizard snorts, turning her head away.
Berdly grits his teeth, “That’s not what that means-“
“Okay, okay!” Ralsei interjects, sweat running down his cheek. He smiles nervously, wringing his hands together. “You all can do your homework tomorrow! But tonight is supposed to be fun! A celebration of making it another school year!” He claps his hands together.
Kris nods, grabbing Ralsei’s arm. They gently tug on it, towards the exit of the school. A small smile is on their face.
“Huh?” Ralsei turns and looks at them, prompting them to whisper softly into his ear. “Oh! Sure, we can do that Kris!” Turning back, he smiles apologetically at the group. “Kris wants to head home first for something, it’s a surprise!”
“Alright.” “Come over at 6’o clock!” “Hmff, goodbye, Kris.” “See ya soon, normal Kris!”
And they both headed off, pushing past the doors and into the bright summer sun.
———
“So, what’s the surprise, Kris?” The goat asks, hands relaxed by his hips. Occasionally, he’ll pause at the sight of a small bug on the sidewalk, watching intently before running back to the humans side.
Kris smirks and keeps walking, speeding up. Ralsei lets out an offended stammer, and tries to keep up, but nearly trips over his own two paws. “H-hey! C’mon, Kris, don't run from me!” His face flushes, “...I don't have the magic to keep up anymore.”
Giggling, the human slows down, grabbing the prince's paw in their hand. Giving a gentle squeeze to it, they walk side by side the rest of the way to their house.
As they near the building, Ralsei speaks up softly. “D-do you have your keys, Kris?” At the silence that follows, he sighs and digs through his own pockets, pulling out a small keyring with a soft plush keychain of a square robot. “That's okay, I brought mine.”
He unlocks the door, entering the quiet house. Kris flicks on the light switch, yellow filling the room. They walk past the record player and straight into the kitchen, rummaging around inside the fridge until…
They smile, and pull out a pie. It's an apple pie that's slightly overcooked and the lattice crust on top is broken in a few places, but they seem proud of it. Ralsei gasps, peeking over their shoulder even as Kris tries to cover it up with their chest, turning this way and that. “Wow, Kris! That looks so good! Did you do it yourself?”
Blushing, they nod, finally giving up and turning around for the goat boy to see. It's got misshapen star-shaped bits of crust along the edge and bits of crunchy sugar baked on top.
“I bet it's going to be so yummy!” Ralsei exclaims, “...can-” he pauses, glancing around. “Can I have a slice?” He mumbles, hiding his face under his ears.
The human nods again, switching the tin to one hand so they can grab Ralsei’s hand again. “Yeah…” They rasp, “...at sleepover.”
“O-oh!” Ralsei blushes, embarrassed. “...Right. Because I'm your friend, and everyone else's too.” He looks down.
“Thank you.”
——
Just approaching Noelle's house, the sounds of people talking and enjoying themselves in the garden can be heard. It's twilight outside, small specks of light up in the sky as it darkens to a pink and purple.
The two heroes walk past the gate and tall trees, stopping just at the edge of the gathering. A lot of their friends and families are there, drinking juice and having a good time.
They can see Susie, Noelle, and Lancer at the snack table. Susie and Lancer are ravaging it, while Noelle watches on in awe, occasionally grabbing a bite for herself. Berdly is at the punch table, attempting to balance four cups full of delicious liquid red 40.
Ralsei shuffles his feet, looking longingly at their friends. “Ah-” he stammers, pulling at the edge of his dress. “That looks fun, huh Kris? I-I really want to go over there!” He glances over at the struggling bluebird. “...well, maybe after I go help Berdly.”
After a moment of contemplation, Ralsei turns to Kris with an apologetic look. “I'll… go help him. Be with you guys in a second, okay?” And with that, he takes off, jogging past the other party goers and gesturing nervously at Berdly.
Kris lingers in place for a minute, before walking away themself. But they don't head towards the snack table. They eye their foil covered pie possessively. While the human loves Susie and Lancer, they know it'll be destroyed in only a matter of seconds, and they want to share it with a few other people first.
It doesn't take long to find who they were looking for, the tall TV-head happily chatting away with a pippins, who keeps blushing and hiding his face in his cup.
Kris wanders over to them, a small smile on their face as they tug gently on his shorts. Tenna jolts, tilting his head down and grinning at the sight of his family. “Well, if it isn't my bestest viewer! How's it going, buttercup?”
The dice murmurs something about needing a refill before hopping away. Holding up their pie, the human proudly shows it off to the TV.
Tenna's screen brightens. “Is that…” he bounces in place, antennas curling into a heart. “...a pie?!”
Kris nods, a mischievous grin forming on their face.
“Oh…!” The darkner exclaims, kneeling down to be closer to -the pie- Kris! “Can I have a slice? Prettiest of pleases?” He begs, slowly moving his hand closer.
Snickering, Kris turns away, clutching the pie close to them. “No!” They rasp.
He pouts, shoulders slumping forwards in disappointment. The giggles that come after, however, invigorate him.
After a moment of thinking, Tenna stands up straight, reaching up to fix his shirt collar. He ‘clears his throat,’ holding his hand like there was an imaginary microphone there.
“I guess we're doing this, huh buttercup?” They nod and the TV sighs half heartedly. He twirls the invisible mic around in his hand. “How about this! You get to be on… (drumroll please!)– Mr. Ant Tenna-Dreemurr's Marvelous Mystery Board 2!”
He holds out the ‘mic,’ grinning. “Whadaya say, hm? Want to be a star?”
Kris laughs at his silliness, shaking their head. Tenna visibly deflates at the rejection– though his smile grows bigger at their laughter– ‘holstering’ the mic at his belt. “Well, then what do you want?” He asks, then quieter, “Usually that works…”
Quietly, the human leans in close to the TV, whispering into his non-existent ear. His antenna perk up, and Tenna gasps excitedly.
“You want to hang out with Marsha?” He exclaims, clasping his hands near his head. “Oh, my two babies, hanging out together!”
He ignores the immediate denial of being a baby by Kris, instead wrapping his arms around them in a hug. He makes sure to leave enough space between them not to squish the wonderful pie his buttercup made.
InfoMarsha was a recent development in the family. Tenna had kept the fact he had one of those pipis’ a secret from everyone except a small few. A couple months ago, she had hatched, coming out as a small commercial that tries to sell whatever she can find. The little chick takes anything as payment too, so it's more like trading… for now.
“Of course you can, she'd love to see her favorite customer again! She's got some new ‘wares’ in stock. Wink, wink!” Tenna says. Kris nods their head, remembering how the small commercial ‘sold’ them their own sweater, that they were still wearing!
Holding the pie out, they allow the TV to take a slice, smiling at the giddy grin on his screen. He lifts the pie to his face, antenna quickly sniffing it. “This smells spectacular! Is there cardamom in here?”
They nod again, looking up at him expectantly. Tenna takes one final whiff of the beautiful– and it was beautiful, because Kris made it– pie and carefully presses it against his screen.
He hums cheerfully as he tastes it on the glass, the mouth behind it looking as if there were food within. “This is delicious, Kris!” Pulling it away from his screen, caramelized bits of spiced apples stick to him. “I'm going to freeze this for later when I get back home, so I can actually eat it when I get upgrades!”
Then, the TV pauses and he turns his head towards the driveway, as another robotic-like monster walks into the party looking around nervously.
Tenna lights up at the sight, letting the pie enter his inventory as he bounces on his feet to the beat of the music excitedly. “There's Mettaton! He really came!” He exclaims, “I asked him to come and make some friends with me, and he actually came!”
Already jogging towards the robot, Tenna apologizes and waves goodbye to Kris. “Sorry Kris, I'll see you later!”
The human watches him go, amused. They don't mind that he kinda ditched them. Tenna needs friends, and they're glad he's made some. It wasn't healthy that he was basically relying on them solely. It's taken a bit, but he's made progress, and… they have, too.
It was hard and it wasn't fun, but they'd do it all over again. Because they’re happy. And that means everything to them.
Now, where is that Queen?