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One of the coolest things about Kris is that Susie learned something new about them every time they hung out.
For example: Floor Time.
The monster had just recently been invited in by Toriel, with plans to check in on Kris and possibly stay the night on the couch again. She’d trekked upstairs with a pep in her step, one which was immediately vaporized when she found Kris flat on their back on the bedroom carpet.
They appeared to notice her, then sat up while Susie took in her surroundings. The lights were off, blinds shut, and a muffled alt-rock song played from Kris’s phone lying on their bedside. It wasn’t exactly a peppy environment.
“… Watcha doin?” Susie asked.
“… Floor time.” Kris said simply.
She glanced at the phone.
“… Floor time?”
“Floor time.” They affirmed. “Time for the floor.”
Susie nodded slowly.
“… What’s the appeal?” She asked, leaning against the door.
“Isn’t one.” Kris said plainly, getting to their feet. “Why are you in my room?” They asked, walking over to her.
“Uh… felt like coming over.” She answered. Kris reached past her shoulder and flicked the light switch, illuminating the room once more before they turned back towards their bed.
“You busy?” Susie asked.
“Mmhm.”
Kris unplugged their phone from its charger as they took it from the bed, turned off the music, spun it around their fingers, and slotted it into their pocket. They promptly flopped onto their bed and laid there on their back, staring at the ceiling like they had been before.
“There’s just… so much to do around here.”
Susie nodded in understanding. “Which is why you were laying on the floor.”
They gave a thumbs up.
Susie shut the door behind her, walked over and sat down on Kris’s bedside with a thump. “Something up?” She asked.
“… eh. Just… tired.”
She nodded. “Wanna do something?”
Kris pointed to the corner of their room.
Susie turned her eyes to the birdcage in the red wagon, both covered in small amounts of rust and wear. There, in the confines of the metal prison, was a glowing red heart, hovering in the center. The Soul.
Susie stared at it for a moment, grimacing slightly.
“… So, do you… cough it up, or-?”
“You don’t want to know, Susie.” Kris said to the ceiling.
“I kinda do, man!” Susie rebuffed. “How long you had it out?”
“As long as it’s been floor time.” Kris answered.
“How long was that?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
“You have a phone?”
“Time is a construct anyway.”
Susie held her head in her hands. Then she chuckled a little.
“… Okay. How about we just hang out here?” She suggested.
Kris paused for a moment, then looked at her, eyes still covered by their hair.
“… Like in the house.” Susie clarified.
They considered for a moment.
“… sounds good.”
“Cool.” Susie hopped off the bedside and waited for Kris to do the same.
“… I have to get out of bed first.” Kris noted.
Susie, without hesitation, scooped Kris up off the mattress, slung them over her shoulder and started walking towards the door.
“Not what I meant.” Kris stated as Susie opened the bedroom door, though they didn’t physically protest.
“My bad.” Susie apologized, before hefting them into her arms in a somewhat shoddy bridal carry.
Kris stared silently at her, eyes shrouded, expression neutral in a sort of annoyed fashion. She grinned back for a moment, then snorted, blowing their hair out of the way to reveal their gentle red irises.
They flinched, glanced around, then smiled a little.
“Heh. Knew it.” Susie said smugly before briefly nuzzling Kris’s forehead with her nose.
“Shut it.” Kris ordered. “Don’t fall down the stairs.”
“Don’t fall.”
“I won’t.”
“Don’t eat the pinecones.”
“I’m not gonna eat the pinecones!”
The branch Susie was bracing her foot against broke, and she nearly fell out of the tree. Through sheer force of will, and a lot of luck, she managed to scramble for a better hold.
The two of them were in the backyard behind the house, Kris sitting down against the wall whilst Susie climbed a tree for normal reasons. She’d suggested to Kris that they spar with sticks, as practice for the dark worlds. And also because she wanted to swing a stick.
First problem, they could only find a fitting stick for Kris nearby. That was why she was searching a tree for another.
Second problem, which was only recently coming to her, was the effects of the Soul being away. Kris was weaker, tired, and tended to be… a lot of complicated things. They said that they felt the best emotionally whenever it was out, but clearly the physical aspect was different.
So, she was the one climbing a tree, in search of a fitting stick, and wondering how many times she could hit Kris with said stick without causing a problem.
“Susie, I think this one will work.” Kris said from below. She looked down to find them holding the branch that had just broken beneath her foot. It was long, a little heavy looking, and thick- a suitable axe, with some imagination.
“… Probably right.” Susie agreed. She clambered her way down and took the stick from them.
After some test swings on both of the sticks, and a suitable effort to assure they were mostly clean of extra spikes and bits, they had two decent mockeries of their usual weaponry. Susie hefted the branch onto her shoulder as Kris finished testing out theirs.
“… So, uh… are you, like- good with moving around?” Susie asked tentatively.
Kris gave her a confused look.
“… You said the, uh… thing makes you tired.”
“… Oh, yeah. It’ll be fine.” They affirmed, walking to one side of the yard in preparation. “Shook it off earlier by being lazy.”
“… Is that how that works?” Susie asked uncertainly.
“Yeah.” Kris turned to face her, holding their stick like a sword. “Actually kinda excited. Haven’t fought without it before.”
Susie considered for a moment.
“… Alright.” She said with a shrug.
Kris braced their feet for battle. Susie stood uncertainly, then readied her axe, grinning slightly in anticipation.
“Your move.” She goaded.
Kris raised an eyebrow at her.
Just as she opened her mouth to count down from 3, or otherwise start in an organized matter, Kris ran quickly forward and swung with remarkable force.
The spar was on. Neither of them were fighting as hard as they could, but neither were holding back. Susie didn’t expect Kris to be the type to take a tree branch to the face in stride, but she probably should’ve in the first place. Their beginning interactions taught her that well.
After they’d adjusted to both hitting and being hit, the real fun of it began. The two friends traded blows, matching sticks and shifting around the yard, stopping each time someone landed a good strike. They weren’t perfect; Susie figured she probably looked downright stupid in comparison to the movie and game characters and barely-remembered real styles she was trying to mimic. But that was half the fun. They stumbled, tripped, bounced back and forth between what felt like the coolest and dumbest moments of her life.
One time she tripped over her own feet after swinging too heavy, landing her a jolt of pain up the shoulder and a further dirtied jacket. But when Kris laughed and went for the easy opening, she blocked with the handle of her axe, shoved them off, and eventually took the round. Then, after a reset, Kris caught a tuft of her hair and nearly gave it a free restyle. She had a good laugh over that.
It was good fun. Reminded her how much she liked Kris, how cool they were, what they were beneath that Soul-addled veneer of nonchalance and apathy. Dry, sarcastic, but genuinely kind, and witty, and brave.
Sadly, it didn’t last forever. Even if Susie felt fine. A bit sweaty, covered in dirt, out of breath. But she was used to it. That weird sort of good tired, the tired you can push through. Kris seemed… not like that.
Their breathing got heavier faster, and they seemed to need longer breaks even when they tried to push through. Their footwork was getting quickly sloppy. And so was their guard. Susie contemplated whether or not she should adjust her effort accordingly.
But… they were clearly having a blast. Even when they were gasping for air, propped on their stick-sword in between rounds. They smirked whenever their branches met, they laughed when Susie hit them and cheered when they hit her. It was nice to see them smile, be carefree. Do what they wanted.
Maybe they were just normal tired. Or maybe it was something to do with the differences between the dark and light world. Or maybe it was nothing, and she was just paranoid. Right?
Another round ended, and Kris spent a little time sitting down to rest. Then they struggled up to their feet, somewhat unsteadily. Nonetheless, they looked raring to go.
They swung twice, both of which Susie dodged out of the way of. A third swing, and she stepped in to counterattack.
She smacked Kris directly in the ribs before they had even finished their swing, and knocked them straight back down to the ground.
“Oh, shit!”
Susie lowered her tree branch.
“You good?” She asked quickly.
Kris was already rolling over, laughing and clutching their side. “Yup, yup. Ooh… good one.”
Susie breathed a silent sigh of relief and chuckled. “Yeah.”
“Gonna feel that tomorrow.” Kris added, smiling.
“Hey, it’s payback for the hair.”
“I didn’t mean to do that!”
Susie snickered. “So you say…”
Kris smiled and sat up. Susie hefted her axe onto her shoulder to prepare. They stood up.
One of their legs gave out from under them, and they immediately collapsed to the ground.
Susie’s smirk vanished.
Kris propped themselves up and spat out a blade of grass. They cleared their throat.
“… sorry. One sec.” They mumbled.
On shaky legs, Kris tried to stand again. They stood for a little, then failed, falling back to their knees. A look of concern showed through their ruffled bangs.
“Shit.” Susie muttered. She put down her stick.
“I can walk.” Kris muttered. They tried to quickly get up to prove it, and fell again. They rolled over onto their back, as if to brace against the ground. Susie grimaced in worry.
Kris drew breath to speak, then stopped.
Susie crouched to scoop them up into her arms.
“Hey- no. No.” They protested, pushing her away.
“What, you want the shoulder carry??” She snarked.
“I don’t want to be carried!”
Susie stared in frustration for a moment.
“I don’t want to be carried.” They repeated, propping themself up on their elbows.
Susie snorted, stood up, and crossed her arms. “What, then? Drag you?”
Kris threw their arms in the air and looked away.
Susie huffed, picked up their left ankle, and started dragging them like a dead body back to the front yard.
They were quiet for a bit. So was Susie.
Even it the situation was… a little funny. The whole… dragging her very-much-alive but uncooperative friend through the grass thing.
Kris snickered a little.
Susie started to do the same.
“… You’re a dumbass.” She said, glancing back at them.
Kris smirked. She grinned back.
Susie let them go and scooped them into her arms once they reached the sidewalk. Kris didn’t protest this time.
After a difficult time opening and closing the front door, Susie went inside and set Kris down on the couch. They sighed and shifted as she set them down.
“All good?” She asked, flicking their hair out of their eyes.
They snorted, then gave an extremely sincere and not at all sarcastic thumbs up.
Susie chuckled. “Shut up.” She ruffled their hair and started for the kitchen. “You’ve got snacks in this place, right?”
“Yup.” Kris affirmed. “Help yourself.”
Susie paused and looked back at them.
“… They’re for you.” She informed.
“… Why?”
Susie stared, completely dumbfounded.
“… I’m not hungry!”
She facepalmed, turned back around and pulled open the fridge.
“Hell, there’s a lotta shit in here.” She muttered. “What’s your favorite snack?”
“I’m not hungry!” Kris repeated. “I don’t need a snack.”
“Well, start getting hungry.”
She rifled through the items, finding mostly a variety of ingredients, healthy stuff, and various vegetables she had no concept of. She sighed and shut the fridge, then started opening drawers in search of a pantry.
“Are you just gonna raid my kitchen?!” Kris asked loudly, sitting up a bit.
“If you won’t tell me where to get you food, yeah.” Susie confirmed. She rifled through a cabinet and found an open box of crackers, one of which she popped into her mouth. “Crackers?”
“No.” Kris replied.
“… soda?”
“We have soda in this house?”
“I’ll take that as a no.” Susie closed the box of crackers. “Ooh, candy bar. Bit dusty…”
“Susie, you- ugh.” Kris sighed. “… just get me a glass of water, okay?”
”You need to eat, dude.” Susie replied. “It’ll help you get less… dead.”
”I’m. Not. Hungry.”
Susie sighed.
“… Lemme find a glass.”
She searched around till she found a glass, then filled it with water from the sink. She opened the fridge again and grabbed herself a few ice cubes to chew on, then headed back to Kris, handing them the water and flopping down on the other end of the couch.
“… snack offer’s still up, whenever you want it.” She mentioned.
They opened their mouth to speak, then sighed.
“… thanks.” They mumbled.
She smirked. “No problem.”
In spite of themself, Kris smiled ever so slightly.
Susie chewed on her ice cubes for a little, and Kris took a few sips of water. She wondered if she should broach the subject.
“… So, uhm… does that- normally happen?” Susie asked. “When the… soul’s out?”
Kris thought for a moment, then drank some water.
“… no.” They set the glass back down on the table beside the couch.
Susie glanced back and forth in hopes of elaboration.
“… at least… collapsing.” They added. “I’m… tired, and sluggish. But never this.”
She nodded. “We did hit each other with sticks a lot.”
“I thought it’d be okay…”
“Hey, hey, it’s all good.” Susie assured. She got up, walked over and sat down on the armrest, next to where Kris was resting their head. “Just trying to figure things out. You seemed tired, I just… didn’t expect you to- y’know.”
She made a rough explosion motion with her hands.
Kris sighed briefly. “Makes two of us…”
“… Maybe I hit where the soul usually is?” Susie suggested. “And it like- your body remembered it wasn’t there and crapped out?”
Kris looked up at her in a way that very clearly said “that makes absolutely no sense.”
Susie shrugged. “Sounds like you don’t have a better idea.”
Kris chuckled quietly at her. The sight was, once again, nicer than Susie would’ve imagined. The vibrant red of their eyes shining through the curtain of their untrimmed hair, smiling with a subtle genuineness she rarely saw. This was Kris; all of them, nobody else. She found herself staring quietly into their eyes.
“… We ever hang out without the soul?” Susie asked.
“… More than you think.” Kris answered after a moment.
She gave them a confused look. “Hell’s that supposed to mean?”
Kris said nothing, simply continuing to stare at her like they knew something she didn’t.
“… Heh. I getcha.” Susie said. “You got any games in this place?”
The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Sadly, most of the games in this place were upstairs on Asriel’s computer, but they did have Guitar Villain, which was enough to keep Susie busy for days. Surprisingly, even when afflicted with soul-related weakness, Kris was rather good at it. Though it was evident they’d practiced a lot as a kid.
They talked about random stuff, about school, and that group project they were totally going to do. Wardrobes, outfits, how much or little they think about them, favorite type of bug, what items would be what in a dark world, Noelle, Berdly, along with jokes about them having a crush on one of those two. Susie grabbed herself a few snacks, helped Kris test out if they could walk again, took a call from Toriel about wherever she was, and a couple dozen other random activities.
Now, it was about 8pm, and the two of them were sitting back on the couch again, watching some random action movie on the TV. Kris had regained some of their strength now, but both of them were content to have a more chill time by now. Susie was sat upright in the middle of the cushions, and Kris was laying down with their feet in her lap.
“… I was bullying you, like, five days ago.” Susie remarked randomly.
Kris looked over to her with a puzzled stare. She continued to watch the movie.
“… what about it?” They asked.
She shrugged. “I dunno. Just something I think about sometimes.” Susie grabbed another handful of of crackers from the box on the armrest. “I switched up kinda quick.”
Kris thought for a moment, brushing their hair out of their eyes.
“I think you were just always like that.” They said plainly. “Just needed someone to beat it outta you.”
Susie chuckled a little. “Like, in the way you torture information out of someone?” She joked.
“Depends on how you remember the first dark world.”
She snickered. Kris grinned a little.
They both went back to watching the movie, though it didn’t take long for Susie to catch Kris eyeing the crackers as she crunched them.
“… Snack offer’s still up, Kris.” She remarked smugly.
Kris flinched. “I- I’m not hungry, Susie.”
“Then why’re you giving me the puppy dog eyes?”
“I am not giving you any kind of eyes.” They rebuffed.
“Yeah, you are.” She swallowed another cracker. “The puppy kind.”
Kris snorted. “And you’ve got a tail.”
Susie laughed. “Newsflash, Kriscross. I do have a tail.”
“Should I tell Noelle that?”
“Only if you tell me what you want to eat.”
Kris chuckled, then went quiet for a moment.
“… I can walk now anyway. I could get it for myself.” They mentioned.
“You wanna bother yourself with it, be my guest.”
“… Persistent.”
Susie nodded.
Kris sighed. “… Top left cabinet.”
Susie grinned, pumped her fist and hopped off the couch towards the kitchen.
She walked to the far left of the counter and reached up to the top, opening the wooden doors. She examined what looked like various bags of chips and other crunchy-style items, all in various states of stale to untouched.
“You’ll have to search a bit.” Kris mentioned from the couch. “I hide it.”
Susie glanced at them, then clambered onto the counter to look further in. “Don’t you live with just your mom?”
“She brings people over sometimes.” They answered plainly.
Susie grunted in acknowledgment. Her efforts found a half-full bag shoved behind all the other foods, with a dusty stick note covering the logo. The words “DON’T TOUCH!!!!!” Were scrawled across it in Kris’s handwriting.
“… This it?” She asked, holding the bag out into Kris’s view.
She received a thumbs up and tossed it over to them. Susie hopped off the counter, shut the cabinet, dusted off the spot where she’d stepped on the counter, and headed back to the couch. Kris had already opened the bag, and was currently munching on what looked kind of like trail mix.
“What is it?” Susie asked, flopping down on the couch once more.
“… croutons.”
She shot them a puzzled look.
“Weird lookin bag of croutons.” She noted.
“It’s a weird brand.”
They said nothing more. Susie figured that was all she was going to get on the topic.
The both of them went back to watching the movie, though she found it rather dull in comparison to talking with Kris.
Sometimes she wondered if that was weird. She wondered about her and Kris a lot, though she never could put a finger on what was so enticing about them. The feeling confused her, and if she thought too long about it, it kinda scared her.
So she would’ve kept watching the movie. Except…
“… I’m not eating croutons.”
Susie glanced back over to Kris.
“… what?”
“They’re not croutons. I lied.” They repeated plainly. “… figured you’d wanna know what they actually are.”
”… You lied about what snack you’re eating?”
Kris glanced away for a moment. “… Just didn’t feel like explaining. It’s weird.”
“… I mean… if you wanna tell me.” Susie offered. She placed her box of crackers on the ground by her feet and sat up a bit.
“… It’s like a trail mix thing.” They said, turning the bag around to show the branding. Mix’n Munch nutritional assortments, it read. Susie didn’t know much about advertising, but she could tell on the spot this was the kind of snack you bought because your doctor told you too.
“… But bad.” Kris added, scooping up another handful. “It’s like this mesh of unrefined nutrient-dense nonsense, basically pure protein and vitamins meshed into crackers. Looks and tastes like actual military rations. It’s actually inedible to most monsters, cuz it’s got like… straight up mold in it.”
Susie looked confused, then chuckled a little. “… Sounds delicious.”
“It’s not.” Kris said, completely deadpan. “Shit is terrible. Half the time I don’t even know what’s in my mouth.”
Susie laughed. “Then why the hell do you eat it?”
Kris stuffed the handful of food into their mouth and chewed for a while, as if in thought. Or maybe they were just doing one of their dramatic pauses.
“… Mom started buying it for Az when I was a kid.” They answered eventually. “Doctor said he was low on like… two vitamins. So she made him eat this every once in a while.”
Kris swallowed. “… And, back then, I wanted to be exactly like him. I had this- dumb little headband with horns on it and everything, it was a whole thing. So I ate it with him.”
Susie chuckled a little at their descriptions, and the way they gestured in between bites.
“… horrible idea, by the way. All of this stuff is made for monsters with tough stomachs, the type who can actually eat all the random stuff in here without problems. It gave me a stomachache every time.”
Susie smirked. “Kid you was a masochist.”
Kris nodded. “Heh. Nah, just overcommitted. But… I got a taste for it, eventually. Texture’s actually kinda good, once you know what’s coming. And it’s better for me than most snacks…”
“… call it a comfort food, I guess.”
Susie smiled at them as she lounged against the armrest, while Kris continued to munch on the various cracker-adjacent items that did indeed look a little like military rations.
Something clicked in her head. What she was wondering about earlier, after they’d written off the snack as croutons. The pauses in between explanations as if considering whether or not to say more.
There’s a story behind everything Kris says, but you never know when, if ever, you’ll learn about it. They’re a little mystery, enticing in the way you really only hear about in dumb romance books, all wrapped up in that stupid deadpan mumble and occasional smirk beneath the red glint of their eyes.
That was why they were so interesting. At least, she felt like it.
“… see somethin you like?” Kris asked plainly.
Susie flinched.
Inaccurate description. Susie jumped. She hasn’t realized how long she’s spent staring into Kris’s eyes, probably smiling like a dumbass.
Kris’s eyes widened as she made the startled motion. They brushed their bangs out of their face absentmindedly.
“Uh- Sorry, I… uh, zoned out.” Susie managed. “Just happened to be staring at you…”
Kris nodded thoughtfully. “Uh- huh…”
“Oh, fuck off.” She said offhandedly, hiding a smirk.
Kris placed a single cracker in their mouth, maintaining eye contact. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You meant it.” Susie rebuffed. She hoped her hair was covering her cheeks; they felt rather hot.
“Maybe you wanted me to mean it.” Kris said.
They grinned smugly in a such a way that completely fried some of the circuits in Susie’s brain. She placed a hand on the armrest as if to steady herself and tried to conjure a response.
Kris started giggling, stifling it with the back of their hand. Their eyes glimmered beneath their hair.
“D- don’t laugh at me!” Susie managed, smiling still.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about…” they chuckled, pushing at her shoulder with their foot.
“Oh, can it, Kriscross!”
Susie pushed their foot aside and grabbed at their bag of snacks, as if to try and wipe the smile off their face. Kris laughed and fought back, bracing their legs on her chest and keeping her back.
Normally, this would descend into their average inelegant wrestling match with no particular goal, which is why Kris was currently trying to get their beloved snack to safety. Whilst they were doing so, Susie managed to fumble her way around Kris’s feet, and since neither of them were prepared for that, they crashed snout-to-forehead into each other and reeled back in pain.
“Ah, shit-!” Susie muttered, pulling back and placing a hand on her nose. She’d really only squished it, but the pain of the bonk still lightly rattled through the bones in her snout. Kris was clutching their forehead, giggling.
“You- fuckin idiot…” they mumbled, laughing quietly.
“Oh, fuck, I- I’m sorry.” Susie said quickly. “Is it bad?”
“I’ve been through worse.” Kris said. Their face was covered by their arms, as both their hands had reflexively moved to their forehead on collision. It didn’t exactly reassure her. Didn’t humans also have less… stuff between the skin and skull? So hits to the forehead really hurt? Did she fuck up? How badly?
Susie tried to find a way around the cover of Kris’s hands. They were still giggling. She gently took one of their wrists and pulled it away from their head.
“Susie, chill.” Kris said lightheartedly. They raised the arm that was still covering their face, keeping a hand on their forehead. Their bangs were pushed back again, and their smile was shining as bright as their eyes. Her heart did a confused stumble.
“I’m fine…” They reassured.
“I- sorry.” She stuttered, retracting her hand from their wrist. “Humans have fragile skulls!”
“So do monsters?”
“Not as much…”
Kris stared at her for a moment.
“… Did you… research humans over me?”
She was about to tell a very convincing lie that no, she hadn’t spent an hour one night looking into human biology because she was bored and wanted to help out Kris with soul stuff, but they placed a hand over her mouth before she could.
“W- don’t answer that.” They said. “Just- chill. Take a breath.”
They lifted their hand from their mouth. Susie glanced around and took a quick breath. Kris’s knees were now bent, and shifted to the side, and she’d ended up hunched over them in her attempts to assess damages. She decidedly huffed and rested her chin on Kris’s chest.
“… sorry.” Susie murmured.
“It’s fine, Suz.” They assured. “What’s got you so worried?”
“You literally couldn’t walk earlier.”
Kris opened their mouth, then closed it.
Susie huffed. “It’s worth worrying.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Kris dismissed, waving their hand. “Whatever. You’re easy to flirt with.”
“I- hmph. Shut up.” Susie muttered, looking away and trying not to smile.
“You’re easy to flirt with…” Kris repeated.
“No, you’re just good at flirting!” She rebuffed.
Kris shot her the smug smile again. The wires in her head crossed, and she tried to hide her face in her hair. Kris chuckled at her.
Still, those eyes glimmered at her in her peripherals. Gentle, suave, and full of life. A little glimpse past all the dry humor and snide remarks. She wondered if that was why Kris hid them so often.
She’d ended up staring again. She averted her eyes.
Kris tilted their head slightly with a puzzled look, as if asking her a question.
“… getting my brain all confused again.” She murmured, smiling gently to the side. “You are- good at flirting…”
Kris nodded. “You’re not, but you still get me confused anyway.” They said.
“Heh. Sure…” Susie muttered.
“… hey, I mean it.” Kris stated, adjusting her chin slightly to meet her eyes. “I do.”
“Then how’re you so… nonchalant about it?” Susie asked, shifting her arms. “I feel so… not- really sure how I feel.”
“… I dunno. I… I think that’s just how I am with everything.” Kris answered.
They paused in thought for a moment.
“… and I don’t tell you the specifics.”
Susie raised an eyebrow.
“… The embarrassing parts.”
She snorted. “So what, I should stop telling you the embarrassing parts?”
“No, I think that’s a me problem.” They corrected. “You wear your heart on your sleeve, and I… I think it’s really cool.”
They blinked, then swallowed.
“… that was one of the embarrassing parts.”
Susie laughed. Kris smiled, tilting down their head to hide their face.
“Oh, don’t hide from me now.” Susie goaded. “Commit to the bit.”
“It’s not a bit, it’s just true…” Kris mumbled.
“It’s easier if you think about it like one.” She explained.
Kris thought about it for a second.
“… nah.”
Susie gave a puzzled grin.
“I’m not telling you why, it’s really stupid.”
“Well now I have to know.”
“Nope.” Kris said simply.
That was all she got out of them, no matter how much she pressed for the rest of the evening.
The two spent the rest of the evening like that, talking about nothing in particular. But it wasn’t too long before Kris’s soul-exhaustion was surmounted by regular tiredness. Rather than get up or switch to a more comfortable position, they simply shifted onto their side and essentially held Susie’s head in her arms.
“… what’s got you all…?” Susie began.
“Cozy? I dunno.” Kris answered. “I just don’t feel like moving.”
Susie didn’t have a problem with it. Kris was comfy and remarkably tolerant of her tendency to snore louder than your average thunderstorm. Although…
“… Won’t your mom be confused if she finds us, like… like this?” She asked, curling her arms inward.
“I’ll be lucky to still be on the couch in half an hour. She’ll be fine.”
Susie snorted. “Fair.”