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“Bzzt.”
“Bzzt.”
“Bzzt.”
Asriel threw his head back in a silent expression of exasperation, pausing the giant human movie his parents forbade him from watching around Kris.
"Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.”
“I get it, I get it. Angel-” He paused to glance out the window for any sign of the van, indicating his parents’ presence. None. He lowered his voice anyways, muttering “Angel dammit.” quietly enough so that Kris wouldn’t pick up on the language and run the risk of another week of compulsory church.
"Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.”
It was at times like this that Asriel questioned how much Toriel truly trusted her kids, especially him. He could take care of himself for a night, he knew that much. Reheating ICE-E’s over the stove and pouring himself a cup of milk wasn’t exactly rocket science. Kris was easy to take care of as well, as long as all bath bombs in the house were placed decidedly out of reach for the young human. In fact, they had already excused themselves to bed a few minutes earlier, not even bothering to ask Asriel to humor them in a game of Super Smashing Fighters in which he was now unequivocally the superior player. Playing with Dess sans younger siblings more over the last few months had had that effect.
“Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.”
She was the one who asked him to look after Kris while she and Asgore were out of town, was she not?
Still, it was probably her, calling for the umpteenth time, likely about making sure that Kris took their human multivitamin gummy instead of the monster multivitamin gummy Asriel took, or making sure they didn’t have more than one slice of pie that night, or making sure they didn't sleep with their horns on so they didn’t feel sore in the morning, or making sure they definitely, for sure, didn’t have any bath bombs surreptitiously stashed away.
“Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzz-”
Asriel’s train of thought was interrupted by the phone going silent. His heart dropped. Any amount of annoyance from the impending check-in was dwarfed by the earful he would get for missing her call. The phone went off again.
“Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.”
Wasting no time, he shot up from the couch, grabbing the phone off the receiver. He tentatively accepted, pressing it to his ear.
Then, silence on the other end.
…
"Hello?" The wavering in his speech betrayed his attempt to hide his abject fear of his mother’s wrath. "M-"
"Azzy?" Rather than the authoritative and sharp inflection he’d come to associate with his mother in her quickly allayed bursts of anger, he heard a huskier, more languid tone.
"Dess?" The tension in his chest began to unwind. It was just her. He could recognize her voice any time, but she sounded unlike herself in a way he could not pinpoint with the utterance of just his nickname. The silence continued for a few beats, until he heard her inhale slightly.
“You down to come outside?"
He pursed his lips, trilling as he exhaled. As much as he detested his mother’s incessant worry, there was no telling what Kris would do if they awoke and discovered the house was empty. “I wish I could, but mom is out of town right now, and Kris-"
Her voice broke. "Asriel. Please."
Asriel swallowed dryly. If those two words were to indicate anything, it would be that something was definitely wrong. She was never one to ask twice when it came to impromptu plans. Typically, when he started to string out an explanation as to why he would be unfortunately unable to go sit in the graveyard or by the lake and do nothing in particular, she would cut him off with a nonplussed "It's cool, I’ll see you tomorrow, dude” without a word more the following day. Asriel knew something for certain: this was far from an impulsive hangout. He smoothed out the fur on his temples and forehead with his free hand, a nervous tic he’d had since forever. "I'll need to check in on Kris first."
"Okay.” She drew a crackly sigh. “Thanks. Come to the lake.”
“Sounds good. Is everything alright?” The telltale beep let him know his concerned question had been abruptly hung up on. He put his phone back down and made his way towards the stairs, up towards his bedroom. He gently opened the door and revealed the human hunched over, eyes wide open and hands full of bath bombs. Asriel pinched his brow ridge. “Angel dammit…”
Clad in a frayed green zip-up hoodie and candy cane pajama pants, Asriel made the brisk trek to the lake after bargaining with Kris to not wreak havoc in exchange for an extra piece of pie from the fridge. There, a figure sat parallel to the water. The night was overcast, too dark to make out any distinguishable physical traits. As he pressed forward, Asriel found his inference being confirmed as the click of a lighter sparked flames to life, revealing Dess’ angular features. The sound of a particularly crisp leaf being crushed under his sole alerted the girl, who tilted her head just enough to meet his gaze. “Hey,” he offered.
Giving him a silent once-over, she went back to the task at hand, sparking up her cigarette. She took a long drag and exhaled. The smoke trailed upwards until indistinguishable from the skyline. After, she let the cigarette drop to the floor with an unceremonious piff. Finally, she spoke, voice unfettered by the limitations of Asriel’s aged home phone. “Cute pajamas.”
He released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Shut up.” She gave a terse laugh, then looked at him expectantly, causing Asriel to become keenly aware of the one-sided staring contest he’d been holding. Dess turned to face the water as he hurriedly sat down onto the stony platform by the shore, chin coming to rest on one of his legs. Subtle notes of smoke still lingered. “How many have you had?”
“Five.”
“That’s probably not good for you.”
A sigh. “Nope.” A sneeze.
“Cold?” Asriel offered. Dess gave a noncommittal hum. This conversation was going nowhere. He chewed on his bottom lip and offered her his jacket wordlessly. She pushed it away, opting for another cigarette instead. His brows furrowed. “Any reason you invited me out?”
She smirked, taking another drag. “C’mon, can’t we just hang out?”
“I know, but…” He took a moment, choosing his next words carefully. “I don’t know, I guess I’m just a bit worried about you.”
Stiffly, she sat up and turned away, discarding her finished cigarette. “Dude, I just wanna chill. Everything’s fine.”
Asriel frowned. The frustration in her tone rendered him unconvinced. “Well, you can tell me anything, alright?”
“Asriel?”
“Yeah?”
“Fuck off.”
He took a sharp inhale, soaking in her words. If she was simply being avoidant before, now she was outright hostile. His feelings were a little hurt, but he wasn’t a sensitive little kid anymore. Back then, childhood banter gone too far would culminate in him bursting into tears till Dess frantically apologized for whatever snippy comment she had made. Now that he was older and a little more rational, he concluded it likely wasn’t him who initially set her off. Despite the reasonable inference made, he still felt pissed off. “Fine,” he replied, exhaling after a few tense seconds. The two couldn't have sat like that for long, both feeling much too uncomfortable to let an argument between the two go unsettled. Eventually, Dess tentatively shifted until they were shoulder to shoulder. Asriel carefully wrapped his arm around her as if in a silent peace offering, and she gratefully accepted, leaning in towards him and relaxing. They stayed like that for a while, until Dess took a breath and tensed once more.
“Sorry,” she said, still staring off into the murky water.
“It’s fine.” He squeezed her shoulder lightly.
“It’s not. I was being a bitch. Sorry.” A matter-of-fact tone pervaded her speech.
“Don’t say that.” Asriel frowned as his gaze fell upon her. If he wasn’t already disdainful of Dess’ habit of swearing, the feeling doubled whenever his best friend used it to put herself down. He didn't want to be mad at her as much as he didn't want her to be mad at herself. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”
“You don’t needa know to help. Isn’t your problem.” She sidled more into Asriel as he moved his head between her antlers.
His mouth opens, then closes, then opens again. “I want to help you more. It would make me feel better.”
As he spoke, Dess craned her head up to meet his gaze. She exhaled long and loud. Suddenly, she reached up to pinch his cheek. “You’re a real sweetie-pie, you know that?” She tugged at his face with a smarmy grin plastered on her face, speaking mockingly.
Asriel huffed and rolled his eyes. “You’re acting like my mom.”
Her gaze trailed away, lips fading into a more contemplative, sad-looking smile, and her hand dropped from his face to his arm. “Sure am.” Asriel hummed. Whatever put her off just now... wasn't a coincidence, was it? Discarding the thought, he figured that he wouldn't push her any more than he already had. As their breathing synchronized, they slipped into a more comfortable, intimate silence. The time elapsed was of no concern to either, simply content in the other’s company. The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, giving way to cascading moonlight upon the water. Finally, she spoke again. “She hit me.”
Asriel, now in a state of sleepy bliss, met the statement with a simple “Mmm?”
“Carol hit me. Across the face. She was drunk.”
Asriel blinked. Blinked again. A sinking feeling grew in his gut, and he blinked a third time as if it would wake him from whatever nightmare scenario he was in.
There were few things that stayed stagnant about December Holiday over the years he’d been best friends with her. She would work ceaselessly at a sport one month-- then the next, drop it in lieu of a new instrument that caught her eye. She was impulsive and reckless and boundless, in all the ways Asriel was not. Naturally, it was why he was so closely knit with her in a town like this-- without her spontaneity, there wasn’t really much of anything going on in Hometown.
Unfortunately, her off-the-cuff approach to life put her at odds with her mother on a recurring basis. While Carol seemed like a more benevolent figure in Asriel’s muddled memories of his childhood playdates at the Holidays’, growing up turned his view of her into a more hesitant one. It felt more and more that she served as more of a foreboding restrictive force over Dess’ and Noelle’s autonomy rather than a truly nurturing mother. Time and time again, Dess would regale him with angered recountings of whatever petty argument the two had fought over. Until now, he always thought this to be a little exaggerated, as he knew Dess to be an expressive and brash person. As much as he loved her for all her traits, he couldn’t help but imagine it would be hard to be her roommate, much less her parent. But nothing she could have done could justify this.
Like a rubber band suddenly pulled taut, he felt any remotely positive feelings for Carol dissipate instantly.
A casual “Asriel?” broke him from his stupor. In a tizzy, he shifted around Dess to inspect her face, searching for any marks or visible injuries he may have been ignoring the whole time. Catching on quickly, she snorted. “Concealer, dude. You think I’d just walk across town like that?” She smirked as if privy to some inside joke Asriel had missed.
He stared back. His voice took on a high-pitched, incredulous tone. “What- Why are you acting so casual about this?”
Unperturbed by his accusatory tone, she pressed forth. “‘Cause,” she sighed, “what the hell am I going to do about it?”
She attempted to lean back into her prior state of closeness, but Asriel quickly shot up, smoothing the fur on his forehead frantically. “I... This is crazy! You need to tell someone about this now!”
“Telling you, aren’t I?” She closed her eyes, head resting on her forearms.
“An adult, December.” No response. “Let’s go over to my house and call my dad. He can-” As he turned to walk, he felt her hand grasp his wrist. Slowly, he turned to meet her gaze. She was standing now. Her eyes wide, it seemed to Asriel that she was finally coming to terms with the situation at hand.
“Stop.”
What?
“But-”
“Stop.” She moved to grab both of his wrists with her hands. “Listen, okay?” Her face turned solemn. “I appreciate it, I really do. Sorry for acting all... 'who the fuck cares' about it. You’re really, really, sweet for being willing to do that for me.” Asriel wanted to protest as she took a pause, to tell her that nobody should be hurting her and getting away with it as long as he can help it, but she continued. “But... if I do what you're saying, it’s just going to make things worse. What do you think is gonna happen when word gets out?” His breath quickened as he came to the same realization she had likely had on the walk here. What would happen if the longstanding mayor of Hometown was found out to be an abusive drunk? “My dad doesn’t have a job, Azzy. Noelle can’t live like that. I don’t wanna live like that.” Her voice caught, stumbling over her final words. “And if that means I have to pretend like what just happened was all fine, then…” She trailed off and looked away, arms moving to hug her sides.
Asriel took a few steps tentatively, cautiously, as if any move too sudden would cause the girl standing in front of him to turn into a puddle of water and wash away.
“So… there’s nothing I can do about this... this whole thing?”
The proceeding silence seemed to ring louder than the statement itself, a silent confirmation of sorts. He was completely out of his element. Keeping Dess company and comforting her after a verbal blowout with her mom or being talked down when spiraling about his grades was usually the extent of their shared emotional turmoil. He felt completely helpless dealing with something like this. What was he to do in a situation that direly demanded he do something, yet stopped him from doing much of anything in the same breath?
Without thinking any further, he blurted out, “can I give you a hug, at least?”
She looked taken aback. “Uh... yeah.” He held his arms out wordlessly. She hesitated for a split second, then barreled into him, quickly burying her face in the goat monster’s torso. The two being touchy was far from rare, but Asriel was stricken by how intimate this act of physical intimacy felt. It felt as if she was baring her very soul to him, and he was giving his all to protect it, to protect them together. Brushing through her hair, holding her close, Asriel closed his eyes and felt momentarily like this whole situation was normal. Like she wasn’t quivering ever-so-slightly in his arms. Like it was just another bad day for one of them, and like that all the problems they had right now would turn out fine after a hug and a hangout. Finally, she drew back. If there was a conspicuous wetness felt now on Asriel’s jacket, it went without any mention.
“I don’t want you to get hurt. What if she does anything again?”
Dess gave a sardonic smile, sniffling. “For what it’s worth, she was shitfaced. I’ve never seen her like that in my life. It’s not gonna happen again.”
“Okay.” He swallowed. “It's... Dess, I really love you. Just… tell me if anything like this happens again.”
She nodded wordlessly. Abruptly, she embraced him again, standing on her tip-toes. “Love you too,” she whispered close to his ear as if there was someone else listening in. Heels falling down to the ground, she took a few steps back. “So… is the offer still up? To come to your house?”
Asriel was peering at her as if she was made of pure moonlight. In that moment, she may as well have been. Her breath hitched, and she flushed. The change in her complexion, too, went unsaid. He felt something flutter, a shiver trailing down from where her breath hit his face moments ago. Angel, were they having a moment? Asriel realized that he had been staring much too long. Finally, her words processed in his brain. “Oh, right! Yes!” He clasped his palms together suddenly. “Yeah, you can stay over!”
As if nothing even happened, her mouth quivered, tickled by his sudden change in disposition. “You’re such a fuckin’ weirdo, dude.” She grasped onto his wrist tightly, sashaying past as she spoke. “C’mon, I wanna go kick your ass at Super Smashing Fighters!”
As Asriel was dragged along by the doe, he felt his worries melt away a bit. Whatever they were, for just right now, it might be okay.