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Susie died.
“Crap I died again?”
In the game they were playing, of course. As the womp-womp sound played on the screen, Kris half-smiled and shrugged at their friend and set down their controller on the table. Yet another victory for them.
“That’s, like, the tenth time you’ve won, Kris”, Susie complained dramatically from the couch, tossing her remote onto the table.
“Twevleth,” Kris corrected. Twelve victories within the span of the hour they’d spent at their house.
She shook her head in disbelief. Then, Susie casually asked, “Is it because you had a brother to play with you all the time?"
The word ‘brother’ wedged itself into their soul. Kris sank a bit further into their beanbag chair and nodded, looking down at their sneakers. A brother that isn’t here anymore, is what was left unsaid.
She seemed to realize the impact of her words. “Dammit”, Susie muttered to herself. “Sorry, Kris. I didn’t mean to, y’know. Say that.”
They shook their head in acknowledgement, letting their friend know it was okay.
Still, Susie scooted down from the couch next to them. But not too close to make them uncomfortable.
Hesitating, she asked, “Uh, you miss him?”
“Mm-hmm”, they reluctantly answered.
“Man, that must suck a lot for you. Based on what I’ve heard about him, he’s a pretty cool guy.”
Kris nodded. It was foolish, but they wished that he would come back sooner.
Every day he wasn’t here was a day without convincing Asriel to help them beat a video game level, to go to the diner and get hot chocolate just because, and have someone to talk to when the nightmares were too much.
Kris glanced at Susie, noticing that she looked worried for them. Oh. They didn’t mean to share all this or make it so awkward. The Player would know what to do, but they wouldn’t be online until at least one hour. So they’d have to make things better by themselves.
But lightening up the mood wasn’t really their thing. They were actually much better at darkening the mood. But they had to try.
“At least..”. Kris paused.
Susie faced them, listening.
“I could.. Get better at video games while he’s away,” They quietly finished, internally cringing at themself. God, that was stupid-
At that moment, Susie roared with laughter and slapped a hand on their back so powerfully that they almost fell over. A very unexpected reaction to their comment.
“Ha! Guess you’re right. When Asriel comes back, you’ll be way better at gaming than he is!”
They smiled back, letting out a little huff of laughter. That was one piece of hope to hold onto.
Reaching out for the controllers across the table, Susie offered, “Wanna play some more?”
Kris accepted the controller. And went straight back to absolutely dominating the game. After all, years of practice with a brother who’s also an amazing gamer will do that to you.