Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

It had been a while since the cataclysmic battle against the Titan a while indeed, measured not by the ticking of the school clock, but by the heavy, lingering weight of shared trauma. Susie had definitely noticed something shifting between them.

Not that she was complaining about it; having a shadow was vastly preferable to the suffocating isolation she used to endure. But lately, Kris had become entirely, viscerally clingy. They couldn’t seem to survive for more than two minutes without her in their line of sight. Susie, still entirely green to the concept of genuine relationships, simply guessed that this was just what friends did for each other. After all, she had only known Kris for about a week now, so she just assumed they were the type of person who got deeply attached to people quickly.

 

As the days bled into one another, that attachment morphed into something far more desperate. Kris started finding it completely impossible to sleep unless they were lying on the mattress right next to her. Again, Susie didn't get annoyed by the sudden lack of personal space.

If anything, she welcomed the change, because it meant having impromptu sleepovers nearly every single day. It was infinitely better than sleeping alone in the vast, hollow quiet of Ralsei's empty castle, and it beat going back to the suffocating tension of her... annoying parents' home, where the silence always felt like a threat.

 

But right now, the harsh reality of the Light World was crashing down around them. The two of them were trapped in the back row of Alphys's classroom. Without a single word of explanation, Kris had silently dragged their heavy wooden desk across the linoleum floor earlier that morning, planting it directly beside Susie’s so that their shoulders practically brushed.

 

Susie looked completely bored out of her mind, her large frame slouched so low in her plastic chair that her knees hit the underside of the desk. The lesson was a mind-numbing drone about ancient local history, and the chalkboard was covered in frantic, dusty chalk scribbles.

 

"Kris, dude," Susie rumbled in a low, gravelly whisper, reaching out to lightly tap their shoulder with a blunt, clawed finger.

The physical touch seemed to anchor them, and they slowly roused upward from their slumped posture, a soft, sleepy haze hanging over them. "Hm?" they mumbled out, the sound muffled by the collar of their oversized green shirt.

 

Susie's chest tightened. She found the quiet, gravelly sound of their voice kind of cute unbelievably cute, actually but she violently shook that thought right out of her head, forcing her expression back into a tough, unbothered smirk to hide the sudden heat creeping up her neck.

 

"Have you been taking any notes?" she asked, leaning her chin heavily into her palm. She pointed a casual claw toward her own history notebook, which was utterly devoid of actual history. Instead, the pages were stuffed with aggressive, messy doodles of chalk axes, exploding cars, and vague, jagged monsters.

Kris let out a tiny, breathy chuckle a private sound reserved strictly for her—and shook their head beneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs. "Nope... I fell asleep in the first few minutes."

"Same, honestly," Susie muttered, casting a wary glance toward the front of the classroom where Alphys was still frantically pacing. She shifted her weight, her long, plum-colored tail giving a restless, heavy twitch under her denim jeans, almost brushing against the leg of Kris's desk. Even though Kris claimed they had just woken up, Susie could see the tight, rigid set of their shoulders beneath their yellow-striped shirt.

They hadn't actually been deep asleep; they never were lately. Not since the sky cracked open in the Dark World. Not since they had to face down a literal Titan—a towering, reality-shattering horror that had left both of them mentally fractured.

"Man, if she doesn't wrap this up soon, I'm gonna start chewing on the desk," Susie grumbled, her voice dropping into that low rasp she only used when she wanted to shut out the rest of the world. She playfully nudged her elbow against Kris’s arm. "

You got any more of those sour candies hidden in your pockets, or did you eat 'em all during math?"

Kris didn't answer right away. Instead, they leaned heavily into the physical touch of her elbow, their entire body relaxing by a fraction of an inch the moment skin met fabric. They reached slowly into their pocket, their movements deliberate and heavy, as if fighting an invisible weight pulling at their wrists. They pulled out a single, crumpled green wrapper and slid it across the wooden gap between their desks, their pale fingers lingering near Susie’s hand for a beat too long.

 

"Thanks, dude," Susie said, tearing the wrapper open with her sharp teeth and popping the candy into her mouth. She winced at the sour kick, a sharp grin breaking across her face.

She looked back over at them, her yellow eyes softening behind the messy strands of her hair. It really had been a crazy week. Just a few days ago, she was the terrifying school bully who threatened to eat people's faces off in the hallway. Now, she couldn't even remember what it felt like to be that angry. Everything had changed the second she fell into that first dark closet with Kris.

 

Lately, though, the weight of it all was getting heavier. Susie wasn't stupid. She had noticed how Kris practically lived in her personal space now. In the hallways, they walked so close their shoulders constantly slammed together.

If she got up to check her locker, she would return to find Kris standing exactly where she left them, staring blankly at the wall with a shallow, rapid hitch in their breathing that only stopped the exact second she patted them on the back and said, "Hey, dude."

 

She figured it was just a weird friendship quirk. After all, they had survived life-or-death combat. If Kris got attached quickly, Susie wasn't going to complain. It felt kind of nice to be wanted, to be the person someone ran to instead of ran away from. And with Kris sleeping right next to her every night, the room felt full. Safe.

 

"Hey," Susie murmured, her casual tone faltering slightly as she noticed Kris’s hand starting to twitch on the desk, their fingers curling into a tight, pale fist. The two-minute timer in Kris's head was constantly running. If the room got too quiet, or if she didn't speak, they started to drift into that dark, panicked headspace.

To break the tension, Susie reached out and lightly tapped the back of Kris's fist. "Don't sweat the notes, Kris. If Alphys springs a pop quiz on us, we'll just do what we always do. Threaten to eat her chalk until she gives us a passing grade."

Kris’s shoulders dropped, the rigid panic melting out of them at the sound of her voice. They let out another quiet huff of a laugh. They uncurled their fist and turned their hand palm-up on the desk, silently inviting her to keep her hand close.

Susie’s heart did a sudden, violent flip against her ribs. She felt a hot rush of blood hit her cheeks, and she quickly looked away, staring intensely at Alphys's terrible chalkboard drawings to hide her face. God, what is wrong with me? she thought, her chest aching with a sudden,

heavy warmth. She was completely, utterly in love with the quiet kid sitting next to her, and the absolute chaos of it was starting to scare her more than any Darkner ever could.

The agonizingly dull history lecture droned on and on, Alphys’s voice rising and falling in a rhythmic, chalkboard-scratched cadence that seemed to stretch the seconds into minutes.

Susie tried to focus on her drawings, but the scratching of her own pencil was getting drowned out by a heavier, more irregular sound right beside her.She glanced sideways. Kris hadn't drifted back to sleep.

Instead, they were staring intensely at the polished wooden surface of their desk, their slight frame completely hunched forward.

Underneath the thick curtain of their brown hair, Susie caught a glimpse of their jaw tight, locked, and slightly trembling. Their breathing hadn't settled after that last laugh; it was turning shallow again, their chest rising and falling in quick, uneven hitches.

Susie shifted completely in her chair, turning her torso toward them and letting her large, tattered jacket brush against their arm to offer a constant anchor of physical contact. Now that she was looking closer, she could see the dark, heavy bruises of exhaustion shadowing the pale skin around their nose and mouth.

They looked utterly drained, like they were running on absolutely nothing but raw adrenaline and panic.

"Hey," Susie murmured, her voice dropping into a gentle, gravelly whisper that barely carried over the sound of Alphys's chalk. She reached out, nudging their elbow a bit more firmly this time. "Kris. Dude, look at me for a sec."

Kris slowly tilted their head up. Their eyes were still entirely hidden by their bangs, but the sheer exhaustion radiating off them was palpable. They didn't speak; they just gave a weak, barely perceptible nod to let her know they were listening.

"Man, you look like straight-up garbage," Susie said, her rough-around-the-edges humor carrying a heavy undercurrent of genuine worry. She leaned closer, her yellow eyes scanning their face. "Like, worse than usual. Did you even sleep at all after I knocked out last night? Every time I woke up to roll over, you were just staring at the wall. Are you okay, dude?"

Kris remained completely still for a long, heavy moment, their fingers tightly gripping the edge of the wooden desk until their knuckles turned a stark, bloodless white. The internal battle against their own voice seemed to take everything they had, their throat clicking as they forced the words past their lips.

"Had a... nightmare," Kris mumbled out, their voice sounding incredibly small, raspy, and cracked from disuse.

Susie softened immediately, her tail giving a sympathetic twitch against the floor. "A nightmare? Real original, man. We fight a weird creature and your brain decides to rerun the tape while you're trying to sleep. What was it about? Some more of those creepy dark fountains?"

Kris shook their head slowly. They turned their palm fully upward on the desk, their pale fingers lightly brushing against the edge of Susie’s tattered sleeve, desperately seeking the warmth of her skin.

"No," Kris whispered, their voice trembling with a sudden, sharp spike of visceral fear. "It was... you. We were back there. Against the Titan. And I wasn't... I couldn't move. The Soul wouldn't let me move. I just had to watch. You fought it alone, Susie. And it... it killed you. Right in front of me. I watched you die."

The words hung in the space between their desks, heavy and suffocating.Susie froze. Her breath hitched in her throat, her yellow eyes widening in absolute shock. For a second, the bustling, boring Light World classroom completely faded away.

She was used to being the shield, the monster, the one who took the hits so nobody else had to. Hearing Kris usually so deadpan, silent, and completely unbothered say those words with such raw, broken terror completely shattered her tough exterior.
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Her heart did a violent, painful squeeze against her ribs, not out of fear for herself, but out of a sudden, overwhelming wave of love and heartbreak for the kid sitting next to her. They weren't clinging to her because they were a crybaby; they were clinging to her because their entire world had ended in their head last night, and they were still trying to make sure she was real.

She swallowed hard, clearing the sudden tightness in her throat, and leaned in so close her messy purple hair practically mingled with theirs. She didn't care if Alphys caught them. She didn't care if the whole class turned around to look.

"Hey. Look at me, Kris. Seriously, look right at me," Susie commanded, her voice dropping all of its defensive sarcasm, leaving nothing but a fierce, steady gravity. She reached out, her large, clawed hand completely enveloping Kris's smaller, trembling fist on the desk, squeezing it firmly.

"Listen to me, dude," Susie whispered intensely, her grip warm and unyielding. "That was just a stupid dream, alright? Some garbage trick your brain is playing on you because that fight was messy. But look at me. I'm right here. I'm literally sitting right next to you in this dumb class. "

She lifted her other hand and lightly tapped her own chest, right over her heart, making sure her sharp teeth were visible in a confident, reassuring grin. "You think some titan is enough to take me out? Hell no, man. I'm way too stubborn to die. Especially when I've got you around to keep me from doing stupid dental work on the school furniture."

Kris didn't pull their hand away. Instead, they squeezed her hand back with surprising, desperate strength, their chest finally expanding as they took their first deep, shuddering breath in minutes. The rigid tension in their shoulders slowly began to give way, melting entirely under the steady, suffocating warmth of her presence.

"I'm not going anywhere, Kris," Susie added softly, her thumb gently tracing the back of their knuckles in a slow, rhythmic motion to keep them grounded. "Not in the Dark World, and definitely not here. If you need to stay glued to my side for the next ten years just to prove I'm breathing, then fine. I'll just carry you around like a backpack, dude. I'm serious. I've got you."

Kris let out another tiny, breathy huff of a laugh, their forehead resting lightly against the cool wood of the desk as they kept their fingers tightly intertwined with hers. Susie felt her face burning crimson, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs from the sheer intimacy of the moment, but she didn't let go. She couldn't.

The oppressive heat in the back row of Alphys’s classroom suddenly felt ten times worse.For a few long, agonizing seconds, the rest of Hometown completely ceased to exist. There was only the solid, unyielding heat of Susie’s palm and the desperate, grounding strength of Kris’s fingers locked between hers. But as Kris’s breathing finally leveled out, the heavy fog of raw panic slowly began to lift from the space between their desks. The frantic, dusty scratching of Alphys's chalk against the board bled back into Susie's awareness, snapping her right back to reality.Suddenly, Susie realized exactly what she was doing. She wasn’t just anchoring Kris—she was practically crushing their hand, her blunt claws dug firmly into their knuckles, tracing the back of their hand with a gentleness that was entirely too loud for a regular classroom.A violent, hot rush of blood slammed straight into Susie’s face. Her yellow eyes widened, and she yanked her hand back so fast her elbow nearly violently smacked into the side of her own history notebook. She ripped her gaze away from them, staring intensely at a completely random smudge on the linoleum floor, her heart hammering a frantic, erratic rhythm against her ribs. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, burying her face into the high, tattered collar of her deep-purple jacket to hide the deep crimson blush crawling all the way to the tips of her reptilian ears.Beside her, Kris didn't move their hand from the desk.

They kept their palm open, the skin still radiating the lingering warmth of her grip. Slowly, they tilted their head up just enough for a faint, wicked glint to show beneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs. The raw, fragile terror from moments ago vanished, replaced instantly by that quiet, eccentric prankster energy they always used to mask the heavy stuff.A slow, deliberate smirk tugged at the corner of Kris’s mouth.

"Wow, Susie," Kris murmured, their voice a low, raspy rumble that barely carried over the desk.

"Didn't know a stupid nightmare could make you get all... sentimental. You were practically holding onto me like you were about to propose."Susie's tail gave an aggressive, embarrassed whack against the plastic leg of her chair, making a dull thunk that she hoped Alphys wouldn't notice.

"Shut up, Kris," she hissed through her teeth, her voice dropping into a harsh, defensive growl as she kept her eyes firmly glued to the floor. "I was just making sure you didn't pass out and crack your skull open on the wood.

Don't make it weird, dude."Kris let out another tiny, breathy huff of a laugh. They leaned back into their chair, slouching low, but their gaze remained fixed right on her. The silence stretched between them for a beat, thick with a very specific, dangerous kind of tension that they had built entirely behind closed doors."Make me," Kris whispered deadpan.The words were spoken with total sarcasm, but the underlying weight of them hit Susie like a physical blow.

She froze. Her eyes slowly drifted back toward Kris, her defensive anger instantly melting into a completely different kind of heat. She knew exactly what that phrase meant. It was the unwritten rule they had established in the quiet, suffocating dark of her bedroom or the empty corners of the closet the silent cue that usually ended with her pinning them against a wall,

crowding into their personal space, and kissing them completely breathless just to drown out the noise in both of their heads.It was just how they messed around as friends, after all. A high-stakes, chaotic grounding mechanism to prove they were both still alive. No strings attached. Just for the hell of it.A slow, dangerous smirk crept onto Susie's face, her sharp, pointed teeth flashing behind her messy purple bangs

. She leaned back over the gap between their desks, her broad shoulders casting a shadow over Kris’s slight frame as she matched their quiet intensity."Oh, make you?" Susie rumbled softly, her yellow eyes flashing with a wicked amusement. She glanced up toward the front of the room, where Alphys was currently rambling about ancient crop rotations, before looking right back at Kris's smug face

. "Yeah, nice try, man. We ain't about to start making out in the middle of history class just to get you to shut your mouth. Pretty sure Alphys would actually lose her mind and die on the spot."Kris’s smirk widened by a fraction of an inch, their shoulders shaking with a silent, amused chuckle. They didn't push it any further, but the heavy, suffocating panic that had threatened to tear them apart just minutes ago was entirely gone, replaced by the familiar, messy warmth of their secret routine.

Susie kept her eyes locked on Kris, her smirk turning into a dare. Before she could even whisper another word, Kris’s arm shot straight up into the air with deadpan efficiency.Up front, Alphys blinked hard, dropping her chalk. She adjusted her glasses, peering toward the back row in absolute shock.

Kris never raised their hand. "U-um, yes, Kris? Is there a... a question about the treaty?""Bathroom," Kris flatly stated, their voice echoing clearly across the sudden silence of the room."Oh! Uh, sure, go ahead-"

"Yeah, me too," Susie cut in loudly, raising her hand about an inch off her desk before letting it slam back down. "Gotta go. Bad."Alphys completely froze, looking back and forth between the two of them. A deeply confused, wildly stressed expression twisted her face.

"W-what? Both of you? Right now? Susie, you... you just got back from the vending machines a few minutes ago. And Kris, you were just asleep..."

From the front row, Noelle shifted in her seat, her shoulders stiffening as she slowly turned her head to glance back at them, a flicker of quiet hurt and suspicion passing through her hazel eyes."Yeah, well, the school water fountain tastes like straight rust, teach,"

Susie grumbled, completely ignoring Noelle's gaze as she stood up, her heavy chair scraping loudly against the floor. "It’s a medical emergency or whatever. Let's go, Kris."Alphys wrung her hands together, entirely too intimidated to argue with the tallest girl in school.

"O-okay! Just... please don't wreck the sinks this time!"Kris was already on their feet, their movement fluid and immediate. The two-minute timer in their head was screaming, and the suffocating atmosphere of the classroom was rapidly shrinking. They didn't even wait for Susie to lead the way; they slipped out into the empty hallway, the heavy oak door clicking shut behind them and cutting off the dull murmur of the classroom.

The hallway was completely deserted, illuminated only by the harsh, buzzing fluorescent lights overhead. They walked side by side in total silence, the heavy thud of Susie’s boots perfectly anchoring the quiet,

hurried padding of Kris's sneakers. Neither of them spoke a word as they swung open the door to the old, tiled school bathroom.Once inside, the heavy door groaned closed, locking out the rest of Hometown. Kris immediately gravitated toward the large, handicapped stall at the very end

the only one with enough space to comfortably fit Susie’s massive frame. They pushed the metal door open, stepped inside, and Susie followed right behind them, sliding the metal latch into place with a sharp, definitive clink.The second the lock clicked.

"platonic" rules of the outside world dissolved.Before Kris could even turn around fully, Susie lunged forward.

She grabbed the collar of Kris’s oversized green shirt, her blunt claws catching the fabric as she forcefully pinned them backward against the cold, graffiti-covered stall wall. The sharp thud of Kris's back hitting the metal panel echoed in the small space, but they didn't even wince.

Instead, their chest gave a massive, shuddering heave as they finally let go of the tension they had been holding since the nightmare discussion.

Susie crowded completely into their personal space, her broad shoulders totally blocking out the bathroom light, casting Kris in her shadow. She leaned down, her yellow eyes flashing with a dangerous, playful heat behind her messy purple bangs, her sharp teeth bared in a confident smirk just inches from Kris’s face.

"So," Susie rumbled, her voice dropping into a low, gravelly purr that vibrated right against Kris’s chest.

"You really couldn't even wait twenty minutes for the bell to ring, huh, dude? Just absolutely had to get me behind a closed door because you missed me that much?"Kris didn't pull away. They let their head rest back against the metal wall, their dark bangs parting just enough to reveal the intense, unblinking focus of their gaze. They reached up slowly, their pale hands wrapping tightly around Susie’s thick,

fabric-clad wrists, anchoring themselves to her pulse."You're the one who followed me in here, Susie," Kris whispered deadpan, a tiny, defiant smirk playing on their lips."Yeah, because you looked like you were about to vibrate out of your skin, man,"

Susie teased, her voice softening slightly as she leaned even closer, her warm breath brushing against their cheek. Her heart was absolutely hammering against her ribs, terrifyingly loud in the cramped stall, but she kept her tough-girl front locked in place.

"Admit it, Kris. You're completely helpless without me."

 

Susie didn't answer with words. The teasing smirk on her face faltered, melting into a heavy, focused intensity as she leaned down and closed the remaining distance between them.The make-out session began with a sudden, bruising collision of lips. It wasn't gentle, and it certainly wasn't neat,

but it was exactly what they both desperately needed. Susie’s large hands slid up from the collar of Kris's shirt, her blunt claws burying themselves deep into the messy, unkempt brown hair at the back of their head to hold them securely against the metal stall wall.

She kissed them with a fierce, possessive hunger, her sharp teeth lightly catching against their lip, a low, gravelly sigh escaping her throat as she completely crowded her broad frame over their slight body.Kris didn't hesitate for a single second.

The moment Susie's lips met theirs, the crushing weight of the player's Soul, the looming dread of the prophecy, and the lingering terror of the Titan nightmare completely evaporated. For the first time all day, Kris felt entirely present in their own skin.

They wrapped their arms tightly around Susie’s neck, pulling her down even closer, their fingers gripping the rough fabric of her tattered purple jacket as if they were clinging to a life raft in the middle of a violent storm.

They moved together in the cramped, shadowed space of the stall, the absolute silence of the empty school bathroom broken only by the frantic, uneven rhythm of their breathing and the soft, friction-heated sounds of their lips pressing together. Susie tasted faintly of the sour candy she had eaten minutes earlier, a sharp, electric shock against the heavy warmth of her mouth.

She pushed closer, angling her head to deepen the kiss, her heavy, plum-colored tail giving a sharp, rhythmic thud against the metal paneling behind them as her self-control completely fractured.To anyone else, it would look like two people profoundly, desperately in love. But in their heads, the unspoken boundary remained locked in place. This was just a mutual grounding mechanism. This was just how they coped with a world that was actively trying to tear them apart.

It was "platonic"—a chaotic, high-stakes system to keep Kris from spiraling into a severe panic attack, and a way for Susie to protect the one person she couldn't bear to lose.Kris's lips parted slightly, a quiet, breathless gasp escaping them as Susie’s mouth slid down to the curve of their jawline,

kissing a trail of burning heat across their pale skin. Kris’s chest heaved, their hands sliding down her back, tracing the strong line of her shoulders just to feel the steady, living musculature beneath her clothes. She was alive. She was right here. The Titan hadn't destroyed her.

"Kris..." Susie murmured against their skin, her voice dropping into a ragged, breathless whisper that vibrated directly against their throat. Her heart was beating so violently it felt like it was going to smash through her ribs,

but she forced herself to keep a loose, casual grip on their waist, desperately trying to convince herself that her pulse was only racing from the physical exertion.Kris didn't reply, choosing instead to lean up and press their lips firmly back against hers, effectively silencing any doubts before they could ruin the perfect, suffocating safety of the dark.

They stayed locked in that cramped space for a bit longer, the frantic urgency of the kiss slowly softening into a deeper, slower rhythm. Neither of them wanted to break the bubble. For Kris, every second their lips pressed against Susie's was another second the player's Soul was kept at bay, drowned out by the sheer,

undeniable reality of her warmth. Susie’s hands shifted from the back of Kris’s head, her large palms sliding down to cup their face, her thumbs gently brushing against their cheekbones through the messy strands of their hair.

She kissed them until her own lungs burned, pouring every ounce of her hidden, agonizing love into the touch, desperately wishing she could just tell them how she felt without ruining the only safe haven Kris had left.

Finally, the distant, muffled warning chime of the school's PA system clicked on, signaling that the period was exactly ten seconds away from ending.Sensing the tight timeline, Susie reluctantly pulled her mouth away first, her chest heaving as she took in a sharp, ragged breath of air. Her plum-colored bangs were completely disheveled, and her yellow eyes were wide

, dark, and clouded with a heavy, unspoken intensity. She kept her palms resting on the cold metal wall on either side of Kris's head, effectively keeping them trapped in her shadow for just one more second while she tried to get her racing pulse under control.Kris stayed tilted back against the wall,

their lips slightly parted and flushed, their breathing just as erratic as hers. A few strands of their brown hair had shifted, revealing the faint, quiet brightness of their eyes underneath. They looked up at her, completely grounded, the terrifying remnants of the Titan nightmare finally scrubbed clean from their mind.

Slowly, that familiar, eccentric smirk crept back onto Kris’s face. They let out a quiet, breathless chuckle, their voice a low, raspy murmur in the quiet of the stall."Alright," Kris whispered deadpan, their eyes locking onto hers with a playful, teasing glint.

"I'm shut up."Susie blinked, the heavy romantic fog instantly shattering as her face flushed an even deeper, more violent shade of crimson. She ripped her hands off the wall, shoving them deep into the tattered pockets of her purple jacket as she took a defensive step backward,

her tail giving a sharp, embarrassed swipe against the toilet porcelain."Yeah, well... good," Susie grumbled, desperately trying to force her voice back into its usual rough, unbothered cadence just as the loud, obnoxious school bell finally shattered the silence outside the door. "Serves you right, dude. Let's get our crap before Alphys thinks we actually drowned in the sink."

The heavy oak door groaned open, swinging inward as Susie stepped out of the bathroom stall first. She adjusted the collar of her tattered purple jacket with an overly aggressive tug, casting a quick glance up and down the hallway to make sure the coast was clear. Kris slipped out right behind her, their posture immediately shifting back into that quiet, slouched, deadpan stance, their face an unreadable mask beneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs.The school hallway was already starting to flood with noisy students packing up their lockers. Kris stood entirely motionless against the locker wall while Susie cracked her knuckles, her yellow eyes flickering toward the far end of the corridor."Hey, uh," Susie muttered, scratching the back of her neck.

"I'm gonna go hit up the gym to see if Undyne left any extra sports equipment out. You gonna be good for two minutes, man?"Kris gave a slow, concise nod, their voice returning to that quiet, mumbled rasp. "Yeah. Go ahead.

""Cool. Catch you at the lockers in a bit, dude," Susie rumbled, offering a quick, reassuring smirk before turning on her heel and marching down the opposite hallway, her heavy boots thudding against the linoleum.The second Susie disappeared around the corner, the invisible two-minute timer in Kris’s head began its relentless countdown.

At first, they tried to focus on the mundane sounds of Hometown’s youth—lockers slamming, papers rustling, the dull chatter of classmates. But as the seconds ticked away, the suffocating weight of the player's Soul immediately pressed harder against their chest, reclaiming its tight grip now that their physical anchor was gone.One minute passed. The crowded hallway suddenly felt entirely too loud and entirely too small.

Kris’s fingers began to twitch against the cold metal of the locker behind them, their knuckles turning a stark, bloodless white.By the time the two-minute mark hit, Susie still hadn't walked back around the corner.A sharp, visceral wave of panic slammed straight into Kris’s chest. Their breathing instantly fragmented, catching in short, ragged hitches that barely allowed any oxygen to reach their lungs.

Underneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs, their eyes widened, fixed with unblinking, terrified intensity on the exact spot where Susie had vanished. The residual horror of the Titan nightmare flared back to life in their mind's eye; the image of her dying, of her disappearing into the prophecy

, flashed violently against the backdrop of the bright, fluorescent hallway.They locked up completely, their slight frame freezing flat against the lockers as if moving even an inch would cause the entire world to collapse.To escape the suffocating press of the crowd, Kris’s instincts took over.

They didn't think; they just moved, their feet dragging heavily as they forced their trembling body up the creaky, seldom-used stairwell at the back of the school. Every single step felt like pulling against an invisible tide, the Soul twisting uncomfortably inside them,

but the sheer panic of her absence pushed them forward. When Kris shoved open the heavy metal door at the top, the crisp, cool autumn air of Hometown slammed into them, cutting through the stagnant atmosphere.The rooftop was completely deserted. The town stretched out beneath them—a peaceful grid of orange-leafed trees and quiet streets

but Kris couldn't process any of it.They walked right up to the chain-link fence, gripping the cold wire mesh with both hands to keep their knees from buckling. They stood there on the rooftop, acting like nothing had happened to the outside world,

keeping their face completely deadpan even as their chest violently heaved. They stared blankly out at the horizon, their pulse drumming a frantic, terrifying rhythm against their ribs as they desperately waited for the heavy, familiar sound of boots on the concrete.

The air on the rooftop was bitingly cold, but it did nothing to clear the suffocating fog in Kris's chest.Two minutes and thirty seconds. Then three minutes. The timer in their head had completely broken, scattering into a million pieces of sharp, jagged panic. Their lungs burned from the shallow, useless hitches of breath they were pulling in. Every instinct they possessed was screaming that Susie was gone—that she had vanished back into the dark,

that the Titan had taken her, that the prophecy had finally closed its jaws around her while Kris was standing uselessly by a row of school lockers.The weight of the player's Soul pressed down like a lead anvil, tightening its invisible strings around their wrists and throat, eager to reclaim total control now that Kris's physical anchor was out of reach.They couldn't breathe. They couldn't think. The absolute lack of agency, mixed with the terrifying certainty that Susie was dead in some alternate timeline,

became physically agonizing.Desperate to claw back even a fraction of control over their own body, Kris’s trembling hand slid down into the pocket of their pants. Their fingers wrapped around the familiar, sleek handle of their small silver pocket knife—the one they usually used for harmless pranks or cutting fruit, the one they kept hidden from Toriel's watchful eyes.They pulled it out, the metal glinting sharply beneath the overcast Hometown sky.

With a quiet, definitive flick, the small blade snapped into place.Kris didn't hesitate. They didn't cry, and their deadpan facial expression didn't even flicker beneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs. This wasn't about ending things; it was about grounding.

It was about forcing a physical sensation so sharp and undeniable that the Player couldn't dictate it, and the panic couldn't override it. They pulled up the long sleeve of their green striped shirt just enough, pressing the cool edge of the blade against the pale skin of their forearm, and drew a single, clean line.The sudden, stinging bite of pain was immediate.

Kris didn’t stop at just one line. The stinging relief was a temporary barrier against the void, but the phantom timer in their head was still ticking, screaming that Susie was gone. Three minutes and forty seconds. Four minutes. With a completely vacant, deadpan expression beneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs, they pressed the cool edge of the blade back down. They drew a second line, then a third, the small silver pocket knife moving with silent, mechanical precision. Each shallow sting was a desperate attempt to drag their mind back to the physical world,

to drown out the suffocating, phantom grip of the player's Soul.The heavy metal rooftop door didn’t just rattle this time. It violently slammed open with a deafening, echoing CRACK that cut straight through the whistling wind.

Kris froze, the blade still pressed firmly against the pale skin of their forearm.Susie stood in the doorway, completely out of breath, her chest heaving rapidly under her plain white shirt.

Her plum-colored bangs were wildly disheveled from sprinting up the back stairwell, her tattered purple jacket flung open. She had realized she was gone for nearly five minutes . She had run through the halls, checked their locker, and bounded up the stairs in a blind, protective panic."

Kris! Gosh, dude, I'm so sorry, i got caught in the hallway and I couldn't get away-" Susie yelled out, her gravelly voice frantic as she took a giant step onto the concrete roof.Then, her voice abruptly died in her throat.The confident, tough-girl swagger vanished instantly. Susie’s yellow eyes widened in absolute, paralyzing shock, the pupils shrinking to tiny pinpricks behind her messy hair.

Her gaze dropped from Kris’s hidden face, down past the green-and-yellow striped sleeve they had pulled up, and locked directly onto the silver blade resting against their skin and the thin, crimson lines welling up on their arm.The silence that followed was suffocating.

The cold wind howled across the rooftop, but neither of them moved. Susie stood entirely rooted to the spot, her jaw slightly slack, staring at the quiet, self-inflicted violence of the person she loved more than anything else in the world.

The deafening silence stretched across the open rooftop, punctuated only by the sharp, whistling wind that whipped Susie’s plum-colored hair across her face. For a long, terrifying second, she couldn't move. Her heart, already racing from sprinting up the concrete stairs, slammed violently against her ribs. But as she stared at the stark crimson lines blooming against Kris’s pale skin, the initial paralysis evaporated, replaced by a deep, aching protectiveness that completely overrode her shock.She didn't yell. She didn't stomp her boots or curse.

Her steps were slow, deliberate, and remarkably quiet as she crossed the concrete roof. She held her hands slightly out, palms open, the way a person might approach a fragile, cornered animal. Her yellow eyes never left Kris’s face, tracing the silhouette of their features hidden beneath the thick curtain of their brown bangs."Kris," Susie murmured. Her voice was completely stripped of its usual defensive rasp, dropping into a low, incredibly gentle rumble that was almost a plea. "Hey. Dude. Drop the blade. Just... let me take it, alright?"Kris didn't pull away, but their entire body locked up like iron. They stood flat against the cold chain-link fence, their slight frame trembling violently as the adrenaline of the panic attack began to clash with the sudden reality of being caught.

Their knuckles were white around the silver handle, their thumb frozen on the back of the small pocket knife. The deadpan mask on their face didn't shatter, but a single, shallow hitch in their chest betrayed just how close they were to the edge.Susie closed the final distance between them, stepping directly into Kris’s personal space. She didn't crowd them aggressively this time; instead,

she used her massive, broad frame to shield them from the open expanse of the roof, blocking out the rest of Hometown.Slowly, carefully, she reached out. Her large, clawed hand was warm and steady as she gently enveloped Kris's cold,

trembling fingers. She didn't yank or twist. She just squeezed softly, her thumb rubbing a soothing, grounding circle against the back of their hand until, with a quiet, defeated exhale, Kris’s grip finally loosened.Susie slid the silver pocket knife out of their palm. With a deft, practiced motion of her thumb, she snapped the blade closed and immediately shoved it deep into the pocket of her jeans, making sure it was entirely out of sight.

"Is this... is this what you do when the panic gets too loud?" Susie asked, her voice trembling slightly as she finally forced herself to address the elephant on the rooftop. She stared at the makeshift bandage, her mind racing as she put the pieces together—the loss of agency, the player's Soul, the crushing weight of a prophecy they never asked for. "To feel something? To get away from... whatever is inside you?"Kris didn't give a deadpan sarcastic comeback this time. They just gave a slow, microscopic nod against her chest, their breathing finally starting to synchronize with the steady, heavy rise and fall of Susie's shoulders."Man..." Susie breathed out, a heavy, ragged sigh escaping her sharp teeth. She leaned her forehead down, letting it rest lightly against the top of Kris's head, completely th
"Look at me, man," Susie whispered intensely, her hands moving up to gently but firmly grip Kris’s shoulders. She could feel the rigid, terrifying tension vibrating through their sweater. "Look at me. I'm right here. I told you I was just down the hall, didn't I?

a teacher cornered me about some stupid gym mats. I didn't leave you. I'm not gone."Kris’s head stayed lowered, their forehead almost touching the front of her tattered purple jacket. They took a jagged, shuddering breath, their fingers blindly reaching out to clutch at the fabric of her sleeves, anchoring themselves to her solid, living weight."Five... minutes," Kris mumbled out, the words sounding incredibly raw, cracked, and small against the howling wind. "The timer... it stopped. I thought... the Titan..."

 

"I know, I know. It's my fault, dude. I screwed up the timing," Susie interrupted softly, her chest aching with a profound, suffocating wave of guilt and love. She looked down at their forearm, where the shallow cuts were still glistening.

Without a second thought, she reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out a clean, slightly crumpled bandana she carried around , and gently wrapped it around Kris's arm, tying it securely to stop the bleeding.Once the cloth was tied, Susie didn't pull her hands away. She kept her palms resting against Kris's arms, her thumbs stroking the green-and-yellow fabric of their sleeves

.rowing the "platonic" rules out the window for a split second.

"You gotta talk to me, Kris. You can't just slice yourself up b

ecause I took too long to walk down a hallway. If you're drowning, you gotta yell for me. I'm the muscle, remember? I'm supposed to carry the heavy crap so you don't have to."Kris let out a tiny, breathy huff—not quite a laugh, but the first sign that the suffocating grip of the void was losing its hold. They squeezed her jacket tighter, burying their face entirely into her shoulder, completely dependent on the raw, unyielding warmth of the only person in Hometown who truly understood the horror of what they were fighting against.

The wind continued to howl across the concrete roof, pulling at the frayed edges of Susie’s oversized purple jacket, but inside the small shadow of her broad frame, the air felt entirely stagnant.Kris remained completely frozen against the chain-link fence, their forehead pressed heavily against Susie's shoulder. The sting from the fresh cuts beneath the makeshift bandana was still sharp, but a completely different, much more agonizing ache was starting to bloom right in the center of their chest. It was a suffocating, heavy wave of guilt—the kind that felt like swallowing broken glass.

They listened to the ragged, uneven rhythm of Susie’s breathing. They felt the frantic, terrifyingly fast pounding of her heart against her ribs. She was terrified. Susie—the loudest, toughest, most fiercely independent monster in Hometown—was standing out in the freezing cold, her hands trembling as she held onto them, entirely out of her depth because of them.Kris’s fingers, still tightly coiled around the rough fabric of her sleeves, began to lose their strength. A horrible, sinking realization settled deep into their gut. It had only been four days. Four days since they fell into that dark closet together, and in that tiny span of time,

Kris had completely dismantled Susie's life. They had turned themselves into an inescapable, suffocating anchor tied directly around her neck. They couldn't let her walk down a hallway for five minutes without having a psychological meltdown.

They couldn't let her go to sleep in her own bed without sliding in next to her to track her pulse. They were draining her. They were taking the girl who used to stomp through the school corridors like a force of nature and turning her into a hyper-vigilant, exhausted caretaker.The weight of that self-hatred was almost worse than the Soul

. It twisted inside Kris’s stomach, making it physically painful to keep standing there, absorbing her warmth when they felt like a parasitic disease.Kris swallowed hard, their throat clicking as they forced their locked jaw to open. Fighting past the invisible strings of the Soul that always tried to mute them, they forced the words up from their chest, their voice sounding incredibly small, cracked, and thoroughly hollow against the whistling wind

."Susie..." Kris mumbled, the word barely a breath against the fabric of her coat.

"Yeah, dude? I'm right here," Susie murmured back instantly, her grip on their shoulders tightening just a fraction of an inch, her thumbs continuing that slow, rhythmic, grounding stroke against their sleeves.Kris let out a long, shaky exhale, their head dropping even lower until their bangs completely brushed against her collarbone.

"I'm... sorry."Susie blinked, her yellow eyes shifting behind her messy purple bangs. She let out a low, confused huff through her sharp teeth. "Sorry? For what, man? I already told you, it's my fault. I shouldn't have let him corner me for that long.. Don't sweat it."

"No," Kris whispered, a sudden, rare spike of desperate emotion cracking through their usually deadpan delivery. They forcefully pulled their hands back from her jacket, curling their fingers into tight, pale fists against their own sides as they tried to take a step backward into the cold air.

"Not just... for this. For everything."Susie didn't let them step away. Her large palms remained firmly planted on their shoulders, keeping them locked within her protective shadow. "What the hell are you talking about, Kris?"

"I'm... suffocating you," Kris forced out, the words tearing out of their throat with immense difficulty, sounding raw and strained. They wouldn't look up, refusing to let her see whatever expression was breaking through their mask.

"You don't have... your own space anymore. I'm always there. In the halls. In your room. At night. I don't... I don't let you breathe, Susie. You have to carry me everywhere. You have to watch me so I don't... so I don't do this." They gestured weakly with their bandaged arm toward the hidden knife in her pocket. "It's only been a week. You shouldn't... you shouldn't have to deal with a freak like me."

The old word the one the whole town used to whisper behind their back—slipped out before Kris could stop it.

Susie froze entirely. The gentle, rhythmic motion of her thumbs stopped dead against their sleeves. For a single second, her broad shoulders went completely rigid, and Kris braced themselves for the inevitable shift. They expected her to finally realize they were right. They expected her to get annoyed, to sigh, to tell them that yeah, maybe it was getting to be a bit much, and that they needed to back off.

Instead, a low, dangerous rumble started deep in Susie’s chest. It wasn't the scary, violent growl she used to threaten people with; it was a rough, deeply offended sound born out of absolute frustration.

"Are you serious right now, Kris?" Susie barked out, her voice dropping into a harsh, fierce whisper as she stepped even closer, completely trapping them against the chain-link fence. She reached down, her blunt claws gently but unyieldingly grabbing Kris's chin, forcing their head up so that, for the first time all afternoon, her yellow eyes looked directly through the curtain of their brown bangs.

"Look at me," Susie commanded, her breathing heavy and hot in the cold air. "Don't you dare say that garbage to me. A freak? Who the hell cares about personal space? Do I look like the kind of person who gives a crap about boundaries or whatever?"

Kris stared back up at her, their dark eyes completely wide and vulnerable, entirely caught off guard by the sheer intensity in her face."Listen to me, dude," Susie continued, her gravelly voice softening just a fraction, but retaining a fierce, immovable gravity.

"If I wanted space, I’d kick you out. I’m Susie, remember? If someone is annoying me, I'd tell them off . But you? I want you there, Kris. I don't care if you're glued to my side for twenty-four hours a day. I don't care if you need to sleep on my mattress every single night just to make sure my heart is still beating."

She let go of their chin, her large hand moving instead to press firmly against the center of Kris's chest

"You aren't a burden, man," Susie whispered intensely, her eyes shining with a raw, agonizing mixture of love and protectiveness that she still didn't know how to properly put into words. "We fought a titan together, Kris. We almost died. No one else in this stupid, boring town knows what that feels like. No one else understands. You think I want to go back to that empty castle or my trash apartment and just... be alone with my own messed-up head? Hell no. Having you around is the only thing that keeps me from losing my mind, too.

"She leaned her forehead back down against theirs, a heavy, ragged sigh escaping her sharp teeth as she let her hands slide down to firmly grip Kris’s wrists, anchoring them completely."So stop apologizing for needing me,"

Susie rumbled softly, her thumb gently tracing the edge of the bandana wrapped around their arm. "Because the truth is... I need you just as bad, dude. We're in this together. No matter how messy it gets."Kris stood entirely paralyzed, the suffocating guilt in their chest slowly starting to melt away under the fierce, unyielding warmth of her words. Their chest rose and fell in a deep, clean breath, the phantom timer in their head completely silenced. They didn't say anything else—they didn't have the words—but they
slowly uncurled their fists, sliding their fingers back up her sleeves to hold onto her tattered jacket once again.

The freezing wind gave one final, violent howl against the wire mesh of the chain-link fence, but neither of them felt the cold anymore. The suffocating weight of the guilt that had been crushing Kris’s chest had finally begun to settle, ground down into nothing by the fierce, unyielding weight of Susie’s words.Slowly, Susie pulled her forehead away from Kris’s, though her large, clawed hands lingered on their wrists for a beat longer, ensuring their pulse had completely stabilized.

She let out a loud, dramatic sigh through her sharp teeth, entirely cutting through the heavy romantic tension before it could completely swallow them up."Alright, dude," Susie rumbled, her voice snapping back into its familiar, casual rasp as she shoved her hands deep into her tattered jacket pockets.

"We gotta get out of here before Alphys locks the school doors and forces us to survive on nothing but leftover cafeteria chalk and old textbooks. Let's move."Kris gave a slow, concise nod beneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs.

The rigid, terrifying tension that had locked their shoulders together was entirely gone, replaced by a deep, numbing exhaustion. They let their arms drop to their sides, the cool air hitting the makeshift bandana wrapped tightly around their forearm.

Together, they turned away from the open expanse of Hometown and pushed past the heavy metal rooftop door. The creaky, concrete stairwell felt a little

less suffocating on the way down. Their sneakers and Susie’s heavy boots created a steady, rhythmic echo that bounced off the cinderblock walls, a grounding baseline that kept the invisible two-minute timer in Kris’s head completely silent.By the time they reached the main floor, the school was a ghost town.

The crowded, noisy hallways from twenty minutes ago were completely empty, lit only by the dull, buzzing fluorescent lights. A few stray papers littered the floor, but the lockers were all slammed shut.

They glided past Alphys's locked classroom and pushed through the heavy glass double doo eat another one of those dry-ass granola bars from your kitchen, I’m gonna start chewing on your drywall. I'm serious, dude."Kris didn't pull away from the weight of her arm.

Instead, they leaned completely into her side, their body naturally molding against hrs of the main exit, stepping out into the bright, crisp autumn afternoon.The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, casting long, dramatic orange and purple shadows across the asphalt.

The air smelled of damp earth and burning leaves.As they hit the sidewalk, Susie didn't even hesitate.

With a completely fluid, unbothered motion, she extended her long, broad arm and threw it heavily over Kris’s shoulders, pulling their slight frame firmly against her side. It wasn't a gentle, tentative touch; it was a loud, possessive, and entirely unyielding weight that practically forced Kris to match her long, heavy stride.

"Man, my legs are straight-up asleep after sitting through that ancient history garbage," Susie grumbled loudly, completely acting like she hadn't just been holding a crying, bleeding kid on a roof ten minutes ago. She leaned a bit of her massive weight into them, her long plum-colored tail giving a lazy, content swish behind her denim jeans.

"You better pray your mom made something good for dinner, Kris. If I have toer tattered purple jacket. The sheer, physical proximity acted like pure oxygen to their lungs. They reached up with their uninjured hand, casually gripping the fabric of her sleeve to keep her anchored right there against them.To anyone passing by on the quiet streets of Hometown—any neighbors looking out their windows, or classmates riding the late bus home they looked exactly like a deeply committed, inseparable couple.

They were walking shoulder-to-shoulder, completely trapped in each other’s personal space, sharing clothes and body heat without a single shred of shame.But as they walked down the familiar path toward Kris’s house, both of them remained entirely silent about what was actually happening. Susie kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, her face burning with a faint, hidden blush that she masked behind a tough, careless smirk, completely convinced she was just acting as a human security blanket for her traumatized friend

. Beside her, Kris slouched low, their eyes hidden as they listened to the steady, heavy thud of her boots on the pavement,

The familiar concrete walkway leading up to the Dreemurr residence was dappled with the long, amber shadows of the late afternoon sun. As they reached the front porch, Susie didn’t even think to remove her arm. Her heavy, clawed limb remained draped casually over Kris’s shoulders, pinning their slight frame tightly against her tattered purple jacket as if it were the most natural thing in the world.Kris reached out with their free hand, twisting the brass doorknob and pushing the front door open. The second the door swung inward, the comforting, rich aroma of simmering garlic, tomatoes, and melting cheese wafted over them, immediately filling the entryway.From the kitchen just down the hall, the gentle clinking of a metal spoon against a pot echoed softly.

Toriel’s warm, maternal voice carried over the sound of the bubbling stove. "Kris, my child? Is that you? You are quite late this afternoon—"She stepped out of the kitchen, wiping her paws on a floral apron, a gentle smile lifting her snout. But the moment her eyes fell upon the two teens standing in the foyer, she paused.Susie was practically towering over Kris, her arm wrapped completely around them,

her plum-colored tail giving a slow, unbothered swish against the doorframe. Kris was slouched heavily into her side, their uninjured hand casually clutching the fabric of Susie’s tattered sleeve as if they couldn't bear to lose contact for even a single second.

The sheer, suffocating level of physical casualness between them was undeniable.Toriel’s eyes flickered between the two of them, her maternal instincts immediately jumping to a very specific, quiet conclusion.

A soft, knowing look warmed her face. She had spent the last week watching her incredibly quiet, insular child transform from a lonely prankster into someone who could barely function unless this tall, loud monster girl was in the room.

Seeing them attached at the hip like this, sharing clothes and body heat without a shred of hesitation, Toriel couldn't help but think that the two of them were dating.Honestly, she wouldn’t have minded it at all. In fact, she was quietly thrilled. Toriel had spent years worrying about Kris’s isolation,

and if Kris was finally opening up their heart to someone, she was completely supportive—just as long as they were treating each other right and keeping each other safe. And from the fierce, protective way Susie was currently holding onto Kris, Toriel could tell her child was in good hands.

"Oh! And hello, Susie," Toriel greeted them warmly, her tone brimming with a soft, affectionate gentleness. She gestured back toward the kitchen with her wooden spoon. "You are just in time. I am currently cooking some spaghetti for dinner. It will be ready in about a half hour, so you two have plenty of time to wash up."

"Sweet, thanks, Mrs. Dreemurr," Susie rumbled in her casual, gravelly voice. She offered a quick, sharp-toothed grin, completely oblivious to the romantic conclusion Toriel had just reached. "Smells awesome. We're just gonna head upstairs for a bit, alright?"

"Of course, my children. Go right ahead," Toriel smiled, turning her attention back to her bubbling pot. Because her mind was completely occupied with monitoring the pasta and the rich sauce on the stove, her sharp eyes entirely missed the slightly crumpled, stained bandana tied securely around Kris's left wrist.

Kris didn't say a word. They kept their head lowered, their deadpan face completely hidden beneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs as they leaned into Susie’s side, guiding her toward the stairs.They walked up the creaky carpeted steps together, Susie’s arm still locked firmly over Kris’s shoulders,

acting as an unbreakable shield against the outside world. Every step away from the kitchen brought them closer to the safety of a closed door. The invisible two-minute timer in Kris’s head was completely silent, entirely drowned out by the heavy, comforting thud of Susie’s boots and the rich scent of dinner filtering up from below.They reached the top landing, slipped into the quiet, shadowed space of Kris's bedroom, and the door clicked firmly shut behind them.

The heavy wooden door clicked firmly into its frame, completely sealing them away from the rest of the house. The rich, savory aroma of Toriel’s spaghetti still lingered faintly in the air, but the moment that latch snapped shut, the stifling rules of the Light World completely vanished.Kris immediately sank onto the edge of their mattress, their slight frame slouching heavily.

The sheer exhaustion of the afternoon was catching up to them, their shoulders finally dropping as they rested their palms flat against the sheets. Underneath the thick curtain of their brown bangs, they took a long, slow breath, listening to the comforting, steady rhythm of Susie moving around the room.

Susie didn't sit down right away. She stood near the center of the bedroom, her large hands shoved deep into the tattered pockets of her purple jacket.

Her long, plum-colored tail gave a lazy, content twitch against her denim jeans. She looked down at Kris, watching the way they instantly relaxed the second they were behind a closed door. The raw, terrifying panic from the rooftop had entirely melted away, leaving only that quiet, eccentric presence she had grown so incredibly fond of over the last four days.A slow, dangerous spark of amusement lit up her yellow eyes.

The heavy, suffocating guilt of the walk home suddenly felt a lot lighter now that they were in their own private bubble.Susie stepped closer, her heavy boots making almost no sound on the bedroom carpet as she leaned over, casting her broad shadow completely over Kris’s lap. A familiar, wicked smirk tugged at the corner of her sharp-toothed mouth, her expression turning thoroughly mischievous.

"So... Kris," Susie rumbled, her voice dropping into that low, gravelly purr she only used when they were completely alone. She tilted her head, her messy purple bangs parting just enough to give them a deliberate, heavy stare.

"We got about thirty minutes before your mom yells for dinner. And honestly? That little teaser in the school bathroom didn't really count, dude. You still look a little wired."

Kris didn't move an inch, but the faint, familiar smirk instantly returned to their lips. They slowly tilted their head back against the wall, their dark eyes flashing with a playful, silent challenge beneath their hair.

They knew exactly what she was doing. This was their routine—the chaotic, high-stakes game they played behind closed doors to drown out the noise of the world. It was entirely "platonic," just for the hell of it, a mutual understanding to keep the darkness at bay.

"What's the matter, Susie?" Kris whispered deadpan, their voice a raspy rumble that sent a sudden, electric shiver straight down Susie's spine.

"Can't go two minutes without me either?"Susie let out a sharp, amused huff through her nose, her smirk widening. "Shut up, man. I'm just being a good friend and making sure your therapeutic grounding routine stays on schedule. Now move over."

Without waiting for an answer, Susie crawled onto the mattress, her massive frame crowding directly into Kris’s personal space as she prepared to completely lose herself in the dark, safe bubble they had built together.

Susie didn’t wait for Kris to reply. The teasing look in her yellow eyes instantly darkened into something heavy and consuming. With a sudden, explosive burst of movement, she lunged forward, her broad hands firmly grabbing Kris by the shoulders and slamming them flat against the mattress.The old springs groaned loudly beneath their combined weight, but the sound was completely swallowed by the sudden, frantic rush of their breathing. Susie crowded entirely over their slight frame, pinning them down with the heavy, unyielding warmth of her body.

Her blunt claws dug deep into the fabric of Kris's green-and-yellow shirt, anchoring them to the bed as she leaned down and shattered the remaining space between them.The make-out session slammed into gear with an intensity that made the school bathroom stall feel like a distant memory.This wasn't just a quick fix to stop a panic attack anymore; it was a desperate, chaotic collision of two people trying to outrun the universe.

Susie kissed them with a fierce, possessive hunger, her sharp teeth scraping lightly against Kris’s lips as a low, gravelly groan vibrated deep in her throat. She shifted her weight, pinning Kris's legs down with her own, her plum-colored tail thumping a frantic, erratic rhythm against the side of the mattress. She poured every single ounce of her hidden, agonizing love into the touch, silently screaming the words she was entirely too terrified to say out loud.

Kris welcomed the crushing weight of her body like pure salvation. The second her lips met theirs, the suffocating grip of the player's Soul was violently ripped away, completely drowned out by the sheer, undeniable reality of Susie's presence.

Kris reached up, their pale hands wrapping tightly around Susie's neck, their fingers burying themselves deep into her messy purple hair to yank her down even closer.

They arched their back off the mattress, deepening the kiss with a raw, breathless desperation, their mind completely blanking out the Titan, the prophecy, and the bleeding cuts hidden beneath the bandana on their arm.

The quiet bedroom became a blur of friction and heat. The soft rustle of the bedsheets and the ragged, desperate hitches of their breathing filled the small space behind the closed door.

Susie’s mouth slid down to trace the sharp line of Kris’s jaw, biting softly against the skin of their neck, leaving a trail of burning heat that made Kris let out a rare, quiet gasp. Kris’s hands slid down the rough fabric of her jacket, desperately mapping out the solid, living musculature of her back, squeezing tight just to prove to themselves that she hadn't vanished into the dark.

To anyone else, it would be undeniable they were madly, deeply in love. But the unspoken boundary remained a iron clad rule. As they tangled together on the bed, both of them fiercely held onto the lie that this was just "platonic."

Just for the hell of it.Susie pulled back for a fraction of a second, her chest heaving as she caught her breath, her yellow eyes wide and glazed with an intense, vulnerable heat as she stared down through her bangs at Kris’s flushed, parted lips

The fraction of a second felt like an eternity, suspended in the heavy, heated air between them. Susie hovered over Kris, her chest rising and falling in sharp, desperate heaves, her yellow eyes completely consumed by the raw intensity of the moment.

She looked so beautifully undone, her plum-colored hair spilling wildly over her shoulders, her sharp teeth catching on her lower lip as if she were physically fighting the urge to shatter their unspoken rule right then and there.Kris didn't give her the chance to think.Before Susie could even drag another ragged breath into her lungs,

Kris’s grip on the rough fabric of her jacket tightened with sudden, uncharacteristic force. Stripping away their usual passive, slouched demeanor, Kris used the sheer momentum of her hesitation to surge upward. Their pale hands shot up from Susie’s

back, locking firmly onto her broad shoulders, and with a sudden, coordinated twist of their hips, Kris aggressively flipped the dynamic.Susie let out a sharp, gravelly gasp of pure shock as her balance was completely dismantled. In a blur of spinning shadows,

her massive frame was forcefully guided downward, her back hitting the mattress with a solid, heavy thud that made the bed springs groan in protest.Before she could even register the shift,

Kris slid directly over her, pinning her broad frame beneath their own slight body. They cradled completely into her personal space, their knees locking on either side of her thighs, using their entire weight to anchor her down against the sheets.

Underneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs, Kris’s face was flushed with a burning crimson, their lips parted as their breathing came in fast, shallow hitches.

A dark, intense focus flickered in their hidden eyes—a rare, dominant spark born from a desperate need to take control, to completely dictate the reality of this room so the Player’s Soul couldn't even attempt to breathe.

Susie stared up at them, her jaw slightly slack, her heart doing a violent, loud slam against her ribs. She was the muscle of the team, the monster everyone feared, and having the quiet, usually passive Kris suddenly pin her down like this sent an absolute shock of electricity straight down her spine. Her breath hitched, her hands instinctively coming up to grip Kris’s waist,

her claws digging slightly into the hem of their green shirt.Kris didn't waste a single second of her paralysis. They leaned straight down, burying their mouth back against hers with an even deeper, more desperate intensity than before.

The intensity of the moment hung heavy in the air, a silent acknowledgment of the bond they shared away from the eyes of the world. In the quiet of the room, the usual roles of leader and follower, monster and human, seemed to blur

into something far more personal. Kris remained focused, their presence a steady anchor for Susie amidst the lingering shadows of their recent adventures. Susie, in turn, found a rare moment of peace, her usual guarded nature yielding to the comfort of the shared space.

The frantic rhythm of their shared breaths and the soft, friction-heated sounds of their lips pressing together completely filled the small space, wrapping them in a tight, suffocating bubble of absolute safety. Kris was pouring every ounce of their repressed strength into the kiss, using the dominant weight of their body to physically anchor Susie down

Susie was completely yielding to it, her claws tightly bunching the fabric of their green shirt, her heart pounding a frantic tattoo against her ribs as she let herself be held by the person she loved more than life itself.

Then, a sharp, heavy creak cut straight through the quiet bedroom air.It came from the hallway outside. A slow, heavy, incredibly familiar step thudded against the wooden staircase, followed by another. Toriel was coming up the stairs.The romantic fog vanished instantly, shattered by a collective jolt of pure, unadulterated panic.Kris scrambled off Susie with lightning-fast, frantic agility, practically launching themselves across the mattress. They tumbled backward, hitting the wall at the head of the bed with a dull thud, and immediately yanked their silver cell phone out of their pocket. With trembling, pale fingers,

they unlocked the screen and stared intensely at a completely blank home screen, their chest still heaving in massive, desperate gasps as they tried to force their breathing to look completely normal.Susie didn’t fare much better. She rolled over on the bed in a wild flurry of flailing limbs, her plum-colored tail whacking aggressively against the wooden nightstand with a loud smack. Desperate to look busy,

her clawed hand shot out, blindly grabbing the first heavy object she could reach from Kris’s desk a thick, dusty history textbook. She threw herself back onto her side, propping her chin in her hand, and violently jammed her face into the pages, staring fiercely at the text.The only problem was, she was holding the textbook completely upside down.A split second later, the brass doorknob turned, and the heavy bedroom door swung open.

Toriel stood in the entryway, a warm, maternal smile on her snout, holding a pair of freshly laundered towels in her arms. "Kris, my child, Susie, the spaghetti is just about- "Toriel's voice trailed off, her maternal words dying in her throat as her sharp eyes instantly scanned the room.The atmosphere in the bedroom was practically vibrating with a bizarre, suffocating tension.

Kris was slouched so low against the wall they were nearly melting into the pillows, staring at a dead phone screen with a face that was flushed a burning, guilty crimson, their chest visibly vibrating from shallow, rapid hitches of breath. Beside them, Susie was lying entirely too stiffly on her side, her eyes wide and unblinking as she stared at inverted text, a furious, dark blush crawling all the way to the tips of her reptilian ears.

The bedsheets were completely tangled and twisted into a violent mess beneath them.Toriel stood entirely rooted to the spot, her eyes flickering back and forth between the quiet, panting human and the hyper-focused, blushing monster. Her maternal instincts immediately flared, a deep wave of quiet suspicion settling over her. She knew exactly what teenagers looked like when they had just been caught doing something they weren't supposed to be doing. Her gaze lingered on the upside-down textbook in Susie’s claws, and a subtle, knowing arch creaked into her brow.

"Is... everything alright in here, children?" Toriel asked slowly, her tone carrying a heavy, amused undercurrent that made both of their hearts skip a violent beat.

"Y-Yeah! Totally!" Susie blurted out, her gravelly voice cracking spectacularly on the first syllable. She aggressively cleared her throat, trying to force her posture into something resembling a casual slouch, but only succeeded in looking like a deeply uncomfortable gargoyle.

"Just... uh... catching up on that ancient treaty garbage Alphys was rambling about. Real gripping stuff, Mrs. Dreemurr."Kris didn't even try to form a full sentence. They just gave a frantic, rigid nod from their corner of the mattress, their thumb mindlessly scrolling through a completely blank phone screen.

"Yes," they mumbled out, their voice sounding entirely too high-pitched and strained to belong to them.Toriel stood in the doorway, her arms folded over the freshly laundered towels, completely unmoving. She didn't let out a dramatic gasp, and she didn't start scolding them. Instead, she just stared at the two of them with an expression of quiet, absolute amusement.

How could she not know? Toriel wasn't born a mother. She had been a teenager once, a long time ago, and she remembered the exact flavor of absolute panic that slammed into your chest when your parents walked into a bedroom unannounced. She knew the signs instantly. She saw the heavy, frantic rising and falling of their chests, the burning crimson flush painting Susie's scales and Kris's cheeks, and the absolute disaster zone they had made out of the bedsheets in less than twenty minutes.

They hadn't been studying. They had been making out. Plain and simple.But as she stood there, absorbing the sheer, awkward guilt radiating off the two teens, a wave of profound maternal relief washed over her.Toriel was quietly glad it wasn't any further than that.

In the back of her mind, a tiny, anxious part of her had worried when she saw how intensely, dangerously codependent they had become over the last four days. Walking into a bedroom to find two teenagers tangled in blankets could have gone a completely different, much more stressful route.

She was deeply, profoundly glad they weren't having sex. Making out was normal; it was sweet, even if they were being incredibly clumsy about hiding it. It meant they were exploring their feelings at a pace they could handle, keeping each other safe within the bounds of their own chaotic comfort zone.A soft, incredibly gentle chuckle rumbled deep in Toriel’s chest. She didn't call them out on the lie, choosing instead to save them from dying of pure embarrassment right in front of her.

"I see," Toriel said, her tone dripping with a knowing, heavy undercurrent that made Susie’s tail give a sharp, mortified twitch against the nightstand. She adjusted the towels in her arms, her maternal smile returning in full.

"Well... I am glad to see you are taking your studies so seriously, Susie. Even if the text appears to be... slightly inverted."Susie looked down at the history textbook, finally realizing she had been staring at upside-down pictures of ancient tractors. Her eyes widened, and she immediately closed the book with a loud, desperate slam, burying her face right back into her jacket collar."The spaghetti is officially on the table,"

Toriel continued warmly, stepping back out into the hallway to give them their dignity back.

"Do not let it get cold, my children. Wash your hands and come down when you are ready."The door clicked softly as she walked away, her heavy, maternal footsteps fading back down the stairs.The second she was gone, the suffocating silence in the bedroom shattered. Susie dropped the textbook onto the floor with a heavy thud, face-planting straight into Kris's pillows with a muffled, agonizing groan.

"Oh my god," her voice vibrated against the fabric, entirely breathless.

"Kill me. Just find a Titan and tell it to step on me, Kris. I am never looking your mom in the eye again."Beside her, Kris let out a long, shuddering exhale, their phone slipping out of their limp fingers onto the mattress. The intense, dominant spark from their make-out session was completely gone, replaced by the sheer, exhausting shock of the interruption. But as they looked over at Susie’s defeated, blushing form, a slow, genuine smirk crept back onto their lips.

Susie slowly lifted her face from the pillow, her plum-colored bangs wildly disheveled, and glared at Kris’s smirking face. "Stop laughing, dude. Seriously. If she mentions inverted tractors at the table, I'm jumping out the window."

Kris’s shoulders shook with a silent, breathless chuckle as they slid off the mattress. They extended a hand, their pale fingers lightly brushing against Susie's clawed wrist to give her that familiar, grounding squeeze. The silent routine took over. Susie caught her breath, her yellow eyes softening, and she stood up, smoothing down her tattered purple jacket before throwing a casual arm over Kris’s shoulders to guide them out of the bedroom.

They headed down the stairs together, the rich, savory scent of Toriel’s homemade sauce acting like a literal peace offering. The dining room was warm and cozy, lit by the soft glow of the overhead chandelier.Dinner itself was a masterclass in adolescent survival. Toriel sat at the head of the table, entirely graceful and polite, serving up massive mounds of steaming spaghetti. True to her word, she didn't bring up the upside-down history textbook, but she did keep offering Susie extra meatballs with a knowing, incredibly gentle smile that made the tall monster violently choke on her garlic bread more than once.

Kris sat slouched in their chair, their left arm resting on their lap so the makeshift bandana bandage remained entirely hidden beneath the table, while they used their right hand to casually twirl pasta, occasionally stealing a noodle directly off Susie’s plate . By the time they finished, the tension had finally begun to simmer down. Susie wiped her mouth with a napkin, letting out a loud, content rumble that sounded suspiciously like a purr.

"Man, Mrs. Dreemurr, that was straight-up incredible. I think I'm like, ninety percent pasta right now.""It was my absolute pleasure, Susie," Toriel beamed, standing up to stack the empty plates. But as she gathered the dishes, her maternal gaze flickered over to her child, her expression turning slightly more serious.

"Kris, my child... could you please stay back in the dining room for a moment? I would like to have a quick, private conversation with you before you and Susie head back upstairs."

Susie blinked, her reptilian ears giving a slight twitch. She looked at Kris, then back at Toriel, immediately recognizing the tone. She didn't get defensive or try to insert herself into the situation; she fiercely respected that this was a private family matter.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Totally," Susie rumbled, pushing her heavy chair back with a loud scrape. She clapped a large hand onto Kris’s shoulder, giving it a reassuring, heavy pat that lasted just a beat too long. "I'll go check out that weird puzzle game in the living room or whatever. Take your time, dude."

Susie marched out of the dining room, her heavy boots thudding against the carpet as she made her way into the adjacent room.

Once the sound of Susie's footsteps faded, the dining room fell into a heavy, quiet stillness. Toriel set the plates back down on the sideboard and walked over to Kris’s chair. She didn't tower over them aggressively; instead, she pulled her own chair closer, sitting down so she was at eye level with her quiet, introverted child."Kris," Toriel began softly, her paws folding neatly over her floral apron.
Toriel continued, reaching out to gently place her warm paw over their hand. "But I also know how deeply you lock your feelings away. You have always carried such a heavy weight in your chest. So, please... be honest with me. How do you truly feel about Susie? Is she... is she just a friend to you, or is it something more?"

 

Her voice was stripped of all its playful amusement, leaving nothing but a deep, protective maternal warmth. "Please... look at me, my child."Kris slowly tilted their head up, their dark eyes peeking out from beneath the heavy curtain of their brown bangs. They kept their body perfectly still, their hands tightly clutched in their lap, bracing for the worst.

"I know what I saw upstairs," Toriel said gently, her sharp eyes scanning Kris’s deadpan face. "And I am not angry. Not at all. But I have spent the last few days watching the two of you. You are... entirely inseparable, Kris. You cannot seem to let her out of your sight, and tonight... well, I know you two were making out just now."Kris’s cheeks immediately flared a hot, burning crimson, but they didn't look away."I only want you to be happy, Kris,"

The question hung in the air, heavy and terrifying.Kris’s mind instantly began to race. The invisible strings of the Player’s Soul twitched violently inside their chest, trying to force a standard, deadpan dialogue prompt into their throat, trying to make them say something casual or sarcastic to deflect the truth. But Kris fought back against the entity with everything they had. They thought about the rooftop. They thought about the visceral, blinding panic of losing her for five minutes. They thought about the way her sharp teeth looked when she laughed, the smell of her tattered jacket,

and the suffocating safety of her mattress at night.They were madly, desperately in love with her. And for once, they wanted to say it out loud to the one person who cared about them most, even if they had to hide the cosmic horror behind it.Kris leaned forward slightly, tilting their head toward the kitchen wall, making absolutely sure their voice was being as quiet as humanly possible so Susie wouldn't catch a single syllable from the living room.

"She's..." Kris whispered, their voice a tiny, raw, and completely strained thread of sound that barely carried across the wooden table. They swallowed hard, their throat clicking as they forced the absolute truth past their lips.

"She's... everything, Mom. I've only... known her for a week, but... I can't breathe if she's not there. It's not... just friendship. I love her. I love her so much it... it scares me."They didn't mention the Titan. They didn't mention the prophecy, the Dark Worlds, or the fact that they were tracking her heartbeat at night just to ensure she hadn't been killed . They kept it entirely grounded in the raw, human emotion of the Light World.

Toriel listened in absolute silence, her maternal heart doing a profound, heavy ache at the sheer vulnerability in her child's voice. She had never heard Kris speak with such desperate, quiet intensity before. She saw the burning flush on their face

, the slight trembling of their shoulders, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that every single word was the absolute truth.A soft, tearful smile warmed Toriel’s face. She squeezed Kris's hand firmly, her thumb tracing the back of their knuckles. "Thank you for being honest with me, my child,"

she whispered back just as quietly, her voice brimming with pride and love. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. Love can be a very terrifying thing, especially when it happens so quickly... but she cares for you deeply, Kris. I can see it in the way she looks at you. Just... take care of each other, alright?"

Kris gave a slow, concise nod, the heavy knot of anxiety in their chest finally loosening by a fraction of an inch as they pulled their hand back.

Kris stood up slowly, the legs of their chair whispering softly against the dining room rug. They didn't look back as they slipped out of the room, their slight frame immediately melting into the shadows of the hallway as they headed back toward the living room to find Susie.Toriel watched them go, her maternal smile lingering for a beat before it transitioned into a look of quiet, focused determination. She sat back in her chair, smoothing down the front of her floral apron, and cleared her throat."Susie, dear?" Toriel called out, keeping her voice at a normal, pleasant volume. "Could you step back in here for just a moment, please?"In the living room, Susie practically leaped off the sofa, her long, plum-colored tail giving a sharp, nervous thump against the cushions. She cast a quick, wary glance at Kris, who was just walking in, their deadpan face completely unreadable as they slumped into the armchair. Susie swallowed the sudden lump of anxiety in her throat, gave Kris a quick, questioning look that they completely ignored, and marched back into the dining room. Her heavy boots felt entirely too loud against the floorboards.She slid back into the chair across from Toriel, slouching low and shoving her large hands deep into the tattered pockets of her purple jacket. Her yellow eyes flickered nervously around the room, trying to gauge the vibe. "Uh, yeah, Mrs. Dreemurr? Everything good? Kris didn't, like, break anything, did they?"Toriel let out a soft, incredibly gentle chuckle, folding her paws neatly on the wooden table. She leaned forward, her sharp, intelligent eyes locking directly onto Susie’s face with a gaze that was entirely stripped of judgment, leaving nothing but pure, protective warmth."Everything is perfectly fine, Susie," Toriel began softly, her voice dropping into a low, quiet register.

"I merely wanted to speak with you for a brief moment. You see... I have been watching the two of you very closely over the past week. You are entirely inseparable. You share everything, you are always in each other's personal space, and well... I know what you two were doing upstairs before dinner.

"Susie's entire body went rigid as iron. A violent, scorching wave of heat slammed straight into her face, painting her scales a deep, mortified crimson all the way to the tips of her reptilian ears.

She opened her mouth to aggressively bark out a defense to tell Toriel that she was totally misreading things and that they were just studying—but the words completely died in her throat under the heavy, knowing weight of Toriel's gentle stare."

I am not angry, Susie," Toriel reassured her quickly, reaching out to lightly rest a warm paw on the table. "I am glad Kris has someone so fiercely protective in their life. But Kris is a very quiet child who locks their heart away. So, please... be honest with me. How do you truly feel about them? What are you two to each other?"Susie froze. Her mind immediately went into a wild, frantic tailspin. Her first, baseline instinct the one she had spent her entire life using to survive in Hometown—was to lie. She wanted to throw up a massive, iron wall of defensive sarcasm.

She considered playing it off like it was nothing, laughing it out, and telling Toriel that they were just like siblings. Yeah, that was a good excuse. They were just like brothers or whatever, messing around for the hell of it because they got along.

But the moment the word sibling formed in her head, a sharp, physical pain shot straight through the center of her chest. It felt like swallowing a handful of hot coals. It hurt her chest to lie like that—it physically replication-ached to look this kind, caring mother in the eye and completely devalue the terrifying, beautiful weight of what she felt. She didn't view Kris as a sibling. She was desperately, profoundly in love with the quiet kid sitting in the other room.

Denying it felt like a betrayal of the only sacred thing she had ever owned.Susie swallowed hard, her sharp teeth clicking together as she forced her defensive wall to completely crumble. She leaned far across the wooden table,

tilting her massive frame forward so her broad shoulders blocked the view of the hallway. She glanced over her shoulder once, making absolutely certain that Kris was still out of sight, and dropped her gravelly voice into an incredibly quiet, raspy whisper that barely vibrated against the wood, ensuring Kris couldn't hear a single syllable.

"Look, Mrs. Dreemurr..." Susie whispered, her voice trembling slightly with a raw vulnerability she hated admitting to anyone. She rubbed the back of her neck, her claws digging nervously into her scales as she stared intensely at a knot in the table.

"I... I wasn't gonna say anything because I didn't want to make it weird. But... I'm not gonna lie to you. It's not a sibling thing. At all."She took a sharp, ragged breath, her yellow eyes flashing behind her messy purple bangs as she finally forced the truth out into the open."I love them," Susie muttered, her whisper dropping even lower, completely thick with emotion.

"I love Kris so much it honestly scares the crap out of me. I've only known 'em for a few days, but... if anything ever happened to them, I'd straight-up lose my mind. I'm... I'm completely gone for 'em, man. But they don't... they don't know that. We just... we keep things casual because Kris is going through a lot of heavy stuff right now, and I don't wanna push 'em."She kept the truth entirely grounded in the Light World, completely locking away the cosmic horror of the Titan, the prophecy, and the fact that she was staying awake at night just to make sure Kris didn't stop breathing from a panic attack

.Toriel listened in total, breathless silence. She saw the furious, honest blush coating Susie's face, heard the desperate, protective cracking in her gravelly whisper, and her maternal heart swelled with a profound sense of relief. She had been right.

This loud, intimidating girl didn't want to hurt her child; she wanted to shield them from the entire world.A beautiful, tearful smile warmed Toriel’s face. She reached across the table, her warm paw gently enveloping Susie’s large, clawed hand, squeezing it firmly."Thank you for being honest with me, Susie,"

Toriel whispered back just as quietly, her voice brimming with absolute pride and affection. "You have a very good heart. Please, do not be afraid of how fast things are moving. You two are carrying a very heavy burden, but as long as you keep holding onto each other like this, I know you will be alright. Just... continue to take care of my child, okay?"Susie blinked hard, entirely caught off guard by the lack of judgment.

A faint, genuine smirk cracked through her blush, her sharp teeth visible as she gave a firm, heavy nod. "Yeah. Always, Mrs. Dreemurr. I got their back. No matter what."

Toriel did not let go of Susie’s hand right away. Her warm, soft paw remained firmly over Susie's large claws, but the gentle, tearful smile on her snout slowly faded into an expression of profound, aching gravity. The air in the dining room turned incredibly heavy,

the quiet hum of the refrigerator suddenly sounding entirely too loud in the silence.Toriel looked over her shoulder toward the empty hallway, making absolutely sure the door was clear, before leaning even closer across the table. Her eyes, usually so bright and maternal, swam with a deep, private sorrow that made Susie’s stomach instantly drop.

"There is... one more thing, Susie," Toriel whispered, her voice dropping into a fractured, trembling register that barely carried across the wood. She swallowed hard, her paws tightening around Susie’s hand.

"I am asking you this because... because I trust you with my child's life. And because I think... I think you already have an idea of what I am about to say."Susie went completely rigid. Her reptilian tail froze against the floorboards, her yellow eyes widening behind her messy purple bangs. She knew that tone. It was the tone people used when the ground was about to fall out from under them."Kris... carries a darkness that I cannot seem to reach,"

Toriel confessed, a tear finally escaping her eye and tracking down her white fur. Her voice was thick with the agonizing helplessness of a mother who loved her child but couldn't fix what was broken inside them.

"For a long time now... their mental health has been in a very fragile place. I have found things in their room. I have seen the way they pull away from the world. I... I suspect they have had very dark, terrible thoughts, Susie. Thoughts about... about ending their own life. And I am so terribly frightened that one day, the silence will simply consume them."Susie’s breath hitched violently in her throat.

Hearing Toriel admit it out loud—confirming the exact, terrifying reality she had just witnessed on the school rooftop twenty minutes ago—felt like a physical blow to her chest. Her mind flashed straight to the silver pocket knife, the crimson lines welling up on Kris's pale arm, and the raw, hollow look in their eyes when they mumbled about the timer stopping

.She looked at Toriel’s broken, tearful face, and the defensive tough-girl wall inside Susie completely dissolved, leaving nothing but a raw, heavy sense of duty. She wasn't going to lie about this. Not to the mother who was begging for her child's survival.Susie leaned forward, her gravelly whisper dropping into a fierce, intensely quiet rasp so Kris couldn't catch a single syllable from the living room.

"I know, Mrs. Dreemurr," Susie muttered, her jaw locking as she fought back the sudden tightness in her own throat. "I... I'm not gonna lie to you. I know about the thoughts. Kris... Kris talks to me about 'em sometimes. Late at night, when the house gets too quiet and they can't sleep."

Toriel let out a small, trembling gasp, covering her snout with her free paw as fresh tears spilled over. "They... they talk to you about it?""Yeah," Susie whispered, her yellow eyes flashing with a fierce, unyielding determination as she squeezed Toriel's paw right back.

"They get these crazy, blinding panic attacks where they feel like they don't even own their own body anymore. It's like... like something else is pulling their strings, and they just want it to stop. Today on the roof... it got bad, man. I caught 'em with a knife. I took it from 'em, and I wrapped 'em up in my bandana, but... it's heavy, Mrs. Dreemurr. Real heavy."

Toriel listened in a state of absolute, heartbreaking shock, but underneath the sorrow, a profound wave of gratitude washed over her. She looked at this tall, rough monster girl who was willingly stepping into the dark to act as a human shield for her child, and she knew Kris wasn't fighting alone anymore."Oh, thank heavens for you," Toriel wept silently, wiping her eyes with her apron, her voice cracking with pure emotion.

"I knew... I knew they were running to you for a reason. Kris has never allowed anyone into their world like this. If they are letting you see that darkness, Susie... it is because you are the only anchor keeping them tethered to this earth.""I'm not letting 'em go, Mrs. Dreemurr. I swear to god," Susie rumbled softly, her sharp teeth bared in a quiet, deadpan promise that carried the absolute weight of a vow.

"I don't care if I have to sit up every single night tracking their heartbeat to make sure they're still breathing. I don't care if I have to carry 'em around like a backpack. If Kris is drowning, I'm diving in after 'em. Every single time."

Toriel smiled through her tears, reaching out to gently pat Susie’s cheek with a trembling paw. "Thank you, my child. Thank you for loving them enough to stay in the dark with them. Please... just keep talking to them. Keep holding onto them. As long as you are there, I know Kris will find their way back."Susie gave a firm, solemn nod, her heart hammering a frantic, aching rhythm against her ribs. The absolute gravity of their codependency had just been laid completely bare, blessed by Kris's own mother, leaving Susie more determined than ever to protect the quiet kid waiting for her in the other room.