Chapter Text
If things got any hotter in Hometown, it wouldn’t be all that far fetched to believe the very streets themselves would spark alight into great lanes of fire. The sun, normally so invigorating, welcomed, and rejuvenating, caused the ire of a great many of the town’s strange denizens. That great star in the sky which burned evermore appeared as if it had spontaneously decided to hover just outside of the planet’s atmosphere instead of thousands and thousands of miles away—as if it had been stricken with a sudden and overwhelming sense of loneliness and all it wanted to rectify this problem was to was remind everyone that yes, it does exist and no, you should not forget it.
This inescapable heat rolled through the town in thick, humid waves which slowed everything and everyone into a lazy, pitiful plod. The already empty streets somehow appeared more so today. The ones unfortunate enough to find themselves trapped underneath the suffocating humidity shambled along the sidewalks with all the enthusiasm of a condemned prisoner whose ankles were weighed down and shackled together. The sparse words shared between the shuffling victims could barely count as meaningful conversation, their sluggish voices stretching words far longer than they needed to be before fading into disgruntled silence.
Atop the sweltering roadway of an interaction, a delivery truck idled at the light—the sounds sputtering out from the engine sounding more like the final, wheezing gasps of a dying animal than the rumbling machinery it should have been. The light had been green for a long while now, a soft electrical hiss emanating from the bulb as the plastic holding it together practically boiled under the sun. The driver made no effort to move, forehead pressed against their steering wheel, entirely content with never moving a muscle again for as long as they lived.
Across the street the town’s slightly overzealous (or as others would describe it, entirely insane) enforcer of the law—the last bastion of stability and order left in this world (again, or as others would describe it cop—which she would then say is a gross oversimplification) glowered at the truck’s refusal to obey traffic laws with a heat which rivaled the intense rays shrouding the town. Yet glower with staunch disapproval is all she did as she slumped unprofessionally in the small lawn chair shoved into one of the last remaining slivers of shade left.
An endless chorus of cicadas screeched out from the trees both surrounding and planted throughout the town. Grasshoppers chirped incessantly among the dried grass. A neverending buzz permeated the air as hundreds of winged-insects flew aimlessly in circles, as if their tiny minds had been melted inside of their tiny heads. Somewhere above, a crow gave one long, anguished caw! before falling backwards off the powerline it stood upon. Its friends looked down at the splattered, twitching pile of feathers below before returning to staring blankly ahead, beaks hanging open but entirely too exhausted to make a sound.
If things got any hotter in Hometown, it wouldn’t be all that far fetched to believe that the very walls of the town’s quaint, scarcely funded school would spontaneously ignite into a grand bonfire.
A piece of paper hung limply from the school’s front doors, a fine waft of steam actually drifting off of the paper’s surface. Both student and teacher alike groaned upon reading the words scribbled across the page in black, permanent marker which looked more like a smeared interpretation of what written words looked like due to the marker barely having any ink left.
A/C is broken. Sorry!
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap a small, cloven hoof sang out as it rap-tap-tapped against the uneven, splintered wood-paneled floor which desperately needed a remodel. Tik-tik-tik-tik-tik the pencil held between small, fuzzy fingers hummed as its flimsy graphite bounced repeatedly against a crooked desk. Two large, unmissable bucked-teeth hanging from a noticeably protruding overbite worried at the lower lip of her snout. Her large, dark eyes narrowed at the paper before her—eyebrows twitching alongside the occasional annoyed flick of her fluffy ears as the words on the page made less and less sense with each and every stunned re-read.
Noelle Holiday, Hometown’s ‘Golden Girl’ and all-star competitor of the track team, was completely and utterly stumped. Hornswoggled. Baffled. Dumbfounded—just plain confused.
She tore her eyes away from her desk for the umpteenth time that minute alone, glaring at the dingy chalk board tucked behind Ms. Alphys’ cluttered desk with a huff and an annoyed flick of her tail. Across the board’s surface the words ‘TEST DAY!’ punctuated with a small, squiggly smiley-face drawn in chalk. The doe felt her molars grind together as a soft growl rumbled from her throat. Her already flat expression fell flatter because yes, the board still designated today as test day (something she was frustratingly unprepared for—annoying her to no end because she of all people couldn’t be unprepared for anything) and for other, more personal and infinitely more aggravating reasons she didn’t necessarily feel like unpacking in the middle of a test she wasn’t prepared for!
The weight of the anger squashing down onto her shoulders due to her sudden, unacceptable academic shortcoming and other reasons soured her already sour mood even further—if that was possible. Which it was possible, even though it shouldn’t have been because she’s Hometown’s golden whatever and she couldn’t be (and wasn’t allowed to be) anything other than a complacent, soft-spoken and sweet, sweet little fawn—but she didn’t want to be that today!
She was mad. Very mad. And annoyed. And sad. And gloomy. And irritated. And any other word that could accurately describe a grimace as fierce as hers was now. And all she wanted to do was shut her mind up and focus on the test before her but she couldn’t because she was too busy being angry over the very same thing she was angry about the entire night prior which is the ENTIRE reason she couldn’t focus on studying which is why she had spent the past twenty minutes staring at the same question! And she didn’t want to be angry! But she was!
Noelle’s teeth ground together with much more vigor than before, nostrils flaring with a huff as she struggled to wrangle her rambling, rampaging mind back into control. A bead of sweat rolled down the base of an antler and down her temple.
To make matters all the more miserable it was so…so hot today. Great Angel above it was hot today.
Noelle’s gaze caught Ms. Alphys’ beady gaze as it looked up from the small notepad she was scribbling much too furiously into for someone who had to do nothing but facilitate an exam, risking a glance towards Noelle’s flat look before returning to her hunched position. Hometown’s Golden Girl could tell the heat was getting to her dear teacher as well, every inch of her clammy skin was practically melting into her chair like she was a large scoop of Nice Cream left out in the sun for hours on end.
The students had briefly entertained a fantasy in which Ms. Alphys would unceremoniously call off class today and allow everyone to remain sheltered inside, safe away from the sweltering heat melting the very foundations of the town, and let them all get an early start to Spring Break. A wonderful, tantalizing fantasy.
But no, no. That did not happen. Today was Test Day and Ms. Alphys would sooner be damned by the Great Angel itself than let anything ever get in the way of Test Day—much to the dismay of her strange, off-putting group of students.
It’s for the greater good, Ms. Alphys would tell herself, trying her hardest not to wither away under the weight of the uncharacteristically furious glare of sweet, sweet Noelle Holiday burning holes into her chalkboard.
The small tuft of Noelle’s ear flicked, peeling her eyes away from her trembling teacher’s form to resume her staring contest with the first question of her exam once more. Was it possible to lose a staring contest against a sheet of paper? Surely someone out there had done so before her—her eyesight wasn’t that bad, even if she did find herself squinting at street signs more often than not these days. Noelle found herself snickering through her large teeth at the thought, she looked enough like a dork already—as Susie loved to remind her every other moment of every other day, walking around with a massive pair of spectacles hanging above her already dorkish overbite would surely turn the purple lizard manic.
Yes, Noelle hummed, someone must have lost a staring contest against a sheet of paper at some point, so this was no biggie. She would take this new defeat in stride, no skin off her antlers. She had always been really good at staring contests, anyways. The doe had more than a few victories under her belt, even going undefeated in her class for a good long while! That is until Kris started to blow raspberries right into her eyes and make her bli—
A very violent, very sudden, and very loud car crash boomed in her mind.
Noelle’s face immediately flattened.
Kris.
The doe felt a hoof stamp itself against the floor, nostrils flaring through another huff.
Noelle shook her head, pointedly ignoring the nauseating swirl of feelings rapidly transforming into a hurricane in her gut. She stared down at the first question, which was still frustratingly blank. She wasn’t quite sure what she expected to find, the blank space underneath the question stared back—mocking her.
Some part of her had hoped that somehow during her brief stint of daydreaming the answer would have magically materialized onto the page, either through divine blessing from the Angel itself (finally, all of her belting in the Sunday Service choir would have paid off) or through somehow figuring out how to bring forth her magical prowess from the Dark World.
But no, neither of those happened. The Angel was nowhere to be found in her time of great need and she was still nowhere near as cool and wicked as Susie and that other person would describe her to be in the real world as she was far, far down below.
No. Noelle Holiday, the mayor’s Golden Girl who is both expected and trained to get the best grades and only the best grades had to rely on nothing but her mental prowess to pass this exam…a mental prowess which was frustratingly absent.
Noelle blinked at the question, running it through the grey matter tucked between her antlers once more.
- When 4.0g of hydrogen gas reacts completely with oxygen gas to form water, how many grams of water are produced?
Noelle blinked, again.
Would ‘I don’t know’ be an acceptable answer? Surely Ms. Alphys would let it slide just this one time?
Maybe?
Hopefully?
Please?
Noelle could see it already. Her mother’s silent, disappointed stare peering over the top of her report card. She would say nothing, of course, only offering the smallest of breaths through her nose as she regarded her daughter—her prized daughter that could only strive for the best and only achieve the best.
Her prized daughter who had to be the prettiest voice in the choir, who had to be the fastest runner on the track, who had to be the smartest student in her class, who had to get along with everybody, who had to blah blah blah because blah bleh blugh because bleh bleh blah because meh meh neh because no daughter of mine could ever be anything short of the best.
The doe blew a groan past her pursed lips, letting her pencil fall flat against the paper from her grasp and unceremoniously flopping face first into her desk. The rickety desk shivered from the impact, squeaking quietly as the full weight of Noelle’s scattered mind came crashing down upon it. She took a deep breath in, letting her shoulders rise high into her cheeks before slowly letting it all out in a hissing wheeze.
She shut her eyes, trying to savor the surprisingly cooling sensation of the wood and paper pressed against her entire face as she lay there motionless. Noelle took another long breath before raising her head to lean her weight onto her chin against the table. Her already prominent overbite looked comically exaggerated in her position, looking very much like a miserable, dejected caricature of Noelle Holiday.
Like the ones she used to get when she was a younger fawn, scampering with legs too short and weak to handle her boundless excitement as she darted around the festival grounds.
She didn’t want to think about who would get those silly drawings with her—didn’t want to think about who would always make a funnier face than her, never failing to obliterate her sides and drive her to tears from wild, uncontrollable laughter.
She did anyways. Sagging further into her chair, dragging her overbite further outwards.
Another slow blink, ears fluttering against the nest of blonde hair tickling them. Noelle looked to her right, pivoting her head just enough to stare flatly at her avian classmate. Berdly was wholly engrossed in the paper before him, his beak molded into a very confident and very annoying smirk as his pencil practically had a seizure across his page. He held one wing out besides him, pointing upwards toward the ceiling as if he would suddenly shriek ‘Eureka!’ at any given moment…which he probably would end up doing—especially upon noticing that he had finished his exam far, far earlier than his self-appointed ‘Academic Rival’ Noelle had no input in establishing.
With another blink and another flutter of her ears, Noelle’s gaze moved to stare at Tem at the other end of the classroom. The cat…creature…thing—whatever Tem was sat there with her strange paws splayed out on her desk. Tem stared ahead, head tilted to the side with her large floppy hat pressing one of her ears against her head. That strange little egg, EG Noelle reminded herself, sat on the corner of Tem’s test sheet. For some reason the pencil was leaned against the egg, as if it was totally prepared to ace this exam with flying colors. Tem broke out into a wide grin, leaning down towards EG and nudging it with her nose.
Another blink, another flutter, another sigh and her eyes moved once more. Her neck craned uncomfortably against the desk, spine twisting as Noelle turned to look behind her. To no one’s surprise, Susie’s test was all but forgotten as she sat hunched in her seat. The lizard’s eyes were lidded, her expression glazed over as she absentmindedly gnawed at the corner of her desk using her back molars. Her head was tilted to the side, a more comfortable chewing angle Noelle guessed, her large arms resting against her knees.
Noelle watched her large tail thump…thump…thump…against the back of her seat, snickering as Susie’s expression suddenly shifted into something more…thoughtful? Purple eyelids narrowed over her slitted, reptilian eyes as Susie’s rapid gnawing pace gradually fell to a slow, methodical chew. Eventually her large mouth stilled completely, tongue resting between two large fangs against the table’s splintered wood. Her eyes slowly went left to right, squinting more before her gnawing suddenly resumed its pace and her inquisitive, calculating expression returned to that vacant look.
Despite being completely locked into her rigorous routine, Susie gave a small wave to Noelle between her legs underneath the desk. Noelle’s lips twitched at the sight, blinking back to Susie in greetings.
Noelle’s eyes move on their own next, completely ignoring every shrieking, panicking voice in her mind to not look that way.
Her eyes settle onto Kris, who’s head was currently turned downwards between their forearms against their desk.
The doe’s chin slides from the desk, head lolling to the side to squeeze her fuzzy cheek against the wood. More than a few strands of her hair fell into her ears at the movement, tickling them. They fluttered against her head, knocking into her antlers.
Noelle felt herself slouch further, a sigh escaping her as she stared. Her tail flicked, once.
The aggravating, annoying, irritating, and personal reason as to why she hadn’t been able to get a second of studying done last night…and the past several nights prior. The sole reason why her heart felt so cold between her ribs, the sole reason why she felt so…angry—which in turn made her even more angry because she didn’t want to be angry—both out of feeling like she wasn’t allowed to be angry at anyone because sweet, sweet Golden Girl expectations and because she didn’t want to be angry at them—BUT! BUT!! She was! She was angry at them! Which made her angry, and sad, and bitter, and annoyed, and irritated—which she was allowed to feel! Despite her feeling like she couldn’t! But she was angry regardless! And really sad!
The sole reason why her mind was such a tumultuous garbage fire of confusing emotions she didn’t have the willpower to fully unpack—and yes! Yes! That means exactly what it sounds like!
But she was mad! So she didn’t want to think of those sickly, nauseating, dizzying, shortness-of-breath-inducing feelings! But! BUT! At the same time she did! She did want to think of them! Because they were new! And they were exciting! And they made her tail wag, and her nose shine, and her heart flutter, and her hands sweat, and her—Or maybe not new, maybe they’ve always been there, but new enough!
Noelle Holiday was mad. But she really didn’t want to be. But she was.
Noelle Holiday, for the first time in her entire life, is going to fail an exam because she had spent the last several weeks wondering why after finally getting Kris Dreemur back into her life they were suddenly gone again.
Noelle sagged even further, cheek completely squashed up into her bottom eyelid now.
She got Kris back and she was already losing them again…weeks after the two of them had begun to tentatively rebuild what was lost between them.
It happened so unexpectedly, obviously—because no one expects to suddenly be pulled into an alternate reality where they have magical powers and for some reason are beefing with an eccentric, ill-mannered robotic queen. Yet it happened and it was weird and scary and Noelle wanted to do nothing but curl up into a ball and hide under a rock.
But all of that…weird bullshit didn’t matter because Kris was there. That weird, gangly, charming cretin from her fondest, warmest childhood memories was there. They were there and they were taller too, for some odd reason, and their skin was blue! Blue!
But none of that mattered, because Kris was there…with her. They laughed, they joked, they trotted around an entire city together and it all felt so…so natural, so easy that Noelle had to remind herself that they hadn’t been in contact at all before this. You really could have fooled Noelle, though, because the way Kris laughed with her…the way they smiled at her…it really did feel like they had lost no time at all.
But then the two of them got back. Back to the real world, with real problems and real history and real memories and real feelings and real questions and real longing—real fucking, Angeldamned longing.
And all of it…like a wedge…came crashing down onto the pair, striking the iron while it was still scalding hot and splitting them right down the middle, once more.
All that hurt, all those memories…they were all back. All those times of quiet, shared glances across the street. All those times of watching the other pass by through a window, without so much as a smile shared between. All those times spent staring up at the ceiling in the quietest hours of the night, wondering where exactly it all went so wrong. All those times spent standing outside their door, long after the sun had set, wondering if it was even worth trying to knock. All those times finding an old photograph, folded and cut and stained and hidden away underneath a mattress while doing laundry. All of it.
They all came rushing back. Each painful memory of just how different things had gotten between them.
The moment they stepped back into the real world, they were no longer Krissy and Elly. They were no longer two kids playing dress up, holding hands and giggling as they galavanted around a fantastical city full of odd critters and funny characters.
No. They were Kris and Noelle, again.
They were Kris and Noelle.
They were two teenagers who could do nothing more than stare at the other across the street, wondering how—how did things go so wrong?
It wasn’t immediate, no. The two of them had tried to pick up where things left off, they tried to fall back into that familiar, warm rhythm Noelle’s heart ached to have again. And it worked! For a while, it really did work. They talked, they laughed…just like old times. Just like it used to be.
And somewhere along the way Noelle’s heart started to beat again. Somewhere along the way these old, dormant, and long forgotten feelings started to burn in her chest once more. What Noelle had believed to be ash lying silent, dead, buried and lost within her slowly, slowly started to flicker with life once more. Slowly, with each passing day spent with Kris. With every shared glance, with every brush of their warm…warm, Angel above they were so warm, skin against her fur, with every soft smile—the type they wore for her and only her.
With every little moment, with every little action which made her heart pound in her chest, her skin tickle with sweat, her tail flick with want…with every moment shared, that ash sitting deep within her heart erupted.
She should have fought it, she really should have. Noelle had just gotten Kris back and here she was, fantasizing about something more—more than the rocky friendship they had just cobbled back together. Here she was, drooling over their hands, their veins, the peeks of their hipbones as their sweater rode up—here she was, salivating over someone she had just reconnected with.
But Noelle wanted to want. She wanted to crave. She wanted to fantasize and to dream and to make herself blush a deep, deep scarlet when no one was around. She wanted to.
She wanted Kris. Wants Kris, even now. Even as she feels them pulling away once more, even as all of these scars are being torn open once again.
As they shared more and more soft, private moments. As more and more ‘accidental’ touches of their hands brushing against one another occurred, or their knees knocking against the other as they sat close, or Kris’ hands gently guiding her by the hips to squeeze past her when they needed something—the more these moments happened, the more she dreamed.
The more she dreamed of these touches being purposeful, of these moments having meaning and desire behind them—a desire for more than what was. A shared desire, a shared want, a shared need. With each passing moment, every time she caught those hauntingly deep, crimson eyes staring at her with more emotion than she could handle…the more she dreamed that maybe, just maybe the same inferno burning away at her very soul was burning just as brightly within Kris’ own.
…
But at some point you have to wake up.
At some point, the dream ends and you wake up.
And you’ll try to go back to sleep. You’ll try to get five more minutes…just please, please five more minutes—but you’re awake now. There’s no getting that dream back.
And she tried. God. Noelle tried.
But they didn’t.
Somewhere along the way, they saw each other less and less. They spoke to each other less and less. They touched each other less and less. Somewhere along the way, this tentative new bridge they were building together suddenly…stopped.
Late night phone calls which stretched far, far into the early hours of the morning turned into an empty, destitute call log. Long, long text chains full of teasing, laughter, and implications which made Noelle’s tail twitch and face burn turned into a one sided conversation full of delivered messages and unanswered texts. Daily hang outs where the two had no real, justified reason to see each other outside of simply just wanting to absorb the other’s presence turned into seeing each other once every other day…then once a week…then once every other week…then…
Then not at all.
Kris pulled away once more and Noelle watched them go.
She watched them slip out of rooms upon noticing her entry, noticed how they dropped their head between their arms upon hearing her speak in class, watched them shuffle across to the other side of the street just to avoid passing her by on the sidewalk.
This behavior was nothing new, Noelle would remind herself. She had seen this all before, this avoidance. It shouldn’t hurt her, not again. If Kris wanted to leave her life once more, then so be it—that was their decision to make.
But this time…this time it hurt so much more than before.
Noelle couldn’t even remember the last time Kris had actually looked at her.
A sigh flew from the doe, her frown deepening as she stared at the human. As much as everything both inside and outside of her very being ached staring at them, she couldn’t find the strength to peel her eyes away from them.
The thick, tangled mop of hair atop their head was even messier than usual. Every inch of their face was gone, hidden behind those wild, brown curls Noelle had always wanted to run her hands through—which probably wouldn’t be half as romantic as she hoped it would be, no doubt that her hands would get thoroughly tangled in that rat’s nest, but a young doe could dream. Their hair had grown longer, she noticed, now comfortably covering all of Kris’ neck and just barely settling atop their slender shoulders.
Noelle’s gaze shifted, following the slope of their shoulders covered by that ever-present striped sweater they refused to leave the house without. A flash of concern rippled through her despite the anger boiling and bubbling within her gut the longer she stared (ogled) at the human. Some part of her hoped they wouldn’t collapse from heat stroke by the end of the day, this was not the weather to be bundled up in!
However, there was something different about their trusty sweater today, Noelle noticed with a flick of the ear. Both sleeves were rolled up past their elbows, sloppily folded and tucked away of course but still revealing a…considerable amount of skin along their arms nonetheless. Noelle stared, openly.
Kris was skinny, both by monster standards and human. This was something Noelle had always known and was something which had never changed for as long as she had known them. Kris had never gained any substantial weight nor had they lost any, they had always been skinny and Noelle was confident in assuming that they would always remain so. Not that she particularly saw anything wrong with them lacking any sort of muscle, that was something she didn’t mind at all she was quickly realizing.
She had never really seen much of…well much of anything underneath Kris’ shirts and sweaters for as long as she had known them. The human made an effort to always be inappropriately dressed for any season besides winter, always covered up and always risking an untimely end from heat stroke. Noelle had caught glimpses here and there, she had stolen glances as their top rode up a few tantalizing inches above their hips and snuck a look down their collar as it shifted upon them leaning down to pick at something—but this was different.
Kris was practically exposed before Noelle, her brain supplied for lack of a better word—something which made her nose twitch and tail shudder as she processed the scandalous thought. Her face flushed an even deeper shade of scarlet as another thought passed her mind, sending a shiver down the length of her spine.
Noelle Holiday quite liked the way Kris Dreemur’s arms looked.
Kris’ arms were slender—sleek even. Their tanned, slightly olive-toned skin looked unbelievably smooth to the touch despite both forearms being littered with small bruises, cuts and scrapes, and a few band-aids. The sunlight spilling in from the windows of the classroom bathed the room in a soft shade of orange, doing wonders for Kris’ complexion and further capturing Noelle’s increasingly intensifying gaze. Kris didn’t look weak per se, knowing full well just how capable the human was in a fight—but just by looking at them one couldn’t guess the…lethality which was hidden underneath such a dainty looking figure.
The thought sent another shiver down Noelle’s spine.
Their hands caught her attention next, repressing a sigh as her eyes drank in the sight of them. Now these…these, these were something Noelle had already been very aware of. Kris had always been told every day of their life that they possessed an excellent pair of hands to play the piano. Their hands were long paired with fingers which were even longer, perfect for reaching each and every key along a piano with precision. Noelle always loved to watch them play, always fondly looking back on memories of her lounging next to them as they focused entirely on playing. Noelle could only watch their hands move for too long before thoughts she never claimed as her own began to creep in.
The doe felt her tail shiver against her seat. A nauseating mixture of resentment, desire, and shame burned deep in her gut. Noelle felt her legs twitch, the fur along her thighs bristling beneath her skirt.
She hated openly ogling Kris almost as much as she hated them, yet she stared nonetheless. She tried not to think of their hands wrapped around her antlers—
A deep, hissing chortle made Noelle’s ears snap to attention. In an instant her eyes moved, snapping to the wide eyed gaze peering over Kris’ still downturned. Susie’s brow was raised, eyes flicking between the back of Kris’ head and Noelle’s rapidly panicking expression. The further Noelle’s face fell, the wider the wicked grin stretched itself across Susie’s face.
Susie’s lips curled above her gums, fangs glistening in the sunlight as her eyes widened at Noelle. The doe felt her neck flush, nose flickering in and out as she frantically sat up in her seat. Noelle’s hands flexed and unflexed against her desk before flying up to cover her mouth, eyes widening even further upon realizing that a thick line of drool was currently hanging from between her lips. Susie’s grin stretched even further upon seeing the movement, jaw hanging wide.
Susie leaned forwards, huffing another laugh underneath her breath. Her brow rose even higher, large purple head nodding down, gesturing towards Kris. Noelle’s eyes followed the motion, nose fully alight against her face now. The doe’s hands clamped around the damning appendage, shaking her head desperately towards Susie.
Susie reared back, shifting in her desk which squeaked with the movement to lift her leg. Noelle, realizing with no small amount of dread just what Susie was about to do, flung her hands out towards her. Noelle’s hands practically blurred together as she desperately flailed them towards the reptile, shaking her head even faster now. The doe leaned over the back of her chair, stretching her arms straight out towards Susie.
Susie’s teeth bared in a full, viscous snarl before launching her leg forwards, kicking the back of Kris’ chair and causing the human to jump straight out of their skin. Kris whirled around, one hand white-knuckling against the edge of their desk while the other flew to rub at their sore back. Noelle watched as Kris’ hair bristled at Susie, like a cat glaring at someone who had just thrown a brick at it.
Susie sat back in her chair, crossing her large arms across her chest and dipping her chin towards Kris. She peered at the human from under a lidded gaze, conveying a message Noelle was hopelessly lost to. The doe saw Kris’ head tilt ever so slightly to the side, their grip loosening against the desk just enough. Susie smirked, eyes flicking away from Kris to glance at the Golden Girl before returning to them, nodding once.
Noelle grimaced, hands flying to her antlers and tugging them down into her skull.
Kris straightened in their chair, moving away from their ever present hunch for the first time today. They turned around quickly—far, far too quickly than Noelle expected them too, far too quickly for someone to look at the girl they had been avoiding like the Black Plague for the past several weeks.
Noelle felt her lungs empty the moment Kris’ eyes found hers.
Noelle drank in their expression from what little she could see through their unruly bangs. Their eyes were wide, wide enough to appreciate every detail of their horribly deep, inescapable and captivating red gaze. Confusion, surprise, alarm, and a small amount of something Noelle didn’t want to look too far into swam through the deep pits of their eyes. The fine line of Kris’ lips were split just a tad, a sliver of their teeth visible as they breathed.
Kris stared and Noelle stared back.
Noelle blinked, sitting up further.
Kris Dreemur was looking at her.
Noelle’s mouth dropped open, lips pursing into a small ‘o’ as she stared. Her ears flicked against her antlers, tail bristling. Her arms were still outstretched with palms still opened wide in alarm.
Kris’ eyes left hers to slowly pan towards her left hand, blinking once before slowly panning over to her right hand, blinking once more before looking back into her eyes. Their head tilted towards her, the faintest hint of a smile tickling at the edge of their perplexed face.
Noelle yanked her hands back towards herself, holding them clasped against her chest.
Kris still stared.
Noelle still stared.
Susie held a fist between her teeth, sinking between her shoulders with a cringe.
Slowly, slowly—as if a movement any faster would scare Noelle off, Kris’ hand left their desk, hovering in the air awkwardly for a few heartbeats before waving at Noelle. The wave was small, barely fast enough to even count as a movement. Kris grimaced upon moving, almost as if they were confused on why they had just waved—like their hand had suddenly gained sentience and moved on its own.
Susie’s face fell into her hands.
The fur lining Noelle’s shoulders bristled at the movement, ears flattening against her blonde hair. How…how…how dare they! How DARE they! They had just spent the past several weeks acting as if Noelle had never even existed in the first place—acting as if Noelle was nothing more than a passing gust of wind—acting as if the adventure they had just shared meant nothing to them!
After all of that, after all of that—the first acknowledgement of Noelle’s existence in weeks was nothing more than a small, barely perceptible wave that they seemed to REGRET mere moments after doing so?!
Are you FUCKING kidding me?!
After all the sleepless nights torturing herself over what went wrong, after all the restless days agonizing over all the possible could be’s, would be’s, should be’s—after all the lonely mornings spent waiting by the telephone which never rang!
After all the hours spent staring at their window at the stillest hour of the night, listening to the beginning chords of the songbirds ringing out from the treetops silhouetted by the sun’s rays peeking over the horizon. Waiting for the sight of someone who never came. Hoping that somehow they would know she was there.
She waited and waited and waited, obediently like a dog waiting for its family to come bursting through the front door.
Noelle’s teeth ground together, the back of her throat vibrating against her tongue.
Kris, sensing Noelle’s rising temper, shrank between their shoulders. Their head tilted away from Noelle, chin dipping towards their chest. Their eyes remained on Noelle, however, seemingly refusing to look away from her own stare.
Noelle felt her glare soften just enough at the movement.
They were wrong.
They were mean.
They had left her, again. They deserved this anger—they deserved this resentment.
But still…
They were looking at her…Angel above they were fucking looking at her. They were looking at her. Kris Dreemur was looking at Noelle Holiday again, they were looking at her.
They didn’t deserve her gaze, they didn’t deserve her presence—they didn’t deserve the sickening warmth radiating from her chest in deep, destabilizing pulses. They didn’t deserve her throat feeling as if razor wire was eviscerating its passage the longer she stared at their pensive stare. They didn’t deserve her longing, her fucking yearning to be near them again.
And yet she gave it all, she poured it all out to them. Her eyes, wide and unblinking, spilling a Bible’s length of confessions to them—a message she prayed they didn’t receive just as fiercely as she prayed they understood.
Noelle felt something akin to a sob try to wretch itself from her chest, biting down hard on her lip with large teeth to suppress it.
Kris caught the movement, sinking further into themselves.
Despite everything telling her not to, Noelle waved back. A small, barely fast enough motion to even count as movement.
Kris just…stared at her after that, seemingly stunned. Noelle smiled at them, shrugging their shoulders.
After a beat, Kris smiled back—barely there but shining brighter than the sun itself in Noelle’s eyes.
DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! Screeched the school’s bell, signaling the end of the day.
Noelle leaped from her seat with an eep! Her limbs stiffened, spine locking up ramrod straight. Over the sudden cacophony of relieved conversations and papers hastily being shoved into backpacks and zipped up Noelle heard Ms. Alphys’ voice weakly calling out for everyone to please leave the exam on her desk on their way out.
Noelle whirled around, jaw slack and eyes wide with horror. Her test was just as blank as it was twenty minutes ago, the only thing written upon it was her name and date.
The doe collapsed backwards into her seat, groaning into her palms. Berdly was squawking something next to her, gesturing wildly with his wings and borderline glowing as he guffawed at her exam. Noelle paid the bird no mind, instead hanging her head over the back of her seat and staring back at Kris’ desk upside down.
Kris’ suddenly very empty desk.
Noelle blinked.
Susie was still there, she noticed, hunching over her desk as she stuffed what little was strewn across her workspace into a lumpy sack placed in her seat. The lizard’s brows were pinched together above her squinted eyes, lips pulled into a thoughtful frown. Noelle followed her gaze towards the door, just barely catching a glimpse of Kris’ back slipping through the door before they disappeared around the corner.
Noelle stared at the closed door…just listening to her own heartbeat in her ears. The world around her blurred into the edges of her vision. Her ears fell below the back of her head, nose wiggling.
Susie stared down at the doe, frowning. The poor thing practically looked like a dictionary’s visual aide for miserable.
Susie flung the sack over her shoulder, balling her free hand into a tight fist and stomping towards the door. A harsh gust of steam left Susie’s snout, lip trembling as a growl reverberated through her ribs. She kicked the door open, paying no mind to how the flimsy thing splintered under the sudden assault.
The lizard paused just before leaving, stopping in the doorway before whirling around on her heel to stare at Noelle. The doe’s big, watery eyes stared back with a quivering lip pulled into such a deep frown Susie briefly considered the possibility that Noelle had been replaced with an exaggerated sculpture which was a metaphor for heartbreak when her back was turned.
Susie flashed the small deer a grin she hoped was charming and reassuring (it wasn’t—not at all) before giving her a thumbs up.
Noelle just sputtered more in response.
Susie backed away into the hall, scowling at the empty space before her and stalking towards the school’s exit with heavy, heavy stomps.
Susie was going to kick Kris Dreemur’s ass.