Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mornings in professor Alphys's class were not for the weak. Berdly thought the lizard lady was lovely, he did, but her classes… left much to be desired. And not even his need to appeal to authority could hide the fatigue they'd cause him some days.

Today was one of those days. The prior classes had gone by at a snail's pace, until finally, the last class of that particular school day had arrived. The barrier keeping all of them from their well-deserved lunch. And Angel, was it draining.

He didn't get why today of all days had gone so poorly. Sure, he'd had one of those odd, extremely enticing dreams that left him feeling like he'd lost a piece of him after waking up, but other than that, he'd slept all he needed to. Though maybe it was an off day for everyone, because even his dear Noelle looked tired, and she loved algebra!

Surreptitiously, he twisted his neck until his head had rotated the full one-eighty degrees to look behind him and confirm his suspicions. Sure enough, all of his classmates looked similarly drowsy, most fighting to stay awake, some having already lost that battle. Without him noticing, his eyes gravitated to the human that sat at the desk right behind him, head buried between their crossed arms as it often was. Their longer hair draped over their arms and their back rose and fell as they breathed.

Berdly sighed, not yet turning his head back to the front for the purpose of analyzing their frame for weak points. At times, he almost wished he could be as much of a slob as Kris Dreemurr so he could take naps mid-class himself. He was debating lightly pecking at their forearms to rouse them (because it was rude to sleep through class no matter how boring, and if he had to stay awake, so did his abhorred rival), when-

“Um- B-Berdly?” Alphys piped up nervously in her nasally voice. “Could you p-please look at the board?”

The bluebird's neck swiveled around at such speeds he was surprised his head hadn't dislodged itself from his body. The uncomfortable warmth of shame spread under his plumage, which slowly poofed until he'd practically doubled in size. He muttered an embarrassed apology under his breath and looked down at his notebook instead. Thankfully, it seemed like everyone was too out of it to rib him for his untimely distraction.

Well, all but one person.

Not long after he'd made his first attempt to refocus on the task at hand, he felt a light tap on his back. Much quicker than the last time he'd done so, his head swiveled to face Kris yet again, now definitely more awake and looking far too mischievous for comfort.

‘Something on my face?’ they asked with a cheeky smile and quiet puffs of restrained laughter.

“That unbearable arrogance of yours, for one.” Berdly hissed out in reply, narrowing his eyes. “I couldn't see it over your forearms, but it's clear as day now.”

Kris nearly actually laughed then, the exhale they let out sounding a lot sharper.

‘Smooth.’ they signed loosely, their smile widening into a grin. ‘Turn away. Focus.’

With a petulant huff, Berdly did as he was told, idly twirling his pen between his wing feathers. Not because his rival had won the altercation, of course. Simply to avoid a repeat of the incident. He couldn't let himself get distracted any further by unimportant things. He had to get back to his work.

(He had to get the way their lips curved out of his head as soon as possible.)

The event brought to mind that dream of his again. The memory of the setting was hazy at best, but the way the actual dream had made him feel still lingered, the way it always did. They'd looked at him the exact same way then, when the two were laying next to each other in an impossible to determine location. And they'd… leaned closer to him. Until…

…

Actually, Berdly wasn't sure he remembered what came next. Not even a smidge, really. That particular part of his brain was completely fuzzy.

Well. No point in dwelling on things he most definitely could not recall. Class was about to end, if the clock on the wall was any indication. Usually he would be disappointed in himself for barely having gotten any work done, but he was much too enthusiastic at the fact that the school day was finally over, and he could just do it at home anyway.

As soon as the bell rang, most of his classmates filed out of the room in a disorderly fashion even as professor Alphys desperately tried to wrangle them back.

“Th-the bell doesn't dismiss you, I-I-” he caught her stammering in a bad show of boldness, before her faux tough expression fell into defeat and she let out a long sigh. “O-oh. Um. Too late, heh.”

Berdly sighed at the awkward display, watching as his teacher clumsily packed her things into her bag while avoiding direct eye contact with the few students that had remained. She was so knowledgeable, it was a shame that she was also such a pushover. Perhaps becoming louder and more assertive would make her job easier. When one made their presence known, people couldn't help but pay attention to them, after all. Whether they wanted to or not.

(Then again, that would probably just make people dislike her more.)

Berdly shook off the thoughts and remained patiently in his seat even as Noelle got up from hers, waiting for everyone else to leave, as he always did. Most people had gone by that point: the only ones that remained, besides himself and his teacher, were Kris, Snowy and MK.

A screechy sound brought him back to reality, brows furrowing while he turned to look at the source. His beak scrunched once he found it, and he fought the urge to groan out loud, if only to maintain his public image. Snowdrake's dreadfully dry laughter could get quite grating at times, and it didn't help that it was typically accompanied by equally dry jokes.

It was when the avian's cackles died down due to a lack of response that Berdly finally tuned into the conversation (he was not eavesdropping, merely listening in), angling his head back to hear better.

“What?? Not funny?! How come?!”

Complete silence followed, but Snowy still squawked in mild outrage as if someone had spoken to him. Kris must be the target of his jokes yet again. Berdly turned his head ever so slightly, just enough to catch a glimpse of his three classmates, his rival still lingering near their desk while the other two monsters crowded them.

“You just don't get it!” he sniffed disdainfully. “Humans never get it!”

Berdly twisted his entire torso around so quickly he was pretty sure he'd heard something pop. His skin prickled with an unfamiliar emotion, feathers twitching as it did. He could feel his plumage rising higher the longer he sat with the sensation, which only worsened once he saw a glimpse of Kris's tight jaw and sharp glare. Their heritage had always been a sensitive subject, especially when it was brought up in such a way.

Snowy couldn't be serious. This drivel again? The bluebird's eyes were narrowing before he could notice it, talons scraping the ground with how tightly he curled them. He couldn't explain why, but this blatantly incorrect information was ticking him off more than he'd expected it to.

“Dude, Snowy…” MK hissed under their breath, looking apprehensive.

“What?! It's true!” the avian refused to back down, even as Kris looked so visibly bothered it made Berdly's SOUL squeeze. “It's like, a known fact that humans straight up can't find puns fu-”

“AHEM.”

All heads turned to look at Berdly when he stood up from his seat and glared down at Snowy, head held up high. To his disappointment, the other avian didn't seem particularly subdued. No matter - he knew he'd win the battle of wits regardless.

“Got something to add, Nerdly?” Snowy sneered, returning the look.

“Nothing much.” Berdly pretended to check his nonexistent fingernails. “I would simply like to inquire if all of our classes on anthropology meant nothing to you.”

His classmate's feathers fluffed in turn. “The heck's that supposed to mean?!”

Without having realized it, Berdly noticed he'd stepped between the two monsters and his bitter rival, back facing towards Kris in a manner he could only describe as protective. He fluffed out his feathers in an effort to appear more intimidating, and though it didn't work as intended, it had taken Snowy's attention far enough away from Kris that he was no longer trying to mock them so spinelessly.

Truly, how cowardly of Snowdrake, to aim his pathetic, outdated stereotypes towards Kris when Susie wasn't around to threaten him into leaving them alone. Berdly wouldn't be surprised if he'd just been waiting for the saurian to leave before opening his beak to spew those unasked for comments.

“Typical.” the bluebird snarked, clicking his tongue. “You spew assumptions that can be disproven with a single Boogle search.”

Snowy's own feathers fluffed, the nubs he had for wings spreading out like little folding hand fans in a way that made him look ridiculous. Was the avian even aware of how wrong he was? Somehow, Berdly doubted it.

“Oh, yeah?!” his classmate snapped. “What's got you so confident?!”

Through the corner of his eye, Berdly could see professor Alphys sneaking towards the door with pursed lips, claws clacking on the ground as she walked out of the room and pretended not to see. Annoyance bubbled within him yet again. Was she not meant to impose her authority in situations like these? Hmph. Such a fate always befell braver people like himself, it seemed.

“FYI, the first recorded instance of the idea that humans are predisposed to dislike puns originated from a monster who had pursued comedy and was bitter that his subpar jokes continued to fall flat for his human audience.” he informed the other avian. “That was in the late eighties, and monsters that were similarly bitter for worse reasons kept propagating it until it was finally debunked by a human and monster researcher duo only seven years later.”

He was well aware of how incredibly grating his crowing sounded, how obnoxious the tone with which he was speaking was. He was doing it on purpose, after all, unleashing all of the qualities he knew others found annoying in him to make his ridiculous classmate back the fuck off, even if at his expense. And yet, with each glance he took towards Kris to gauge their reaction, they were just… silently eyeing him, brows ever so slightly furrowed in confusion.

“Wh- How do you even know that?!” Snowy squawked, clenching his serrated beak. “There's no way you're that much of a nerd! Y-you're lying!”

“Unaware of such a significant moment of human-monster cooperation?” he stuck his index feather in the air and wiggled it from side to side, smirking smugly. “Not very woke of you, Snowdrake.”

Snowy audibly groaned in annoyance, throwing his head back as he did so. Clearly, Berdly's purposeful attempt at being as annoying as possible was bearing fruits. A smug smile crossed his beak. He'd already won.

“Urgh, you're such a freaking-”

“Yo, Snowy, let's just go…” MK, spineless as they were, prompted their friend, tapping his leg with their paw.

“Whatever.” Snowy rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “If Nerdly's just gonna butt in with his freaking “historical accuracy”, what's even the point?”

With one last glare sent towards Berdly, beak scrunched in distaste, his feathery classmate and his lizard friend both walked off, the former harrumphing all the while as MK just tried their best to get him to move along with hurried taps of their tail to his lower back.

“Plus, he sounds like a loser with that stupid tone…” the avian grumbled under his breath as he was passing through the doorframe, just loud enough to be heard.

Berdly scoffed at this, rolling his eyes right out of his sockets. Seriously? That was all he had? That was nothing! He'd heard much worse from the person he was currently defending.

…Wait, why in the world had he even fought so hard to defend them?!

Kris was infuriating. They lived to torment him, visibly enjoyed getting under his skin in new and inventive ways, and to top it all off, they'd go out of their way to do it. Not to mention, they wouldn't do the same for him, not in a million years. It was foolish of him to allow himself to act so defensive.

(…They'd once glared people into submission when they'd tried to mock him, though. He still didn't know what that was about.)

In any case, the threat was done and over with. Snowy was leaving, so he could relax now. This event would never repeat itself again, because Kris was more than capable of standing their ground and Berdly wasn't some bleeding-heart who harbored any kind of affection towards his rival. Why had they even allowed him to protect them, anyway? They hated other people fighting their battles for them!

“Honestly, I don't get what his problem is.” he scoffed, allowing his crest feathers to smooth against his head again. “And to be so wrong while he's at it. The least he could have done was provide accurate information instead of spewing dated stereotypes like those. Inability to read the room much?”

Once he made sure Snowy had finally gone, eyes trained on the hallway until his pale blue feathers were no longer visible, the bluebird finally resolved to turn back to Kris. Embarrassed at how protective he'd acted towards them, the words on the tip of his tongue were playful taunts that would hopefully distract them from his behavior. They crumbled to ash in his mouth at the sight in front of him.

Kris was staring straight at him. Like, really staring. And it wasn't their typical unnerving look, either - he could see their eyes under their bangs with the way their head was angled towards him, and they were downright sparkling like stars had been captured in them. Their cheeks had reddened ever so slightly on top of that, complementing their awed expression into something that nearly made Berdly's knees buckle.

His SOUL skipped a beat in his chest. The air in his lungs felt like too much.

“Are you alright?” he asked, quieter than he'd intended and much too soft.

Lightning-quick, Kris's eyes widened in surprise and they turned their head away, chewing the inside of their bottom lip. Their face had reddened further, likely at having gotten caught amidst such a vulnerable moment, and Berdly realized that must have been what they were trying to hide when they broke eye contact.

‘Thanks.’ they signed awkwardly, slinging their schoolbag over their shoulder and absolutely booking it out of the room.

Berdly watched them go, bewildered and a little flustered. That was… unlike them, for sure. Obviously, they were just embarrassed that their videogame rival was the one to defend their honor in the face of ignorant prejudice, but it was still odd to see them like that. In a strangely positive way.

His skin felt warm and tingly under his feathers, but he wasn't really in the mood to unpack what that could mean for him, so he pushed it away to join the pile of odd Kris-related behaviors he'd been experiencing.

(Out of sight, out of mind. He didn't have to think about it.)

“…Okay.” he murmured to the empty classroom.

He moved to clear the board afterwards, just as he always did after class. Professor Alphys kept telling him there was really no need for him to do so, but he knew she appreciated having such a helpful and highly intelligent student staying behind of his own volition. Besides, he liked to keep himself busy. Chores stopped his mind from wandering.

…At least most of the time. Because, for some ludicrous reason, Kris's expression wouldn't leave his thoughts even as he wiped his teacher's equations from the board.

Annoyance built up throughout his body in clumps so discomforting they felt like physical entities clinging to him. First caving into his argumentative urges despite himself, now this? He was certainly at his worst behavior today. Which was odd, because he'd had his full eight hours and woke up invigorated as he should have.

It didn't help that Kris had looked so… different from usual. He wasn't entirely sure he'd ever seen such an expression of awe and wonder on them, and directed towards him of all people. Clearly, that was why he was still so fixated on it: it was an anomaly, plain and simple. And he didn't like anomalies. They always messed up the average.

Belatedly, Berdly noticed how he'd been erasing over the same spot on the chalkboard for Angel knew how long. A quick look around showed the surface was now spotless, only powder stains remaining of the equations that were once there. His job was done. He could leave now.

…But, for reasons unclear to him, he didn't.

He placed the eraser back on the tray and looked over to the chalk box at an agonizingly slow pace. Rummaging through it with his large wing feathers was an effort in itself, but he managed to see all of the colors it came in. White, green, blue, yellow, and…

He pulled out the powdery stick, turning it over in his wing.

Red chalk.

(…Crimson eyes.)

Without thinking, he held it between the tips of his feathers and started tracing lines on the chalkboard. He wasn't the best artist by a longshot, but the picture was clear enough in his mind for him to be willing to try. He sketched out round cheeks and a mop of unkempt hair. A mole on the right corner of parted lips, another below the left eye. And finally came the eyes, the clearest thing in his mind, sparkling with something that seemed far too similar to genuine appreciation and made his SOUL feel like a drum in his chest.

The bluebird added minor details, flecks of chalk to mimic freckles, smudged eyebags under the eyes, a little toothgap that by all means he should have never noticed, until he decided he was done. He could allow himself to stare all he wanted now. Crude replica as it was, the chalk lines wouldn't turn away from him with that oddly endearing shyness that did not fit them in the slightest. He could stare. He could get closer.

And get closer he did. Just a little bit, just enough to commit those eyes to memory. Absentmindedly, he placed a wing against the board and ran his thumb feather over the mole on the right cheek, breathing so silently he wasn't even sure he was taking in oxygen anymore.

The chalk drawing smudged, and the imperfection it left behind made something finally click in his brain.

As if the board was a scalding stovetop, Berdly pulled his wing away and shook it violently, scattering flecks of chalk powder into the air. He tossed the red chalk back into the box and reached for the eraser with unneeded urgency, feverishly wiping away at the doodle until not even the residue remained. No one would know there had been anything written there.

(But Berdly would. And the unparalleled shame that spread throughout his body would serve as a reminder of that ridiculous action for as long as he lived.)

He speedwalked back to his desk before he could let the embarrassment consume him and hurriedly slung his own schoolbag over his shoulder, tightening the straps and walking out of the classroom.

Noelle had waited for him outside the front doors, as was expected. She seemed almost caught off guard when he walked up to her at such a quick pace, blinking at him confusedly. It was hard to face her (it felt like she knew, somehow, even though he was sure that was merely the paranoia talking), but he managed.

“What kept you?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Ah, I was simply doing my job as our dear teacher's favorite student and wiping the board before I left.” he replied with as much of his usual over-the-top inflection as he could muster. “Apologies for making you wait.”

“Um, it's okay!” the reindeer smiled kindly at him. “Just… thought there wasn't really all that much on the board today, faha.”

“There wasn't.” he replied quickly, maybe suspiciously so. He almost elaborated, before realizing everything he could say would only further incriminate him. “Anyway! Let us hasten, for QC's is known for filling up during lunch!”

He picked up the pace to avoid his thoughts lingering, listening as Noelle did the same and caught up to him remarkably quickly. She slunk into his field of view, glancing at him with a curious expression.

“You're really upping the nerd flair today.” she mused. “Um- Not that that's an issue or anything! It's just… you do that when you're nervous. Something on your mind?”

“Nothing much, it was…” Berdly tugged at the straps of his schoolbag. “Well, truthfully, I might have had some trouble focusing on our last class because of our teacher's methods.”

Well. It was a half-truth.

“I know, right?” Noelle huff-laughed, shaking her head slowly. “Cheezus… Ms. Alphys is great, but her stuttering makes it really hard to pay attention sometimes.”

Phew. At least the two of them were on the same page, and any external endeavors could be forgotten. For a grand total of six seconds, before Noelle spoke again, with that lilt she only got in certain situations.

“Though, if I'm being honest…” the bluebird heard his best friend's cheeky smile before he saw it. “You seemed distracted by someone else, too.”

“What's that tone for?” Berdly raised an eyebrow, turning to face her. “Matter of fact, what's that face for?

The reindeer's smile widened, making her buck teeth more pronounced. She was lucky it made her look so adorable, or he wouldn't stand for it. He could already feel heat settling underneath his cheeks.

“Y'know.” she said in the vaguest tone imaginable.

“…I truly don't.” he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Noelle snickered under her breath, a sound almost akin to chittering that felt familiar. He could feel her eyes boring into him, just about ready to prod him for information, but he would not relent.

“Don't play dumb.”

“I'm not.”

“You're a terrible liar.”

“I'm not lying.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Kris has nothing to do with this.”

“Who said anything about Kris?”

Berdly squawked in realization, feathers poofing. He buried his face in his wings, if only to hide the blush that was certainly spreading through it.

“Bah. You're the absolute worst.” he grumbled weakly.

“Gotchaaaaaaa~” Noelle giggled, pelting him with playful punches to the shoulder. “So what about them, huh? Trouble in Gamer's Paradise?”

“Our rivalry is flourishing, if that's what you mean.” Berdly sped up in an attempt to escape the conversation he knew would follow as quickly as possible. “But, oh, would you look at that? QC's is just ahead!”

His best friend laughed louder this time, easily catching up with him yet again before ribbing him with her elbow. He winced in pain, but still moved ahead of her to open the door for her. He was a gentleman, after all.

“I'll wring that information out of you someday, just you wait.” she promised, almost threateningly.

Berdly's antsiness dulled once they were seated at their booth of choice, waiting for their lunch to come. It helped that Noelle seemed to have dropped the topic entirely, now chatting amicably with him about her theories for the next installment of Dragon Blazers. The mood was peaceful. At least until her eyes landed on something that made her fur bristle and her jaw drop, the latter of which she hid with a hoof to her mouth.

“S-Susie!!” she squeaked, at such a high pitch Berdly found it hard to hear. “And Kris!”

The bluebird's neck snapped towards the direction she was looking at the mention of his rival. Sure enough, there they sat in all their shaggy glory, shoveling food into their mouth like the slob they were while their friend egged them on, pumping a fist in the air. Neither of them had noticed him or Noelle, despite the fact that the distance between their respective booths wasn't really all that grand.

Maybe that was good, though, because Berdly felt like getting a glimpse of their face after whatever the hell had occurred at school was as entrancing as actual hypnotism.

He snuck a quick glance to Noelle, finding his best friend already staring at the saurian sitting next to Kris with the kind of expression that suggested she was retaining literally nothing else. He was in the clear. She was obviously too distracted to ask him any difficult questions, and even if she did, he had deflection to rely on. So without allowing himself time to rethink his decision, he let his eyes wander towards where they yearned to look.

He wasn't being weird. At all. He was simply analyzing his rival's face, looking for that mesmerizing sparkle, seeing if anything would provoke their eyes to shine like that again. The sight had filled him with such a strange, debilitating protectiveness. He needed to see if it would happen again.

The longer his gaze lingered, the warmer he felt. Every time something Susie said prompted Kris to laugh, the warmth he felt at seeing their face contort with joy far outweighed the inexplicable bitterness in the back of his throat. He wished he'd been closer. So he could keep a better eye on them, of course.

The skip of his SOUL every time he caught a glimpse of crimson was surely unrelated.

Chapter Text

Berdly had been getting on Kris's nerves lately.

They couldn't help their annoyance! Ever since that stunt he pulled where he defended them from Snowy at his expense and made both of them look like absolute fools, some sort of irritation had come to life under their skin. Something that urged them to keep an eye on him whenever possible, made them go farther and farther with their taunts whenever the two interacted just to see what he'd do about it.

Which is why they were idly passing by the Librarby and choosing to linger around the leftmost window. For completely normal reasons.

(Yeah, entirely normal how you just stormed out of your house and booked it to the library.) the parasite possessing their SOUL snarked. (Even more normal that you're staring into the window like a weirdo.)

‘I'm not staring into the window.’ Kris snapped back internally. ‘I'm observing.’

(Right, right.) YOU mused, sarcasm dripping from its tone. (Observing what, exactly?)

‘Him.’ they angled their head to look through the glass better, watching as Berdly stacked up books that had been returned and swiftly slotted them into their rightful places.

(Through a window?)

‘Yes.’

(You realize birdwatching is for actual birds, right?) it prodded them teasingly. (Not avian monsters?)

‘Different things.’

(Good lord, you're hopeless.) the entity groaned, though its tone sounded the littlest bit amused. (Your obsession's been reaching new heights since he acted as your Light World knight in glow in the dark armor.)

Its words stunned Kris into physically flinching, even if just a little bit. Them? Obsessed? Never in a million years. There was no situation in which what they were doing was anything like obsession. Their behavior was normal and well-adjusted. It was just that the sight of Berdly's face pissed them off enough to want to scrutinize it, thinking up ways to make it twist until he was as annoyed as he made them feel.

‘I'm not obsessed.’ was the only thing they could bring themselves to reply, outraged at the mere thought.

(And I'm not an interdimensional entity taking over the culmination of your being.) YOU snarked. (Since we're lying now.)

As a show of defiance, Kris ignored its booming, obnoxious voice in favor of staring at Berdly, now sorting through papers. They fixed their sights on his long wing feathers, how they swept over documents or flicked through book pages for any discrepancies. Even with wings for hands, he was meticulous and diligent, double and even triple checking whatever it was he was looking at before he moved onto the next thing.

He had big wings. It wasn't like they'd just realized that (they'd already noticed it several times during class, watching him successfully wield a pen between such long feathers with intrigue), but it was still a characteristic feature of his that often caught their eye. Sometimes they wondered if his longest finger-feather was bigger than their hand. They wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

(The thought of touching their hand to his wing to confirm or deny that theory made their SOUL stutter.)

(The thought of it being proven right worsened the problem.)

‘I'm not obsessed.’ they repeated somewhat absently, attempting to focus on anything else to no avail.

(Talk to him like a normal person, then, instead of longingly staring at his giant bird wings through a window while he works.) YOU told them. (Just a thought.)

Kris audibly scoffed, warmth settling under their cheeks. Almost on autopilot, they began marching towards the door while their gaze stuck to the floor petulantly. They'd show it they could hold a conversation with him. It was just funnier to watch him be a nerdy loser from afar. Nothing else to it.

It wasn't like he'd ever spot them while they were watching him, anyway. When he was focused on his work, everything else was practically just background noise for him. That was why pestering him during work was so fun - he always poofed up in the most amusing ways when he was pulled out of his “mind palace”, whatever that meant.

As they reached the entrance and stood in front of it, a hand placed flat against the door to push it in, a harsh shove made them stumble on their feet, so caught off guard they nearly fell back. Though bitter, they raised their hands to sign an ‘Excuse me.’, but they stopped before they even got halfway through the gesture once they glanced up.

The tall minotaur-like monster that had jostled them hadn't even looked back to see who it'd bumped into, merely sniffing disdainfully and trudging into the Librarby. Their brows furrowed on instinct and they followed behind it even as their skin prickled with indignation. Rude.

The sentiment seemed to be echoed by the entity, because the myriad of choices it would bombard them with at any given interaction overwhelmed them more than they usually did, ranging from collected options like “tell it off through ASL” to much more appealing choices like “slash its tires and drain its gas tank”. To their displeasure, they chose to disregard all of them. They were here for a different reason, after all. Berdly-watching overrode anything else YOU told them to do.

With a hand bunching up the fabric of their sweater in an attempt to ground themselves, they eyed the minotaur from a distance, watching it approach the desk and snapping its hoof claws to get Berdly's attention. Already, bile was rising to Kris's throat at the thought of Berdly having to interact with it. That blatant lack of respect was infuriating.

Their fur would have bristled if they had any. Couldn't it have waited just the littlest bit longer for him to finish sorting through those papers?

 Despite the choices echoing in their brain growing more appealing by the second, they slunk back against their wishes, sitting at one of the tables near the Teenz Own and deliberately avoiding making eye contact with the billboard as if it were a physical entity. They kept their eyes on the nameless minotaur, barely blinking.

“Ey, you.” it huffed in a snippy, rumbling voice, somehow deep and high pitched at the same time. “Kiddo. Ya too busy to talk to a client?”

Kris gauged Berdly's reaction as soon as the annoying tone cut off. The bluebird looked at a loss for a short while, before his practiced customer service smile slipped onto his beak and he fake-beamed at the minotaur.

“Ah, of course!” he slid the papers aside, pressing his wings together. “What do you need?”

“I'm lookin' for this mango thing for one of my calves.” the minotaur drawled, disinterested. “Somethin' 'bout some fictional beasts, I think she said?”

Kris felt some odd satisfaction seeing the bluebird's feathers twitch. He was trying so hard not to snap at his customer. They almost wished he'd give up on the polite front and just go off on that asshole, but that probably wouldn't look good for him.

“Er, manga.” Berdly corrected quietly, before he projected his voice again. “I believe you will have to be… a little more specific.”

“How much more specific do I hafta be?” the minotaur grunted as if it was already done with the conversation. “'S little beasts. They follow their monster trainers around. Or were they humans? Never could tell - they looked like they could pass for either, honestly.”

He perked up at this, his plumage rippling along his body in a wave of contained enthusiasm. Kris's SOUL squeezed gleefully at the sight, for whatever reason.

“Oh, the Critterkit Special Chronicles?” he chirped. His smile turned the slightest bit more genuine. “Which volume specifically are you looking for? Crimson, Navy and Ochre? Silk, Marble and Gemstone? Garnet-”

“I didn't come here for your nerd speak, kiddo.” the minotaur cut him off before he could get into the intricacies of each arc like Kris could tell he wanted to. “Just tell me if ya got any. Literally any of 'em.”

The human's hand tightened around their sweater, committing the familiar, calming texture to memory as they moved it between their fingertips before they completely snapped and let YOU do what it wanted. Sure, Berdly was an annoying nerd who needed to shut the hell up, but what gave that damn minotaur the right to speak to him like that?! To just… brush him off without even hearing him out?! Did it even care about its calf, if it didn't even know which volumes of the manga she was missing?

(Plus, they'd wanted to hear him ramble. He always got really deep into the intricacies of Crimson and Navy's relationship as rivals.)

Berdly visibly deflated at the lack of interest, something flashing in his greenish eyes before he pushed it back. Something about how defeated he looked made Kris's sour feelings towards the monster he was dealing with multiply tenfold.

“Don't you have a specific volume in mind?” he insisted. “Or… a description of the volume she's looking for, at least?”

“What's it matter?” the minotaur snorted. Kris gripped the table with such force they wouldn't be surprised if their blunt nails had managed to leave marks on it.

“So you… don't request a book she's already read?” Berdly tried, voice faltering.

“I know she's read the first.” it mused in reply. “That should be enough, yeah? I mean, she ain't even…”

The minotaur's gaze had wandered to the side while its sentence trailed off, brows furrowing once it spotted Kris. Its head tilted to the side ever so slightly until the two of them were making direct eye contact. The human's eyes narrowed into slits as they allowed the scowl they were holding back to cross their face.

‘Back off.’ they signed slowly, uncaring as to whether that pest understood them or not.

“Uh…” the minotaur sputtered, eyes flicking between Kris and Berdly.

Kris allowed themselves to look at the bluebird as well, checking for… something. They weren't exactly sure what. Knowledge that his morning wasn't completely ruined by a shitty customer disregarding boundaries and shooting his infodumping down, maybe? Probably something stupid like that.

“Is everything in order?” the bluebird asked hesitantly.

“Uh, yeah, yeah.” it nodded absently. “'S fine. Whatever. I'll just get her the second one you said.”

“A-alright, then!” Berdly managed to go back to the overly polite tone from before, swiftly plucking the book from a shelf as if he'd already known it was there (which he probably did). “Please return it within a month, or you will be at risk of paying a late book fee. Have a nice day!”

The minotaur gave another nod, a more brusque one this time, and speedwalked away with the manga volume tucked under its arm. As it passed the Teenz Own on its way to the entrance, its eyes drifted to Kris again, visibly unsettled, but it didn't linger long before pushing the door open like it owned the damn place and slamming it behind it as it left.

Kris huffed under their breath, the sound coming out almost like a snarl. They allowed their deep, excessive irritation to simmer back down, dimming the flame on the metaphorical stovetop so it wouldn't boil over. Their SOUL was still thundering with adrenaline, itching to go after the minotaur and ruin the rest of its day with a malicious “prank”, but they were growing more at ease.

(Somehow, the sight of Berdly at his desk, feathers lightly ruffled and blinking his wide eyes in confusion, helped them regain their inner peace far more than they would have wanted or expected.)

Now feeling a lot calmer, Kris loosened the death grip they had on their sweater and got up from their chair, making their way to the bluebird. He perked up once he spotted them, his plumage puffing up further.

“K-Kris?!” he stammered. “Did you- What are you- How long have you been there??”

Kris simply waved at him, leaning on the counter before signing ‘A while.’ when they realized Berdly's eyes were focused on their hands as he waited for a response.

“How incredibly vague and not strange in the slightest.” he deadpanned, sarcasm dripping from every word. “Are you here to request a book? Or, pray tell, have you decided it's finally time to pay off the debt I so generously gave you a discount on?”

Kris shook their head. ‘Just talking.’

“Well, unfortunately, I cannot humor you right now.” the bluebird sighed as he sorted through paperwork. “I'm too busy to stop and read your signs. They had me sorting documents today.”

“What if I speak instead?”

Berdly froze, immediately turning to look at them with wide eyes and a lightly parted beak. For whatever reason, his cheeks looked darker, tinted with a cobalt shade. In the corner of their eye, they saw his tail flicking from side to side slowly.

“You're… speaking?” he cheeped shyly. “In public?”

“Sure, if it means I get to piss you off during work.” Kris snickered, a hand over their mouth to hide their cheeky smile.

Berdly's feathers fluffed upwards and his eyes narrowed in an instant, though the odd, seemingly out of place blush remained. The flicks of his tail turned into aggressive swishing.

“Pest.” he hissed. “Just my luck that you're willing to be verbal at a time like this.”

“It's favoritism, birdie.” they crooned teasingly, practically draping themselves over the counter while avoiding undoing the work he'd already done. “You should be flattered.”

The bluebird shooed their hand away with a flick of his wing so he could reach under it. He was keeping his gaze downcast. Like he… didn't want them to look at his face?

“Hmph.” he said, audibly. It sounded like he intended to add onto it, but no words came out.

He was still facing away from them, frustratingly enough. Kris craned their neck to tilt their head at an odd angle, trying to get a good look at him and not caring about how incredibly conspicuous they looked. Finally, after catching him distracted enough by what he was doing, they got what they were looking for: a glimpse of his face, fluffy and flushed with the blush that coated his cheeks.

(Hah. He was flattered.)

(…Why did that make their SOUL feel lighter?)

They screwed their eyes shut in an attempt to shake off the odd feeling, looking away from his face in case it threatened to resurface. Instead, their eyes gravitated to his wings, moving seamlessly over a stack of library cards. Those cards were only barely longer than Kris's palm, and yet in Berdly's wings they seemed minuscule. The realization prompted their earlier musings about the size of his wings to return to the forefront of their mind against their will.

“Isn't that hard?” they found themselves asking quietly.

Berdly didn't look at them, still carefully grouping the cards.

“What is?”

“Sorting through smaller stuff like that.”

“Why would it be?”

“Well, cuz of your wings.” Kris told him matter-of-factly. “Duh.”

“…What about them?” Berdly sounded genuinely oblivious, stopping his work to raise an eyebrow at them.

The human blinked, baffled. “What about them- They're huge, dude.”

“They cannot be that much bigger than your hands!”

“Oh, yeah? Bet.” Kris raised their hand, open palm facing Berdly. “Give me five.”

Berdly gawked at them, brows furrowed. His crest feathers fluffed erratically as he looked between Kris's face and their outstretched hand, his own wing twitching as if he was about to raise it before he forced it down.

“I'm not “giving you five”, Dreemurr, I'm in the middle of work!” he hissed through his clenched beak, completely befuddled.

“Why not?” Kris shot back, smirking. “Are you chicken?”

The bluebird growled under his breath, the sound devolving into an annoyed chirruping sound.

“I won't get roped into your drivel.” he snapped. “Not this time. Not while I have much more important things to attend to.”

“So you're chicken.” Kris stated evenly. “I've always known. Wasn't aware they came in blue, though.”

Berdly's feathers were twitching so intensely they could practically see them vibrating. Their smirk widened into a grin. It was only a matter of time until he snapped, and Angel, the buildup never failed to be satisfactory. That annoyed expression suited him much more than the stuck up obnoxious persona he always tried to project.

“Whatever you're trying to do, it won't work.” he dutifully went on with his work, but his wings were jittery and he was having trouble holding the smaller items between the feathers. “I'm better than that. You should be better than that, too.”

“Leaving me hanging, bluebird?” the human pouted, making an exaggerated sad expression to match. “Or should I start calling you bluechicken now?”

A sharp, frustrated exhale passed through Berdly's nostrils and his slightly parted beak. His wings slammed down almost noiselessly on the counter as his face shot forward until it was only inches away from Kris's. All of a sudden, they could feel their gusto evaporating into the atmosphere, unable to muffle the gasp of surprise that passed through their lips.

“Drop it.” he snarled.

Now that was a rare Berdly tone. The kind of tone Kris only got to hear in his most frustrated moments, when he was about to cross the border to genuinely angry. Deep and guttural, so unlike his normal voice that they couldn't help but be caught off guard by it, their SOUL skipping a beat.

(They liked to hear it. Maybe a little too much.)

It was only when they heard him speak so close to them they could feel it that they realized just how small the space between the two of them had gotten. His face was inches away as his greenish-yellow eyes bore into theirs. The tips of his wing feathers brushed Kris's resting forearm lightly, yet another demonstration of how big they were. And yet he didn't even seem to notice it, still scrunching his beak at them against nature's laws and breathing heavily with profound irritation.

They weren't about to pussy out, though. Even if this proximity had them struggling to recall what exactly they were trying to annoy him into doing.

“Make me.” they shot back, their grin only widening.

Berdly moved away with a huff so pronounced it was closer to a scoff. He pulled his wings to himself, glaring at them.

“Angel above, fine!” he sighed exasperatedly. “There!”

Before Kris could even process it, one of the bluebird's wings shot out to wrap around their wrist (though it engulfed most of their forearm as well, which they were not thinking about for longer than necessary) and hold it tightly in place, following that action with his other wing swiftly meeting their palm in a much more gentle manner, pressing against it slowly.

Immediately, the annoyance drained from his face, replaced with unabashed surprise. Kris couldn't pay too much attention to the strangled squawk he let out over the sound of their SOUL trying its absolute hardest to break down the barricade that was their ribs and escape through their chest cavity.

Holy shit his wing was so much bigger than they thought.

They'd known it would be bigger than their hand, but they hadn't realized by how much. It was large enough to practically engulf their whole hand and still have feathers to spare, large enough that his longest wing feather was just barely shorter than the entire length of their hand. Even now, just touching their hand to his wing made them feel tiny. Which should have frustrated them, but it… didn't. Quite the opposite, horrifyingly enough.

Kris swallowed dryly, feeling their breathing picking up and the skin on their face growing warm. This discovery had left them completely speechless. They were sure their jaw was practically on the fucking floor, but they didn't care anymore. They couldn't take their eyes off of the hand pressed against his wing. They couldn't help but notice every tremble of his limbs and twitch of his plumage as he fought back his clear anxiety and awkwardness so he could stand his ground.

(An annoying and stupid and decidedly far too impulsive itch in their brain urged them to lace their fingers with his feathers. To see just how much of his wing they could hold.)

(Fighting it back was harder than they would have wanted it to be.)

(So not obsessed?) YOU teased out of absolute fucking nowhere. Somehow, Kris pushed it away through sheer force of will.

“You, um…” it was only when Berdly spoke, shy and stuttery, that the human managed to tear their eyes away from his wing and sort of look in his direction. “So it seems that you were, ah… correct in your assessment.”

Now that they were actually looking at him, Kris felt a little less embarrassed about their reaction. He looked exactly how they imagined they looked, wide eyed, gaping, and blushing furiously. His feathers fluffed erratically in a circular pattern, and his expression blended in a mix between spooked and flustered.

“Yeah.” they murmured weakly in reply.

Neither of them moved. Kris's hand remained pressed up against Berdly's wing. They noticed his eyes drifting back down to their joined appendages and decided to do the same, letting their gaze linger on the fluffy plumage while relishing in how it felt between their fingers.

Without thinking, they brushed their thumb over his “palm”. Feather-light (pun intended), as if to not disturb it. The sensation of his feathers being moved by their gentle touch sent goosebumps spreading throughout their entire body, and all they could think about was how they wanted to feel more of it. Soon enough, they were moving their whole hand, stroking the inside of his wing with it against the grain, pushing the feathers aside just to smooth them down again.

It was an addicting sensation, and Berdly wasn't pulling away. In fact, they'd heard his breath hitch on several occasions, and they were pretty sure the quiet sound they'd picked up when they were smoothing down his feathers was some sort of rumbly churr. Maybe they could get away with having a feel for them for a bit longer. Maybe they could…

…

Holy fucking shit what the hell were they doing?!

They snatched their hand away before the sensation enticed them into ignoring their brief bout of clarity, pursing their lips and staring up at Berdly with their eyes as wide as they could go. Berdly squawked in turn and let go of their wrist and pulled his wings away as well, only slightly delayed. His face was tinted such a dark shade of blue it was like he'd changed color entirely, and he looked almost alarmed when he tucked his wings close to his body.

‘Actually I have to go.’ they signed sloppily, raising their hands until they were leveled with their face so that Berdly had a higher chance of reading the signs (and to hide the blush that had undoubtedly spread throughout it).

They walked out of the building so quickly they nearly tripped over their own feet, marching a good twenty feet away before they allowed themselves to slow down and just breathe. What the hell happened? Why was their SOUL  still beating so quickly? Why did the palm of their hand tingle with the leftover sensation of Berdly's feathers between their fingers?!

Kris had a lot of things to ponder, but those particular three had stuck out. Their mind was swimming, the lightheadedness fogging up their brain and preventing them from having any rational thoughts. In a mere moment, while they aimlessly walked away from the Librarby and somewhere towards their house, their brain shooed away those silly questions and resolved to make absolutely sure they wouldn't forget that addicting feeling anytime soon.

Briefly, they let their mind wander. They thought about the way the wing holding their wrist wrapped around most of their forearm as well. They recalled Berdly's furious glare and his subsequent shocked expression once their hand and wing made contact with each other. They wondered how his wings would feel in other places, lightly cupping their cheeks and taking up half of their face, hesitantly sliding down their torso towards their waist where they belonged, pulling them close to him while he flaunted that stupid fucking four inch height difference and-

For lack of a better term, Kris shot that shit down as fast as humanly possible, inhaling all the oxygen in the vicinity with one big breath that they exhaled in sputtering heaves. Their SOUL hammered so viciously in their chest it hurt. Their entire body burned with something between shame and sickeningly intense exhilaration. The simple act of keeping those thoughts at bay, keeping them far away from the entity's watchful eye, felt like trying to stop a flash flood with a beaver dam.

(Hey? Hey Kris?) YOU teased in a mocking high-pitched tone. (What was that all about, Kris?)

“I'm not obsessed.” they snapped at the entity, verbally, trudging through the path that led to their house with the intention of tossing it in its cage, spritzing it with water for good measure, and never thinking about the events that had transpired ever again.

Chapter Text

Berdly was pretty sure he had never before been so close to property damage, but Kris's pettiness was beginning to test his limits.

It wasn't enough that they'd always tarnish the noble game of Super Smashing Fighters - they'd set their sights on one of their own favorite games now! Their afternoon had started relatively normal following their lunch just an hour prior, but what was supposed to be a study session for their upcoming test quickly derailed into parallel play and the exchange of exclusive Critters between the two. Which Berdly, regrettably, did not manage to prevent.

This would have never happened if Ms. Toriel hadn't left to run some errands. Berdly had still attempted to keep some semblance of order and do what he'd come there to do, he really had, but Kris kept whining and insisting for them to play Critterkit instead, and the bluebird wasn't strong enough to resist their calling. Er- That is, the game's calling.

Which is why, currently, his fully-trained Lupara was getting bodied by his rival's Wyrmsparce and its ridiculously OP Talent.

“Ghrr- Kris!” he growled under his breath, glaring over his handheld at them as his tail swished from side to side in annoyance. “Stop using such a foul strategy! You are aware that stalling is a completely brainless tactic that requires no additional thought, right?!”

Kris seemed to meet his gaze from where they were sprawling on the other side of the couch, eyes crinkling ever so slightly with the unmistakable look they got when they donned their signature smirk. They tilted their head just enough to allow Berdly a glimpse of the upwards twitch of their lips and confirm his prior suspicions.

“It works.” they replied simply, voice carrying an air of mischief. “It's a strategy, just like Lupara's Effect Spore-Facade combo.”

“You know Effect Spore plus Facade isn't on the same level as Serene Grace plus Thunder Wave and Air Slash!”

“Maybe you're just bad at the game.” Kris told him breezily, clicking noises echoing in the air when they flicked their handheld's joystick and selected their next move. “Have you ever considered that?”

Berdly's feathers puffed upwards with annoyance, but he forced himself to remain calm, exhaling a puff of air in an attempt to quell the annoyance festering within him.

“You are trying to ragebait me.” he stated evenly. “You're trying to ragebait me, and it's not working.”

The telltale sound of a super effective hit rang out in front of him and he watched, beak agape, as his Lupara fell and retreated back to its Handler. Tightening his wing feathers around his handheld, he selected his Angeile to replace it, hoping it'd manage to break through the inevitable paralysis and the Frost move he'd snuck onto it would be enough to finally KO the Wyvern and Earth Critter.

“Is that right?” Kris's teasing drawl made his magic boil under his skin. “You look pretty baited over there.”

Berdly bristled further, immediately disregarding his attempts at maintaining some level of tranquility. “You want to say that to my face?!”

“I would if you had one, but all I see is an ass with two eyes.”

“Very mature, Dreemurr.” he snarked in a low growl, clenching his beak with barely contained disdain. “Shame on you and your infantile backtalk.”

In reply, Kris casually kicked him. Well, that might be an understatement - it was more like a horse's buck, with the way he briefly saw them pull their leg back as if winding up before directing the blow to the front of his leg. He squawked, appalled, and fully pulled his handheld down to glare at them.

“This is not helping your case, Kristine.” he grumbled. “You're not acting your age.”

“Wanna fight me like a kid, then?” they prompted, the hint of a challenge in the way the words rolled off their tongue. “'Cuz I can tell you're not willing to fight like a man.”

They kicked him again, lighter this time, almost like a nudge, but he refused to engage with their ridiculous antics. Exercising the little restraint he had, he redirected his attention back to the online match, picked his next move, and waited.

Except Kris didn't pick anything on their side of the match. A cursory glance towards them showed Berdly that they weren't even really looking at their handheld anymore. And a more detailed stare showed him that their eyes were locked right onto him, sparking with a very familiar look.

They pulled their leg back at a snail's pace. The feathers that had begun to lay flat poofed right back up.

“Don't you dare.” he warned them, eyes narrowed.

Kris visibly grinned, flashing their teeth tauntingly, before their leg swung towards him and hit him square on the knee.

Berdly dropped his handheld clumsily next to him on the couch and straightened up in a flash, a growly chirrup building up in his throat.

Fuck the game.

Unable to keep his frustration at bay any longer, the bluebird puffed out his wings in some sort of instinctive attempt to look bigger and leapt at Kris, trying to smother them with his much larger limbs. His rival, of course, had expected this, so they'd swiftly placed their forearms in front of them in a defensive position, holding it even as Berdly tried to spread them apart and get to the human behind them. They kneed him on the stomach as they cackled, making him falter just enough for them to push him off.

He nearly lost his balance and fell back, but he managed to hold straight, at least until Kris crashed into him like a cornered animal, forcing his lower back against the arm of the couch and cupping his face between their fingers with one hand as they used their entire body to keep him still while their other hand fisted his shirt. He struggled for just a moment, huffing in distaste, before he saw the victorious gleam in their eyes and his resolve poofed out of him like vapor.

His rival's breathing was heavy with their pants, torso rising and falling quickly. Their vivid crimson eyes were fixed on his own, and the spark that had been there since their skirmish began hadn't dimmed even a little bit. Berdly was hyper aware of their hands on his chin and shirt, their body weighing his down, the wispy feeling of warm air wafting over his face. His SOUL worked overtime in his chest, stuttering as it thrummed.

(His feathers fluffed even further, but they felt messy against his body now.)

All of a sudden, Kris tilted their head, making a low cooing sound under their breath. Berdly opened his beak to snap at them, but he couldn't get any words out before they let go of his shirt and brought their hand up to his crest, petting the fluffy plumage as if they wanted to smooth it back down themselves in the gentlest manner he'd ever seen them treat his feathers.

The only sound his useless larynx was able to produce was a low, completely indescribable choked noise. He had an easier time hearing the loud thumps of his SOUL against his ribcage than anything else around him.

“Awww, look how mad you are.” Kris crooned in a sickeningly sweet tone that had Berdly's brain liquifying until he could no longer feel it. “What, is it too hard to handle a bit of teasing? I thought you were more resilient than this, birdie.”

Somehow, the taunt that weirdly resembled a pet name managed to snap him out of his thoughts for long enough that he got his head back in the game. Taking advantage of the fact that their grip on his face was loose and playful, Berdly jerked out of it as some sort of deeply buried defense mechanism, pecking the hand that had once been holding him. They snatched it away with a quiet yelp, and before they recovered, he pulled them to the side by their shirt until the two were rolling around on the carpet.

Berdly heaved above Kris as he pinned their wrists down to the best of his ability, far enough away from their face that he didn't have to worry about the possibility of them snagging his feathers between their teeth. Their hair fell around them in an arc, bangs swooping aside to give way to vivid crimson eyes underneath.

Something like a taunt sparked in them and their lips curled upward ever so slightly, but they didn't struggle. In fact, they actively went limp in his grasp, fully relaxing their body into the carpet under them while maintaining very disconcerting eye contact. Their pathetic acceptance made him lower his own guard in turn, his grip on their wrists faltering.

“Had enough already, Kris?” he crowed, not stopping to think about the implications of such an act coming from Kris Dreemurr. “Hah! I didn't know I was in the presence of a-”

Before he could even process it, Kris had swiftly slipped both of their wrists out of his flimsy grip and made a move to grab his wings, smile twisting into a ferocious grin that reminded Berdly of a carnivore on the prowl, for whatever reason. He only barely managed to pull away, a choked squawk passing through his beak as he scrambled to get to his feet before Kris did and stepped away from them for security. They were much, much faster than him, though, and it didn't take them long to get up as well, menacingly pacing towards him every time he moved away.

The tides had successfully turned now. Berdly had the fear of heaven instilled into him by Kris's manic look and threatening stance despite their shorter stature, and he knew he was done for as soon as they decided to pick up the pace. For now, they were circling him the same way a pack of wolves would a cornered prey animal, never taking their gaze off of him.

‘Nowhere to run.’ they signed slowly, and the bluebird couldn't stop his feathers from bristling with dread.

Still, Berdly bolted, SOUL hammering in his chest with adrenaline. And as soon as he did so, Kris leaped at him in a shoddy whirlwind of a tackle and slammed him into the couch, caging him between their arms bent at the elbows, their ragged breaths making the feathers in his face ripple with how unbelievably close they were to him.

Berdly was pretty sure he'd just lost the ability to think. His mind swam with both the whiplash of the impact and the weird proximity that was going on. Why could he feel every point of contact between him and his rival? Why couldn't he bring himself to peck at their forearms, just within reach of his beak? Why were his useless wings just… hanging limply off his shoulders and draped over the couch?!

“What was that you said?” they crooned in a low, rumbling voice that made his skin ripple with goosebumps.

“I-I… A-ah… I, um…” he tried hard to form coherent sentences, he really did, but he felt dizzy at their proximity and the way their gaze was glued to him.

“That's what I thought.” Kris hissed out with a grin, but they didn't move at all.

The bluebird was physically incapable of keeping count of how long they'd remained in that same position, him pressed into the couch cushions while his rival just kept staring at him, but he suspected it was longer than expected or necessary. His SOUL was pounding in his chest. His face felt so warm it was searing. Inexplicably, the light scent of cinnamon filled the air until it was the only thing Berdly could focus on, the only thing he thought was safe enough to focus on. Angel knew what would happen if he directed his focus to anything else, like their unkempt dark brown hair, or their crimson eyes blazing with triumph, or their li-

Berdly pointedly looked away from Kris, feeling his breathing quicken alongside the culmination of his being. This was exactly why he couldn't allow himself to linger. Odd thoughts would inevitably arise, and he wouldn't know what to do with them. It was best to avoid them when he could.

He chanced one last look at his rival's face just in time to see their eyes narrow into slits like a snake's pupils, something flashing in their vibrant irises. And then, before he could even attempt to brace himself, Kris pulled their arms away and swiftly wrapped them around his wings and torso, squeezing him like a vice grip and pressing him further into the couch.

Berdly let out a squawk of alarm at the sudden pressure, feebly attempting to wrestle out of it. Despite his now much more limited mobility, he managed to at least move his forewings, grabbing a hold of Kris's midriff with his wings and pushing them back. Bad idea. Not only did they not budge, they actively tightened their hold, letting out a rumbling noise like a growl and twisting their body like they were curling around him. The bluebird shivered when he felt them lock his legs in place as well by hooking them with their own. They may not look like it, but they were much stronger than him.

This was it. He was dead. He was going to die, and it would be his own fault, because he couldn't keep his beak shut, couldn't help but prod his rival until they physically fought with him. Because maybe he sort of liked these moments of play where the two of them would release their inhibitions and just be childish for once, so of course caving into such ridiculous whims was going to be his downfall.

Except Kris… wasn't really moving anymore. Their grip was still as strong as ever, but it didn't tighten further, and their head had come to rest on his shoulder. They almost seemed relaxed in a weird sort of way. Their little playfight had gone from maniacal to… weirdly comforting.

Berdly blinked. They weren't being violent at all. They were just… uh… holding him? Kind of aggressively?

(Why did he like it?????)

His SOUL was pounding way too hard in his chest. He wanted nothing more than to tear away from their grasp, and yet he couldn't actually bring himself to. He tried to tell himself it was just him accepting defeat, not bothering to waste his precious energy on a losing battle, but it wasn't. He knew it wasn't. He knew the reason he'd given up on escaping Kris's almost possessive hold was because the pressure caused by their death grip was making him disgustingly compliant.

“What are you doing?” he found himself asking, voice barely higher than a whisper in a way that made him feel like the most pathetic being on Earth.

Kris was silent for a short while. Their head tilted to the side and nudged against Berdly's neck. He barely managed not to chirp.

“Chillin'.” they replied helpfully.

“…Right.” the bluebird drawled. “Are you planning to let go of me soon?”

Another short period of silence, though longer than the last.

“Nah.”

Berdly bit back a frustrated huff. Angel, his rival was insufferable sometimes. Curse his stupid brain for making him feel so warm under his feathers.

“M-must you be holding me?” he tried once more, but he recognized his voice was embarrassingly meek. “To… chill?”

Kris shuffled on top of him, tightening the hold their legs had around his thighs. “Yep.”

Berdly blinked, slowly. This was a nightmare. An actual nightmare that he was bound to with a Kris-shaped ball and chain.

(It was closer to a dream than anything, but he would rather not think too much about that.)

“Th-this is… an interesting situation.” he mumbled as an awkward attempt at making small talk.

“Mhm.” his rival hummed in reply.

Berdly pursed his beak, mild annoyance and another harder to decipher emotion rippling through him. What were they playing at now? Was their goal to just… humiliate him? Keep him locked in place like some pathetic little thing who couldn't fight for himself? Well, he wasn't going to let them! Decidedly unrelated to the fact that the emotion he was now beginning to identify as fluster was rampaging through him like a fever - he needed to escape this situation, quickly.

For a while, he stood very still, allowing Kris's grip to relax just a little, waiting for the moment his rival's breaths slowed. When they were sufficiently calm, he made another attempt at wrestling out of their embrace, first intending to pull his wings to himself before forcing the human's arms to dislodge themselves from his torso.

That was certainly not what happened, though, because Kris was prepared. Why wouldn't they be, really? Nothing ever went right for the unfortunate bluebird, so naturally Kris had to be fully alert before he even managed to pull his wings halfway up, locking their arms tighter around him and casually resting their chin on his shoulder after getting a good grip on him.

“Nice try.” they teased in a rumbling voice that made Berdly's feathers ripple in a shudder. “Your breathing's too stuttery for me to fall for that.”

“Weirdo.” Berdly scoffed under his breath, ignoring the warmth in his cheeks at the thought that Kris was listening to him breathe.

Clearly, he needed a better escape plan than that. Because he couldn't just… allow himself to remain in this situation! It would entice him into wanting more, and if he wanted more, he'd do something stupid, and nothing good would come of it. So he forced himself to relax, letting out a defeated scoff that he hoped sounded believable enough for the human to lower their guard a second time. It seemed to work, kind of, but now he was distracted by something completely different.

Kris was acting strange. Well, stranger than they'd already been acting, that is. Their body had relaxed even further on top of him and they were nuzzling into his chest in a way that made him feel lightheaded, no doubt able to hear how his SOUL still hammered wildly in his ribcage at the contact. It was almost like they were getting ready to nap on top of him.

It just made goosebumps flare over the bluebird's body, confusion flooding his system. What the hell? How did they go from chasing him around their living room like a wild animal, to restraining him on their couch as a show of their superiority, to nuzzling into him like they intended to cuddle with him?!

His SOUL wasn't made for things like these. It'd been fit to burst for ages now, and with the way his rival was acting, he was sure he'd meet his end in their strangely tender embrace. Which he probably should have been a little more opposed to.

As if his deranged thoughts regarding the situation hadn't been enough, Kris's head suddenly began nudging upwards on his chest until he felt their hair brush under his beak. Berdly forgot how to breathe when they pressed the top of their head into his chin like a cat asking to be pet.

Despite the inherent lunacy of the situation, the bluebird remained calm, or as calm as he could realistically be. Instead of no oxygen intake, he allowed himself to resume his breathing in a slow, somewhat controlled manner in an attempt to convince Kris that he'd gotten complacent, trying to ignore the gymnastics routine his stomach had begun when he heard them sigh softly. He almost sighed himself, but his exhale would have come out a lot more dismal. This whole situation was ruining him. His resolve was crumbling into nothing. Why, oh why, did humans have to be so damn warm?!

He was just about to completely throw his former plan to the wind and melt into Kris's extremely enticing embrace instead, but suddenly, for a brief moment, he noticed how their grip had loosened as they allowed themselves to fully relax on top of him. There was no better time to strike, and if he missed this opportunity, the next time he'd be able to escape them was when they got tired of this drivel and finally released him. He had to try again.

Quicker than he ever thought he could, he writhed in their embrace, this time definitely catching them off guard as he felt them flinch above him and attempt to restrain him again. He nearly managed to slink his wings away just enough to try to push them away, breath hitching and stuttering with the effort of grabbing a hold of their waist, but they continued to press into his limbs, forcing them down.

Still, their grip wasn't as strong as it'd been before, so with a couple of well-timed pecks, Berdly managed to keep it just loose enough for him to push them away slightly. He felt triumph welling up within him, relieved that he would finally be free from their annoyingly addicting pressure, but then…

Their head whipped to the side in a concerning fashion as they audibly snarled under their breath.

And something sank into Berdly's shoulder just enough for him to feel it through his clothes.

All of his feathers instantly stood on end and a thin, high-pitched chirp tumbled out of him. He froze on the spot, eyes bulging out of his sockets with how wide he opened them. At his moment of weakness, Kris immediately tightened their grip again, and his chance was promptly ruined a second time. Still, the pressure in his shoulder remained, coupled with a weird warmth being breathed into the spot where he felt it pierce him.

Looking down at the human stationed on top of him, Kris's head still remained at an awkward angle rather than resting on his chest like last time. His breathing completely stopped as he finally understood what the feeling in his shoulder was.

It was Kris's teeth. Kris was biting him, and they didn't seem intent on letting go anytime soon.

(The way his skin blazed with embarrassment and his SOUL sped up like a car motor at that realization had him feeling so feverish he was fully certain he was about to die.)

“Y'r not goin' anywhere.” his rival mumbled into his shoulder, low and rumbling and almost threatening.

Berdly's mind went blank, SOUL beating a mile a minute. There was simply no way this was happening. In no way was Kris just…

“Are you biting me?!” he screeched rhetorically, unable to keep his voice at a normal pitch or decibel. His feathers fluffed up so much they probably made him look ridiculous.

Kris just laughed. That little devil laughed, shaking with the effort of keeping their teeth in his shoulder - why were they so intent on keeping their teeth in his shoulder - while their grip on his torso tightened for good measure.

“I-I fail to see the humor in this!” Berdly stammered, desperately trying to twist his head around and make eye contact with his rival. “Let go!!”

Even at his repetitive shrugging motions and awkwardly angled pecks, Kris refused to yield, their cackling only increasing in volume and frequency until they were practically snorting with laughter. It was becoming harder and harder for him to stop thinking about the feeling of their teeth on him, especially when their bite became stronger as an attempt to hold on tighter, and that was starting to make him feel dizzy.

(Why did he… Why did it f-feel…?!)

Berdly physically shook himself off. Good heavens, what in the world was he thinking?! He couldn't possibly be…

…Enjoying this??????

Before he could think twice about it, before his brain swarmed him with delusional and frankly mistimed images of Kris pinning him down and aiming their bites higher, his head swiveled around and he aimed a much harsher peck at their own shoulder. Surprised at the sudden jab of pain, Kris yelped and stopped clamping their jaws around him. The bluebird's body instantly relaxed as soon as he could no longer feel it, but Kris still wouldn't let him out of their grip.

“Alright, fine, I'll stop.” they grumbled, surprisingly good-humored even though Berdly was pretty sure he'd pecked them harshly enough to break the skin. “You're not getting out of this one, though. I'm in a cuddling mood. Get comfortable.”

Berdly sighed deeply as he felt Kris lean their head on his rapidly quickening SOUL again. Oh, well. What else was there to do at this point? When Kris got something into their head, it was hard to get it out.

Not to mention the fact that it wasn't the first time he'd fallen prey to one of their “cuddling moods” - he was sure everyone in their friend group had. It was normal for him to just accept his fate, even though Kris had loosened their grip and was very much just smothering him with their weight now instead of restraining him.

(His acceptance had nothing to do with the fact that he enjoyed the warmth of their embrace. Nothing at all.)

(His skin wasn't prickling with the leftover sensation of the bite, either.)