Am I Hip Yet

so like. it was speculated that the "inferno of jealousy" would be about asgore being jealous of sans over toriel, and then it turned out to be about ralsei being jealous of flowery. but has anyone talked about this applying to kris and noelle over susie? because holy fuck.

I tend to enjoy all deltarune ships (or just relationship dynamics in general, not inherently romantic) on a scale from neutral to positive in their own way, because I like all the characters and their unique chemistry. krusie has always been my favorite dynamic because I treasure their friendship and enjoy their same-wavelength dumbass shenanigans. but because suselle is also cute, more explicitly romantic, and more story-prominent, I sort of filed krusie away under "best friends" and didn't really consider what this coexisting with suselle would actually look like. the exclamation points for some of the festival options pairing susie and noelle together even convinced me that kris had some level of excitement about them getting together.

and then I found out if you choose to hang out with susie instead of ralsei, they talk about romance. oh my fucking god. I'm genuinely heartbroken for kris.

it's no secret that susie has been kris's favorite person since the very beginning. they act their most natural with susie and do the most dumb shit together.

when asked about who to go to the festival with at the end of chapter 2, susie is the only option kris doesn't say in confusion.

susie tea heals more value for kris than any other flavor.

they feel like "for just right now, it might be okay" when looking into the mirror with susie behind them.

I've noticed that kris physically reacts without input the most whenever susie is involved, too:

chapter 1- they defend susie from king.

chapter 2- they grab the statue and ice-e thing immediately when susie asks. post neo-spamton, if ralsei hugs kris, they prompt susie for a hug too (seemingly either by turning to look at her or straight up asking, we can't tell).

chapter 3- they pull susie out of the way if you attack with pixel kris.

chapter 4- they run to susie immediately when the knight knocks her down. they play the piano when susie asks. they blush when susie asks about the knife. they immediately turn around when susie says she should go home and they look slightly down when she slams the door. they also go off to find her in the darkness of their own initiative when fighting fake gerson. they go to the window to follow her when they hear her voice outside (even though the soul isn't in them at that moment, etc)

granted, some of these are just straight up normal reactions even without factoring in a potential crush, but even then

in chapter 5, hanging out with ralsei prompts the options to go into the hot spring and relax or to not do either, meanwhile kris sits down with susie automatically.

susie nearly catching kris in the act of making the dark fountain makes them freeze, hide, and recoil when susie asks, while the fact that ralsei knows evokes no noticeable reaction at all.

so obviously kris has always cared for susie deeply and valued her opinion, platonic or romantic, whichever way you choose to see it. but then there's the chapter 5 kris and susie talk scene. these options and how kris says them.

[you and noelle will work out] (which they mumble) or [you should carry me next]

[you're not stupid!] (which they yell) or [it's cute when you're embarassed] (which they say super quickly)

in response to the question "kris, did you ever like anybody?"

[...] or [yeah] (which susie remarks they look embarrassed about)

if [yeah] is selected, susie asks about their type, "human or monster?"

and kris just fucking. stares at susie like she's dumb.

I was definitely willfully ignorant to some extent because I'm aroace and treasure strong platonic dynamics, but holy shit I feel like an actual idiot for not seriously considering that kris could have a legitimate crush on susie and has probably had one since day one.

other stuff in chapter 4 potentially recontextualized by this:

they look at How to Draw Dragons, a book with a hot purple dragon on the cover, and shut it as fast as humanly possible when susie looks.

the diner scene of kris smiling at susie, and when they write something, susie responds "heh, kris... sometimes I can't tell if you're joking or not." I've seen a lot of jokes about kris writing "help me" or something with regards to the soul situation, but now I'm wondering if kris straight up wrote that they liked susie.

(susie's smile, which seemed to defeat everything, shined on in front of you, and for a moment, it was as if all the darkness had been blown away. as if in imitation, your soul began to glow)

and now, in chapter 5:

susie says the dark world can no longer be just a thing between them that no one else can take away and they have to involve noelle. meanwhile, kris stares at the door, then looks down and walks away slowly.

I initially took this to be susie's own assumptions or potentially noelle having something to do with kris's promise to carol or the prophecy, but now...