an excerpt from chapter 11 of the bird who works at gamestop --

The human smiled at their phone, wiggling their legs in anticipation. Susie looked over, happy to see Kris so excited for something. As… weird as this bird guy sounded, he might actually end up being a good thing for them.

“Hey stop kicking jerk,” she said, tossing the human’s legs off of her. Kris let the rest of their body fall with them, flopping on the ground like a dead fish.

Knock Knock Knock

Kris immediately shot up and ran to the door while ignoring Susie’s laughing. They took a breath before opening it, revealing the bluebird awkwardly standing on their doorstep once again.

“Kris! You look…” Berdly blinked rapidly,  trying not to let his eyes linger too long on the human. “Amazing!”

Kris observed Berdly's outfit as well. The bird had gone with a button-up shirt and nicer khaki shorts, his usual nerd glasses the cherry on top. 

So, not that much different than his usual GameStop uniform. They watched as the bird nervously brought out a flower from behind his back. 

“Here’s, um… I thought you might…” he trailed off as the human slowly took it from him. They mumbled something that kind of sounded like a ‘thank you’. 

After an excruciatingly awkward beat of silence, the bird cleared his throat and held out a wing to Kris, “The taxi is waiting, my dear. Come with me!”

The human rolled their eyes at his theatrics and grabbed Berdly’s wing, squeezing their fingers around soft feathers. The bluebird lead them to a car that was parked on the road, and opened a door for Kris.

The two climbed in and the taxi started the drive. The pair reconnected their hands in the backseat, Kris holding up Berdly’s wing to play with it. The bird simply accepted his fate as the human opened and closed his feather-fingers.

“How does this, um…” they spoke up gesturing to the ‘fingers’. Berdly hummed in confusion before answering Kris’ question.

“Oh, you’re asking how my hand works. Well, I use my unique monster-magic to switch between feathers and fingers.” He explained, demonstrating it to the human. Feathers clumped together to form fingers and separated back into a wing.

Kris watched with fascination, taking Berdly’s wing back to experimentally bend them various directions. Monsters were so cool.

“Hey- Ow, don’t do that!” he protested, but not making any move to get away from the human. Kris snickered and eventually released the wing as the car arrived at its destination.

Berdly grinned as he got out of the car to open Kris’ door, excited to see their reaction to the epic date spot he picked out (approved by several subreddits and Yelp reviews!).

When he walked over they had already gotten out and smirked at the desvastated expression he wore at the discovery.

‘No problem, gender roles don’t matter on this date anyways! Everything else can go exactly to plan…’ Berdly thought to reassure himself. Kris looked up the building next to them, reading the sign.

‘Collegetown Planetarium’ it read. They shrugged, hoping it wouldn’t be as boring as a regular museum. Kris wondered if it would be possible to sneak into one of the displays and cause some trouble.

“There’s a show here in about fifteen minutes, I thought we both might enjoy it. Does that sound… good?” Berdly asked for approval, trying to decipher Kris’ usual deadpan stare.

The human nodded and the pair walked in. Kris picked at their nails as they waited for Berdly to scan in their tickets at the front desk.

"Shall we peruse the exhibit before going in to the dome theater, dearest Kris?" He asked, walking up to them. The human shrugged in agreement.

Berdly's fake-smart talk today was starting to annoy Kris. Hopefully that birdbrain would snap out of whatever it was soon.

They slowly walked around the display of various planet models and posters of information. Berdly read out any interesting facts he saw while Kris took Berdly's wing and fidgeted with it again.

"So, uh, what's your favorite one so far?" he asked, referring to the solar system model in front of them.

Kris squinted and hummed in contemplation before poking the second to last blue ball held up by wire. They looked up and wiggled their eyebrows at the bird.

Berdly narrowed his eyes. "Uranus? Very funny, Kris." 

The human let out a snort and poked Berdly next, pointer finger extended.

"Oh my favorite? Definitely Pluto," he proudly announced. Kris grinned and squeezed Berdly's wing.

"Pluto's lame. It's a dwarf," they leaned in to respond quietly. Berdly scoffed, face comically offended.

"What?! Pluto totally has the coolest backstory. And you're a dwarf too." He flicked Kris on the forehead with his free wing.

Kris' eyes flashed with evil. Okay, that's it. Gremlin mode activated.

They lunged up at Berdly and licked his cheek, nose bumping into his glasses. The bird stood still, shocked, for a second before his face twisted in disgust.

"Eughh, Kris what the hell?!" he nearly yelled as he furiously attempted to rub the spit off his face. The human simply stood there smiling deviously at their work.

"Ehem" a loud voice cleared their throat on purpose next to them. 

A white and blue cat monster appeared, her disconnected hands set on her hips. Her judgmental gaze practically screamed 'Stop doing weird shit in public you freaks'.

The bird and human stepped apart and awkwardly walked away from her, Kris barely containing the urge to harass her in revenge.

Once far away enough, they shared a conspiratorial glance before bursting into laughter at the looks on each other's faces.

"Hahaha... Kris... I swear, I can't take you anywhere," Berdly said, adjusting his glasses to wipe a tear from his eye. Kris giggled as they hugged Berdly's arm, soft cheek pressed against his shoulder.

"Attention all guests, the show is about to start! Please take a seat in the dome theater."

Berdly perked up at that and patted Kris on the shoulder. The human reluctantly detached themself from the bluebird and walked with him to the seating area.

The dome area was dim with little lights along the path to guide the way. The air in the room was slightly colder, causing Kris to shiver a bit. The pair sat by the edge of the walkway, wanting an easy exit once the show was over.

Kris pulled their oversized flannel a bit tighter to their body as more people filed into the seats around them. Berdly noticed their hunched over posture and offered to wrap a wing around them.

The human rested against the bird as much as they could with the armrest separating them. The lights went off completely as the announcer for the show began to talk. The big screen above turned on and looked like a window into space. Galaxies, planets, and stars slowly moved across.

The speaker went over the planets and galaxies nearby, and about halfway through the constellation lecture Kris started to get bored. Sure, the display was cool at first, but now all they felt was the itch to move around.

Kris turned their head to Berdly, seeing his focused expression trained on the screen above. They sighed and waited a few more minutes. The astronomer yapped on, and the human got more antsy by the second. 

Okay fuck this, Kris needed to get out now. The human got up and discreetly walked out of the dome theater, almost hearing their mother’s voice reprimanding them for their rudeness.

Berdly stood up as well, worriedly following Kris into the quiet hallway outside of the auditorium. The human caught sight of his uneasy expression, almost feeling guilty. But this wasn’t just Berdly’s date. It was Kris’ too.

“Are you okay, Kris?” The bird asked, searching their expression with his avian eyes.

The human nodded. “Yeah, was just bored. Wanna do something else now?”

The bluebird felt a pang of hurt at that. Shit. He let down his date, choosing an activity so boring they couldn’t bare it any longer.

“Um, yeah! L-Let me just… uh…” he pulled out his phone with shaking fingers, trying to hide his upset. Kris reached out and grabbed one of his wings, eyes boring into Berdly’s.

“Berdly. It’s okay,” their voice managed to coax him into returning the gaze. His breath hitched, apprehensive eyes looking down at Kris.

“I just want to hang out with you. Don’t care where.”

Their grip moved into handholding, fingers and feathers intertwined. Berdly took a deep breath and sighed, collecting his thoughts. 

“Okay. Plan B, how about going to the arcade down the street?” He asked, slowly regaining his confidence. Kris nodded at the suggestion, already walking ahead and tugging Berdly along.

“Great. Perfect! Off we go to the arcade," the bird voiced his inner monologue as the pair left the space exhibit and walked down the street.

The sun was beginning to set, turning the clouds orange and pink. The two walked hand-in-hand, blending in with all of the other couples out and about.

By the time they got to the arcade, the mood had been successfully restored. Kris nearly sprinted into the building, Berdly holding them back so they wouldn't trample a poor kid.

Kris went ahead and started fiddling with one of the machines while Berdly bent down to insert cash into the token dispenser.

"Okay here's your coins," he said while dumping them into Kris' waiting hands. Their face lit up as they shoved them into the nearest game, some variation of wheel of fortune.

"You're a gambler, huh? Makes me wonder what I'm getting myself into..." Berdly teased as the wheel spun around. Kris looked back at him with an offended glance.

"At least I didn't let our child starve..." they quietly retorted.

Berdly tried to contain his smile but was unsuccessful. "Pfft, our child? The Tamagotchi?"

He leaned in to Kris, hands on his hips. "That was one time! And you'd gamble away all of the food money!"

As soon as Berdly uttered those words the machine blared the lottery winning noise, showing that Kris had won the best prize.

They shamelessly displayed their shit-eating grin as they collected an absurdly long string of tickets.

Kris leaned in, inches away from Berdly's face.

"You were saying?" they cockily said.

The bird fluffed up and turned away, teeth gritted. "That was lucky!"

The human laughed and ran off, letting the bird chase after them. They stopped by a Street Fighters machine, pointing at it and looking to Berdly.

He cracked his nonexistent knuckles, giving Kris a determined look. "Oh you're on, Kris."

They ended up playing the game for at least half an hour, trading blows and taunts (that were totally not just flirting with extra steps).

After that they jumped around to various other games, giving skee ball a go, then whack-a-mole, then a 2D platformer. Kris suddenly stopped in their tracks, eyes trained on a specific arcade game.

They let out an evil giggle, slowly walking over to it.

"Kris, what are you..." Berdly gasped, and uttered with dread, "No..."

Before the two of them sat the game that changed the course of their lives.

"THAT'S THE GAME YOU MADE ME COUNT CHANGE FOR."

Berdly screamed, acting like the incident was the most traumatic event in his entire life. Kris grinned and ran up to it, already shoving tokens in.

The bluebird watched as they played Giga-Queen's Punchout, arcade version. He reluctantly took turns with Kris, ending up actually enjoying the game in the end (still not worth ten minutes of counting pennies, though).

They spent the last of their tokens, as Kris' stomach had started to make grumbly noises half an hour ago. The pair made their way to the prize exchange.

Kris scanned the prizes on the wall and looked down at their tickets. They had won an absurd amount of them through the lottery game, but still only had enough for a medium-sized stuffed animal.

They looked up and one caught their eye. With a point of their finger, the attendant came over and traded all their tickets for a soft blue bird plushie.

The toy looked eerily similar to Berdly, same blue feathers, yellow beak and feet. Only it was wearing orange shorts and had... nipples?

It was perfect.

Berdly was on the other side of the counter, unaware. He was trading in his tickets for what seemed like a piece of moss? (This arcade had some seriously weird prizes).

"Okay, I have my prize picked out. What did you ge-"

Kris walked over to him and plopped the bird plushie on his head. It wobbled for a second before falling to the ground.

Berdly bent down to pick it up, holding it up to inspect it.

"Kris... this is..." he nearly teared up, so moved by the existence of a tiny nippled Berdly. "It's perfection. The most beautiful item to ever exist. Thank you for blessing me with this, Kris."

He hugged it to his chest for a second before handing over the moss to Kris.

"I, uh... only won enough tickets for this," he said, remorseful. How could he have disappointed Kris like this again? Who in their right mind would want moss as a gift...

The human grinned and took the moss, lightly petting it before shoving it in their mouth. Berdly gawked at them.

"Um. Should you be eating that?" the bird said, hand outstretched, unsure if he should stop Kris.

They simply munched on it and swallowed, stepping forward and giving Berdly a warm hug. The bluebird returned it with one hand, the other holding the bird plushie that was now trapped between their chests.

"Thanks, Berdly," Kris whispered squeezing once before letting go. The bird could only stutter in response, flustered from the contact.

The two decided to eat at the arcade, choosing to settle for the below average pizza. Kris was too tired to find a better place, anyways.

They chewed on slices of pepperoni pizza sitting across from each other, bird plush in Berdly's lap. The conversation had calmed down, the bird and human simply enjoying each other's presence.

Berdly blinked at Kris from across the table. Eating greasy pizza at an arcade filled with screaming kids had to be the least romantic meal he had ever had. But with Kris sitting across from him and happy, he couldn't find a reason to care.

After the meal, the two left the arcade. The sky was dark now, the bustling life of the town around them. Berdly called a taxi on his phone. 

As they waited for it to arrive, they played a game on Kris' phone. (Mobile games are evil, but Berdly will play just this once!)

The ride was quiet. Kris unbuckled their seatbeat to scoot over and lean against the bluebird. The little bird plushie sat innocently next to them on the seat.

Kris tucked their chin in the crook of Berdy's neck, loving the softness of it. The human let out contented sigh through their nose.

They stayed like that, just breathing together for the ride home. Kris closed their eyes at some point, feeling the food coma hit them. Berdly tenderly rubbed their shoulder as they napped.

When the car arrived at Kris' apartment, the bird gently woke them up from their half-asleep state. Kris made a cute noise from the back of their throat, hands trying to wipe away the sleepy.

The pair somehow got out of the car, bird plushie in tow. Berdly walked the human to their door, hesitating. 

'Is this the part where we kiss goodbye? Oh god, I'm not ready' he mentally screamed. If it were possible the bird would be sweating buckets.

Kris turned to Berdly at their doorstep. They stared at each other for long, agonizing seconds before he finally cracked.

“Um- Sorry- I’ll just, uh. Have- Have a good night?” he stammered.

The human nearly facepalmed. Angel above, he was such a dork. Someone save this poor bird.

“So, um, do we-“ Berdly got interrupted by the sudden sensation of hands gripping the shoulders of his shirt. Kris leaned in and stood on their tip-toes, face inches away from Berdly.

“We’re gonna kiss now,” they said definitively before closing the distance between them. Kris brushed a soft, hestiant, kiss across his cheek. Their lips were feather-light, teasing the skin under Berdly’s plumage. 

The bird could only react, wings slowly raking up the human’s sides as they ventured further towards his beak. He wanted to steer Kris toward his mouth, but the bird was scared of stabbing their face.

Kris planted a couple more kisses across Berdly’s beak before pulling back to observe the bluebird’s frenzied expression. Their hands moved up to flatten his fluffed-up facial feathers.

“Do you, uh… want to keep going, or?” they started before Berdly abruptly bent down to grab Kris by their thighs and pinned them. Kris felt their back hit the front door of their apartment and squeezed their legs around Berdly.

The human let out a startled noise in the back of their throat as Berdly attacked them with pecks across their cheeks and nose. Kris’ breath hitched, not expecting the sudden change in the bluebird’s demeanor.

He moved down to the their mouth, initiating a burning open-mouthed kiss. They had a few mishaps with Kris’ teeth and Berdly’s beak, the human letting out giggles at the failed attempts.

After a couple tries the duo managed to find their rhythm, tongues sliding against each other as Kris’ fingers snaked up to Berdly’s neck.

Kris paused their canoodling to to giggle at Berdly, wiping the spit off their chin with their sleeve.

“Hehehe. You taste like pizza.”

Berdly blinked, unsure of how to respond to that. “Uhm, yes. We ate pizza thirty minutes ago.”

Kris simply snickered and initiated another kiss, gripping Berdly’s shirt to drag him closer. They continued their making out, the human’s hand slipping under the bird’s shirt.

The blue feathers felt warm and soft between Kris’ fingers. They slowly moved their hand to flip up the feathers, like petting a cat the wrong way. Berdly squirmed uncomfortably at the sensation, letting out a noise from the back of his throat.

Kris clawed into his chest feathers as they continued to kiss sloppily. The bluebird suddenly felt anxiety hitting him along with the heat pooling in his stomach. His movements paused, hands slightly shaking along Kris’ thighs. 

The human opened their eyes to look up at him before abruptly falling backwards. The door that once supported Kris suddenly disappeared, and they tumbled down taking Berdly with them.

The bird caught a glance of Susie’s shocked expression before hitting ground and crumpling into a ball of limbs. The monster looked down in horror at the the squirming mass of feathers and skin.

“What the fuck,” Susie stated, slowly stepping away from them. Berdly slowly pulled himself off of the human, using the wall to stand up.

Kris stayed on the floor where they were sprawled on their back, the spit on their face an obvious indication of what they were doing with Berdly two minutes ago. The human turned their neck toward Susie and deadpanned at her.

Susie glanced in suspicion at the freaks before her. “Dude. I thought someone was trying to break in.”

Kris grinned and didn’t make an attempt to get up. Berdly just stood there, stammering out words, completely mortified. Susie sighed and then promptly turned around and escaped the situation. 

‘Kris, you idiot,’ she went to her room and closed the door, leaving the two goobers alone.

The bluebird glanced at Kris on the ground and took a backwards step outside the door.

“Weeeell, it’s been, uh- great! Uhm, I’ll see ya later!” Berdly retreated from the apartment, closing the door on his way out.

Kris blinked their goodbye at him, still embarrassed from what just happened. They laid there, in front of the door, reeling from the events of the day.

Susie poked her head out of her room at the sound of the door closing. 

a funny moment from chapter 7 of my fic, the bird who works at gamestop

--

The bluebird slowly flipped through a magazine as he waited for customers behind the desk. The minutes seemed to tick by slower and slower, and Berdly even wanted a customer to show up just so he’d have something to do. It was seriously a miracle that this store managed to turn a profit.

The door bell jingled and a blue man with white hair entered the store, slowly looking around as if he had never seen a video game before. He stroked his nonexistent beard as he perused the games that were displayed on the shelves. Berdly watched the guy, half-paying attention.

After a few minutes the man picked out a physical copy of ‘Duty Calls’ and brought it to the front counter.

“I doth requesteth to procure yon artefact of digital jousting—this most esteemed Videoe Game!” Berdly’s eye twitched. What the hell kind of fake-ass old timey speech was that?

“Sure, thing,” the bluebird said and scanned the game, hoping the blue man wanted to buy it as he could barely understand him.

“Pray tell, what enchanted box of buttons must I wield to summon forth this gaméd delight? And from whence doth one yoinketh such a relic?!” The man made sweeping gestures with his hands, hair flipping dramatically. The bird took a second to process the request.

“Uhhh, are you asking what console this plays on? It’s a PS4 game, it says so on the box, look here,” he said pointing to the label on the top of the game. 

“We are out of new PS4s unfortunately but we have some used and refurbished ones if you’d like to take a look?” Berdly added.

“NAAAAAY!!!” he screamed. The bird jumped back, shocked.

“I, Rouxls Kaard, shall NOT accepteth a PS of Four sullied by the touch of lesser mortals! I REFUSE to be CURSED by the lingering auras of yon pre-ownéd relic!!”

Berdly just stood there unsure of what to say. “Sorry, sir… It’s all we have…”

"Surely, thou possesseth a virginal device, untouched by mortal thumbs! Wherefore doth it slumber? Speak! For I can sense its presence… it whispereth to me from yonder shelf!!" Rouxls preached to Berdly as if the blue man was an NPC. Berdly just blinked, hoping if he stood still enough the guy would leave him alone.

"I BESEECH THEE!!" Rouxls grabbed the arm of Berdly's wing and shook it. "Deliver unto me the boxed console of newness most pure! Mine destiny dependeth on it—I shall perish of DIGITAL WITHDRAWAL if-"

Suddenly Rouxls screamed and let go of the bluebird in shock. Berdly, just as confused as the man, looked down to see something he couldn't believe. His eyes widened almost comically.

Rouxls' pants were piled on the ground around his legs, exposing his boxer underwear that was white with hearts on it. Berdly was completely speechless.

Unnoticed, a human ran behind a shelf to hide from the screaming guy, snickering all the way.

"OH, WRETCHED DAY!" Rouxls yelled, "Mine undergarments hath been UNVEIL’D to the cruel gaze of peasants! My honor is SHATTER’D! My legacy… tarnished!" He cried as he fumbled to pull up his pants.

Ding!

Berdly sighed and facepalmed. Great, now even more customers would be forced to witness this embarrassing display. Two monsters, a man and a woman, quickly walked in, their fluffy cloud-like hair bobbing along. They walked up to Rouxls and the woman grabbed the scruff of his shirt.

"ROUXLS. WE'RE LEAVING. RIGHT. NOW." She angrily said, practically dragging the guy out of the store, the other man following along and picking up the pants that had fallen off completely.

The three of them left in a whirlwind of confusion, and for a solid minute Berdly just stood there, bewildered.

"What the fuck just happened..." he whispered to himself. That was officially the weirdest customer he had ever had, even weirder than that one guy who asked if they had Switch games on floppy disk.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a mischievous giggle, one all too familiar. Berdly glanced around the store, and eventually found the culprit, Kris, hiding behind a shelf and staring at him. Their head peeked out, red eyes sparkling with glee, and the bird couldn't help but find it adorable.

"Kris?! What are you... wait... did you-" Berdly gasped, connecting the dots.

"DID YOU PANTS THAT CUSTOMER JUST NOW?!"

The human cackled at the accusation, not even trying to deny it. They walked up to Berdly and stood face-to-face with him, the counter separating the two.

"I saved you, Burghley!" Kris said, their face set in a determined expression. They pointed at Berdly's arm, the one Rouxls had viciously attacked. The bird looked down, and confusedly held it out. Kris slowly took it and inspected it, carefully smoothing down the bent and messy feathers. 

All the bird could do was blush and stutter out a reply.

"Though I am appalled you would even do such a thing, I am... grateful?"

The human held out a feather that had fallen out. "Did he... hurt you?" they whispered, brows pulled together in distress.

Berdly laughed and gave in to the sudden urge to pat Kris' head. 

"Don't be silly, Kris. I may not be a boss monster but this bird's got talons!"

The human nodded, the worry in their eyes fading away. They kept their hold on the bluebird's wing, lightly petting it. Berdly's heart felt as light as the feathers Kris was touching, extremely happy that he hadn't fucked up whatever was between them with his antics the past two days.

The bluebird nervously chuckled, "That guy was really unhinged... you don't think he'll come back, do you?"

Kris shook their head, then after a second let their devilish smile show. If Berdly looked really close, he could see that the human's teeth had a couple sharp ones on each sides. Humans were really so fascinating to him, he felt like he could stare at Kris for hours without getting bored.

"If he does... I'll prank him so hard he'll never come back," they mumbled with a surprisingly sweet tone.

An excerpt from chapter 9 my fic, the bird who works at gamestop

--

Susie’s key jingled as her clawed hand stuck them into the ignition, car rumbling to life. The monster sighed, anxiety pooling in her stomach like a soup of conflicting emotions. She pulled out of the driveway, phone GPS set to Noelle’s address.

The doe lived in the richer part of town by the fancy restaurants and the nice landscaping. Susie felt like a outsider driving past such displays of wealth.

After punching in the code Noelle provided into the gate, Susie parked the beat-up sedan outside the apartment. She pulled out her phone and send Noelle a message to let her know she arrived.

The purple girl turned off the car and climbed out, walking into the lobby of the apartment. A text message popped up on her phone from Noelle, the text reading "just wait in the lobby, ill be there in a minute!"

Susie stood awkwardly, brushing the imaginary dirt off her brown leather jacket. True to her word, the elevator doors opened revealing Noelle. 

She was wearing a little red dress with a lacey cardigan. The cut of the dress accentuated her curves, leaving little to the imagination. Susie tried to keep her gaze to Noelle’s face, but her makeup and hair looked just as stunning. Her blonde hair was clearly straightened and curled, little hair clips pinning them in place.

Susie blinked, and once her brain was done rebooting she walked up to Noelle and greeted her. The doe had grown taller since their high school years, and the heels she wore tonight made it obvious. She was only an inch or two shorter than Susie with them on.

“You, uh. Look nice. Really pretty,” the dragon monster said extremely eloquently. Noelle giggled and blushed at the compliment.

She tucked a perfectly curled hair behind her ear. “You too.” Her doe eyes innocently gazed back up at Susie through her darkened lashes.

The two simply stood there looking at each other for a second before Susie snapped out of it and held out her hand, nonverbally asking Noelle to come with her.

The monster lead her out to her car, going around and opening the door for her like a true gentlewoman. Noelle climbed in and the pair made their way to the restaurant. 

“I realize I never asked what major you picked,” Susie said as she pulled out of the parking lot, hands spinning the wheel.

Noelle folded her hands in her lap, the enclosed space making her floral perfume all the more intense. “Ah, I’m in political science. On the fast track too, so I’m technically a junior, faha.”

Susie glanced at her, impressed. “Wow. As expected for the smartest girl in our class. Lemme guess, you tryna fill your mom’s shoes after college?”

The doe sighed and watched the trees on the side of the road pass by. “Something like that. What about you?”

“Criminal justice. It sounds all fancy but I’m just coasting through, C’s get degrees as they say,” Susie chuckled. “I technically don’t need a degree to be a police officer but the state gave me enough financial aid to go for it.”

Noelle nodded, her crystal earrings swinging back and forth. The two continued to discuss their classes until they arrived at the italian restaurant. 

Susie once again got out of the car and opened the door for Noelle, who rewarded her with a grateful smile from the doe. They walked side by side into the building and got seated. The room was relatively dark with romantic candles burning on each table, the atmosphere obviously meant for couples.

They sat across from each other, waiter pouring wine into Noelle’s glass and sparkling water into Susie’s.

Noelle took a deep breath, eyes sparkling with happiness. She couldn’t believe that she was currently on a date with Susie right now. Her high school self would have completely passed out at the mere thought. 

The monster herself looked like she came straight out of Noelle’s dreams. Susie had shed her jacket, draping it behind her chair. Without it, her silky black dress shirt was exposed, the undone top buttons giving the doe an enticing view of her strong collarbone.

Noelle’s tail unconciously began to wiggle.

“So, uh. What do you do other than school?” Noelle asked, eyes darting around nervously, desperate to fill the silence.

Susie scratched her chin in contemplation. “Well, I didn’t have many hobbies as a kid other than, y’know, being a delinquent and all that,” she made a waving motion with her hand, sharp teeth showing through her bashful smile.

Noelle giggled at that, remembering all the trouble Susie used to cause back in high school.

“Faha, surely you’ve picked up some hobby by now?”

Susie hummed in thought before remembering something. “If it counts, I guess I’ve been learning to cook recently? I totally suck at it, but…” she trailed off.

The doe’s ears perked up at that. “Oh, that totally counts, Susie! One of my hobbies is baking actually, it’s really fun.”

“What kinds of things do you bake?” Susie replied, glad that the conversation topic seemed to stir up Noelle’s confidence.

“Mostly desserts, one of my favorite things to make are Christmas cookies. Do you remember the ones I used to bring to class before winter break?”

The purple monster grinned at the memory. “Yeah! Those cookies were the bomb.”

Noelle laughed, “I’m glad you liked them. They’re my special recipe, handed down to me by my mom.” Her eyes lowered in a melancholy gaze.

Susie took a sip of her drink. “Speaking of your mom… how is she?” she hesitantly asked. Noelle’s gaze wandered as she answered.

“She’s okay. Got voted back into office, actually, even though she didn’t run for it.” Noelle paused, lips tugging into a smile. “I guess everyone realized how much they needed her after she quit, when dad died.”

The monster across from her solemnly nodded, remembering that tradgedy. “I’m glad she’s okay. Do you visit often?”

Noelle hummed, “Yeah, every break and holiday. What about your parents?”

Susie exhaled, bringing clawed fingers to her chin. “Haven’t gone back since I moved out.”

The doe fidgeted, debating on whether to ask further. She opened her mouth before she could chicken out.

“I, um. Am kinda curious about that, actually. I’ve never seen your parents before, and I knew, like, everyone in town,” she stuttered, “Y-You don’t have to tell me if you d-don’t-“

Susie waved her hand nonchalantly. “No it’s okay. My situation is kind of shitty, which is why I never talked about it,” she said, taking another swig of the water. Noelle sat up, intensely curious about Susie’s home life.

“It was just me and mom living in Hometown. We moved around for several years before settling there.”

The monster inhaled, the candlelight reflecting her anxious expression.

“My dad was human, actually. Fucker left us when I was just a baby. My mom kept me, but her family disowned her for having a human’s kid.” She let out a bark of sarcastic laughter. Noelle tried to conceal her wide-eyed expression with her hands but was unsuccessful.

“Mom worked odd jobs to keep as afloat, but that was all she really did for me,” Susie said, not elaborating. The doe continued to stare at the monster in shock, eyes shining with unshed tears.

“So, yeah, not really worth mentioning- huh?! Noelle?” Susie nearly stood up from her seat.

Noelle’s lips trembled, tears silently spilling from her eyes, smudging the carefully applied mascara. Susie mentally berated herself. Good job, dumbass, you just made your date cry.

The doe quickly wiped away her tears with her fingers, sniffing and trying her best to look normal.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry, I-“ she took a shuddering breath, “I had no idea you were going through all that this whole time.” She guiltily looked down to her lap, eyes filled with sadness. “Susie, I- we, could’ve done something to help-“

“Noelle.” Susie’s insistent voice interrupted her. The doe suddenly felt clawed fingers gently guide her head to the side, where Susie was now kneeling down next to her chair. The bulkier monster’s head was tilted up to match Noelle’s gaze, both hands carressing her cheeks.

“There wasn’t anything you or your family could’ve done back then. Actually, just seeing you everyday in class, being the kind and genuine girl you are… helped me more than you could ever know,” Susie declared, her dark eyes intensely staring into Noelle’s own.

The doe’s breath hitched at the confession, cheeks heating up when a dull claw gently swiped away a fallen tear. Her hand slowly came up, covering Susie’s own. Time seemed to stop in that moment, Susie looking up at Noelle like a knight sworn to protect her princess.

“Susie…” she sighed, “thank you… and, um…”

The kneeling monster leaned in, humming in confusion.

“People are staring at us…” she finished, face twisted in a sheepish smile. Susie jolted in embarrassment, head whipping around to find several other customers staring at them. She ripped her hands away from Noelle’s face and quickly sat in her own chair.

Susie coughed into her closed fist awkwardly, the blush on her scaly face quite obvious. Noelle softly laughed, her face also hot from the attention. The date went on as relatively usual after that, the pair switching to lighter topics to talk about.

The doe would shyly mention her opinion on something, and Susie would proudly agree or disagree, encouraging her to respond with vigor. And Noelle wouldn’t have it any other way.

Meanwhile, the two monsters had gotten their food and finished it, both satisfied with the delicious italian entrees. When the check came around, Susie reached for it, only to be stopped by Noelle.

“Susie, it’s fine, let me pay,” the doe said, hand lightly pressing Susie’s down.

The scaly monster protested, “I asked you out, though. It’s only common courtesy that I pay.” Noelle shook her head, grip firm.

“Just let me pay the bill, Susie. You can treat me… next time?” she asked unsurely, suddenly worried she was too presumptuous.

The scaly monster sighed and removed her hand, crossing them on her chest. 

“Fine, but I’m holding you to that.”

Noelle’s heart lightened at the words, and she grinned. Handing over her credit card had never felt so good.

They eventually left the restaurant, Susie’s arm holding Noelle around her waist. The doe relished in the grip of the monster’s muscular arm, feeling safe in her embrace. Susie opened the car door for the doe once again, and they began their drive back to Noelle’s apartment.

The idle conversation they made seemed to slow down as the night got darker. Susie pulled back into the driveway of Noelle’s apartment, turning to the doe in the passenger seat.

“Thank you for going on this date with me,” Susie started, unsure of what else to say. “You were wonderful.”

The doe leaned closer, her breath mingling with Susie’s. “You too,” she whispered, “I’ve been dreaming about this night for so long.”

--

kris dreemurr moodboard for my kerdly fic the bird who works at gamestop , a deltarune college au featuring dysfunctional kris and the fucking bird that he hates (that fucking bird that I hate... WHAT)

i made a cool server for people who have read my fic, the bird who works at gamestop, but any kerdly enjoyers are welcome to join!

the server is 18+ as the fic is explicit and we do discuss adult topics in designated channels

we do activities like roleplaying and vc hangouts as well!

please feel free to join and talk to some cool folks about kerdly!! :)

the pics on my fic dont work on mobile for whatever reason so im trying to fix by using tumblr links instead :p

bonus: discord user chisp's superior design: