Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Are we there yet Noelle?"

The sun shined through the golden, half-dead trees past the edge of town. It was a cool autumn morning. A little too cool. No one would get hypothermia today, but it was still more than Kris was used to. Noelle promised Kris that as the morning went on and as they exercised, they would both warm up, but even so, Kris could still see his breath. Surely this wasn't weather people normally spent time outside in, right? You walked to school (or got a ride from mom lol) and then walked back home.

"Oh, stop bellyaching, Krismas, fahaha!" Noelle giggled, "We used to be out in this kind of weather all the time as little kids! Besides, you're the one who asked for this!"

"That's when we were kids, Elle, I'm an old man now," Kris very decidedly bellyached, "I'm in high school, I don't have the energy we had as young whippersnappers anymore."

Noelle laughed again. "You're not being a very good deer, Krismas!"
"You guys have fur though!"
"You have two jackets on, faha!"
She was right though. Not only did Kris have two jackets on, but Kris did ask her for this. Deep down Kris was super extremely touched by that, but Kris was someone who kind of sucked with emotions and expressing them and stuff. Even asking her was like super awkward.

______________________________

Kris sat on Noelle's bed while she puttered around in some desk drawers. For what, he couldn't be sure. She had probably mentioned what she was looking for, but he probably zoned out and didn't hear. He'd had an idea rattling in his head for a long time now and had finally (almost)(-ish) worked up the courage to ask her. Man, when did I get so insecure? Kris asked himself, Not only is she my girlfriend so I should feel the MOST confident around her, but I used to play pranks on her all the time, and now I'm too shy to even ask her-

"Found it!" Noelle announced in a just unbelievably adorable sing-songy voice. Kris loved her and that voice so much. He should work up the courage actually tell her that one of these days/weeks/months/years/decades. For right now, she held up a piece of paper with unclear markings on it.
Kris considered asking her what it was, but just in case she had mentioned it earlier, decided to just wait for her to show it to him and pretend he already knew.

She held it out in front of him with her half-hand-half-hoof-things and he took it.
"See? It's you!" she announced.
It was a deer with emo hair covering its eyes. It had a green and yellow scarf. Its fur was kinda brown but also kinda yellow-ish. It had a flat, neutral mouth. Even though its mouth was closed, there was a speech bubble next to it that said, "I love Noelle!" with a bunch of hearts next to it. And next to that was a much worsely-drawn deer poking out from the corner of the page with Noelle's features saying "And I love Krismas!"

It was the most heartwarming thing Kris had ever seen. Some people would consider this goofy or even immature, but those people were stupid and wrong. Everything about this tugged at Kris' heartstrings. The fact she took the time to draw a picture for him. A picture of him. As a fellow deer. The "I love Noelle/Kris" speech bubbles. The possibly unhealthy amount of hearts around the drawing. Kris' lip scrunched a little and he felt his eyes start to water.... And then he immediately righted himself and swallowed his emotions again. Noelle saw him do this, but he hadn't noticed. She'll mention it someday.

In an extremely monotone voice, Kris simply looked up at her and replied, "Noelle you're not gonna believe this"
"Believe what, Krismas?" she smiled.
"This actually relates like, a lot to something I've wanted to ask you but was too dumb and awkward to."
There was a lot to unpack there, but knowing Kris, she just sat down and put her arm around his shoulder with a smile. "What is it?"
"Could you like-...
Okay so y- You're a deer, right?...
But here's the thing,...
even though we used to hang out a lot, and we....
We do now....
I still don't feel like..."
She just sat there smiling and gently rubbing his shoulder, listening to him stumble over his words like a mad jester in a wheelchair. Even though he never allowed himself to admit it, she thought it was adorable and was glad to help him through things like this.
"I don't know a lot about deer. And like. You know how I am with the whole human thing haha lol. C-. ........ Could you like, teach me about deer stuff?"

She paused for a second, not really expecting him to say that. "S- Sure, Kris! ... But like, what kind of stuff?"
"I dunno anything," he said quickly. After a bit of thought (and staring at Noelle's confused face) he added, "I dunno. What... What do deer eat? How do you guys walk around on all fours without hurting your back? Not that I've tried or anything but like if I did, I feel like it'd hurt my back. Do you guys just grow antlers and winter coats automatically or do you have to sit there and think about i--"

She stopped him, giggling. "Krismaaaaaas." She wrapped him in a big bear hug. Deer hug, rather. "That's actually really sweet of you to ask and I'm so glad that you did!"
She could feel all of Kris' muscles relaxing dramatically as he sighed into her shoulder.
"Of course I'll teach you! Um, I have to think about what to teach you though, fahaha! You know, I don't really think about deer stuff, I just... do stuff and wait for other monsters- OR HUMANS!- to tell me it's weird and how they do it instead, fahaha."

Kris hugged her back. Figuratively and literally. "Thanks. ... You're the bes-- ... Thanks."
How did she not judge him for being so weird? Oh well!
"Faha, of course Kris!" She broke the hug, leaned back and pondered for a moment. "Hm... Well, when we were kids, we used to hang out a lot in the woods, and now that I think about it, I was always much faster than you. NOT BECAUSE you were slow or anything! Just because I guess deer legs are more made for that kind of terrain than human legs! I guess we could start with that?!"

Kris would be lying if he said he didn't feel slightly melancholic at remembering how slow he was in the woods, between the fallen trees and the little hills and all the bushes and whatever. Why did he have to have stupid human legs that were gross and fleshy and disproportionate to his arms and-
"I did always wanna go faster, haha," Kris chuckled, "But maybe it's for the best. I never did catch up to you with that cockroach that day."
"PFFFFFFFFFF," she laughed, standing up, "It's decided then! Krismas Dreemurr, you're going to Deer School and I'm going to be your teacher!"

______________________________

... And today was the first day of Deer School. Kris felt extremely stupid calling it that, but Noelle liked it, and if Kris allowed himself to think about it (he didn't), he liked it too.

They were a bit away from town now, out east past the school in the seemingly endless woods. Kris in his two jackets (and a scarf) (and gloves), and Noelle in a light hoodie. She kept looking at the ground. What was she looking for? After a minute of watching her, Kris thought he heard something. He tried to inconspicuously lean in a bit further to hear better, but instantly, her fur stood up and she looked back at him.
"Oh, hi Kris! Just making sure this spot is safe!"
... Oh yeah, deer are really sensitive to movement. So then he tried just bending his knees down a bit. Thankfully she started walking toward him again and he could hear the noise again. ...... Sniffing?
"No danger! We're good here!"
"Wat"
"No predators have walked through here overnight. We can hang out here!"
"You can tell that by... sniffing the leaves??"
"Fahahaha!" she giggled (again), "Sort of! Deer feet have scent glands and we use those to communicate with each other sometimes!"

"... Wat"

She laughed again. "Other deer were here overnight. I don't know who they are, I don't even know if they were monster-deer like me, or like, walk-on-all-fours kind of deer, but they were definitely deer. And none of these footprints have that 'danger' smell to them. Whatever happened here last night, it was safe."

Kris stared at her, head tilted. Finally it started to click a little bit. Not knowing what else to do, Kris got down again and tried to sniff some leaves. An earthy smell, but no... deer feet. He had an idea.
"... Could you show me where one of these footprints is?"
"Sure!!" She excitedly jogged over to a brown leaf surrounded by some lighter orange-ish ones. "Here's one! One of the deer must have stepped really hard here or something."
Kris approached the brown leaf. He knelt down and sniffed. Same thing. Dirt, nothing that smelled like "danger" or... anything, for that matter.
He put one hand to the ground and sniffed closer. Nothing.
He got down on his stomach and put his nose right at the leaves. Nothing.

Noelle chuckled a bit. "It's okay, Kris! You- Okay well first of all, you should do quick, short inhales, instead of long ones. But even if that doesn't work, you mostly deal with deer like me who are monsters, and don't use scents very much."

He put his nose at the leaves and did a series of quick, shallow inhales. Something began to happen. The air around Kris' nose began to change, as...

The stem of the leaf went up his nose.

"FAHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry for laughing Krismas!" Noelle laughed, "But c- come on, you have to admit that was funny!"
He gave a very sharp, irritated exhale and the leaf fell to the ground. He looked at her and had to admit, "... Yeah, it was pretty funny, haha!"

"Anyway, conveniently, there's a tree trunk over here! We can practice jumping over it! ..... the DEER way!" she said, very excited. "Because it's DEER SCHOOL!"

"... Um," she continued, "I don't know how to teach you how to jump, faha. I just kind of jump without thinking about it. M- Maybe watch me??"

Kris seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"Something wrong, Krismas?"

He hesitated, and looked at her very seriously. "I want antlers."

Now it was Noelle's turn: "Wat"

"If I'm gonna go -" sudden frog in his throat - "... go to deer school, then I wanna have antlers."

This was going to be interesting.

Chapter Text

Noelle looked at him confused. "... Antlers? Um, sure Kris! Well, um, I think antlers just kind of grow automatically so I don't think huma-"

"I know," he replied, a bit sullen, "but we can make fake ones, right?"

"... Sure! See, I told you it was a good idea to bring my purse with me."

The eloquently named "walk-on-all-fours-deer" didn't use purses. But those deer didn't have a boyfriend or friends who regularly injured themselves roughhousing, or needed bubblegum or cough drops in class like they were addicted to them, or wore clothes that seemed to constantly tear and need a quick sewing up. This was a problem unique to monster deer, and one for which Noelle was well-prepared by this point. There was no logical reason she would, in theory, need a purse just to teach Kris how to jump over logs, but she knew better.

"Haha, guess you're right," Kris laughed a bit. He looked around. "Um, sticks? Can you make that work?"

"Mhm!" she replied, "It won't be perfect but I have my supplies with me. We can figure something out!"

With that, they both began looking for the perfect sticks to make fake antlers out of. At some point, it entered Kris' head (non-antlered) that there might be a nearby store that just sold stuff like this for cheap. After all, it was early autumn. They probably had some Halloween costume stuff out by now.

... But this was more romantic.
... In his and Noelle's own unique, personal take on the word "romantic".

The leaves made the search more difficult than normal. Very few twigs were sticking out from the leaves, and those that were, were way too big to use with whatever simple supplies Noelle had in her purse. So they each had to dig with their hands through the cold underbrush (Kris' mercifully gloved) and look around. Kris took the approach of looking for larger sticks - ones that weren't so big they couldn't be supported, but still big enough to stand out. "I'm finally getting antlers! I want BIG ones. So then I'll be like, SUPER deer-like," Kris flawlessly reasoned, "Plus I'm a guy in this specific fanfic anyway so I wanna have big impressive buck antlers!"

Noelle took the more practical approach of looking for small twigs that could easily be taped or sewn or whatever into a quick headband for Kris. Headband? She pondered for a second. Could she somehow do this without the supplies? She considered tucking them behind Kris' ears like those plant things that royal people wore in Roman art. No, they'd fall out too fast. Maybe she could add some tape, but... nah. Just stick the twigs out of his ears?? She mostly-successfully stifled a huge laugh at that thought.

There really weren't many huge twigs around anyway, so it was easy to find smaller ones. Thin so they weren't heavy, but long enough Kris would probably like them. They might blow in the wind easier, but eh, they were doing this on short notice. The problem was finding ones that... weren't just straight/flat and actually looked like antlers. She didn't care what they looked like, but she knew it'd be important to Kris. Why it was important, she wasn't really sure, but it was really sweet how much Kris took an interest in this stuff. Most people wouldn't. Like, not Berdly or Susie or even her own mother or anybody else she ever met in her whole lif-- Thankfully, a few of the twigs did still have extensions that bent at different angles and hadn't broken off yet, so she got them altogether and took them so Kris could pick out his favorites.

At the same time, Kris approached her with two branches. Probably as long as an arm, and just barely thin enough they probably wouldn't injure Kris' skull.

"Fahaha! Kris, I know you're enthusiastic and I really appreciate it, but I think we need to be a bit more realistic."

Kris sighed and dropped the branches. Hurting his foot. "OUCH. I mean, uh, I know, you're right. But I want big antlers! I don't just want tiny, half-antlers!"

She giggled. "I know Kris, but my purse can only hold so many things. Besides, we-"

"........... Plus I thought you'd be impressed by big antlers."

... This adorable little goober. How was someone like this real?? She wrapped him in another bear hug (deer hug, rather) and laughed into his shoulder. 
"Kris I don't care what they look like! You don't even need antlers to impress me." She moved to look in his eyes. "I fell in love with you without antlers. You impress me all the time without them."
"... Are you sure? But-"
"I'm sure, Krismas." She hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. ... As much as she could with a muzzle. The way humans kissed was still kind of strange to her. "Let's make some small, practical antlers that I'm going to love."
Kris smiled.

Noelle held out her hand-hooves and showed him all the sticks she'd collected. "Okay, here are a bunch of sti- ...antlers. Pick out your two favorites!"

Kris inspected each one extremely carefully. Kris was a master bed inspector; these may not be beds, but he wasn't about to slack off on his duties. Almost immediately he noticed a certain stick. It started off flat, but about halfway up, curved off to the right, creating an obtuse angle. Even better, within that angle were two small extensions pointing upward. The very tip of the stick even split off in two. A perfect antler for a student deer and bed inspector. He took that stick and held onto it. Next, Kris inspected one which was also at an obtuse angle, but a much wider angle, approximately 170°. That kind of angle was way too close to "straight line" for proper antlers. This was, at least, mildly offset by th-

Noelle stood there mostly patiently as all this silently unfolded. As the seconds turned into minutes and those minutes began to drag a bit, she watched the pile in her hand slowly whittle down to only three sticks. Kris remained focused on them.

"... Kris?"
"Hm?"
"I have an idea. An old deer tradition, fahaha. Can I try it?"
"Of course!"
"Eeny meeny miney moe, catch a Santa by the toe, if he hollers let him go, eeny meeny miney moe!"
Noelle's nose pointed toward the stick in her right hand.
"There we go! Let's use this one!"
"Eeeeeeeeeelllllllllllle," Kris bellyached, "You're not taking this seriously!"
It did have a good antler-like shape, but was it good enough? ... Kris began to feel self-conscious realizing how much of her time he was wasting by doing this. In reality Noelle had nowhere else in the world she'd rather be right now, but Kris, well, you know how it is.

He smirked awkwardly. "It is a really good stick," he said, "Let's use it."

"Great!" she smiled, "Let me see your knife, and the other stick."
"How did you know I had my knife with me?" he asked, like she was reading his mind somehow.
"... You always carry it with you, don't you? Remember when we were kids in your mom's class and she had to confis-"
"Yeah I remember," Kris very awkwardly chuckled. Bringing a knife to elementary school wasn't his proudest memory. He handed her the knife and stick.

With the precision of a surgeon, she started to poke a hole into one of the sticks. In what should've taken hours but somehow only took seconds in her hands, a bit of cutting and poking left a surprisingly neat and sturdy hole going through the side. She did the same to the other one. She then got special scissors (with larger holes at the end to accommodate her hoof-things) and sewing thread out of her purse. She handed the sticks back to Kris.
"Okay, put these on your head where you want them, and hold 'em in place for me!"

He did as she asked. She threaded the sewing thread through the sticks and around Kris' chin. After a minute of deciding how tight to make it, she cut off the amount she needed and tied it around his chin like a party hat.

And then they immediately almost fell off.
"Ohmygosh!" she yelled in surprise, moving to hold them back in place. But then immediately had an idea. She took the tape out of her purse and wrapped it around Kris' hair and chin a few times. It's for Kris, she reasoned to herself, It's honestly a pretty terrible idea, fahaha, but Kris is going to love it.
After checking they were finally going to stay in place, she took out a small mirror from her purse and showed it to Kris.
She was right.
He loved it.
"I........" he stuttered
She smiled.
"I LOOK JUST LIKE YOU NOW!" he squealed as he hugged her super tight.
... And then immediately backed away.
"... Thanks," he mumbled in a slightly-more-happy-than-monotone voice.

What an adorable goober.

"You're so welcome, Kris!" she smiled, both happy that he was happy, and a little bit that they were finally done debating sticks. "Ready to get started?"
"I sure am!"
Without so much as waiting for Noelle to remember where the tree trunk was, much less show him how to jump over it, Kris enthusiastically ran over and gave it his best jump.
He then proceeded to trip, get his jacket caught on a little branch sticking out of the trunk, fall off the trunk, and land on his face.
Oops.
Well, the antlers stayed on!

Chapter Text

It had been approximately three minutes since Kris tried to jump over the fallen tree trunk. In Noelle's words, Kris was being an excited little goober and got too excited (again).
In Kris' words, Kris made an idiot out of himself in front of Noelle (again).

In those three minutes, Kris had gotten yet another reminder of why Noelle carried that purse with her everywhere: first-aid.
"Elle, it's only bleeding a little bit don't-SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS" Kris bit his hand trying to stifle some tier-three swear words threatening to escape his mouth in protest as Noelle put some antiseptic spray near his (not-bleeding-only-a-little-bit) elbow. Was this spray stuff supposed to help him?! She must be poisoning him! Why else would it hurt this much?!

"Pffff, it'll just be a second Kris!" she said, getting (another) band-aid out. One had already gone on his cheek, one on his knee, one on his stomach, and now this one would go near his elbow. "And don't go giving me that 'poisoning me' spiel again!" (Kris quickly closed his mouth.) "You remember all the times Azzy and I used to have to put this stuff on you, and it did NOT kill you, fahahaha! And it didn't kill me, either!"

"Good thing it didn't," Kris said leaning in, smiling smugly.
Oh gosh he was actually doing that. "Fahahaha! Krissss!"
For all Kris' flirting with random enemies in the dark worlds, he was such a nervous dork when it was someone he actually knew. Still, it was so nice to hear genuinely sweet things from her boyfriend, once so silent and forlorn behind those walls he'd put up. She couldn't help but blush. She leaned over and kissed the band-aid. "There, faha! All better Kris!"

He stood up. Oh, he was definitely gonna feel this later, but it was fine for now.
Was it normal for humans to be this weak? To need their girlfriend to take care of them when all they did was trip over som-
"O-kay! Are you ready to start jumping?" she asked.
"Sure," he replied in a slightly-happier-than-monotone voice.

She went to hop over toward the tree, but just kind of exaggeratedly walked. As happy as she was, she was also a bit nervous. Could she teach him well? How do you teach someone just... instinct??

"Okay so like I said before, I... don't know how to describe this, faha! I've just done it all my life without thinking about it."
Kris was quick to interject, "It's okay! Just do your best!"
Glad to see some enthusiasm shine through the cracks, she was determined.

"O...kay! So..." She hesitated a moment. "Oh! Okay so you see where my legs bend backward, yours bend forward?"
"Knees."
"Yeah that! So-so deer legs bend the other way. So then I... put my arms up a bit. I know walk-on-all-fours deer put their arms all the way up, so they can land on their arms, but we don't really have to do that. So I just... pffffffahaha, make chicken wings I guess!!"
She put her arms up, elbows at her sides.
"And then I just..."
Just like that, she was in the air and over the tree trunk.

Kris just stared at her, head tilted a bit.
"............?"
"Fahaha, I'm sorry Kris! I'm trying here!"
"It's fine," he giggled, "But... can you try again?"
This time she really tried to focus on getting into position before jumping. 
This time he noticed she was standing on her... toes? What are those things called when they're on deer anyway? She stood on her black hoof-thingies before jumping.
Almost instantly, she was back on Kris' side of the trunk, standing next to him.

"Okay, so I got that you have to stand on your tiptoes," he said, trying to mimic her movements.
"Mhm!" she encouraged him.
"Then I... haha." He put his arms out like chicken wings.
"Yep, yep!"
"Then I guess I just..."
Kris pressed down on his toes and went up into the air.

He felt like he was flying. 

I'm really doing it, he thought.
... And then his feet caught on the tree trunk and he fell again. At least he managed to flip over quick and land on his back.

"KRIS!! Are you okay?! Do you need more antiseptic spra-?!"
"NO NO THAT'S OKAY" Kris said louder than he meant to, "Um, no, I'm not bleeding hah. I. I landed on the soft ground this time." He patted the leaves covering the ground.
"Are you suuuuuuuure?" she asked, reaching out her hand.
"Yes mom I'm sure," Kris said a bit sarcastically as he took her hand and started to stand up. "..... Just kidding, Elle. Thanks for worrying about me."
She smiled. 
"I know you didn't mean it Krismas. Anyway, I think I figured out the problem."
She bent down again. Kris was reminded of how when they were younger, some of the other bipedal monsters thought it was 'weird' or 'creepy' how Noelle's legs bent 'backward' like that. Kris always thought it was amazing and always wanted to learn how to do it so he could scare them, too. ... Oh, she's talking, better stay focused.
"... have to bend and jump from your toes at the same time. Unbending your legs makes you go up a little higher!"

"Huh, okay then," he said, starting to ready himself again. "... Elle?"
"Hm?"
"Do..." Of course Kris was hesitating again, "Do you think I could use my arms like the other deer do?"
"Hm. Um... well, aren't human arms supposed to be shorter than their legs? I think that might make it harder to land."
"No no it's okay," he quickly reassured her, "I've practiced walking on all fours a lot. I know how to compensate for my arms being shorter. ...... Uh, Noelle?"

She started giggling.
"Didn't you say before that you didn't do that? The exact thing you just said you practice a lot?"
"Well- No, I- Not like th-!"
"Faha, I'm just teasing Kris. Go ahead and try it! If you can, that'd actually be more than I can do! I never learned how to land on my hands...!"

A thought entered Kris' head. One he immediately knew was a stupid thought but... He could actually impress her with this. He's been totally-not-practicing his whole life for this.

"... Um," Noelle said, "I guess I should mention that when walk-on-all-fours deer do it, I think they put their arms out straight!"

"Good to know, Elle! Thanks! ......... Heh. Know-Elle. Noelle."

"Pfffffahaha, get going Kris!!"

Kris got on all fours. Trying to ignore the pain forming on his elbow from the fall earlier, he backed up several paces from the tree trunk. 

Already, Noelle was impressed, just because of how easily he walked like that. She could hardly do that, much less a human! Kris would never be content with that, though.

He stood completely still. Neither of them made a sound. The morning breeze and leaves falling could be heard.

He bent back a very tiny bit.
And then ran.

Like one of those scary creatures out of one of Noelle's horror games, he ran at what seemed like light speed.

In one quick motion he bent his legs, leaned on his tiptoes (maybe a bit too far?), raised his arms up near his head, and jumped for dear life. (Jumped for deer life, rather).

It wasn't like the flying feeling from before. This was... somehow better, but more grounded, more real. He had to actually focus on getting his legs above the trunk, and focus on positioning his arms. He didn't have much time to think about it, but he made the most of what he had. He figured he had less of a chance of slipping if he put his hands out, not quite straight in front of him, but a bit farther out. Nervous animals tended to do that, but Kris was pretty nervous right now! 

The moment of truth. His palms made contact with the ground. He was pretty confident he could do that part, but his legs... Did he jump far enough? He let gravity work, half-expecting them to land on the trunk, but... no, they just kept falling. Finally through his shoes, he could vaguely feel the texture of leaves and dirt making his feet slide a bit. 

"KRIS, YOU DID IT!!!"

"I wat." He dared to look back. His feet were indeed on the ground. The tree trunk was... even further behind him than he'd expected. Guess he knew to really lean into his tiptoes in the future.

He stood up and was instantly engulfed in Noelle Hair and Noelle Hoodie. "I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!"

"... Thanks Noelle, hah." Kris returned the hug and leaned into her. Oh, Noelle. Anyone else would think this was insane. Yet here she was, still cheering him on.
Oh, Kris. Anyone else would think this was insane. But they were stupid and wrong. Good thing she got him first, and was here to cheer him on!

"... Noelle?"
"Yes, Krismas?"
"... Could we take a break haha"
She held him close. "Of course!"

Chapter Text

They were walking back in the direction of the school. They decided to go to QC's to get lunch. Kris wanted to pay, but Noelle insisted.

Noelle never really liked having the absolutely gross amount of money that her family had. She really wanted people to see her as a normal person, not as "the rich girl whose family lives in a mansion and has political influence and is better than everybody else". She wasn't better! To be fair, it had gotten her out of a few messes in the past. Her mother was never afraid to pull some strings to make sure anyone who messed with Noelle paid dearly for it. (No, not "deerly", but dearly.) ... But still! Noelle wanted to be her own person! So part of the reason she liked to treat Kris was her own guilt. She knew the Dreemurrs lived pretty modestly compared to her and she hated the idea of Kris spending money on her when he should keep that money for important stuff. Was it wrong to think like that? Was she looking down on him?
WAIT WH-

She turned around and instantly jumped back.
"K-KRIS?!?!" she screamed. There he was, head bent down, antlers pointed right at her, furious, ready to fight his own girlfriend. What did she do to cause this?! They might just be fake antlers but... but the intent is there!!!

---------------------

They were walking back in the direction of the school. They decided to go to QC's to get lunch. Kris wanted to pay, but Noelle insisted.

Kris always felt inadequate compared to Noelle and the absolutely awesome amount of money that her family had. His family lived comfortably, they had a car and a TV and everything, but it didn't compare to her. All that influence, that huge mansion, the garden outside... Plus, if some bully tried to mess with Noelle, her mother would strike down her iron fist (iron hoof rather) and suddenly that bully and their whole family would be in prison somehow. Over the top? Maybe, but Kris didn't have anyone defending him from bullies! Sure it paid off in that he later became friends and allies with Susie... but still! It was tough there for awhile! Anyway, he'd been dating Noelle for awhile now so he finally at least realized she didn't offer to pay for everything to show off, but rather because she really wanted to help him, and helping is how Noelle just was. Still made him feel inadequate. Was it wrong to think like that? Was he being shallow focusing so much on superficial things like that and not her personalit-
WHAT WH-

Oh-ho-ho, what's this on the ground? Seems one of those deer from last night dropped a $20 bill, right on top of the leaves. Thanks Noelle, but I'm finally gonna be the one paying today! Kris leaned forward to pick it up. His legs were starting to hurt a bit and for whatever reason, it hurt less to keep his knees straight, so he tried to pick it up that way. ... Suddenly Noelle screamed like she got mauled by a bear or something. His back pain notwithstanding, he bolted right back up to see what the problem was.

---------------------

"Noelle?? What's going on?" Kris asked, panicked, looking around for a threat.

"I... I don't know!!" she said, eyes wide, "You're the one who got into a fighting stance with me!!"

Kris turned and stared at her for a moment, not really sure what to do with that statement. Suddenly her face started to change from alarmed to... amused?

"Oh my gosh" Noelle put her hand (hoof?) over her mouth and started giggling.

"I'm so sorry Kris," she laughed more, "That's my bad!!"

"What is?" Kris asked, confused out of his mind.

"Okay soooofahahahaha," she kept giggling, extremely embarrassed, "Okay so I just, right now, saw the money on the ground"
"Yes ...?"
"And so you must have bent over to pick it up, right??"
"Yes ...??"
"In- fahaha - In deer language, doing that with your antlers is a threat!"
"WHAT?"
"Pfffffff I know right?!" She couldn't look at him. "It's pretty ridiculous! But that's just how it is! You point your antlers at someone and it means you're really angry and wanna fight them!"

This was a very silly situation and even Kris' self esteem issues couldn't stop a laugh from escaping. "I don't wanna fight you, Elle. Promise."

"... You know what's even funnier Kris?? It's usually done by males fighting other males for a girl's affection! Which makes no sense in this situation!!"

Kris took a risk. He immediately shot his antlers at her again.
"I challenge you for the right to Noelle's love and affection!"
"Krisssssssssffffahahahaha!" She walked over and bumped her antlers against his. She backed up dramatically. "Oh no, I lose! I guess you win my affection now!"
They both shared a laugh.
"Noelle," Kris pondered, "If I win, does that mean I get my wish of finally paying today?"
"No!" she chuckled, "I lose so I have to lose money! By spending it on our lunch! Buy something nice for yourself with it! You're too selfless Krismas!"

Kris could have argued with that, but decided not to. Not now anyway.

---------------------

Noelle held the door for Kris. He was going to have to get back at her for this somehow. Maybe spend the $20 on a gift for her. No time to think now, though. This was food time, a matter not to be taken lightly.

QC warmly welcomed them from behind the counter-thingy. "Well hello there hun! And hun number two!"

"Hello ma'am!" Noelle said excitedly.
"....... Hi" Kris slightly-louder-than-mumbled to her. QC chuckled.
Kris never had problems with QC. She was always nice, and was honestly a lot of the glue that was keeping this crazy town held together. She was just a bit much sometimes, even to people like Kris that she barely knew outside of their favorite beverages.

"What can I get the two lovebirds today?"
Kris slightly winced at this, while Noelle didn't seem to even acknowledge it. "A hot chocolate and medium pancakes for me, please! What do you want, Kris? And don't hold back, I'm paying and that's final!"

Suddenly Kris had a thought: He had been ordering the exact same thing from this diner for his entire life. They served pancakes here???
"....... I wanna try something new today. Do you have menus?"

"Feeling adventurous! Well, we sure do, hun! Take your time, nobody comes in at this time of day."

Nobody came in at 1:00 PM? What?? Well, anyway, it was a huge menu for a tiny diner. It made sense though, Kris guessed, since all of these monsters had different dietary needs. Wasn't like the human places in the big cities where everyone had the same digestive system and just ordered burgers or chicken nuggets. ... He'd have to make sure to never, ever bring that up with Berdly. Anyway, the menu was conveniently split up into species. Alphabetical order, too. Kris started to look for the "humans" section, when he suddenly had a second thought. One he might regret, but...

Deer... Deer... No deer option--
Oh. Let me guess.
Kris looked for "C".
Yep, "cervidae". Ugh.

Maybe someday Kris actually would thank his mom for those Latin lessons. Maybe.
In the meantime, Kris looked over the options.

The menu contained such tantalizing meals as:
- tree bark
- acorns
- browse, whatever that was
- "a piece of firewood (see 'F' for more Fire Elemental meals!)"
- leaves

"... Noelle?"
"Hm?"
"What do you recommend?" He pointed at the dee-- "cervidae", section of the menu.
"Pfff Kris, just order what you like!"
"You're a deer!" he protested, "What do you want to eat?"
She responded, "... A hot chocolate and pancakes, fahaha!"
He looked... dejected?
Aw. Oh no.
She took part of the menu in her hand and looked over it.
"Well, deer eat fruits! See? 'Deer-Friendly Fruit Salad: blackberries, grapes, plums, corn, blueberries, apples, pears'. You could try that! It's a good high-energy food, like human sports drinks! Um, if you're really serious about this, I'd just get the deer-friendly mineral water."

The very decidedly human Kris looked a little too proudly up at the counter. ... Why was Kris so short??? Anyway, "One deer fruit salad and mineral water, please."

QC couldn't hide a chuckle. "Coming right up, you two, that'll be $19.99"
Kris looked at Noelle pleadingly. Under his breath, "NOELLE I HAVE $20 JUST LET ME PAY FOR IT JUST LET ME PAY FOR IT"
She reached into her purse.
"JUST LET ME PAY FOR IT JUST LET ME PAY FOR IT NOELLE JUST LET ME PAY FOR IT"
She got out her wallet-thingy.
"NOELLE LET ME PAY FOR IT JUST LET ME PAY FOR IT NOELLE JUST LET ME PAY FOR IT"
She got out a $10 bill, a $5,
"LET ME PAY FOR IT LET ME PAY FOR IT LET ME PAY FOR IT LET ME PAY FOR IT"
four $1s, three quarters, two dimes, and four pennies.
"NOELLE NOELLE NOELLE NOELLE NOELLE LET ME PAY FOR IT LET ME PAY FOR IT LETMEPAYFORITLETMEPAYFORITLETMEPAYFORITLETMEPAYFORITLETMEPAYFORIT"
She placed the money on the counter.
"NOOOOOOOOO-"
"...ELLE!" Noelle replied!
...
She put her hand over her mouth. "... Oh gosh Kris I'm turning into you!!"

QC finished counting up the money. "Thank ya, hun number two. Pick a booth and we'll have that right out for you!"
"Thank you ma'am!" Noelle called over. "So where do you wanna sit, Kris?"
"Noelle stop torturing me with kindness just pick a booth"
"Fahaha! Um, how about that one? It ha a nice window view!"
She pointed at the one he and Asriel always sat at. His entire nervous system wanted to kill him on the spot, but he decided not to let it win.
"Sure, Elle." And with that, they sat down.

It was... weirdly... uh, cathartic? Is that the word Alphys taught them? This booth was always a sore spot for Kris given all the family drama and Asriel leaving and everything else in his life that made him seriously consider eating firewood as an attempt to become something he wasn't, but it was different with Noelle. Every now and then she'd stop looking out the window and just smile at him a second. It didn't seem like much, but it felt so... comfortable, just like it did with Asriel back in the day. It didn't feel like this scene was about to collapse around him and leave him alone again. It was like a warm blanket was over the booth that was keeping this moment from breaking apart in his hands.

It seemed like Noelle was going to say something about whatever was outside when QC announced their names. Well, "hun one and hun two" anyway.
Kris slightly winced at this, while Noelle didn't seem to even acknowledge it.

"Human food for the deer, and deer food for the human!" she announced, setting down their meals.

---------------------

"Fo how you wike fhe deer food, Kriffs?" Noelle asked, mouth full of pancakes.

"It's great, but I wanted something weirderrrrrrrrrrrrrrr," Kris lamented.

Noelle drank a bit of the hot chocolate. "Pff. Maybe next time we'll get you the firewood."

"... I saw browse on the menu. What's that?"

Honestly, Noelle forgot for a moment. She was used to eating, like... normal... monster... food... not tree bark and- "Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, "It basically means vegetation that I guess normal monsters don't eat. Stuff like twigs, leaves, plant shoots. Um, there's a type of plant called 'browse' but I don't really know what makes them different from other plants. But I think sometimes people use that word for any vegetation like that, not just stuff that comes from browse plants specifically. Since deer - well some deer, eat those, we're called browsers."

"... It's not an internet thing?"

"You can't eat the internet, Krismas!"

"Hey, you know we ate a lot of bagels and stuff in the library world!"

"Fahahaha, that doesn't count Krismas!"

It totally did, but Kris wasn't gonna harp on it.

---------------------

They were both done eating.

"So, what do you wanna do now, Kris?"

As much as Kris really wanted to go back to the woods, his annoyingly wimpy body was really starting to mind that fall earlier and while young Kris would have just powered through it, older Kris had learned the hard way that was just gonna keep him at home longer. It was better to res- waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait.

"Actually, can we stop by Castle Town?"

"... Castle what?"

"Did... Did we really not tell you abou-"

Noelle kept the confused look on her face.

"... Just follow me hah," he awkwardly chuckled.

This time Kris got to the door first, and even managed to not make it look super painfully obvious that he was trying, and held it open for Noelle.

"Why thank you, sir!!" Noelle half-joked, half-had-her-heart-melt-over.

Kris smiled at his act of chivalry.

And then he instantly turned pale.

His eyes shot wide open.

....... The whole time they were in the diner.

....... Kris still had that antler headband on.

Chapter Text

"Kriiiiiiiiiis! Dooooooon't!" Noelle pleaded half-jokingly, as he tugged at the antler headband. They were heading in the direction of the school, walking as they talked.

"I can't believe I wore this in public," Kris said, more to himself than to anyone else.

"It's adorable Krismaaaas! Keep iiiit!" Noelle pleaded again.

"Noelle it's two sticks taped to my head, I look like an idiot," Kris said, trying to work at the tape.

Noelle had an idea.
"... I thought it made you look like a deer?" she said innocently, tapping a hoof-finger-thingy on her chin, "Do... Do you think deer look like idiots, Krismas?!"

"Noelle th-- you know I don't- I don't-- NO!" Kris said, quickly moving his hands away from the headband.
And blushing like an idiot.
And forgetting how to talk.
"You know I d- don't mean it like that!! Like th-- YOU- deer are - and human-"

Okay she she should stop teasing him about this. It was already hard enough getting him to open up as much as he did, she really didn't need to make it worse.
"I'm teasing Kris!" she said, waving a hand. ... hoof. "But really! You like my antlers. And other people have also said they like my antl-"
"They have?! Who?!" Kris said at a normal speaking volume, which was pretty much screaming by his standards.
... Oh my gosh this adorable goober is getting jealous over this.
"Fahahaha, it was before we started dating Kris, please settle down!" she said, giggling. "Besides, two of those people are my parents."
Kris pouted. Slightly ironically. Mostly not ironically. "...... Okay, good."

"Aaaaanyway, my point is that antlers are okay to have! Just because you weren't born with antlers doesn't mean you can't wear them!"
Okay, just a little more teasing. She got in front of him and stopped walking. She leaned in.
"Besides, I think it's kind of handsome how you have these huge antlers!"
Kris blushed. "You wh-?!"
"Deer respect someone with big antlers. Especially a buck who gets jealous about his doe. It signals they're to be respected. They rank higher."
He blushed further. "NOELLE Y-!!!"
"I bet you'd antler-rush ANYONE who got too close to me. And guess what Kris? I bet you'd win, too."
His face was basically a tomato at this point. "NOELLE-"
She chuckled. "Gosh Kris, I really am turning into you! But please relax, I'm just teasing again. But do you see how you don't look ridiculous in those?"

As much as he hated, well, "hated" when she pulled his own tricks on him, he conceded that she had a point.
"If - ....... If you like it, I guess it's okay." he said, trying to be nonchalant and failing terribly. Aaaaaanyway (nonchalantly), they were finally at the school.

Which was closed.

"Ugggggh, c'mon MOM," Kris muttered to himself, "You always used to forget to lock this. Susie breaks in one time and spray paints one--"

"Um, Kris?" Noelle approached him, "Why are we trying to get into the school? Didn't you say something about a castle?"

"Uhhh," Kris hadn't really thought about how to handle this. He REALLY thought he and Susie had told her about Castle Town at some point. Like they'd told her the dark worlds were real, but ... not this specific one? Really? The fact they'd forgotten made him feel terrible, but it felt like a lose-lose situation. There wasn't really a way to get around how awkward keeping this secret would be.

... Honesty. Only way out. He wasn't gonna let himself dig himself into another grave of half-truths, not with her. The afternoon sun shined perfectly between her antlers, half illuminating her in autumn yellow, and half silhouetting her against all the sunlight and foliage.

"... " Kris didn't actually say anything. He opened his mouth, but the words wouldn't come out.

Noelle knew him well enough to immediately recognize what was going on. Not only his behavior, but she learned along the way that whatever scent he was giving off right now was the human version of "fear scent". Deer left this on the ground with their feet. Humans... it was stronger with them. It was all over. And at that moment, that fear smell was really strong, poor Kris.

"Kris," she took his hands. Apparently he took off the gloves at some point. "You can tell me whatever it is. I'm not angry, I promise!"

Kris believed that she believed that, but wasn't convinced she'd still feel that way after he told her. Still, too late to do anything else.

"... There's one more dark world," he said, avoiding her eyes.

"There is? Why didn't you tell me? Wait, why were we in the woods all morning? Don't the citizens need our help?!"

"No it's not like that," he said. Still avoiding her eyes. "We only ever encountered one enemy there and he's an ally now. Uh, his name is Lancer, I dunno if you ever met him."

"Oh, th- the blue guy with the spades!"

"Yeah him. Um, anyway, there's a guy who lives there, he's a prince. He's our friend. Oh, yeah, you met him. Ralsei."

"Oh yeah, the one who looks l-" the one who looks like Asriel, she thought, but tried to not actually say out loud.

"... He doesn't look that much like..." Kris started, then snapped back to reality. Oops. "I get why people say that though. Um, anyway, ... I don't know Noelle. I really, really thought you already knew about this. I'm really sorry I somehow forgot. I feel terrible. I don't want to keep secrets from you."

He, once again, avoided looking at her. Suddenly he was enveloped by a bunch of warmth. ... Oh. She was hugging him?

"Fahaha, it's okay Kris! No time like the present, right?" She stopped hugging him and smiled at him. "Besides, of course you're sorry and didn't mean to hide this! I know you Kris, I already know you're not like that. ... Any secrets you keep are just part of pranks you like to pull, faha! Not like secret-secrets!"

Somehow, he felt okay when she smiled at him. When she reassured him. It was as if instead of the sun, a big ball of gas and fire shining on him, it was a special light radiating from her eyes that only he could bask in. As if the rest of the world that made him such a nervous wreck in the first place had just stopped existing and it was just them.

For what felt like hours, he just stared into those eyes. Sparkling, brown, like the leaves in the woods glistening with dew. Those adorable freckles. The breeze moving her hair like the wind and hair were dancers putting on a show they'd rehearsed years for. Yellow like autumn leaves. Like fields of straw shining in the sun--"Kris?"

She had said it softly, but it was still enough to catch him off guard. "Oh my gosh, did I scare you? I'm sorry! But I was just thinking, we should probably get meeting up with your friend! He's probably waiting for us, right?"

Oh. ... Duh.

"Well, technically Ralsei doesn't actually know we're coming. But yeah, he'll definitely be happy to have some company. Um," Kris looked over at a window, "Help me see if we can get any of these open."

Kris jumped off the top stair. He then put one foot on top of the flower box thing nearest to their classroom and-- OH NO HIS BACK. OW.
Okay so Kris reluctantly walked around the flower box thing and began pulling up on the nearest window. He'd done this enough times he knew what an unlocked window felt like. This one was definitely locked. He walked over to the next o-
"Got it, Kriiiiiiis!" Noelle said, in an excited whisper.
Wait, really?
Kris walked over to the window Noelle was at. Yup, first try.

It was the window to his mom's class. 

Duh.

"Nice, Noelle! Why are you whispering though?" Kris asked, debating how he was gonna manage this with his back. 

"Um," she whispered, "Aren't we, um, trespassing or something?"

Kris nearly fell off the windowsill. Yes. They were in fact trespassing. Shoot, he'd never thought of that before. If someone caught them, this could actually be really bad. Only one thing to do.

Kris pushed through the pain (of which there was a LOT, by the way) and forced himself over the windowsill and onto the floor. Tier-four swear words threatened to bounce around the room but he was paranoid now of getting caught so he really tried to stifle it. He stood up, leaning on a countertop or something, and- Well, first, he checked the time on his phone. Those "hours" of looking in her eyes were apparently about a minute. ... Probably for the best honestly, for today anyway. He looked to the window. Noelle had her hands on the windowsill but couldn't quite get her footing because of her hooves. Guess there really were drawbacks to being a deer. She'd been telling him that for as long as they'd known each other, but this was the first time he actually believed it. 

"Here, give me your hands," he told her. She was taller than him, so it wasn't as bad of a climb for her. He started to pull (which hurt a LOT, by the way) when she had an idea. She stood on the flower box thing and just needed some reassurance.

"It's okay, you can make the jump," he told her, "I've done it tons of times, you can make it."

Noelle wasn't about to believe that under normal circumstances, but Kris was just barely enough of a silly little delinquent that she figured he knew what he was talking about. Against her better judgment, she closed her eyes and actually jumped into Ms Toriel's classroom.

And landed on Kris.

And Kris' injured back.

And Kris' injured knee.

And Kris' injured stomach.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" All of Kris' attempts at being quiet were immediately stopped.

"Omigosh I'm so sorry Kris!" She quickly stood up and offered her hand.

"It's..... It's okay Elle," Kris squeaked, "That's actually why we're here. Okay just. ... Just a few more steps to the. Supply closet. And we're there. Oh thank God ow. Okay Noelle close the window and follow me."

Noelle felt terrible despite Kris' reassurances, but after she closed the window, she didn't have long to worry. It really was just a few steps to those doors.

"... Um, yep! These are... the doors to the supply closet alright! Um-" she was cut off as Kris opened the doors.

Pitch black.

"Um, Kris? Where's the... suppl-... OH! This must be the dark world you mentioned, right?!"

"Yep. Um, you have to jump in. Ralsei keeps telling us... telling us we need a ladder or something but. But Susie keeps telling him he's a wimp and we don't... need... ladders. I went along with that until today," Kris chuckled in agony.

"... Jump in?! Won't we get hurt?! That looks like a pretty far jump!"

"It's fine Noelle, just try to land on your feet... And you'll be okay somehow. I dunno how. Ralsei magic I guess."

Noelle wasn't about to believe that under normal circumstances, but Kris was just barely enough of a silly little delinquent --
She jumped.
She wasn't ready to jump.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Her bleating got quieter as she went down.
(..................... thud)

If Kris was in less pain he might've chuckled at that, but now wasn't the time. He had to figure out how to get down there somewhat-safely. He stood in the doorway. He tried to steady hims-
He fell.
He wasn't ready to fall.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
..................... THUD.
CRACK.

Chapter Text

Kris had heard somewhere that you didn't feel pain right away with certain injuries. Your body went into shock and it wasn't until your body calmed down or whatever that it would consciously notice the pain.

Apparently a broken shoulder or arm or whatever is killing him right now, was not one of those injuries. This was really, really instant.

For... seconds? Minutes? Hours? He just laid there, outside of Castle Town, on his back. His vision blurry, his ears ringing. O u c h. He couldn't stand up, but it's not like he really wanted to. Every now and then he swore he heard some noise off in the distance. Could've been right next to him, could've been on the other side of the fountain, who knew. Suddenly it was quiet, other than that ringing, for ... however long, when suddenly the noises got slightly louder. Some footsteps on the ground, the vibrations of which were really hurting his broken bone by the way, and some muffled voices.

Suddenly, the classic sound of Ralsei casting some spell, and everything just... stopped.

Kris sat up.

"... What...?"

"Kris! Noah told me you'd hurt yourself! I got over here as fast as I could!"
"M- My name is Noelle, actua-"
"It's a good thing I've been reading up on healing magic the past few days!! How are you feeling, Kri-"
Ralsei stared at Kris. Wide-eyed. "K.... Kris??"

"Uh, well, a lot better! Thanks man!" Kris said, standing up, struggling but still getting there. "Still a little pain in my back, but I'll take it at this point. But you fixed that brok-"
"Er, no, Kris, I mean, I'm very glad I could fix that! But you-..."
"Um, wh... what Ralsei??"

These two were so awkward. Noelle kind of wanted to just keep relishing this adorable conversation, but she realized she should probably do something. But what? She wanted to get a mirror, but her purse had turned into useless doodads here in the dark world. The makeup mirror... Well, now it was some kind of shuriken like from Super Smashing Fighters or something. She was probably supposed to throw it at enemies or whatever, but it did keep its shininess and reflectiveness. It'd be good enough.
"Kris, I think Ralsei is talking about this, look."

"Haha, is this the mirror??"
"Fahaha, yeah, it's funny how these dark worlds work, huh?? But look into it."

Kris looked. Uh, no bleeding on his face. No bones out of place. His eyes looked normal. His forehead lo-

Oh wow.

---------------------

"... and then I fell into the doorway, and I guess I forgot to take the headband off first. And now I... have antlers!"

Noelle sipped her Kris Tea and smiled. He was always really subtle about his emotions, even more so around people who weren't her, but she could tell he was really excited about this. Good for him. Anyway, they all agreed to move to Kris' room in the castle. She was sitting on the dresser by the window. Kris was sitting on the bed.

Ralsei pondered aloud as he paced around the room. "It's unusual that it'd become a part of you. For example, your sword is a pencil outside the dark worlds, right?" (... How did he know that?) "But it just turns into a standard sword here, right? It doesn't transform your arm into a sword..." He smiled at Kris. "If you carried the pencil in your hand, I wonder if you could make that happen somehow??"

Ralsei was a total nerd, and you couldn't help but love it. It was almost cute to see him get so enthusiastic about things like this.

"This changes everything about how I thought dark worlds worked!! Kris, do you have the pencil right n- Kris, drink some more of that tea, please."

"Yes mom," Kris pouted. It was genuinely really nice of Ralsei to learn how to make these tea recipes based on Kris and his friends, however that worked, and Kris would thank him for it someday, but his arm was still kind of killing and he really didn't wan--

Noelle spoke up, "... I - I could feed it to you, Kris!"
"You wa-"
Noelle jumped down from the dresser and started walking over.
When Noelle got an idea in her mind like this, it was better to just go along with it. Plus despite Ralsei's improved healing, Kris was still in a lot of pain, and if he didn't have to move to drink this stuff, that'd be a huge burden off his shoulders. Plus if he allowed himself to think about it, the idea of his girlfriend doting on him and feeding him was really sweet and he loved her so much and was so gracious that she--
And then Kris watched her completely indifferently as she got his cup of tea off the headboard.
Noelle knew how he felt, but he didn't know she knew. She wasn't gonna mention it. Not in front of Asriel- ... Ralsei, anyway.

She put one hand-hoof-thing behind his head while the other held the cup. "Okay mister, open up!"
Kris felt pretty stupid doing this but now wasn't the time. He tilted his head up a tiny bit. She gently turned the cup and the tea started to hit his tongue.

And then he instantly felt totally better.
He jumped up in surprise from the sudden jolt of energy, nearly knocking the tea out of her hand. The antlers didn't help.

Ralsei tried to stifle a giggle and couldn't. Every time something like this happened with this tea, it was just adorable. He was also glad to know that despite hardly ever meeting this Noah girl, he'd still made the recipe correctly. Clearly she meant a lot to Kris.

Noelle spoke up again, "Cheezus, Kris, faha! Be careful with those things!"

He'd actually totally forgotten about the antlers. "... Oh, no, sorry Noelle, are you ok--"
"Fahaha, I'm fine Kris! Thank you for worrying though!" She nuzzled him and gave his face a small lick. He still wasn't quite used to that, but deeply appreciated it. "I'm more worried about you - you're sure you're okay already??"

"Yep! It was Noelle Tea, after all! ... What, didn't you know?"
... He had just a few drops of that bland water and was healed just like that??? Just because it was based on her???
She blushed profusely.

Ralsei tried to stifle a giggle and couldn't. Every time something like this happened with this tea, it w- Wait, her name wasn't Noah? Really? No... Noel? Like a Christmas song?

"... Anyway Krismas, be careful with antlers!" she giggled. "You could really hurt someone with those things! ........ And like I said earlier, I bet you would, too."
"Noelle-!"
"A strong buck like you, such strong antlers, antler rushing anyone who so much as looked at me the wrong way...!"
Now it was Kris' turn to blush like crazy.
"Pffffffffahahaha, you're slipping Krismas! I'm starting to get to you!!" ... She gave him a little human kiss (a Kriss, as it were) on top of his head. "Sorry Kris, faha!"

Immediately after saying that, both noticed that Ralsei was, well, still in the room. Blushing a bit, but he recovered quickly and gave a quick wink. "You know, Kris, she may be onto something! In cases where an enemy won't let us spare them, we'll need to be able to defend ourselves. Those impressive new antlers of yours would give us a very strong advantage!"

"RALSEI--!!!"

....... Oh. ....... Both Kris and Noelle yelled that at the same time. ....... Oh that was awkward.
Kris yelled because Ralsei was siding with Noelle in teasing him, and Noelle yelled because well, she was getting jealous of Ralsei complimenting Kris.

Kris' embarrassment over that quickly subsided when he realized that Ralsei might be overwhelmed by two people yelling at him at once, but thankfully he seemed to take it in stride. He just smiled at them.
"See? Susie has been teaching me how to engage in... what do you call it, friendly banter! I guess it's working!"
Kris breathed a quick sigh of relief. Ralsei was an eccentric little fluffball but Kris was so glad to have him as a friend. He was also glad Susie was able to help Ralsei get a bit more of a backbone. 
"Anyway, Kris, now that you're all better... Well, I feel a little selfish asking this, but it is for research after all! So your sword, or, pencil rather."

---------------------

Okay, Ralsei said after this trip, we're finally done for the day. Kris checked his phone before going back to the dark world. They'd been running these tests for a little over three hours now. Ugh. Ralsei had better have more Noelle tea or healing TP left, Kris' legs were killing him.

For the past three hours and several minutes, Ralsei would have Kris find an item, bring it to the dark world, take it back to the light world, bring it back again but Kris would hold it tightly or tie it to his head or something, rinse and repeat. Kris' pencil did not, in fact, melt into his hand if he carried it in his hand, much to Ralsei's disappointment. Kris would simply appear, holding the sword like normal, thankfully by the handle and not the blade. They tried different pieces of clothing, toys from mom's classroom, desks and chairs, a cola can someone littered outside, a pair of plastic vampire teeth... A few of the items actually turned into enemies, but thankfully Ralsei helped to pacify and spare them. Noelle felt bad about all this and offered to help try on items, but that just made Ralsei's creativity go into overdrive. He had Noelle try many of the same items, just on her antlers. And the vampire teeth on her teeth. Her buck teeth which caused the fake ones to not fit properly. They did not turn her into a vampire. They did change Kris, though, which stunned Ralsei. Sadly they didn't give Kris any special powers, just made some of his teeth sharper and made them glow in the dark.

Both were too shy to bring him back down to earth and tell him this was insane. It was only when Kris said something about dinner that Ralsei snapped out of it and started wrapping up.

At this moment, Kris was standing there with some supplies from Sans' store. He was right, there were in fact some Halloween decorations there. Kris was decked out in a duck beak, a lizard tail, a styrofoam ax from some horror movie, a fake hockey stick, a shark fin on his back, and one of those two-person horse costumes where he was the front of the horse, but nobody taking the second spot. He felt every bit as ridiculous as he looked, but hey, they were finally almost done and if Kris put his emotions aside for a second, this probably was important research. He jumped down, landing much more safely than that first time a few hours ago.

He immediately noticed Noelle in a bloody gas mask, from the same movie that had the styrofoam ax. "C... Can I take this off yet?" she asked timidly, betraying the terrifying mask she was wearing. "I can't see or smell anything!" She tried to feel the air around her but tripped and fell on something. Man, Kris loved her.

"Odd... Why isn't it changing you?" Ralsei asked, checking his fourth notepad full of notes. "Kris, you're back!"

"QUACK"
Noelle immediately stood up, her ears twitching all around. "W-Was that a distressed duck noise? What's going on? Is something dangerous approaching? Do we need to leave?!"

"It's fine, Knoll!" Ralsei said, beaming with pride that he'd finally remembered her name, "It's Kris, back with the last of our test material, including a duck beak!"

"O- Oh! That's certainly interesting! Hello Kris!!"

"Quack"

"Aww! You too Kris!!!" she said gleefully, trying to move her ears around to find where the sounds were coming from. Somewhere over... there... Just listen to them talk and keep walking VERY SLOWLY Noelle...

Kris' hair had long since covered his eyes again, and his lack of amusement was thankfully hidden from Ralsei as he quickly realized the lizard tail, ax, hockey stick, shark fin, and horse costume all... turned into slightly weapon-ish versions of their lightworld counterparts and did absolutely nothing else. 

Ralsei might be able to use that shark fin as a can opener...

BUT Kris' mouth turned into a duck beak somehow!!!

"Interesting. I'm not sure why that's happening, but I think this will be very important moving forward!" Ralsei said, blissfully unaware, "W-Well, I won't keep you two any longer, enjoy your meal!"

"A-Actually? As-RALSEI" Noelle quickly corrected herself, "C- Can we have some more tea before we go?"

She finally found them using their voices and crashed into Kris.

Who crashed into Ralsei.

Who sent the fake hockey stick, now a real hockey stick with a bunch of spikes for some reason, flying up into the air and in the direction of town.

"MY ROOF!!!"

"O-Oh dear," Ralsei said, panicked, "Er, um, yes! Come into the castle with me!"

---------------------

The sunset shone through the school hallways. They stood side by side at one of the windows.

"Krismas?"

"Hm?"

"... Can we never do that again please? Fahaha!"

"I promise Noelle he's not usually this eccentric Susie must be putting ideas in his head and he's like obsessed with battles and training all the time and strategies and stuff even though we always do just fine without it and-"

Noelle rubbed her muzzle on his head. "I believe you, Kris. Please don't worry, faha!"

He smiled. Then frowned again. "I just wanted to stop there for a few minutes to get healed up. I didn't think we'd be here all afternoon. Like I get we need to be 'prepared' but--"

She put her arm around his shoulder. "Kris, you can't blame yourself when something goes a little wrong! You can't control everything around you." She hesitated a second. "... But you can at least try, and... I think we both kind of messed up there..."

Kris nodded into her shoulder. "Yeah. If we had told him we wanted to go home early, he would've let us."

"Well, then neither of us is to blame, faha! That's something we can both work on in the future. ..." She looked down a bit at nothing in particular.

Kris put his arm around her back. "... Elle?"

"I- It's nothing Krismas, we should probably go home, hah."

He looked up at her. With those sad eyes he made sometimes. "I wanna talk about it."

She couldn't resist those eyes.
"Well... It's not you. Please understand that, Kris."
Kris nodded.
"It's... other humans."
Kris winced a bit. Thankfully not enough for her to notice.
"It's just... No, it's silly-" she saw his eyes again. "Sigh... Not all of them, but a lot of them think less of us. Because we're 'inhuman'. "
Kris nodded uncomfortably. His family was called that slur when they went to a big city once.
"And when somebody gives into pressure a lot, and listens to other people all the time to avoid problems..."
He leaned into her a bit more.
"... they actually call that a 'fawn response'. And, y'know, fawns are baby deer."
Kris winced a little harder at that. He never really thought about how that would sound to an actual deer.
"So every time... THIS happens, I just remember... how often I do that and how much I hate myself for it. And I remember that word."

He put his other arm around her and leaned in. He wasn't really sure what to say, but he wanted to do something.
"Sorry, Elle."
"NO NO it's not you, Kris. You're fine. You're more than fine." She leaned her head down and hugged him. "You help me remember that there's more to myself than just a stereotype."
"... Really?"
"Your confidence rubs off on me, Kris. Faha, look at me, I even flirt sometimes! And....... Y- You support me in ways nobody else has before! I- I know I seem like a popular girl who's got it all together..."
"I know, Elle." He tried to lean in more, but... well, couldn't.
"Faha, that's true. You're always there when I complain about a study partner ditching me or mom not letting me into the house or something. ... Thanks, Kris."
He hesitated a second, thinking of what to say.
"You're not just a fawn to me. You're everything good in this world. You're there when nothing else is. You're a safe place when everything else is bad. You get me. No one else does. Maybe that's why I wanna be so much like you. ......." He really hesitated here but forced it out, for her sake. "You're everything I wish I could be."

He was suddenly engulfed in warmth again. Another big hug.
He returned it.
(sniffle)
She was crying. Oh no did he screw this up some-
"Thanks, Kris. ....... (sniff) I don't know what you see in me. (sniff) Faha, y-YOU'RE what I want to be, you dork!! (sniffle)"
Kris was shocked and not really sure what to say, but he figured it was better to let her finish talking. He just hugged her a bit tighter.
"You can face the world and let all of this chaos just slide off of you like it's nothing! Whether it's Susie committing crimes or Berdly rambling about a game or Ms Alphys having high expectations of us or enemies in the dark worlds literally threatening our lives or me crying into your hair like an idiot--"
Kris was never going to wash that part of his hair again. ... Well, he might, but not willingly.
-- "you can just take it all and keep carrying on! You can raise a sword and shield and go into battle, literally! (sniffle) I can't do that..."

... "You're braver than you give yourself credit for, Elle."

That made her cry more.
Which made Kris a bit nervous, but soon she stopped (whether she was actually ready to or not, Kris wasn't sure) and smiled at him.
She wiped at her eyes and sniffled a bit.
"I really needed to hear all that, Kris. Thank you for being you. I'm so glad we reconnected. Let's NEVER be apart again."
...
He leaned in as close as he could. He wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her heart beating. Her precious, beautiful heart. "Never."

Chapter Text

Krispykreme - 11:46 PM
hey no l

Holidaygirl1225 - 11:46 PM
It's, "Noelle", Krismas. XD
What's up?

Krispykreme - 11:49 PM
i kno
im lazy
how do deers type

Holidaygirl1225 - 11:49 PM
... With my fingers, Krismas. XD

Krispykreme - 11:52 PM
no no like
like
deers with hoofs

Holidaygirl1225 - 11:53 PM
I don't think they use keyboards very much... If they did, stfcg89ijlwerdf987yj234rethukmkih uyoikjuy -- Like that, I suppose. XD

Krispykreme - 11:59 PM
u dont hav to get smart w me about it >_>

Holidaygirl1225 - 12:00 AM
Sorry. XP Couldn't resist.
Holidaygirl1225 - 12:14 AM
Is something wrong, Kris?

Krispykreme - 12:16 AM
no no ur fine
i promis

Holidaygirl1225 - 12:16 AM
Oh thank goodness!!

Krispykreme - 12:16 AM
im just thinkin
sry again abt today

Holidaygirl1225 - 12:17 AM
Oh, it's okay Kris! XP You guys understand the dark world stuff better now, so now if another dark world portal thingy (whatever it's called XD) springs up, you'll have a better idea of what kind of weapons to grab. It's actually pretty awesome that I got to help out with that!!

Krispykreme - 12:20 AM
yea
ur right
actualy idk
but i guess ralzay gets that stuff
Krispykreme - 12:23 AM
so its all good
u wana hang out again tomorow

Holidaygirl1225 - 12:23 AM
OF COURSE! <3

Krispykreme - 12:25 AM
u pick a place this lime
time
stupid Otto correct
i dont wana pick again

Holidaygirl1225 - 12:29 AM
Actually, can we go back tomorrow? To the castle place? XP I have an idea I think you'll like.

Krispykreme - 12:30 AM
ur Sirius???
omg
sure

Holidaygirl1225 - 12:31 AM
You should get to sleep though. It's important to have a consistent sleep schedule. XP

Krispykreme - 12:32 AM
yea ur right
i gotta sleep better
gn no l <333

Holidaygirl1225 - 12:32 AM
Goodnight, Kris! <333

Krispykreme - 3:27 AM
actualy u still awake
Krispykreme - 5:14 AM
ok ur right gn

Holidaygirl1225 - 8:01 AM
KRISMAS!!! XD Whyyyy?
Kris?

Missed call from Holidaygirl1225 (3 seconds, 8:02 AM)

Krispykreme - 8:03 AM
hey no l
sup

Holidaygirl1225 - 8:04 AM
We're supposed to hang out today, remember? XP

Krispykreme - 8:06 AM
o yea
see u later

Holidaygirl1225 - 8:07 AM
I was thinking we could meet up at 10:00.
Since you went to bed really late, I guess we'll have to make it for some other time. XD

Krispykreme - 8:10 AM
yea
after lunch
?

Holidaygirl1225 - 8:11 AM
Ok! Meet me outside Sans' store!

Krispykreme - 12:27 PM
k

---------------------

Kris was on his way downtown. Why they couldn't just meet up at the school, Kris wasn't really sure. Kris adored Noelle, but every now and then she just... did something like this. Not that he minded. Maybe it's a "good student" thing, like carrying planners with you everywhere. Kris wouldn't know anything about that. He probably could, if he cared about school, but eh... Nah.

He turned the corner, took a few steps, and there was... Sans' house?!

"Um... K- Kris?" Noelle's voice rang out behind him.
He turned around. He had totally walked past the store. Didn't even notice it was there.
There stood Noelle, looking at him confused.
He closed his eyes and rubbed at them a moment. Maybe she was right. Maybe he would actually have to start taking this sleep thing seriously.
... Ugh.

"Hey Noelle," he said sleepily, approaching and wrapping his arms around her waist.
"*Snrk*. Hi, Krissssss." She put her arms around his shoulders.

... She couldn't resist. "Sleep well, Kris?"

"No I - okay you're right," he said into her neck, "I'll sleep better from now on or... like... whatever..."

"Fahaha, at least try, Kris," she said.

"... Fine," he said, finally relenting, earning him one of those precious buck-toothed smiles. "So why did we meet here anyway?"

She let go and went over to the door. "C'mere."

He walked in. Kris always had awkward memories of this place. He was brought back to that day he and Susie stopped here and overheard his dad make an idiot out of himself with egg puns. This was also the place where "that guy" worked. Okay, just relax Kris, he pleaded with himself, The guy's name is on the sign but there have to be other employees, right? He has to take breaks, he can't work every--

"sup."

Ohhhh noooo.

"place got quiet after you stopped buying all my halloween costumes yesterday. had to listen to music to keep myself awake. got a song on my ipod here. yeah, remember ipods? anyway, it's called 'song that might play when you fight sans'. it's from the undertale soundtrack. wanna listen to it?"

It's called... what?... And it's from the...?
No, we're not doing that today. "Pass," Kris said in as politely of a voice as he could muster.

"Sorry, Mr Sans," Noelle called out politely, "but we really have to keep moving today!"

"well you guys aren't very gracious customers," Sans replied, grin remaining on his face like always, "you make me wanna put on 'megalovania' instead. that one really gets me fired up. good thing i don't have ear holes so i can't listen to music."

Noelle almost asked, but decided not to. Instead she took Kris' wrist and led him over to the costumes.
"Look Kris!" she squealed, trying-to-be-quiet-and-failing.
She picked up something and held it out in front of him. A brown headband with antlers on top.
"Deer antlers! Normal ones that won't fall apart or stick to your face with tape!" she said excitedly, face scrunching a bit.

Kris felt a lot of emotions in this moment. Noelle had taken the time to look for these and found them for him. It was such a simple gesture but he was so unbelievably grateful for it. Nobody else would understand this whole "deer" thing and would very understandably think Kris was totally insane. Not only did Noelle tolerate it, she actually encouraged him and enjoyed it along with him. Kris took them in his hands and, blushing intensely, gave her the most bland, flat, mundane face he could possibly muster.
"I don't have money on me," he said plainly.
"Noooooope! Nooope, nooope, I'm paying for them and that's final, Krismas!"

Kris wasn't gonna argue. They went to the counter and after some banter he was too tired to pay attention to between Noelle and that guy, Noelle paid and started to leave.

"... yeah, never paid so much for snow in my life. maybe i'll get into that business someday. well, have a good one, kids."

Kris didn't care and just started walk-

"hey kid is your first name actually christmas?"

That little -"Noelle, proceed," Kris growled through gritted teeth.
"Snrkkkkkkffffffffahaha, be nice Kris," Noelle giggled, half-dragging him out of the store. She was going to have a talk with Sans at some point, but not when Kris was already upset. It was better to step away for awhile.
"NOELLE PROCEED! PROCEED! PROCEEEEEEEEEEEEED!"

---------------------

"Oh yeah, the other antlers," Kris said, reaching down. They had left them by the supply closet doors yesterday. All the other stuff must have still been in Castle Town.

"Oh, I can get rid of th-"
"No!" Kris said at normal speaking volume, "They're important to me. They're like, a memory, you know? We made them together. I'm gonna keep them somewhere and when I look at them, I'll think of our adventures."

This little GOOBER. She giggled and pulled him into a hug. What did she ever do to get someone like this? No time for that right now, though! Plan Antlers was a go!

"C'mon, Kris, and make sure your new headband is on well!"

She jumped down. And only screamed a little bit this time! Kris followed behind. Thankfully sticking the landing, unlike last time.

Noelle excitedly held out her mirror (shuriken in the dark worlds). Kris took it. Basically the same antlers as before, just a little more "formed". Made sense, since these were meant to actually look like antlers and weren't just sticks with thread and tape.

Kris was excited but confused. "So, what's the plan here?"

Noelle looked at him determined. "Today, I'm gonna show you how to actually use these!" She flicked at one of his antlers and it made a little "boing" sound. As amusing as this was, it also made Kris slightly self-conscious and he had to ask:

"... Do real antlers make th-"
"No fahahaha," Noelle interrupted, "They don't. Anyway, when we were here yesterday I saw this dojo, and Asr- uh, Ralsei, told me you guys train there! Since antlers can be used as weapons, I thought we could go there!"

Kris' eyes widened. There was Noelle going along with his weirdness again. She had a whole date planned here based around this, just for the two of them.
And then his eyes dropped again.
"That sounds pretty cool," he said slightly-more-enthusiastically-than-normal.
He thought for a second. "But if it's okay with you, I have another place in mind that might be better."

"You do? Sure!!! Lead the way, Kris!"

People liked to tell Kris to "lead the way" a lot. Susie, Ralsei... It started to feel weird sometimes. It made sense today since, well, Noelle didn't know where the location was, but still.

He turned left and started walking. He could hear her hooves lightly tapping the rocky ground behind him so he kept moving. To that cliff he'd fallen down on the first day here. Then past it. Right turn. Small path. Finally, the cave. Kris had forgotten how dark this cave was and how tough it'd be to navigate.

"Um... So..." Kris started
Noelle just smiled.
"Your nose..."
"What about--... fffffFFFAHAHAHA, oh my gosh you want me to light the way, don't you Kris?!"
"I mean. That'd be pretty cool."
"Fahaha! Sorry Kris, but it's not something I can just do. It's kind of like blushing, I have t--"

Kris stood on his tiptoes, reached his arms around her neck and kissed her on the lips.
And held it.
And held it.

He let go and stood normally again, looking at her pleadingly.
Her nose had lit up.
"Fahahahaakriiiiiiiissssssss!!!!!!" Noelle covered her face with her hand-hooves. "It's a good thing you're a good kisser or I'd totally iceshock you right now!"
"Through the cave." He gestured, smiling.

The cave was full of uneven ground, rocks, and stalagmites, so even though it wasn't too long, it was still pretty hazardous in the dark. They both knew Noelle had healing magic, but it would be bad to waste it all getting to the location, then have her not have enough if one of them actually got hurt.

As they walked, Noelle just couldn't help but feel some self-doubt creeping in. She tried to play it off as a normal question.
"So, faha, did you actually just kiss me to make my nose light up??" she asked.

"... Huh? Of course not," Kris replied, at almost-normal speaking level, "I mean..." He blushed a bit. "I did think it'd be funny to see your reaction. You always have cute reactions to things."
Her nose lit up a bit more.
"But no, I totally meant it." He felt slightly more confident in the almost-total-darkness of the cave. "You've done so much for me the past couple days. I haven't shown it much, but I really appreciate it and wanted to show it somehow."
Her nose lit up more.

"Aww... Kris. You... Don't worry, faha." She gave him a quick hug. "I already know you appreciate me. You don't wear your emotions on your sleeve but that's okay. I know you. I can still tell."

"We really are the only ones who get how weird the other person is, hah."

"We sure are, Kris, faha! Oh hey, the end of the cave is up there!"

Noelle rushed ahead and almost tripped on something. Kris caught her arm.

"... Oh. Oops. Thanks Kris!!"
"No problem Elle. Please be careful, hah. Anyway, here."

He gestured out at the seemingly endless plains before them. From the mountainside and the cave, stretching out miles and past the horizon, was a massive field of cyan grass. Despite the nighttime around them, the cyan grass was still visible, somehow dimly shining in the darkness. Above them was a pitch-black sky with tons of cyan stars twinkling above them. A light, cool nighttime breeze ran through the scene.

Noelle stared wide-eyed in amazement. "Kris..."
As she said that, a couple waves of glowing light blue ran out from where she stood and through the grass.
"WHAT-" She jumped a bit and was completely stunned. More, brighter waves ran out.
Kris put an arm around her and started to explain. "It responds to sound. As the sound waves travel, the color goes out with them, kind of like water."

"Kris, that's beautiful..." she whispered in hushed, breathed amazement.

"Deer like nature so... it made sense," he said, "Also, everything said or done here is kept here. I don't know how, but the memory of it always stays in these fields and these waves. So..." he got a bit shy.
Noelle felt him tensing up a bit. She put her arm around him.
"In- in addition to giving us lots of space to practice," he continued, "I thought it'd be... kinda... y'know, romantic or whatever, if we practiced here, so there'd be a permanent marker of our love."

She thought she was going to start crying.
She wasn't going to start crying; she was a big girl and didn't cry over everything anymore, but she really had to fight to tell herself that.
She just responded with a big kiss of her own. This one more of a deer-type lick to his face than a lip-kiss.
"Y- You sweet little dork," she said, her voice slightly scratchy. "And you say you don't show me affection!"

Kris hugged her super tight. He loved when she was happy. There wasn't a lot to be happy about at the Holiday house these days, and he was so glad to make it better for her.
"So Elle, now that I kissed you and said something romantic, you ready to impale me with your antlers?"
"PFFFFFFFFAHAHAHAHA-"
She playfully shoved him. Tons of light blue waves flowed out through the grass. "I'm GOING to impale you for saying that!!!"
"You wouldn't dare," Kris replied teasing, "It'd be an unfair fight since I've never fought with antlers before."
"True!" she said, hoof-finger resting on her chin. "Okay, come out into the open some more."

They went far enough that they had tons of room around them, but could still see the mountainside where the cave was.

"O- Okay female deer don't normally do this, fahaha," she said nervously, "but I can still basically teach you."

She lowered her head and neck down, and pointed the ends of her antlers at Kris.
"It starts when one person does this."

Kris just stood, observing, not quite sure how to respond.

"You can either back off, and they'll pretty much always just let you go, or you can return fire by pointing your antlers back at them. ....... Psssssst, since we're just practicing, I want you to return fire, fahaha. I won't get upset like yesterday, promise!!!"

Kris chuckled a bit. He tried to mimic her movements. It was still a bit awkward having the extra weight on his head, but he balanced himself and pointed his new-found antlers at her.

"You're also supposed to put your ears back, but I don't think humans can do that, faha, so just try your best."

Kris tried to find whatever muscles there were at his ears and move them backward somehow. Kinda felt like he was moving his jaw more than his ears, but hey, his ears did move like, maybe one millimeter. Man, why could deer do this but he couldn't? It was so annoying how even something as simple as his ears seemed inferior compare--

"Ooh good job Kris!!" Noelle actually stood back up and clapped a little bit. Waves of light blue shone all around them from the sound. "So if your ears actually moved it was really subtle and I couldn't see it, but I could still feel the like, frustration!!! Did you do the hair thing, too??? Without me even telling you to???"

"... Hair thing?"

"Oh, um, I guess not then, faha!" she laughed and blushed a bit. "So when deer get upset about something, like when we get scared or angry or something, our hair or fur or whatever you want to call it, stands up straight. It makes us look bigger. A lot of monsters and animals do that. It's obvious to us but I guess it's less obvious to humans, faha. It makes sense since you don't have as much hair-stuff and don't communicate with it."

"... But I somehow did it anyway?"

"Mhm! I could feel it, even without you doing the action itself. Well, you know, think about it! If a deer lost their ears in an accident or something, there are still lots of subtle things that'd communicate their feelings. A lot of animals are sensitive to mood changes, but I guess we're even more sensitive, fahaha. ... You already knew that about me, though."

"Hah. No, come on, you're fine Noelle. Come on, show me what to do next." He pointed his antlers back at her.

"O- Oh! Yeah! Right! So next you basically just connect the antlers together."
Her head held down, she awkwardly walked up to him trying to pretend to be aggressive, and gently put their antlers together so hers were leaning against a couple of the points on Kris'.
"So whenever this happens, the idea is basically to intimidate your opponent. You don't actually hurt them unless it's an accident."
"... Good, good." Kris, having no idea about any of this, was very relieved by that information.
"It's not the only way, but the most effective way to scare them off is to catch them off balance. Um... This is your first spar, so it's probably better if you knock me off balance."

"How?" he asked.

"Glad you asked! So basically we just twist our antlers, and heads, slowly. Since it's easy to get antlers locked together, it's easy to make sure you won't lose track of your opponent until they're ready to run. So, try to turn your head... to the left. Clockwise. I'll try to resist and turn the other way, but you just keep pushing. ... I'll be okay I promise! Fahaha, don't make that face at me!!"
Kris made the face at her.
Still, he agreed.

He could immediately feel how awkward this was. It was like pulling something out of a thorn bush. It was like trying to get that controller that kept falling behind the TV. This odd sensation of technically being able to move, but something being in the way and impeding it. He tried to turn his head a little farther, and Noelle started to resist.
"You're doing good, Kris! You've almost got me now!"
He turned his head a little sharply and immediately Noelle lost her footing and collapsed comically into the grass.
Or it would've been comical if Kris didn't fall with her.

"Oh my gosh, I'm not going to mess with you Mr Scary Buck! You win!" Noelle said playfully, clapping a little bit. "... Are you okay Kris?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," he said, sitting up. Their antlers were finally apart and he could move on his own.

"Great! So yeah that's basically how it works! The only difference is how aggressive you are in fighting."

"... Huh?"

"So what we did was sparring. It basically happens when there's small disagreements, mostly between bucks. But sometimes - Fahaha! It's adorable - Little calves will sometimes try to fight each other like that even before they even have antlers! So they basically just point air at each other and attack with air but they take it very seriously."

"That sounds amazing, haha."

"It is!!! I hope you can see it someday, it's funny! The other kind of fighting is called an antler rush. It happens mostly during mating season when bucks act all competitive, so some people give it a kind of romantic 'oh, fighting for her honor' kind of connotation, but that's not quite true! That's just a stereotype! If something is threatening a deer or a deer's family, and the deer decide to fight back instead of running, they'll also antler rush the threat. It can actually be really lethal in that case!!"

The intricacies of deer culture swirled around Kris' head like the waves of sound and light beneath them. 

Noelle could tell he was a little confused.
"Basically, antler rushing is the more intense version of sparring. We can try one if you want. Buuuuuut I'd really like if we could practice normal sparring more first. But it's up to you!"

---------------------

Ultimately, Kris agreed to more sparring. Obviously it wasn't exactly how quadruped deer sparred, but it was close enough. Each match was pretty much identical to the first one. Like Noelle said, the point of these wasn't to hurt the other person, just to send a message, so movements were often surprisingly subtle and... not quite slow, but definitely not aggressive or fast.

After about 20 more matches where Kris won every single one with minimal effort, though, Kris had to speak up.

"Elle, ... this is fun, but I'm not going to learn anything if you let me win every time."

"Whaaaaat? I'm not letting you win! I'm just-" She looked at him. "... You're right, Kris. I just don't want to hurt you, or make you feel bad if I actually tried and won. It's demotivating to try something new and just have someone totally show you up, isn't it?"

"It can be, but you're a good teacher Elle, I'm fine."
"Promise?"
"Promise. Now, give this one your best shot. If I win, make me earn it."

She reluctantly nodded. She brought her antlers in close to him, and they locked their antlers together. She tried to push her head off to the side which he didn't expect at all, causing him to almost fall over right there, but he got his footing back. He tried to return it by pushing his own head in the other direction, but she anticipated it and compensated by pushing back.

While he was stunned, she pushed him back. As he stepped back, one of his antlers got loose from her grip. He tried to back up more, but she took the chance to take the one antler she still had and pull down on it.

He fell instantly. Noelle gasped.

"ARE YOU OKAY KRIS?!"

"Noelle I'm fine hah. It's fresh grass, I just fell a bit, I'm fine."

"... Oh. Yeah, faha. I guess that's okay then. Look at me being silly again. Ready to try again?"

There was definitely something to be said for practicing. Every move Kris made, Noelle seemed to anticipate it. He could tell he had a bit more strength, so he could probably win if he could just get one unexpected move in. It seemed impossible though because Noelle had way more skill.

He backed away. She responded with a light headbutt and, one time, by hooking his antlers and pulling him in, making him lose his balance either way.

He'd twist his antlers one way. She'd immediately know to either twist the other way and push back, or to twist the same way as him -- which took him in the direction he wanted, but way faster than he could keep up with, making him fall again.

Finally, something. Just something subtle about one of her moves gave him an idea. The way she pushed back against his antlers that last time, and her head slid off a bit to the side.

They pointed their antlers at each other. Kris started trying to push her back, which she resisted. 

This was it. Moment of truth.

He gave a firm shove. Then quick backed away. Then quick turned his head about 90º and went back at her, hooking her left antler with his left antler. Not being able to use her other antler for balance, she instantly fell over.

"Faha, haha, that was amazing, Kris!!" She looked up at him from the grass. "That was a pretty advanced move, I didn't even teach you that yet!"

"Hah. ... Thanks." Even standing over her in victory, Kris immediately got shy at being praised. Noelle's praise. That's a better trophy than all of yours put together, Azzy.

She sat up. "So yeah, the basic idea is just figuring out what it seems like your opponent's going to do, and then responding to it more quickly than they can actually pull it off. There aren't many moves you can really make with your heads basically locked together faha, so a little more training and you'll probably have it down pat!"

"... At least with you," Kris said nervously. "I don't know if I could anticipate what deer besides you would do."

"... Do you plan to spar with a bunch of other deer?"

"... Well. ... No."

"Then no worries! So, wanna try again, Kris?"

"Actually I'm starting to get tired," Kris admitted, sitting down with her, "This is tougher than it looks!"

She giggled into her hand-hoof-thing. "Yeah, I guess literally fighting with your head uses muscles you don't get to train very often. I'm pretty out of practice, too."

"You're out of practice?! And you're still THAT good?!"

"It's fine Kris!" she quickly tried to reassure him, "It's not like you're going to actually use this in the real world! We monster-deer don't really do this unless it's an emergency, and all-fours-deer would run away before they'd ever fight you!"

That was true, but Kris still didn't like it. He pouted a bit.

... Noelle had a silly idea.
She leaned in and hooked her antlers on his again.
Then she pulled him in closer and, before he could push back, she leaned in and kissed him.
Sitting closer to the grass, which was responding to their words and movements, she could see the blush more easily. She giggled to herself.

"... Okay, you win that one Elle, haha!"

She smiled at that.

"Hey Elle?"
"Hm?"
"Feel free to say no, but can we try just one antler rush?"
"Sure! Are you sure you're ready for that though?"
"Not sure at all, haha. But I don't want this to be over quite yet and we didn't get to practice that at all."

She stood up. "Okay! So basically it's the exact same thing, just more aggressive. Injuries are pretty rare, but are more likely. Also you charge at the opponent instead of moving slowly."

Kris nodded. Easy enough to understand. He hoped he was hiding his nervousness well enough.

Noelle saw Kris nod. He clearly understood what she was saying, but between his fear-scent and his movements, she knew instantly he was borderline petrified right now. Still, she felt like if she said anything, it might seem patronizing. Kris needed reassurance sometimes, but she didn't want it to seem like she was just coddling him, so she tried to be subtle.

"Okay Kris, this is our first practice so let's not charge at full speed yet, okay?"

The fear-scent instantly weakened a bit. "That's fair."

"Okay! You go over there," she pointed at some vague spot in the grass, "and I'll go over here," pointing somewhere vaguely behind her.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME OVER THERE KRIS?!"
"Noelle it's fine please speak normally haha"
"OH, SORRY KR- Sorry Kris! Um, count of three???"
"Sure!"

"OKAY- Okay! One!"
They both lowered their antlers.
"Two!"
They bent down a bit, ready to -- not quite run, but jog-really-fast.
"THREE."
They started run-jogging. Their antlers made contact, and it wasn't nearly as painful as Kris feared. Maybe their antlers would break, maybe Kris would poke her eye out, any number of fears had run through his head, but no, it was basically identical to their sparring matches, Noelle was just being a little more forceful this time.

He returned fire as best he could. After so many matches, he started to at least kind of guess what she was going to do, and he was right several of those times. Not every time, but enough to keep him in the fight. He pushed against her antlers. She pushed back. He quick jumped off to the side, making her push herself forward, nearly falling. She got her footing and pushed right back. He tried to push, but then she did the exact same side-jumping move against him, and he nearly fell instead.

He had a weird idea. He started off rushing at her normally, seeming like he was trying to push her backward, but then lifted his head up. In theory this should've made her lose her balance and given him an opening, but in reality, she somehow picked up on this immediately and used what little footing she had to push back against him. And she wasn't messing around, she was really shoving here.

Even if he was a bit stronger, he wouldn't last long with this obvious deficit in strategy. She twisted her neck a bit so one of her antlers was higher than the other one, which Kris wasn't expecting at all. He managed to stay standing, but just barely. He had virtually no recovery time before she ran into him again. 

Hey wait a minute.

He figured after a move like that, she'd try for a basic shove, which she did, and allowed him to counter her.

Speaking of running into...

He shoved a bit harder and moved his head to the side a bit, which caught her just slightly off-guard enough to give him a second to breathe.

When we went into the store this morning...

He tried to run at her, but she pushed her head forward and slightly upward, which was enough of a variation in technique to actually get him airborne for half a second.

... Noelle, you held the door for me! I'M supposed to hold it for YOU! I'm supposed to be a big chivalrous gentleman!

He somehow managed to land on the soles of his shoes, and kept his balance. Already though, she was running at him again.

... A gentleman, unlike that cashier SANS.

Their antlers were locked, and for a brief moment, neither one tried anything fancy. Both were just shoving, hoping the other would basically give up.

SANS. It's not enough he's making a joke of my parents' marriage, but he has to joke about my name, too.

He pushed a little harder than he intended to, and caused her to actually back up a bit.

THAT "MAN" DOESN'T EVEN DESERVE TO BE ON THE SAME PLANET AS NOELLE, MUCH LESS LOOK AT HER OR ACCEPT MONEY FROM HER.

Without even trying, maybe as a result of losing his footing, even Kris didn't know, but he somehow got his right antler hooked onto hers. He took the opportunity to just shove to his side as hard as he possibly could. Given that he didn't expect to do that, the chances of her expecting it were basically zero, so she immediately lost her balance and landed on the ground behind Kris.

---------------------

"Kris, I promise I'm okay, fahaha! Look, I didn't even need any healing magic!"
She was sitting in the grass. Kris was behind her on his knees. He kept hugging her and rubbing her shoulders and trying (and failing) to do the deer-kiss-lick thing on her cheek.
"Noelllllllllllllle, I hurt you, look at yourself!"

"Kris fahaha, that's the point of sparring. I don't mind, seriously! Kris, I'm the one who suggested this, remember???"

"Yeah but you couldn't have known th- .........."

"I couldn't know that sparring could hurt me?" She knew that wasn't what Kris meant, but had to tease him a bit anyway.

"No th- That's not- I meant- No-"
"Fahaha, you're right Kris, it is fun to tease people sometimes." She looked up at him and nuzzled his face.
He blushed like crazy.

She turned around and put her arms around his waist. She leaned into his chest.
"See Kris? I'm fine. Let's just relax a minute."

He still wasn't sure, but he didn't want to argue with her, so he just put his arms around her and snuggled in.
He could feel her heartbeat like this. It was so precious to him. His paranoia made him listen closer than usual. Her heartbeat was normal. They'd had this talk months ago: A deer's resting heart rate is about the same as a human's, but could be much faster under stress. Noelle had assured him more than once that this was okay, and normal, and wasn't a sign of an impending heart attack. Anyway, as he now gently ran his hand over the shoulders and back of her cloak, he knew her heartbeat was at about a normal rate for a human's, meaning she wasn't stressed out at all. He could finally accept that she actually was okay.

"Okay."

She was okay.

Practically asleep.

In his arms.

In this place.

Far away from all their problems.

This place that neither Carol, or Rudy's disease, or the Knight, not even Ice-E, nor anything nor anyone else could hurt them.

- could hurt her.

She was safe here.

She was vulnerable here, in his arms. And that was okay.

Each of her little breaths sent a tiny, faint blue wave through the grass.

She sighed a little bit, a slightly brighter blue wave going out.

Kris had an idea. He carefully removed his shoulder armor and cape. Being as subtle as possible while stretching himself, he put his shoulder armor on the ground behind him, bunched up his cape, and put it on top of the armor.

He laid back. Most of his body resting in the grass, his head propped up by the armor and cape. Thank goodness the cape was made of a soft material. This would have been a really stupid idea otherwise. One hand on her back, one hand in her hair, he spent a few minutes looking between her head, and the stars. He chuckled, thankfully not enough to wake her. It was like she was a warm blanket over him, and this beautiful sky was a second blanket. Feeling the slight breeze, but warmed up by her, he was comfortable, and slowly drifted off.

Chapter Text

"KRIS!!!"

Wh-

"KRIS, YOU [[Little Sponge]] AND [[Hochi Mama]] the [[♪♫Rudolph the Red Nose         ♫♪]]!!"

This isn't my bedroom. What's-
The grass beneath them was shining like crazy with this yelling going on. Grass?... Oh wait, that field in the dark world. Kris forgot for a moment he and Noelle had fallen asleep here. Oh no, hopefully mom wasn'-

"MY ESTEEM CUSTOMER YOU'VE ALWAYS SEEMED LIKE A [[♪♫Home, Home on the Range♫♪]] [[Where the Deer and the Antelope]] [[DIE]] KIND OF PERSON. A SALES[[corpse]]'S GOT AN EYE FOR THESE THINGS, YOU KNOW?!?!"

"... What? Spamton? Is that you?"

"HAEAHAEAHAEAHAEAHAEA IT SURE IS, KID!!! THE BEST [[FBI's Most Wanted -- White Collar Crimes]] [[1997]] HAS EVER SEEN! I KNEW I'D FIND AN ESTEEM [[light N e Я]] LIKE YOU IN A [[Field of Hopes and Dreams]]. GREAT NIGHT TO SEE THE STARS! GREAT NIGHT TO [[1 tree planted for every 1 million trees used, our commitment to a greener earth]]!!"

Suddenly Kris felt movement. What else could possib- Oh, it's just Noelle, thank God.

She started to wake up. "Hm?... What's going on?... Kris, is that that salesman?"

"Yeah, he was just leav-"

"I'M NOT [[shoot for the stars]] ANYWHERE KID!!! NOT BEFORE I GIVE YOU THE BEST DEAL I'VE EVER [[          ]]!!!"

Noelle's ears instantly perked up and her tail raised.
This is a sign that deer are alarmed, not happy.

Kris interjected, "... What are you even talki-"

"YOU WANNA HEAR MORE! NOW THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR! NOW THAT YOU'VE [[Becomed.]] [[♪♫Rudolph the Red Nose        ♫♪]] [[Roadkill]] YOU PROBABLY DON'T WANT THAT BORING [[Macaroni & Cheese]] [[Asbestos]] [[Eggnog]] ANYMORE."

"Um," Noelle interjected, "As long as it's non-alcoholic, I actually really enjoy egg-"

"I'VE DONE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH ON THE [[Web]] [[of Lies]] AND FOUND THAT [[♪♫All of the Other Reindeer♫♪]]S EAT GRASS."

"Um," Noelle interjected again, "Deer don't actually eat much grass unless other veget-"

"BUT YOU DON'T WANNA EAT THIS GRASS THAT WE'RE [[dying]] IN RIGHT NOW!!! THIS GRASS TASTES LIKE [[at the bottom of a dumpster]] [[burning]]!!! YOU WANNA EAT GRASS FROM YOUR OLD PAL SPAMTON G. SPAMTON!!! OUR FARM_FRESH [[email not sent]] [[click to learn more]] ARE FED WITH ONLY THE MOST NUTRITIOUS [[    ]] TO ENSURE THE HIGHEST QUALITY [[poison]] FOR OUR CUSTOMERS!!!"

"... By the way, um," Noelle tried not to look bothered, "In deer culture, 'roadkill' is actually pretty offensi-"

"I ALSO HAVE SALT LICKS."

"Ohh, okay!" Noelle immediately lit up. "I do like salt a lot! Kris, do we have-"

Kris had already lowered his head and ran up to Spamton.
BAM.
Spamton went flying.

"OOF!!! THAT WASN'T VERY [[human i remember yuo're pacifists]] OF YOU!!! THOSE [[tree branches]] HURT Y'KNOW!!! HAEAHAEAHAEA I GET IT KID, IT WASN'T A GOOD ENOUGH [[deal]] IT WASN'T A GOOD ENOUGH [[antitrust lawsuits]]. I WAS TOO GENEROUS TOO [[A Real Man of the Pipis, a Real Pipis Person]]. I'LL COME BACK WITH A BETTER [[Deltarune Tomorrow]]."

And with that, Spamton somehow moved back toward the cave without moving his legs.

Noelle's ears instantly relaxed and her tail did a swish.

"Uh..." Kris looked extremely uncomfortable. "Are... you... okay?"

"Yep! I am!" she replied happily. "I can't believe I almost fell for the salt licks though! I guess he really does know his customers, fahaha. Um, are you okay, Kris?"

"I have... a... complicated... history... with that guy. But yeah. I'm fine. Thanks."

Noelle smiled. "Well, we should prob- OMIGOSH Kris! Do you know what time it is?"

He got out his phone. "Probably doesn't work in the dark world but I can check," Kris replied nonchalantly. Oh, it was ◙▬☼:¶↕, everyone's favorite time of day.
After all, no catastrophe in history has ever happened when a clock read ◙▬☼:¶↕. Check for yourself if you don't believe me.

"We should probably get back home! What if it's some really weird time of day? What if your mom is looking for you?!"

Kris was too groggy to think about this very much, but he did notice she only mentioned his family, and not her own. He felt a twinge of sadness for a second, but then realized she was probably right. His mom was overbearing / "caring" like that. Noelle's anxiousness made her nose light up a bit, which would be convenient for navigating the cave.

"Lead the way, Noelle." Kris was way too glad about finally being able to say that to someone else.

Noelle rushed as much as she could through complete darkness. They got to the edge of town. Various lights from buildings and various darkners were walking around. Kris noticed. Noelle didn't. She just rushed for the... light thing that... takes them back up, whatever that was called.

Sigh.

Why did Spamton have to wake them up?
They floated back up. Kris felt his feet hit the tiled school floor.

"KRIS CHECK YOUR PHONE CHECK YOUR PHONE"

"... What? Oh. Yeah." He got out his phone. "It's 7:30. ... PM."

"Oh, phew!" Noelle breathed a sigh of relief. "We have a half hour yet! Plenty of time!"

"... Yep."

Noelle was such a morning person. Well, it was morning in the dark world. Even though it wasn't morning, it was still dark. But the time was- 
Kris was too tired to think about this.
The point was, Noelle was always really cheery whenever she woke up. Kris wasn't. Kris was tired and wanted to go back to sleep. Which was going to work well in this case, since it was evening in the light world.

"Okay Kris, back to that window we keep crawling through, faha!"

"Yeah---"
"Kris............" Suddenly he was interrupted by a deep voice to his right.
Both of them jumped. Noelle stomped.

Kris was no longer too tired to think about this.

This was it, they got caught. By who? Doesn't matter. It's over. Well, Kris could handle the trespassing charges. Noelle though... Oh no. She shouldn't be implicated in this. Wait, did the person see the dark world port--
"Kris, I've been waiting a long time for you..."

Finally, Kris got the courage to seriously look, and take in, the figure before him.

A man. He towered over both Kris and the taller Noelle, wearing all black, except for a white undershirt peeking out from his black coat. His skin(?) was pale white. He had an extremely unnatural smile as his black eye sockets (both of which had scars) started into Kris' soul.

Kris hated to judge his appearance, but this guy was terrifying. "Wh- Who are....?!"

"Kris... Kris Dreemurr... I knew we'd meet eventually. Haha, I suppose... I'm a bit of a... mystery man to you, aren't I?"

He spoke slowly and deliberately. Kris' eyes widened.

Noelle finally spoke up. "Uh... YES? You ARE a mystery! Who... Who are you?!"

"Haha. Oh... I'm... a scientist...
... turned teacher. I'm the new science teacher on the other side of the school."

Poor Noelle was on the verge of cracking up. "Fahaha... That's.. That's wonderful! W- Welcome to our school, Mr. Totally Normal Person!"

"Thank you. So yes, Kris, I've been waiting a long time to finally see you. I often come in, even on days off, simply because... The work of a science teacher is more than I expected to take on when I took this job. I knew you often broke in, so-"

Kris winced heavily. So did Noelle.

"Oh, don't worry, children. I've no interest in getting you in trouble. But knowing Kris often... visited, the school on off-days, I knew I could rely on him to deliver this message to Ms. Toriel. The faculty meeting for next Wednesday has been rescheduled." He handed Kris a piece of paper. "You're to give her the new day and time. I've been waiting a long time for you, it's 7:30! It began to feel like I'd never get the message to her!"

It was Kris' turn to be on the verge of cracking up. "Y- Yeah. I'll give this to mom- Ms. Toriel." Weirdo. "Thanks for not telling on us."

"Of course, of course. I have much more... significant concerns than a few children trespassing into a school. I admit I've been spending some of my 'grading papers' time for my own scientific endeavors... I believe I'm on the verge of true greatness. It's called... THE CORE."

Kris was a bit curious, but not enough to ask. He prepared to leave.
Noelle felt differently about the situation. "Oooh, what's that??"
Noelle please don't ask, let's just leave.

"It's a power station unlike anything else... It converts geothermal energy into magical energy. Something like this... could...
... revolutionize mobile phone batteries."

Kris felt underwhelmed.
Noelle got all starry-eyed. "Oooh, that'd be wonderful! Seems something's always going wrong with my phone battery..."

"Of course... If somebody were to use dark magic on it, say, create dark worlds inside the power station... The results could be disastrous. The summoner would likely be shattered across all of time and space... But why would that ever happen? Now go on, children. I've papers to grade and a school budget to... I've many papers to grade."

Kris wanted to leave, but something just seemed off. "Do you know Sans? Or Papyrus?"

"Sans... Ah... Yes, Sans... He... is my...
acquaintance who runs that convenience store. I've visited once or twice, but was unable to reach the shopping baskets. Off you go, now. One thing though, Kris. You may want to remove those antlers before leaving."

Kris' face turned red.
How does this keep happening?!
He instantly ripped it off his head.
"Thanks, Mr. ... Mr....."

"You're welcome. Have a wonderful day." He turned and began to walk. Suddenly his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and answered. "Hello?... ✌︎☟︎📪︎ ✌︎☹︎🏱︎☟︎✡︎💧︎📬︎ ✌︎☠︎❄︎☹︎☜︎☼︎💧︎✍︎ 👌︎✡︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 👍︎☹︎⚐︎💧︎☜︎❄︎✍︎ ☠︎⚐︎📪︎ ☠︎⚐︎📪︎ ❄︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ 🕈︎✌︎💧︎ 💧︎✋︎💣︎🏱︎☹︎✡︎ ⚐︎☠︎☜︎ ⚐︎☞︎ 💣︎✡︎ 💧︎❄︎🕆︎👎︎☜︎☠︎❄︎💧︎🕯︎ 🏱︎☼︎⚐︎☺︎☜︎👍︎❄︎💧︎📬︎ ✋︎ 💣︎🕆︎💧︎❄︎ ☟︎✌︎✞︎☜︎ 👎︎☼︎⚐︎🏱︎🏱︎☜︎👎︎ ✋︎❄︎📬︎📬︎📬︎"

"Kris? What language is that?"
"I just want to go to bed."
"That's not a language, silly, faha!"

...

"How does he know about dark worlds?"

---------------------

Kris opened the front door.

"Hello, Kris, dear," Kris' mother said, looking up from her book, "I hope you've- Ah, Noelle dear, you've come to visit as well!"

"Yep! Hi, Ms Toriel!"

"Haha, please, call me Toriel. No need for formalities. I've been telling you this... since you were a toddler."

"I know, sorry Ms Toriel!"

Ms Toriel went to say something, but just chuckled and returned to her book.

---------------------

Kris crashed (krashed, rather) into his bed, face-first.
"Wm mmf mrm m mn-"

"... Kris dear," Noelle replied timidly, "I can't understand you, faha!"

He rolled over. "Why is everyone I talk to insane?"

She smiled. "They're just eccentric, Kris. Although..." Her eyes got a bit wide as she sat at the edge of the bed. "That salesman and his glitchy voice... trying to sell us poisoned grass... Okay maybe that was a bit much, faha!"

Kris just stared at the ceiling a moment, thinking. "Noelle, do you think it's bad that I'm still tired after sleeping so much? It was 7:30 in the light world so I know that's... almost 8 hours in the dark world."

She giggled. "You don't have a regular sleep schedule. You stay up too late and look at screens and don't get good REM sleep. That's really important for a human!"

Kris grumbled. "I'll fix that someday."

Noelle booped him. "You promised me this morning!"

Kris couldn't hide a smile, but still grumbled. "I'll fix it a day where I haven't already slept for 8 hours in another world."

She giggled. "Fair enough I guess."

"Noelle, how do deer sleep?"

"... Kris, we've had tons of sleepovers. We sleep just like humans do. ... Oh! Yeah, you mean those deer, fahaha."

She stood up.

"Well, it's like... It's kind of the opposite of how we sleep actually! They don't really have beds, they seem to just sleep wherever." Her eyes got a bit wide. "Though they do have to hide from predators. So they tend to find out-of-the-way places to kinda hide. Like bushes or ditches or something. Up against a big object if there's nowhere better. Being near food or water helps a lot, too. And while we both need REM sleep, they don't. They take a bunch of short like, few-minute-long naps. Sometimes they don't even sleep a full minute!"

"Wish I could do that," Kris said, rolling back onto his stomach. "Df thf fllp lf thf?"

Noelle giggled. "Kris, again, I can't... Are you asking about sleeping positions?"

"Mmf."

"Um, I don't think they have them! They just sleep however's comfortable, I guess! Um, but again, they get scared really easily, so they'll like, turn their heads a certain way to listen for danger. They never really go into a deep sleep like we do. Oh! They can sleep with their eyes open! Cool, huh?"

Kris forced himself to move his head a bit so Noelle could understand him. "Always wished I could do that."

"Faha, me too. I can't do that. I slept with my eyes open one time, but that's when I was really sick and I think I was having a bad dream or something because Dess woke me up and said I was acting weird... I can't do it willingly. Oh! And sometimes but not always, they sleep without putting their head on the ground! And they sleep facing magnetic poles!"

"How?"

"How to which one? Well, I guess it doesn't matter, I don't know the answer to either one, faha! I guess deer monsters didn't inherit the thing that lets you know where the poles are. And I've tried sleeping with my head up! Especially when I was studying! It doesn't work. I just end up with a face full of pencil marks... Oh! And their sleep position depends on the season sometimes! When it's cold they sleep facing south, and when it's hot they sleep facing north! I've... never asked one, fahaha, but people think it's because of the position of the sun."

Kris fought through his half-asleep state enough to actually sit up. "... Deer culture is really, really complicated, isn't it?"

"When you're a wild deer, I guess so, faha! I don't do any of that."

"Man, I figured you'd just say, 'they sleep like dogs' or so-"

"Sometimes they do!" Noelle interjected happily.

Kris continued, "... Or something, and that'd be it. Crazy how much, like really minute details go into something as simple as sleeping."

"Oh, and a lot of times they use that time to digest food. Deer are ruminants, um, it's kind of gross, but they sometimes barf up meals! It's called 'cud', and they- Before you ask Krismas, I am absolutely not helping you 'become a ruminant'."

Kris just couldn't help himself. His childhood troll side was still in there somewhere. "But Noellllllllllllllllllllllllllllle! What's the point of learning about deer culture if I can't take part in it? I wanna eat barf!"

"Omigosh Krismas that's disgusting, fahahaha! Why can't you just eat Christmas cookies and pancakes like I do?!"

"You're a deer monster, you're like, a poser deer!" Kris said, laying back on the bed, "I wanna live the authentic deer lifestyle!"

"Pfffffffahaha, a POSER deer?"

"Yeah! You don't face the north pole when you sleep OR eat cud!"

Noelle put a finger up to her chin. She knew how to handle this. "Okay Krismas, let's go downstairs and ask Ms Toriel to make us some food. Then, we can show her what a great deer you've become! We'll barf up her loving homemade-"
"NOOOOOOOOO" Kris immediately shot back up, "NOT MOM!"

She laughed. "That's what I thought, Krismas. Christmas cookies and pancakes."

Darn that Noelle. She had gotten way too good at this over the years. Maybe Kris had pranked her too much when they were little; maybe if he spread these moments out more, she wouldn't have been able to figure out how to counter him, figure out his weaknesses. Oh well, Kris was too tired to deal with this.

He laid back on the bed and closed his eyes. Sigh.

Noelle realized he was falling asleep. She looked at the bed. "Here, Kris, lift your head a second." She put a pillow under his head.

"Mmh. Actually." Kris sat up. He opened his phone.

Compass.

"PFFFFF Kris are you actually-"

He looked. Conveniently, his bed was almost facing north anyway. And thankfully the floor was carpeted. He got a corner at the foot of the bed and brought it outward a little bit. 

He climbed back into bed.

This ridiculous, adorable goober.
She got the blanket back and put it over his back and legs.

Kris mumbled. "No ditches or anything to hide in. But we should like... Make that someday. With the other blankets or... something."

Noelle smiled. "Like a deer version of a blanket fort!"

Kris smiled. "Yeah, I miss blanket forts."

"Omigosh me too! They were so cozy!"

"Mhm."

Oh, Kris was already asleep.
She fully intended to remind him tomorrow to sleep better. That dark world excuse was a one-time thing.
... Noelle wasn't tired though.
What to do...
She laid back with her own head on the pillow and got out her phone.

An asleep Kris wrapped an arm around her stomach and his head on her shoulder.

Oh, faha.
Well, that settles that then.
... This caused Kris to lie at a very slightly different angle that wasn't magnetic north anymore.
... She decided not to wake him up about it.