'Cause it's not Romantic, I Swear

   School dances were never really Kris's thing. Well yeah, it sounds fun in theory, but unless you have someone to hang out with there, you just end up feeling miserable the entire time. Having to stand around and watch all of these other people have fun while you're just kinda... there. The overly-priced concession items definitely didn't help its case. So they never went. Or rather they didn't, not until now. They stood alone in the corner of the hallway by some lockers, hands in the pockets of their dark blue suit. Groups of people filled the hallway. Some were talking, others were dancing, some were doing... Kris looked over to a circle that had formed in the middle. Snowy was telling awful puns with a little karaoke microphone that he'd brought from home. People were throwing tomatoes... whatever the hell that was.

   Susie had managed to rope them into this somehow, saying how fun it'd be if they went and thrashed the whole place. It was pretty clear to them now that she had just wanted an excuse to see Noelle without being completely obvious about it. Which, in fact, was what she was doing right now. Kris could see the two of them across the school hall. Susie was leaned up against a table with a big grin on her face, the cup of punch that was in her hand had been crunched up beyond saving. Noelle began to laugh as Susie dropped the cup and gestured wildly. They couldn't make out what the pair were saying from here, but their guess was that Noelle had brought up Susie's tail that the coat of her suit failed to hide.

   Well, as much as they liked standing here by themself, they figured they should just head outside. The bright, multicolored party lights were giving them a headache, anyway. So they quietly made their way in between the crowds, probably interrupting some couples in the process, until they came to the door.

   The ancient hinges squeaked as they pulled it open. Cold winter air greeted them when they stepped outside, the wind blowing through their hair gently. Even though they were out of the building, they could still hear the cheesy pop music that the school DJ was playing. They walked right along the school wall until they came across the corner with flowerbeds. Asgore had asked them to help him plant these before autumn ended, Forget Me Nots and Camellia 'Lavinia Maggis' if they were remembering clearly. He'd decided to go with a pink and blue theme this year, but the stamens of the Camellia's speckled the flowers with drops of golden yellow. Kris crouched down, putting themself in between the wall and flowers. They weren't sure if they should just go home or not. While yeah, they weren't doing much, they didn't want to accidentally upset Susie if she came looking for them. So they stayed there, wrapped in the jacket of their suit and looking up at the quickly darkening sky.

   Their breath hitched as they heard the door creak open once more. At first, they thought that Susie might have seen them leave and came to see what they were doing, but the footsteps definitely did not belong to her. Barely audible taps came closer and closer until a familiar bird peaked his head around the corner. They let out a little sigh.

   "Oh, Kris, I thought that you might have went home already! What are you doing out here, it's freezing?" He questioned, leaning his shoulder up against the wall.

   Kris shrugged, "Uh, just not a big fan of parties, I guess."

   "Really?"

   "Yeah."

   "Hm." Kris looked up at him. Berdly was still standing at the corner, fidgeting with a loose string on his jacket. He glanced around for a couple of seconds before walking over and taking a seat beside them. They smiled slightly and followed his gaze, which was just directed at the flowers.

   "Me neither. For one, the volume is so unnecessarily deafening. Like really, does it need to be blaring to where you can't even hear your own thoughts!? He complained as they chuckled, "I mean, if it just sounded like it does out here the whole time, it wouldn't be as atrocious! Ugh, and don't even get me started on those lights! Who decided it was an acceptable idea to put those in?" Kris was resting their head on their hands, watching Berdly ramble on about why he hated school dances. They had always liked listening to him rant. While having to hear someone literally squawk about stuff might sound annoying in theory, it had become almost calming to them for some reason.