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Being the quiet person in town had its small set of advantages that one could call "Kris's special talent". They had a knack for using their eyes more than their mouth. Ironic, considering how they hid their eyes from everybody.
They were aware that it was a bit creepy, rightfully so. After all, there's a reason why they were seen as a weird kid for most of their life. But when you don’t have much to say, or anything to say at all, there's not much else to do other than to listen and observe.
The lunch bell rang, as usual. Kris and Susie sat at their preferred table, facing each other. Susie's tray was stuffed to the brim with the cafeteria's assigned daily lunch (or as much as they'd let her have), crayons, random substances, and, as a treat, some fresh moss she and Kris had hunted down earlier in the morning.
This time, though, Noelle had decided to join them for lunch. The antlered girl desired to spend some time with both her childhood friend, and her relatively new friend. Ironically, despite the duo's bond being as thick as thieves, they barely talked during lunchtime. They didn't need to; Lunch was the moment they could re-supply the energy they needed for their daily schemes and mischief around town.
So when Noelle struck up a conversation, it was the same as always: she'd talk about the day, school, homework, among other things, and Kris would listen. That's all they ever did, ever since they were kids. She carried the conversation alone, as if she were talking to herself, while Kris would nod or give one-word responses.
However, this time, Kris wasn’t listening; they were distracted, their attention was shifted to something way more interesting than what their ears were hearing. They swore that they caught Susie doing something… strange?
In the corner of their eyes, they saw how, whenever Susie lifted a spoonful of the very gross-looking mashed potatoes, she'd put it near her mouth and… stick her tongue into it?
Her tongue darted toward the spoon at such speed that it would be nigh-imperceptible for anybody else to notice. Kris was glad that they hadn't cut their hair in a while; their bangs curtained their face in a certain way that granted them the privacy needed to catch onto her without being noticed.
As she lifted her spoon to take another bite, they mentally recounted how it happened to make sure they were not seeing things:
She took a spoonful.
She lifted it to her mouth.
She opened her mouth.
The spoon was almost inside her maw.
Then, at the last second, instead of biting the spoon with her maw, her tongue would dart towards the spoon, taking off all the mashed potatoes instantly.
It went directly into her mouth.
Rinse and repeat.
Original GIF by Oog
"…Kris?" A cheery voice called out for them.
Kris couldn't believe it; they had been friends for the longer part of a year, and they had never noticed the peculiar way she ate her food. How many times had they been to the diner to eat, and they somehow never noticed?
"Krismas?" An ignored antlered girl still called out.
Kris prided themselves on being someone who noticed the smallest of details, even if they didn't do much with the information attained. But this was definitely something they would’ve noticed before. How many other habits did Susie have that Kris never caught?
"Dreemurr!"
Their focus was abruptly interrupted by Noelle, her usual airy voice now louder.
"Helloooo! Earth to Krismas? I asked you a question, silly!"
Kris shook their head, as if trying to reboot their brain. "Sorry, repeat that?"
"Do you want to go to the library later for the group project? Since you and Susie are a group, you both can join Berdly and me!"
"Heh, you mean the ‘librarby’?" Susie interjected with a snicker, her mouth full of slimy mashed potatoes.
Kris chuckled at her remark. Of all the things she'd pay attention to, the misspelling of the library sign that brought the town shame was the only piece of information that managed to get through her thick dragon head.
‘Dragon… she's a dragon monster, right?’
At that thought, a sudden realization occurred to the human.
She had mentioned it once or twice, though there wasn't much to back up this claim. Yeah, she was big, intimidating, strong, and had a roar that could shake the entire school. But she never really acted like a dragon, did she? How is a dragon supposed to even act like? The only information Kris had about them were silly fantasy books and… scandalous drawing guides.
So Kris set out to do the thing they did best: sit back and observe, write down their findings, and come to a conclusion. Why was she acting like that? What else could they uncover? Is this the beginning of a major conspiracy? Maybe identity fraud?
Kris's eyes then darted back to Noelle. Oh, right, Noelle was talking to them about something.
"Sure," they answered, sounding uninterested. It was not at all something they wanted to do, but they were looking forward to spending more time with Susie…
-Err... to observe her, of course. Yes, that’s what they meant! Purely scientific observation.
Susie lifted the rest of the tray and shoved the remaining of the food (paper wrappings and all) into her mouth like the living garbage disposal she was. With a resounding snap of her teeth, she devoured everything in seconds.
"A- Aren't you worried you're going to choke?" Noelle said, worry tinging her voice.
The purple monster effortlessly swallowed her meal without difficulty; she sent her meal down the hatch in one audible swallow, letting out a satisfied sigh. "Wuzzat?"
"…N-Nevermind."
"Suz, want my leftovers?" Kris chimed in, already knowing what her answer would be.
"OH, HELL YEAH! SWEET!" Susie enthusiastically replied. Without batting an eye, she swiped Kris's tray and similarly swallowed the contents of it as earlier. Kris, meanwhile, took careful consideration of her machinations. This was probably as Susie-like as she could get; maybe dragon monsters had this type of tremendous appetite, as well as ironclad stomachs. More research had to be done, of course.
Kris still couldn't help but crack a small, smitten smile. "Heh, cute."
"WHO YOU CALLIN' CUTE, NERD?!" She screamed, her mouth full of food.
"No one, no one." Kris backed out.
"Thought so," she retorted, a hint of a smile and a blush cracking through her tough-girl persona.
The rest of the school day passed as normal. Kris wasn’t paying attention to Alphys — as always — as she gave the class further instructions on their new class project. After all, Kris already had a better project going on. Though their ongoing investigation had to be put on hold since Susie sat behind them.
Unfortunately, simply turning their chair away from their teacher to stare at Susie for the rest of the period would be considered "rude" and "disrespectful" for the class, and well for normal social conventions. Darn this "normal" society. They were getting in the way of science!
When the bell rang at last, the duo set off to do… well, whatever they felt like. They never really planned their days out, especially on a Friday.
Their meandering through town led them to the lake, the usual place they'd go when they had nothing else to do. They considered it "their" place, somewhere where they could spend all the time they wanted together, not necessarily doing anything. Sometimes, sitting around and being in each other's company was enough activity for both of them.
However, Kris's mind was in hyper-observant mode. In fact, they let Susie lead for the first time in a while, just so they'd be able to observe her better.
But damnit! Kris hadn't caught anything yet; Susie was just being Susie, nothing out of the ordinary. Kris almost thought that maybe the spoon thing was just one weird quirk of hers, a weird habit she'd developed.
Nevertheless, they couldn't waste their time together. The two teenagers sat down on the shore of the lake, sitting shoulder to shoulder. The fresh breeze ruffled both of their hair, carrying the scent of the lake in front of them, while the sun kissed their skin with warm energy. It truly was the perfect temperature and climate to stay out.
The human couldn't help but feel at ease; perhaps the observation could wait. After all, spending time with their friend was a sacred thing they shared. The last thing Kris needed was for their brain to make up an excuse for doing "homework" about their best friend.
After all, it was a nice day out, and they could observe her anytime they wanted. They breathed in the fresh air and were thankful that they had a special place to share.
Kris glanced at Susie beside them, about to comment on how great the weather was (What were they, forty years old?), and as soon as they turned their head, they noticed…
Original GIF by Oog
Her unique posture… How her mouth was open, as well as her head pointing up to the sun directly above her… She looked like she was basking.
Basking? Is that right?
Huh, they guessed this was… something they've never noticed she did before. Kris took note of it. Another thing they realized was how she sat atop the gravel. Her legs were completely sprawled out, taking up a roomful of the area around her, and her hands were buried under the rocks.
Even her tail (which definitely didn't exist) was moving slowly under her jacket. It looked almost like clockwork. Small, deliberate movements that seemed automatic. But did so in a way that Kris recognized as an involuntary emotional response.
In Layman's terms. She was enjoying the sun, a lot.
Curious… very, very curious…
It wasn't long until they both decided it was time to go to the librarby and meet with Noelle and Berdly. Actually, the messages from their study group chat decided it was time to go, but Kris and Susie decided to take the responsibility anyway.
They both groaned as they walked back to civilization. It truly was a travesty that society demanded them to be productive members of their class and do their homework, instead of relaxing or kicking ass in an alternate dimension.
As expected, the study session was just as, if not more, boring than Alphys's class. Susie was at least expecting the computers to work so she could play some online games. But the internet was — again — down and under maintenance. She swore that Hometown was completely disconnected from the rest of the world in terms of technology. How was it possible for the internet to be down for what seemed like months in the entire town?
It didn't help that Berdly's grating voice was starting to irritate both her and Kris. Even with Noelle in the mix, all the scholar-lingo she spouted made no sense to either of them. The combination of nerd-jargon and academic speech was the perfect combo for both of them to disassociate and make their combined brain cells stand on truce.
The doe and the bird discussed their plans for the upcoming project, practically forgetting their two other classmates in the room. It wasn’t like they were offering anything to the discussion; in fact, it was the opposite. Kris slightly shook their head to see if anything could make it through their ears.
…Yeah, they got nothing.
They looked over at Susie to see how bad she had disconnected from the real world and… Huh…
Her eyes… were looking in different directions.
She was so out of it to the point where her eyes had completely ignored what was in front of them, in favor of looking on their own separate ways.
Well… maybe she had a lazy eye, not that strange. They remembered how Asriel had a bit of a lazy eye himself before he got prescription glasses.
Regardless, they continued to watch Susie, observing her for a bit longer and…
Original GIF by Oog
What the… Were her eyes blinking separately?!
Ok, now that was weird, very weird. This wasn't the typical Susie-brand of weirdness that they were so accustomed to; it was almost uncanny to see. It was like they were viewing a bad caricature of the dragon beside them.
Despite that, it was also a hilarious sight to witness. The human was lucky that Susie was so completely out of it to notice them staring at her, and that Noelle and Berdly were too busy, or else they might have exploded.
Kris couldn't help but let a small snicker come out of their mouth, a sound that interrupted the derailed thoughts of the dragon beside them. Her eyes straightened out and focused on the giggling human.
"Hey! What 'cha laughing at? Dork," Susie screamed-whispered to Kris.
Kris would've been caught like a deer in headlights; their research would have lost all funding and credibility. However, their innate observational skills brought them a way out, an opportunity they couldn't waste, especially if they wanted to hide their ulterior motives.
"You got mashed potatoes on your teeth," Kris replied, pointing at their own teeth.
"Oh, sweet, second treat," She used her tongue to scoop up the remainder of her lunch out of her sharp teeth.
Kris couldn't help but smile at the sight.
The Study session was finally over, thank the freaking Angel. Noelle and Berdly probably had half of their project done, while Kris and Susie had… way less than that. Maybe a quarter done? Nah, too optimistic. They did nothing, no progress at all.
And that hard work trying not to fall asleep deserved some treats!
The duo went ahead to ’Sans to satisfy their cravings. Kris cursed under their breath, finding it unbelievable how the only available grocery store in this town was of that darn skeleton. It had to do.
They headed over to the candy section, the large selection of sweets overwhelming them both. Even if they had their favorites, they were always on the lookout for new flavors and types of candy to try out. It seemed like Sans had gotten a new supplier, because it had expanded quite a bit with an array of exotic flavors.
"Yo Kris, you down to try this new 'Roasted garlic' candy? Sounds awful, so it’s gotta be great!”
The mere thought of trying that made their face scrunch up in disgust; they responded with a plain tongue out and a shake of the head.
"Suit yourself," she said as she put it in her own cart.
Kris found a set of caramels labeled with a brand-new "butterscotch pie" flavor. How the hell would that taste like butterscotch? Well, more specifically, like a pie? They had to try that out.
Kris then noticed something felt… off. Not exactly toward Susie, but rather. The store itself, it felt… dry. Sure, that'd be the case for any medium or big store with a big AC unit. However, ’Sans couldn't be bigger than their living room.
Kris approached the skeleton custodian regarding their question. His response was… not insightful.
"No idea why the store would be… bone-dry. Maybe the AC is making the store tombstone-cold dead. No idea, really. I didn't work the graveyard shift."
They just gave up looking for an explanation after the 6th bone pun.
Kris then walked back to Susie, who was now looking at the frozen treats inside the refrigerators. From a distance, they could see the purple girl licking her lips in anticipation of the frozen treats before her.
…No, actually, it wasn't because of that…
Kris knew how she'd usually lick her lips whenever she came over to eat some of their mom's pie. And it was nothing like that.
They observed more carefully…
Her tongue darted outward and proceeded to lick the sides of her own mouth, as if she were purposefully moisturizing her scales. She repeated this action all around her muzzle. Before Kris could stop gawking and say something to Susie…
Her tongue darted outward a final time and…
Original GIF by Oog
WHAT THE HELL?!? Kris stood still, their eyes blinking rapidly, as if trying to comprehend what they just witnessed. They were lucky they were trained at the "Nonchalance School for Aura-Farming Teens"; otherwise, their cover would have been blown.
But it was true. Susie had INDEED reached out with her own tongue and licked her own eye.
They decided to… write that down in their head. Well, there was no need for that, actually. Because that sight was definitely burned into their frontal lobe and their retinas.
With no other words exchanged, they went to the registers and paid for their stuff. The cashier (the only one being sans) gave them a wave and goodbye, saying,
"You know, y'all should hurry. You know how skeletons know when it's about to rain? They feel it in their bones."
Whatever, they both thought. They knew better than to listen to that skeleton.
They stepped out of the store. The second the door closed, a clap of thunder resonated in the area, deafening. They winced with their eyes squeezed shut, and the second they opened them…
It was raining. Very hard, actually.
"God dammit," they said in unison.
Normally, the duo would welcome a rainy day like this. They got accustomed to jumping in water puddles and being general nuisances until they were both too cold and tired. However, they now have their newly acquired snacks on hand, which is now a risk of getting soaked by such comically well-timed rain. The timing couldn't have been any worse.
Not only that, but this was most definitely some freak rain; never had the two teenagers witnessed rain this heavy-hitting in Hometown. Within mere seconds, they were dripping wet head to toe from the pouring weather; they thought they'd be less wet if they jumped headfirst into the lake.
They ran towards their secure shelter, Kris's house. Unfortunately for the house and its clean and freshly-vaccumed rug, it had to take the brunt of Mother Nature’s holy wrath as Kris and Susie left a trail of mud and water from the rain. The moment Toriel saw the two, soaked to the bone, she quickly handed them towels to dry off.
But a towel could only do so much when you’re leaving puddles on the ground. So they had to leave their snacks on the table and sit on the sofa with their very damp clothes still on, putting towels on the cushions so they wouldn't soak up all the moisture they had accumulated.
After twenty minutes or so, Toriel, who had left them to be in the living room like the soggy sponges they were, came back with a stack of clothes in her hands, fresh from the dryer.
"Here you go, children. I’ve got some nice, warm clothes for Kris and for you, Susie... Well, I have these spare clothes, hand-me-downs from Asriel."
"Er- thanks, Miss- Um, Toriel, but I think I'll pass, it's uh... a dragon thing, we don't wear other people’s clothes, yeah."
"Oh, well, that's quite all right, I'll give you more towels instead then. Wouldn't want the sofa to become a mess, I had just cleaned it!"
A couple of 'thank yous' were directed at the motherly caprine, who left to retrieve more towels for the dragon-made sponge. Kris, however, was now even more suspicious of Susie than before. She just made a hard confirmation that she was a dragon, they thought as they left for the bathroom to change out of their mushy clothes.
But what they’ve been seeing so far…
Kris walked back from the bathroom, having reflected on this whole situation and what they had accumulated in their "dragon-log." It truly was a tough observation period. And their intuition told them that they still hadn't seen the last thing about it. They planted themselves on the sofa, at their respective side, across from the wet mess that was the "dragon" in their home.
"Uuuggghhhh, this SUCKS!" Susie exclaimed.
"Sucks to be you," Kris chimed in, teasing her.
"I'm wet, angry, hungry, and now I'm FRIGGIN' cold too, ugh."
"We at least got the snacks, help yourself."
"Not yet! My hands are still wet and clammy, and it's gonna suck when the chips stick to me and get damp on me." She huffed, her arms crossing over her chest in frustration.
Kris thought the weirdest of Susie was over, after the whole eye… thing. Just remembering made them shudder. But it was nothing compared to what they were about to both witness and experience.
Susie glanced at Kris and proceeded to make her move.
The purple girl suddenly climbed away from her designated spot on the couch on all fours, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
She crawled on her hands towards Kris, while Kris was lying on their back with their attention glued solely on her. Then, with a resounding SPLAT-!
Original GIF by Oog
Okay, okay, okayokayokay, cool cool cool cool, yeah.
KRIS WAS NOT TRAINED FOR THIS.
Any remaining wetness in Kris’s hair was steaming away with how red and hot their face became. They had NO idea what to do in this exact moment.
Susie was right there, lying on Kris's front, her muzzle lying on their chest, her arms wrapping around their torso. Her eyes closed, as if they were the most comfortable pillow in the universe.
"Heh… warm," Susie said in an almost sweet voice, her mouth muffled on Kris's now-dampened sweater.
Kris' mind, on the other hand, was racing. Experiment be damned, this situation was not in the playbook or any scientific journal they've ever read (Not that they have ever even read any). Social conventions also had no rule on what to do, leaving them to the best-friends pact to see what they could do.
With a shaky hand, they slowly lifted it to Susie's wet hair and started to… stroke it. A small circular motion on the top of her head. They were petting her, petting their best friend. Kris - a scrawny, lanky, and very weak human - was petting Susie, Hometown's resident bully dragon, as if she were some cat.
What had their life come to?
A sudden reverberation shook the entire house. Not from the thunder outside, but rather, the dragon-shaped friend on top of Kris. A deep growl emanated from the dragon. The sudden sound terrified the human to the core. They couldn't help but shudder as they thought about how petting a dragon must be punishable by death. They braced themselves, preparing for the worst. But that never came.
It then dawned on Kris that Susie wasn't growling. She was bellowing, a deep regurgital motion her body made in response to their petting. Not only that, but it seemed she… deeply enjoyed being petted, as she flashed Kris a dopey smile while lying atop their chest.
To top it all off, her tail, that small nub that she hid from everyone in town, even from Kris, was now proudly moving itself in a calm, almost soothing manner. It wasn't the wagging in the way they'd observed when Toriel gave her ham sandwiches for lunch. It was the slow, content type of wagging that confirmed her feelings towards the head scratches she was receiving.
Kris couldn't do anything but keep at her head, lest the hypnotic wagging stop. They thought it was… cute. But she could never know that's what they thought.
Kris guessed that's all they needed for their data collection. They can now get to work.
…As soon as they get this huge monster off of them…
…They could wait, actually.
The storm passed, and for the rest of the day, the two teens finally got to snack on their candy haul. As the day drew to a close, Susie excused herself to get back home.
‘Perfect’, Kris thought. The next step of their plan could commence.
Which was the worst part, actually… research.
And off they went into the deepest parts of the internet (Moogle) for their very intricate and detailed investigation (Monster-pedia), gathering all the evidence in a top-secret document compiler (Scribe).
They could've used all that energy and effort to do their group project homework. But this was far more important.
Kris wrote down what they had witnessed today.
-The subject had eaten her food by extending her tongue towards her spoon, as if trying to catch it. Motion looked instinctual, not forced; this was not a bit or joke she was doing. It was a habit or an instinct to do so.
-Unique posture when in warm areas, mouth hanging low and open (mouth-breater, lol). Legs and hands spread accross the gravel. Retaining heat? Absorbing heat? Possible basking posture.
-Observed eyes looking in different directions at once, first hypothesis: Amblyopia, coloquially known as lazy eye, still a possibility. However, secondary observation. Subject appeared to blink eyes independently of each other, as if imitating a lizard… more on that later.
-When in a dry/cold or otherwise climate that might irritate the (skin? scales? hide?) body, uses her tongue to spread moisture around her muzzle.
-Subject displayed… an unusual action: in the search for moisture on their being, Her mouth had —in a very unsettling and disturbing fashion— Somehow reached her eye and licked it clean.
-Most unusual of all, the subject had violated all social laws and conventions when seeking out any sources of nearby heat, even if said source was from a human. A human who was actually her friend. Her best friend, even. The human was pretty stunned at this action. She was quick to look for somewhere to rest after being cold, and they chose the… most nearby available source. Her big arms were the size of my torso, and even if she was so big and rough all the time, her hug was so gentle and delicate, as if I was her treasur HGHJJKJKDSCWMCKXIJD JHCMNKCKIJ8CXSDMCSJ8HIJ
Kris banged their head repeatedly on the keyboard as their face became rosy. They had to keep this professional, lest their own personal feelings taint the investigation. Deleting the result of their keyboard mashing, they continued with their last observation:
-Subject displayed an unusual reaction to being… petted, in the head, body started shaking while a deep grumble emanated from her body, considered this a "bellow".
Addendum: cute.
Now that the observations were complete, Kris began the actual investigation into dragons.
They opened up the Monster-pedia website and looked up information about dragon monsters.
The article spread across the screen. It seemed pretty concise and to the point, with a general description and characteristics, along with a history section that they obviously didn't have to read in its entirety.
There was a particular section that caught their attention, however:
"Variants and subspecies of dragons."
Kris clicked on the hyperlink and was redirected to a section where a plethora of dozens, if not HUNDREDS of different categories of dragons were listed. All different from one another, not one of them looked the same.
This would be a long night.
Kris’ desk looked like an engineering student’s during finals week. They swore that one more FIEND-ENERGY drink would actually make their heart explode.
But after all that hassle, they did it. They finally figured out what the hell was wrong with Susie.
And they'd PROVE IT to her, CONFRONTING HER, FACE TO MUZZLE.
…
After they had a 12-hour nap, of course.
Their head collided with the pillow hard, almost passing out instantly.
But a notification sound took their last bit of consciousness and attention.
PuRpLE_MEnAcE_69 | 10:23 AM
Yo kris wanna hang or sumn
Guess that the intervention would come a lot sooner than they thought.
Kris | 10:23 AM
SURE, COME OVER, NOW
PuRpLE_MEnAcE_69 | 10:24 AM
u good dawg?
Kris | 10:24 AM
YEA, JUST EXCITED ABOUT HANGING, COME OVER, MY HOUSE, NOW
PuRpLE_MEnAcE_69 | 10:25 AM
… K?
what we gonn do?
Kris | 10:25 AM
DW BOUT IT, YOU'LL SEE
PuRpLE_MEnAcE_69 | 10:27 AM
uh huh
ok cya in 15
Kris | 10:27 AM
OK CYA BYE
It wasn't until they slapped their face a few times to wake themselves up that they realized their caps lock was turned on the whole time while texting, which somehow emanated their inner emotions and feelings about this whole thing.
Whiteboard… they needed a whiteboard, a marker, red thread, and Post-it notes; they had to get their defense ready as fast as humanly possible. They were lucky they had a teacher for a mom; everything they needed was at their disposal.
They took a last swing of the energy drink and rolled up their hoodies' sleeves.
Time to work, again.
Susie’s speed was a casual stroll as she made her way over to Kris’ house. She was in no hurry to get there; after all, it was the weekend, and Kris's house wasn't going anywhere. Though the way Kris’ texts were had her a bit suspicious with how… off-putting, they were. Kris’ texts were normally calm and collective (with more grammatical neatness than Susie’s). This time, though, it was as if they were screaming at her.
Nevertheless, she arrived at the human's house, and as she went on to knock on the door, she found the door to be unlocked and slightly ajar. A slim shadow on the small slit where it was open.
'Damnit, was this another dark world?' she thought. 'Why would there be one here? again?'
It didn't matter; she slowly opened the door, expecting that infinite darkness and puffs of pitch-black smoke to come out of the entrance.
Instead, she was met by two red dots shining in the darkness.
"…K-Kris?" She stuttered as she wearily entered the home.
"Oh! Good, you're here, Suz," The shadow in the dark room replied.
"Uh… D-Dude? What the hell is happening here?" She wasn't the one to usually get scared or taken aback, but this had suspicious written all over it.
"Don't worry! I'll be done in just a sec. Why don't you take a seat?" The pinprick red dots that were fixated on her recommended.
Susie was too disturbed to say otherwise. She sat on the sofa, her muscle memory telling her exactly where it was in the darkness. She lunged back in her usual spot, not as relaxed as she always was, but tense and rather unnerved.
The shadow seemed to be busy arranging something in the dark, as if checking that their sinister work was completed. After a beat, they were done.
And so they spoke.
"So… Susie, if that's even your real NAME," The mysterious shadow revealed itself to be none other than Kris, with a new addition of huge eye bags under their eyes.
"We've been best friends for a few months, haven't we?"
Susie could only reply, "Uh… yeah? What's this supposed to be-"
"We've saved the world! Became heroes! We've been through thick and thin and even almost died together, SEVERAL TIMES!" Kris was almost screaming at this point, a manic smile painted on their face.
"And yet… you've hidden things from me, Susie… I've noticed, I did, believe me."
They produced a flashlight from their pocket, and what seemed to be a stick on the other. The human then shone a bright light on Susie's face, who winced from the sudden flash in her eyes. Kris pointed with the stick at what seemed to be a whiteboard with a bunch of stuff written, pasted on it, and hastily tied together with a red string.
"What in the hell-"
"I've been watching you, Suz… More than usual."
"…What-"
"SILENCE! No speaking till I'm finished."
Susie could only nod slowly, now very curious and intrigued about what the hell this freak of a best friend she had was doing in the dark.
"You've told me you're a dragon monster, correct?" Kris questioned.
"Uh- y-yeah?-"
"But you see, it isn't adding up, see?" Kris points towards the whiteboard, a bunch of printed and handwritten articles smushed together, as if trying to find a correlation between them. "I've read, investigated, and collected every single bit of information about 'dragon monsters'." Kris turned their head slowly away from the board and towards Susie.
"You don't fit the criteria."
Susie's irritation and anger had suddenly boiled over; she was no longer scared or creeped out; she was livid. How dare this puny human call her, the great Susie, NOT a fearful dragon? And yet, she decided to hear what they had to say, as this was sure to become one of the funniest things an energy drink overdose has ever produced.
"Y-You are calling me… A FAKE? A LIAR? A FRAUD? You'd better have a good explanation for your wild accusations." She spat at her interrogator.
"Oh… DO I!? You bet your scalie ass I do." Kris shot back.
"What the HELL did you just say, freak?!" Susie retorted, taking great personal offense at the human's insult.
They decided to ignore her. Instead, they flicked the light switch on, revealing what they were working on all night and the last half hour.
"BEHOLD! MY RESEARCH!" An excited Kris presented with their arms spread open.
"Oh, for Angel's sake, I'm friends with a schizo."
Nevertheless, Kris's almost drunken and hyperactive rant started, their body almost falling over every time they moved around the whiteboard, pointing out all the incongruencies and not-connected threads of evidence.
Susie was… shocked, to say the least. She actually was interested in most of the stuff that they were spouting, even if it sounded like nonsense gibberish half the time. In fact, it's been so long since she's heard them talk this much at all. It was almost uncanny. It was probably due to the sugar overdose they were about to have.
It was curious, really; she didn't know even half of the stuff they had researched about dragons. She knew basic dragon anatomy. But this was just ridiculous; the amount of scientific names they were throwing out almost seemed like they were making up stuff on the spot. But Kris had a very organized bibliography, very thorough and clean. Oh my God, it was even in APA style.
After what seemed like half an hour of incoherent rambling, Kris's eyes were twitching like crazy. It seemed like the presentation was coming to an end. But Kris had one last piece of evidence under their sleeve.
…Literally, there was a piece of paper stuck on the sleeves of their hoodie, which they grabbed and pointed at.
"And this… this is the 'heat sack' that most dragons possess inside their bodies. This lets them produce heat inside their bodies without the need for external factors, even when cold-blooded. These sacks help them when entering cold climates," Kris rambled.
"Your point being?" The 'dragon' in question shot back, munching on the leftover snacks they had bought the day before.
"You look for heat sources instead of heating your body! This is something that dragons do NOT do… do you know what does?"
"Hit me,"
"…Lizards."
"…"
"…"
"…A-are you- did you do all of this, made research instead of sleeping, almost overdosing on energy drinks, made a SCHIZO WHITEBOARD, all that, ALL THAT!! TO CALL ME A FREAKIN' LIZARD?!" She screamed at the accusing human in front of her.
Kris let a grin escape their lips. "The proof doesn't lie, Suz. I recollected it and cross-referenced it; by all accounts, you may think you're a dragon monster because of your scales. But your BEHAVIOUR IS THAT OF A COMMON LIZARD!" They shouted at her, a finger pointing in her direction.
"Oh, that's so much bullcrap, and you know it! What does the looking for heat sources thing come from?! You didn't explain that, Shamrock Holmes,"
"Elementary, my dear lizard." An interjected 'HEY!' came from the sofa.
"Yesterday, when the thunderstorm appeared above us, and we got caught in it, instead of drying yourself like a normal monster… You cuddled up to the nearest source of heat available!"
"And that was?!?" She asked, confused, as yesterday was a dazed memory already.
Kris looked… not as energetic now. The hyperactivity from all the energy drinks suddenly disappeared for fleeting seconds, being replaced by the usual bashful and quiet Kris attitude they always had.
"…Me."
"…Oh… Ooooohhhh."
Susie's brain managed to find the memory of the warm evening she had spent yesterday with Kris, almost blocking the memory of cuddling with her best friend for warmth… and… they were right, she did look for warmth in that moment.
It seemed as if, in her tired state, the instinctual part of her hindbrain thought that the best and most normal solution would be to hug Kris for it. Not like they needed that warmth any more than she did, right?
A sudden heat appeared on her face as she wondered how to react or what to say. She thought about everything that Kris had said up to this point: all their collected evidence, observations, conclusions, and hypotheses. She seemed to understand where they were coming from.
Susie did not even realize she did half of the stuff mentioned by her human friend. In fact, she would wager that many of them were simply due to her own guard being down whenever she was around them. After all, she literally trusted them with her life, even doing so whenever they were in the Dark World. She could be her true self around them - something she was never able to do around others.
Then, something clicked inside her head. Geez, it was so obvious now. But she was so blind to it because she considered it completely normal.
"Ok- I… er- uh. How do I say this?" She scratched her neck, sounding ashamed of what she was gonna say.
"Oh, you can just say "Yes! I am a lizard monster! You're right, Kris!" The smiling human gave her the response they were looking for.
"SHUT THE HELL UP-" She let out a sigh as she began to explain, "Listen, dude, I… I know why I seem… un-dragon-like."
Kris finally sat down, their attention only focusing on the so-called "dragon" in front of them. Of course, they had a notepad and a pen in their hands, itching to write her testimony and answer to this conundrum.
"Well… for your information, I AM a dragon monster, my mom and bio-dad were dragon monsters, so I'm NOT a lizard,"
"B-but-"
"SHUSH, I heard you babble for half an hour, so NO INTERRUPTING."
Kris did as they were told.
Susie held a deep breath, and she spilled her memories out to the waiting human.
"I… never really had a good connection with my mom; she was a single mom and also the breadwinner of the house, so I'd mostly only see her at night, when she was too tired to make food or pay attention to me. Most of our dinners were takeout, too." She stopped for a second to breathe.
"Thankfully, she met a guy, my step-dad. I didn't really like him for a while, but he did his darn best to raise me, and he did, so I actually did end up liking him. Here's the thing, though: he's not a dragon-monster like mom, he IS a lizard-monster. He… must've rubbed off on me a lot, because all those things you mentioned I do?… He does all of those, too."
Kris was speechless. Not only were they wrong, but they wildly misinterpreted everything. And even worse: they made their best friend bring up memories that she probably didn't like thinking about.
All traces of energy-drink addiction faded from their body, and Kris was back to their regular self, out of shame. "I… I'm sorry."
"It's whatever. At least I know I do those things without thinking. So I can just stop doing them so I don't seem like a weirdo anymore-"
"Don't!" Kris interrupted her, her head that was already drooping low, snapped back at the human.
"I-If you're comfortable doing those, it's fine," The human said, "I do things like those too."
It was Susie's turn to turn quiet.
"You know, I'm a human, I don't exactly fit in, not even in my own family. So when they adopted me and raised me… I started acting like them, too…" A bittersweet smile got on their lips.
"I used to… bleat a lot as a kid. Sometimes I still get stiff when I get scared. I got good at climbing walls… I used to…" Kris let out a light chuckle. "I headbutted my brother a bunch, got in the hospital a lot from that." Their smile quietly faded away.
"I guess… what I'm trying to say is that… Those things that you do, they make you… you. You know?"
"I'm… I'm sorry I made you feel like you were weird, and that I didn't ask about it, and instead became a crackhead like this. You don't have to change who you are for anyone, not even me."
Kris glanced up at the purple monster, not at all knowing what to expect from her. They were unexpectedly greeted with her offering a smile as warm as the sun outside.
"Heh… guess we're both a couple of weirdos, huh?"
Kris let out a chuckle, "Was that ever a question?"
The human joined the now-confirmed dragon on the sofa, putting themselves in their usual spot and sitting in her corner.
"You know… I was thinking," Susie said.
"Mhm?" Kris acknowledged.
"While you mentioned all those things I do, the basking, the eyes, the licking, and the… warming up… I thought, 'Heh, that freak was not watching me! They were watching my dad!' And I realized, huh, I called my step-dad, my dad."
A little smile curved the human's lips. "That's sweet."
A similar smile also curved the dragon's lips.
"I guess my… dad and I have a lot in common, huh? I never thought that I'd pick up those weird things he does."
"I kinda thought it was cute," Kris muttered on their hoodie's sleeve.
"Whazzat?"
"Nuthin… Nuthin." They muttered back.
"I never realized how much he influenced me, I guess. I always viewed him as the guy my mom dates and teaches me stuff sometimes, but seeing all the small things I do are things I learned from him, heh, maybe I am part lizard, you know?"
A chuckle came out of the human. "So I was right then!"
"Don't push it! Nerd! I'm pouring my heart out here!" She shook a fist at them.
They let out a snicker. "It's a bit corny, but I'm happy for you, Suz."
A beat of comfortable silence fell over them.
"Well! Guess that's that! Did you seriously spend all night on this?" Susie asked.
"…Yes." A guilty look in the human's face.
"It looks like you put way more effort into this than you'd put into actual schoolwork."
"… I did…"
"Heh, nerd," Susie looked at Kris's eye bags. "Don't you… Need to sleep or something?" She was now worried.
"I am about to pass out in like a minute or so, yes."
"Yeesh, guess I'll leave you to that, we can hang out tomorrow-"
"W-wait!" Kris stopped Susie on her tracks to the front door. They felt the last of their energy drink make them bold one final time.
"I uh- I heard today was going to rain again, and it's gonna be cold too. It'd be a shame that I passed out here on the couch with no blankets."
"…What are you saying?" She squinted her eyes at them.
"And you'll be cold out there too, won't be getting this premium heat source from anywhere."
Susie finally caught on to what Kris was saying, her face turning a slight pink hue from the realization.
She could've chosen to curse them, scream at them, and storm out of their house fuming. But she didn't. Actually… she decided to indulge in her "lizard" instincts.
Ignoring the red that was creeping on her face, she did the same motions she did yesterday: Crawling from her corner over to the other, and planting her head on the human's chest.
"Not. A. Word."
"Deal."
She snuggled onto the chest, and of course, she'd never admit it, but… Kris was the best damn radiator the town had.
"I forgot to say that when I pet you, you bellow like an alligator-"
"I SAID NOT A WORD, GO TO SLEEP, FREAK!"
"Aye, aye."
This time, it took less than a minute for Kris to check out on the material world.
Now that Kris was out of the picture, Susie could relax and close her eyes, too. Starting to drift away.
"Heh, Warm…" She whispered as she went to sleep.
It wasn't until night came that Susie was back home, somehow still with energy left in the tank. In fact, she had enough energy to the point where she was — for some reason — compelled to talk to her mother, who was watching TV.
For the first time in a while, Susie initiated a conversation with her mother and actually held it for more than a few seconds. It was a much more pleasant experience than she even realized it to be. She even mentioned the whole ordeal that happened with their friend Kris.
"So yeah, I swear Kris had drunk like 20 energy drinks, at least, they pulled this whole whiteboard and had all this evidence against me that I was NOT a dragon! It was so insane, Ma! It was like half an hour of drunken mumbling!"
"Golly, Suz! That kid must've been watchin' ya real close to notice all that! And they even got it right!"
"That's what's so crazy 'bout it! I-" Susie stopped in her tracks.
…
"…Huh? Sorry, Ma, I think I heard you say that they got it right. Could you repeat that?"
"Yer' not a dragon! Not a full one at least."
A beat of silence fell upon the two.
"... WHAT?!?!??!" Susie exclaimed, loud enough to shake the whole apartment building.
"I mean, yer' a half dragon from me, and a half salamander from yer' dad!"
"You're… You're messing with me."
"Swear I'm not! Cross ma' heart sweetheart."
"YOU SAID HE WAS A DRAKE!" Susie's claws shook in front of her face in emphasis.
Her mother paused, looking at her daughter before sighing out an amused chuckle.
"What I said was, His name was Drake."
Susie's hands drifted to her face, covering her eyes in shame.
"Oh, God, I can never tell Kris about this." She mumbled into her hands.
"Oh come on, sweetheart! It's nothin' to be ashamed of-"
"Mom, please, that's not what I mean!" Susie interjected.
"Yer' an alright monster no matter what you got from yer' dad-"
"HE'S NOT MY FREAKIN' DAD!"
Her mother looked shocked at her sudden rise of voice, but didn't lose focus on her.
"He's not my dad. He just isn't. he left you, he left me, he didn't claim me, didn't care for me, didn't raise me, didn't… love me." Her voice broke in that last word.
"So I don't freakin’ care if I'm actually part salamander, that's not the reason why I do those things … I do those things because I was raised like that."
A face of understanding fell on the mother's face, "Because of Harold, right, sweetheart?"
A small smile escaped the smaller of the two dragons.
"Yeah… because of my dad."
And a pinprick of tears hit the bigger dragon.
"Oh… Oh sweetheart, C'mere." She pulled Susie in for a hug, and she didn't hesitate to hug her back.
For the first time in what seemed like forever, the two embraced in a true, earnest hug, sharing genuine smiles and tears.
They softly untangled their scaly arms, a warm smile on both their faces.
"How 'bout this, honey, how 'bout I tell Haro-… Dad… to bring some pizza for us tonight?"
"That would kick ass, Ma."
"Language, Missy," she said in a jokey, teasing tone.
"Maaaa!!" She fake-groaned, not a usual thing between the two.
Maybe Kris was right; she was not fully a dragon, but she certainly had the heart of one. And biology be damned, she wasn't part salamander either; that was never really part of her.
And looking at the dinner table, with her mom, dad, and a big family-sized pizza in between all of them. She realized it didn't matter what she was.
What mattered was who she would be tomorrow.