Chapter Text
The ice cream place isn’t as fancy as Susie was expecting. When Noelle invited her out to ‘her favorite ice cream parlor’, Susie had imagined, like, a big echoing space with floor-to-ceiling windows and pristine floors and those weird minimalist chairs and tables that are basically impossible to sit in, but this place is more of a hole in the wall. It isn’t run down by any means—about a bajillion times better than Susie’s apartment—but the checkerboard floor tiles are chipped here and there, and the booths are sporting the occasional rip, the stuffing swelling out between the gaps in the upholstery. But that’s basically all she can see from her current vantage point, stuck behind Noelle, who opened the door and promptly stopped dead.
“Hey, uh, Noelle? You gonna go inside? Or are we just standing in the doorway?” And then she worries that she’s being rude—not something she’s accustomed to worrying about—so she awkwardly adds, “That’s, er… That’s cool too.”
“S-Sorry, Susie. Hey, uh, why don’t you order first?” Noelle offers as she shuffles into the building. “Get whatever you want!”
Susie shoots her a look. “You sure?”
“Of course!” Noelle says with a laugh. “My treat.”
And that’s a relief, actually, because Susie is broke as hell. Man, she really should’ve thought about that before agreeing to this date, probably. What if Noelle hadn’t offered to pay? What would Susie have done? Begged for her to pay for it, like a loser? Sat there while Noelle ate her ice cream alone, like a loser?
Ugh. Not worth thinking about. Noelle is nice, so Susie doesn’t have to look like a loser right now. That’s what matters.
“Can I get, uhhhhhh.” Susie chews at her lip as she looks over the big blackboard hanging on the wall behind the counter, listing a confounding amount of flavors. “Peanut butter fudge milkshake.”
The cashier, some twenty-something fox monster whom Susie’s never seen before, produces an apathetic grunt of acknowledgement as he begins scooping the ice cream. Once its blending, he turns to Noelle and mumbles out, “What about you?”
Noelle doesn’t seem to hear, staring at nothing in particular, a pensive expression drawn across her face.
“Noelle?” Susie prompts.
It’s like someone splashes Noelle with ice water. She starts, arms flailing about crazy-style, her eyes snapping between Susie and the cashier. “S-Strawberry! Um, two scoops of strawberry in a cup, please.”
For a moment, Susie’s going to ask her if she’s alright, but then the contents of Noelle’s order takes her aback. Strawberry? From little miss Christmas? Susie snorts. “What, not peppermint?”
Noelle laughs, and whatever was making her so nervous seems to ebb. “I like peppermint, but not in ice cream, for whatever reason. Dess would always get it, though…”
Dess. Susie’s only seen her a couple times since everything went down, but she seems, honestly, pretty cool. Once Susie set aside the whole ‘Roaring Knight’ thing, that is. Maybe Susie should be a little more apprehensive, considering the Knight tried to kill her several times, but basically all of Susie’s friends in the Dark World, aside from Ralsei, tried to kill her at some point or another, so it’s basically whatever. And besides, Dess swears she doesn’t really remember what she was doing as the Knight.
But then again, she did get awfully defensive when Susie brought up the time in the TV world when she’d chipped off a piece of the Knight’s sword. Susie mentioned it to Dess during her previous date with Noelle, which was at the Holiday manor, while Noelle was in the bathroom, and Dess was all like, ‘Are you sure that actually happened? Maybe I chipped the blade myself because I thrashed you with it so hard’, and ‘That wasn’t actually me, is the thing, it was the Knight, which is different’, and ‘If I had been in my right mind I would’ve epically pwned you’, so Susie’s a little skeptical about the whole memory thing.
Once their ice cream is ready, Susie slips into one of the booths, and Noelle slides in across from her. Susie takes a sip of her milkshake, and, okay, yeah, that’s pretty fucking good. Like this is maybe the best milkshake she’s ever had. Greedily, she starts slurping it up, so aggressively that the straw gets all flat and gnawed-on. It’s the perfect thickness, and the flavors are blending just right. Noelle said she and Kris used to come here, right? Kris had been totally holding out on her, not telling her about this place. Goddamn.
She’s so absorbed in her milkshake that it takes her a good five minutes before she realizes neither of them have said a word to each other. She glances up, embarrassed—but Noelle isn’t even looking at her. She’s staring down at her ice cream, face troubled. Is Susie doing something wrong? Fuck, was she silent for too long, and now Noelle thinks she loves ice cream more than she loves Noelle? No, that’s stupid. But what’s going on? Should Susie say something? She supposes she better, because it doesn’t look like Noelle’s gonna break the silence anytime soon. So Susie takes a chance. “Uh… Pretty good ice cream, huh?”
Noelle’s face shapeshifts into an agreeable smile. The switch is so lightning fast that if Susie hadn’t been staring right at her, she never would’ve noticed. “Yeah! Really good ice cream. I told you this place was great!”
“Yeah, you were right.” Susie takes another sip of her shake, leveling a look at Noelle across the table, trying to figure out what’s going on. But Susie sucks at figuring out what’s going on when it comes to stuff like this. So she summons up her courage and asks: “Everything okay? You seem a little distracted.”
Noelle’s eyes widen. “What? No! I mean—I just—” She pauses, and looks down at her lap. “I just have a lot on my mind these days. But spending time with you… Spending time with you always helps me relax.”
That… actually makes a lot of sense. Susie can hardly blame her. “That’s so real, yeah. You wanna talk about it? Whatever it is?”
“I… fahaha. I don’t even know where I’d start. But thanks, Susie. I’ll let you know if I ever get my thoughts straight.”
Susie hums, and from there, Noelle seems less nervous—but not, like, not nervous, either. It makes Susie worry; worry about Noelle, worry about herself, worry about whether their dates are good. What even makes a good date? Susie’s not sure. Maybe that’s the problem.
These worries persist through the night and into the next day. At school, her mind glazes over Alphys’s lectures for the three hours until lunch, and then, after hurrying through the line for her food, she thumps down across from Kris at their table. “Hey, freakazoid.”
“What’s up, dorkface,” Kris returns.
Susie looks around briefly, but there’s no sign of Noelle. She’s pretty sure she saw Alphys grab her for something on her way out of the classroom. “Hey, so, you know that ice cream date Noelle asked me on yesterday?”
Kris’s lips part ever-so-slightly, their apple stalling halfway to their mouth, and the one blood-red eye peeking out from between their bangs looks suddenly intense. “…No,” they say, voice slow and controlled. “No, I don’t know.”
So, either Susie’s crazy, or Kris is definitely giving off a weird vibe. Thing is, though, Kris is sort of the definition of a weird vibe (and Susie means that lovingly). So it’s hard to know what the cause of the vibe really is.
“Shit, dude, did I not mention it to you? Coulda sworn I brought it up yesterday.” Susie runs a hand nervously through her hair. Maybe… Maybe Kris is jealous? Of the ice cream? It was pretty good ice cream. “Didn’t invite you cause Noelle made it sound like it was gonna be all romance-y, rather than hang-out-y, and I figured you wouldn’t wanna see that shit.”
She’s about to offer to take them for ice cream sometime soon, even though she can’t actually afford that, but before she can, Kris interjects: “Sounds to me like you just didn’t want me to see you being all lovey dovey with Noelle. Don’t tell me you’re still embarrassed. It’s been a week.”
Susie finds her face suddenly red and reflexively bangs her fist on the table. “Shut up! It was only, like, our second date, if you’re not counting the festival.” It doesn’t help that the date wasn’t even ‘lovey-dovey’ at all. They just sat there eating ice cream together and talking. Or—or is that lovey-dovey? Susie’s not sure she knows what it means to be lovey-dovey. Shit, maybe that’s the problem. “And it isn’t like I have any experience with this stuff,” she says, to vent this newly-realized anxiety. “Of course I’m nervous. Dumbass.”
“She’s down so bad for you it’s embarrassing. You really don’t need to stress so much.”
“I guess,” Susie says. It isn’t the first time she’s heard that. Dess said something similar, too, during the movie date at Noelle’s place. But that doesn’t change the fact that it hasn’t really felt that way. It feels like there’s this… this wall between them. This plastic film that Susie, for the life of her, can’t seem to break. It’s different with Kris—she doesn’t feel any sort of barrier with them. So maybe they could help? She takes a steadying breath. “It’s just, sometimes it feels like—”
“Hey guys! Whatchya talking about?”
Susie jumps, head whipping to the side to see Noelle swiftly approaching them.
“Oh, uh, hey, Noelle,” Susie fumbles, shooting Kris a panicky look. “Didn’t, er, see you there?”
Noelle rolls her eyes. “I got waylaid by Alphys. She wants to know if I’m volunteering to help set up the Hawkman’s dance, as if that isn’t the very last thing on my mind lately. I barely escaped in time to get here soon enough to actually eat, fahaha!” She settles down next to Susie, and turns to give her a soft look. “So what’d I miss?”
Susie smiles slyly and shrugs. “Eh, nothing much.”
“We were talking about your date,” Kris says. Susie has to suppress a growl at that—cause, like, what the hell, dude? But they ignore her glare, so she tries to explode their head with her mind for a couple seconds.
“O-Oh! Right. Well, yeah, it was, um, it was nice,” Noelle says, super unconfidently, which just makes Susie even more convinced that it was a terrible date. And then Kris asks, “Which flavor was it this time?” and from there, they and Noelle start sharing childhood anecdotes, which makes Susie feel left out, and then they have this, like, silent conversation with their eyes that Susie can’t follow, and probably wasn’t even supposed to notice, which also makes her feel left out. In the end, Susie starts telling Noelle about how quickly she can eat a Top Cake. And while Noelle seems rightfully impressed with her chomping speed, Susie doesn’t feel any closer to figuring out how to bridge the strange, invisible gulf that she can increasingly feel between them.
“So how do you actually make the cake?” Susie asks.
After school, she’s lounging in her room of the castle with Ralsei, seated around a particularly spiky table, enjoying tea and cake. Susie used to think tea was stupid and gross, because it’s just, like, leaf water, but because Ralsei likes it so much, she gave it a try, and it isn’t actually half bad. It still has nothing on cake, though. This cake is a rich vanilla with pastel blue and pink frosting—a color combination that has shown up repeatedly in Ralsei’s baking the past few weeks—and about a third of it has already disappeared into Susie’s mouth. She leans forward to cut her fourth slice, while Ralsei is still finishing her first.
“With magic, of course!” Ralsei chirps.
“Well, yeah, I know that, idiot. But you can make all different kinds with all sorts of toppings and shit. Is there a separate spell for each kind of cake, or what?”
“You’ve used plenty of magic, haven’t you, Susie?” Ralsei smiles, the fur around her lips dusted with little smears of blue and pink. “You should know that it isn’t so much about memorizing spells as it is about your imagination.”
“So, what, you just imagine the kind of cake you want, and it pops out?”
“Mmhmm!”
“Oh.” Susie hums as she pops her slice into her mouth. Her fangs make quick work of it. “Well that sounds easy, actually. You think I could do cake magic?”
Ralsei beams. “If you put your mind to it, I’m sure you could, Susie! I’d be happy to teach you sometime.” She shoots Susie a sly look. “Maybe you could bake a gingerbread cake, in case you want to impress a certain someone…”
“Ha, yeah, that’s a great idea. Noelle’d love something like that.” Susie smiles at the thought, but it quickly turns to her anxiously tapping a claw against the tabletop. “That’s…That’s a really great idea. I wasn’t even thinking of anything like that.”
“Then I’ll definitely have to teach you sometime,” Ralsei resolves.
Susie pauses, savoring the sugary sweetness still lingering in her mouth, thinking. Eventually, she asks, “Hey, Ralsei, can you keep a secret?”
Ralsei, who’s in the middle of cutting herself a second slice of cake, freezes. She looks up at Susie somewhat sheepishly. “I thought we’d previously established that I’m, perhaps, just a bit…too good at keeping secrets?”
“Okay, well, that—” Susie huffs. “Not that kind of secret, dumbass. This is a normal, non-prophetic secret.”
“Oh, good,” Ralsei says, and she seems genuinely relieved. “I’d really rather have nothing else to do with prophetic secrets.”
“Just promise not to go blabbing about this to anyone, alright?”
“I promise, Susie!” Ralsei assures her.
“I think…” Susie sighs, looking away. “I think I’m no good at romance.”
Ralsie frowns. “What do you mean?”
“With Noelle, and stuff. Like…you came up with that idea to bake her a cake like it was nothing. That’s so romantic! I should’ve thought of that.”
“Susie, that’s just one idea. There are plenty of ways to show someone that—”
“I know, I know!” Susie interrupts. “But it’s not just that, it’s like…every date we go on, it feels like I’m just sitting there, fucking things up the whole time. Like, we had this movie date at her place, and all we did was sit there and watch movies. And then yesterday we went out for ice cream, and just…sat there eating ice cream.”
Ralsei hums. “What’s bad about any of that? It sounds fun!”
“I mean—” Susie sighs. “You think doing anything with anyone is fun.”
“I, um.” Ralsei blushes. “But…spending time with friends is fun! That’s…that’s not weird to say, is it?”
“No. But me and Noelle aren’t just friends,” Susie says. “We’re girlfriends…or supposed to be, anyway. Shouldn’t I be, like, doing romance-y stuff with her?”
“You said these were dates, right? Doesn’t that make them inherently romantic?”
“Does it?” Susie asks. “See, that’s the thing. I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. But it feels like I’m not doing enough.”
“Well, I don’t…really know either,” Ralsei admits. “I can’t say I’ve ever felt that way about anyone before.” She takes a thoughtful bite of cake. “But maybe you should just give it time? Or ask her, if you’re unsure?”
Those were infuriatingly reasonable suggestions. “But what if waiting just makes things worse? Or what if asking her puts her off, because really there was no problem and I’m just really insecure and stupid?”
“Susie,” Ralsei chides. “I think you’re making this harder than it needs to be, and you know it.”
Susie groans, wreathing her claws into her hair and pulling lightly, savoring the slight sting on her scalp and neck. “Ughhhh. Yeah, I know. But I’m just so worried that I’m fucking this up. Like—like today.” Susie sighs, uncurls, and picks up her fork to poke dejectedly at her cake. “Kris invited me out for dinner, and I just went ahead and invited Noelle, too, without thinking about it. But what if that’s weird? To go out to dinner together with Kris there? Like, is that gonna be awkward?”
“Do you not want Kris there?”
“What? No, obviously I want Kris there. They’re Kris! But I don’t know if Noelle wants them there.”
“I don’t see any reason she wouldn’t,” Ralsei says cheerfully. “The more the merrier, right?”
“Yeah, see, I don’t know if that applies to, like…dates,” Susie says.
“Well,” Ralsei says slowly, “did you tell Noelle that it was a date?”
“No.”
“So then it shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Ralsei reasons.
“Okay, but it’s definitely date-adjacent,” Susie says. “Isn’t it?”
“You’re overthinking this, Susie.” Ralsei shakes her head, giving Susie a somewhat chiding look. “If you’re worried about it, can’t you just ask her?”
“I guess,” Susie grumbles, because she’s obviously not gonna do that, but she can’t think of a good reason to refuse the suggestion.
“Wait a second,” Ralsei says, a worried expression crossing her face. “If you’re about to go get dinner with Kris and Noelle, then why did you come over here for cake?”
Susie looks at her like she’s stupid. “Uh, because I wanted cake?”
“You’re not supposed to have cake before dinner!” Ralsei protests.
“Says who?”
“I’m taking the rest of this away,” Ralsei announces, gathering the cake platter up into her arms.
“What? Hey!” Susie reaches out for the platter, but Ralsei pulls it out of her reach. “Why? No fair!”
“It’s not good to fill up on cake before dinner, Susie,” Ralsei says disapprovingly.
“Oh, come on, you know me. I could eat two entire cakes and still have room for dinner! In fact, I was just telling Noelle at lunch today about how good I am at eating cakes,” Susie protests, nearly knocking over her tea as she stretches an arm across the table as far as it’ll go.
Ralsei gives a little Hmph, standing from her chair and keeping the cake away from Susie’s grasping talons. “Even still, I can’t condone this, Susie. If you want more cake, you can come back here after your dinner, okay?”
Susie growls, but settles back into her chair. She jabs a finger at Ralsei. “I’m gonna hold you to that, toothpaste girl.”
Ralsei giggles, a soft blush dusting her cheeks. “I’m sure you will. Oh, and if you do come back, you should bring Kris and Noelle! I’d love to see them.”
Susie thinks about it for a few seconds, but quickly gives in. If Kris is already gonna be at dinner with her and Noelle, she supposes there’s no harm in going to see Ralsei afterwards. “Yeah, sure. I’ll bring it up with ‘em.”
“Great! Now go, go!” Ralsei says, ushering Susie out of the room. “Don’t want to keep them waiting.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Susie makes her way to the door, but pauses as she steps into the doorway, glancing over her shoulder. “Hey, uh, thanks, Ralsei,” she says softly. “For talking things through with me, and stuff. I think it helped.”
Ralsei positively beams. “Of course, Susie! Any time.”