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Berdly was rushing down the street towards his apartment. Berdly had all his books shoved into his bag specifically so that he could drop everything off in his room before going straight to the church for his shift with miss Boom. He did NOT to be late and ruin his reputation!!
Miss Boom relied on him after all!!!
However, as Berdly ran, he found himself...remembering the dream he had.
Berdly groaned as he felt someone insistently shaking him, slowly waking up and looking to see Kris looking at him.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuugh...what...wait- Kris!? What's going on!?"
Kris shrugged, being their usual indifferent self. Berdly's first thought was annoyance, but then, as Berdly actually looked at the human...the realized one very specific thing.
"What a minute!! Are you blue!?
Kris blankly stared at Berdly.
OF COURSE Kris would just stare at him! The human probably couldn't register the idea of their body being a different color. But then again...Berdly looked around and realized they weren't in the library anymore.
"Ugh. Whatever. Where even are we!? Weren't we just in the library?"
Kris shrugged to the first question and nodded to the second. Hm.
"Huh. Well...unfortunately it seems we have found ourselves lost within an unknown world, all alone and in need of protection. Worry not though number 3! Despite our intense rivalry I will keep you safe with my extensive gamer knowledge and power!!!" Berdly spoke with a smirk and pride, and he did have full intention to keep Kris safe, because no matter what, he may have an intense rivalry with Kris, but Kris was also one of his few friends. Plus, he'd hate to lose the one person who's willing to play Minecraft with him at 3am.
Berdly couldn't help thinking about seeing Kris looking down at him, eyes covered in hair, but worry in their body language. Because after knowing and hanging out around Kris for YEARS Berdly could read when the human was feeling certain things. As Berdly entered his apartment, he immediately saw that, as usual, his parents were nowhere to be seen.
They were never home.
He shook his head and booked it to his room, dropping off his schoolbag and then rushing out of the apartment.
The dream had been...weird. The first part had just been him and Kris and a weird robot lady called 'Queen'. And in that time Queen had told him about how a better world could be made, a world where she had control but the darkness made it better. Berdly had found himself imagining and being encouraged to think about the perfect smartopia!
And then...the first battle.
"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU ON BERDLY'S SIDE!?"
Kris just shrugged to Susie's question, while Berdly had a large smirk on his face. The idiotic light nerd serioisly thought that Kris wouldn't be on the superior side?
Queen had just sent both of them out to both fight against the three 'light nerds on a roller coaster. Telling them to convince Noelle to be Queen's willing peon. And Berdly was more than willing.
He would save Noelle from the grips of Susie's intimidation and have her join the side of the smarts with him and Queen!!!(and Kris)
And so, as Queen told him and Kris to attack until Noelle joined there side, a FLAWLESS plan since showing Noelle they were stronger than Susie would make his friend realize that she didn't have to let Susie control her!
Throughout the battle(with Kris and Berdly working well together, because OBVIOUSLY Kris would make sure to time the slashes with their sword as good as possible with Berdly's attacks), Berdly spoke eith full confidence. Noelle, Susie and the lackey would occasionally say things, bug he always interrupted because whar he had to say was 10000× more important. Especially since he needed to help Noelle realizd she needed to be on the side of the one who wanted to protect her!!! Not to mention the obvious crush Noelle had on Berdly. Noelle, the barbrian, and the lackey were constantly trying to direst conversations towards Kris, but Berdly happily inturrupted! After all, the human wasn't much of a talker, he could do all the talking for both of them and keep Kris doing what they're good at and on the side! Especially since Noelle was MUCH more of a prioroty then Keis had EVER been. Plus...Berdly really liked how Kris would snort or snicker whenever he went on rants about Noelle needing to join Queen's side and his future smartpia and how both him and Noelle would be on the top of the world!!! He liked hearing Kris genuinely laugh. He really liked being the one to make them laugh. Also, for some goddamn reason the group was slamming their roller coaster cars into Berdly's own car while for some reason not doing that to Kris.
"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GONNA SIDE WITH SOMEONE WHO TREATS YOU LIKE YOU DON'T EXIST KRIS!?" Susie furiously screamed while Berdly had been busy trying to show Queen his intellect(but for some reason she kept trying to avoid him!)
Before Kris could even think they had to respond Berdly scoffed. "Excuse you but I am far from ignoring the number 3 in class!! I simply understand the fact that my own and Noelle's intelligence far surpass theirs and understand the worth of my dearest friend over Kris!"
"Oh. My. God. KRIS!! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? Why are you siding with him when he's-"
"Of course they chose to side with the superior side of this conflict! After all, who wouldn't want to work alongside the smartest person in the class!?"
"Is that so!? Then why isn't your 'pReCiOuS nOeLlE' on your side genius!?" Susie snarked and Berdly let out an offended gasp, HOW COULD SHE!? He immediately got mad and purposely aiming multiple tornadoes at Susie during his next attack. Barely registering that Kris was standing in their silently without having any response to Berdly or Susie.
After all, Kris was just naturally quiet! They were probably just a little annoyed that Susie was being her usual idiotic self.
"Because you're threatening her to stick to your much inferior side!!!"
"Um actually Susie isn't-"
"Don't bother defending her my dear Noelle. I know she's been attempting to taint your precious heart! Do not worry, I will save you from Susan's dangerous ways!"
"GODDAMN IT SHUT UP YOU STUPID BIRDBRAIN. Kris are you seriously gonna stick to the side of someone who treats you like this!?!"
"As if a barbarian like you would treat them any better!!"
"Actually Susie's pretty nice once you-"
Berdly heard Kris snicker at the lackey's words and immediately attack said lackey and cut him off, the lackey yelped and Berdly immediately felt immense pride that Kris agreed that Susie being anything less than a barbarian deserved attacks!
"Alright Ralsei you are officially banned from trying to reason with Kris."
"But-"
"No I think Susie's right Ralsei, that's the first time they've purposely targeted one of us."
"But-"
Berdly just smiled even wider when Kris attacked Ralsei again. Kris really did understand how Susie was nothing more than a barbarian, didn't they!!
"SEE!!!" Susie motioned to the lackey and Berdly rolled his eyes.
Eventually though, the attacks on Berdly's coaster caused Berdly's thing to start to break down, and a whole lot happened at once, because less than 5 minutes later they reached a dead end and everyone was yeeted off of the coasters.
As Berdly reached the church, he could still remember how he had woken up on the ground within his dream after being thrown off the coaster, all alone. He had immediately gotten up and started looking around until he finally found Queen. For some weird reason though, she kept getting super busy! Honestly, Berdly kinda wondered if she had been avoiding him throughout the dream...
Nope! There was no way! She was obviously just super busy throughout the dream, just like his parents!
Most of the dream was him chasing around the super busy Queen while also looking for both Kris and Noelle(since him and Kris were separated in the coaster crash and Noelle was SUPER important).
Eventually, after spending HOURS mostly alone, he happened to come across Kris standing alone at the bottom of some stairs. And had immediately felt a mixture of relief and annoyance upon seeing the human there, unharmed and messing around on a weird pad like the idiot they were.
"Kris!?"
Kris shot around to look at Berdly standing there, staring at Kris, and ended up staring right back. It had been over 4 hours since Berdly had last seen Kris and Berdly watched as their mouth fell open in shock. It was clear Kris hadn't expected to see the bluebird. Which was pretty mutual, the last thing Berdly expected was to finally find the other half of
Kris then turned as if they had suddenly realized that they needed to continue whatever game they were playing.
Berdly decided to analyzed the situation, then, like the true savior he was, he could bring both him and his fellow on the side of the smarts together to help their queen with her goals!!!
"Hm." Berdly looked over at the place where there wasn't a walkway, and figured out that the reason Kris was down there was because the bridge was gone. And then looked at Kris. "Well it seems that we've reached a challenge, eh number 3? You seem to be trapped upon a puzzle, but worry not! I'm here to use my intelligence. Upon the loss of your admittedly mediocre addition to our team, I have struggled to stick together with Queen. After all, not only were we searching for Noelle, but you as well!"
Berdly noticed a small blush coming across Kris's face, were they FLUSTERED? Well that was an ego boost he deserved!
"Well, now that I've found you I can tell Queen about finding you and we can all focus on finding and recruiting sweet, sweet Noelle! Oh Noelle, she's naught but a helpless doe in this dangerous world."
After all, now that Kris was found safe and sound the priority was purely on finding and helping Noelle realize the truth that the smartopia was 100x better then the reality where she was not seen for her talent!
Where Berdly could never succeed without piggybacking off of the doe.
"Once we find that precious doe then we can make sure that the world is turned into a smartopia! With Noelle's help this universe will become only the smartest will thrive within, and even your subpar intelligence allow you to join us, the world will be better for it!" Bredly had a wide smile on his face as he spoke to the human.
Berdly saw that small blush grow and he felt...a weird amount of joy that Kris seemed to like the idea of being a wanted part of the Smartopia, like...a part of him...wanted Kris to be a part of it more than he had realized.
Berdly decided right then and there, that idea, that he cared whether or not Kris was part of his Smartopia was nothing more that absurdity! He was probably projecting his want to have Noelle within the comforting embrace of the Smartopia where they could forever be #1 and #2 forever and ever! And as such he immediately threw away the idea of caring for Kris as anything more than his gaming buddy and rival for grades and Noelle's affection!
"Well, I'm certain that we will find Noelle and the sweet, beautiful doe will be more than pleased to help out with the superior conflict, especially since she's been separated from Susan! I heard from Queen that she saw Susan alone with the boy." Berdly said it extremely confidently, putting ALL his focus on Noelle to try to forget the idea of caring for Kris.
"As soon as we-" Berdly was cut off by the floor suddenly appearing. "WHAT!?"
Berdly demanded, and Berdly heard Kris snickering softly. Berdly immediately started ranting about how Kris had obviously finished the puzzle by accident, about how there was NO WAY they could have done a puzzle BEFORE HIM! and demanded that Kris tell anyone who asks that Berdly did it before he booked it so that Kris couldn't see him starting to shake. Deciding it was better to come back for the human later after
Yet less then 20 minutes later, while Berdly was struggling to fight back a panic attack at the idea of him no longer being the smart one, at the idea of him loosing his importance and once again being ignored and unwanted, he suddenly heard footsteps and shot around only to once again see Kris.
EXCEPT NOW THEY SUDDENLY HAD NOELLE WITH THEM!!! HOW THE HELL DID THEY FIND NOELLE IN LESS THAN 20 MINUTES???? AND WHY WERE THEY TOGETHER???
"Kris!? Noelle!? What are you two doing together!?!?"
The two froze seemed to freeze, before the bluebirds dearest doe who he knew had such deep feelings for him spoke up.
"Well um..I...um...we...um...I...we decided to team up?"
As if to add insult to injury Kris nervously nodded.
"You...teamed up?" Berdly felt genuinely shocked and horrified at the idea alone, but then he realized that there was no way in hell it was true. "That's impossible! Kris is on the side of the smarts! There's no way they would change sides!"
"Actually-"
"Worry not you two!" Berdly realized right then and there EXACTLY what was going on! "I know what is actually going on...you've booth been threatened and manipulated by Susan!"
"What!?" Both of them yelled at once. It was so clear that they had been so throughly threatened and brainwashed that they were too afraid too admit it and were shocked that Berdly had realized the truth!!!
"Yes! You were both threatened and pressured by Susan to join the dark side! Worry not! I'll save you both by beating you and bringing you to Queen!"
And without hesitation he started a battle between Berdly and the two others, Berdly having one intention and one intention alone, to save their fellow smarties and help them realize that they needed to be on right side!! By proving his strength is more than that horrible purple barbarian and help the other two finally escape her evil clutches!!!
Throughout the battle, Kris would show how they were much less intelligent than Berdly through many separate ways! The #3 in class did many things proving how much smarter Berdly was, such as showing themself clearly dropping all their iq point and having to allow Noelle, who was much superior in intelligence, to pick them up as Kris clearly couldn't when their intelligence was inferior! They would also make a show of trying to knit their own homemade dunce cap and practicing their reactions to the inevitable mediocre report cards!!! Meanwhile, Noelle easily showed her intelligence, which was so tragically suppressed by being stuck with someone(Susie)so clearly having lesser intelligence unlike Berdly, the one she so clearly had intense romantic feelings for!!!
The battle took a good while for obvious reasons, Berdly's attacks were clearly the superior(even if he missed the harmony with Kris back during the coaster ride)then anything Susie could do!
Not to mention, throughout the battle, Berdly made sure to make sure the other two knew he knew EXACTLY what was going on! He talked about how it was so clear that Susie was an evil virus that was poisoning the two against the clear correct side of this conflict! He talked about how it was BLATANTLY clear Susie had manipulated Noelle into kidnapping Kris and dragging them to the evil side!! But he made it extremely obvious and clear he'd do everything to work on undoing the fear of Susan's threats!!!
However, at one point, Berdly was exhausted and couldn't keep up the battle anymore. But he couldn't allow the other two to believe that Susan had won!!! So he still pretended like he was at full strength and stated that it was clear that the brainwashing was still in full affect and that he'd save Kris and Noelle later before leaving as quickly as possible.
As Berdly thought about his dream, he worked with Miss Boom to fix up the church and prepare for service tomorrow. He worked to dust the shelves, clean the candle stands, prepare the juice, wipe down the seats, clear the glass, make sure the piano was tuned properly, make sure the choir practice room still had perfect acoustics, ect. While he did all these mindless tasks he had done countless times right before service(which he never joined as his parents weren't religious and the last thing he wanted was to upset them, not like they even looked at him)sometimes he wondered what church service was like...
But there was no way he could ever join! Especially when he always had volunteer work at the library before, during, and after service!!!
So he instead focused once again on the dream he had after rather irresponsibly fallen asleep in the middle of a study session.
Why did he fall asleep?
After the battle against Kris and Noelle, and one random interaction where Kris had rather thoughtfully given him a plushie of himself with ✨️nipples✨️(one of the best parts of the dream!)before the dream moved onto the most...dramatic part.
Berdly had seen Queen, Kris and Noelle all together and without hesitate he had rushed forward towards the group, fully expecting it to be the team of the smarts coming together officially!!!
Oh how he would be proven so very very wrong.
"My splendorious Queen! There you are!" Berdly called out with a wide smile across his face. Kris and Noelle were just...staring. They were probably just surprised that Berdly had finally joined thd group properly! He continued without a further thought.
"Phew! I looked in every used game store for you!" But as he spoke, he noticed that Noelle and Kris's expressions never changed...was something...more going on? "Oh. Noelle, Kris, you two ok? You look a little funny." He walked over to Noelle and Kris. And he noticed that Kris had their fists tight and was shaking with...what seemed to be anger? Why would they be angry? But before Berdly could once again question the mental health of his companion suddenly the human turned around and grabbed Queen's arm, causing the glass of battery acid she always carried to fall and smash onto the ground(a few glass pieces getting into Kris's arms, making Berdly fight back a harsh wince), and they pulled her down and punched her across the face.
Queen gasped and pushed them away before speaking. "Ok plan B." Two cages suddenly appeared and fell onto both Kris and Noelle before flying off to Queen's castle. Berdly gasped in shock and horror watching as Queen rubbed at her sore cheek and pouted down at her broken wine glass.
Then the glass suddenly exploded.
Berdly let out a frustrated noise. "What are you doing!?" He demanded, pointing at Queen with fury.
"I see now that Kris has some...anger issues, and that I must release Noelle's will by force. Perhaps if I make her face into a robot one...?"
Berdly immediately felt IMMENSE anger. She had PROMISED. "No!! You promised not to turn her face into a robot one if me and Kris worked for you!!!"
"Variable Lying Set To True."
Berdly only got MORE angry at that. "We were going to be smart together!!! That's not fair!!!" He snapped, feeling not only betrayal, but INTENSE worry over what she would do to Kris and especially Noelle.
"Understood." Queen stated simply. "Fairness activated."
And then, without hesitation, Queen put two cages over both Susie(wait how long had she been there-)and Berdly. Berdly immediately felt immense shock after Queen DARED to put a cage on HIM!!!
"H-hey!" Susie snapped from her cage and Berdly fought back an eye roll at the damn barbarian acting like she was important in this situation.
"Good Thing I Calibrated Those Cages." Queen said smugly from her chair, pulling out a new wineglass that already had battery acid in it somehow.
"You...you said I could trust you!! You said you were a GAMER!!!" Berdly snapped, his panic and fear growing more intense at his helplessness.
"Berdly." Queen looked him straight in his eyes. "I Only Play Mobile Games."
Berdly felt INTENSE horror as his eyes went wide and he immediately let out a loud, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" And fell to the ground of his cage, feeling intense horror and anger at the realization that Queen had been LYING TO HIM. That she had never been a true gamer! Unlike him, Kris and(maybe?)Noelle, she was never a real gamer!!
"One Of You Is Gonna Help Me With My Plan." Queen stated with full confidence. "And It's Going To Be Noelle, The Rest Of You, Go To Your Rooms!" And just like that Berdly and Susie were levitated from the place they had been straight to their rooms in Queens castle, which means Berdly knew EXACTLY where he was being taken.
Berdly shuddered at the memory of how hopeless he had felt in that dream. How he had felt so much horror and dread at the idea of both Noelle and Kris being stuck in the clutches of Queen while Berdly was useless and stuck in a cage.
Though...after all of that mess the dream reached a point where it was nearing it's end and...well...it reached a certain part that left Berdly feeling.....
Very confused.
Because...well...
For some reason...
Kris kissed him in the dream and for some angel damned reason he had enjoyed it.
Berdly took a deep breath in and out. Feeling the entire way everything went about in the dream fall apart as they remembered the feeling of those soft lips pressing against his beak, rare red eyes under that hair looking at him with...with what looked like love.
The part that absolutely destroyed him!?
It happened twice.
The first time had...it had made Berdly feel...so light. It had been like that kiss, within the dream, had been the most perfect thing ever. It had been nothing more than Kris grabbing him and shoving their lips onto his beak before booking it, but it had left Berdly with this intense feeling of dozens of things suddenly hitting him all at once.
He remembered all the late night calls where he had wanted nothing more than to fall asleep to Kris using the text-to-speech to make stupid jokes and fuck around. Or even better when they would actually talk and laugh. That usually monotone voice often made Berdly fight off happy sighs whenever he heard it.
He remembered all the times in class where he would act all high-and-mighty as they grew up and Kris would always match him with quips or stupid pranks. He'd never forget the time Kris(when they were in elementary school)had lured him to a certain part of the playground before taking out a FUCKING LEAFBLOWER and chasing him around with it while Berdly screamed and tried to escape from the thing RUINING his feathers. That had been his first real impression of the absolute DEMON Kris was as a child....Yet it was one of his happiest memories.
He remembered all the times he had made moves on Noelle, all the times he had purposely tried to date his friend, all the times he KNEW he wasn't attracted to Noelle yet felt he needs to show interest because it was so obvious that she had feelings for him, why else would she be so kind to him? And he had...he had...imagined smooth elloish skin rather than the fur of Noelle whenever he touched her shoulder. How he had imagined a more genderneutral outfit rather than the schoolgirl dress Noelle often wore. How he often imagined the times he grabbed her hand of grabbing a much smaller one with fingers rather than the hooved one.
Berdly suddenly felt himself drop the duster he had been using. Shock and horror donning on him all at once.
"Berghly, are you alright?" Berdly flinched at the sound of Miss Boom's voice and he immediately leaned over, picked up the duster, and gave his elder what he was CERTAIN was a reassuring smile!
"I'm doing great Miss Boom, just accidently allowed the duster to slip from my hands is all!!"
"Alrighty then. You missed a bit of the dust on that higher shelf."
"Oh did I?" Berdly immediately got on his tip-toes and dusted that specific area once again. He allowed himself to let his focus sit COMPLETELY on the cleaning and preparing for the church service tomorrow. Doing his best not to think about the...sudden realization...he had that night.
Even if he knew that it would be keeping him up at night.
Just as Berdly had assumed, that night he found himself lying in bed, his mind consumed by thoughts of what he had suddenly realized earlier that day while thinking about...the things he had thought after Kris kissed them in the dream.
And to his absolute and complete horror he had realized suddenly and horrifically that he actually thought the things he had in the dream.
Was he-
No he couldn't!
There was NO WAY.
He could NEVER!
Berdly spent another hour than night lying in silence and denial, trying to deny, deny, and deny. But with him feeling to scared of another dream like that of in the library, he didn't allow his eyes to close. And eventually, after going in circles in his head for what felt like day or YEARS. It hit him suddenly and forcefully, undeniably.
He had feelings for Kris Dreemurr.
The next day, Berdly woke up suddenly to his alarm blaring with a groan and blinking bleerily as he dragged himself out of bed. His brain was moving at a sluggish speed as he got dressed, brushed his teeth, and made himself some quick toast in the empty apartment before leaving the apartment...and as he did his brain slowly caught up to him and he suddenly remembered his realization from the night before.
After the intense denial of the night before, Berdly finally choosing to accept the truth of his feelings lead to one thing and one thing alone. If he was going to have feelings for the resident human...then he needed to do this right.
Berdly stood at the usual spot behind the counter of the library, occasionally glancing at the time. He had decided that he would be working to do two things at once.
Firstly, he would ask Kris out to the festival, then, if Kris was shown to be interested in him in return he'd officially ask the human out in the most romantic way possible. Then he'd let Noelle down slowly and let her know that it had nothing to do with her, it was simply that he was in love with Kris rather than her and that he would want to keep the friendship no matter what!!!
It was a completely fullproof plan!
And after Berdly made absolute certain that church was long over, he took out his phone and dialed Kris's number without hesitation.
Only for them not to answer.