"Warm Hugs in Cold Places"
(Hello! This is my first time writing a proper fic in a while, it's mostly fluff, please enjoy!)
You sat alone in the Cold place, watching the Dark Fountain as it pulsed in a graceful yet menacing way. The slight wind blew your hair to the side before you simply pushed it back silently. This was a rare moment where you had managed to slip away from Kris as the Fun Gang were too focused on escaping Tenna.
The massive CRT man had been on your mind quite a lot since your arrival in TV World, he had quite the personality to him, after all, very different from other Darkner's you'd met thus far. He was much more... eccentric, to say the least. In a good way, of course. You thought about how hard he was trying to make Kris, Susieand Ralsei all enjoy their time in the Dark World, thinking it was a bit sweet compared to Queen and King. Though, Queen was trying to make Noelle happy, so you had to give her credit where credit was due. The two of them, while not having the same history as Kris and Tenna, could definitely be compared to the two at least.
You closed your eyes as you lean back against the massive holiday tree, a massive Prize Ball sitting peacefully on top, as if someone were sleeping inside and was meant to remain undisturbed. You glanced up at it, no idea what was inside, before your peacefully moment was interrupted by the sound of large, heavy footsteps making their way towards your location. You quickly stand, looking around from somewhere to hide before shifting out of your vessel form and back into your heart form before quickly hiding inside the tree.
How convenient, you thought as you stared at the door. A moment later, it opened slowly with a loud creak before voice softly rang out from the other side.
"Oh, Toriel!" The voice called out semi quietly, before Tenna stepped out from the other side, his tailplug wagging slightly as he shut the door behind him. You watched him curiously as he happily made his way over to the tree, before confusion swept over your tiny form.
Tenna brought down the massive Prize Ball, which was conveniently at your 'eye' level with you floating near Tenna's head, and you saw it for yourself; Toriel, peacefully resting inside as Tenna stared down at her with care. He gently placed the prize ball on the snow, before kneeling down and staring at it with his back now to the tree. You decided to carefully float closer, to get a better look at her. She was technically your mother too, after all.
You must not've realized that you were making the leaves shake, as soon as you were close enough to Tenna you were quickly snatched out of the tree and forcefully pulled out by his massive hand, which completely enclosed you within it. "Gotcha!" He said, you could hear the satisfied smirk in his voice, "I knew I heard a bug in the tree!" You bashed your tiny heart shaped body against his inner palm, you felt him move you but no idea where he might've been taking you.
A bug?! How rude of him! Kris was the only one who had any right to call you a pest, in your opinion. You've bothered them for a few days now, it was only fair. But Tenna? Tenna hadn't even seen you yet! How dare he!
You felt him lift you higher in the air, most likely about to get a look at you, as you continued hitting his inner palm. You let out small, muffled yells and complaints as he kept you withing his grasp.
"Hmm?" He let out a small, confused hum as you felt him finally stop moving you. "What's up with this thing?" As he finally opened his hand, you were revealed to be a few inches away from his long, pointy nose, which caused to you yelp and you tried to get away from him again, though he still had a decent grip on you as his antenna twitched in surprise at the sight of you. He froze for a moment, staring at you for a few painfully silent moment before recalibrating himself. "Woah now, this is some pest! What the heck are you, a blood gnat?!"
Your surprise shifted back into annoyance at his continued comparison to an insect, causing you to finally speak out. "Who're you calling a bug?! You're the giant ant!"
He remained silent as he kept his gaze on you, perhaps he was frozen in shock that the assumed bug was able to speak. You were very fed up with the whole situation already, even beginning to want to shift your form back just to prove you weren't some pest. His antenna finally straightened out as his grip on you loosened finally, but still a decent enough hold to keep you in his grip.
"What..?" He appeared to be at a lose for words. "What the heck are you, then?"
You took this opportunity to shift back into your vessel form, allowing Tenna to see that you were some sort of human. Tenna gasps and accidentally dropped you, doing a somewhat dramatic pose as he realized, by his own logic, he was basically crushing Kris. He quickly scooped you back into his palms before you landed in the snow, bringing you back up to his face to get a good look at you, this time resting in his palms. "You're a Lightner?!"
You stared up at him, your hair somewhat blocking your face as you spoke. You glanced away from him for a moment, "Uhm... yeah, kinda." How else would you explain yourself to a Darkner? Not like he'd know what a vessel is, Kris hasn't exactly seen this form of yours, with you mostly being caged up inside of them or something else when they were around.
"You're quite an odd looking little Lightner," Tenna sat himself down in the snow, now fixated on the sudden arrival of a new face. He continued his rambling as he shifted himself so that his head was resting against his hand, you sitting on his palm as his tailplug laid still in the snow, "You look mostly human, too. Are you a friend of Kris'? Probably a mew friend, since you don't look too familiar, but i have been off for a few years now so maybe you're not to-"
"W- wait, wait," you quickly interupted him, he was talking so fast, clearly excited to chat with someone new that wasn't just focused on leaving. "Yeah, I'm a new friend of Kris'... we sort of, uhm, met a few days ago. Just about the same time they met Susie and Ralsei."
His antenna perked up at your response, his showman smile growing wider as he kept his attention on you, momentarily forgetting about both Toriel and the Fun Gang. "Oh! I'm so glad Kris is making so many new friends so fast, Kris was always a good kid. A little chaotic, but still, I love 'em to death." He let out a small chuckle, a pleased smile apparent on his screen as he made it apparent how much he cared for the human he watched grow up. You didn't have much information on Kris' past, but this was something nicw to hear.
Tenna's smile faded moments later, his head tilted slightly to the side as he readjusted his free arm. "Say, uh... what exactly do I call ya, little Lightner? We didn't exactly meet like how I met Kris' other friends. Why is that exactly, did ya just stumble on into TV World suddenly?" An amused smile made it's way back onto his screen, his tailplug swaying slightly as he questioned you.
You blinked as you tried to figure out some response, how exactly were you supposed to answer that? Honestly?
...Well, it might be worth a shot.
"Well, you see... we sort of, uhm, did meet when you met Susie and Ralsei. You just... couldn't see me." Your gaze had shifted over to the side, eyes wide as your anxiety spiked.
Tenna only seemed confused by your response, his amused smile fading slightly as he spoke. "Now how could I miss seeing you? I made sure to keep an eye on those three pretty much as soon as they showed up here in TV World, I'm almost certain I would've seen a forth Lightner walking along with them."
You felt your chest tighten a bit, the soul, your real self, clearly starting to regret the conversation but it seemed to be too late to turn back now. Though, you also didn't mind admitting to Tenna that you were Kris' soul, for some strange reason. He'd been one of the most delightful Darkner's you've met so far, and he didn't seem to have any negative intentions thus far, so at the least you could try to convince him not to spill your secret alone time to Kris, or that you let Tenna spot you. "That's because I was... uhm... still inside Kris'... chest."
Tenna said nothing as he kept staring down at you, he most likely was trying to figure out what in the world you could've meant by that.
After about 30 seconds of pure silence, Tenna finally spoke. You had been frozen in place as well, waiting to see what Tenna was possibly going to say.
"Kris'... chest? As in-" He went silent as he pointed directly to where souls reside in the body. You nodded as realization swept over Tenna, and he appeared to be... strangely accepting of that information. "Well. I suppose that would explain that other form of yours. But how..." He seemed like he wanted to ask you something, but quickly stopped himself, shaking his head slightly as his previous smile returned, his tailplug wagging more prominently again as he finally spoke. "Say, if you're Kris' soul, could you tell me how Kris really feels about my games? You're clearly the best option I've got for getting a better idea of how that kid's brain works, I just wanna know that Kris still has fun with me, even after all this time!" His expression slipped into a more genuinely hopeful, but desperate look, his tail slowing down as he turned his head, his screen shutting off as he continued. "... Is Kris having any fun... even a little?" His antenna drooped down, but he retained his normal massive size, clearly making sure he didn't drop you.
You felt your chest tighten as Tenna essentially begged you to tell him the child he watched grow up and had cared for all this still loved him, like a relative who you haven't seen in year but were once close with. You felt your soul breaking for Tenna, if only you could tell him exactly how Kris felt. But Kris rarely spoke to you, even if you did try everything to actually keep Kris happy with you, you knew good and well that Kris had no intention of being close with something like you, so you gave Tenna the best possible answer you could without it being a lie...
"Tenna..." he lifted his head up as you spoke, his screen still black as he kept his head directly pointed at you. You tried your best to give him an answer he'd be happy with. "I... can't exactly tell you what Kris thinks of you, or your games, sadly..." you paused, Tenna's head tilting down slightly before you continued. "But, I can tell you that I liked your games."
"Huh?" His antenna immediately perked up at your answer, his screen turning back on, revealing the shock in his face. Seems he hadn't expected that you and Kris might have different opinions on certain things.
You nodded, "Yeah, this has been some of the most fun I've had in a while. The other Dark Worlds were... Well, they had things that made them nuce, but all of your games have been some of the most fun I've had in year... I can't remember the last time I wanted to continue on with something like this..." Your gaze shifted down, staring at his palm as you remained seated, feeling like you've said too much but not stopping yourself. "... the others... I know why we eventually have to close the fountain, but..." you couldn't help but let out a defeated sigh before finishing. "I wish I didn't have to."
Tenna was silent for an uncertain amount of time, he stared at you as your words raced around his mind over and over again. You actually wanted to keep his games going, the one thing he had been begging for from the Fun Gang. And you, of all Lightners, we're finally the one to tell him. He felt his own chest tighten slightly, his screen darkening again before swiftly bringing you into a hug which made you freeze up for a moment.
"... Thank you..." he was so quiet when he said those words, you almost couldn't believe he actually let those words out. "No one... no one's wanted to play my games in so long." The pain he was feeling finally hit you as you hugged him back. "... I'm so happy someone is finally having fun with me again..."
You leaned into the hug, Tenna was pretty much burying you in his massive mechanical chest, but it wasn't uncomfortable. "No problem, Tenna..."
The two of you remained that way for a few more moments, Tenna clearly had bottled up up these feelings for so long, you didn't want to make him feel like he needed to let you go yet. "Oh, and it's Soul, by the way."
"What?" Tenna pulled you away from him a bit, his screen finally back on as he stared down at you in confusion.
"My name, you asked it earlier. It's Soul."
For some reason, Tenna seemed... displeased with this? He let out a small hum, his antenna twitching slightly as he seemed to be thinking of something. "... I'm gonna call you something else."
Now you were confused as your arms fell from the hug, what the hell was he talking about? "Huh?"
"You need a better name, a nicer name. Just because you're Kris' soul doesn't mean that's your name, my name certainly isn't 'Television' amd Kris isn't named 'Human'."
You furrowed your brows, finding this ridiculous but curious what he would come up with for you. "Fine then, what should my name be?"
He was quiet for a few more minutes, he was taking this more seriously than you had expected him to. Shortly after, he snapped as a pleased grin appeared on his screen. "I've got it!" You kept his gaze locked on you as he told you, "you've been just the sweetest little angel, so that's what I'll call ya! Angel!"
You blinked. "Angel?" You hid it well, bt for some reason unknown to you, being called Angel gave you a very uneasy feeling in your stomach, but you ignored it because Tenna clearly didn't mean any harm by it. You let out a small laugh before speaking. "Alright, fine, you can call me Angel. It'll be my nickname just with you."
Tenna chuckled, clearly pleased eith himself as he finally placed you down in the snow. "I believe we've both been in here far too long, and I'm not sure how long Kris can exactly survive without you in their chest."
"You're probably right... but, it was nice talking with you." You smiled up at him as the two of you made your way to the door. "Oh, by the way, Tenna?"
"Yes, Angel?" He glanced down at you as the two of you continued.
"Please don't tell Kris you saw me, I think they might kill me if you do." You smiled up at him, trying to hide that part of you actually believed that Kris might.
Tenna chuckled as he held door open for you. "Sure thing, Angel."
You gave him one last smile before shifting back into your soul form. "Bye, Tenna!" You started to float away but froze for a moment as you turned back to see Tenna going back into the room, most likely to put Toriel back on top of the tree. You quietly floated up behind him, once she was safely back in place, you swiftly floated over to the side of his head and gave him a quick peck on the "cheek" before quickly floating away to make your way back to Kris. Tenna snapped his head in your direction as he watched you disappear, frozen from the sudden small kiss.
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