Wholesome Deltarune Oneshots

Berdly- Good Ol' Fashioned Gaming

"We should play that!" you exclaimed. 

Berdly smiled at you. "Right! I'll get it!" he volunteered, wobbling a lot less gracefully around his consoles this time, but managing to only almost trip over a NES cord before reaching the ancient gaming console. You helped him clean up the rest.

You plopped down onto his carpet floor in front of it, using his bed as a back rest. He plugged it into the small TV he had in his room, the screen going to fuzzy static. Then he shuffled on hands and knees to where he kept clear plastic containers full of games. Moving the ones full of games for other systems aside, he finally slid over one that said 'ATARI' on a piece of duck tape stuck on the lid.

Popping it open, you began skimming through the contents. "Oh man... look at these babies," you mused, taking out a cartridge that said 'Dig Dug' on it. 

Berdly shuffled back over to you, sitting down next to you. He grinned. "Oh yeah! It's crazy that back then, they used cartridges instead of discs for games! Or purchasing them online, which I don't think even existed yet at the time." You opened your mouth, but he had already swiped the game from your hands. "Oh, here's the fun part," he said before exhaling a sharp breath into the indented connection spot of the cartridge. 

Then he began coughing and wheezing.

You put a paw on his shoulder. "Whoa, dude, are you okay?" you asked.

He blushed a bit at your touch, giving you a smile and a thumbs up. "Yup," he responded, though a bit hoarsely. "Nothing I can't handle! Just lots of dust, that's all." With that, he blew some air into the part of the console where the game needed to be put in... to be met with more dust. 

You grabbed Berdly a water bottle before you two plugged in controllers. You looked yours over, then glanced at his. "Wow, these are... really basic," you mused. The controllers you were used to at least had buttons and a d-pad. This thing had a stick with a rubber case that kept trying to slide off in the center, and a single big red button adjacent to it.

Berdly scoffed softly. "Well, of course it is! It's the first gaming console! I think-" He then smiled. "But that makes it extra cool, doesn't it?"

You laughed. "Yeah! I have hardly any controls!" you exclaimed. You wiggled around the joystick. It stubbornly hardly budged in each direction.

"That's the spirit!" Berdly cheered, then looking to the bag next to you. "Now just pop that bag of chips open and we'll be on our way!" You chuckled, but did as he asked.

You quickly found out that the game required both players to take turns, even though it was multiplayer. When you asked Berdly what gives, he laughed, "Oh, old systems are just like that! Split screen multiplayer didn't come until waaaaay later."

You smiled at him. "You're really smart, Berdly," you told him.

He gaped at you, cheeks reddening until he heard his avatar die. He looked at the screen to see a little pink enemy had flown over and reduced his character to a pile of bones on contact. "Wh- HEY?!" Berdly cried, sounding incredibly offended as you laughed.

"Now it's my turn again~" you teased, beginning your turn with a wide, playfully smug smile. Berdly grumbled under his breath a bit, but you could tell it was just for show, since his annoyance always seemed to wear off incredibly quick around you.

As you played through a submarine game, a burger making game, and one where you control an avatar who jumps over potholes on the moon, as well as many more... a yawn escaped you. You glanced around with sleepy tears perched in the corners of your eyes. "What time is it?" you murmured. The room was a lot darker now, and the TV screen shone brighter in the dimness.

Berdly shrugged. "Does it really matter? Besides, when you're a true gamer, you don't care what time it is! You just keep playing until you can't anymore!" Then he tore his eyes from the screen to look at you, pausing the game. "Besides, uh, I'm having fun spending time with you here so... what else do I need?"

Your cheeks grew rosy and you smiled at him. "Awww!" you cooed and his face reddened before he quickly returned back to his game to try to play it off casually. His character almost immediately was killed by his sudden drop in skill at his flustered, trembling fingers. You giggled and his face went redder in embarrassment.

After a while, cans of energy drinks sat around you both and Berdly completed a level in the game he was playing. "Aha!" he exclaimed, grinning to see he had beaten the high score you had made twenty minutes ago. "Take that, Y/N! Try to beat my awesome... new... Huh?" he said as he looked over at you.

However, you were now leaning against his side, your fluffy head resting on his shoulder. Though your weight against his arm was a bit heavy, your closeness he found to be warm and comforting. And luckily, with playing the Atari of all things, it didn't ruin his ability to play. Berdly smiled at you, then sighed as he looked back at the screen saying it was Player Two's turn. You let out a soft snore.

Berdly reached over to where you had discard your controller to the floor, picking it up and taking it into his hands. Then, resting the side of his head on top of yours, he unpaused the game and kept playing, letting you sleep sitting next to him in peace.

~~~

A/N: Today, my children, I shall be teaching you about the Atari! *clears throat* In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the home console and computer divisions of the original Atari Inc. were sold off, and the company was renamed Atari Games Inc. Atari Games received the rights to-  Nah, jk lol, none of ya'll care about that- You came for our best boi BERDLY! 

But anyways, yeah, I've played an Atari lots before as a kid- No, I'm not that old! It's just one family members have one, so as a kid I'd go over to their house and play it. It was really fun, but I was a little bab so I sucked at playing any of the games lmao. You know how hard some of those old games are? But yeah, I wanted to include some references of things relatable to only those who've played old as fudge game systems because it's funny and makes me feel old lol. (Idk why I'd want to feel old though-)

Anyways, I'll stop talking about that now. Who all thinks I can finish up this book before Christmas?