Request by: Soy_weona_
(And thus, my quest to find more pictures of Berdly that aren't insulting to him or my own eyes continues... with still very few images meeting my approval! I like this one though... It's great!)
Thanks for the request! :D Now onto the story!
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"Al-Alright, class, be quiet please!" Ms. Alphys said from the front of the room. The students quieted down. She cleared her throat a little. "Th-Thank you. Now, we're going to b-be starting a new project today! You're going to be doing it in g-groups of, uh, two."
The moment those words left her mouth, your classmates were already claiming group members with their eyes. Berdly looked at you hopefully, wiggling his eyebrows a bit. You couldn't help but snort and giggle quietly at his goofy face. He wasn't exactly subtle about how much he liked doing group projects with you... or studying, or honestly anything related to school he could get away with doing in a group.
You weren't about to object either. Sure, he was kind of loud and annoying and sometimes a bit rude... but he was funny, nerdy, and passionate too. His good traits outweighed his flaws, and besides, he seemed to like you! Noelle had mentioned quietly to you after school once that she figured he had a crush on you. You had been surprised to hear that, but now that she had pointed it out, you did notice just how much he seemed to like you.
And that was why you couldn't work up to courage to ask if he really did have a crush on you.
After all, on the chance he didn't, it would make your friendship really awkward. You really didn't want to harm your closest friendship because of something like that. So you had kept quiet.
"I-I will be assigning the groups!" Alphys said. "S-So you don't need to do that th-thing where you look at each other! It's only fair for the o-other students."
The majority of the room's mood dropped instantly, and yet the teacher didn't seem to notice. Berdly gave you a crushed look, and you returned his gloomy look with a faintly hopeful smile. There still was a chance Ms. Alphys would pair you two together.
"A-Alright, here's the groups!" she said after a moment of quiet, melancholy chatter between the students. She took out a list, adjusted her glasses a bit, then began reading off names. You tuned out most of the names, only really caring to listen for your own. Though you did hear when Noelle was paired with Susie. For some reason, she seemed pretty happy about that.
"Berdly, y-you will go with..." Alphys adjusted her glasses again. "T-Temmie."
"Temmie?!" Berdly cried in defeat, slamming his head and both fists against his desk. It rattled the desk, and his pencil fell off onto the floor. Tem smiled from where she was sitting, a single egg balanced mysteriously on top of her desk. You mouthed an apology to Berdly, but he was too busy mimicking sobbing sounds against his desk to see.
"U-Um, and l-lastly but of course not least," Alphys continued, giving you a little smile when you made eye contact. "That leaves, uh, Y/N a-and... ah... Devon to be p-partners."
You looked behind you at the guy sitting a couple desks back. He had vibrant pink and yellow fur, long ears that stiffly stuck out backwards on his head, and a clump of white fur around his neck. A round pair of green framed glasses sat on his snout, and he currently held a book between his big clawed mitts. When he met your gaze, he quickly ducked his head down to put his nose in his book.
As Alphys gave you all the go ahead to start on your projects, you got up and took ahold of your chair. Dragging it across the floor, you moved it over to Devon's desk. You sat down on it once it was next to him.
"Hi Devon," you greeted, though a bit warily. There was nothing particularly worrisome about him, but you were wary just because he was new. He had shown up at school one day out of the blue, and joined the class, so you didn't know him really yet. Seeing how shy and uncomfortable he looked, you didn't want to make him feel worse by saying something wrong... thus your own unease.
"Erm... Yeah, that's me. Hi," he replied quietly, peeking over at you from the corner of his eyes. He held out a hand towards you, which you gladly shook.
"You have warm hands," you pointed out.
He blushed a bit, lifted his head away from his book and shyly scratching behind one of his ears. "I-I do?" he asked.
You smiled, giggling a little. "Yeah, silly." Now that you both felt less tense and awkward around each other, you took out the assignment paper. "Looks like we need to make a scene from the book we're reading... somehow," you said, reading over the page.
Devon nodded. "Mm. I was thinking..."
"Huh?" you asked, looking up at him. He was nervously rubbing his neck now.
"Well, you see, I uh... I'm really good at making... dioramas," he admitted, sounding a little embarrassed about that. "So... I was hoping... If it's okay... Um..."
"Yeah, we could totally make a diorama!" you exclaimed excitedly, clapping your hands together. "In fact, I think I have this old poster in my room that has just the background we could use for that part in Chapter 17!"
Devon looked genuinely excited, straightening a bit from his hunched over position. He was already fairly tall, but the better posture made him even more so. "Ooh! And I have a bunch of clay at home! We could sculpt it into the characters!"
"That's a great idea!"
The two of you began eagerly chatting away about the project, but Berdly was watching you both from his desk. He squeezed his pencil in his fist, grunting a bit as he tried to break it. When it didn't, he angrily grabbed both ends of it and slammed the middle of the pencil on the desk corner. That finally made it snap in half like a twig.
Temmie didn't even flinch from where she sat at his desk, just looking up at him. "... Tem thinks-"
"No, I do not need to calm down," Berdly told her in frustration. "Can't you see what's happening? Because Y/N isn't working with me for this group project, they're going to get to work with that new guy! They are going to find him cool and attractive and then they're going to say..."
He put his hands on his cheeks, batting his eyes as some attempt to impersonate you. "Oh Devon~! You're so handsome and smart and strong! Forget whatever that bird's name is... what is it... Burghley or something? Yeah, forget him! Let's be study buddies FOR LIFE!" He buried his face in his hands. "Him and Y/N then will get married and have a bunch of kids, while I get left alone at the bachelor party!" he wailed.
Temmie opened her mouth, then closed it with a cute smile still on her face as always. "Tem thinks you're overthinking a bit," she said.
"Temmie, you'll have to take over the project," Berdly told her dramatically, imagining himself decked out in a suit of armor like a knight as he posed with one foot on his chair heroically. "I have to go save Y/N from that horrible beast who is going to take my friend away from me!"
"Are you sure Y/N is just your frien-?" Temmie was shut up when Berdly shoved his papers into her hands.
"If I don't make it back... Tell Y/N I... I..." His expression blanked for a moment, then his face flushed as his confidence dropped in an instant. His posture sagged as he dragged himself towards you and Devon. "Tell them I want to still be friends..."
"Okies!" Temmie chirped.
You and Devon were deep in conversation about your project. Both of you were excited, eagerly mentioning ideas while the other person scribbled them down.
"Y/N!" exclaimed the all too familiar voice of Berdly, cutting your and Devon's conversation short.
You perked up while Devon buried his face in his book again. "Oh... Hey Berdly, what's up?" you softly asked, confused about his sudden burst of energy. You could feel some of your classmates staring at you two now.
"Berdly, please keep it d-down," Ms. Alphys mentioned from behind her desk, where she was watching something on her phone. She didn't look up from her screen.
Berdly flushed in embarrassment. "Yes, Ms. Alphys..." Peers returned to their projects, but your eyes remained on Berdly, who stood there awkwardly before turning to you again. He took in the scene of you and Devon, then slapped a hand against Devon's book.
"H-Hey-" Devon objected as the book tumbled out of his hold and hit the floor.
"Berdly, what was that for?" you asked him, realizing something was really up with your blue bird friend.
"The book he's reading... It's stupid," Berdly snapped, making sure to keep his voice down this time. "Have you even seen it? It's about... uh... about...?" He looked to Devon for help.
Devon frowned. "Aliens who become friends with a few humans that land on their planet," he answered softly.
Berdly blinked. "Oh..." That actually sounded pretty interesting to him, but he shook his head quickly, then looked at you. "Are you really going to put up with this low standards guy?"
"What has gotten into you?" You asked Berdly, raising your voice slightly. "Devon's done nothing wrong to you! What do you have against him?"
"He's-" Berdly sputtered, feeling anger surge up in him again. "He's hanging out with you, that's what!"
"So it's me that's what's wrong here?!" you asked, offended and hurt.
"Yes!" Berdly cried, before realizing what you said and quickly correcting himself, "Wait- What, no!! Of course not!"
"What then?" You asked, confused and hurt.
Berdly froze a bit at your expression, then sighed deeply, rubbing his hands together and looking away. "It's just... you're his partner and not mine... That's what's wrong..."
You frowned sadly. "It's just for one project," you assured him. "And besides, I wanted to go with you, but I wasn't the one who got to choose the groups." You caught Devon's gaze and gave him a nervous smile. "No offense."
He shrugged good naturedly. "None taken."
You looked at Berdly again, who looked surprisingly nervous and fidgety under your gaze. "But... we're study buddies," he said, his voice cracking a bit as he looked at you with watery eyes.
You smiled a bit. "Yeah, and always will be if I can help it," you told him, getting up from your chair and wrapping him into a hug. He returned it, resting his head on your shoulder comfortably.
After an awkward silence, you both pulled away and Berdly took your hand into his. You blinked in surprise at how warm his hand was. And a bit sweaty. "Why's your hand so warm?" you asked Berdly quietly.
His beak turning up into a triumphant smirk. "Ha, my hands are warmer than yours!" he told Devon, laughing mockingly at him. "You stand no chance against my greatness!" Devon rose an eyebrow, not seeming to know why he was supposed to be offended by that.
You couldn't help but start laughing. "You're a dummy!" you told Berdly through giggles, face heating up. Oh my gosh, he's actually holding my hand! you screamed internally.
After everything calmed down between the three of you, you told Berdly you would walk home with him every day that month if he stopped picking on Devon and let you do your project with him. Berdly had happily agreed, going back to his desk feeling better and reassured.
Until he saw the papers on his desk. He picked one up, looking at the cryptic scribbles all over it. Squinting his eyes, he showed it to a beaming Temmie. "What is this?" he asked.
"Tem and Berdly BIG PROJECT!" she said proudly.
Berdly cringed, then looked at you across the room. "Y/N, I take it back! I want to be partners instead!"
You laughed from next to Devon. "Too bad, you already agreed to the deal! No take backs!" you called. Berdly groaned, looking at his scribbled on assignment with a disgusted frown.
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A/N: Owwwww, my hands huuuurt...! And my device is at an ominous 5% power... 👀 Anyways! Thanks for reading! I hope this oneshot is okay! Also, if the conflict is petty, that's because it's... Berdly... What else do you expect? 😂
Okay, some important stuff to just warn you all in advanced! I'm going to be doing lots of school stuff starting in a few days or so, which means I'm going to be too tired to write oneshots. Sooooo, I'm probably going to have lots of closing and reopening of letting in requests over the course of the month of November... Yeeeeaaaaahhhh... 😅 So if you want to get in new requests, keep an eye on the comments part for the request chapter. It's going to be changing a lot for a bit.
Oh, geez, it's at 4%- Love you guys, and hope you have a nice day!