Chapter Text
"Ready, Kris?" Noelle began.
"I'm packed yeah..."
"Great!" Noelle perked herself up and grabbed the last of her things, the two were planning a road trip together, as friends.
"Well we might as well be heading on."
"I'll drive."
Noelle turned to Kris, a particular look of concern on her face, recollection flashing in her eyes, "Kris..."
"Trust me I won't hit all the cars..."
Noelle's shoulders slacked a bit, sighing in relief, "No promises if I see a banana though."
"Kris!"
The two laugh a bit, and head to the car. Kris begins to pull out of their mother's driveway as Noelle reaches for the radio, just as Kris puts the car into drive the radio kicks on, a man begins to speak with short bells ringing behind his voice, "Welcome to 121.4, the Always Christmas Radio Station on this lovely July morning. The sun may be up and hot, but we're still sipping our cocoa. Up next we have All I Want For Christmas Is You on repeat until our next ad break at noon..."
Kris patiently leaned forward and stared over at Noelle, who was currently beaming at the music prospect, their hair hiding the obvious anguish in their eyes.
"Noelle..."
"Kris, it's a classic!"
"Please Noelle..."
"No, get comfy now Kris."
"I'm not listening to this all the way up the interstate."
"F-Fine... maybe not the whole time..." Noelle stated, disheartened, as the first of the lyrics began, Kris reached for the radio, looked at Noelle, sighed a little, and turned up the volume. Noelle noticed the higher volume immediately, her ears fluttering as a smile overtook her face, "Kris! Can we really?"
"Just a little, we'll share the radio, take turns, and have a little fun."
The two shared a glance, Kris no longer as in pain seeing Noelle so incredibly happy. They gave her a smile as the lyrics kicked in fully. It took no time at all for Noelle to start singing along once the pair hit the open road, her angelic choir-like singing adding a lovely contrast to the song's quite overheard lyrics. Kris didn't know if it was just hearing it slightly differently or if it was Noelle's singing specifically, but they rather enjoyed themselves as the song progressed, even getting into it themselves occasionally much to Noelle's utter joy.
The pair kept this up as the songs progressed, no matter if it was Kris's turn or Noelle's the two simply helped each other get into the other's music. After three hours of this back and forth, Kris saw something. Roughly half a mile ahead of them was a truck going the standard ten under careening well ahead of the two. As Kris pulled a little closer to the semi, they saw it, a giant yellow fruit plastered on the back of its trailer. After a moment of singing Jingle Bell Rock to herself without Kris's input, Noelle saw it and her eyes widened.
"Kris...?"
No response as Kris leaned into their steering wheel.
"Kris do not get the banana."
More silence as Kris turned off the cruise control.
"Kris!"
As if what she yelled was a go Kris came down on the accelerator carrying the two faster towards the large truck, "KRIS!!!!!!" Noelle tried to yell as the two came within striking distance and slowed back down. She stared with her eyes locked on the road, before finally turning to Kris, who was eating a peeled banana.
"H-How did you...?"
"Potassium." Kris gestured to give a banana to Noelle, she politely declined out of bewilderment before eventually taking them up on the offer. The two enjoyed their fruits in relative quiet before falling back into the radio routine. A short while after Kris turned down the radio, "Well, I'm hungry, got anywhere in particular you want to eat?"
"I don't know?"
"Noelle..."
"What?!"
"C'mon now tell me, we'll get nowhere with you not saying what you're in the mood for."
"I'm down for anything, I don't know what I want."
"Pizza?"
"Too greasy."
"A burger joint?"
"Greasy, and I'm not really in the mood."
"But I thought you said?"
I know what I said, just thinking now, no burgers."
The two bickered a bit, settling on a small country diner off the highway, Kris ordering a country-fried steak, and Noelle a grilled chicken salad. While there, Kris relished the break in the Christmas music, and Noelle tapped herself to the tune of the music that was playing. The two sit and enjoy their food with Kris accidentally hitting Noelle's legs. Noelle played back, and the two ended in playfully kicking each other for the remainder of the meal.
The two got back to car, radio back on, now playing Carol of the Bells
More time passes, the sun sets, and the two pull into a motel off the highway. Kris heads inside the office and confronts a small lizard monster behind the desk.
"Hi, a two bedroom if you would."
"Oh, well sorry to say but we only have one bedrooms available, would that be okay?"
"Uh..." Kris looks behind them towards their car, Noelle can be seen rocking out with a song completely inaudible from inside of the office, "Would you care if we had extra pillows?"
"Of course not dear."
Kris walks out with the keys in their pockets and pillows in hands, signaling Noelle to join them. She turns off the radio, hops out of the car and runs over to Kris, helping them get up the stairs.
"Hey Noelle, I think the keys are in my pocket, would you care to grab them?"
"H-Heh... what now Kris?" She tensed up a tad at the prospect.
Kris took a mental note of her reaction then asked Noelle instead to hold a pillow as they grabbed the key. Noelle noticed the single bed immediately and began to freak out a bit.
"K-Kris? Where's the other bed?"
"There were none free, so we've got this and some pillows to make a line, to give the two of us some form of space."
"Fahaha..." Noelle looked away as she brought up something which she figured was important, "W-Well the bed is kinda small as is, w-we might not want to limit it any further."
Kris promptly cocked their head in confusion, before an idea hit them, "Fine then Noelle, let's do this your way then."
Kris pulled and kept a dastardly smile as the two prepared for bed, Kris just taking off their sweater and Noelle putting on a light pink nightgown. The lights went off and the two got in bed facing away from each other. Silence lasted until Noelle eventually rolled on her back after a while, and Kris took that as an opportunity to do what came to their mind earlier. They rolled over to face Noelle, and flung their arm over her. At that time Noelle noticeably tensed up, yet didn't make a sound, as she worried about "waking" Kris, who was trying to hold in their laughter.
Now the two sat there, Kris slightly caressing Noelle and soon enough she returned the favor by wrapping her arm over Kris's arm, before either two could object to the slow movement together, the two were claimed by sleep.
When they awoke they met each other's eyes, way closer than they had gone to sleep the night before. Noelle instantly shot up and Kris followed suit after they had their realization, the two stared at one another, now on opposite sides of the bed, before they both broke eye contact out of embarrassment. They tried to continue their respective mornings but every time they interacted nothing would come out but a stutter. Kris intended it as a prank, and Noelle, who had been the subject for that prank, didn't end up minding it. She couldn't tell why she didn't mind it, and Kris couldn't say why they didn't want to break from that position from last night. The two now forced themselves to look at each other, both were red in the face, and neither could admit that they had just had one of the best sleeps of their entire lives.