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bellmo15-blog · 3 months

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The One Game Genre I Struggle With The Most

Well this sure as hell won’t be a super hot thing for me to post or anything! Then again, when is anything I say that isn’t satirical NOT a hot take?

I play A LOT of video games. And I play a lot of different kinds of video games since I think it’s important to try different kinds of games and different types of genres of games and if you’ve seen the games I usually talk about or even just the pics I’ve commissioned which usually tend to have characters or other aspects tied to various games I really like then that should be obvious. So you can imagen how hard is it for me to admit that there is actually one specific type of game that I struggle with the most. Not struggle playing or anything, not even struggle to get my hands on but struggle to get really invested in and what that one is might actually surprise some of you. Turn based JRPGs.

Yeah, out of all games, slower turn based JRPG styled games are the ones I have the most inconsistent experiences with. And obviously this isn’t me saying ALL RPG’s are something I struggle with, far from it. Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim, Undertale and Indivisable are all RPG games that are, at least at the time of me writing this, in my top 25 favourite games of all time. Not to mention me actually enjoying God of War 2018 and Ragnarock which were more like RPG’s than the original games as well as how I actually do enjoy the RPG Assassin’s Creed games much to the confusion of like every die hard AC fan and I would really love to play Mass Effect one day when I get the chance. Hell I’ve even played Mega Man Legends for the first time recently since it’s something I have had an interest in and oh boy, those controls have NOT aged very well! And of course there’s a bunch of games I’ve played which have RPG elements in them that I've also enjoyed.

No, rather it's the slower classic turn based style of RPG’s I tend to struggle with the most. Why? Well it’s mostly due a combination of personal experience with certain games that use this formula, real life factors and maybe because of what I use to mainly play growing up.

To be fair, there have been JRPGs I’ve played that I have really, really loved. In fact at the start of this year alone I played Super Mario RPG for the first time via the Switch remake and actually really enjoyed it but that’s mainly because I had a REALLY shitty start to this year which lead to me not really being in the best emotional state and this game helped a lot mentally for me. I mentioned my top 25 favourite games of all time before and there are actually at least 2 turn based JRPG’s on that list. Persona 5 and Pokemon Moon although with how Undertale’s gameplay is structured and maybe Indivisble I could probably count those in this category two though I'm still torn on if I'd consider the latter truly turn based or not.

Persona 5 I brought back in 2018 while I was on a holiday overseas in Hawaii for a second time and since the PlayStation 4 wasn’t region locked, thank Arecus, I decided to buy this game for when I got back home to Austraila. Yeah, I probably could of brought something for my Switch instead since that also isn’t region locked and I brought that with me on this trip but there was nothing out at the time I really wanted for my Switch anyway and Smash Ultimate was still six months away at that time. Actually, in general there wasn’t a whole lot I desperately wanted to play back in 2018 since I felt like I had cleared up my backlog of games I REALLY wanted to play. So with nothing else to do I played Persona 5 when I got home and when I did, I got REALLY into it. Like I spent that whole week playing nothing but Persona 5 since I wouldn’t be starting my job I finally managed to get for at least another week. I loved pretty much everything about this game from the story to the characters (well except for fucking Morgana the little shit) and the way the persona system worked. Granted, I spent less time with game after a while but I still loved it and had a great experience with it. I was a little heart broken though that this game was how I found out that even though PlayStation 4 game disks were not region locked, DLC was. Because I brought all the DLC for this game and none of it would install onto my NTSC copy meaning I had to essentially buy the game again but making sure it was the PAL version just so I could use those DLC costumes. *Sigh.*

Then there’s Pokemon. Not just one game in particular but the whole franchise I really like. Yeah, Sun and Moon are my favourites and for good reason two but my love for this franchise never actually started with this game like admittedly a lot of my favourite games in a lot of my favourite franchises. It actually began with Heart Gold and Soul Silver in 2010. I was just starting high school this year and I do feel like that does play some part in why I was so into this game back then because I was 13 at this point in my life while going though a bit of a rough transitional period and had a lot of time on my hands when I wasn’t doing school work and had a lot more patience two. And also admittedly my Nintendo hyperfixation I had at the time thanks to Super Smash Bros Brawl. Or maybe it was because this game came packaged with the Poke Walker which I used to death back then. Or maybe it’s because the whole concept of Pokemon was capturing all different kinds of monsters and using them in battles all of whom had different weakness and strengths and designs. I think this is the reason I’ve stuck with Pokemon for so long, all the different Pokemon you can get in these games and how no one run of the same game will ever be the same especially if you give yourself a self imposed challenge like not using any items or using only Pokemon of one specific type. Which is ironic considering, fun fact, this wasn’t even my ACTUAL first Pokemon game. That was Mystery Dungeon Explores of Time which was a completely different game gameplay wise to the mainline series. That’s also probably the reason I gravied towards Persona 5 so much since your able to use different personas in battle some of which are enemies you can convert to your side.

So yeah, slower JRPG’s have been some really great games and experiences I’ve gone though. But also some have been experiences I’ve lost interest in pretty quickly. Which ones in particular? Well, here’s some of them.

Final Fantasy VI: This is only one of several Final Fantasy titles you’re going to see here that I’ve fallen out of pretty quickly during my own playtime with. Although this one does have a bit of a special place in my heart since it was one of the only games I ever managed to get on the Wii Shop Channel back when that was still a thing. And I admit, I did actually get a decent bit into the game up until past the boss fight with the train and haven’t even played it since then. 12 years ago!

The Original Version of Final Fantasy VII: This was one of the many games an old friend of our family left for us after he sadly passed away in the late 2000’s along with his PlayStation 1 and his slim PlayStation 2 which is actually the reason why I have both a fat and slim PS2. And I tried several times also in 2012 to play this game for long sessions yet the farthest I’ve ever managed to get before going “Well, guess I’ll go play *insert literally any other game I enjoy more here* instead” was Shinra HQ. On Disk 1!

Final Fantasy VIII: Pretty much the same story as VII. One of the many PS1 games left to me by an old family friend only this one I booted up even less number of times than VII and didn’t even get as far either. I got up to when they send you to that island for that massive battle because apparently in this universe it’s perfectly okay to send child soldiers into a fight since the Geneva Convention is more of a suggestion. Or maybe it doesn’t even exist. Honestly, with how people believe Squal is actually dead for the remainder of the game beyond the first disk and the rest of the game is just a dream anything’s possible!

Final Fantasy X: Okay there is actually a bit of a funny story behind this one in particular. I actually once played this game as a really young child at a friends but never actually knew what the game was and it was during the part really early on on the ship after you meat everyone. It wasn’t until a few years ago after the game got re-released I tried it and got to that point I realized I had actually played this as a child and never knew it… And also dropped the game AT that exact point childhood me originally played it.

South Park the Stick of Truth: It really sucks I gotta put this game in particular here considering I actually really like South Park anyway, it’s one of the few Adult Animated shows that has been running for decades at this point I actually still enjoy when I do catch an episode, but I brought this game back in 2016 and got an hour in before dropping it and haven’t played it since then.

Dragon Quest XI: I managed to play this via the demo that was released on the Nintendo eShop back in 2019 which let’s you play the first 10 hours for free and I mainly played this because Hero was being added to Smash Ultimate and I’m kinda glad I did play this via the demo because only three hours into this game and I started to fall out of it.

Earthbound: When you consider what Earthbound is and how it was the direct inspiration for one of my favourite RPG's of all time anyway I should love this one! Like I should adore this one actually! But honestly, even before I got the means the means to play it, even before the game that was inspired by it was even a thing, just one look online at how Earthbound played and how it wasn't that different from most other RPG's from this time was enough to tell this wasn't for me and even when I did get an SNES Mini which had Earthbound installed on it guess how much time I spent in it compared to literally anything else that's on this thing? Yeah, not a lot.

Paper Mario: Speaking of turn based RPG's I want to love, this is another one I REALLY wanted to love because I love the Mario franchise and I did have such a good experience with Super Mario RPG especially since I did actually have Super Paper Mario growing up and the Thousand Year Door remake was only a few weeks away when I decided to start playing this. But I got four hours into this and up to the second star spirit before dropping the game entirely and focusing on Kirby 64 which I also started playing at this time. And most of that was because of how even though I liked the combat system at first, I started to feel like I was just going though the motions after a while. Jump on these enemies, don’t jump on these ones because they hurt you, use the hammer on these ones, use your sentient bomb waifu to kamakazie herself for the really hard ones and literally pray to God to restore FP.

Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door: And spoiler alert, my experience with Thousand Year Door wasn’t any better either. In fact, this time it took me only an hour of playing to realize I still wasn’t as into it as I wish I was and I didn’t want to feel like I was forcing myself to continue just because everyone goes on about how it’s the “greatest game of all time." Yeah, the Paper Mario fandom hyping this thing up as if it’s literally God’s gift to Earth probably didn’t help my experience either. Which sucks that that likely does play a part in this because I normally REALLY fucking hate when people use a games fandom or the fact that the game has any sort of popularity at all to trash it because that’s a really unfair way to judge a game you haven’t even played yourself like with how people tried pulling that shit with Five Night At Freddy’s or Undertale when they first came out. But with how much people love putting this game on such a high pedestal ignoring the fact that even some of my favourite games of all time also aren’t perfect on top of this fandom acting like you killed there dog if you say you don’t enjoy it or even enjoy the later games (especially Sticker Star) then yeah, forgive me for being maybe a little more critical of this game than I’d like to off been.

Paper Mario Sticker Star: Oh hey look, here’s Sticker Star right now! Look, I’m someone who thinks that Sticker Star is grossly over hated to the point where some of the hate comes off as overly cartoonish and childish to me. (One user on Twitter actually buried there copy of Sticker Star in the ground after the TTYD Remake announcement because “Ha ha, this game bad. Good game grow from it” which grow the hell up dude. Just say you don’t like a certain game and that be it.) But as far as actually playing this game goes, I got a few hours in before also dropping it for the same reason I did 64 and TTYD and literally the only reason I even tried this one was because of how everyone goes on about how awful it is and I had to try this for myself! And I’m sorry, but some of you clearly have never played an ACTUAL bad game in your lives if THIS is what you see as one of the worst games of all time and it shows!

Yeah that’s a fair amount of turn based RPG’s to have played and dropped quite early isn't it? So why do I usually struggle to get into a lot of turn based RPG’s? Several reasons.

-I tend to find the combat system in many of these games boring after a while.

-They can be really grindy at times especially ones where EXP isn’t shared with your whole party.

-They can be really slow and take a long time to even finish casually.

The first one is pretty self explanatory. It’s the combat of these games, the thing your going to be doing for a lot of the game and as the name implies, it’s turn based. You take a turn to attack an enemy or to use and item and then it’s their turn to attack you and there are a bunch of other factors to take into consideration like stats, levels and in some cases strengths, weaknesses and immunities on top of getting newer and stronger moves as you level up and some games do shake things up a little such as with the action commands in Paper Mario where pressing the button at the right time during an animation leads to a stronger attack or pressing it during an enemy attack letting you takes less to no damage. Considering how much you have to take into consideration when playing these kinds of games I should love this style of combat. When you know what you’re doing you feel really smart and like a tactical genius and that is satisfying.

But for me personally, it’s just not as engaging as I’d like it to be. Most of the time it feels less like “Oh shit, we got a battle on our hands! This is going to be intense” and more like “Aww gezz, it’s one of THESE assholes again. Guess I’ll have my guy who knows this attack that is super effective agents this type of enemy deal with this so we can get a move on.” And it probably doesn’t help that a lot of older JRPG’s relied on random encounters where you couldn’t see any enemies on the screen until RNG decides it’s time to for you to fight and you have to spend a minuet dealing with fodder enemies that die in one or two hits or spend several minuets dealing with a stronger one you’re not prepared for and can’t escape from and could likely wipe out your whole party. The reason games like Undertale and Deltarune get away with this for me is because while yes, it mostly being the standard turn based fair when it’s your turn, the game shifts to a bullet hell type game when it’s the enemies turn and each enemy having different kinds of attacks to avoid in these phases which feels a lot more engaging to me than just praying to RNGeesus the next hit doesn't outright kill you or pressing a button at the right time... While still praying to RNGeesus! Plus, unless you’re going for the Genocide route these games are mercifully short anyway so they never over stay there welcome.

It's also probably a result of many of the kinds of games I played growing up anyway. Not counting that one session I had of Final Fantasy X at a friends as a really young child that only lasted five minutes anyway many of the games I played growing up were either platformers where for most of them all you had to do to defeat enemies was just simply jump on them, action games which got straight to the point and had very fast paced combat, shooters which also just got straight to the point but with guns or open world games which gave you so much freedom to do anything you wanted within the games world! I wouldn’t play my first turn-based RPG until I was a teenager and entered high school and even then I still didn’t have much interest in a lot of them. In fact, many of the games I had an interest in though out most of the 2010’s were action RPG's with more involved combat or still mostly platformers, open world and action games as well as my love for the Character Action/Stylish Action genre being re-ignited in the later part of that decade.

Now some may be wondering about Fire Emblem at this point since that is also a slower and more tactical series of games. And this might surprise you, but I don’t really count that series in the same camp as turn based JRPG’s. Yes, these games are turn based but they are more about controlling an army and getting them into the right position to attack and you have to take a lot into consideration such as terrain, the weapon triangle, who to bring into the battle, the durability of your weapons, which classes would be best to use agents what especially your flying units, yeah it sounds wired but Fire Emblem has A LOT more going on in them than most typical turn based RPG’s. And that’s not even counting Casual mode which was introduced in New Mystery of the Emblem and has been in all the games since then making them a lot more accessible to new players. Phoenix mode in Fates was a dumb mode though.

But say I DO find myself enjoying a turn based combat system. Then I’d have another issue to deal with. Grinding. Because you’re not just playing as one character for most of these kinds of games, your controlling several! Which means you need to watch after there own levels and stats and if you don’t spend a while grinding then they won’t be at a high enough level to deal with anything because you didn’t want to spend an hour killing the same enemies for EXP but as a result your party has fallen behind in terms of power level and do you see why this can be a deal breaker for me?

Now to be fair, some turn based RPGs especially modern ones do have EXP be shared with your whole party even if they never actually partook in the battle themselves which usually eliminates the need to grind, thank Palutena! Some people hate that shared EXP is a thing in some games but I’d rather it be like THIS and me actually feeling like I’m getting somewhere rather than wasting hours of my life going on a mass genocide of generic enemies to grind when there are better things I could be doing with my time. This is also the reason why, for as much as I love this series, I have little to no motivation to replay any of the Pokemon games pre X and Y in particular because X and Y made the EXP share a key item that affects your whole party and you get really early in the game instead of it being a held item you only get one off, only affect the inactive Pokemon holding it and you don't get until really late into the game and since EXP being shared with your whole party has remained all the way up to Scarlet and Violet, yeah of course I'd want to replay these particular ones more than the older ones. For as much as I love Heart Gold and Soul Silver and will still hold a lot of nostalgia towards it, do you wanna know when the last time I ever did a full playthrough of that game, including the Kanto post-game and secret boss fight with Red, was? Mid 2015! 9 years ago! And almost five years after my original playthrough two!

And all of this both play a huge factor into the third reason I struggle with slower turn based JRPG styled games, they can be really slow and take a long time to get going! On average these games can take a VERY long time to beat. And I mean VERY long time. Like as in, my original playthough of Persona 5 the total play time managed to get close to 100 hours. Hell, my PS1 copies of Final Fantasy VII and VIII came on three disks which was unheard of for me at the time. And sadly, I don’t have all the time in the world. Most of that is because of me having a job as well as interacting with some of my friends online I’m still surprised I’ve managed to make in the past few years but also because there are other games that either are coming out, are out and I want to play, games I never got to play growing up for various reasons but really want to now that I have the means to play them or games I just haven’t played in a long time and want to again. For as much as I love Persona 5 and still stand by it being one of my favourites of these kinds of RPG’s I’ve played, knowing how long it took me finish the game casually (and Persona 5 Royal takes even longer than the original release) would I really want to go through all of it again when there are other games I’d want to play instead which wouldn’t take as long for me to finish?

So yeah, that’s pretty much everything I wanted to say. My experience with some turn based RPG’s and why I’ve had such an inconsistent experience with them. Which sucks that I do struggle with them so much because a lot of these actually have some really great stories, lore and characters tied to them. But if I’m not enjoying the actual gameplay of these games or they take so long to finish then I’m probably not going to want to see those stories though to the end. I am still really grateful that I tried a lot of these kinds of games out because again, trying new things is important. But if I ever play any RPG then they either have to not take to overly long to finish or have gameplay I actually find engaging. I am fully aware that the Final Fantasy VII remake changes the gameplay from the original’s turn based system into something much more involved and I would be willing to try that one day if I ever get around to it.

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kawia-renka · 3 years

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hello can i request Frisk, Chara and Asriel from undertale with a reader who’s apart of the royal guards and when they first meet them (platonic) thanks!

Frisk, Chara And Asriel With A Reader Who's Part Of The Royal Guard

❝ Hii ★ This was actually one of the first requests I got, so I'm glad I was finally able to finish it :-) And I actually am kinda proud of it! (Mainly the Chara and Frisk part) ❞

also totally unrelated but the headphones I use, I was wearing them on only one of my ears and now the other hurts ouch

• You've heard the rumor about a human falling down from Mountain Ebott. . As it turns out, that rumor was true. It was the 7th human, meaning that with it's soul King Asgore will be able to break the barrier and free all of monsters from the underground.

• As part of the royal guard it was your duty to be on the look out for them. Especially now when you found out they got past Undyne and the other guards and that skeleton who's supposedly a Royal guard in training.

• If they were able to get through some of the mightiest monsters in the underground, surely, they must be very powerful and strong. And what were their intentions?

• All of those thoughts had disappeared once you saw them... Next to a hot dog stand. With 20 hot dogs on their head. ??? Are you sure this is the right human? There hasn't been some sort of mistake?

• You walked up to them and noticed a skeleton in a blue hoodie behind the counter of the hot dog stand. You look back at the human, who was now trying to grab one of the hot dogs on the top of it's head, despite the stack being too tall for them to reach. You look back at the skeleton who was now gone.

• You decide to talk with the human and it turns out- they weren't that bad! They always spared monsters instead of fighting them. And they even became Undyne's friend after saving her! That's surprising.

• Since it's a human child all alone in the underground, with monsters trying to attack them at every corner, you decided to walk with them through Hotland. Making sure nothing happended to them. Thanks to that, they didn't have to fight anyone in Hotland.

• But unfortunately you had to leave them alone at Core. Promising they'd come back to you if they ever needed help.

• Just as you started worrying for them, you heard monsters talk about a human appearing on Mettaton's show. It calmed you down to know they were alright, but also made you panic since it meant they were getting closer to Asgore

• But it all ended well with Frisk, you learned was their name, breaking the barrier and freeing the monsters. You knew that they had their friends to take care of them, but you'd still make sure they're doing alright. Now that you're all living on the surface, Frisk is known as a hero,amongst humans, and monsters.

• Wandering all alone around the different places in the underground, the Dreemurr's adopted child has encountered you in Waterfall.

• It was a place they were very familiar with, despite living underground for only a few weeks. They'd often visit it with Asriel.

• The child started following you, asking all types of questions. Growing curiouser and curiouser with each answer they've received.

• When suddenly, they pulled your arm. They told you to come with them for a second. Chara led you to a place/field full of Echo Flowers. Flowers that'd repeat whatever has been said to them.

• The human whispered different things to several flowers and prompted you to do the same. They mentioned some of the things they heard there. Some funny, some sad. Some more mysterious than others.

• Ever since, it's become a fun thing for you two. To just leave messages in the Echo Flowers. Waiting for the other to hear them and leave a new message. But one day, they've gone silent. And as it turns out, Chara was sick.

• You couldn't help but worry, and had tried to help them somehow but to no avail. Chara died. It was a miserable day for both monsters and the Dreemurr family, who had lost one of it's children.

• You went back to waterfall and listened to the peaceful water. When something caught your eye- an echo flower. You decided to hear what it had to say. It seemed to have been a passing conversation. . .

"Someday, I'd like to climb the mountain we're all buried under.

Standing under the sky, looking at the world all around...

That's my wish "

• One day, Asriel was wandering around the castle, when he heard shouting and sounds of swords cluttering coming from the training room. It wasn't unusual, since the new royal guard in training was a young girl named Undyne, who was almost always yelling.

• Quietly, he peeked through the door to see what was going on. But before he could even take a look, he heard someone behind him.

"Akhem"

• He quickly turned around to face you. You explained that you were sent by Toriel to go find Asriel, she seemed worried about not being able to find him. He crossed his arms and murmured something about going back to his room.

• It was only the first out of many times you had encountered the young prince. Usually trying to sneak up and watch Undyne's training. He seemed bored, so you decided to spend some time with him.

• You'd take him on some of your duties, which mostly consisted of simply checking if everything in the underground was in order etc. But it was enough for him.

• His parents were alright with it, they would even invite you for a butterscotch cinnamon pie along with a cup of tea.

#[ 💌•Request Completed ]#undertale #Frisk #frisk #frisk undertale #chara #chara undertale #Chara #asriel #Asriel #asriel undertale #sans #sans undertale #undertale headcanons #platonic undertale

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jamestrmtx · 3 years

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Fairytale Complex - [Undertale | Sans x Reader]

[Gender Neutral, Frisk's Parent Reader | Slow Burn]

Chapter Nineteen | Temmie Village (Part 1 of 2) [First] | [Previous] | [Next]

Song Referenced

Temmiefied Version

Alternate Chapter Title(s): Stand by Me (no duh) or The Corny One With A Song Title Reference, Part 1

• • •

The shopping district’s as busy as the roads you’ve just driven by; food courts are the most bustling with the hour your phone marks: ten minutes past noon. Contraire to her punctual self, Brenda’s running late, though you settle for waiting ten more before sending her a message. You sit by an empty booth and take the last chair available in the row to avoid disturbing those who’re already eating. Then, you pull your planner out and skip through a few pages until you find the right one. Aside from your usual schedule, you had her visiting again this Friday, a meeting with Toriel regarding some plans she wanted to discuss with you on Saturday, and another one with Sans on Sunday to arrange the second step towards homeschooling Frisk while you enrolled them somewhere else.

It’s still hard to read that last one, not for what it was, but for the fact that almost every school you’d tried to sign them up into declined having other guardians aside from you and Jerry to pick them up. They declined Toriel just as much as they declined Undyne, all due to the new rules and regulations set up in schools since the monsters’ arrival. What Toriel wanted to discuss with you was related to that, though you hadn’t been given too many details as to what it was, exactly. You glance back to your phone to see over ten minutes have passed by already, yet Brenda's nowhere to be seen. You start typing up a message, only to be interrupted by her call; the device almost slips off your hands with how abrupt it is.

“H- Hello?” you answer, catching your breath.

She screams an accusation at you, not an ill-minded one per se, but one questioning over why you’d kept information hidden from her.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re that close to him already?” she asks, words jarringly loud. You have to turn down the volume despite it not being set on speakerphone. “So he's going to help you with Frisk? That’s serious boyfriend material, honey!”

Thankfully, she sounds happy.

Still, a correction's deemed necessary.

“What do you mean, Brenda?”

“Auntie Brenda, mind you.”

You huff and bring a hand to the side of your neck, tension consuming it. “Alright, Auntie Brenda… Where are you right now? I don’t have much break time left anymore.”

“Just go ahead and eat, dear. I’ll drive over on the weekend.”

Right as you’re about to complain over her choices, she speaks up again, calmer than before.

“Or why not come over after you have lunch there?” she asks, words cooed. “You work close to him, don't you?”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll stay here.” You can’t help feeling a little sour over her suggestion and with the reminder you’ve waited almost half an hour for her at the mall. With the call, it’s now thirty-five minutes past noon, giving you barely sufficient time for you to eat -- let alone listen to her rambling over how she’d misinterpreted your relationship and how Sans was better than she expected him to be. “You didn’t bother him with questions about his job, right?" you add. "He’s-”

“Why would I? He’s working an office job just like you!"

“He, what?”

You can’t avoid blurting that question out; a blank canvas replaces the image of him working at a hot dog stand. You try to imagine him working an office job, but it's near impossible to. Even if he knew plenty on various subjects, the monotonous yet fast-paced ambience of a desk job didn’t quite fit with your view of who the monster was to you.

“He works an office job, honey. Don’t you know where your own boyfriend works?” You can almost hear her shaking her head, disappointment made known through the blatant change in her voice. “Shame on you!”

You pinch the bridge of your nose and stand up, too vexed to sit still. “That’s not what I meant, Bre- ...Auntie Brenda,” you say, trailing off on your words. “I just… didn’t know he worked two jobs.”

“He does?!”

You lower the volume once more, Brenda's voice taking up a speakerphone quality to it again. Her tone then grows fainter as she questions the skeleton about the legitimacy of your statement. When her voice turns louder, you figure he’s given her an answer -- one you’ve no clue of. If he had two jobs, then you’re not so sure over how she'll be reacting. And if he didn’t, then you’d inadvertently put him on the spot by letting the truth known, something that didn’t really make sense if he was supposed to be working -- or at the very least, ending his lunch break right now.

Feeling it’s going to take a while, you stand in line at one of the fast-food establishments nearest to you; a growl from your stomach reminds you time’s running out. “So what did he say?” you speak up, knowing she’s getting distracted again.

“He does!” she exclaims, almost in a cheer. “Why didn’t you tell me he was that well-off, then? You should marry him now that you’ve got the chance to.”

“Weren’t you scolding me over the opposite barely a week ago?”

“Maybe so, but that was before I knew him better, dear!”

You roll your eyes and sigh, headache worsening. “Alright, I’m hanging up now. Don’t bother him too much, and stop interrupting his-”

“Wait,” she calls, excitement still there. “Have you ever thought of learning more about monsters? There’s a bunch of workshops going on right now… And I figured you could take one, since you’re dating one and all!”

Nearly the time for you to make your order, you let your tone become sterner, hoping to get your point across. “That… That sounds good and all, but I really need to go now. My lunch break’s almost over.”

Brenda huffs. “Fine.” Her voice comes out dragged, and it’s almost possible for you to hear her pouting. “But we need to talk all about this on Friday!”

“Sure. See you then.”

“Farewell, dear!”

You hang up, slip your phone back in your pocket, and turn to the register when you’re done, right on time to make your order.

• • •

Breathe in, breathe out.

You repeat that sentence along with those actions as you clock out of work, more than ready to relax, but less than capable of with how much you've left to resolve.

Before turning off the computer, you click on your boss's e-mail for a third time today and read it once more.

>> Come to my office as soon as you're done with your shift for the day. I'll be waiting. – Sent from my ayPhone <<

You huff and glance at the pills on your desk. Despite these being given to you by the doctor herself, you're trying not to take them as often as the instructions on the bottle tell you to. You don't want to grow dependent on them, yet -- at the same time -- it's nearly impossible for you to go by your usual routine without having the repercussions of not taking them delay your progress. The side-eyes and looks some of your co-workers offer you on occasion reveal they're not too thrilled by the idea of having someone in your state around, either. Dizziness takes over and your headache worsens; they're enough for your body to finally give in, causing you to stumble out of your desk chair and direct all gazes on you.

Breathe in, breathe out.

It's just as impossible trying to ignore everyone, and it's even more difficult trying to stand up without making a complete fool of yourself.

Breathe in, breathe-

A hand's offered out to you; you accept it, yet you refuse to look at the person until you're back to your feet.

When you do look up, you recognize who the person is in an instant. It's the same man Sans had taken a picture with the day you first met. His hair looks different, but his face and clothing style remain the same. His hand stays holding yours until you assure him you're capable of standing straight again, and even then he still has his doubts. A subtle frown shows on his visage, fueled by concern.

"Are you alright, or should I call someone?" he asks, forehead creasing. "That fall looked pretty serious."

"I'm alright," you reply, managing a smile. You're still dizzy, the headache has only grown worse, and having people still looking in your direction doesn't help much with any of that, either. Even so, having him by your side along with a few other, approachable co-workers helps with bringing you back down to earth and allows you to find some more stability before going to meet with your boss.

"Excuse me, (L/N), but…"

You turn to the voice to see a woman -- tall, pale-skinned, and dark-haired -- offering you your phone. It takes some time, but you're able to recognize her as one of the few co-workers you spent your lunch break with before Frisk went missing. She's as professional as ever, and her formality still shows subtly through speech, yet it doesn't erase how warm and genuine her tone sounds. "Your phone broke with the fall." She pulls her hand back as soon as you have the device in your hold; her body language reveals she has a hunch in terms of just how 'alright' you really are, and what a twice-broken phone in less than a year could do to your current, physical and mental state alike. "It seems like it still works though, since it was ringing just a minute ago."

"Thank you." You turn it on to view a cracked screen. The update Alphys gave it appears to have made it more durable, based on how minor the damages are compared to the first time it fell. You're capable of unlocking it and even checking your notifications to notice you've got a few unread messages from Brenda and Frisk's school, coupled with a missed call from Sans. That last one is harder to take in. He already knew what hour you clocked out, and he had enough common sense and decency not to call you unless it was an emergency -- unlike Brenda, who didn't really know how to read the room, and Frisk's school, which called only when it was absolutely necessary. "I, uh…" You're not sure on what to do first. Brenda could be easily set aside with what she did during your lunch break, but the same couldn't be said for everything else.

Breathe in, breathe out.

You flinch at the sudden sensation of needles on your forehead and a dizziness so strong and wild, it makes your stomach far too queasy for you to manage with. Still, you combat that feeling by grabbing some gum from your belongings, taking a few, and chewing them all at once. The sharp taste and scent of mint helps wash away nausea, yet the dizziness persists.

"Do you want us to take you home, (L/N)?" the man from earlier asks, sounding more concerned than before. Meanwhile, the woman approaches you with some water, one you accept and drink as quickly as it falls in your hands. They both help sit you down on a different desk chair -- one without wheels to prevent you from falling over again. Most have left, while some stay and try to offer more aid. Your boss stands by the exit, arms crossed, stance firm, and face hard to read with how bad your symptoms have turned. "Or maybe accompany you to the bus stop, at least? You shouldn't drive in these conditions."

"It's…"

Your eyes fall on your phone again, tempted to make a decision.

With your priorities now changed to the subject of your health, you set Frisk's school aside with the knowledge they're with Toriel at this hour and forget about the meeting with your boss, aware she's already seen you from a distance. Only his name remains; truthfully, you'd rather limit how much time you spent with him, knowing what the opposite did to your heart and mind alike. You hesitate and stare blankly for a short while before you click on his missed call. One tap and two rings is all that's needed for you to reach him. It takes a second for you to answer back at him, half as much as it takes for your hand to stop shaking and for your voice to gain a better semblance of strength. It's too late to hang up now -- and his call could likely be an emergency -- so you continue forward with it.

"You don't sound too great. Everythin' okay?"

"About that…"

You share some words with him and refuse to tell him of your situation until he gives you his own reason for calling you at this hour.

"...Why did you call me?"

"It's about Frisk, but it ain't an emergency or anythin' -- it's good news, actually."

"Then why did y-"

"Listen, I don't mean to be harsh or nosy, but you sound awful right now. I can give you all the answers you need later, but could ya tell me what's wrong?"

You heave a small breath and look at the time, along with the hour of his missed call. He made it around eleven minutes past the end of your shift, so it wasn't exactly interrupting your job, but you're not sure how to interpret his call and the fact it was his first occasion calling you so close to your work schedule. Even if you were overthinking it, you didn't want to overlook anything, either. And then again, the state you're in isn't really the best for you to be questioning every little thing about your relationship with him -- at the moment, of course. "I feel sick. Kind of similar to that day at the hospital." You decide to be earnest, regardless of how dry your throat feels and how fast your heart goes. "I, well…"

"Want me to pick you up?"

Your ears turn hot while your hands do the opposite. "Y- Yeah…" Your chest tightens and your words grow faint, until you continue with, "I need your help, teddy bear."

"Teddy bear?" he asks, chuckling.

"You're calling me puddin' now, aren't you? You're a teddy bear in my eyes, then."

"I wonder why."

You smile.

"...See you in a bit?"

"'Course. I should be there in ten minutes max."

"Thank you."

With that, you say your farewells and hang up.

Now left to wait, you put your phone away, pick up the rest of your belongings, and stay with the company of your two co-workers as you make it to the exit. Your boss is still waiting next to it, yet she steps aside as do other people standing nearby, providing you with space to pass by. She says nothing, so you stop for a second, only to have her nod for you to carry on walking.

"Come to my office as soon as you recover, (L/N)."

That's the only thing she says as the door closes, leaving you with one co-worker by your left and the other by your right, both waiting in case you were to fall over again.

Breathe in, breathe out.

[First] | [Previous] | [Next]

• • •

Small but Important™ Q&A regarding healthcare and whether it's American-based or not

To clarify for everyone else possibly having that same doubt, based on a question made by a reader in terms of Chapter Six and Seven's events:

All healthcare/medical attention mentioned in this story is based off my country, meaning it's either free or at the very least, affordable enough that you don't have to choose between an Uber or an overpriced weewoo vehicle in case of a medical emergency.

For example: I pay only $10 for 4 different medicines I'm meant to take, 3 which are for a lifetime (example: thyroiditis), and the only thing my insurance doesn't cover is optometry, which is around $300 to $500 a year for a full exam and prescription!

Tl;dr: It isn't. There's no debt here so far, lol.

• • •

Tag List (Comment or message me if you want to be added to [or removed from] it!)

@the-simp-express

@nektotersh

@disastrous-l0vebug

@therealchickenjoe

@mintyflakes025

@pandaquick

@timelock97

@candle-creeps

@paperb9gs

@merak0

#sans x reader #undertale x reader #lgbt #lgbt themes #gender neutral reader #male reader #female reader #mother reader #father reader #parent reader #chubby reader #long fic #romcom #adventure #mystery #platonic relationships #slow burn

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smells-like-mettaton · 4 years

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Rating: G

Summary: Papyrus's New Year's resolutions include: trying new fashion choices, helping his brother talk about his feelings, keeping his friends from murdering each other over Monopoly, and admitting his crush on Mettaton.

Word Count: 4333

XXX

“Hmmm… I feel a little… nervous.” Papyrus tugged at the end of his shirt. His very long, very tight shirt. That aspect felt more embarrassing than the fact that Mettaton’s face was cross-stitched into it. “This outfit is very different from my battle body.”

Sans blinked. His grin stayed tight, but still not as tight as this strange shirt. The red-and-pink fabric clung to the invisible magic that filled out his form. His usual crop tops covered just his ribcage, but this full-length shirt… it showed his abs. A full six pack of them. It was weird.

Of course, he knew that if he had physical muscles, he would surely have such a buff physique. A skeleton’s clothed form was based on their perception of their true self, after all. Sans was lazy and round. Papyrus trained daily, and his magic chiseled his form to show it.

He just hoped he didn’t look too chiseled. He didn’t want to intimidate anyone with his handsome figure. Though… perhaps a certain robot wouldn’t mind...

“You don’t have to wear it, bro. I’m sure the bucket of bolts will understand.”

No. No, the ‘bucket of bolts,” the fabulous Mettaton himself, would not understand. He would wonder why Papyrus didn’t wear his Christmas gift to the New Year’s Eve party. And then Mettaton would never believe how much Papyrus cared for him…

“No! Change can be refreshing. New year, new fashion! Yeah!!!”

“...Alright.” Sans shrugged.

He wouldn’t understand. He was wearing the same dingey hoodie he’d worn every day in the underground. At least it smelled a little better now that Toriel was around to occasionally wrangle it off of him and throw it in the wash. (Sans always complained, but Papyrus had caught him sniffing it and smiling dreamily each time.)

“You could stand to freshen up too, you know! Don’t you want to impress Miss Toriel? HMM??”

He elbowed his brother in the ribs (nyeh heh) but it wasn’t as effective as usual. This shirt had long sleeves, which left Papyrus’s arms looking more filled-out than in his battle body. And thus, his elbow had less boney-nudging power.

“Hey. Don’t try to jack-et up my style. ‘Sides, if Tori didn’t like the hoodie, it hood have ended up in the garbage ages ago.”

“Oh my gosh!!! Both of you belong in the garbage then!”

“Only if you’re there too, bro.” Sans winked. “Come on, I think we’re late enough to make an entrance. I know a—”

“Geez, Sans, I know you can teleport. You don’t have to be dramatic about it!”

Sans’s browbones scrunched. “You really are nervous, huh? It’s gonna be fine, bro. You’re gonna knock that robot’s socks off. Y’know, if he had socks.”

Sweat beaded on Papyrus’s forehead. He wasn’t surprised that Sans had guessed the source of his anxiety, but that didn’t mean he had to admit it.

“N-no I’m not nervous! It’s just… hot in here! Let’s take that shortcut and hope that Miss Toriel has been banned from the celebratory cider!”

“Yeah, it’d be a shame to have to lock her in her own garage this time…”

Sans casually slipped his arm through Papyrus’s and led them towards the bathroom. Of course, when Papyrus blinked at the entryway, they were suddenly walking through the tall doorframe into Toriel’s living room.

It wasn’t covered in Mew Mew- or Mettaton-bits. That was a good sign—Papyrus would’ve hated to miss a live chainsaw fight again. At the Gyftmas party, he’d been too busy wrangling Toriel to watch.

Sound always took a second to catch up with Sans’s shortcuts, so Papyrus felt Undyne’s smack on his back before he heard her.

“ACK!” He jumped before attempting to cover it with a cough. Undyne laughed.

“Dude, I know you don’t have to breathe! You can’t fool me!”

“It was a courtesy scream! Of greeting! Because I know how much you love to be intimidating!!”

“Heck yeah I do! Thanks, Papyrus!” She slugged him again for good measure, this time on the shoulder. It felt weird, with his bones covered in layers of protective magic and fabric. “Lookin’ good, by the way! I haven’t seen you in a full shirt in… geez, has it been a year? I almost didn’t recognize you!”

He tugged at his collar, though it wouldn’t keep him from sweating. Toriel kept her house cool, at least. Probably because she was covered in fur.

“I know, I know. It still feels unseemly for a royal mascot to be seen out of uniform…”

“Nah, it’s all good! I’m sure all the monsters with two good eyes won’t have a problem recognizing the Great Papyrus.”

He felt his cheeks warm. “Nyeh heh... heh… so it doesn’t look weird? Sans said it was fine, but you know Sans… he only wears the same smelly outfit, day in and day out! I can’t trust his fashion sense.”

“Then trust me. I practically invented fashion! Like, if you replaced Mettaton’s face with… a spear! Or an anime princess with a sword! IT WOULD INSPIRE FEAR INTO THE HEARTS OF YOUR ENEMIES!”

Papyrus hunched his shoulders and scratched the back of his neck. At least the shirt didn’t have a high collar, so he could still feel the tips of his vertebrae.

“I’m not sure fear is the emotion I am going for. Perhaps… grandeur? Or even… admiration??” His skull heated a bit more. Oh, he hoped his cheekbones weren’t stained pink. He hadn’t intended to keep his feelings from his best friend… but Undyne and Mettaton butted heads so often. He just wanted everyone to be friends!

Especially his best friend and the robot he maybe-sort-of had a crush on!

Undyne took a step back, squinting at him with her one good eye. Darn it, she was so perceptive!

“B-but I didn’t say it was romantic admiration!” Papyrus clarified. “It is—”

“OH MY GOSH!!” Undyne interrupted, her voice echoing over the human program Toriel had on TV. “YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON—?”

“SHHHH!” He slapped her hands over her mouth. She batted at them with her face-fins, her muffled shouting seeping through his gloves.

Eventually she quieted. Probably because the whole room was staring at them. Sans and Toriel on the couch, Frisk squished between them. Flowey on the windowsill, leaves crossed and faking disinterest. Alphys with wide eyes, as if predicting what Undyne was about to shout. And Napstablook, Mew Mew, and…

Mettaton.

Papyrus didn’t need to gulp. He did anyway.

“DARLING!” Mettaton spread his arms wide as he strutted towards Papyrus. His heeled boots somehow made a loud CLICK-CLICK-CLICK, even though the living room’s floor was carpeted. “Oh, you look wonderful! Positively ravishing!”

He stopped at arms’ length, then scanned Papyrus up and down. It felt like his robot vision could see right through him. Not that there was much to see—just normal bones. It was still rattling regardless.

“Th-thank you! The Great Papyrus strives to always be ready to be ravished!”

Sans spit out his drink. Thankfully it was just water, and not anything more intoxicating. With Frisk present, adult drinks would be off-limits.

But it still left a puddle on the floor, and wet bubbles gurgling out of Sans’s eyesockets.

“Oh dear.” Toriel bit back a giggle. “Frisk, do you mind getting your dunkle a towel?”

Frisk nodded eagerly, shooting Papyrus a wink before scampering off to the kitchen. Double dang it. Even Frisk could see right through him! Of course, Frisk was a master of flirtation, even if none of it had wooed Papyrus in the end. Perhaps the child could help him… if he survived this current encounter.

He straightened his spine. He was the Great Papyrus, and he would not be intimidated by a soul-fluttering crush.

“I um—I mean—”

Undyne pushed in front of him before he could come up with a super-effective conversation saver.

“Dude, you got Papyrus a shirt with your face on it? Why didn’t you pick out something cool?”

“Please.” Mettaton snorted, even though he also didn’t need to breathe. (They had so much in common!!) “You’d have me embroider your human cartoons instead, wouldn’t you?”

“Uh, YEAH!” Undyne was one of the few monsters who could almost match Mettaton in height, and she made use of that fact. Their noses—er, Mettaton’s nose and where Undyne’s nose would be—were nearly touching. Papyrus wished that meant they were about to hug and make up, but Undyne always kept her friends close and her enemies closer. She’d be more likely to strangle the robot than hug him.

Alphys hovered near her girlfriend, but her stammering was too quiet to break up the intense glare-off. That was too bad; Alphys was the one person who was beloved by both Undyne and Mettaton.

“You care about Papyrus, right? Don’t you want him to look as cool as possible?” Undyne continued.

“Of course I do.” Mettaton nudged her back with one gloved finger. “Papyrus is the very epitome of cool. And thus, the only accessory that could possibly accentuate his natural style is my face.”

Papyrus blinked. Maybe Alphys wasn’t the only person Undyne and Mettaton both respected.

“WOWIE!! You… think I’m that cool?”

“Oh, don’t sound so surprised, darling. I don’t cross-stitch for just anyone.” Mettaton winked—or maybe it was just a blink; his bangs covered the other half of his face—and then turned on his heel. “You may join Mew Mew, Blooky, and I in the kitchen if you’d like. Mew is absolutely desperate to be crushed at Monopoly.”

“HEY! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO’S GONNA GET CRUSHED, METTA-LOSER!”

Mettaton rolled his eyes. “Seriously. What is the point of an insult if it doesn’t include at least one clever pun? No class whatsoever.”

“Exactly!” Papyrus agreed.

“Hey, Me and Al want in on some metal butt crushing!” Undyne bent down and seized her girlfriend in a headlock, making Alphys’s face burn red. Papyrus wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or lack of oxygen, since that was her natural state around Undyne anyway.

“W-well, a-as long as all c-crushing is metaphorical…”

“Darling, the only Metta-phorical thing at this party is me.”

“UGH!! Papyrus, how can you hate Sans’s puns and put up with this?” Undyne threw her arms in the air, which had the side effect of releasing Alphys. “Come on, babe, I’m gonna need you to come up with our battle strategy!”

“Umm, you do know that Monopoly isn’t a fighting game, right…?”

Mettaton, Undyne, and Alphys all trailed into the kitchen with various levels of excitement. Papyrus was about to follow them when he caught Sans staring again.

Frisk was wiping his face with a snail-embroidered dish towel. His brother didn’t even blink, and his eyelights had gone oddly dim.

“Brother? Are you alright?” Papyrus leaned over the armrest and said in as quiet a voice as he could manage. “Did you want to play Monopoly too? You can be on my team!”

“Nah, it’s all good. I think Tori, Frisk, and I are gonna play Uno. It’s a lot easier for a lazybones like me.” He winked, but Papyrus wasn’t fooled.

“Sans. You made a New Year’s resolution to be more honest about your feelings. As is the time-honored tradition, you must keep your promise or risk a year’s worth of bad luck!”

Toriel and Frisk shared a glance. Had they seriously not heard of this tradition? Frisk had an excuse, being both a human and a child, but Toriel was hundreds of years old!

“Uh. Bro. I didn’t make any kinda resolution like that.”

“I know! You were too busy boondoggling, so I made it for you!” Papyrus grinned. “It’s already written on the refrigerator at home, so don’t even try to get out of it.”

Sans let out a long breath through his nasal cavity. His smile looked strained.

“Alright. You’re always better at comin’ up with that kinda stuff than me, anyway. But it’s no big deal this time. Really. I’ll tell ya after your Monopoly game.”

Papyrus’s browbone furrowed. “Okay… but Toriel and Frisk are my witnesses! You can’t wriggle out of it this time!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, bro.”

After one last knowing look, Papyrus left him in the living room. Perhaps he just wanted some alone time with Toriel, but that look… it had definitely been focused on Papyrus. He wasn’t so smitten by Mettaton’s charms to ignore that.

But Papyrus trusted his brother. And he trusted his own ability to pin Sans down by his gross hoodie until he got answers, if necessary.

“I hope you guys saved me the car!” Papyrus called as he plopped down at the kitchen table.

The empty seat just happened to be next to Mettaton. Had Undyne been wingmanning… (wingwomaning… finwomaning…?) for him already? Maybe he should’ve revealed his crush earlier. Her letter had managed to woo Alphys, after all.

“Oh no…” Napstablook said quietly. “We, umm, didn’t bring that Monopoly…”

“We brought Monster Monopoly!” Mew Mew brushed her hair out of her face with a paw. “It’s way cooler, mew~”

“It’s, umm, a-actually… Pocket Monster Monopoly, if we’re being specific,” Alphys said from her spot in Undyne’s lap.

“POKEMON!” Undyne grinned. “You remember watching Pokemon with me and Al, right, Papyrus? There was the epic fight between the Charizards, and then there was the lab that got Alphys all spooked, and then Ash got turned into a rock and you started crying—”

“I remember!” Papyrus cut her off. Not because he was embarrassed—it had been perfectly reasonable to cry when the human was resurrected by the love of the strange monsters. But Alphys might not want to think about the anime lab that had been reminiscent of her old home.

“Great! Then pick your mon!” Undyne reached around Alphys to push the two remaining pieces towards him.

One was an orange lizard Pokemon with flames on its tail. Was that Charizard? Papyrus had expected Undyne to pick that one, but she’d chosen a blue turtle-looking Pokemon with canons coming from its back. Alphys had presumably let her pick, or else they would’ve had the round pink Pokemon. Mettaton had chosen that one, and was cooing it it as he balanced it on his fingertip.

The other available option was Pikachu. Everyone liked Pikachu. Papyrus set that figure on the starting square.

“Excellent choice, darling. Now it’s time for the real show!”

The real show turned out to be a three-hour long battle royale. Despite Alphys’s insistence that Monopoly wasn’t a fighting game, the board game was interrupted by three and a half chainsaw battles. Two of those were stopped by Toriel entering with slices of pie and fistfuls of fire magic, respectively. The other two were settled by Sans distracting Mettaton with bad puns, and flashing his blue eye socket. Drama queen. It worked though, startling Mettaton and Mew Mew into calling a draw.

“Not that it matters, since Al and I are winning anyway!” Undyne grinned, stacking her paper cash into a tall tower. “I’d like to see your MTT-brand resort come back from that!”

It was true. If anything, Mettaton and Mew Mew were battling for last place. Each of them only held a few mortgaged properties to their name, while Team Shellshock (as Undyne named her and Alphys’s duo) had racked up monopolies on the two highest-priced sides of the board. Napstablook had owned the two purple spaces at the beginning of the board, until all the fighting drove them to vanish into the ground. They later reappeared the living room, chatting quietly with Toriel, Frisk, and Sans, and occasionally calling out “Oooo-no.” Papyrus wondered how he was playing the card game with no arms.

Papyrus himself was rather satisfied with owning the orange properties before Free Parking. His stacks of houses caught the other players as they escaped from jail. Plus, Tangela and Victreebel were rather cute.

“Do you hear her, Papyrus?” Mettaton raised the back of his hand to his forehead and leaned dramatically into Papyrus’s space. “Insulting my brand when she hasn’t even had the nerve to duel me! Of course, I would have to show her mercy, on account of her being Alphys’s one true love.”

“You? Show ME mercy??” Undyne stood abruptly, accidentally dumping Alphys onto the floor. “Oh, uh. Sorry babe.”

“I’m used to it…” Alphys muttered. “Maybe I should just stay down here…”

“No! No more fighting! The Great Papyrus will not allow this lighthearted board game to devolve into yet another brawl!” Besides, he really did not want to find out what Sans would do if the others caused any more damage to Toriel’s house. The scorch marks on the tile would already take hours to buff out.

“Very well, darling. I’ve showed off all of my moves for the night, anyway. I wouldn’t want to let my performance go stale.”

“Oh, like it wasn’t stale to begin with,” Mew Mew said. Mettaton glared at her before—to Papyrus’s surprise—the robot rested his head on Papyrus’s shoulder.

“Wake me up when Mew comes up with some more original material.” His metallic eyelids slid closed.

“It’s Mewtwo to you, bolts for brains!” Mew Mew pointed to her character, the purple Pokemon from the movie.

She’d landed on Alphys and Undyne’s Nidoking space again, but neither of the girls seemed to notice. Undyne because she was busy snapping a not-so-discreet photo of Mettaton on Papyrus’s shoulder, and Alphys because she was still under the table.

In response, Mettaton just started emitting tiny Zs. Papyrus was careful not to move and possibly disturb him, even though his bones wanted to rattle with nervous energy. No one had ever slept on his shoulder before, let alone a handsome robot. Normally he was simply too bony to be comfortable.

Maybe this new shirt would have to become a permanent part of his wardrobe.

“Enough. ENOUGH. ENOUGH!!! I refuse to play under these conditions any longer!!” Mew Mew shoved herself back from the table. Her tail lashed back and forth, and the bells in her hair jingled angrily.

“Mewtwo—” Papyrus called, but she was already in the living room, opening the door to leave. He sighed. Why was it so difficult to be friends with everyone…?

“Oh! Uh, h-hi, Asgore!” Mew Mew’s voice was suddenly respectful.

Asgore? Papyrus had thought he wasn’t invited, since the party was at Toriel’s house. He tried to crane his neck to check on Miss Toriel, but couldn’t turn far enough with Mettaton’s weight on him. Well, Sans and Frisk would surely be there with her. Hopefully with enough moral support, the two Dreemurrs could get along.

If not, they probably couldn’t do much more damage than Mew Mew and Mettaton already had with their chainsaws.

“He made it!” Undyne grinned toothily before throwing Alphys over her shoulder and jogging to join them in the living room.

Which left only Papyrus and Mettaton in the kitchen. Alone.

Stars, he hoped Mettaton couldn’t tell how sweaty he was.

“Finally,” Mettaton murmured, wrapping his arm around Papyrus’s not-bicep. “As much as I adore the spotlight, every star needs a moment to regain their shine.”

Papyrus blinked. Mettaton’s fingers tap-tap-tapped over his sleeve, a rhythm that was both comforting and baffling. What was he doing? Had he been faking sleep this whole time?

“I… are you alright, Mettaton?” He settled for asking.

“Oh my. I am being awfully forward, aren’t I?” He let go of Papyrus’s arm, but still left his head resting on his shoulder. His dark hair obscured his eyes from Papyrus’s angle. “This… isn’t something I’m used to, you know.”

Papyrus cleared his throat. “I, the Great Papyrus, know many things! But you will have to be more specific.”

Mettaton chuckled. “Very well. I am not used to cuddling with such a sweet, sincere, and devilishly handsome skeleton.”

His jaw dropped. Literally. It clinked off of Mettaton’s shoulder and landed in Papyrus’s lap. He had to reattach it before he could ask the question that pounded in his soul.

“Are you… flirting with me?” He didn’t have his dating handbook with him! Or a plate of emergency spaghetti!! How was he supposed to secure Mettaton’s affections??

Though… Mettaton seemed affectionate enough already, without any of those things. Could it be… that he just liked him?

“Finally! I made a bet with Alphys on how long it would take you to notice. The suspense was absolutely killing me, darling. You do know how to create dramatic tension.”

“Mettaton.” Papyrus scooted his chair back, leaving him space to grip Mettaton’s spiked shoulders. “You… like me? Romantically??”

Mettaton’s smoulder looked a little less confident than usual. “Is that so surprising? You’re the only one who shines as brightly as me. Your energy… your passion… you give one hundred percent to everything you put your mind to. That’s what makes a true star, darling.”

“Wowie…” Papyrus breathed. His head felt like it was spinning. Of course Mettaton, being an actor, would be good with words, but… these ones felt sincere. “Would you like to… maybe… go on a date??”

The robot blinked before shooting his signature dazzling smile. “I thought you’d never ask, darling.”

“Are you two done flirting?”

Papyrus jumped at Frisk’s voice. Their head had poked through the entrance of the kitchen.

“Of course not! I, the Great Papyrus, have barely begun flirting!” He puffed out his chest, and Mettaton laughed.

“Fabulous! That’s the confidence I want to hear! It’s no wonder you were able to help Alphys.” Mettaton’s smile softened. It was something Papyrus had never seen before, something that had certainly never been captured on film or broadcast on television. He would like to save that smile forever, if he could. “I must thank you for that, by the way. I… haven’t always been the greatest friend to her. But you were able to do for her what I should have. She has positively sparkled since your self-confidence lessons.”

“I am glad to hear it! Alphys is a wonderful friend, and she deserves to feel wonderful about herself!” He beamed.

“Keep flirting if you want, but you’re gonna miss the ball drop,” Frisk called again, and then their messy brown hair disappeared back into the living room.

“It can’t be that spectacular,” Mettaton scoffed, though he hadn’t stopped smiling. “Now, if I were swinging in on the disco ball… now that would be a way to ring in the new year!”

“We’ll have to plan that for next year! I can’t wait to build a giant disco ball. It will be just like building a puzzle… but spherical! Nyeh heh heh!!”

“I’ll be looking forward to it, darling.”

And then, before Papyrus could blink, Mettaton gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Warmth pulsed through his bones, even though Mettaton’s metal lips were cold.

“Nyeh! Heh!! Heh???” He melted back into his chair with a hysterical giggle. He could see the appeal of Sans’s hoodie now. It would be nice to have a hood to hide his blush in.

But Mettaton was giggling too. The sound mixed with the cheers from the living room as the clock struck midnight.

“Happy new year, darling.” Mettaton winked.

“Happy new year!” Papyrus pulled him into a hug that probably would’ve crushed someone not made of metal. But Mettaton was, so everything was fine. “Have you regained your shine now?”

Mettaton squeezed him back. “Oh yes. I definitely have.”

XXX

“Some party, huh?” Sans yawned when they arrived home hours after midnight. It was a miracle he’d stayed awake this long. He’d even helped Toriel clean up, despite leaving Papyrus to clear the mess from his holiday party last week. Sans definitely had it bad, but at least Toriel was a good influence on him.

“It certainly was!” Papyrus beamed. “I’m sorry I did not spend much of it with you.”

“‘S alright. Frisk filled me in on everything.” Sans winked. “I gotta admit, I was worried at first, but I’m happy for ya.”

“Worried?” Papyrus squinted. “Wait… is that why you were acting weird earlier? I thought it might be about Miss Toriel.”

He chuckled. “Not this time, bro. You, uh… I don’t want you to think I don’t believe in ya, because I do. If anyone could get a superstar boyfriend, it would be you.”

Papyrus’s face warmed. He wasn’t sure that Mettaton was his boyfriend yet, but… he could be! Eventually!! The thought was nearly enough to make him see stars.

“But, uh, I just didn’t want him to lead you on.” He shrugged, hands in his pockets. “I’m glad he’s head over stiletto heels for you too.”

“Awww!” Papyrus squeezed his brother’s shoulders with one arm, the other grinding his knuckles against his skull.

“Hey, hey.” Sans pretended to struggle, but he was laughing. “Watch the skull. These things bone’t grow on trees.”

That pun was absolutely horrible, but Papyrus elected to ignore it for now.

“Thank you for caring, Sans. And thank you even more for not scaring him away.”

“Me? Scare anyone? You must be thinking of a different Sans. That would take way too much energy.”

“Oh, you can’t play innocent with me! You were going to give Mew Mew and Mettaton a bad time if they broke Toriel’s dining table!”

Sans’s eye sockets widened, as if he’d already forgotten about breaking up the fourth chainsaw fight.

“Heh. Nah, all I had to do was spook ‘em a little.”

“Spooking and scaring are synonyms, brother!”

“But I didn’t scare him away. In fact, I think I scared him towards ya.” He winked again. “You’re welcome, bro.”

Papyrus just shook his head and let out a soft nyeh-heh-heh. By the time he blinked, Sans had disappeared, probably shortcutting himself to his bedroom. It was rather late, even for Papyrus.

He flopped in his bed, still in his long-sleeved MTT-brand shirt, and dreamt of the fond memories to be made in the new year.

#undertale #papyton #papyrus #mettaton #papyrus & undyne #fic tag #tali writes

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btssmutficslovingfan01 · 4 years

Text

Friendly Encounters- Chapter Three

𝒮𝓊𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓎: A friend challenges you to go out of your comfort zone and talk to one of the cute boys at the café. However, after attempting to flirt with one of them, they reveal that they are in a relationship with each other. It’s fine, though, because you’re all friends now!

𝒢𝑒𝓃𝓇𝑒: Romance

𝑅𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔: Fluff

𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈: Mentions of sex, language, mature themes, mostly safe but not suitable for young audiences below the age of 16, and binge eating if you are easily triggered by that.

𝒲𝑜𝓇𝒹𝓈: 5.8k+

𝒫𝒶𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔: Jimin x Yoongi x Reader

Masterlist

⇤Prev | Next⇥

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“My boyfriend actually called me his wife today.” “Oh yeah, well mine already proposed to me, that’s right, five years since we've started dating!”

“Oh, Lyric, you’re lucky. My boyfriend only ever invited me to his family’s tree trimming party and we got blessings from all of his great-aunts, uncles, and other relatives. His parents even call me their future daughter.” You roll your eyes at how unrelenting these girls are. They won’t even stop talking about boys for one second and you’ve been at this sleepover for five hours. It’s supposed to be the last sleepover of the decade as seniors, for everyone since you and this tiny group started planning in the seventh grade. Just because you’re all girls doesn’t mean boys are the only thing you have to talk about! It’s not an obligation. This isn’t a disney movie where the prince is going to marry the princess at the end, it’s real life and everyone is too fucking clingy to realize it.

“Can we not talk about boys tonight?” You finally ask out loud, earning a gasp from everyone in the vicinity, including Bae, who happens to be a lesbian. Even she was enjoying the boy talk.

“Why? That’s literally what sleepovers are about.” Your other friend, Joy points out. You sigh in frustration, falling back on the carpeted floor while hugging your soft ladybug plushie.

“Looks like someone’s having a bit of drama, we heard from Jessica. Now, tell mama River what’s really going on.” You take in a deep breath before slowly explaining your situation with the boys.

“And these boys are a gay couple?” Bae asks in a questioning tone.

“They are! But...after a certain encounter, I’m not really sure what to think. They’re older, and in love with each other, but I feel like I’m just intruding at times, you know?” Another girl that goes by the name of “Temoshika-san,” which is her japanese name nods in agreement, holding out a tray of foods for you to snack on.

“Eat. I binge whenever I’m stressed.” She says after you take a tiny bag of doritos.

“Hon..I’m gonna say something but I don’t think you’re going to like it.” Your most sensible friend, Toriel (oh yes I named her after an undertale character) says after a long moment of silence.

“Shoot. I’ve already made plans with them for next week to see a concert so there’s nothing that can surprise me now.” You bite your lips. It’s been an entire month since that day when Yoongi demanded you to lick ice cream off his boyfriend’s cheek and things escalated from there.

You didn’t have sex, but it was a close call. Your heart almost ran away from you. Yet, they don’t bring it up, so it’s safe to assume that they felt nothing from that encounter.

Maybe Jimin didn’t anyways. Or maybe he was feeling just as horny as you! Who knows? No guy has ever looked at you that way before, so you wouldn’t even know.

“I think that both of these boys might be catching feelings for you. But they’ve probably never had feelings for a girl before, so they don’t know how to go about it.” Her theory makes sense. Suddenly, all of the pieces click in your mind.

“You’re a genius, Toriel!” You give her a hug before whipping out your phone to text Jimin. Right on cue, you get a text! But you’re surprised to see that it's not from Jimin.

“Damn, that's some cold shit right there. I didn’t know what you did to piss him off so much.” Bae chuckles at your misery as you put your phone away.

“Wanna spill the details?” A girl by the name of Cleo asks. You roll your eyes.

“It was just Yoongi. He said he and Jimin wanted to talk to me. As if things haven’t been awkward enough.” You feel like you’re walking on eggshells with the two, as you’ve stopped hugging Jimin for longer than 10 seconds.

And you’ve stopped your musical obsessions with Yoongi as well, keeping the fangirling to a bare minimum. You just want everything to go back to normal, so you can continue onto your adult life without holding on so much to the past. And they aren’t the only things bothering you, but Jungkook has been desperately trying to fix your relationship.

Jasmine won’t so much as breathe in your direction, as she doesn’t need you anymore. She has everything. The popular clique, a hot boyfriend, and perfect grades. She isn’t bothering you at all, but you are tempted to scream in her face about keeping her boy toy in control. He keeps wandering out of her lane and onto yours. Which you think you can use to your advantage.

It’s not like you’re going to sleep with him or anything, you just think it’s the perfect opportunity to take back what was rightfully yours. And in this case, Jungkook is the perfect trophy. You don’t like objectifying people, but at this point you don’t even care if he used your name to impress a couple of underclassmen, you feel honored, actually, but you don’t actually care about him. He kissed you too, while he was dating her. That’s a sign that things aren’t looking too good for them.

Who are you kidding?! You should let them go. As if you have the balls to actually sneak around Jasmine’s back and snatch her boyfriend from her.

“Girl, just talk to them. I advise you to tell them as soon as possible what type of feelings you may or may not have for them. It’s gonna be okay.” Toriel pats your back as you recover from the growing anxiousness in your gut. Something tells you, everything is not going to be okay.

“Moving onto our next sleepover activity….horror stories!”

༻• The Next Day, At Your House •༺

You sneak into your home early in the morning, around 7 or 8, to be exact, hoping that Jimin and Yoongi were away at work. Your mom is already gone, as she texted you that she would be going on a business trip this particular week. The slumber party kept you awake all night, and the girls had really scary stories to share so you weren’t exactly calm...even now you are on edge as Jimin frightens you from behind.

“Hi.” You jump back, startled because of how quiet and swiftly he came up from behind you.

“H-hey. I thought I was home alone.” He gives you a sweet smile, the same comforting grin you saw that day in the cafe after you almost embarrassed yourself while asking for his number. Those were the good times, when you didn’t know what you were getting yourself into. A friendship with anyone of the opposite sex is complicated, after all. You convinced yourself of this since Yoongi and Jimin are 100% gay and show no signs of any lust or extra thirst after you but you still had awkward tension. Hell, even now after Jimin walked up from behind you like that, you still have a strange feeling in your gut.

“You thought wrong! Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about

how you almost peed your pants after I gave you a scare.” The mood is mellow, and you’re both comfortable around each other. Maybe Yoongi was the problem. But you don’t want to upset Jimin, as he’s your best friend at the moment and he’s been for you a lot more than anyone has been in the last decade.

“So, what’d I miss?” You ask, leaning in to give your best friend a hug. You inhale his strawberry-fresh scent, a little bit in awe as you’ve never gotten a waft of a nice-smelling boy. Jimin is an angel, a perfect exception. You hope you can find a man who’s as caring and attentive as he is, in the future.

“Yoongi and I have been thinking a lot about you recently, mainly how you opened up to the two of us about your life and leaned on us so easily, really it was crazy how you trusted us so easily when you barely knew either one of us,” You laugh sheepishly, mentally scolding yourself for being so childish in the first place. “But it was so admirable. And we thought, we could do the same for you. So you can learn more about the kind of people we are. We don’t like looking back on the past, but there are some parts that we just can’t leave behind. Like for example, our two exes,” At first, you think little of this. ‘He must mean the people that he and Yoongi dated before they found each other.’ That was your first thought. Just like he’s reading your mind, he answers your question, “We’re open to polyamory.” Your mouth drops to an “o” shape, and then you rack your brain for the correct answers.

You got nothing. You have no clue what the fuck a polyamory is.

“What’s that?” He chuckles at your innocence just as his boyfriend comes down the stairs.

“Hey, Yoongz, wanna explain what polyamory is to our good friend here?” You look up at the older man with curious eyes. You want to know.

“Multiple people in a relationship. Basically, Jimin and I used to invite over two other guys and we used to go on dates and do other stuff but it was really chill, nothing too serious.” You gawk as the two lean into each other for a kiss and then Jimin crawls into Yoongi’s lap before turning his head to stare at you. Two pairs of eyes are just on you, and you feel so vulnerable with all the attention on you.

“Anyways, I wanted to mainly apologize for what happened that night with the ice cream. You looked like you were enjoying yourself, and I thought I was too, until I realized I was gay. I just needed a reminder, I guess. So I thank you,” You don’t know whether you should laugh or cry, Yoongi’s expression was hard to read.

“Hyung...why do you gotta do her like that?” Jimin’s words throw you off guard. “You know what, instead of beating around the bush, I’ll just tell you: I’m bi, Yoongi was pan when I met him.” He rolls his eyes at the boy.

“Wait, didn’t you say you came out to your parents?” You ask curiously.

“I did. As gay, but then I ended up having a one night stand with a woman and after that I realized I liked both.” You take in the information very well, not letting it affect you one bit. “You know what, I’ll let you two figure out your shit…” You give Jimin a panicked look before turning to Yoongi with a fake smile plastered on your face.

“I don’t care what your sexuality is,” Your statement throws him off guard as his eyes widen quickly. “I just know what I felt was real. There was a weird connection, a moment where I wanted to kiss you.” He coughs before spreading his legs on the couch and putting his hands in his lap. You’re not gonna lie, he looks hot.

“Then why didn’t you?” You let out a small giggle before realizing that he’s completely serious.

“Because you and Jimin are dating...and I don’t like cheating.” He crosses his arms, this time scooting in closer to you.

“But we were both there, and the vibes were all right.” You feel a slight pressure on your inner thigh when you realize that Yoongi is touching you. His hands are wandering up your thigh in broad daylight. You luckily have a blanket covering you, but the look of fear on your face is a dead giveaway.

“It’s because you wimped out.”

“You should’ve just done it anyways. I probably would’ve kissed you back.” He starts kneading your thigh, giving you an almost-massage, and just as you’re about to let out a moan, Jimin comes back, holding a bowl of popcorn and setting it down on the coffee table.

“Surprise movie night...er day.” He sits next to you, oblivious to what his boyfriend is doing. You glare at Yoongi when you feel his fingers pulling your leggings down and they wander into your panties. You’re damp. Completely soaked because of this stupid man that you’re attracted to and the fact that you basically just confessed to him. He smirks when he sees your eyes roll back in your head when he reaches your g-spot, thrusting his fingers in and out of you at a fast pace. You cling to him, pretending that you’re simply cuddling him as Jimin’s eyes stay trained on the screen, but you fail horribly at keeping things discreet when you moan into his ears. The movie blasts at a loud volume, so the speakers drain out your groans as Yoongi drives you to an orgasm.

“Come for me, babe. Don’t want Jiminie to see, is that right?” Yoongi knows the boy would probably just join in if he actually noticed. He still manages to upset you, as with all your might, you try not to scream from pleasure.

“Yoongi, I’m gonna come.” You bury your face in his shoulder, letting out the softest but sexiest moan he’s ever heard, as his fingers twist inside of you and you climax right then and there. He leans in and finally, you get a taste of his sweet lips.

“Let’s continue this later?” He whispers to you, winking at Jimin as you sink into his arms, panting heavily and recovering from your intense orgasm. And yes, the boy knows what his boyfriend was doing under the blanket the entire time.

After the movie, you quickly run upstairs to take a shower. You didn’t expect to get fingered on your couch. You didn’t think Yoongi would actually kiss you. And you certainly didn’t think things were going to return to normal ever again. They already had girls. How many did they date in the past? Obviously having a third partner didn’t work out for either of them so what difference would it make if you were part of the equation? You step out of the shower to find Jimin in your bedroom, playing games on his phone as he waits for you. You clench your towel, a light blush dusting your cheeks as you step into your bedroom, closing the door.

“Hey! I wanted to see what you might be wearing to the concert, have you picked out an outfit?” You walk past him, motioning him to come to your closet as your finger picks and chooses the cute dress you found at the mall.

“This one.” You can see his eyes lighting up at the thought of you wearing that dress, but then his gaze darkens when he imagines you out of it. Speaking of...there was only a thin towel wrapped around your body, even then it wasn’t enough to stop his imagination. You have nice boobs, can you blame the poor guy?!

“Nice choice. I’ll just uh...step out so you can get dressed.” Also known as code red: he has a boner. You quickly throw on some shorts and a sweatshirt, as you don’t dress modestly at home. You check yourself in the mirror, making sure it’s not too much in case the boys feel uneasy.

Today’s a slow day. You finish up your homework before making your way to the kitchen for an evening snack. It’s only 5:00, yet you’re starving. What you see next surprises you, as Yoongi is on the counter while Jimin kisses him breathlessly. How do people kiss so long without breaking for air? As you observe, Jimin breaks the kiss, smiling at you as his boyfriend turns to look at you as well.

“Come here, darling.” Your feet are jello as you stumble to the two, trying to ignore the way Yoongi’s bulge is sticking straight up as Jimin’s hands are on either side of him.

“Wh-what?” You blush, unable to help yourself as the blue haired god in front of you looks so good. “I like your hair.” You whisper quietly.

“Thanks, although I’ve had this hairstyle for a while,” He removes his arms from his boyfriend, putting his attention on you. “Now, you’ve been a dirty girl, fooling around with my boyfriend when I’m not looking, is that right?” You swear if you weren’t holding onto the counter you would’ve fainted.

“What? Cat got your tongue? You have quite a mouth on you when my fingers are buried in your pussy but you can’t say a word when my boyfriend asks you a perfectly valid question?” You’re shocked, frozen, freezing.

“Answer me, sweetie. Did you like it when he fingered you earlier?” You blush and nod, evading his gaze. “Look at me when I talk to you, Y/N.” When he says your name you look up, your eyes meeting his as you do. Five seconds barely pass when he smashes his lips against yours, in a desperate manner. Yoongi’s just watching, patiently waiting for you to break the kiss so he can continue the conversation.

“Y/N, we need to be honest with you. We’ve...taken a liking to you.” You don’t know how to process this information. But Jimin’s look of pleading is enough. They both want you.

“So please, will you consider joining our relationship?” You purse your lips. Every fibre of your body is screaming yes, but your mind is telling you to be reasonable, and think through this. You don’t need this right now in your life. You’ll hold them back, they’ll hurt you later, this is setting yourself up for failure.

Yet you want it so bad.

“Can I think about it? Please?” You don’t want to reject them right away.

“Of course. Take your time.” Jimin takes Yoongi’s hand before leading him to the couch. You hope they won’t ask you before the concert.

༻• At the Concert •༺

You couldn’t believe your eyes. The men brought you to a freaking J-hope concert. Not just anyone but the J-hope. He’s the most popular solo act on the planet. After he broke up with his boy band BTB, he went all crazy and started rapping about sex, and fame, and real life issues. Everyone loves him.

Including your two friends who dated him back before he was famous.

Yeah, they have a history together.

“You like it so far?” Jimin asks, leaning in while cracking open a can of pepsi.

“Are you kidding? You got premium seats to see the J-hope?” He gives you a cheeky grin before turning to Yoongi and conversing with him. You can’t seem to take your eyes off the two of them, even if you are at a J-hope concert. You feel lucky enough to be breathing the same air as him, but it’s thanks to the couple sitting beside you. Not to mention...they even dated him at some point.

“This last song goes out to two dear exes of mine…” You thought you imagined it, but he seemed to look up at your row, as if he was staring straight at Yoonmin.

“Last summer when you told me you weren’t feeling well, I thought it was just a little bump in the road, But now I know, It was all because of her, Ohhh my love, How I loved you way back then, But I was too blind to see, You really didn’t care at all,”

You don’t know how to react. Should you clap? Or laugh, or cry? It sounds like whoever he’s singing about cheated on him...with a girl.

“Now I don't care, it's all choices by my fate, so we're here, Look ahead, The way is shinin’, Keep Going Now,”

The song suddenly gets more upbeat and then the crowd goes crazy as he has an outfit change with a snap. Also, this man is glowing. The lights are perfectly bouncing off his slightly tanned skin, making him appear more heavenly. God, how did they live through this?

“That’s My Ego!” He sings the chorus cheerfully before finishing off and then fireworks light up the night sky, making some audience members cry. Jimin and Yoongi are both staring at you, though, as you watch with wonder. You look so innocent, and you’re so small...the two of them are already whipped for you, can’t you see that? Oh wait, you do.

“Is there something on my face?” You ask them, and they simply smile at you. As if that wasn’t heart-melting enough.

“Nothing. Let’s go backstage.” You blush as they both take either of your hands, leading you out of the crowded stadium so that you can visit J-Hope backstage. You were about to meet a celebrity, while being held by two guys that confessed their feelings to you just a few hours ago! As if things couldn’t get any better.

“J-HOOOOOPE!!!” Yoongi grins, throwing his arms around the celebrity as he walks into the room.

“Hey Suga. OH JEMIN!” Jimin and J-Hope share a handshake before hugging as well, and then he turns to you.

“Who is this beauty?” He turns to look at you, kissing your palm softly in greeting.

“Y/N.” You answer him, trying to conceal your uwus.

“Wow. You’re even more perfect than how they described you. You know, I’ve never seen them like someone more than they like you.” He whispers into your ears. You’re a little bit distracted by the fact that an IDOL is whispering in your ears right now. His breath smells so good. His sweat smells expensive, though.

“Y-you really think?” You ask.

“I know so.”

“Okay, if you’re done hitting on our friend, how about you tell us what you’ve been up to?” J-Hope holds up a finger, revealing the engagement ring to all of you.

“Who…?” J-Hope blushes before turning to his mirror.

“Remember that one producer? The girl who was older than me by 10 years or something?” Everyone nods, except you, who has no idea what’s going on.

“Turns out she was my soulmate all along. She proposed to me, and we’re getting married next month.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” You clap for him as the two men beside you look at you with love in their eyes.

“I’m so excited. She’s just a bucket of sunshine. Oh shoot, I’m almost late for the wine tasting. Bye guys.” We wave as the celebrity packs up his things for the day. “So, it looks like you guys lowered your standards for me.” “Oh, stop, he wasn’t even well-known when we met. And now, we’ve all moved on. The three of us are together and that’s what matters.” Yoongi cuts you off before you even start. When you get home, you’re less than amused that your mother is getting ready for the stupid marriage meeting in her room. She ushers you to change, greeting the boys but whisking you away from them just as quickly. You wave goodbye to them, in a dreary mood. “Remember to behave, poise and manners, Y/N. You want to look like a good wife.” “I don’t want to get married. I’m only 18, ma.” She brushes your hair, looking at you with teary eyes. “Your dad wants you to. And he gets what he wants. No matter what.” You sob the entire car ride, your father didn’t even bother coming home as the purpose of this stupid meeting was to make himself look good. You look up to see that the boy before you is an overgrown specimen of child. Not even a man, but just a buff baby. “Hi, how old are you?” You ask politely. The boy lowers his eyes. You already know where this is going even though you’ve barely said a few words. “15, you have nice tits.” You’re in shock, uncomfortable, lonely, and worst of all, your mom won’t even look at you. Your dad presents you like a trophy and then forces you to tell the other parents about your academic achievements before forcing you to sit down. You want to cry. But you don’t. Instead, you call Jimin. “Hey, what’s up? Is the dinner going well?” Your voice starts breaking before you even talk, making you suck in deep breaths before looking out the bathroom window. “No, Jimin. I can’t stay here. They’re gonna force me to marry a 15 year old that just said my boobs look nice. I have to get away, do you guys think you can get me away from my parents? I’m 18, so they can’t legally do anything about it.” You hear him talking to someone in the background, presumably Yoongi.

“It’s me, Jimin just told me...I’m so sorry. All of that is awful, but is running away really going to solve anything? I know things seem bad now, but wait until your mom knows about us, I’m sure she’ll be accepting.” Yoongi sounds confident in himself, so you don’t feel like putting him down.

“Her, maybe. But not my dad. He’ll disown me.”

“Y/N, you are no object. They can’t just marry you off to anyone. And if they do, we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen. You should be allowed the choice of marrying someone you love.” You frown, seeing the tears falling out of your eyes.

“I’ll go out with you.”

═══ 🅣🅘🅜🅔🅢🅚🅘🅟 ═══

Your first date is at the cafe where it all started. The boys make sure to take time off at the same time so your schedules match up. It’s not the most conventional date, as the three of you start discussing where you’ll move in together after you run away from home.

Your dad hasn’t even spoken more than a couple sentences to you. Wow, so caring. You have no reason to stay with them anymore, as he literally forces you to go to stupid dinner parties and sets you up with boys that are too young for you. Even a 12 year old, like what the fuck?

“How was dinner last night?” Jimin asks. You roll your eyes.

“Horrible, as always. These boys are nightmares. I feel bad for their future partners.” You comment.

“Who cares? It’s just dinner. And you’re dating us now. Talk to us, babe.” You like being called “babe.” Especially when Yoongi says it, because he’s just so closed off to everyone else.

“Do you like it when he calls you baby? Because I’m pretty sure he likes it too.” Jimin giggles. Being with your best friend is really no different, except now you can kiss and hug and show affection romantically. He’s just a lot more cuddly with you. And Yoongi doesn’t mind it one bit.

He actually sometimes joins in, hugging you and Jimin lovingly. He’s so protective of you two. You love it.

And they’ve started picking you up after school, to take you out so you can be away from your house for a bit. But at the end of the day, you can always count on crawling into bed with them and dreaming your troubles away. You’ve been sleeping better with them cuddling right next to you.

Sneaking into bed with them has become a habit of yours, and you especially don’t make it clear around your dad that you have feelings for them. Although, lately everything has been striking a nerve. He often calls you to awkward dinner parties and you can’t do anything about it.

Even your boyfriends agree that it’s a bit too much. So much, that one day, Jimin decides to suggest something crazy.

“Let’s make your dad think that you’re ruined.” This catches yours and Yoongi’s attention.

“What? What the hell are you going on about, Jimin?” Uh-oh, when Yoongi uses that tone and says his name like that, you know someone’s in trouble.

“I’m saying that we make her dad think she lost her virginity.” You cross your arms, gasping as Yoongi shields your face with his arms protectively.

“What are you saying? That’s absurd. Her father is already strict as is with us living here, everytime he sees us he crinkles his nose even more. We repulse him, Jimin. What makes you think that we aren’t gonna tick him off even more?” Yoongi makes a good point. Your father was very strict, and homophobic. Perfect traditional 1800s father of the year.

“He’s here because he wants to see his little girl get engaged, right? Well, what if she brought the engagement to him? Have him walk in on one of us sharing a moment with her and then having her dad say she has to marry us?!” You’re baffled. You didn’t think your boyfriend was that dense.

“Idiot, he would probably disown her. And also, no. Maybe not marriage, he might just throw her out of the house altogether.” While you’re busy planning, what you fail to recognize is that your father leaves town again. He’s flying away, and you had no knowledge of it until your mother called you and you saw his packed suitcases as he hugged you goodbye. Looks like the meetings have come to an end.

“Jimin!!! Yoongi!!!! Come downstairs, I need to talk to you two about something.” My mother calls out to them.

“What?” Yoongi is the first to make his way down the stairs, avoiding eye contact with you.

“I’ve noticed the way you two have been interacting with my daughter as of late. The deep stares of longing everytime we sit on the couch and watch t.v together, the smiles of adoration that you only have reserved for special people, heck, even once I saw you holding her hands like she would disappear if you let go,” You can hear the nervous gulps come from the two men as they stare directly at your mom. This can’t be good. “You both have crushes on her, right?” Their eyes widen.

“What? No, I’m dating Yoongi-Boongi. My heart belongs to him and only him.” Jimin says a bit too quickly, making your mom raise her eyebrow in question.

“Your daughter is very pretty, I’ll give you that much, but I’m dating Jimin.” She clicks her tongue, not fully believing them.

“I know what it looks like when boys have a crush on a girl, seeing the way you act around her. So how about you tell me the truth straight to my face?” Jimin is the first to break under her intense stare.

“Fine, you caught me. I like her, okay?!” He says, blushing a brilliant shade of pink. When your mother sees that Yoongi’s expression is indifferent, she narrows her eyes at him.

“You know, don’t you?” He doesn’t say a word, instead taking your arm and pulling you beside him.

“Ma’am, I would like to get your permission to be your daughter’s boyfriend….along with Jiminie.” Considering you were secretly dating for weeks, now seems like the perfect time to ask. Go Yoongi!

“Yes, of course you can date her. You both are so caring and kind and I can’t imagine anyone more fit for the job….even though I didn’t expect two guys. It may be a little strange but I trust that you know your boundaries.” They nod, each of them hugging you tightly and giggling like children.

“We’ll make sure to treat our girlfriend with kindness and respect.” With Yoongi’s gummy smile, your heart melts. You really, really like him.

“You better, or else you’ve got another thing coming.” Your mother’s gaze is threatening enough, as the two men stiffen their backs and stand up straight.

“Loosen up, she’s just kidding. Right, ma?” She nods, laughing happily as she sees her ships coming to life before her eyes. She’s always wanted her daughter to be happy, instead of subjecting her to a life of unhappy arranged marriage. She wants to give her everything she didn’t have as a child.

“Yup. But seriously, break her heart and you’re dead.”

“Moooom.”

That night your mom leaves for work. She didn’t tell you, but you really noticed when you called out for her and she didn’t answer back, only leaving a text on her phone that she would be late. You knew this meant you were home alone with your extremely attractive boyfriends again for the second time this month.

You’re excited, but nervous. The last time the three of you were in the house like this, they made out in front of you and then made you extremely horny. Now, you could only imagine what would happen with the three of you in an actual relationship.

“Y/N, come watch netflix with us!” Jimin calls you to his room, and your eyes widen. You’ve been in their room before, but never totally alone. Your mom or dad would be in the house, but now you’re stuck with these two.

“What are we watching?” You penguin-walk to Yoongi, who hoists you up onto the giant bed. Immediately you fall back from the weight of his knees forming a little disbalance on the mattress. It’s just a tiny ditch.

“I thought you were gonna fall, be careful.” He lightly scolds you, before sitting back and getting cozy with Jimin as you stay in the middle, right between them.

“You guys are so warm.” You inhale their scents, taking in their musk and surprisingly sweet cologne. The strawberry scent must be coming from Jimin. The axe must be from Yoongi. Either way, you’re comfortable.

“No, you are.” Jimin pulls you in between his legs, peppering kisses all over your neck. Normally, you’d be turned on in the situation, but it’s completely innocent. You giggle as he tickles you with his faded blue hair and then you both get lost in each other’s eyes. You love his crescent shaped eyes, how he is a perfect mix of masculine and feminine, breaking all traditional roles of what it means to be a man in the modern world of 2020. If anything, his soft features are what makes him more “manly.” There’s no correct answer. He’s perfect the way he is, and you love the way his lips form a tiny pout, even when he’s happy.

“Just kiss already.” You both look over at Yoongi, who is more concerned with the movie playing on the screen than his two partners sharing a moment right next to him. You give Jimin a look as he leans in and finally closes the gap between you two.

#yoongi x jimin x reader #yoongi x jimin #barista #yoonmin #Poly #yoonmin x reader #hyunglinenetwork #btssmut #Smut #coffee shop #cute #btsff #yoongi #jimin #bts #yoongi x reader #jimin x reader

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sharada-n · 4 years

Text

Febuwhump day 11 - “Don’t try to pin this on me!”

Fandom: Undertale

Also fills @canyon-97‘s request from the whump dialogue prompts

His birthday falls on a Thursday this year.

Papyrus is unreasonably excited. Or maybe reasonably so. His birthday hasn't come in ages – literal ages. They have been going round and round in time and all the while it was the same day, which wasn't his birthday.

They picked their own birthdays, not long after coming to Snowdin. They couldn't remember having them, but Sans said it didn't matter because it was just a day to celebrate another trip around the sun and Papyrus was inclined to agree with that. Thus they choose their own birthdays.

Papyrus picked a day around midsummer, high suns and fiery emotions and it fits him like no other. Sans picked one of the last days of autumn, but Papyrus is pretty sure he just opened their calendar on a random page instead of deciding properly.

It mattered for a while, and then it didn't when the resets started. And now they're on the surface again and for the first time in ages, it matters again. Papyrus just wants it to matter.

Papyrus just wants to matter for once.

Then Thursday comes and he wakes up as early as usual. Sans isn't awake, so he goes downstairs and makes breakfast as usual. He eats alone, as usual, but doesn't mind since he can do the puzzles in the newspaper peacefully. Sans comes down when he's already doing the dishes, as usual.

He doesn't offer to help – which is also as usual.

When he's done, Papyrus stands there, waiting. He doesn't know what he's waiting for. He's been waiting for things forever though, patience is practically his middle name.

"What's up, bro?" Sans asks, probably because Papyrus is busy staring a proverbial hole into his backbone.

"Nothing," Papyrus says and that should be it right – that should tip Sans off. There's never nothing up with Papyrus.

Sans takes another bite of his breakfast hotdog – absolutely atrocious – and turns the page of the newspaper. He's not even reading the joke pages. "Cool."

Papyrus blinks and walks out of the room without responding.

He's being silly. That's probably it, mere silliness.

There no way Sans forgot. Papyrus hasn't had a birthday in all this time and they're above ground, they're in time, they're moving forward. There is no reason for them not to celebrate.

In his memory they are sitting on the floor, the carpeting rough beneath their bones and Sans is opening a gift that doesn't matter, nothing matters.

"Why do we keep doing this?" Sans had asked, tired and worn. He had already been so broken.

And Papyrus hadn't wanted to say it, but he hadn't known either.

"Keeping up festive spirits," he answered, urging Sans to keep ripping the wrapping paper around his brand new slippers. Papyrus had decorated them himself, with hot glue and sequins.

"Okay..." Sans picked at the wrapping, bright blue and gold – very ugly but Papyrus knew it didn't matter. Nothing mattered, but the paper mattered even less. "Why though?"

Papyrus had thought it would be better, to not be alone through this. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe sharing the burden made it worse. The weight divided but the emotional toll doubled.

Papyrus sighed. "Because it's fun?"

"It's stupid and pointless," Sans said. He put the gift down, still half-wrapped. Still concealed. The tree was up, their decorations were up, but the house had never felt so empty.

Something snapped inside Papyrus then. Maybe he should have seen it coming, should have recognized the tension building inside himself for days. But it didn't matter, all he was trying to do was make it matter. "Excuse me for trying to keep things bearable, Sans."

"Hey, don't try to pin this on me!" Sans' volume rose in pitch, desperation creeping into the words. "If you want to blame anyone, blame the kid. Blame you 'best friend'."

The mocking in his voice made Papyrus grind his teeth. "At least I'm trying."

"Well, I'm done trying," Sans said. He stood up, stuffed his hands down his pockets. "I'm just going to bed."

"Yeah, that's funny. Leave me alone again." Papyrus watched him go, halfway up the stairs already. "For a second there I thought that you actually cared."

Sans froze, one foot poised on the next step already. If Papyrus didn't know any better he'd think Sans was trembling.

"Fuck you, Papyrus."

He went to his room and they didn't talk about it afterward.

How long ago was that, Papyrus doesn't know. Too long to remember, too long to hold onto.

Too long to matter.

But it all comes back now, choking his mind with the thought and his hands shake as he makes his bed, meticulous in every fold. It doesn't matter, it can't matter.

"Papyrus?" Sans is calling for him from downstairs. Papyrus blinks out of it and sees that two hours have already passed while he's been standing here, the blanket held between his fingers. "Come here for a minute would you?"

"I'll be right there, brother!" He throws the blanket down, straightening it a final time before he goes downstairs.

Sans is standing in the living room, hands behind his back, and Papyrus slows down. "What's wrong?" He doesn't know why that's where his mind goes.

"Nothing," Sans says. He's smirking in that insufferable way of his. "I just got you a little something." What was hiding behind his back turns out to be a gift, wrapped in gold and blue. "Happy birthday, Paps."

"Oh-" is what Papyrus manages to say to that, but before he can formulate a better response, Undyne of all people jumps up from behind their couch.

"Surprise!" she bellows at top volume, which is approximately loud enough to rupture the average eardrum. Good thing Papyrus doesn't have one of those.

Frisk does, so they look quite displeased as they come out of the kitchen, followed by Toriel, Asgore and Mettaton. They're carrying Flowey in their arms. Alphys was also behind the couch, but it looks like Undyne jumped the gun so she missed the opportunity to surprise him too.

"You didn't actually think I forgot, right?" Sans asks.

Papyrus watches his friends, alive and real, standing around him. And it's midsummer, bright and early. Warm.

"Not even a tiny bit," he says.

And that's why it matters.

#Undertale #Papyrus #febuwhump #febuwhumpday11 #my writing

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towerofgodscreamblogwink · 4 years

Text

reading last chap of s2 after covering several chapters yesterday, also since it's end of the season, for once I put some bigger serious thoughts at the end

who the FUCK ARE YOU PEOPLE???

OH MY GOD KARAKA IS TSUNDERE

there are OTHER slayers?? (except fucking ex white) if they mentioned it earlier i must’ve forgot

that’s not how to talk to your daddy greatest

-(no i don’t like jahad i’m here to bully karaka because i tend to bully my faves)

*punches table* rabbit boy. get out. i have not sighed so loud in my entire life

oh i see why people were calling them furries.

listen, you either give us catboys or leave.

please don’t say “creatures” if it’s like your furry way of talking

that guy: not to worry he has a permit

gustang: *pulls out paper* “i can get whatever i want”

i’ve read “gremlin” im dONE

you know what maybe i should just go to bed rn

also cat is destroying my door dear lord

ok so it’s the next day now

“ahahaha”

“I can’t read...”

SHIT I HAVEN’T NOTICED RACHEL GOT TELEPORTED

erh i’m dumb on this one, why have they made this parallels?

I don’t want to tell you this but he just reminded me of chara undertale...

wangan: onii-chan!?

wait what

ouch

soooo karaka believes wangan’s story even w/o ring then?

*spits tea* ow goddammit not the feels

anyhoo that’s the end of s2, siu put a note about break but yeah that was years ago, so pretty sure i’ll be starting s3 even now but i won’t be posting it rn

anyhoo well that was suprisingly long season? my usual knowledge of “Seasons” is usually from anime, and these tend to have seasons with usual 2 or 3 arcs but they usually don’t go in so many different directions

personally it feels like half of season 2 is a season on it’s own tbh, and maybe that’s how anime could adapt it, perhaps? although 12 episodes would work best with just setting on saving bam from fug.. either anime would make the seasons in parts like aot did with s3 or have lots and lots of seasons, since probability of anime getting 24 episodes has gotten awfully small those years

As for the opinions on season 2... I see first half and season on it’s own, so let’s start from this - Bam getting rescued, and first time they enter hell train. First of all, Bam as Viole is absolutely nailing this, and I wouldn’t mind having Viole as protagonist to be honest, although it would be indeed sad as Viole is not the happiest person, but damn is he a cutie. Is he a baby.

Wangan - oh dear I dunno if others saw the plot twist coming, but I did not - I have absolutely been viewing him as Bam’s counterpart to his Viole side, just a complete shounen protagonist who’s completely ordinary. Boy was I w ro n g. I only remember vaguely being sus about him when Viole has mentioned his ring, but that was about it, as it was never mentioned again, I forgot about it. And then it appeared Karaka has this ring. Boy was I shooketh.

I don’t think I exactly liked the further progression though until Wangan’s story was revealed - until then he kinda fell into background, and then soon again as said story was revealed. However I do know Siu has big plans with him, and at this point I know Siu’s writing enough, so I don’t have much worries about his further progression

Also sadly there was no Karaka-Wangan brother bonding

Next in mind I have Khun, naturally, as he’s my icy hot favourite. I don’t really know why even, when I saw him in anime I was quite indifferent about him. So if you want me to explain why do I like khun, I can’t really explain. Other than when he was becoming my favourite, I remember being dissappointed in myself and making a post to myself “Goddammit don’t fall for him just because he’s your type” and he’s not even really my type in terms of personality, but at that point I was jsut shrugging it off, maybe it was his childish over-dramatic posture contrasting his cold personality because I just hit that protect button

Also yes I may be basic just slap me already

And before I’ll start talking: girl’s scout outfit, really? I support my son and I can understand his edgy and k-pop fashion... But I’d be lying if I said I understood him for shit at that moment

So now that we’re past back... I was actually recently re-reading first chapters, and damn, the difference of Khun before Bam was rescued - was rather intriguing. He was laughing his ass off at silly things (his team being dressed silly) but oh sweetie did it feel weird.

Next, I keep thinking about him on the train obliberating Rachel - despite popular opinion, his cockiness was actually getting on my nerves, and only thing saving it, was his reasons were Bam - so in other words, at least he wasn’t an asshat for his own sake.

I much liked his personality during second half of the season 2 - as much as there wasn’t much khunbam content - seems like Khun has grown as a person,as his cocky aura much disappeared as he became more understanding towards his own weaknesses. Now his “cockiness” became rather entertaining if you catch my drift, because despite his jerk nature, he *is* well aware of his flaws, and I just like that. Not that he *wasn’t* considerate of that already, but the hidden floor really did wonders on him.

And dear my, his relationship with Bam. I’ll be honest, at some point during reading first half of season 2, I felt like I was reading romance story between him and Bam. It was all the little things, like playing with Rachel just to know Bam’s past, Khun noticing Bam was uncomfortable with Viole wig, Khun being near Bam as he spoke he has no reasons to live, Khun standing up for Bam when strangers tried to use him and Isu asked for his help but skipped the asking part, Khun looking back to Bam telling him he’ll be back when going to catch the fish on train, Khun trying to talk to him when Bam locked himself up in his room on train, constantly checking and finally waiting in his room when he notices Bam is gone, Khun noticing lack of Bam’s presence before going to floor of death right *after* he just said he feels like world is ending if Bam isn’t here, and then beeming when Bam does in fact appears. And that’s just all the stuff I can remember right now, and I mean the *little* things. The big things are the ones we know well - “So that I can always chase” and the famous world one I don’t have to quote.

Second half didn’t have much scenes, but there were few that did stuck to me - Bam’s line to Kiseia how he understands why she hates him, but he’ll do everything he can to stop her if she plans to harm Khun *again*. Because it seemed like Bam kind of moved on from Khun getting stabbed by his sis, but that panel did show that not only it *did* stay with him, it also stayed with him that it was *Kiseia* who hurt him.

Another scene was the one I don’t think I need to talk about much, as we all pretty understand - moment of Khun and Eduan awkward father-son bonding. Khun tries to close himself off, but Bam reaches out, and forces him out of comfort zone

But what mostly stuck out to me, was his behaviour after Khun became kinda dead. It was the way he spoke to endorsi and rest, how *he’s* going to take khun and follow the *harder* path, and anyone who *don’t want to come*, can take the easier one. Basically, he was prepared to go the harder route completely alone because it meant taking Khun with him, and he was just, prepared to go without any help, he only optionally added that others can join if they *want* to.

Another interesting scene, was Hwaryun calling him out, when few of his teammates has been captured, due to them taking the different path from Bam - but if they are meant to escape with Khun, they have to leave them, and when Bam gets steamy about it, Hwaryun goes - “I didn’t choose the teams. You’ve chosen them based on who matters more.” It’s so subtle, so cruel, yet intriguing - one of the most worst way to tell someone he cares for someone else more - she’s only saying Khun mattered to him more, but in this context, it sounds accusing, making Bam’s decision selfish. And that’s something that’s absolutely in my mind - his care for Khun, called out in “accusing” matter - as something that stopped him from commiting other decision - as something he’s willing to priotize others over.

So I can’t stop thinking about that, and truthfully? That last “take care of Khun after me.” line.

But the other line from bam’s monolouge that gets me is “Wait a bit more Khun... I’ll wake you up again.” That “again” gets to me, but I can’t really explain it. Maybe it’s the way he looks at Khun longily.

So this covers their relationship, and I think I’m only gonna mention Bam now real quick and perhaps Eudan and Jahad, because the post’s getting long and I don’t want to make *this* post specifically long.

I don’t have much to say about Bam, as Bam himself doesn’t have much to say about him. He didn’t have much definying features or characteristics besides the time he was Viole, but you have to hand it to him for growing after meeting after she pushed him for the first time - it was still hard to say anything about him though. For several chapters later - as well, except he did manage to develop the traits of self-sacriface, and actual resolve to save everyone - because he talks about *always* and sure fights for his friends, but who doesn’t? Where his personality shines in this regard, is in the moment of Bam saving his enemies with no questions asked, and White by the way definetely helped Bam to develop his personality for sure.

But either way I’m here roasting Bam, while my goal was to say, that it was in the hidden floor where I’ve actually started recognizing him as his own character - it was in the moment of him having final confrontation with Viole, I finally saw what kind of person he was. And I liked it, he became a solid character in that moment, accompanied by proper flashbacks and exploration. And Bam continues to be then written quite consinstely as in one of later flashbacks, he indeed says, what he said to Viole a while ago - he’s afraid of being alone. Not only that, the internal conflict was added - is he a monster? is he not? It’s simple conflict but can do wonders, and it’s not something that Bam even thinks about, it’s more of a really subtle conflict within a character design itself, rather than Bam.

So basically now Bam indeed feels more of an actual character

And before I’ll end it for now, I want to mention the meeting of young Eudan, andyoung Jahad - truth to be told, I don’t have most unique feelings towards them as anyone sees the point - the adventures with pure intentions turned evil, aka how everyone can turn evil. What makes me more interested, is how Siu has used it for storytelling... Main characters having a big meeting with the younger versions of villians? Haven’t seen that one yet, so I’m interested what direction Siu will take with it, since this is my first time seeing it, so I’m really curious how exactly you can utilize such scenes in terms of long planned story, and not only how they affect story as a whole, but how they also affect just aspects of it as well.

So, that’d be it on my commentary and small “opinion” on season 2. It wasn’t like I exactly wanted to put it here, but I wanted the end of season 2 to have more meaning to myself. But not only to have a meaning to myself *just* for my own reasons, but because I didn’t want to leave the whole season with nothing but small comments there and there. I wanted my experience altogether to be something bigger - but not only experience, but my “legacy” as well. So, that’d be about it x2, if you’re still reading, congratulations, I appreciate that, and you get an apple

#tog #tower of git gud #tower of god #nesreads #nes reads

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fadedtale · 3 years

Text

♦ Golly, it’s been a hot second! This may as well be a bit of a tradition; posting an update whenever a certain game does, huh?

Anyhow;

♦ TL:DR; Underfade/Colorless and its subsequent AUs, as well as the rest of the Undertale blogs under my wings, are in an indefinite hiatus. Should the faded!Frisk AU ever revive, then this blog (fadedtale) will serve as the main hub for it. The original blog will no longer be running at all.

♦ I’m doing great by the way!... but if this little message somehow reaches out to others from this tiny corner of the wide internet, here’s a full report on the status of things;

– UNDERFADE/FADEDTALE RELATED –

❥ Why is fadedtale becoming the main blog for your AUs when you still have the original blog?

♦ Ha ha, it’s quite simple really!

I no longer have access to the original blog.

The email I used for it? I can’t remember it. Any record I have saved for what that email could be is also unfindable?? Please believe me when I say that I have tried near everything I could to try and recover the blog. A solid portion of the time away from this AU is the utter despair I felt not finding any trace of what made that blog in the first place.

Watch me say that and then find the email I need to claw my way back into it. Until then;

Goodbye, Underfade/Colorless It will forever exist as a relic of its time; a personally cringeworthy yet humble seedling for the monstrosity of a brainworm it is even to this day.

❥ Underfade/Colorless, cringeworthy?

♦ Immensely!

Not because it’s an Undertale AU, and not because Undertale is. Undertale is genuinely, unironically, epic and joy inducing -- thus, the work I’ve done for Undertale through these AUs is also joy inducing.

However, as the years have passed, I’ve become increasingly unhappy with how I managed things. I can’t look at that blog without feeling like I’m drinking raw lime juice, ha ha.

On the plus side; I’m happy with how much I’ve grown and changed since the blog’s establishment! That’ll be my overall takeaway... even if my past, not-nearly-as-cool self may forever exist within its own bubble of the internet.

❥ What about your other blogs?

♦ I have no idea what the fresh hell is happening with my other blogs, as basically the only blog I do have access to still is fadedtale. So... my other UT blogs share the same fate as the original faded!Frisk blog: stasis.

❥ So... what’s the plan?

♦ Well-!

As much as I want to come back and finish what I started, it has been difficult to find the motivation to.

Between real life, finding myself with real (!) paying (!!) art jobs, getting the therapy and rest I need to in between contract work, surviving 2020 and building myself up to higher heights, there hasn’t been much room at all for these AUs. I cannot guarantee, at all, that I will have the time or energy to return and work/roleplay for this as I once did.

I did think of just writing out at least the Underfade/Colorless AU and putting it someplace like Ao3, either as a series of notes or as a flimsily written fic, with either or being accompanied by the artwork I have accumulated on and off throughout my years’ long hiatus. I’m perpetually on the fence on this front!

Maybe by the time deltarune Ch. 7 is out, we’ll come back to all of this.

– UNDERTALE RELATED –

❥ CIN, CIN, CIN, DELTARUNE CHAPTER 2

♦ YO

WHY DO YOU THINK I’M WRITING THIS STATUS UPDATE. COINCIDENCE??? NO

In all seriousness; deltarune chapter 2 was a delightful and inspirational experience!! The series really is a nostalgic-feeling one. It’s why I keep coming back to it I think, ha ha. I hope everyone’s had a fun time with the new chapter, too!

– GENERAL NEWS –

❥ How’ve things been?

♦ I graduated college! I work as a full-time 2D animator! If you see my name in places, you can go “whoa! That’s a bird!”

I’ve been to weddings, I’ve been to graduations, I’ve been across the country, and I’ve been at home with my loved ones for over a year...

All in all, I’ve been just fine!

❥ What have you been up to lately?

♦ 2D animation contract work, mostly! Being loosely active in my typical haunts, too. I want to say my most active one nowadays is Discord, ha ha.

One of these days, it would be nice to pick up my britches and make my own game or webcomic. My current work in the 2D animation scene is saving up for that sort of dream.

Maybe I’ll see you there! Maybe not. I’ll let you know when deltarune chapter 7 lands.

❥ I want to talk to you! How do I do that?

♦ Echoing my last status update; I’m on Discord! If we don’t share a Discord server or if we haven’t RP’d when I was active, then... whoops.

The next best option is skybluescarf, which is my permanently queue-ing fandom blog. It may take a month or year to see messages from there.

❥ Anything else you want to mention?

♦ Kris, Chara and Frisk all canonically use they/them pronouns 🎉 This is an indisputable canonical fact and I’ve gotten enough therapy to take pride in my assertiveness, which I am exercising right now in order to aggressively stand for this notion.

Anyone who ships these characters with adults are free to take a vacation to hell!

Anyone who ships Cha//risk or any of the human children with Asriel, romantically, can also give me a wide berth. I see them all as friends/siblings and am firmly asserting this as well.

Otherwise, that should be all for now. Thank you all for your time and patience.

I’ll see you all later!

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lucyhblack · 3 years

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Summary: Inside the enemy lair!

Red watched the skeleton monster's lair with curiosity.

He was sitting on the edge of a chair, the claws of his feet gently brushing the floor, while his head swiveled from side to side, trying to absorb everything he saw (he could say it was to check for likely dangers or threats, but the the truth is that he was trying to memorize everything so he could tell Edge later), completely alert and prepared to jump and run if necessary.

The tall black-clad monster was in a corner, fiddling with a bowl over a strange metal box. There were so many smells there (delicious) that almost overwhelmed the young demon alone.

He tried to control himself, to remain still and alert, but it was impossible to contain his tail dangling behind him, venting all the nervousness and excitement he felt (he was inside one of their lairs! And he was not tied up or anything!), or the mouth is filled with saliva only with the smell of that place.

After a few minutes of stirring the bowls over the strange box (there was fire on it, but Red didn't see where the fire was coming from. Was it magical then? Strange, he was always told that those strange monsters had no magic) the tall monster turned around with the bowl in hand and poured what he was cooking into two smaller bowls.

-Wait a minute, it's hot. - warned the monster depositing one of the narrow bowls in front of him.

Red frowned irritably. He could see clearly that it was hot, there was smoke coming out of the bowl and he could feel his heat, even from afar. Did the monster think he was a babybones?

The monster then picked up a large loaf that was on another table (and that Red had been watching, wondering if he could grab it, as well as the strange-smelling pieces of meat on the magic box - very unlikely he thought, and yet he would definitely make an attempt) and sliced him up (he tensed when the monster drew his knife, but the monster had his back to him and had yet to radiate any malicious intent). With a large piece in his hands he opened a small box and started spreading something yellow on it.

Red wondered if it was some kind of torture. Its lights did not come off the knife and, despite all his tense body at the end of the chair, his mind could not help fixing on what was the yellow thing, and what would it be (there was a possibility that it was some kind of poison, but if it were, the monster was pretty foolish to do it in front of you).

The monster deposited the bread on a plate and placed it in front of Red. The latter looked at the bread and back at the monster who had cut another piece and was again passing the yellow paste over it, just deigning to throw the briefest of moments looks on the demon.

His whole posture was calm and carefree, but Red would not be deceived. He had learned that monsters were cunning, and could change quickly, showing a calm and gentle posture only to attack him next.

He had all his attention on the skeleton monster (and it was so weird... to see a monster so similar to him and yet so different. It was kind of disconcerting to see that smooth, round skull, without the slightest indication of horns, or not being able to count with a tail behind him to read his intentions and emotions more clearly).

When the monster finished with the bread, he pulled out the second chair and sat facing Red. Red lights fixed on him and Red stood straighter. The monster smiled and incited.

-You can eat. - And as if to prove the point, he took a bite of the slice he was holding.

The little demon only moved on the older monster's third bite. He was still suspicious, but he could no longer contain himself (and if he were poisoned the monster would die before him, at least). He grabbed the bread and took a bite of it, as soon as the food dissolved in his mouth he had to control himself not to swallow it all at once.

By the stars! That was wonderful! He took care to digest only half the bread, the other half he pretended to chew, but just swallowed it, letting it sit inside him (along with several cherries). He would save it for Edge so he could prove it later.

Red ate the bread slowly (to avoid consuming it entirely), but in large bites, without taking the lights off the monster, watching him intently in silence while the other skeleton stared back at him by taking small bites of his meal. Its equally red lights did not transmit anything. Red wanted to growl, but he was too busy licking his fingers.

-Do you want another slice? - He asked in a soft tone.

Red took one last lick of the phalanges (lamenting when the divine taste was gone and only the dryness of his bones was left behind) and studied the monster carefully. Lights of it traveled from the bread on the counter and back to the monster that waited patiently. Red swallowed.

-Why?

The monster blinked, but unlike the surprise he expected, he saw satisfaction on the marked face.

Red didn't understand that monster. He had scars on his face, which proved that he was a surviving hunter, but he spoke low and gently, and passed nothreatening aura and did not react to him with all the other monsters he had met.

-Why am I offering food?

Red just nodded. Food, shelter, help, kindness... mercy... All those things that he knew (that had been hammered into him since he was born) that no monster would give him.

-Because you are a being created by the Angel and it is my duty to love and care for all creatures created by Him.

The demon blinked. Those words didn't make any sense to him. He did not know who this Angel was (his progenitor had been dead for a long time now, but he was sure that was not his name and no one else created him after his death). He just stared at the him waiting mand the skeleton monster smirked before speaking.

-Because you are hungry and I have food. - He shrugged.

The idea was so absurd that it made Red laugh out loud.

The black-clad monster stared at him in surprise, but made no move, even when Red cut his laughter by shrinking and looking at him in fright, ready to escape the slightest sign of displeasure from the other monster.

The tall skeleton tilted his head and Red noticed that he looked more intrigued than annoyed.

-You do not believe me?

-Why should? You monsters always have food, but you never share it with anyone, so why are you feeding me?

The monster turned off its lights and looked out over the garden that could be seen through the window. He was immersed in silence and Red watched him until he was about to walk away, tired and irritated by the enigma that was the other skeleton.

-Are not you tired? Tired of hiding, starving, cold... fearing?

Red was surprised by the question. Of course yes! But what choice did he have? Of course, he was tired of feeling weak from hunger and despair, of always looking over his shoulder, afraid to take a monster to his hiding place or to be caught when looking for food. Life was like that for someone who wasn't strong enough, and even if it sucked, he wasn't about to give up on it (he could not!), however cruel and horrible it was.

He snarled and the monster finally turned to him. Seeing his fury (and fear) he just stared at him without moving.

-You could have a different life. Safe, without hunger, without cold... without fear.

Red fell silent and blinked. What kind of ruse was that?

-How? Letting you kill me?

The monster widened its orbits, looking shocked before frowning and speaking in an irritated tone.

-I said "have a life"! I believe that for that you need to be alive and not dead.

Now it was Red's turn to blink in confusion, both in tone and words. He couldn't figure out what the other skeleton was trying to imply (and the fact that he seemed genuinely irritated by his possible death was even more intriguing). Tired of the monster games he decided to ask straight away.

-What are you trying to say?

-I'm saying that you can have a different life. I can teach you! How to be a monster... how to... pretend to be a monster, and live among us and no longer need to steal and hide .

Red stared at the dumb monster in astonishment. This guy could only be crazy!

-You could live in a house. - made a gesture indicating the den around him - Stay safe and have food, no longer be hungry or afraid, not to be chased. Have a peaceful life!

The monster's voice had gained strength with his speech, its red lights (two oval red rings, similar to his, but more rounded than his, that were sharper at the tips), had increased in its animation, making Red think on his little brother when he discovered something new, like a colorful frog or heard some ornate report from Red about his hunts.

Red realized that he had retreated in the chair with the tone of the monster and it also retracted when noticing the wide orbits of the smaller one. A soft red glow painted the bones of the monster's face and Red would have laughed had he not been so amazed.

Okay, this guy didn't hit his head well. That was obvious now. First by defending a demon, protecting him and standing against his own people. Then inviting him to his den, feeding him and now coming with this crazy talk of turning him into a monster! Better get as much food as you could and get out.

-Sorry, I think I got excited... - he said without looking at him. Reaching out, he picked up the bowl in front of his plate and took a sip.

Red followed the movement with cautious lights that ran to his own tall, narrow bowl, with a kind of handle on the side, in anticipation.

Cautiously he reached out and took it. It was of a strange, hard material, but not wood, stone or metal. The sides were still warm, not that it mattered, he had no skin to burn.

Bringing it to him, he spied the contents. Inside was a strange-looking liquid with a whitish foam on top. It felt almost like the puddles of rain at the entrance to his cave... he sniffed suspiciously at the dirty liquid, but the smell just made his mouth water without giving him any clue as to what it might be. Seeing the monster watching him, he turned the glass with despite, to prove that he was not afraid of the monster.

The liquid was still hot, not that it mattered much, he could have taken the liquid boiling, it wouldn't make any difference since he could control his magic to ignore the temperature.

He might not feel the heat, but he definitely could taste it, and for the stars! That was delicious! The liquid was thicker than water and sweeter than any fruit that he already tasted. It felt so good that he turned the mug over at once, his tongue coming out to lick the last of the remains from the bowl.

A hand pulled the container gently and he growled trying to keep it, clinging insistently, not ready to give up without first sucking up to the last drop.

-I'll fill it up again for you. - Said the monster gently trying to take the bowl from Red's claws.

Reluctantly (just because there was a promise of more), Red dropped the bowl and the monster turned to the metal box and the bowls on it. Red did not unglue the monster's lights, eagerly anticipating that sweet delight.

He thought, with regret, that he couldn't share it with Edge. He couldn't keep the liquid inside himself, not when he already had the bread and the cherries in the magic pocket he had created (not to mention that take away solid things was easy, but liquid? He was sure he couldn't do it without making a mess and waste the precious liquid).

The monster returned in moments and deposited the bowl on the table, but as soon as Red launched himself at it, the monster removed it. Red looked at him angrily and betrayed and the monster just stared back with a raised eyebrow without being intimidated.

-Expect to cool down a little.

Red wanted to send him fuck off, but decided to play nice for now. After all, it is better not to antagonize him (not when the monster could take the precious bowl from him). Seeing his displeasure the monster pushed his plate towards him and Red was quick to grab the half-eaten bread before the monster changed its mind.

The monster sat down and deposited the bowl on the table again. Red stared at the vapor floating on the liquid, but did not reach for it. He was soon distracted when the monster said again.

-As I was saying, I'm sure I could teach you how to pretend to be a monster and have a safer life.

Still on it? Thought Red with dismay. He just wanted to take the tasty liquid and get some more of the monster's supplies before he left, never to go back to that windsock again. Rolling his lights on, he decided to put an end to these nonsense.

-Oh of course! And since you are so sure, how about telling me how you would do that? Or what would you do with that? - He spoke pointing to his growing horns (they were still small, but one day they would be big and only the sight of them would make the monsters fear him). He had a good idea of what the monster was going to suggest.

His progenitor had alerted him to monsters like that. Monsters that would cut off its tail and pluck its horns and leave it for a slow death. Contradicting (once again) his expectations, the monster shrugged.

-Many monsters have horns and tails. You will be no different. We can say that you are the cross between a skeleton monster and a goat or bovine monster.

Remembering the bull monster that had chased him, he grimaced, insulted that he even thought he was partly like him. The monster looked at him and smiled, its red lights shining with amusement and understanding, probably remembering his clash from minutes ago.

The monster propped his elbows on the table and crossed his fingertips before leaning slightly towards Red, who flinched a little instinctively. Without seeming to notice the little demon hesitation, he continued with the lights shining greedily.

-You could have a better life! Without starving or fearing other monsters, at least not because it is what it is. Could you... - He broke off when he saw the child shaking his head.

-Wait there... And what do you get out of it?

The monster fell silent and watched him, looking surprised. He dropped his hands and leaned back in his chair, his lights fixed on the table. His contemplative expression seemed to be coming up with was thinking the next lie.

Red suddenly felt tired.

He just wanted to get out, go back to his cave and his little brother, where things were simple and he didn't have to deal with strangers' delusions.

He almost did, sliding to the edge of the chair, ready to jump and make a run for the fire box to grab some of the food there and then jump out the window (he glanced sadly at the bowl, but honestly it was starting to seem less and less tempting to listen to the other's litany, even if the reward was sweet nectar).

-Satisfaction, I believe.

The response caused Red to stall, his escape plans aborted temporarily. Seeing his surprise, the monster crossed its long legs and seemed to relax even more in the chair before elaborating its enigmatic answer.

- In concrete terms, this small offer would not benefit me at all, except for the satisfaction of a "good deed".

The way he spoke it seemed like there was more to it, but the monster didn't elaborate any more.

Red digested the monster's words, reviewing and analyzing them and the tone and posture of the other, trying in every way to decipher what he was saying.

He did not understand. Would he not gain anything? Just the satisfaction of helping him? This... this was absurd!

Nobody would do anything for others if they didn't get something in return. At least that was how it was with his people. Monsters were so strange!

Enough! He was done with it.

The best (and easiest) food would not be worth all this talk (which was starting to give him a headache from trying so hard to understand the enigma that was the monster, not to mention all the tension of being in the presence for so long and in a monster's lair).

No more wasting time with this monster. He had to go back and check on his little brother (and share his “hunt”). This conversation was getting nowhere. Time to test how far the “goodness” of that skeleton went.

-Not. - Said categorically.

The monster blinked. His surprised expression withered and became one of sadness and then conformism.

-I understand.

He answered simply and Red waited alert and ready in case the monster finally attacked him, now that Red has made it clear that he would not cooperate with his absurdities. The seconds passed and Red prepared to get up again when the monster spoke.

-Your chocolate must be cold already.

Red blinked and after a moment he followed the monster's lights and found himself staring at the bowl. The monster got up and Red jumped to his feet. The two stared at each other for another impassive moment before the monster smiled placidly.

-Drink your chocolate, I'll prepare a bag for you to take. If you can't accept my offer, at least accept my help.

Without waiting for an answer, the monster turned and left the room, going further into the den. It only took Red a second to consider what to do. Reaching out, he grabbed the bowl and turned it over, swallowing it all in one gulp (he regretted not being able to stop and properly enjoy the taste, but he wasn't going to waste easy food like that).

Dropping the empty bowl on the table he ran over to the fire box and grabbed as many of the strips of meat hanging above (he wondered what exactly it was, they looked like string beans and smelled like the dried meat he prepared for the winter months).

Throwing it over his shoulder, he went to the counter and grabbed the rest of the bread and the box of yellow cream.

He wanted to be able to take more stuff, but not carry it and not even time to spend searching. He wasn't going to stay and wait for the monster to return (what if he came back with a gun, or with other monsters to arrest him? Or more of that crazy conversation... Better not risk it).

Climbing up on the counter, he reached the window and jumped into the garden on the other side. A quick glance showed that the garden was deserted. He then ran to the low stone wall and passed easily.

This monster's lair was next to the largest lair in the monster territory, which due to its size was further away from the other lairs and closer to the forest.

He sneaked across the terrain, keeping himself crouched so as not to be noticed, until he reached the trees. Under the shadows of the forest he straightened up and started running, taking care to take several detours and cross the river (using all the tricks he had been taught and learned from experience) before heading to his lair.

As he ran, he thought it wasn't such a horrible date. What had seemed like the end for him (and his brother) when he was caught by the monsters, turned out to be an easy meal for him and his little brother (and even the rocks he took or the strange conversation was a small price for what he hoped would be a few days without hunger, and a icredible story to tell).

Not bad at all!

#undertale #underfell #uf!sans #uf!gaster #emon sans #priest gaster #my fic #Hiding the Horns

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songfell-ut · 5 years

Text

Chapter 1, I suppose

...Hello! It looks like this thing is on. So. Hi.

I am posting this because I saw an Undertale comic by @lostmypotatoes on one of those dub channels, and it was such a neat and unfinished concept that I started writing an original story based on it. Then I contacted her and she was super sweet about my thievery and I was like ha ha too bad I didn’t make this a UT fic and now I wrote this too.

I don’t know any of the usual formatting or etiquette for posting fic on here because I’m old and don’t do stuff. Sorry! (I signed up here for this very purpose.) It’s...good gravy, almost 7,000 words. Anyway! Here you go, let me know if I should look into Witchfell I don’t know I just did him Underfell but there’s witches

*takes Valium*

~~~

"Make way! The High Priestess approaches!"

The monster sat up in his prison cell, focusing on a slim figure coming down the stairs. In the room's single witchlight, he could make out a few details: a black gown with a narrow skirt that flared over the stone floor, a spiked headdress, and a long, dark veil over her features. The orange pinpricks of his eyes narrowed.

The guards stood at attention as the priestess approached the cell, her head high and her hands demurely folded. "Make haste, men!" barked the captain. "Secure the creature! Tighten those bonds!"

She stopped just short of the bars as the guards made a show of pulling levers on either side of the cell, stretching the chains tighter on the monster's limbs. "How long has he been here?" she asked.

"Three days, my lady," the captain said, "but he has refused all of his meals."

The priestess looked steadily at the captive monster. "Does he have a name?"

"He calls himself 'Sans,' my lady," the captain replied.

The High Priestess' headdress tilted to one side. "You know, Captain, wood and iron bars cannot hold a boss monster," she said quietly.

The men jumped as the monster snorted—as much as a skeleton could do so. "Funny, I told 'em the same t'ing," he said, his voice rough and painfully loud in the tiny space.

The captain gripped his sword hilt with one hand. "Silence, monster!" he snapped.

"No, let him speak," said the priestess.

Sans grinned wider, baring huge, jagged teeth. Though he remained sitting, he towered over the humans on the other side of the bars, especially the young woman. "How generous of you, witch," he said mockingly. "Tell me, how may I repay your kindness? Let you take my SOUL? Harvest my magic? Or add me to yer evil little collection?"

The guards muttered to each other in dismay. "How dare you speak to her with such disrespect?" demanded their captain. "She is the High Priestess of this realm, and you will address her as such!"

"Wow, what a loyal dog. You heard 'er, I get to talk," retorted the skeleton. He glared down at the priestess, ignoring the captain's sputtering. "Now, witch. Tell me. What are ya gonna do t'me? I ain't very fond of surprises. My heart can't take it." He placed his bony palm on his chest. "Grant me this one kindness, ya magic thief."

The High Priestess did not move. "Captain. Free him."

Sans lifted the equivalent of an eyebrow as the men gasped. "High Priestess," protested the captain.

"Release the bonds," she said.

The captain swallowed. "Is this a wise—"

"Free him, now." The woman's hands dropped to her sides as the guards reluctantly pushed the levers back up. "Sans, I'd like to make you my apprentice," she told the bemused skeleton. "In return, I will give you your freedom."

Stunned silence hung in the air. "You want me to be your apprentice?" the monster repeated. He looked at her, and he threw his head back and roared with laughter.

The captain bristled, moving in front of the woman with his sword drawn, then stepping back at her murmured command. The other men winced as the monster's laughter echoed off the walls. "Stars! That is rich!" Sans slapped his thighbone. "Ya know," he said, more conversationally, "I'd be less offended if ya dragged me out an' forced me to be yer slave."

Suddenly, his grin had no humor in it. The priestess tensed as the monster reached up to grasp his collar. "Do ya think I'm stupid? Me as your apprentice, witch? Please, don't fool yerself with your own lies!" The collar shattered, crumbling to dust. He gave another laugh, eyes glowing a hellish orange. "But I guess I should thank you for the opportunity," he said savagely. "'Cause now I'm going to—"

The air around him exploded in white-hot flame as the monster's voice rose to a bellow of "KILL YOU ALL!"

Power raced through the skeleton in scintillating waves, lighting the cell as bright as a hot day. Now Sans could do what he'd dreamed of since that first human sorcerer had caught him unawares: murder everyone in his path. There were so many possibilities! Fire was fun, but usually worked too fast. He could always tear them limb from limb, but that was messy and labor-intensive. Then there was blue magic, which turned them into stupid, flailing rag dolls, easy to pick up and impossible to put d—

A twinge of suspicion interrupted his musings. Where was the screaming, or the sound of fleeing footsteps? Sans lowered his aura until he could see the room clearly, and what he saw chilled him to his very SOUL.

His attack hadn't killed anyone. It hadn't even singed them. The cell's bars had disintegrated, but now a translucent golden haze stretched from floor to ceiling, and his magic was splashing off it like raindrops off an umbrella. The guardsmen were bravely huddled by the stairs, slack-jawed but unharmed, while the High Priestess stood right where she'd been, hand raised and lips moving.

Sans was not quite so confident now. In fact, his first impulse was to run away screaming. This was the stuff a monster's nightmares were made of: he was trapped by a barrier.

Once upon a time, he'd tormented his brother with stories about a bad little skeleton who went out alone after dark, or talked to strangers, or didn't do his big brother's chores for him, and it always ended with the bad skeleton getting caught by a human. All monsters heard those bedtime stories and learned that there was no escape from barriers; not even the King was strong enough to break one, and just touching them would kill you. If you were lucky, the human would drag you off to be their slave, never to be seen again. If you weren't, they'd squeeze the magic from your body or snap your ribs open to dig your SOUL out, then leave you to die and let your dust blow away.

Panic closed over him like a shroud. He gathered all of his magic and threw himself into a shortcut out of the castle, only to strike an invisible wall and bounce right back into the cell. Shaking his head to clear it, Sans looked around and realized that the barrier had him boxed in on all sides.

Anger saved him, as it always had. In another moment, he wasn't afraid anymore; he was furious at his captors and their whole cheating, thieving, murdering, thoroughly worthless race.

And it was the worst possible moment for the priestess to open a small hole in the barrier and say, "Sans, please calm yourself. I don't want to hurt you."

She snapped the barrier shut half a second before a wickedly pointed bone thudded into it, the tip nearly touching her nose. "So be it," the young woman said tightly, and the bone evaporated as the barrier glowed brighter.

Sans knew better than to waste his energy in an all-out assault. Instead, the boss monster contemplated the force it'd take to punch through one small area around her neck or her heart. He might still be afraid, but every fiber of his being wanted that woman dead on the floor. So...

With a flick of his wrist, he summoned an array of massive, razor-sharp bones, almost too many for the cell to hold, and began firing them at blinding speed, one right after another. The priestess didn't react, but as he struck the same few inches of barrier over and over again, he saw bits of gold flake away, revealing a tiny crack.

He smirked, focusing his magic to hit harder and faster. So much for scary stories. Her people might have been glorifying her as some kind of mighty sorceress, but she was just another stupid human, witch or not. She'd raised her other hand to reinforce the spell, but more and more cracks were forming. You're boned, he thought, chuckling to himself.

Still, as he watched and waited for the golden light to shatter, he had to feel some grudging admiration. Most of the magic-wielding humans he'd killed were big, blustery men, and none of them had lasted half as long as this scrawny female. What kind of SOUL did the witch have, anyway? He'd seen just about every color there was, and figured she was stubborn enough to be purple, or maybe a patient cyan, or even orange for bravery. After all, he was throwing out everything he had, and she wasn't backing down. The skeleton squinted at her through the barrier, searching for the telltale spark of—ah, there it was. There...it...was.

For the second time, Sans looked at her and knew instantly that he was boned. Despite the ferocity of his attacks, the cracks in the barrier were starting to fill themselves in, and the air crackled with another surge of her magic. A merry little chorus of Shiiiiit shit shit shit rang in his head as he stared at her blazing-red SOUL, and it only got louder when he remembered what that color meant.

Determination.

It didn't matter that she was just a human. His intention to kill her was nothing compared to her will to live. As the bones he conjured came slower and weaker, dissolving as they hit the barrier, Sans knew with horrible certainty that he wasn't going to win.

The stories had to be true after all. Unless the priestess got careless and he could either kill her or use a shortcut, he was going to have to do whatever she wanted for as long as she said. But maybe, if he caught her off guard...

Sans let his arm drop. The last few bones clattered to the floor, and he sank to his knees, head bowed. Behind the High Priestess, the men all breathed a sigh of relief.

To her credit, the woman didn't let the spell go. She poked her head through for a better look at him, motioned to the guards to stay where they were, and knelt in front of the massive skeleton, halfway inside the barrier. "I'm not surprised that you wanted to escape. I can almost excuse you for trying," she said. Her voice was calm enough, and as far as he could tell with her veil on, her face was still expressionless.

He would have bought it if he hadn't noticed her hands clenching in her lap. "Almost?" the skeleton asked, head still lowered, eyes fixed on her.

"Almost."

He shrugged, watching her knuckles turn white. "Guess that's why yer the High Priestess, huh?"

"It is. None of my magic is stolen," she said.

"'Course not. Our power's no good in barriers. We ain't that stubborn, or that dumb," he added bitterly.

"My offer stands," she continued, as if he hadn't spoken. "Do you have any questions or conditions you'd like to propose?"

Sans glanced at her headdress. The spikes atop it dipped in and out of the golden curtain as her head drooped. She had to have expended most of her power holding him off; after several days with no food or sleep and then wasting all that effort on the barrier, he was pretty worn out himself. Too bad monsters couldn't take a human's magic, just her...

Her SOUL. It took all his self-control not to jump to his feet in excitement. Why the hell hadn't he thought of that? An ordinary monster who absorbed an ordinary human SOUL was supposed to grow incredibly powerful. What would happen if a boss monster gained all the power of a gifted and highly determined witch?

The High Priestess shook herself and sat up straighter. "Please answer me, Sans. I don't think either of us wants to go through that again."

"No," he admitted, shifting his weight back, edging toward the wall. Sure enough, she unconsciously moved closer, a few more inches into the cell. "I do have one question," he said, moving back again.

The woman frowned, scooting almost all the way out of the barrier. "What is it?"

He slowly, delicately reached down and tapped on her headdress, gentle as a light breeze. "Mind if I get a better look at ya?"

The priestess started. For the first time, she seemed uncertain. "I..." She frowned, and as she opened her mouth again, Sans lunged at her.

There was no question of her ducking behind the barrier in time. Before she even knew that he'd moved, one of the skeleton's hands had closed around her torso and lifted her as easily as a child holding a doll. The barrier vanished behind her, and Sans said casually, "Heel, or I'll stomp 'er like a grape."

The guards froze in the act of drawing their swords. The priestess started to say something, but he flexed his hand ever so slightly, and she stopped.

Sans smiled. He considered her for a moment, wondering if he should crush her anyway and squeeze her out slowly in front of the guardsmen, the way humans drained a monster's magic. It was tempting, and kind of poetic, but he decided he'd better not; he didn't want to damage her SOUL. Besides, she'd put up a hell of a fight. If anyone deserved a quick death, it was—

"Sans," she said. To his astonishment, she worked her arm out over his fingers and rested her hand on his knuckle. "Please," she murmured.

Normally, he would have laughed at a human begging him for mercy, but this didn't feel like begging. She was just looking at him calmly.

...No, the crazy bitch wasn't asking, she was telling. She was distressed, but expectant, as if she was just waiting for him to put her down and apologize!

He should've squished her or bashed her against the wall for that. But, somehow, as the veiled priestess stared into the fire of his eye sockets, the idea of breaking her didn't seem much fun anymore. Her head lowered and tipped to one side, and all of a sudden, it was like his mind – his memory – got pulled sideways.

As he stared back at her, he was no longer facing a mortal enemy. He was back in a moment he thought he'd forgotten, standing in front of his house in Snowdin. A tiny human in a striped shirt was holding his hand and smiling up at him with perfect, stupid trust, and he knew that however much he despised humanity, he could never hate this kid, any more than he could reach up and stop the sun in its orbit. Why did he have to think of it now, when he needed all the homicidal energy he could muster?

With a painful effort, Sans tore himself away from that memory, back to the present and the woman in his hand. The skeleton growled, starting under his breath and working up to a snarl that reverberated throughout the stone walls. To hell with her. To hell with all of them!

Lack of space was a definite issue, but Sans prided himself on adaptability. He extended his arm to its full length, nearly shoving her into the frightened guards, which gave him enough room to materialize a single blaster.

It was much smaller than usual, and that was fine, because it'd concentrate the last of his power into one good shot. The skull shone an incandescent red, eyes aflame and fangs glinting in its own light, literally nose-to-nose with the High Priestess. Sans let his rage and frustration rise like a tide of pure filth, distantly surprised that he could still feel some grief beneath it all, and the blaster's mouth creaked open from the pressure building in its throat.

The priestess had pulled herself upright with her free arm. The scarlet luminescence was right up against her eyes, but she screwed them shut and leaned forward, face set with determination.

In his haste to align the blast and hit all the humans at once, Sans didn't hear anything unusual; he didn't even notice when the light dimmed just a little, or that the pressure had stopped rising. But then a shock ran through him like a hand grabbing his SOUL, and he jerked out of his concentration to see – and feel – the woman stroking the blaster's nose as if it was an overexcited puppy. "It's all right," she said, so low that he barely heard her. "Please, stop. It'll be all right. I promise." And he'd be damned if the giant skull wasn't closing its mouth and leaning into her hand!

No one had actually touched one of his blasters before. They were long-distance weapons, and he used them as such, only getting close when it was fun or strategic to do so. His first reaction was horrified indignation; he might be about to vaporize her, but for crap's sake, he wasn't being inappropriate.

As she kept petting, though, she leaned in and rested her forehead on the skull's lower jaw, and the skeleton felt an alien sensation steal over him, something he didn't recognize at first. The light dimmed further; the skull's jaws drifted shut. For the first time, Sans heard a soft, rich sound—it was the woman humming to herself, or to the blaster, as if trying to soothe it.

And it was working. Sans felt as if he'd been drugged, with a sense of...peace? Was that it? Yes, it was absolute peace washing over him, relaxing his grip so that the young woman had to catch herself before she fell out of it. She might have been smiling faintly beneath the veil, but he couldn't focus enough to tell. He wondered if it was the same magic that had made him think of Kris, a distraction to save herself and kill him before he attacked again.

No...he wasn't drugged or under some kind of spell. Sans remembered feeling this way when he was a lot younger, and a couple of times during the humans' last visit to the Underground, when he and Pap discovered that at least one human was worth something. Of course, then they'd lost him, and there were no more humans worth anything.

It never failed to amaze him. They'd had less than a month together, but all these years later, he still missed the little bastard so much that it hurt.

Luckily, the pain didn't last. The woman kept humming, and Sans grew less and less angry. The blaster made a kind of purring sound and vanished; at the same time, Sans' arm fell, releasing the priestess, allowing her guards to rush in and pull her away.

The boss monster gazed at the angry humans with total detachment, scratching the back of his head as he yawned. She'd won. "You win," he mumbled.

"Are you all right, my lady?" demanded the captain, helping her sit down against the wall.

The humming had stopped. The young woman rubbed her eyes, keeping them shut. "Don't kill him, please" was all she said.

Sans closed his eyes, too. The humans were conferring in rapid whispers on what to do with him, but he didn't care anymore. It was almost a relief when they stepped back, a couple of them grunted with effort, and something crashed into his skull, knocking him out.

Over a day later, the High Priestess shut the outer door to her chambers, set a covered tray on the table, and sat down at her mirror. She checked that her eyes were clear, or at least not so puffy anymore, then picked up her veil and headdress and settled them over her head. She stared at her reflection for a full minute, as if waiting for the woman in the mirror to get up first. She sighed, and finally pushed herself to her feet.

Just outside her bedroom, she paused, running a thread of magic ahead to check each of the loose barriers she'd set around the bed. Two ripples came back, one very close by. "Good morning. Please step back," she said into the slight crack in the door.

A pause, then a soft creak of floorboards, unnervingly quiet for something – someone – his size. "Further, please," she ordered.

He made a noise she couldn't interpret. Floorboards creaked again, and the bedframe groaned under his weight. The priestess turned the doorknob, picked up the tray, and elbowed the door open.

Sans was sitting on the edge of the bed, knees on his elbows. He had opened the windows, and in the early daylight, he looked even more menacing; the light shone through his filthy shirt, shadowing the spaces between his ribs. The young woman made herself place the tray on a side table and pull up a chair with perfect unconcern, as if she couldn't feel him staring her down. "I see you're all healed. You must have slept well," she said coolly. "I know I did."

The skeleton glanced behind him at the rumpled sheets. "Uh..."

"You were alone the whole time," the priestess hastened to add. "There's a very comfortable couch in my office that I've been using."

"Yer office, huh?" Sans stretched his arms out over his head, bones clicking softly as he rolled his neck around. "Pretty nice setup y'got here. What is this, silk? Real feathers?"

She inclined her head. "I would have removed you from your cell much sooner if I'd known you were there. No one told me until Duke Archibald asked me to help select your new owner, which, no, I am not." She grimaced. "May I ask how you were caught? You're certainly capable of defending yourself."

Sans didn't answer. The young woman was thinking of what else to say when he grunted and turned to stretch back out on the bed, splaying his limbs across the huge mattress. "This's the most comfortable place I ever slept, y'know that?"

"Me, too," she said before she could stop herself.

Sans glanced up, as if wondering whether he'd seen a glimpse of personality, and she cleared her throat. "Is it the same reason you made no attempt to break out of your cell for three days?"

"Got caught tryin'a steal some grain," the skeleton mumbled. "Not a lot of food in the Underground these days. I hadn't had anythin' for a while, so I was weak as hell."

"You refused to eat anything while you were imprisoned," she pointed out.

He shrugged. "I figured it was poisoned or drugged 'r some other shit. Humans don't get their mitts on a boss monster every day, but ya can't have five sorcerers watchin' me every second. Feeding me some kinda crap like that would be the easiest thing t'do."

That didn't feel quite right, but without more evidence, the priestess decided to leave it for now. Instead, she pulled the side table closer to the bed and removed the tray's cover.

Sans twitched at the sight of steaming hotcakes, piles of cheese-sprinkled eggs, tomatoes, and crisp-crusted sausage links. The priestess cut a tomato slice into quarters with her fork, speared one and, with the ease of long practice, took hold of her veil between two fingers and lifted it long enough to get the fork to her mouth, dropping it as she put the fork down.

"Seriously? Just take the damn thing off," the skeleton remarked, sitting up.

The young woman made a show of chewing, swallowing, and lifting another tomato to her mouth. He didn't have a stomach, but if he had, she probably would have heard it growling; he was shifting around and scowling, clearly agitated. So she quickened her pace, taking a huge bite of egg, a chunk of hotcake, and a sausage, in turn eating as fast as she could.

Sans' eyes had lit to orange again, and the priestess was glad to put the fork down. "There. You see? It isn't poisoned," she said briskly. She stood and pushed the side table over to the bed. "Help yourself."

The orange faded. His skull tilted this way and that, like a wary but curious animal. "What?"

"I had breakfast over an hour ago. This is for you," she explained.

He glanced at the tray, then back to her. She waited for a full ten seconds, almost holding her breath, before she was rewarded with a rude noise. "Can I have another fork? Don't want your germs," he said.

The priestess knew when she was being tested. She picked up the fork. She went to the nightstand and the pitcher of water standing ready, and dunked the fork in it, swishing vigorously. "Here. But first," she said, holding up the dripping utensil, "I'd like to get a few things straight."

He didn't move. A moment later, she felt a tug on the fork, and instantly snapped the connection by raising another barrier. "No cheating," she reproved him.

"I'm cheating?" The skeleton banged his fist on the bedpost. "How the hell are you doin' this? I'm not dumb, lady! Ya can't just slap a barrier on somethin' that blocks every kinda magic! I can't get out of here, I can't go blue, ya did some weird crap to my poor blaster—"

"I helped you calm down. You've been asleep for twenty-six hours, by the way."

He stopped dead, but only for a second. "Yeah? Well...well, how do ya know so damn much about what I can do? If I'd known this was gonna happen, I'd'a left a long time ago!"

"And yet you didn't." The woman crossed her arms, keeping the fork pointed away from him. "I don't believe that you were too weak to remove yourself from the situation, Sans. We all have our secrets, and I don't mind that, but I need to know that you won't take drastic measures before we've completed our arrangement."

"There is no arrangement, witch," he shot back. "I'll make you a deal, okay? Forget this apprentice crap, lemme go now, and I won't kill anyone on my way out. How's that?"

She tapped the fork on the pitcher's handle. "Your people possess almost no farmland, and the area we've left you has notoriously poor soil. Did you know there are several potions, all made from common ingredients, that could double your crop yields in the space of a few years?"

Sans started. "No, and I don't care," he said, but without conviction.

"You should. There are also potions that can heal wounds, preserve foodstuffs, and send you to sleep with no ill effects, using only the tiniest bit of magic. Do you mean to tell me that monsters need none of these things?"

The skeleton looked at her warily. She could almost see him thinking. His rough speech and rougher appearance didn't fool her: he was at least as intelligent as she was, and also cared enough to want to hear more. "So," he rumbled, "I learn all this fantastic secret knowledge, and you get...?"

"Insight. Humans have been fighting monsters for centuries, and the more we know about you—"

His eyes flamed. "The easier it is to kill us? You seriously think I'm gonna—"

"The easier we can stop dying!" she snarled, her anger suddenly flaring right back at him.

The boss monster's eyes went blank with astonishment. She took a long, deep breath that did not help at all. "Believe me or not, Sans, when I say that I want to make peace for everyone's sake. I am tired of hearing every unsolved crime and evil thought blamed on monsters. I am tired of arguing with sorcerers who want to seal the entrance to the Underground and let you starve to death so that we don't have to talk about it anymore. I am tired of mediating disputes over monster ownership, as if we had any right to help ourselves to other sentient beings, and I'm sick to death knowing where our magic comes from and being unable to stop it!"

She was almost panting now, gripping the fork like a trident. Sans was staring at her like she'd grown another head. She swallowed, and lowered the fork. For want of something peaceful to do, she dipped it back into the pitcher for more swishing. "Monsters are not completely blameless," she said quietly, "but you are outnumbered by a much crueler and stronger race, and we've taken that advantage too far. It has to change, Sans, but we cannot do anything until we learn to talk to each other again."

Sans' teeth ground together. "Have you ever read a history book?" he snapped. "Ya know what happened the last time we had humans over to play?"

The priestess stared at a spot on the wall. Sans looked up in alarm as the barriers surged in and out of visibility, hissing softly. "Yes," she said, and went on, reciting from memory: "Several people were killed in an explosion caused by faulty stage effects at a farewell gala for the human delegation, most notably Prince Asriel of the monster race. Though the exact cause of this unfortunate accident remains unclear, its scope and destructive power were hallmarks of human magic, leading to accusations of sabotage and assassination from both sides. War was prevented solely by the will of Queen Toriel, who was devastated by the loss of her son and adoptive daughter, but nevertheless prevented her husband from executing the remaining humans. The delegation was permitted to leave, and in exchange, humans promised the Underground would never be sealed."

"...O...kay, then. Yeah. That's...that's pretty much it." Sans rubbed the back of his neck, scratching between the vertebrae. "Knowin' that, you still think you can teach me a bunch of stuff, turn me loose, an' make everything all better?"

"No. But I can try." On impulse, the priestess knelt, looking up at him and hoping the effect wasn't spoiled by the dirty fork. "Sans, give me one month. That's all I ask. You can have copies of any recipe you need to take back with you, and I'll show you the techniques to make them work properly. You won't have much freedom of movement, but you won't be kept in a cell, either." She glanced at the feather mattress and added, "You can keep the bed for yourself. As luxurious as it is, I feel lost in it."

He didn't laugh, but he didn't sneer at her, either. His eyes went from the fork to the bedpost, the canopy, the bookshelves lining the walls by the fireplace, and back to her face. "I need some time t' think about it," he said reluctantly. "What happens if I don't wanna?"

Her magic crackled in the air again, and she winced, trying to calm down. "I'd rather not say, but I think you know the answer. Remember, I'm not the only human who can use barriers."

He did not like that, and she couldn't blame him. She looked down at the fork in her hand. "You should eat now," she said lamely, and held it out to him, handle first, praying she had judged correctly.

The skeleton's face was impossible to read. Now that it was quiet, it reminded her too much of when he'd grabbed her in the cell. Her instincts screamed at her to pull her hand back and throw a barrier between them, but determination surged as she remembered how she'd already faced down his attempts to kill her. She was going to forge a lasting bond between their worlds and hand him a kitchen utensil like a normal person or die trying.

Slowly, Sans reached down, and she fought to keep from panicking as his massive hand approached hers. He paused...and plucked the fork from her grip with delicate courtesy, holding it up between them. "Hm. Too small. Still dirty." He tossed it back into her lap.

She stared at the fork. She stared at him. She picked up the fork, dropped it into the pitcher, and plunged her hand in after it. Out came the utensil; she turned her back to him, and with one swift motion, off came her veil. As High Priestess, she wore it for most of her waking hours, which meant she'd learned to whip it off without even disturbing her headdress, the way she'd once seen someone yank a tablecloth out from beneath a set of dishes.

And as High Priestess, if she wanted to use her sacred veil to dry a mostly-clean fork in order to please a giant monster who was intimidating her and somehow also being a complete snot, then who was going to stop her? No one, that was exactly who.

With a righteous huff, she turned back around, still polishing the bedamned fork. "Here," she said, facing him for the first time. "I hope this is satisfactory."

Sans looked at her. He didn't say anything.

The world always seemed a little too bright when she'd just had the veil on, and the light from the window was in her eyes. She rubbed them on her sleeve and tucked a strand of shoulder-length hair behind her ear. "Well?" she demanded.

Sans didn't take it. He was leaning forward, hand dangling as if he'd started to reach for it and somehow forgotten what he was doing. His sockets were blank, an odd color washing over his bony face. "Uh," he said. "It's."

The priestess didn't know that that could be a complete sentence. It probably wasn't, she thought in growing irritation. "Sans," she said carefully, "are you going to use this, or would you like to eat with your hands?"

The skeleton shook himself and turned away. "Never mind. 'm not hungry," he grumbled.

She bit back the urge to call him a colorful name or two. "Sans, this is not a joke. There is nothing wrong with your food, except that it's cold. Eat it. Please."

"I will, I will." Sans hunched his shoulders. "Just gimme a couple minutes."

She did not have the time or patience for this. "Sans. Look at this." He glanced at her, and in one motion, she stabbed a sausage and another chunk of hotcake. "Say 'ahhh,'" she ordered, and when he blankly repeated, "Ahh?" she thrust the fork into his mouth.

Sans nearly choked, demanding, "Wh' th' fuh, 'a'y?" before he swallowed it whole. The priestess was fascinated to not see anything pass his throat, though she knew he had eaten it. "What the fuck, lady?" he clarified.

"I am not 'lady,' thank you, and I know you know better words than that," she said sternly, putting the fork back on the tray. "It's not my fault if it got cold."

"I don't care how hot or cold somethin' is, lady. Ya didn't give me a chance to get my tongue out, so it's all the same to me." The boss monster answered her puzzled look by concentrating, then opening his mouth and pointing. "Thee? Tah-dah."

Good God, he suddenly did have a small, floppy red tongue. She flapped her hand at him, face burning. "All right! I believe you! Put it away!"

He did, and she was relieved to see nothing but a mouth full of giant fangs. "So," he said presently, "if I'm not supposed ta call you 'lady,' what's your name?"

The priestess blinked. No one had asked her that in a long, long time. "Well...if you don't like 'my lady,' there's always 'Your Eminence,' or my ceremonial name, Thea." It occurred to her that he was probably not going to react well to any of her suggestions, but she soldiered on: "You could just say 'High Priestess,' though that's a mouthful. At the convent, they gave each of us a different saint's name, and I was—"

Sans held up his hands. "Okay. That sounds peachy. But what. Is. Your. Actual. Damn. Name?"

She grasped her skirt so hard that her nails dug into her palms through the thick velvet folds. "My name is Frisk."

Sans' eyes were blank again. "Huh. No wonder. Welp, nice to meet you, Frisk." He raised a hand.

It was a blatant lie, but cordially given, so she attempted a smile in return. "It's nice to meet you, too, Sans."

For some reason, that seemed to alarm him. He drew back, then suddenly grabbed the tray, tipped his head back, and dumped the entire contents into his mouth. He had no cheeks, but his face somehow looked very full before he swallowed it all, dropping the tray on the floor. "There. Where's the bathroom?" he rasped.

Frisk realized her mouth was hanging open, and shut it. "It's...why do you ask? You're a skeleton."

"Right. Right." He scuffed the bones of his foot on the carpet. "Oh, look at this. Fork yes."

Sure enough, he'd found the fork. She scooped it up, setting it on the table, and out of nowhere, the priestess felt a real smile lift the corners of her mouth. "Just in tines."

The words hung in the air for a long moment. Frisk was beginning to feel stupid when Sans smacked his thighbone and gave a shout of laughter. "I'll be damned! You got the point."

"It's food for thought," she said, and grinned as he doubled over. "I'm sorry. Please fork-give me."

Just like that, she thought distantly. Yesterday – the day before? – she'd fought for her life against a boss monster who interpreted her overtures as a deadly threat, and now they were giggling in her room like drunken schoolgirls. Was this going to work after all? Was this how real peace began, with awkward silence and stupid puns? If not, Frisk could always console herself that this was the most she'd laughed in years.

Sans was not wondering the same thing. He was thinking how he'd woken up not knowing where he was and had had to figure out that he wasn't dreaming about the battle in his cell; a human witch really had trapped him and knocked him out with some kind of weird brain-magic. Once he got over the fact that he couldn't take any shortcuts and wouldn't fit through the windows, though, he had to admit things could be worse; the bed really was the most comfortable thing in the world.

Talking with the witch was not comfortable. It was bad enough when she was asking him questions about his capture and not breaking out of prison, but then she had to give him food and say things that made sense, and things that made even more sense, and then...

He'd never understood why human men made such a huge fuss over women. Monsters came in so many shapes and sizes that anything was possible; the inside really did count more than the outside, except maybe when it came to reproduction. But that was a rare occasion for monsters, who thought that humans' obsession with it was shallow and weird at best. Sans in particular had no interest in the human form unless he was trying to destroy it; they were all just skeletons with varying degrees of hair, meat and fluids in the way.

And then that infuriating woman had turned around in the sunlight, veil and stupid fork in hand, and he suddenly couldn't breathe. The overall picture was what made him feel a huge mess of feelings he didn't like or understand, but he could see every detail perfectly: her lips pursed in annoyance, the sun reflecting off that black circlet thing, chestnut hair shining and eyes half closed against the light. Her dress was still black, but today it was a looser, laced-up style, shoulders partly hidden under some kind of sheer material that ended high up her neck.

And then she had turned her head and done something with her hair, and now he couldn't think things right. All he could try to do was turn away, then eat it all in order to make her go away, and only his punning instinct had saved him from saying or doing anything else stupid.

Why did she have to like puns, too?

This was bad. It had gotten very complicated, very fast. He had to get out of here. She'd demonstrated some emotion behind her priestess-y facade; maybe he could appeal to it, persuade her to take some other monster under her wing and...wow. Speaking of wings, as she laughed, he happened to look down at her from a different angle, and she had a really nice rack. It was hard to see under such dark clothes, but they accentuated the graceful outline of neck and shoulder perfectly. Under the sheer material, her collarbone was—

"...going to do it," she was saying, wiping away tears of laughter. "I'm not all-powerful, but I have enough influence at court and with the Church to guarantee your safety." Frisk looked up at him, bright-eyed, and his SOUL did another loop-de-loop. "So, Sans. Will you stay?"

He didn't want to, it was a bad idea, and he said, "No," in his mind.

She smiled, tilting her head.

"Yeah," Sans said out loud.

#frans stopitstoptalking

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