Chapter Text
Okay. Don’t think about it.
Don’t think about skeletons having tongues. Don’t think about that cute little dusting of orange across Papyrus’ cheekbones.
Stop.
Thinking.
ABOUT IT!
Don’t do it. Don’t ask the question that is practically killing you to ask.
“Papyrus, why do you have a-...” You were interrupted by a flustered Rodney coming through the kitchen door. His eyes frantic as they landed on you and Papyrus. As the door closed behind him you couldn’t help but notice how much more hectic it had gotten out in the front room.
“Alright, So some friends of Papyrus’ are here… and The tall fish woman just suplex'ed me in… friendship?” You were instantly interested in what was going on out there, now that you knew that someone in Papyrus’ little friend group not only picked up Rodney you beefcake of a work-wife but suplex'ed him?! That sounded like someone you needed to know!
“Papyrus! You didn’t tell me that two of your friends were the Queen and the ambassador!” Rodney all but hissed as he approached the two of you. Papyrus gave Rodney a sheepish look before turning to you for help.
Not that he would find it. You were too busy internally freaking out. The Queen. The goddamn Queen of Monsters was out there, with the little ambassador. You didn’t have food you could make in this grease trap you called home that was fit for royalty. Hell! This place wasn’t fit for royalty. Even after it been vigorously cleaned and scrubbed it still had that dingy oldness to it that most dives had.
And the Queen of monsters was just out there in the dark and ratty front room?!
A firm skeleton hand on your shoulder pulled you out of your thoughts. With a gentle squeeze, Papyrus drew your attention back to him A soft reassuring smile across his face. A glance to the side shows that he had also managed to calm down Rodney to some extent.
“YOU DO NOT NEED TO WORRY! THE QUEEN IS VERY NICE AND REALLY PREFERS NOT TO BE REFERRED TO AS THE QUEEN! SHE’S A NICE LADY AND FRISK IS ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS! YOU DON’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT IMPRESSING THEM! AFTER ALL, THIS PLACE IS GREAT ENOUGH TO SEE THE POTENTIAL IN THE GREAT PAPYRUS! IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO BE IMPRESSED!” Another little squeeze and he released you. Rodney was now blushing profusely.
You could hug Papyrus. Hell, you could kiss him… Okay, don’t think about kissing after the whole revelation of what Papyrus was packing behind his teeth.
But your sou chef in training's little pep talk made you feel ready to face royalty. Well, maybe not face them, but at least cook for them!
Rodney had a similar look of resolving. He gave a little nod before straightening up and exiting the kitchen.
You were glad they came in a bit before the lunch rush, it gave you time to focus on their orders, as well as talk Papyrus through them. This was his what? Third day? Geez, talk about trial by fire!
But you couldn’t help but believe in your boney prodigy. His enthusiasm and willingness to learn made up for the utter inexperience. As well as the disastrous prior knowledge placed in him by Undyne.
Undyne.
She was out there… with the queen, the monster ambassador, and her girlfriend.
You couldn’t help but crack your knuckles at the thought of her, at how much damage control you had to do because of her ‘cooking’ lessons.
Before you could go and sneak a peek at the monsters one of the waitresses came in with the order slip for their table.
Well, knowing Papyrus the two of you would be hand delivering these.
Soon.
No… it wouldn’t be appropriate to punch someone in front of the Queen of all monsters. Let alone in front of Papyrus. No… This would be recon, you’d get a face to go with the plan, build a battle plan on how to confront her and prepare one hell of a telling to for the woman.
“WOWIE! THEY CERTAINLY ORDERED A LOT!” Papyrus voice cut through your internal planning to look at their ticket. It was quickly followed by a low whistle.
“Welp. We better get started.”
Alphys was probably the easiest. She had ordered a Bánh mì* inspired burger and a large soda. It was a simple and light burger and after you directed Papyrus to the right seasonings he had the patty formed and on the grill.
Frisk was a close second. Wanting a simple BLT and a milkshake.
The Queen ended up ordering two different salads and a lemonade. If she was as big as she looked on TV you don’t blame her for eating so much. She was at least as tall as Papyrus. You resolved to give her a bit on the bigger portion side when it came to the salads.
Undyne…
Undyne was proving herself to be a special kind of problem. Her order, you could only see as some kind of insane test.
She wanted a meatball sub, A plate of Spaghetti, and a breakfast platter with a side of pancakes. To wash it all down she had gotten a Green tea milkshake.
“How can one woman eat this much?!” Looks like she had picked something from each section of the menu.
“UNDYNE IS VERY ACTIVE LIKE ME! SO SHE NEEDS A LOT OF FOOD TO REPLACE HER ENERGY! THOUGH… THIS IS A LOT, EVEN FOR HER.” Papyrus gave a worried hum.
“Okay Pap, No worries and scoot over, I’m going to start her eggs and Pancakes on this side of the grill if you want to get started on the spaghetti sauce?”
You were done in record time. Just as you expected Papyrus wanted you to come out and serve his friends with him.
You shouldn’t feel nervous, you knew this was coming. Hell, you had laid claim to his days off in favor of teaching him to cook for the near future. Meeting his friends was going to happen.
You had Alphys’, The Queen’s and Frisk’s meals balanced carefully, while Papyrus tackled the entirety of Undyne’s and lead the way.
“NYGH I can’t BELIEVE those protesters have the gall to try and take this from us! We worked so HARD to get citizenship!” You heard a slam and the clatter of silverware.
“U-Undyne, c-c-careful!” Where the first voice was gravelly and aggressive this one was quiet and meek.
“Undyne!” This voice was stern and motherly. The scolding tone had you instinctually standing taller. “We are here to support Papyrus! Not talk about politics! Protesting is perfectly legal as long as no one is harmed.”
Oh Geez, maybe you should just drop off the plates and duck back into the kitchen. This sounded personal and they were here for Papyrus. You were just a tag along.
“Yeah… Your right. Besides. I want to meet this new mentor the dweeb won’t shut up about!” Shit… No hiding away now.
“Papyrus!”
Shit, you've been spotted. Well, Papyrus has you could still make a run for it…
“Who is that punk hiding behind you looking like they’re about to run away!?!” Oh God damn.
“THIS IS MY WONDERFUL TEACHER AND BOSS!” Papyrus thankfully deposited his platters before gesturing and giving your name.
You place down your own trays before returning next to Papyrus. Opening your mouth to give your own greeting. But the tall muscular beast of a fish monster beats you to it.
“WHAT! This wimpy squirt?! I Would have been okay with that burly redhead but I could take this half pint on blindfolded!” She scoffed at you.
You narrowed your eyes at her. Before you thought better of it, you opened your mouth to speak again.
“Well, You're halfway to being blindfolded and I already know I have you beat when it comes to cooking.”
…
You really shouldn’t be let out of the kitchen.
Everyone seemed to be glancing between you and Undyne. You were done with this. You’d been threatened not even 10 hours ago, you hadn’t slept and you were still hung up on the little thing with Papyrus. Now this woman was going to insult you?!
No!
You would not take this from her, not from the person responsible for pushing Papyrus so far down the path of culinary disaster!
You were probably about to die judging from the look Undyne was giving you but you would go out fighting. You didn’t miss how Papyrus was edging just ever so slightly closer to you.
...
“FU HU HU, You got some guts human!” Undyne Broke into boisterous laughter before throwing herself back into her chair.
The little ambassador rapidly signed something to which Alphys nodded and the Queen let out a thoughtful hum.
“Oh dear, it does seem so Frisk.”
Guess you would remain out of the loop.
You were saved from more awkward interactions by front door heralding a small herd of college kids.
“Hey, Papyrus, why don’t you take a fifteen to hang out with your friends, I’ll go get things started for this bunch.” You spoke quickly, before giving him a chance to respond you gave him a little shove towards the group.
“It was nice to meet you guys,” Well, most of them. “But I need to head back to the kitchen. Don’t keep my prodigy to long.” You tried not to think about how you stressed the word and quickly retreated.
You pretended not to hear several calls of your name, It would be fine once you were out of sight.
…
Okay. You really needed to get to that ticket. It’s been there five minutes and you hadn’t calmed down yet. You had made a complete ass of yourself in front of Papyrus and his friends. This was a big thing for him and you couldn’t take some needling from one of them?!
No.
Of course not.
This is why you didn’t have friends. This is why you didn’t go out and deal with customers.
You couldn’t. Your socially incapable and you probably just chased away one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet.
Ticket.
Go deal with the Ticket.
Stop thinking about what a fuck up you are and do your goddamn job!
You take a breath then another before you finally go and look at it. Mostly sandwiches and sides that are already made. Nice and simple.
You drop a basket of fries and start making the first of six sandwiches.
Ham, cheese, lettuce, Tomato, and mustard. This one needed to be grilled.
He revered her, idolized her.
Turkey, coleslaw, pickles… What the hell wrong with this kid?
You not only called her a bad cook but made fun of the fact that she was blind in one eye!
Turkey, roast beef, cheese, horseradish. Another for the grill.
The hell was wrong with you.
You got lost in the assembly line of it all. Got lost in your head.
You must not have responded the first few times Papyrus called your name while you focused on slicing onions to grill and stick on top of the french dip.
But you certainly heard him the last time, worry clear in his voice as it came from right beside you.
You don’t startle well.
On the bright side kitchen knives are so sharp you barely felt a thing.
On the less than bright side, you would need to redo the onions and sterilize all of this.
And stop the bleeding.
“Ah…” Not the most intelligent response when one slices halfway through their finger. Before you can even do anything about it Papyrus was pulling you to the sink.
“OH STARS, I DIDN’T MEAN TO SCARE YOU.”
It was okay… you weren't mad at Papyrus. You don’t think you could be. Ah but the water certainly stung the cut. You should probably reassure him that it wasn’t his fault… and tell him where the medical stuff is.
“Papyrus…” you started only to fall short as he finally pulled your hand out from under the water. Not that that was what startled you. Wisps of orange gathered in Papyrus’ eye socket. It was beautiful and if you were honest… kind of scary when combined with the focused look.
“P-pap?” Why were you scared… You had no reason to be! Sure last night you had a run in with a spooky scary skeleton who seemed to outright hate you. Sure you didn’t really sleep, and you just made a complete ass of yourself in front of Papyrus and his closest friends, and now… Now you were slowly dripping blood against his white bones as he delicately brought a finger to your cut.
Your eyes stung, you weren't crying. You weren't. Crying was on the list of many things you did not do. Definitely not in public. You were just overwhelmed is all. It happens to the best of them and a lot of things have been happening lately.
The finger started to glow. The same wispy orange as the… Magic? Leaking from Papyrus’ socket.
It made you feel warm and bubble. It felt like a hug and left you feeling cared for. Not only did your cut start to stitch back together you felt a knot inside of you slowly unwind. Unfortunately, that knot was also what you were using to brace yourself.
As the first few tears fell his magic slowly faded, leaving behind a little scar that had a faint orange tint to it before that started to fade as well. You ducked your head, trying to hide the fact that you were breaking down in the workplace. He was quiet as he washed his hands than cleaned up the cutting board and ruined onions. You didn’t like the quite. It felt so wrong coming from him.
You fucked up… You had to try and fix what was left of this. Whatever this work friendship/mentorship was.
“I’m...Sorry Papyrus.” You wished you could hide the huskiness of your voice, you wish you would stop crying and shaking. You were so tired and this morning felt like it happened days ago.
But at least your husky tear-strained voice broke the quiet.
He stammered you name, worry on his face and voice as he reached for you, falling short. “Did I hurt you?! I should have asked before healing you but it's bad for humans to lose so much of your juice!”
You didn’t even get to fully enjoy Papyrus calling blood juice as you shook your head.
“No… That's okay. That was really cool. I just… I was rude to your friends…” Apologizing wasn’t really something you did… but you couldn’t stand disappointing the skeleton.
Papyrus regarded you with a look of confusion before it seemed to click. “Undyne was also a bit rude. I did give her a telling to for scaring you away. She is a very good friend but she can be abrasive at first. That is why I came in here to check on you. To make sure there were no hard feelings.”
He finally settled for patting your shoulder. You let out a chuckle.
You had been overthinking it, of course, you had been.
“No hard feelings Papyrus. You can go back out to your friends if you want while I finish this order.” You grinned up at him, you felt you were doing a stellar job of looking fairly put together considering how you had been crying a few minutes ago.
“Nyeh… I would rather help you back here. I will see them later tonight after all!”
A small jealous part of you was happy he picked being back here in the kitchen with you.
*Bánh mì - Is a type of Vietnamese bread, but it also refers to a Vietnamese sandwich. Personally one of my favorites in the sandwich department but I’m a big sucker for Vietnamese food. (It’s been impossible to find any good Vietnamese now that I’ve moved to the east coast. TT_TT)