Chapter Text
Drops of water begin to spatter against the surface below me. I bend my upper body forward and hold my groceries close to my chest, offering Rouxls as much protection as possible from the rain.
“It wasn't supposed to rain until nighttime, the damn forecast lied to me! What do I do??? I guess my car's only a few blocks away.”
I start running down the sidewalk holding the same awkward posture. Thankfully, the streets are empty at the moment. The light drizzle escalates to full on pelting after about a block. I can feel the warm water completely covering my back and running down into my pants.
I reach the corner my car is at, but realize I'm parked on the other side of the street. I look both ways hastily before sprinting the last few yards to my car. I try to pry open the door, but it doesn't budge.
“Fuck, my keys!”
I drop my groceries onto the wet pavement to fish the keys out of my pocket. Once finally unlocked, I rip open the door and leap inside. I then yank the groceries off the floor and toss them in the passenger seat before slamming the door shut.
I lean back into my seat, panting heavily. I can already feel the water seeping into the car seat, but that's the least of my worries right now.
“Rouxls!”
I draw Rouxls out of my pocket and breathe the heaviest sigh of relief when I see he's completely unscathed.
“Thank god. I have no idea what I would've done if you got wet. Well, I got wet, but it's worth it to save you.”
I give the card a quick smooch before gingerly placing him in one of the cup holders.
“The home tour's gonna have to wait a sec when I get home because I need to change badly. Don't worry, I do actually own an umbrella for when we come back, I just left it at home.”
I chuckle to myself before looking at Rouxls awkwardly.
“Y’know, you told me you can see things, but you didn't tell me about anything else. I hope you can actually hear me, despite the fact you don't have ears. Well you don't exactly have eyes either, but… nevermind.”
I wipe my feet on the doormat before entering my apartment. I used the same strategy I did earlier to protect Rouxls, so both me and my groceries are drenched. I quickly drop off my groceries in the sink so they can dry off and I grab a towel from the bathroom before rushing over to my bedroom.
I delicately place Rouxls onto the edge of my bed and start combing through my closet for replacement clothes. Unfortunately, I've been putting off doing my laundry, so my options are limited. The weather is pretty warm even with the rain, so whatever I find will be good enough. Let's see, I have some jeans that are permanently stained with paint from a long time ago, mismatching socks, and also…
“Aww. This is the shirt I wore the first day I went to Castle Town.”
It feels like centuries ago at this point, but I've only known about Dark Worlds for a decently short amount of time. The past couple of months have been some of the most fulfilling in my life.
Before I stand here reminiscing all day, I should probably change so my carpet doesn't need to be replaced from all the rain water it's absorbing. Without much thought, I start going through the motions of stripping my shoes and socks, then my shirt, and finally my pants.
Now standing in nothing but my undergarments, I start drying myself off with the towel. After wiping down my torso and legs, I let out an annoyed grunt.
“Ugh! Even my underwear got soaked!”
I move over to the dresser next to my bed and crouch down to where I store my underwear. The shitty drawer gets stuck all the time so I just leave it somewhat open always. Because of this though, I have to lean in low and forward in order to reach the back of the drawer. When I finally manage to grab onto a new pair, I stand back upright.
I'm moments away from dropping my underwear to the floor when it finally hits me. I stare back at the edge of my bed, where Rouxls is laying there in clear view of my closet and clothes drawer. My face burns the brightest red imaginable and I instinctually cover my body with my hands.
“Oh my god I completely forgot you were there! Hope you enjoyed the show, I guess, haha… ha… uhh… I'm uhh, I'll be back in a few minutes.”
I grab the new clothes and bolt out of my room.
“And this,” I say as I hold Rouxls out in front of me, “is the bedroom we started in, so I guess that concludes my very short tour.”
I sit down on my bed and lie down on top of the sheets. I hold Rouxls up with one hand on my chest and sigh.”
“I'm gonna be honest, I don't really know why I was so insistent on bringing you here. I wanted to show you what I was living like, but I guess I forgot how lackluster my life's been outside of Castle Town. There's, uhh, not a lot to show off here.”
My bedroom, which is the most decorated room in my home, is still rather barren. Sure, I have few posters from a few shows and games I like, but that's pretty much it.
“I do have this though.”
I point at a picture frame I have standing on my bedside table. But instead of a picture, there's the letter Rouxls wrote to me on the day I confessed to him.
“This may be embarrassing to admit, but sometimes when I haven't seen you for a couple days, I, um, lie in bed for a while and hug the letter.”
I look up to my ceiling with a sheepish smile. Sometimes I wonder how I manage to make myself seem so pathetic so often.
“Anyway, maybe I'll start decorating my place so it won't be so boring the next time you wanna come. If you want to, I guess. Ooh, wait a sec! I've got something to show you.”
I place Rouxls aside as I scrounge around through a junk drawer.
“Yes! I thought I'd lost it for a sec.”
I pull out an old looking camera and some batteries.
“I even have a bit of film left for it.”
I insert the film and batteries before showing it off to Rouxls.
“Kris’s brother gave this to me when he moved off to college. Said I'd probably use it more than he would. And now, I will prove him right.”
I snatch up Rouxls and hold him up next to my face and click the big button on top. The flash blinds me for a second, and I apologize to Rouxls if it hurt his non-existent eyes too. The camera prints out a picture that I let develop on my bedside table.
“That one's for me to keep here. I do have one piece of film left, and I know exactly what to do with it.”
I filter through my closet again, this time to grab a bag. I end up finding a satchel that seems a convenient size. I open it up to see that I have an old lanyard with a protective sleeve for ID cards at the end. Seems safer than clutching Rouxls nervously in my hands the whole time. I take the satchel and load it up with QC’s pie, the puzzle cube Sans gave me, a spare towel, and the camera.
“I know I said I'd take you back to Castle Town after the tour, but I've got one more place in mind I think you'll love.”
I don the lanyard, and Rouxls thankfully fits perfectly inside the card holder. With the satchel on my shoulder and an umbrella I grabbed by my front door, I'm ready to head off.
I park my car next to Asgore’s truck. I open the car door and immediately pop open the umbrella. The heavy rain fall has become a very light drizzle again, but I'm still showing extreme caution. Instead of heading westward to get to the school, as is usual, I head down the very short dirt road to the east, passing by the yellow trees and the green picnic tables.
Once I've made it to the lake’s shoreline, I take the towel out and lay it on the floor before plopping down onto it.
With a content sigh, I hold the umbrella up with one hand and hold up Rouxls' lanyard with the other.
“Isn't it beautiful? I got so used to seeing it that I kinda forgot how nice the view can look here.”
I stay sitting there for a long while, making sure that Rouxls has enough time to take in the nature surrounding us. I notice from under the umbrella that the drizzling has completely stopped and the view is brighter now. I toss the umbrella aside once I confirm that it's actually not raining anymore. It looks like the sun is out again, and there's a picturesque rainbow to perfectly tie up the view. Perfect timing too, since it looks like it's about time for it to set.
“Oh, before I forget!”
I reach into my satchel and take the camera out before removing Rouxls from the sleeve. I turn in place so the setting sun and rainbow will be behind us.
“Say cheese-eth!”
I let the camera print out the picture as I put the lanyard in my bag. It doesn't seem like I'll need it anymore.
“This picture’s for you to keep,” I say while shaking the photo. “It's not done developing, but you'll see it once I'm back.”
I turn my attention back to the sunset, feeling its comforting warmth hit my face. The only thing I'd change about this is Rouxls actually being able to be more than a stationary playing card, but this can suffice for now. I hold the card closer to my chest, trying my best to hug him without obstructing his view. If this were a cheesily written visual novel, this is probably the time and place I'd say something I've been wanting to say for a while now.
“I, um… I really love, uhh, THE VIEW!!! Haha, isn't it great?”
I force out a laugh, but quickly shut myself up.
“Oh who am I kidding. I love you so much Rouxls. I'd spend my whole life with you here if I could, but I'd rather you be sentient.”
The sun finally sets after another long while. The school is a very short walk away, so I find myself standing before the closet door in no time. I only brought Rouxls and his gifts with me. I’m eager to see him face to face, so I enter Castle Town with great swiftness.
“COMMANDANTE!!!”
Before I get the chance to fully stand up, Rouxls tackles me to the ground, knocking what I was holding next to us both.
“OW! Hey Rouxlsy, I-”
“SHUSHETH!” He shoves a finger in my face. “There art somethinge that moi needst to say firste.”
“Y-yeah?”
Rouxls plants both of his arms beside me and leans into my face. I can feel his warm breath on my ear as he coos softly.
“Thou should knoweth that I loveth thou more!”
He then presses his lips into mine. I freeze at first, but I don’t remain shocked for long, and I reciprocate his tender kiss. I grab Rouxls’ hair and pull him into my own lips harder.
Several minutes pass, and Rouxls finally breaks the kiss, a trail of saliva still connecting our mouths. He allows me to get up off the floor and properly hug and greet him. I bury my face into his chest and let out a big breath.
“I know you were around me the whole day, but I still missed you.”
“Believeth moi, I wantedth nothinge more than to respondst to thou’res touchinge words.”
“I hope you had fun at least.”
“OH! ‘Tis a blast I had!”
I push back a bit to glance up at him.
“Really?”
He steps back to gesture grandly with his arms.
“Of courseth! The outside world was a truly magnificente sighte. I never thoughteth I'd see so many vibrante colours and mystifyinge sights. Everythinge from the rain, to the motley inhabitants of the surface, to thou're abode was most enthrallinge.”
He brings his sights back down to me with an adoring smirk.
“But mine favorite part was still mine sweet, sweet Commandante. Oh, the way thou coddleth moi in thou’re grasp fillst me with the warmest feelingse I have ever felteth. The way thou protectedth moi from that feline’s grasp put my mind at ease regardingth mine safety. The way thou speaketh about moi with such reverence yet still remaininge sincereth. The way thou swooned me so with thou’res enchantinge tours. And, erm, well…”
“Yes?”
“Well, perchance I might’ve seen more than thou would’ve wisheth in thou’re bedroom.”
God dammit.
“YOU SAW THAT???” I yell after covering my face with my hands.
“RELAXETH! I turned mine attention away when it was obvious thou had forgottenst I can see. Good gods, thou makest me out to be a ne’er-do-well perverte.”
“Well, um, thank you for that then.”
“I wouldn’t wanteth to see what thou were not readyeth to show.”
I drop my hands back to my sides.
“I really appreciate that actually.” I turn away from Rouxls and mumble out, “I wouldn’t mind showing you some other time, y’know…”
Unsure of whether or not he heard that, I stare down at the floor bashfully for a few moments. That’s when I notice the goods that I wanted to give Rouxls. I pick them off the floor and hold them out in front of me.
“It’s not really a surprise gift since you saw me buy everything, but here you go!”
He grabs the puzzle cube and pie from my hands, both of which thankfully did not change forms between worlds.
“Aww. I trulye can’t tanketh thee enough. I shall eateth this latere. As for the cube, well, I could TOTALLY SOLVETH IT IN MERE SECONDS, but, erm, I’m feelinge rather exhausted and overwhelmed from that outinge.”
I roll my eyes and pat his cheek lovingly.
“I’m sure you could, sweetie.”
“THOU KNOWETH I COULDST! Presenteth moi with any puzzle or game of boards, and I would defeateth thou with NO MERCY! Crossword Puzzle? Solvedth in mere SECONDS withoute any hints! Chess? CHEQUEMATETH! Mono-poly? TOTAL CAPITILASTIC TAKEOVERE!!!”
I’m trying so hard not to laugh at him, but damn does it also make me feel giddy inside to know that he’s mine.
“ANYWAYE! Aren’t thou forgettingst somethinge?”
“Hmm? Oh, the picture! Duh!”
I reach into the back pocket of my explorer pants and pull out the selfie from the lakeshore. It’s a nice picture, though a little blurry. I stare at it longingly for a couple of seconds before handing it over to Rouxls.
“Here’s a keepsake, in case you ever miss me like I miss you.”
“I shall cherish it with every fibre of mine beinge.”
He delicately tucks it between the pie and cube he’s holding.
“Unfortunately, I think it’s about time for me to head home now.”
“I understandth. We hadst a long day togethere.”
I turn my body to the side, but stop myself and look longingly back at Rouxls.
“Commandante?” He asks with a head tilt.
“C-could I, um, just hear you say it one last time before I leave?”
“Sayeth what?”
“Y’know… that you love me?”
His eyes soften and he widens his grin before walking up to me and gently holding my head with his free hand.
“The feelings I haveth for thou are too stronge for any words of any language or lexicon to quantify. I wouldst do-eth anythinge, giveth up everythinge and anythinge else, in order to remaineth within thou’re presence for even a moment longere.”
He presses his lips to my forehead with a dainty kiss.
“I loveth thou so, so much, Commandante.”
“I love you too Rouxlsy.”