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“You always seem to take after her,” he said, smiling, “You haven’t even been here that long and she’s already rubbed off on you.”
“What do you mean?”
He coughed, recovered, and smiled sickly, “Tori laughs when nervous too, it’s a strange tick, but she could never help it.”
They wipe their face with their sleeve. “I… actually didn’t know that.”
“She was trying to hide it from you kids, some people find it strange.”
You chuckle sadly, “I get that.”
“Asriel seems to think you’re making the best of a bad situation.”
“I guess it does help… a little.” they pause, than begin to laugh again. Forced bubbles of concentrated air filled the small room.
He smiled, “There’s no need to be nervous my child…”
They spoke between the laughs, “I just... heheh ... I am happy that you know i’m not… hahaheh ... laughing at you… haha ... because it’s all my… ha ... fault-”
“Of course it’s not my child-”
“Of course it is i was… hahaheh ... so stupid…” they fell into a fit of laughter, their head buried in their arms. “Everyone is going to blame me, they are gonna think I did it on purpose, I am gonna be sent away, those damn buttercups- ”
Asgore put a large hand on their shoulder. They revealed their face, covered in tears, eyes bloodshot.
“No one will blame you for anything, it was just a simple mistake.”
“But-”
“All will be alright.” he removed his hand, and coughed into his arm. “I will get better in time, and this terrible mishap will be soon forgotten.”
“Forgotten?”
“Maybe even better, it will become a joyful story, that we could laugh about, with real laughter.”
Chara smiled, letting out one last laugh. “You promise?”
“I promise, and it smells like your mother has finished dinner. You better go before it gets cold.”