Work Text:
Today sucked.
The door slammed and Undyne threw her bag on the floor.
“Today SUUCCKKSS!”
She slid her police uniform shirt off her shoulders and threw the entire thing into the washer at the end of the hall. Her badge hit the washer lid with a BANG and closed upon impact. It was already 5pm but Alphys was out of town for work. The house was empty and the light was fading outside in the cold November evening. The kitchen was lonely as she quietly stood in her white tank undershirt and worn police pants. She let down her ponytail and tilted her head back with her eye closed.
“TODAAAYYY SUUUCCCKKKSSS ASSSS!!!” loudly repeating a new phrase she learned at work.
Her exclamation made the automatic security lights come on (as usual). But instead of starting her tea, she noticed a figure standing outside her back glass door. A curtain was drawn over it, so their face was unseen, but a figure stood perfectly still.
She was suddenly quiet but her eye narrowed and she positioned her hand with a spear. Moving around the kitchen counter. Once her vision could see the bottom of the door, she halted, noticing the familiar red boots. “...Papyrus…?”
Her posture corrected itself and she opened the door to a familiar face. “... have you been here all da-?”
“GOOD EVENING, UNDYNE!” Papyrus interrupted. “I WAS HOPING WE COULD ENGAGE IN BATTLE?”
She blinked. Was something wrong? “How long have you been-”
“THAT IS UNLESS, YOU ARE NOT UP FOR A FRIENDLY CHALLENGE”
Oh that was a mistake. A fire ignited and she gave a toothy grin. “You want your butt kicked that badly? Yeah! OKAY! I could use a good fight!!”
Undyne pushed past her friend and leaped into the yard.Her spear formed in her hand and she paced at one side while she waited for Papyrus to come to the other. “Alright!! Who's first??”
“I’LL GO!” The skeleton seemed pretty enthusiastic as well. Usually he only sends out a small warning bone the first time, but here was a whole wave coming her way.
“That’s the stuff!!!!” Undyne shouted, her adrenaline coursing through her. As the bones approached, she used her spear to vault over the attack and immediately threw it at her friend.
A bone suddenly came up and deflected the attack and then followed another bone wave to her left. The fish creature quickly jumped to the right and threw three more spears. Two forward, a third from behind.
In a turning motion, the skeleton blocked all three attacks while sending out a spiral wave of blue and white bones from the ground.
Undyne positioned herself and held still as the blue bone passed by. “Is that all you got??” Something was nagging at the back of her mind about this fight It seemed different?
Either way, she turned his soul green and began her onslaught of arrows from different angles.
With great concentration, Papyrus halted every attack with a broad bone; his cape spinning around in the cool breeze. Once the green effect faded, he immediately made Undyne blue and launched another spiral of white bones.
Undyne’s smile faded. There were no blue attacks in there and she couldn’t vault herself when her soul was blue.
Three bones hit her rapidly and Undyne was launched into the cold grass behind her. The frost and dry grass scraped her scales lightly and she rolled until she hit the fence. A faint gasp was heard and familiar boot steps rushed to her.
“OH MY GOODNESS, UNDYNE, ARE YOU OKAY???”
There was a pause, and suddenly the fish erupted from the lawn causing dirt to scatter all around. “NGYAAAHHHHH!!! IT’S TOO COLD OUTSIDE!!” She stomped past her friend and stormed into the kitchen with Papyrus in tow.
Opening her heated fridge, she cracked open a can of something called ‘Liquid Death’ which was some weird human advertisement for canned water, but to her, it was the most badass drink that existed on the surface. Undyne tossed one unopened can to her friend and chugged her toasty can effortlessly.
“....that’s so much better.” Undyne finally seemed at peace. Wait, no. “And what was up with that fight??” she bared her fangs in confusion.
Papyrus waves his hand in apology “I’M SO SORRY UNDYNE, I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU, I THOUGHT YOU WOULD DODGE THAT FOR SURE-”
She crunched her can and shot him a hard glare. “Of course I would have dodged it-- If I wasn’t so weirded out by how you were acting!”
He stepped back and hugged his can closely “WH-WHAT?”
“You were silent the whole fight!” She said, throwing her arms up in frustration. ”I mean, is something wrong?” this time her tone was softer.
The skeleton glanced around for a second before placing the can on the counter. He was quickly thinking something up and then turned a glare back at his friend. “WELL MAYBE...I WOULD HAVE RETURNED YOUR QUIPS IF IT WAS MORE OF A CHALLENGE!”
It was a verbal slap in the face. Another fire ignited in her eye as she threw the empty can behind her “ You want a better challenge? Okay! Let’s go one on one! No weapons!” She spread her legs out and lowered her body, her arms ready to attack. “You want to fight? Show me how you fight.”
A smile flashed across his face, but then quickly became a warrior's grin. “COME AT ME” he answered, mimicking the body stance of his friend.
In a quick moment, the two tackled each other across the kitchen and into the living room where they began to wrestle for dominance. “IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE?”
At first, Undyne had him pinned in a headlock. After a moment of struggling, he then threw her over his shoulder where she landed on the couch. “Just watch me! I’ll muscle you into the ground!”
Now in a vulnerable position, as she tried to get back upright, her legs were kicked out from underneath her. Landing on the floor, she tried to pick herself back up, but instead felt another set of arms lift her from behind. “IMPOSSIBLE, I HAVE THE BIGGEST BICEPS OF THEM ALL!”
Under each arm was a skeleton’s. His hands pulled into the tops of her shoulders and pulled her in closely in a locked position. She was being held from behind in a way that most fighters have trouble with…. Well, most fighters usually have real muscles that get in the way of moving your arms in resistance.
“Are we fighting dirty now? Because I can fight dirty…” Lowering her arms and moving them behind her, Undyne’s scaly hands firmly grasped at the top of Papyrus’ hips and she gave them rapid squeezes.
“NYO-O-HO!” He immediately let go and back up, surprised at the direction she took. But while he was still in shock, Undyne was already plotting her next move.
She quickly turned around and hugged his waist, then turned to suplex him into the ground, knocking over a nearby lamp. Still stunned by the fall, he didn’t notice Undyne as she quickly pivoted over and sat on his hips, her hands in claws as she faced him. “Now tell me what’s wrong!”
A panic. “....NO!” wait. “N-NOTHING’S WRONG!!”
“So something is wrong!!” she exclaimed and then quickly lowered her claws to the exposed area where his lower ribs meet his spine. Her fingers scribbled and scraped where the bones met.
“NYA-NYAHAHA-NYATHING’S WRA-HAHA-ONGGGG..!!” Giggles began to erupt from his mouth.
“Give up, Papyrus, I know your weaknesses!” she exclaimed, give his spine a pinch.
A small shriek and the Skeleton knew he needed to fight back if he wanted to win. He raised his arms in an attempt to tickle Undyne lightly under her ear fins. His plan was to get her back in her weak spot too. His flaw was that this move exposed him. Undyne immediately moved her arms up and stuck them against the upper sides of his body. Realizing his error, Papyrus quickly lowered his arms, trapping hers inside.
A toothy grin. “My fingers are trapped, Papyrus! I can’t move them if you keep your arms there!” Which was a lie because she could easily move her fingers in between his ribs through the thin fabric of his upper battle body. Which is what she did.
He lost it and started laughing harder. “What’s wrong Papyrus? Don’t you want to free my fingers? Move your arms!” For a while, her taunts fell on deaf ears, but he eventually had to raise his arms in hopes she would leave. Of course, this was also a lie.
Once open, Undyne moves her fingertips directly to where his armpits would be. He screamed, and the moment he went silent from laughter, Undyne quipped in once again. “Now tell me what’s wrong!!”
“NYAHAHAH-” a gasp. “NEHEHEVER!!” his eyes pricked with tears and she continued her attack. As time progressed, she noticed him trying to fight the urge to laugh. She was going to have to take a different approach.
“You leave me no choice, Papyrus.” she said, turning his soul green once more.
His laughing died down until the fear caught in his throat “YOU WOULDN’T”
She got up, turned around, and then put his right foot into a lock with her arm. “You have until the count of three to tell me what’s wrong.”
He gulped as she took off his battle boot. “One.”
“Y-YOU’RE BLUFFING” she wouldn’t be that mean! Not with green magic!
A challenge? “Two.”
He gasped as her felt her fingertips press evenly but firmly against the soles of his feet. His soul raced and his mouth felt dry. Fear creeping into his mind.
“Last chance!... THR-”
“I’M STILL UPSET WITH FLOWEY!!”
“...”
“...”
“...UH-”
There was a silence. She softly lowered his foot, deactivated her magic and lifted his shoulders up to give him a hug without saying anything. The lamp light from the floor cast a strange light over them as the quiet room was filled with uneven breaths from the skeleton.
He felt awkward. Why was she hugging him? “I-I-I DON’T KNOW WHY-” His face was wet “ IT WAS OVER A YEAR AGO AND I STILL AM UPSET LIKE THE DAY IT HAPPENED? I-”
She hugged him tighter and shook her head. “No....no... He betrayed you. It’s something that will continue to hurt.” She spoke softly. The exterior security lights shut off again now that things had calmed down.
His breathing was still funny but seemed to be slowing down. “....FOR HOW LONG..?” his voice cracked.
“...” She let go of her hug and looked at his eyes, then to his hand as she held it in hers. “...as long as it takes.” she wished she could give a better answer. Taking a breath, she patted his hand. “...But thanks for telling me. I’m here to support you whether is a good or bad day.”
He nodded his head, but stared at the fallen lamp. His eyes weren’t really focused on it, but he was numb after his confession. The catharsis was finished. Now he just needed a healthy distraction. “WHAT SUCKED ABOUT TODAY?”
She looked up to see him wiping his eyes dry. “Huh?”
“YOU SAID TODAY SUCKED ASS, WHAT WAS IT THAT MADE IT ASS SUCKING?”
She gave a snort as she held in a laugh, but then shook her head. “The chief said I can’t use magic on kids anymore. Something about scaring them.” She huffed. “The kid was just acting out so I thought I would spar with him… you know, like Asgore and I did…” She huffed again and rolled her eyes but then looked down sadly. “...I was just trying to help.”
He gave her a sympathetic smile. “UNDYNE, YOU ARE THE BEST AT HELPING. YOU JUST ARE VERY INTENSE AT IT. I WOULD KNOW, HEH.”
She gave a sorry smile “Sorry for using green magic while wrestling, I know that got too intense.”
His smile stayed but he looked to his side, his fingers coming up to tap at each other. “IT WASN’T... TOO INTENSE…” he seemed to look a little guilty.
She got the hint and flashed a sneaky grin. “Oh? You want a challenge of intensity?”
His eyes darted back. “...WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGE RULES?”
She grabbed his left leg and set it in her lap. Her eyes dark and devilish. “Two minutes without saying ‘mercy’ wins.”
“...LOSER HAS TO GO FOR THREE MINUTES.”
“Deal.”
….From outside, the security lights shot back on as the household became noisy again.
----------
The next morning, Alphys came into her house. The lamp and couch cushions were all over the floor, one chair was broken, a door was dented and empty cans of liquid death littered the room. Papyrus was curled up into a ball sleeping on the floor while Undyne was draped over the couch. It was the typical greeting she faced when she came back from a work trip.