Chapter Text
He was here again - the skeleton in purple who took a book to the back corner where the window seats were located, read it from cover to cover over the course of a couple hours, and then left, only to repeat the process the next time he appeared. Coffee’s boss, the owner of the bookstore, was becoming increasingly annoyed every time this particular customer came around because he never bought anything. However, he never made a move to kick the skeleton out, obviously not wanting the reputation of being racist. Coffee himself wasn’t quite sure what to think about the other monster. He never disturbed anyone else in the store; he hadn’t once come up to ask Coffee the location of a specific genre or series, like most customers tended to do so they could find what they were looking for quickly; he had an eye patch over his right socket and most of his bones (or rather, what was visible outside of his baggy jacket, since he wore all long sleeves, gloves, and socks under his sandals) had an unhealthy yellow tint to them. The only thing Coffee really knew about him was that he smoked, the scent of it heavy around him whenever he visited, and he had sticky fingers - Coffee had watched him nab a twenty dollar bill out of the back pocket of a particularly rude human customer, and the skeleton had the gall to wink at him like he knew that Coffee wouldn’t say anything before tucking the bill into the tip jar at the counter.
Besides all that, Coffee had also taken notice of how the skeleton - who he had dubbed as “Money” after the tip incident - never stuck to one genre. He bounced around from one side of the store to the other, picking his way through nonfiction science, geography, and astronomy books, fantastical adventure and dystopian stories, and even delved into the romance section. Once Coffee even watched him read through a dating sim guide magazine like it was the most interesting thing he’d ever laid eyes on! (Though, to be fair, he’d also slouched in the window seat with the magazine over his face and took an hour long nap after he skimmed the final page.) Coffee found himself taking notes on the kind of stories that Money deemed worth his time and he even had a hesitant list of books he also found enjoyable from those genres, though he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get the nerve to go over and offer it to him without making it obvious that he took more notice in the other skeleton than just a passing glance whenever he came in.
Coffee had to draw his attention away from Money as an influx of human patrons entered the store. It was the middle of summer and there were many tourists visiting Ebott City from other parts of the country, mostly to catch a glimpse of monsters, most of whom decided to settle in and around the city rather than spreading thin. Plenty of the humans treated him with awe as they checked out their books and other purchases; the females especially found it fun to coo over how “cute” they thought he was, and he managed to fumble his way through the compliments with little more than a hint of gold on his cheekbones and the lettering of his hoodie changing from Lame Guy to Shy Guy. It was when most of the patrons had been seen to that the trouble began. It started with a startled shout from the back corner of the store. Coffee used his advantageous height to see over the many heads of the humans (and few monsters) in the store to see that a grown man was picking himself up off the floor and Money was standing from the window seat he’d taken to, a rolled up magazine tucked under an arm - a nap day today, then. Over the murmuring of the crowd, he couldn’t hear what Money had to say to the man, but it couldn’t have been anything positive if the sudden aggression coming off him in waves was any indication.
Coffee wasn’t sure if he should intervene, and his boss came out of his office - which was located behind the front desk - to inquire about the noise. Coffee didn’t know, and so shrugged, turning his gaze back to the commotion in time to see a purple gleam in Money’s visible socket as he said something else. This time, his words made the human bristle and blanch at the same time before he was shoving his way past the remaining humans to leave the store. For the first time since he began frequenting the bookstore, Money made his way to the front counter, the other patrons parting around him. He set the magazine down on the counter, looking up to meet Coffee’s boss’ eyes, then Coffee’s.
“sorry about that,” he drawled, voice low and rough. “i guess i had my legs out too far and he tripped over ‘em.”
Coffee knew for a fact that Money always sat on the window seat with his legs tucked up on the cushion and out of the way, but his boss didn’t and accepted his words easily.
“i’d like to buy this magazine,” he added, causing both Coffee and his boss’ brows to raise in surprise, “in return for any trouble i might’ve caused.”
Ah. While most humans had accepted monsterkind with open arms, there was still a lot of tension between the two species, and the peace between them held a fragility that no one was tempted to break. So the transaction went through, Money tucked the change into the tip jar, and he was out the door with his newly acquired magazine - leaving hours before he usually vacated his seat. A human female from the back of the store, close to where the incident had occurred, hurried out after him, and Coffee witnessed her saying something to him after she caught his attention before hugging him. He patted her head before they parted ways. Coffee didn’t know why, but he felt… disappointed that Money had left so early, and he was distracted for the rest of the day.
Nearly a month passed before Money showed up at the store again. He didn’t have a set schedule for his attendance, but usually it was once every couple of weeks. It was drizzling outside while still maintaining all the heat of summer, leaving it muggy enough that Coffee even managed to convince his boss to turn on the air conditioner. The chiming of the bell caught Coffee’s attention, as there had been only two or three customers all day, and he looked up from where he was doodling in his notebook in time to witness Money pulling his hood off his skull and sighing in relief as he bathed in the cool air blasting from the ceiling in front of the door. Coffee was surprised to notice that the other skeleton had forgone his usual sweatpants for a pair of cargo shorts instead; he still wore socks over sandals, but his newly exposed bone was yellowing like the glimpses of bone that Coffee saw over his shirt.
“like what ya see?”
Coffee startled when he realized that Money was watching him stare and he willed his expression not to betray how embarrassed he felt being caught in the act. If Money’s smirk was any indication, his will was not strong enough. He began approaching the front desk and Coffee dropped his gaze to the most interesting stain in existence on the worn wood. Money loomed over him, the scent of cigarette smoke almost overwhelming.
“you draw those?”
Coffee slammed his notebook closed and glared up at Money, who casually straightened from where he’d been leaning over to look. He raised his hands placatingly, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth as he fought a laugh.
“easy, tiger. was just curious. forgive me?”
Coffee hesitated, but deciding there was no harm done, nodded slowly. Money dropped his hands into his pockets, examining Coffee with a strange expression before glancing away.
“looks pretty dead in here. must be why you got such a skeleton crew on deck.”
Coffee was amused at the joke, rolling his eyes when Money turned back to look. The other’s shoulders drew up slightly and he scratched at the edge of his jaw.
“guess, uh, guess i’ll leave ya be.”
Money slunked off towards the back of the store, plucking a random book off a shelf in passing - Coffee knew it was random because Money had never once steered towards the history books in his previous visits - before settling into his usual spot. There was a tension around him that hadn’t been there in his previous visits, or even when he first entered the store. Coffee pondered what could possibly be wrong for a good chunk of time, even scribbling more pictures into his notebook, before being struck with a realization. Money had never attempted to start a conversation with him before and Coffee had just sat there without even attempting to answer with more than his body language - his subtle body language that only his friends and brother could read. He clamped his hands over his face, Lame Guy switching over to Oh No as he peeked between his fingers at Money, who was glaring at the book in his lap like it’d personally offended him. Guess he found out it was a genre he didn’t like, but picked through the pages dutifully. Coffee had ruined his one chance at getting to actually talk to the other monster - or maybe not, he realized, glimpsing a corner of his recommendation list peeking out from the back of his notebook. With another quick glance at Money, Coffee turned to a fresh page and scrawled across it before standing with his notebook and pen in hand. He sucked in a determined breath and headed across the store towards Money, who’d taken notice as soon as he moved and was watching him with the wary expression of a feral cat. Coffee came to a halt in front of him, holding up his open notebook, and Money glanced between it and Coffee’s face before actually reading what was written on the exposed page:
"I’m really sorry about not answering you earlier. I have a hard time speaking to new people."
When Money looked up again, Coffee offered his friendliest smile, and that at least seemed to put the other at ease, the tension evaporating from the air around him.
“don’t worry about it. no skin offa my bones.”
Coffee rolled his eyes again, and this time Money took it good-naturedly. He offered a hand and Coffee shook it, noticing for the first time that he was wearing different gloves than his usual ones; this pair had the fingers cut off, leaving even more yellowed bones exposed.
“my name’s papyrus.”
It was a nice name, in Coffee’s opinion, though he’d always have a special place in his soul for the nickname “Money.” Coffee spun his notebook around to write, “My name is Coffee. Nice to meet you.” Money’s grin widened when he saw that.
“i like that a latte,” he said with a wink. “look at us; our names are the cream of the crop.”
Money set the history book to the side, dropping any pretense of reading it, and Coffee suddenly remembered the list. He flipped to the back of his notebook, pulling the folded list free, and offered it to Money, who accepted it with a confused quirk of his brow. Coffee immediately set to jotting down an explanation, and when he finished and looked up, he was surprised to see Money looking the list over, again and again, in what seemed like disbelief. At first he thought he might’ve made a mistake again, but then Money was meeting his gaze with the brightest grin he’d ever seen.
“you’re recommending me books.”
It wasn’t a question, but Coffee nodded anyway. Money unfolded himself from the window seat, and Coffee found that he was still taller than even this monster, though Money came the closest to his height than anyone he’d met, barely surpassing his older brother. He held up the list, tapping a finger next to the book title at the top of the page.
“mind helping me find this one? this is a long list; i’d better get started.”