Chapter Text
You never used to mind the rain as a kid. In fact, you often revelled in the moment when you found out there was going to be a storm. The more lightning and the harder the rain fell, the better. However, even back then in those simpler days, you still acknowledged that having rain after a snow storm tended to ruin both; something about the slush that was created when the two mixed was just disappointing to you, depressing even. However that’s what was happening now.
You were supposed to be getting ready for work right now, yet you found yourself staring out the window, watching as the raindrops slowly eroded whatever snow remained on the ground. The water acted as a catalyst where snow once met earth, resulting in the three mixing into that muddy slush you had grown to despise since a rather young age. It wasn’t nice to look at, it didn’t feel or sound nice to step in, and you didn’t need to cover the other two senses to know that it probably didn’t measure up there either.
You and I aren’t so different , you thought with a resigned chuckle that quickly faded back into a neutral, perhaps even disheartened expression. You didn’t know why you had told yourself that, if you were being honest. Maybe I should get ready for work before I’m late.
It took a bit to get the gears turning once you got up, but once you had worked the morning rust out of your brain, you prepared for the coming day like a well oiled machine. Took as brief of a shower as you could manage, put on your uniform which still didn’t feel like it fit quite right, and put a black jacket which bore the logo of your favorite musical artist over that for the journey before you left.
The moment you stepped outside you could feel the blood flow away from your hands as they overreacted to the sudden above-freezing, but still relatively close temperatures in an exemplary display of Raynaud’s Phenomenon. That, however, had been routine since Winter had started back in December and partially throughout the Autumn before that. The cold sensation and numbness didn’t particularly bother you when you were outside, but the knowledge that you’d have to deal with it through a quarter of your shift at the least did irritate you. You didn’t break stride.
•《○》•
You finish walking to the sandwich shop you worked at in a timely manner. At first, as you unlocked the front door, you thought you had actually managed to weave around all of the slush and snowmelt in your path, however that was swiftly proven wrong by the resounding squeak that the bottom of your shoe made upon contact with the tile floor within the shop. Luckily, it seemed that you were the only one around to hear it. Feeling ready enough to start your shift, you walk the rest of the way in, allowing the door to slowly close behind you.
Overall, the first few hours of your shift were slow. On the one hand, you were happy about it, as the last couple hours had proven that your coworkers weren’t going to show up- not today, at least. However, on the other hand, it caused the hours to crawl by the slowest you felt they ever have since the first week or so you had spent working here before the monotony had set in. As per usual, business sped up a bit around noon as many of the people who lived in town needed a place to get lunch, however that rush slowed back to a usual pace by around an hour later. However, when the following hour rolled around, something new happened. Something… peculiar…
First of all, you noticed that the number of human customers who were coming into the shop over time decreased drastically. Normally, you’d dismiss this without a second thought, as this is what usually happened around these parts when a monster had entered the general area, and vice versa with humans. However, this time, all human presence in the area seemed to clear out to the point where you couldn’t even see anyone walking by the shop windows outside anymore. Even you had to admit that the sight, or lack thereof, was eerie at best.
For what felt like forever, you watched the glass door, trying to see if you could figure out which of the monsters who were now passing through it was that had caused this much of a disturbance with their presence, however at no point were you able to see anyone who particularly stood out. Eventually, you came to the conclusion that your time would be better spent cleaning the place up, seeing as how your shift technically ended in an hour or so and, soon, you would have to close up anyway; considering the unique circumstances that had presented themselves, you knew the chances that any more customers would enter the store at this point was low, which was why you were packing up so early. The local monsters who frequented this stretch of town would avoid the place when they saw the only guy working there was a human and the humans who inhabited the area were avoiding whichever intimidating monster that so happened to have wandered nearby.
You had your back turned to the door when it finally opened. You had been just about to dispose of one of the bins of a plant-based ingredient when it happened. Luckily, you hadn’t yet tipped the bin over, allowing you to save it, for a time, before it tumbled to its inevitable doom. You may have use yet, leafy green… You thought to yourself, snickering quietly to yourself at the thought before the voice of that who had entered sounded behind you.
“Howdy!
You thought you recognized the voice, though you couldn’t put your finger on exactly who it belonged to. An old high school friend, maybe? No… his tone was too warm and friendly to be someone you knew personally and last you recalled, no one from your hometown used that particular piece of diction to greet people. You almost didn’t want to turn around, feeling the urge to keep guessing to yourself until you either got it right or expired, whichever came first, rise within you. However, you knew you had a job to do, so you turned to face the source of the voice. The figure that your eyes found themselves rested on was that of a goat monster, however the part of him that would really unlock the memory of his identity in your head would be his eyes, which held a bizarre inverted appearance, his sclera being black with a white iris. They held this mysterious sense of mischief to them that was familiar to you, even though you had never seen it in person before. He wore a pair of black slacks and an olive green dress shirt that was mostly obscured by the warm gray vest he wore over it. Two black symmetrical stripes seemed burned into his face. Knowing the state of this town, no wonder everyone cleared out so quickly... This was none other than Asriel Dreemurr, the prince of all monsters.
Within a few moments, you would recall hearing about the ambassador work that he and his adoptive sibling Frisk had been doing as of late, traveling from place to place trying to bridge the gap of understanding between humans and monsters. While Frisk had done a lot to help that in the first couple years following the monsters’ liberation from the enormous cavernous space beneath Mt. Ebott, there was still much to be done when it came to the true integration of monsters into overground society, as was evident by the very town the two of you resided in now. You remembered admiring that goal when you had first heard it, though you had been uncertain about how realistic it was at the time. Regardless, it was a noble cause that you found you supported immediately following when it had been announced.
It appeared that Asriel had taken notice of the surprise in your expression and how quick you had been to hide it.
“Don’t worry yourself, human- I’m used to getting that response at this point.” He would say to you calmly, likely trying to calm your nerves so you didn’t mess up whatever he was about to order. You noticed at this point that, despite his vocal demeanor, the prince seemed to be quite stressed about something, giving you the suspicion that he had already been in town for a couple days by now. Feeling a little stupid now that you had allowed yourself to seem so caught off guard, you answered.
“Of course- what can I get you…?” Your voice stammered a bit, making your still present nerves more audible than you would’ve liked them to be, however your tone overall remained polite. It seemed that now was your turn to surprise Asriel, as was made apparent by his own expression. You weren’t sure exactly what about what you had said evoked such a reaction from him, though it seemed you would never know, as he didn’t make mention of it when he answered your question.
“A... BLT will do, thank you- Hold the tomato, though.” He laughed a bit.
You nod and, without uttering a word, begin to make the sandwich he requested, not wanting to offer disappointing service to him, especially considering this would be his first impression of the place.
“You don’t need to break any world records here.” He joked, causing your face to flush a bit as he let out a lighthearted chuckle. “Really, there’s no rush.” The goat monster added quickly, his voice giving off a more serious air without sacrificing any of its warmth to do so, as he had likely noticed the effect that his prior words had had on you. You weren’t sure how he had managed to do that with his tone, but at the same time didn’t question it. That combination of kindness and assertiveness was completely alien to you.
Considering that fact, you honestly didn’t really know how to respond to it, so you didn’t. You remained silent as you continued working, however you did heed Asriel’s request for you to slow down a bit. However, you couldn’t leave him totally hanging, so you decided to strike up a conversation that was unrelated to sandwiches.
“So… how has your ambassador work been going lately…? Oh- and I almost forgot- What kind of bread would you like?”
An almost disheartened look came over him for a moment before he smiled again.
“Not as well as I would like it to in this area in particular, but I'm sure I’ll make some meaningful progress sometime soon!” The prince answered optimistically before moving on to your second, more on-topic question. “Whole wheat, please.”
You nodded, taking a moment to gather said bread and finish making his sandwich.
“So… your sibling, Frisk, if I recall correctly… Is she not here with you…?” You would ask, the implication from Asriel’s previous statement pointing toward that conclusion.
“The place we were at before still had loose ends to tie up by the time we were scheduled to move here. However, this town was considered a high priority location, so the executive decision was made to split us up so that we could cover more ground. But she should be here in a couple weeks. I’ll be grateful for her help, honestly.”
You would give Asriel a look of sympathy when you heard that admission. You had an idea at just how hard it could be to change the minds of the people in this town.
“It’s definitely a tough case here, but Im sure if anyone can do it, you can, right?”
By the time the both of you got to that point in the conversation, you had finished making his sandwich. After he had payed for what you presumed to be the price you had told him, you handed him his prize which you had wrapped in a multi-layered paper wrapper which bore the shop’s logo on it in a repeating pattern.
“Thank you... uh-” Asriel would glance briefly down at the upper half of your shirt, his expression narrowing as he seemed to search for something. You wondered for a moment what the caprine monster was doing, however that wonder was dispelled by how he finished his statement, which was spoken momentarily after his smile returned to his face and his eyes met yours again.. “..._______! For both the sandwich and the conversation.”
Of course, he had been reading your name tag. You had nearly forgotten it was there due to how underused it was. In fact, now that you thought about it, Asriel may be the first to have ever payed it any mind.
“Well, you payed for the sandwich, so no need to thank me for that-”
“Thank you anyway. Many of the other human vendors in the area were too afraid to give me a similar courtesy. So, I guess I’m thanking you for being one of the few and far between friendly faces in this town rather than the sandwich itself.” The goat monster clarified, seeming to be getting ready to leave at this point.
“In that case, you’re very welcome, Prince Asriel.” You would answer, beginning to understand why he had been so surprised toward the beginning of your conversation; he had been expecting you to be too afraid to allow him to pay for the shop’s services in the first place.
“You can just call me Asriel.” He would answer, turning back to face you as he headed for the door. “The prince title always makes me nervous.” The goat monster would add with, well, a nervous chuckle.
On that note, he once again turned back to face the door, walking back out and presumably to his car, wherever that may be, waving to you as the door closed behind him, leaving you alone once again in what you discovered to now be deafening silence. Your eyes followed after him for a few minutes before you eventually tore your gaze away and took a moment to look down at the money he had given you to pay for his sandwich. You hadn’t noticed previously, but you could see now that he had given you about twice the money needed to pay for his sandwich. I’ll have to give it back to him if I see him again.
You were vaguely aware of the fact that it was no longer raining.
If...
You dwelled on that possibility for a moment before you began to pack up your things and cycle the no longer fresh ingredients out of the shop's stock. What if you didn't see him again? What if your only proof that he had ever spoken to you was the extra seven or so dollars that he had accidentally given you?
You grabbed your jacket just before your cleanup cycle made it back to the register, and, when it did, your eyes found themselves back on that reminder once again. You put the half of it that had payed for the sandwich in the register, the contents of which you would have to count before you left. You put the other in your jacket pocket, knowing all too well that, if you left it in the store, it would wind up either in the register with the rest or in one of your coworker's pockets before your next shift had a chance to begin.
With that out of the way, you set to counting the money that was in the register. Given the slow day you had, it didnt take long. You knew your manager probably wouldn't be a fan of that, but right now, you were happy that your remaining time here was shorter than it would ordinarily be.
When you finished, you recorded the amount made that day and stored the money in the safe that resided in the back room, where it would be collected on sunday after the early closure that happened on that day.
With all of your duties now complete, you let out a short sigh of relief, more than ready, at this point, to be done with work today. Wasting no time, already having your things gathered, you moved to the door with a quickness about you. You flipped to sign on the door so that it displayed its, "closed," face before opening the door it hung on, stepping out.
Just as you were about to begin the journey home, you heard a disgruntled sigh from your left. Turning to see what the ruckus was about, you saw a male human, dressed appropriately for the weather earlier today in a yellow raincoat. He was watching you. It seemed that he had noticed you in your outside attire and realized that the shop must be closed for the day. However, you held no sympathy for him as you turned around to start your walk to your apartment. You knew exactly why he had missed the window of time in which the place had open.
You reap what you sow. You thought to yourself with bitter indifference as you left him and his frustration far behind you.
The remainder of your venture home, your conscious was distracted. Your brain seemed to be too loud yet eerily quiet at the same time, as if it was uncertain of what to make of the day's events. It wouldn’t stop replaying that final interaction you had before you closed up shop. It hadn’t even been ten minutes since it had happened and you already couldn’t differentiate the memory of it from one of reality or one of a dream. You took a moment to ponder the situation. The prince of all monsters going to the sandwich place you worked at in the town you lived in and then spoke to you. No one could blame you for thinking of it as an incredibly surreal experience. As you opened the door to your apartment, you decided that only time could tell you whether or not any of that had truly happened or not. For now, you had to force the train of thought to the back of your mind, as you had to attend your online psychology class now, and such a distraction would surely do nothing but hinder you.
You opened your laptop and turned it on, settling down into your beat up office chair ready to tackle what today’s lecture would throw at you. Turned out the subject matter for today was the irrational thought patterns that occurred in the brain and the likely reasons why they occurred. Things that would be brought up were subjects such as phobias, the backfire effect, and the like & strike. Given your immense interest in psychology as a whole, you found that you absorbed the information readily.
After class was over, you found that you had the time to eat and quite a bit of free time before you would have to turn in for the night. So, for dinner, you would eat a small, easily prepared meal, not having the mental energy nor the money reserves to make anything more grand than that. You got through that food quicker than you had initially thought, as you would come to find. At that point, you decided, not having anything better to do, that you would finish the homework that was due in a couple days, given that today was Friday and you wouldn’t have class until the following Monday.
By the time you were done with that, night had long since fallen, considering that it fell rather early in the Winter. Despite that, it was still late enough that you would prepare to go to bed. You took care of your nightly rituals with a swiftness before heading to bed… or rather, to couch, in your case, as you had your whole life up until this point. It was only then, in the near silence of your apartment with nothing else to occupy your mind with that your train of thought from when you had come home earlier returned to the rails at full speed ahead.
If you hadn’t had a bizarre fever dream, why did the prince open up to you so readily like that? The idea of someone being so unguarded was foreign to you. Maybe he just really needed to vent and you were the only person around? For a moment, you imagined venting about your everyday stress to a complete stranger. The thought made you shudder.
You weren’t sure why, but regardless of why he had done it, you sincerely hoped with whatever hope you had to spare that your meeting with Asriel hadn’t been a mere figment of your imagination. You hoped with all your heart that it had all been as real as the muddy slush that had soured your mood just that morning.