Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

People are shopping
Birds are hopefully nowhere in sight
On days like these
Mall shoppers like you
Should really find a new hobby.

Sure to most, just hanging around the mall by yourself was lonely. But you sure as hell were not “most” what can you say!

The mall was nice. It had enjoyable things happening in it all the time, whether that's in things you can buy, or fights that broke out, or strange occurrences, or the occasional special event being held.

But today was rather dull. Not that you minded, some days were just dull. You yourself were rather dull, even. Average height, unremarkable straight black hair, still in your work clothes.

Honestly, you had JUST finished up a case this morning, and now you were work free until at the very least next month besides the never ending phone calls. You were a very good lawyer, top of your class. Technically you were an attorney AND a lawyer.

You honestly liked the title of lawyer better because people who knew little about law also assumed you did attorney type things.

You're honestly surprised you've never lost a case…but not incredibly so. The legal system was like child's play to you, logic was your best friend and numbers were second nature.

Needless to say you were very expensive and only got clients that could afford you every few months or so, and it didn't help that you were selective about it.
But you went here to think about work and how you'll fill the many hours of nothingness in the near future!

You were here to watch people at the mall.
Sitting on a bench, you scan for anything of note for what felt like the millionth time.
Good stuff usually happened right outside the games and puzzles store... well, mostly children either crying or ecstatic with a brand new whatever in their hands.

Strangely, you don't find anyone this time and you contemplate getting up and going home. That is, until small little hands start waving in your face.
A small child, 5 maybe? Possibly 7 who you just now noticed are using sign language. Unfortunately you only know a few words, but you do catch some of them.

Lost, me, and help.
“I'm sorry I don't know too much of what you're singing, but you need help finding someone a parent maybe?” you ask, your voice going as soft as it could.(which isn't very soft you have a fairly monotone voice)

The child nods their head bobbed hair flying back and forward, they grab your hand and start to pull but you're sat firmly in your seat
“The best and safest thing to do when a child is lost is to stay put” you explain, patting the seat next to you.

The child looks unsure but sits down anyway.
“You're very brave asking another adult for help. Very brave to keep calm…..are you calm?” it's hard to tell.
The child nods with a smile and blows you a kiss.
“You should save your kisses for your mother but thank you” you say with a nod.

The child gives you a look that others give you quite often. A look of amusement and slight confusion. Nonetheless, they spell sign their name.
‘F-R-I-S-K’
And you give your slow and steady signed response of your own name
‘L-U-C-Y’

“I hope I did that correctly. I only know my alphabet and a few words. I apologize for that frisk.”.
Frisk makes a dismissing motion as if saying ‘no biggie’
The two of you sit in silence for a few minutes, and in that time you take a moment to study Frisk.

You swear something was familiar about them and that pink and blue striped sweater…something important. But then again, every child was significant, maybe you had seen this one on TV or something.

Either way it didn't matter to you when leaving until a parent or guardian or at least a familiar adult showed up and if things took more than a few minutes they would both go inform mall staff. Yes, you would sit here all day and all-
“FRIIIIIIIISK!!!!! OH, FRISK!!! I HAVE A FANCY NEW PUZZLE!!! PLEASE!!!!… PLEASE COME BACK????!!!???”

A loud voice grows closer and closer till out of the nearest exit comes… a large, tall skeleton! Not what you expected, but you doubt it shows on your face.
You stand up and frisk rushes over to hug said skeleton, who picks them up with glee

“FRISK OH YOU SCARED ME!!!! AND YOU KNOW THE GREAT PAPYRUS REALLY GETS SCARED, BUT YOU HAD ME VERY WORRIED!!!! I LOOKED ALL OVER BUT THEN REALIZED I SHOULDN'T LOOK TOO FAR BECAUSE THEN WHAT IF I GOT LOST JUST LIKE YOU AND THEN WE WOULD BOTH GET LOST AND THEN-”

you clear your throat

“OH ANOTHER HUMAN DID YOU FIND DEAR FRISK? OH, WHAT KINDA QUESTION IS THAT, OF COURSE YOU DID! YOU SEEM LIKE A VERY NICE HUMAN, I'M GLAD FRISK WAS ABLE TO FIND YOU, AS THE FIRST THING YOU DO WHEN LOST IS FIND AN ADULT! MY BROTHER TAUGHT ME THAT WHEN I TWAS A MEER BABY BONES! YOUR HEROICS MUST BE REWARDED!”

He exclaims honestly he probably would have gone on for much longer, but frisk had subtly elbowed him to just maybe give you a chance to talk

“Not really. I just kinda sat here with them. You probably would have found them regardless.”

You say, not really phased. Or at least appearing phased. In reality, you were a little caught off guard. This was by no means your first encounter with a monster.

And by all accounts they were like anyone else, all having differences just like anyone else. (you have noticed all monsters have been nothing but kind to you, unlike humans)
But this guy was…something? Loud. Strange. A skeleton. You'll admit, you're a little thrown off your game.

“WELL UH STILL! IT'S VERY EASY (YET VERY EVIL!!!) TO TELL LOST TOTS TO BUZZ OFF AND NOT! HELP THEM, EVEN IF HELPING MEANS DOING…NOTHING. AND NO GOOD DEED SHALL GO UNREWARDED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS! PLEASE DO JOIN ME AND FRISK FOR DINNER TONIGHT!?!??!! WERE HAVING…”

He looks around as if about to tell a secret

“SPAGHETTI”

He adds as if that's the greatest thing to ever have for dinner at a stranger's house. Your expression does not change. Despite the slight curiosity of how he spoke in parentheses.

You're not even sure how you know he did, but it's probably…magic or something. Nevertheless you grab your bag, straighten out your blouse and look him dead in the eyes.

“No. It's dangerous to go with strangers to a second location”.

Chapter Text

The papyrus just gawks at you for a while. He must have REALLY expected a yes.

“YES BUT… OKAY, I MEAN YOU'RE NOT WRONG THAT IS A SAFETY CONCERN….”

He looks nervous

“IT NEVER WAS A PROBLEM UNDERGROUND? I'M SORRY IF THE GREAT PAPYRUS…UPSET YOU WITH SUCH UNCOUTH SAFETY PRACTICES. MAYBE ME AND FRISK SHOULD LEAVE! BEFORE ANY OTHER EMBARRASSING THINGS HAPPEN AN- OH YES, HUMAN?”

You had raised your hand as if you were in class. It was probably the best way to get him to listen without shouting over him. With your mostly flat voice, yelling always sounded harsh, it was not something you liked.

 “Well, I'm not…opposed to having spaghetti with you. Just maybe here at the mall?” You offer up, feeling a little bad he was talking the no so hard.

“Theirs like 7 different restaurants here. But I think zoli-os has the best spaghetti…. I'm sorry for my suddenness in saying no, Mr. the great papyrus. I just like to follow my safety rules.” 

Papyrus looks relieved as he ponders your request. Putting his free hand up to his chin and tapping his red boot clad foot like he was a video game character or something.

Frisk however looked like they were wondering what the heck was going to happen next, looking back and forth between papyrus and yourself. 

Your Sure if frisk had a popcorn bucket, they would be absolutely going to town on it with how invested they looked 

 “WELL IT'S NO PAPYRUS COOKED MEAL BUT AS LONG AS IT'S NOT GREASY AND NO ONE'S MAD AT ME ZOLI-OS SOUNDS LOVELY MISS HUMAN!”

 He gives you an exaggerated wink as he says 'miss human' 

You smile just a little at that, something most people would miss, but he catches it and beams back at you. Wow, his teeth are very clean. Makes you wonder if monster food has toothpaste infused in it or something because you've never seen a monster brush their teeth. Actually, you've never seen anyone brush their teeth in recent memory.

You're kicked out of being lost in thought by a phone being shoved in your face.

 “— THAT WAY WE CAN KEEP IN TOUCH FOR OUR SPAGHETTI DINNER TOMORROW!” Papyrus beams.

Apparently you had missed some of that conversation while lost in thought. An impressive feat on your part. You're pretty sure everyone in a 10-foot radius heard what papyrus was saying. Just not you and your teeth thoughts unfortunately. 

You quickly type in your phone number and add your contact name as 'miss Lucy the human' 

 “Well I shouldn't keep you here any longer, I have to go home, the mall closes in…”

You look at your wrist….

Dammit forgot your watch again

“At some point” you settle on

papyrus is very clearly shocked by this 

 “GOLLY YOU'RE RIGHT! FRISK, LADY ASSGORE MUST BE WORRIED SICK!! FAREWELL MISS HUMAN!”

And with that he bolts off. Checking your phone, this time it is actually fairly late and the mall does close in 20 minutes, so you should probably follow suit.

The drive home isn't anything special, and by the time you make it home you already have several texts from papyrus. You smile a little, but it disappears quickly. Your home has always been quiet, and somber. Just because you weren't the most expressive didn't mean you didn't like company. Company just did not like you. You hoped papyrus liked you.

Maybe he would like you a lot and you could finally have company over. Despite having a lonely home, you had a fairly nice one. It was a cabin style home right on the edge of the forest. You could actually see just a bit of mount ebbot from your abode. You still remember the day the barrier broke, you had actually cursed out loud that day. Many dollars went into your swear jar that day.

Your reaction to monsters was much more tame, and your reaction to magic was nonexistent. You had already known magic was real, or well you had always hoped it was. Sadly, it did not fix all your problems like you had always dreamed of as a kid. Magic did nothing more than keep monsters together and make magical attacks as far as you knew. Which wasn't all that impressive. You stayed together perfectly fine without magic, and you could pick up a stick to use as a weapon magic free. Now if magic could be used for teleportation, THAT would be impressive. You'd pay to see that. It would also be cool if magic could reverse curses, but you've given up on that a long time ago. Not getting your hopes up.

Heading inside, you decide to finally check on the texts papyrus had sent you

*cool dude papyrus: HELLO MISS HUMAN! I HOPE IT'S OKAY IF MY BROTHER JOINS US FOR DINNER TOMORROW?

*Miss Lucy the human: that's fine. I'm excited.

*cool dude papyrus: AWESOME!!111!!! IT WILL BE DOUBLE THE FUN! ER TRIPLE? FRISK WILL BE THERE! I DIDN'T KNOW IF THAT WAS APPARENT!

You wonder what papyrus’s brother is like. You imagine an even taller skeleton clad in blue that frowns all the time instead of smiles.

*unknown number: knock-knock

You stare at your phone, puzzled. You hadn't given out your number to anyone else, had you? Shrugging, you block the number. Probably some prank done by the middle school kids again. You loved children, but you had to admit they could be very mean and hurtful. What kinda refrigerator can run away anyway! That prank was dumb, and you've heard it too many times to answer to unknown numbers on your personal phone.

You slip into some pajamas, making sure to hang up all your fancy lawyer/attorney clothes, so they don't wrinkle and slip into bed. You dream of throwing up sparkly glitter spaghetti in a restaurant inside a snow globe.

Waking up however, your mind is still stuck on spaghetti. Should you dress formally or casually?

Pants or a skirt? Should you eat beforehand? Would that be rude? The dinner is like, around dinner time and it's morning. You SHOULD probably eat, but your stomach is up in knots! Usually you wake up and get dressed and eat and watch the news and all that stuff. But the dinner is throwing everything off! It's annoying yet kinda welcome! Oh! And terrifying! Not that anyone would be able to tell. You looked as you always did. Neutral, just now you were also pacing your home. You felt like a character in a story or something, and the stupid author didn't think far enough ahead!

 “Lucy, you got this. You will have a normal day, you will go to dinner. You will behave normally. And make normal friends!” you say to yourself in the mirror in your bedroom.

You even practice a big smile! It feels bad. You sigh, it would probably be best just to be you. As unfortunate as that is. You have pretended in the past. Back in law school. You were damn good at pretending! It was just draining and felt wrong. None of the friends you made with it, you liked. None of them had even tried to keep in contact with you. Part of you is relieved. None of them would take kindly to how you really are.

You decide to go with a more relaxed outfit. One of your favorite letterman jackets, buttoned up over a tank top and a pleated maxi skirt. You slip on your tennis shoes and head for the door. Stopping, you realize it's still very clearly not time for dinner. You've only been awake all but a half hour, and frankly it's still dark outside. Well, a little very early morning run never hurt anyone. It was mostly murders who hurt people on morning runs, not the morning run itself.

Just like your run, the day goes by fast. You've gone for a run, watered your plants in your garden, organized your stuffed animals (you had several, and they MUST all be comfy) answered several lawyer questions while watching some random streamer play tetris 99 which took a good amount of your day. You were able to do laundry, darn some socks, you had admittedly spent an hour staring at the wall. Something you weren't proud of. Sometimes you just, your thoughts got to you and would stare at a wall and pretend to be an inanimate object. But you have moved past that now! And even better, dinner was coming up! If you left now you'd get to the mall 5 minutes before dinner time exactly, and you could for sure make it to zoli-os before that 5-minute timer was up! You liked to be punctual.

You're a lot more invested in this dinner than you had thought. Furthermore, you hoped it will go well. No backing out now! Just like you calculated, you arrive at Zoli-os one minute early. Coming up to the hostess, you open your mouth to state that you'll be a party of 4. Nothing ever comes out of your mouth as you hear a familiar voice.

“MISS HUMAN OVER HERE! I SAVED YOU A SEAT!” papyrus calls.

You'd chide him for being so loud in a restaurant, but it was probably just his natural volume and no one should be chided for who they are. Sept for jerk wads, but you hope papyrus was exempt from that group. You nod and hurry your way over and sit in the free spot in the booth across from Frisk who waves at you and diagonal from papyrus who seems to be absolutely wiggling in excitement.

“Hello papyrus, hello Frisk…. I was not expecting you to be earlier than me. I was also expecting your brother.” you muse.

“Heya”

You look to the left of you. Oh! There. Not…what you were expecting. He was blue, at least. 

“Not a fan of knock-knock jokes?” the shorter of the skellies asks, his smile not moving as he spoke. You stare at him for a moment and decipher that it's fake. Not that he's not happy, just no one smiles like that. You just had a hunch. 

“Oh, no, not really. I like slapstick humor” you explain, not getting why he would ask such a question.

“Well uh noted, thank you for that, will remember that. Random mall human paps likes humor sans the knock-knock jokes. Im Sans, by the way. Sans the skeleton” sans says with a wink.

“My name is Lucy. Lucy the mall human.” you mimic.

You all order drinks, two classes of milk, pink lemonade for you and sans just asks for extra ketchup. Papyrus groans at that order from Sans, and frisk giggles. You're the same. Even as you feel sans eyes burning into the side of your head as you all talk, waiting for the waiter to come back around. If he had something to say he would say it to you at some point, you're sure.

“So is Frisk your little one, with this ‘lady Assgore’?” you ask

Papyrus’s face goes orange and frisk snickers

“OH GOODNESS NO! I'M MORE LIKE A COOL UNCLE BUT NOT AN ACTUAL UNCLE BUT ONE IN SPIRIT! I HAVE ALSO NOT MET MY BELOVED YET! UNLESS PASTA OR RACE CARS CAN COUNT AS BELOVEDS” he jokes and ruffles frisk's hair.

“I SEE YOUR BETROTHED, HOWEVER! YOUR RING IS VERY LOVELY!” papyrus points to your middle finger ring. It's a silver ring with an infinity symbol on it. 

“Oh no, this isn't a wedding or engagement ring. This was from my mother. I don't have a partner” you state, showing papyrus a closer look.

“Oh, so you guys got like a lil mother daughter ring thing going on? That's sweet” sans says sounding like he's not super invested.

You shrug, “She's dead, actually.”

Sans makes a choking sound, ketchup spurting out of his mouth a little bit

“WELL THEN! WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON!” papyrus adds. There is non joy behind it despite it being loud and enthusiastic sounding.

Just then the waiter finally decides to show his face

“Hey folks, is now a good time? Would you all like to order?” he asks with way too much customer service in his tone.

“YES PLEASE” you sans and papyrus say all at once.

Chapter Text

You all get your orders down, 4 plates of spaghetti and a big basket of breadsticks as a side. The waiter was oblivious to the group's tenseness. Sans was the first to break the tense atmosphere.

“Sooo Lucy, why did you decide ta go to this dinner? You don't seem like the social type, no offense.” sans asks casually.

You turn to him, face scrunched up in mild annoyance. Well it wasn't mild, but it was just about the most you could do. You did take offense! Just insult you further why don't you sans! You already felt bad about the whole…dead parent thing. You had mentioned your dead mother on accident. Likewise, you hadn't even thought about how awkward that could be to bring up. Nevertheless! You were not some sort of antisocial shut in! By choice at least! You were actually having a good time!

“I'm actually very social sans. Just not many people want to be social with me” okay now that just sounded sad “because I'm clearly too….cool for friends. You guys seem alright tho” freaking nailed it.

Papyrus gasps “OH MY GOSH!!! SAME!!! IT'S LIKE? WILL ANYONE BE COOL ENOUGH FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS?! I'M TIRED OF SPENDING FRIDAY NIGHTS ALONE!” he shouts that last part a lil louder than normal.

Sans looks like he regrets asking any questions and frisk is physically cringing looking between you and papyrus. They sign something to sans none of which you catch. Sans thinks it's funny though. Papyrus just continues talking to you.

“SO GLAD WE HAVE THAT COOLNESS IN COMMON! WHAT ARE YOU OPINIONS ON PUZZLES?! I ASSUME YOU HAVE EXCELLENT TASTE AS YOU WERE SITTING OUTSIDE THE PUZZLE STORE” Papyrus asks with newfound excitement.

“I like puzzles! Do you like video games?” you're also glad you both have loneliness in common. Even if it was sad. At least you when not being judged. You actually had a normal smile on your face now. Very pleased! 

“OH I LOVE VIDEO GAMES! HAVE YOU SEEN THE VIDEO GAME WHERE YOUR A HUMAN ON A LITTLE ISLAND AND MONSTERS ARE YOUR FRIENDS?!?!? YOU CAN CATCH BUGS AND FISH! OH, OH! OR THE VIDEO GAME WHERE YOU RIDE IN COOL RACE CARS AND LITTER BANANAS EVERYWHERE! IT'S INCREDIBLY UNSAFE YET FUN!” paps rambles on.

This only makes you more happy!

“Oh! Maro-cars? We have an arcade machine or two of those in the mall arcade” you mention. You did love the arcade in the mall. It was however expensive, so you only went once a month. Could you afford to go there every day? Hell yes you could, but should you? No. When you went to the arcade you went all out, putting about $300 on your card each time and spendnt hours there. Never cashing out your points, saving up for…well something. You weren't sure at all for what. Maybe 100 pairs of plastic vampire teeth? Where…were vampires real? Mages were real and so were monsters… you decided to not go with the vampire teeth if you ever do cash out. Just to avoid being insensitive to the probably real bloodsuckers.

“OH WE SHOULD GO THERE! I'VE NEVER BEEN TO AN ARCADE BUT FROM WHAT YOU'VE SAID IT SOUNDS BOONDOGGLES OF FUN! THIS MALL MUST BE BIGGER THAN I THOUGHT!” Papyrus muses.

“There are stores of all kinds, 5 restaurants, 3 candy shops, 1 arcade, a small aquarium, 10 bathroom areas, 2 spas, 2 shooting ranges, 36 vending machines, a bowling alley and 127 trash cans.” you rattle off. 

You hadn't included everything of course, but you didn't want to look like a freak in front of papyrus and maybe sans. Oh! And frisk was here too. You almost forgot. Feeling a little bad about that you decide to include them in the conversation.

“And one cutie” you wink at frisk

Frisk giggles and blows you a kiss

“Woooooow what are we chopped liver over here? I'm truly hurt. My mug ain't that ugly”.
Sans jokes batting his eye sockets as if he had eyelashes

The four of you joke and talk about trivial things. They learned that you visited the mall often. You learned that sans runs a hot dog stand empire. Having several carts out around the city and getting very good business. Papyrus was actually a cafeteria cook at a monster based school. They had learned that you lived in this area all your life. All very surface things, but it was all pleasant conversation. Even as the time between when you all saw the waiter last grew longer and longer. Soon paps and frisk had run out of milk. You had run out of lemonade, sans had run out of ketchup a while ago, but he was still pretending to drink it. It's not like anyone would know.

“Hi guys soooo so sorry! Here's your spaghetti and breadsticks so soooo sorry to keep you all waiting we've just been a little busy. Thank you so much for your patience” the waiter says, so sweetly it's almost sickening. It wasn't busy at all in the restaurant. You poke your noodles. Cold. You sigh but don't say anything it's not illegal to be a jerk face. And it's not illegal to be bad at your job either. You would know there were so many other attorneys who were horrid at their jobs.  

“Thanks.” you glare at him as he leaves “the food is usually warm and good. I'm sorry about this.”  

“EY spaghetti bout is a little cold food never caused anyone to pasta-way” sans puns

Frisk rolls their eye's papyrus groans and you just shake your head

“For real guy's no…no laughter? No nuthhan? Dang”.

“It just wasn't funny ill admit” you say starting to dig into your cold plain pasta. Luckily you didn't mind cold food one bit besides the breadsticks. You LOVED warm bread but cold bread? Just made you sad. Too bad the waiter had to be crud at his job and oh! Speak of… think of the devil there he is.

“Heyyyy guys I hope you guys don't mind but I brought by the bill and to go boxes juuust in case thank you so, so much for being so kind again and ill see yo-”

“No, stay here for a moment. Please” you cut him off.

Looking over the bill you frowned. These were not the prices they normally had. You could tell because everything was rung up as a custom order meaning that the prices could be changed. Refills were also charged for which none of you had received any. Looking up at him, he smiled back at you tapping his foot eagerly. He did not want to be here. He did not want you to be here. Not only that, but he did not want monsters to be here. It had to be your newfound friends, as you had had this server before and while yes last time you had him he was bad at his job and a bit of a jerk. He didn't upcharge you, or you know commit fraud in any way.

“This is incorrect. You've up charged us” you spit.

“Oh! Just a little fee for monsters-”

“No such laws allowing that have been put into place. Monsters fall under the same service and hospitality laws as everyone else. Even if you had some excuse for that you up charged me as well” you explain standing your ground.

“…okay lady, I understand. You come around here often very lonely, and you've decided to try to fraternize with freaks. I get it you seem like the type! Just don't go making up laws and false accusations okay hun?” he adds with the most patronizing voice ever.

Sans starts to say something but you beat him to it. Standing up abruptly you stare deep into this pathetic waiter's eyes with your own cold and unforgiving ones.

“I am a LAWYER. I know damn well what I'm talking about. I went to school for 7 years. Suprise I've eaten here 20 times in the past 8 years. It's fraud to do this. Do you understand me? I don't know if you do. You've only worked here for 7 months. Let me put it in a way you'll understand.”

You go on to explain the exact number of laws he's violating. Where he can find said laws, just how many cases you've won. How much trouble he could get in for this. How disappointed his parents must be in him. Not that you knew his parents or anything but with how his face paled even more it was a sore spot. Was it evil to keep going even after he was holding back tears? Yes. Well, maybe. You weren't stopping until he cracked.

Your voice was cold and emotionless. Not dull like normal. No hint of intrigue. You spoke as if you had no life in you this time. You didn't look anywhere else but directly into his eyes. Too add to the flames you brought up what you've seen happen to other people who committed similar acts. Some of them are admittedly hypothetical. You would go on to talk about how much his dog would hate him if you had too.

Luckily the waiter takes the bill from you and rips it up before you could reach that part.

“There! T-there it's on the house please just. Stop. It was a dumb move… just don't tell my manager please.” and with that he scurries off to the bathroom to what you can only imagine is a lot of crying.

“W-WOWIE UH THAT WAS…SOMETHING! THANK YOU FOR DEFENDING US MISS HUMAN. IT WAS VERY NOBLE BUT UH YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT…” papyrus says a lot less loudly than normal. Almost frightened sounding.

It makes you jump, and you don't dare to face any of them

“I… I am sorry about that. I'm sorry about my actions as well. It could have been dealt with more…delicately, I see that now.” you sigh grabbing your purse wallet and phone from the booth.
Anger was the only emotion that seemed to take away any expressiveness you did have when you experienced it strongly. It was still off-putting. You remember going off at one of your ‘friends’ in law school. And they had called it something akin to arguing with a horror movie ghost. And had made many jokes at your expense. You couldn't fake what others would consider anger very well either. You did say you were a good actor! But even good actors have their flaws.

“Nah kid wow you dealt with that better than I would have! Why don't you sit back down, and we're all still having a good time right?” sans reassures you but even his voice wavers a little.

“I'm glad you all are having a good time however it is…” you look at your wrist. Still left your watch at home. Dammit “time for me to go home and get my watch. Thank you for having dinner with me. It's nice to meet you sans.” and with that you flee as well.

The two skeletons and one human child all look at each other unsure of what to say and who should say it first. Frisk was confused on why you had run off. You had done the right thing! Why were you upset with that? Or upset at all? You had seemed pretty okay the whole time until then. If not a little strange.  Papyrus was worried that you saw standing up for them as a mistake as a whole. Possibly even regretting the dinner as a whole And sans was worried because you sounded absolutely truly soulless there. And just all around worried about your mental health. Humans did not usually act this kinda way unless something was wrong. You didn't seem like a bad human, but something was for sure afoot.

“Okay I'm just going to say it… anyone else realize her watch was on her other wrist or was that just me?”

Chapter Text

 It takes you a little while longer than normal to get home. Not because of traffic or anything, just you were sitting in your car. Thinking about your fudge up. You shouldn't have gone overboard like that! Even if you had just toned it down just a little, it would have been so much better. Like ! You know you were weird for a human. You've never even tried befriending a monster before!All things conciderd You might have just blown it…well, maybe not. You did technically give them a free lunch. Possibly they weren't weirded out and just grateful? Perhaps they'd just use you for free food now!  

You sigh. Might as well head inside and put on some pajamas. Put on some music and stare at the ceiling. Or maybe….you honestly don't know anymore. You just feel cruddy, to be honest!

Walking up your front steps to your porch passing your potted plants, your wind chimes, sans, the poetry you made last year….. Wait. You stop in your tracks just before opening your door. Looking back, that sure is sans!

“Heya kid, sorry to stop by unannounced, I won't bother you long, promise.” Sans puts his hands up in a defensive gesture, showing he meant no harm. You just look around before nodding for him to continue.you're honestly confused. Why is he here? How did he get here? You don't know, but let's get this over with.  

“Awesome, so eh first off are you okay? I may be a monster, but I know humans. How they act, how they treat others. And while you don't seem like a bad egg, don't get me wrong! You just… seem off. You really didn't have ta go to that dinner if you didn't want to?” sans seems unsure of his last statement. A Frown finds its way on your face and run your fingers through your hair. 

“I wanted to go. I had a good time. This is just how I am and how I will always be. Whether I like, whether you like it. It's how it is.” you sound tired. 

Sans takes a moment to gather his response 

“Alright… will I know you ain't lying…take care of yourself okay? You sound bone tired. We'll talk later” and with that sans just walks off your porch and off into the woods. Did you? Did he walk here? You can't imagine sans doing anything fast. Why was he going into the woods? There was a perfectly good road right there? Hell, you'd call him a taxi if he wasn't being so creepy.

“Well, that was….unnecessary” you say to yourself with only the crickets to hear you. 

You end up crashing on the couch while listening to some podcast about something, you had honestly just picked a random one to fall asleep to. Something to keep your thoughts from spiraling. You dream of a world where you have a lovely child of your own. If only your dream child wasn't made out of thousands of spiders. There was also a cartoon bone at some point. Not the best dream. 

You wake up, you shower. You put on a cute outfit with your favorite pair of black overalls over a colorful sweater. It was supposed to be cold out today, thanks to stupid spring. 

You look at your phone.

You watch the news, you check your emails 

You avoid your phone 

You pace your room, you refill your bird feeders, you stare at your wall. 

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ 

Your phone buzzes, your phone says papyrus is texting you 

Your brain says the worst is going to happen.

But you pick up your phone anyway. No use being scared. Papyrus seemed like a good guy! So did sans. Maybe he was texting about hanging out at some other place in the mall? Or to go shopping in the mall. It will probably be mall related. Well, it was before the sun was up. Not that the mall wasn't open. It opened extremely early. You were an early riser, sleep deprivation never super affected you. AS LONG as you got at least 4 hours. Anything less and you would start to lose it, and you'd get out those horrid things you swore never to get out from the box under your sofa. You shiver thinking about it. Sleep deprivation of that degree turned you into a conspiracy nut. But not the ‘monsters are the devil!’ ‘pocketmons is teaching the children witchcraft!’ kind. But the ‘why are all of my socks inside out when I find them? There must be tiny men that harvest the dust bunnies from them kind.’ 

Pushing your thoughts aside, you finally check the texts 

 *cool dude papyrus: HUMAN I HAD NO IDEA THAT YOU WERE A NOBLE LAWYER! THAT'S SO COOL! I'M SORRY I DIDN'T TEXT SOONER!

 *cool dude papyrus: SANS TOLD ME TO WAIT TILL MORNING TO TEXT YOU!

 *cool dude papyrus: WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO TO THE ARCADE WITH ME TODAY! I'LL PAY AS A THANK YOU FOR DEALING WITH THE SITUATION AT THE SUBPAR SPAGHETTI RESTAURANT! THAT PLACE SMELLED WEIRD, BUT I DIDNT WANNA SAY ANYTHING AT THE MOMENT.

*cool dude papyrus: I'D REALLY LIKE TO HANG OUT WITH YOU AGAIN! I DON'T KNOW IF YOU ARE BUSY OR NOT. BUT IF NOT TODAY, I'M FREE OTHER TIMES!

 Papyrus is actually in the middle of texting you another message before you respond. You're glad you picked up the phone. He would have continued to text you for hours. Not that you minded. He was your only non-work contact. Was that sad? You decide not to dwell on that any further. Having someone to text was kinda nice, and you're glad he texted just like he spoke. It would be a nightmare trying to decipher tone otherwise.  

*Miss Lucy the human: I'd love to go to the arcade with you, yes. How about in a few hours?  You do not have to apologize or wait to text me.

You smile a little. You're so glad he was desperate enough to still want to hang out with you.

 "Yay" you say out loud to no one. As a little treat. You liked to be silly sometimes, for your own amusement. 

Glancing back at your phone, you see papyrus happily agreeing and letting you know it'll be just the two of you this time! Perfect. You did not particularly want to see sans again. He wasn't a bad egg in your books either, just who the frick follows someone home just to tell them “hey take care of yourself you're pretty weird and off-putting actually”. That kind of behavior was even more unusual than your own. You'd call him a freak, but you're decently sure that's a slur against monsters now. And you're much better than that. 

Shaking out of your thoughts, you put on a bit of eyeliner, grab a piece of toast to put in your mouth like you were from a silly cartoon and were late to your silly cartoon school, and head out to your car to take the somewhat long trip to the mall. You'd sit in your car if you were TOO early. Even though you still think there could never be such a thing. 

The drive there is uneventful. You do notice however, a few new billboards for the seasonal opening of amusement park land. 'Now with monster accommodations and REAL magic!' the billboards read. Maybe…maybe, papyrus would like to go with you one day? Once you too are more acquainted… If that happens, of course. It would be weird going with someone you've only hung out with twice. And also not very safe. The same goes with going alone! Which is why you haven't gone in years. The last time you went, you were just a child. You had gotten lost from your mother and had done your equivalent of having a melt down. However, no one really noticed your quiet crying, and you spent 3 hours on the ground until she found you. You have never returned since. That was probably a traumatic memory? You were not sure and did not feel like being misdiagnosed by a therapist anytime soon. So for now it will stay just an unpleasant memory.  

Arriving at the mall, you quickly power walk to the arcade on the first floor of the shoping center. Once arving you scan the arcade cabinet filled horizon. Let's see there was a cat and alligator monster, a tired looking dad and his children or at least someone's children. A skeleton…he looked like papyrus, but he was wearing different clothes than before. This time, instead of the kinda armor? And the red scarf he had on, the skeleton (yet to be identified as papyrus) was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt with a controller print all over it and baggy cargo pants you haven't seen since the 90s. You start to call out to the skelly, but uneaten toast falls from your mouth butter side down onto the floor. Oh, you had… forgotten to eat that at all. You throw away the toast and just…smudge the butter into the tile with your shoe. It wasn't littering, it was just….rude.

Walking up to the stranger, you ask

“Hey, are you papyrus?”

“GAH! OH! HUMAN! MISS HUMAN! YES? IT'S ME!” papyrus exclaims.

He puts his still gloved hands on both sides of your face, squashing your cheeks and moves your face around as if inspecting you. You just kinda make a sound of confusion, but don't otherwise move.

“HAVE YOU CAUGHT ONE OF THOSE HORRID ‘BRAIN-INJURIES’!? DO I NEED TO CALL THE POLICE? NOT RECOGNIZING THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS PROBABLY SOME SORT OF WARNING SIGN OF HORRIBLE HEALTH HAZARDS!” he yells.

Gosh wow. He was really close to your face and very loud. You don't think before you act. (as you do with most social situations) and grab his face right back. It's surprisingly very soft yet firm! Does he have to moisturize?if not, what would his face feel like with it on? Gosh, it's almost flawless. You should probably start talking and not hold his face in silence. 

“No, I just wasn't sure because I don't know that many monsters. I didn't want to look like an idiot if you weren't the great papyrus.” you say bluntly.

But then you quietly gasp with realization

“We both look like idiots right now.”

Papyrus freezes and starts sweating

“S…SHOOT, YES, I SUPPOSE WE BOTH DO! AND ME AND SANS ARE THE ONLY UH SKELETON MONSTERS AROUND…LIKE EVER. ARE? ARE WE GOING TO…LET GO ANYTIME SOON?” Yes! That was a great question.

You both let go of each other's faces at the same time.

And stand there.

Not saying anything.

Well, that did not help either of you look less stupid in the slightest! You were going to head to the counter to avoid any more stares from tired parents and judgmental teens. Papyrus follows like an excited puppy, looking at everything with awe and wonder. 

“WOWWIE THERE ARE SO MANY GAMES HERE! AND CHILDREN! AND GASP!!!!”

He points at a large blue bunny stuffed animal hung up high behind the games counter

 “IT'S A BLUE BUNNY-ANIMAL! IS IT SOME SORT OF PRIZE! FOR BEING THE BESTETS AT GAMES!? WE!!! MIGHT!!! BE THE BESTET AT GAMES MISS HUMAN!!!” he shouts, shaking his fists up and down, clearly extremely pumped.

You nod and make a noise of confirmation with a smile on your face. Papyrus literally jumps up with a fist pump like he was one of those video game plumbers. What was the red one's name again? Margo? Marjio? Something like that. It was cute.

Finally getting an employee's attention. (it was a good employee you had worked with many times) you tell them just to put your regular amount on the card. It's been chipped and faded, but it still worked! You probably shouldn't accidentally put in the wash, however. It would probably turn to dust then.

“Well. We are certainly the very best at games. Which one would you like to play first?” you ask, looking around. Papyrus grabs your hand and drags you running to god knows where. Er well papyrus for sure knew. He ended up stopping in front of a giant tetriz game.(you barely avoid slamming into his side when he stops) The kind with a giant screen showing the blocks and big oversized arrows buttons to rotate said blocks on the screen.

“THIS ONE, MISS HUMAN!! I'VE PLAYED THIS GAME BEFORE!!! I'M THE MASTER AT IT, AND IT LOOKS LIKE YOU CAN PLAY AGAINST EACH OTHER? YES?” he asks

You nod

“You're mostly right. You can play against each other, but I'M the master” you say with a wink. Papyrus gasps loudly and points at you heroically.

“YOUR ARE ON, MISS HUMAN! MAY THE PUZZLE BLOCKS HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL!!!”

You give a breathy chuckle, and you don't miss the way his smile doubles. You swipe the card and the game is on!

In the past you had been known to draw small crowds. You're honestly going to be a little sad when you crush papyrus dreams of winning into the ground. You really hope he didn't cry. Seeing others cry made you want to cry and with how you were, that could not always be fulfilled.

5 minutes later, you're a little impressed! You're both still going strong! He hasn't even broken a sweat! He looks like he's taking a walk in the park on a sunny afternoon. Granted you also look like you're walking through the same park as well, but you're not! You sure are not! Normally you play for maybe 6 minutes? Before getting lazy with it. But you couldn't do that now! You had to put effort into beating Papyrus butt!!

6 MORE minutes later, there are indeed a few children watching. You're now BOTH sweating a little, still not saying anything to each other, only briefly glancing at each other. There are several times you almost lose. Taking a moment to look at Papyrus, you notice his determined stare. He looks straight out of an action anime…it's very appealing to see him like this. You wonder if he's this inspired by everything he does, you wouldn't be surprised. He's pretty great like that, so very much unlike you. But you should stop that train of thought right now! You were top of your class in law school! Top of class in regular school! But never could light up a room like him. Never could look so animated like him. Never put others at ease like him. And you never will. Not even if you pretend. You will always be off-putting, you will always be strange, you will always be null, you will always be n o t h i n g. 

Oh! Wait a second, you were playing a game! No time for thoughts right now! Right now, you were hanging out with a FRIEND and having an awesome time! And uh oh you were about to…..lose.

The game tells you game over via a big fat frowny face, and the few small children still watching (they had short attention spans) giggled and high-fived each other before going to bother someone else. Well then! You go to congratulate your opponent, but papyrus is still going at it.

A horrible awful no good idea comes into your mind, this kind of the joke variety.

You look around and just…pretend to still play the game, all the while looking at papyrus instead of the game. It was just playing stock gameplay footage anyway. Let's see how long you could keep this up.

Apparently it was 2 more whole minutes, and it wasn't even you staring at him that gave it away!

It was your laughter! You had tried so hard to keep it in. It was so hard because you knew you were being silly, and he had no clue! What a devious action on your part! It was hilarious!

When you finally break out in giggles, Papyrus whips his head to face you and loses completely.

You cover your mouth and curl in on yourself, a little shoulder shaking with giggles. They weren't very loud or strong, but it was the hardest you've laughed in a dang long while!

“MISS HUMAN!!!! YOU'VE DONE AND PULLED THE WOOL OVER MY EYES! YOU MACHIVIOUS HUMAN!” he chides.

You look up at him a little shy. You hope that wasn't taking things too far. He was probably very passionate about sportsmanship! As he should be. However, his face just melts as his eye sockets meet yours. Surprisingly (well maybe not so surprising, papyrus has gotten quite touchy with you today) he picks you up into a giant bear hug. Your feet dangle off the ground. You can feel his ribs digging into your face. Your brain goes to ‘what if he had tits, this would be SO awkward’ you REALLY don't wanna have a thought tangent about that right now.

“YOU WERE A FORMIDABLE FOE I'LL ADMIT!EVEN FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND WHAT A LOVELY REWARD HEARING YOU LAUGH FOR THE FIRST TIME.” he says sweetly

His pitch black eye sockets sparkle somehow, your dull gray eyes glisten a little bit looking up at him. The moment is rather tender. The world seems to stop for just the two of you.

You also met him yesterday.

“I think we have enough tickets for the blue bunny animal.”

He drops you, and you land butt first on the floor

“WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR!!!!”

You watch as he runs off to the game counter once more.

That stuffed animal was about one bazillion points, and you're pretty sure it was never meant to be won. You know from your two games of tetriz you both had only racked up about eh, maybe 200 points? But papyrus didn't need to learn that this place was rigid as hell just yet. You had been saving up years of points for something special. And as appealing as all the vampire teeth they had was, it was probably hella offensive. Besides, Your friend Papyrus wanted a big blue bunny animal. Honestly, you've decided he deserves the world, but a prize will have to do for now. 

Chapter Text

hey guys!!! I'm SO SO sorry for not writing! I've ben stuck on this new chapter but!!! I'm still gonna get it done!!! thank you everybody for the everything! and don't worry authors notes will NOT be common. I HATE it when a good book gets updated with 50 million authors notes like "THANK YALL FOR 500 READS UWU" and then they like never upload again sept for to make new author notes but yep~!  I am working on the new chapter!  this is my FIRST animation so please be kind!!!! thanks  everyone have a good existence!

LOVELY ANIMATION!

Chapter Text

Papyrus had named the ‘big blue bunny-animal’ stuffie Bubbles the bunny-animal. Very fitting. The employees had only been mildly surprised, they knew you had enough tickets to have stock in the arcade. Guess they were just surprised to see you bringing a friend! Or even having a friend! Well jokes on them, you had TWO friends now! Bubbles was your friend! Papyrus said so. You made a note in your phone of both bubbles and papyrus birthdays. Apparently paps wasn't super sure for when he was born? But decided he liked the date that just happened to fall on national spaghetti day. Very fitting! Honestly… you were not sure what you would do? Once it was Bubbles' birthday. Maybe get it a little stuffed cake? Yeah, that sounded nice.

Biding papyrus farewell, you decide to get yourself a snack. Looking at the small pizza parlor within the arcade and well, the line is rather long… Or at the very least too long for you. You are hungry now! Not hungry in 10–20 minutes from now! Thinking back to all the places that you've eaten here at the mall, one piques your interest. The wonderful fantastical, dare you say even MAGICAL place of auntie dan’s pretzel stand! You take 3 measlily steps outside the arcade when you hear it.

“Oh my goodness, lucky Lucy!!!” a familiar and annoying masculine voice calls from behind you.

God, god no not him. You had two friends. NOT three friends. Beggars can't be choosers, but maybe one of the choices was a horrible person. To you at least. Hyperboles aside, you had tried to make friends you had tried to tell them that you're not interested in being someone's doormat, especially to that no good absolute bumpkin of a BIT-

“Lucy! My love, my darling, my light! How are ya?! Heard you had a bone-friend now! It's about time my bestie got luuuuky!” Terri spouted from their smug mouth.

The bane of your existence was a bit shorter than you. Wearing a style of what you could only describe as ‘country skater boy’. The hair they wore didn't whelp with them looking straight out of the farmhouse. As much as you tried to avoid looking at them, let alone be associated with them, you had to admit their hair WAS impressive. Even if it did remind you of a rooster.

“Yes hello Terri. And no, my friend and I are not intimate. I thought you'd be able to recognize the friend zone, as you're so often trapped by it” you shoot back.

Terri slaps their knee and gives you finger guns, smile never fading. The side of your mouth twitches upward as if to birth a smile of your own, but it dies out fast. As much as you detest Terri you had to admit it almost felt nice to be wanted by someone who wasn't desperate for friends. Or a stuffed animal. Or the family that you once had. (and even your family didn't want you that much. They were just like you and that was a big catalist to why they were all no longer around)

Terri did not actually want you, however. Not in the way you wanted, at least. Not in a genuine way like you once thought. They saw you as a toy to get validation from, someone to play games with. A toy that would never fight back nor ruin their almighty reputation. A toy that they could never seem to break. You wonder why you haven't tried to sue this dude yet.

“Gosh lucky Lucy! You wound me, fatally, actually. Guess I won't have anyone to share these pretzels with. These two pretzels still warm golly gee goosebumps” Terri sighs.

Ah…well….beggars can't be choosers.

“Hmm, well let me call 911. Guess I'm going to jail while you go to he-” Terri cuts you off by grabbing your arm and dragging you over to the crusty tables of the food court. For as big as this mall was, you would think they could hire enough cleaning personnel.

“Goooosh and I thought that blabbering bone boy would teach you how to loosen up! If I keep interrupting, the dang viewers are going to get their panties in a twist! Overuse of things is like writing a one-o-one tip, dingus!” they jester at nothing as they spew this nonsense.

In a way, you kinda felt terrible for the jerk. You were no therapist (you had tried but hearing you need to work on your people skills every single class was draining) but your pretty sure Terri did not have a great outlook on life and thought it was all meaningless. Worthless. Akin to just words on paper. An endless story made of no reason, where horrible things happened. Perhaps they're toying with live bright light to their dim, depressing outlook. Or maybe they were just a psychopath. Not that you were even sure what the qualifications were.

“HEY!!! Stop thinking whatever you're thinking and stuff your face hole already! Gosh, you're even more boring than that last time I ran inta ya, Lucy goose. Two quips in, and you're already lost in introspective land” Terri mutters, taking a big bit of their pretzel. It's dripping with at least 3 kinds of sauces. You are half convinced they just keep condiments in their pockets.

“For real though, Lucy. It's been a while, why don't you TELL me what you're thinking instead you know…being a huge nerd about it”.

You simply just eat your pretzel. Savoring the delicious taste before the words you were about to spew left a taste in your mouth that would more than likely ruin your appetite. Once you are done, you dab your mouth like that lady you are and let it all loose.

“I've had just a lovely couple of days. I met a new friend, actually. Making my total friend count up to two and no. you. Do. not. Count. I may have known Papyrus for not a long time, but I know a kind soul when I see one. And I almost maybe messed that friendship up… I think I can't tell if I almost did or if it was all in my head. People…monsters are so confusing! They find me confusing, and I'm like the least confusing out of everything! None of it makes any sense”.

You let out a deep breath after your rant. “And that pretzel was terribly over salted….” you add a little defeated

Terri looks up from their phone

“Oh are you done now hun? Honestly couldn't even tell you were talking, your just so quiet you know? So” they wave their hand around, “bland” Terri would sometimes play this little game with you. Act all buddy-buddy set you up to let out what little feelings you could express and then break you down again. Normally you would just quiet or leave as you didn't want to give them an interesting reaction fearing that they would try more often, but you just about had it. Not that Terri could tell, but you really did pour your heart out. On the inside you were frustrated and annoyed and scared yet somewhat happy and excited about this new friendship! And this was the first you had told anyone about your issues! In detail too! Well, as much detail as you could muster. You were not a creative person, whether that was a side effect of your whole problem or just unluckily a part of your character, you did not know nor care.

You stand up.

You look Terri strait in the eyes

The air is tense as they wait with anticipation for your reaction

You bite your tongue, weary about the devastating verbal blow you're about to unleash upon them.

But no they deserve it

You open your mouth

“Your shoes are really ugly by the way.”

And with that you walk out of the nearest exit, flipping your hair a little as you pass.

The nearest exit just so happened to be a fire exit door. No sound or alarm was made as you left, though. You made a mental note to sue the mall for safety violations later as you slid down the closed door behind you, sitting down on the dirty pavement. Pulling your knees up to your chest and hanging your head down.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?! You call THAT a comeback?!?! Or anything?!?! I've seen third grades make better burns!!!”

…..

That…was what you were thinking, but that wasn't you thinking or speaking for that matter. You raise your sorry little head to look around for the loud voice only to find…a yellow flower? Oh! With a face! A monster. Probably. Either that, or Terri the terrible slipped some meth into your pretzel. The flower's face was the stuff of nightmares, so the meth theory wasn't out of the ballpark.

“I know it was horrible. I wasn't thinking and….wait, how did you even hear or see any of that?” you mumble. You were not in the mood, not that that ever mattered to others.

“Well, I gotta keep an eye on my fellow S O U L L E S S best friend!”

Chapter Text

Staring at this, apparently new…soulless friend of a flower, you blink. What? 
The flower's face was no longer friendly, it was twisted into a horrible smile. Were you being threatened? What was this?

“I do have a soul. It's not…nice to call me that. We are not friends” you mumble looking away from the freaky flower. Pulling your knees closer to your chest. 

 “What?! No? I'm PRETTY sure you don't have one??” the flowers chuckles, “I mean! Look at you! I've seen how you act! You let that farm FUCK walk all over you, but you CLEARLY have the power to ruin their pathetic life!!! I saw how you told off that racist waiter! He cried in the bathroom like a BITCH”.
 The flower grows as it talks. Vines and such curling about making a bit of a wall in front of you, closing you in even more to the mall wall. 
“So do me a favor and DROP THE ACT. Show your true colors, why don't you? We are just the same, you and I”.
It sounds like a child mocking you. It's annoying, it makes you feel a lot. You know it's making you feel a lot. Everything is really. It's getting overwhelming.  

 “I DO have a soul” you repeat, raising your voice 
“It's just different. Stop bothering me…. Leave me alone”.

The flower tilts its head at you with a sick grin. Boy, that flower sure did have an ugly face for every occasion.
 “OH? A special soul? A different soul? Do tell! I'm sure you're smart enough not to refuse”. 

Mustering up a glare, you decide to answer. Why not, it's not like he could make your social life any worse with this information or really do any harm with it either. 

“I'm cursed. My whole family tree is. A long time ago, one of my ancestors who was an artist or something pissed off a mage. Now every generation of my family gets more and more restricted in how we express ourselves. How we feel. Creativity. All of it. It's not special, it's not anything grand. It's stupid and dumb, and maybe I wanted to have my own children! A family! But no….just…no” you realize you're crying. Fuck. You haven't cried since your teenage years.

You just look down at your hands as little teardrops fall onto them. Scrunhing your face a little, you can feel snot start to run down your face as well. And before you know it, you're sobbing. Just like everything else about you, your crying is weird. While smiles never got too terribly big unless you forced it (or you had laughing gas, you hated dentists.) your crying could go to full effect. The catch was you never made any sound during your cry sessions, even as an infant. That had been fun for your mother, But besides your face scrunching up, you were expressionless.

You don't notice, but the flower shrinks back down, letting its vines n roots and shit roll back into the ground. It looks uncomfortable and a little concerned. 

 “Okay…yeash, uh! Fuck you really needed that cry! Damn. But honestly, it's kinda bullshit how other humans treat you…. Okay I'm not even going to try” and with that the flower disappears.

Wow, okay then.
A few moments later, you're done crying. Finally, thank goodness. You feel something slither(?) It's way up onto your shoulder.

“Alright crybaby! We're getting ice cream! So MOVE IT” you hear from your shoulder. Ah, the flower 

 “Why the fuck would you think I'd do that?” you mutter. But still you stand up. Not for ice cream, but just to get out of here.

“Cause ice cream makes ALL you tubby humans feel better without talking about your fucking feelings? DUH. And were BEST friends remembered?” the flower's tone is mocking, and honestly you've just about had it. You were DONE being a doormat, at least Terri had gotten you a pretzel and did not threaten you. 

“We aren't shit” plucking the wretched thing off of your shoulder, you fling it as hard as you can to the ground in front of you.

As predicted, it sputters and curses at you
Unfortunately, you did not predict the vine whip to the face.

You flinch and take a sharp inhale in, but nothing else. 

“THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR” the puny flower screams at you 

“I think you know, I'm going home.” you retort 

Walking to your car, you notice the flower follows 

Getting into your car. The flower and a big chunk of dirt is somehow in your passenger seat.

You don't throw him out

Both of you argue about your social and moral choices and why he was such a prick. You had learned his pronouns and name while arguing. Not that you planned on using his name, as he kept calling you crybaby. 

They were pointless arguments. Both of you knew the answers to why the other was like that.

He was an ass. Because being an ass is far more entertaining than being nice. And without a soul, you had to make things interesting somehow. At least that was your theory.

You were a sad sack of stuck up shit (his words, not yours) because how could you not be! All you truly understood in this world was rules. And society was not a science.

“Why do you even do anything? Does it even matter if you're happy or not?” he'd ask.

“There's not a huge difference, but there is still a difference. And that matters to me” you'd answer.  

“It's a dumb ass curse by the way, my not just kill the original smuck instead of punishing everyone else?” he complains

“It is dumb. And I don't know why. All I know is I'm never having children, stupid thing gets stronger with each generation. Mine is so bad it's like working overtime. Say I get the birthday present of my dreams. I know that I feel ecstatic, I'm extremely happy. But there's a disconnect between that and what I physically feel. I physically feel like a tier below ecstatic or even sometimes closer to what I can actually express depending on the day. And you know, I physically express very little. Even I don't understand myself at times” you explain. 

 “Well, glad I ain't the only psycho” 

“I'm a lawyer”

“That's what I said, shit for brains” 

Just like that, arguing slowly turned into just talking about each other's experiences. It was a curse filled and snappy conversation. But it was nice. So enjoyable, in fact, you quiet down to think about how strange it was that it was pleasant. You had not made any facial expressions at ALL. Same flat voice as normal. Usually there was at least a very small amount, but for the flower you had repressed all urges to emote even the slightest. As you were damn tired. Your whole face hurt, you were socially tired and emotionally tired. Just horribly exhausted. 

So why was this conversation not horrible? Why did the flower keep up said conversation? Wh-

 “HEY! I was talking!” he interrupts your thoughts.

“Yeah I know. I'm just thinking. This is enjoyable. You are treating me just like you would anyone else.” 

The flower rolls his eyes 
“Just like that bonehead Papyrus does to ya, he's a guy decent by the way. He and I go way back” the flower shrugs…..somehow. You find that hard to believe, but why would he lie? You have no interesting reactions to give to him. Take that back, actually, he probably wasn't used to your kinda responses to his rudeness to him. But he felt so much different than talking to Terri. You decide to analyze that detail later. Too much was already going on and you were starting to get a headache. Getting hit in the face, prior, was not helping that fact. 

The rest of the drive home, the conversation was mostly one-sided. You were tired of talking anyway. But the flower continued talking about everything and anything. You wondered why he knew so much about you, but you'd find out another time. Right now, you were enjoying the conversation. You participated by nodding or shaking your head occasionally, throwing in a shrug or a maybe gesture with your hand.

You had even stopped by the local Mc Gronalds for some ice cream. The flower ordered for the both of you. Two large strawberry ice cream cones. The poor worker had tried to explain that it wasn't working. But everyone in the interaction knew damn well it was working. The flower made damn sure that was known, and you both got your ice cream. The flower reminds you more and more of a child the more you listen to him. The need to scold him got stronger as you thought about this, but you squash it down. The flower was not your child, nor an actual child, you don't think. You hope not, at least you're not sure anyone could get out of that. And you know you couldn't get out of that without losing your job. You liked your job! The flower a lot less.  By the time you both arrive at your humble abode, you're a little unsure of what to do now? Do you invite him inside or? What? Stare at the flower it is. Maybe he knows.  

“Well? We don't have all day. What do you want, crybaby?” the flower spits.

You think for a bit. Settling on waving goodbye before getting out of your car and heading inside, without another word. Looking back before you go inside, the flower is gone. In hindsight, you shouldn't have let him know where your house was, he seemed like a stalker a bit. Well, possibly he already knew, it was a safe bet at least. Creepy thing. Letting out a yawn, you realize it's not even dark out yet. Oh, well. An early bedtime never killed anyone directly anyway.  

Bed is the first place you go. 

Flowey had treated you as just another person. Sure, he was rude, but you doubt that was something reserved for just you being soulless and all. He had not treated you like you were a weirdo. Or a nobody. Accommodations had been put in place for you through out the conversation, yes. But it wasn't made a big deal out of. Thinking back to the conversation, you remember some snippets that stood out to you. 

‘STARS monsters and humans are so fickle! And idiotic! Both fear what they can't understand and yet act like they are better than each other!’

‘Society is like fucking rigged or something! It's impressive how you deal with it so much and STILL fail at fitting in. but fitting in is a damn scam anyway. Why would you change for someone who doesn't love you! I'm never gonna stop vomiting arson no matter what Tori says’

‘FUCK, that dog is ugly, kinda fucked up that some monsters look EXACTLY like those fucks. Do you think any dog monsters got away with being put underground by pretending to be regular dogs? Hope not. Sick freaks.’

Closing your eyes and getting comfortable under your covers, you let your thoughts about all that wander 

Perhaps maybe society was rigged, maybe everyone was broken and weird and strange in some kinda way. A few things are for certain, however.

You were going to let papyrus know how much he meant to you. Thank him for being such a good friend and tell him about your curse. You were not going to be afraid of scaring him off anymore. Besides, he was probably just as scared. Communication is key, after all.  

Terri's' ass was getting kicked. Throwing the Flowey on the ground felt good. And while you didn't want to stoop to anything illegal, you wanted more. You should get yourself a punching bag while you're at it, too.  

You were going to have to ask a monster scientist, or rather the monster scientist, whether Flowey's monster dog theory had any weight. You're sure if you asked around at work, you could get the yellow monster's number. She had been in court a few times to be a voice for monsters when it came to magic related situations in trials. No trials that you had been directly part of, but still.

Speaking of work, you now had a pretty good idea of who was setting all those small fires a while back in the more predominantly monster part of the city. Not that that investigation was huge or anything (monsters were surprisingly chill about the random acts of arson) now you could let everyone know it's been handled, and it wasn't racist attacks. 

And for Flowey himself, you could now say that you had 3 friends.

You were not going to change for any of them

And maybe, JUST maybe, they wouldn't stay your only friends for long

Slowly drifting into dreamland, your final thoughts are about how the ice cream tasted slightly better with company. Not much of a difference, but there was. And that matters to you.

You dream of a field full of yellow flowers. Having a picnic with your husband, a decaying skeleton embedded into the dirt. He never answers you when you speak to him, but you know he's listening and happy. You know you love the flavor of the tea you are drinking, but simply can't taste it. All is well. 

Chapter Text

It takes you a few days before you reach out to your skeleton friend again. Your dad thought long and hard about how you were going to tell him. Well okay, that was a bit of a lie you were procrastinating, and you knew it. But you decide to bite the bullet anyway. Friends keep up with each other! Picking up the phone, you dial bone boy's number. It only rings once before he picks up.

“GOOD FRIEND, MISS LUCY THE HUMAN! HOW ARE YOU!? YOU'VE ACTUALLY CALLED AT A… STRANGE TIME!” comes papyrus’s booming voice. 

You squint, trying to think of what could possibly make it a strange time to call.

“I'VE ACTUALLY JUST BEEN ROBBED! SWINDLED, IF YOU WILL! LIKE…12 MINUTES BEFORE YOU CALLED”

“Police?” you suggest very unsure

“I WAS ROBBED BY A DOG” a dramatic sigh “JUST. A REGULAR DOG. NOT EVEN THE USUAL DOG!.....can't even go chase after him…stole my shoes…neyh.” Papyrus voice quiets at the end to normal speaking volume. 

You smile a little bit, just a tad. It really wasn't something to smile about, but it was a bit funny, you had to admit. 

“How about I come meet you, wherever you are, and help? I have something to tell you anyway. Very important friend stuff. I'll bring my oversized magnifying glass” you offer. The oversized magnifying glass was an object you liked all the way since you were a child. And you refused to get rid of it, there was no reason to get rid of it anyway. You liked it and that was all that mattered.

“PERFECTION!!! AS ALWAYS MISS! I'M ACTUALLY AT THE PARK NEAREST TO OUR HANGOUT MALL, THE ONE WITH THE BIG METAL SLIDE! DID YOU KNOW THOSE HURT? A L O T? SHOULD FRANKLY BE ILLEGAL, MY TAILBONE STILL CRIES OUT IN AGONY”.

You nod as if you weren't on the phone, alone in your own home. 

“Yeah, I've tried to get those banned. But I was like 11 at the time. I'll be on my way seeya” hanging up, you waste no time getting dressed as you were still in your pajamas.

Around 2 hours later, you've arrived at the fabled park. Monsters and humans were out and about, as it was actually an extremely nice day out. Warm with a slight breeze in the air. Not enough to wear a jacket, but enough to want jeans.

You had on a white tank top and denim vest and dark pants with your favorite combat boots 

Seeing papyrus sitting bear footed with his foot bones out dejectedly on a bench with his skull in his hands. He doesn't notice as you walk right up to him (as he is too busy sulking and looking at the ground)

“Those dogs really do be out.” you joke 

“DOGS?!?!?!?! WHERE?!?!?!” paps shouts louder than normal if only slightly standing up with such force you're thrown to the ground. Landing on your backside.

“AH! MISS HUMAN I'M SO SORRY, I THOUGHT YOU WERE ALERTING ME TO MORE THIEVING CANINES BUT IT SEEMS YOU WERE… MISTAKEN? I DON'T KNOW WHY ELSE YOU WOULD SAY THAT…”

 He helps you up and gasps looking at your arms 

“MISS HUMAN, YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE SO TONED!!!! DO TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!”

You didn't think your arms were anything special, but you did work out every once in a while and made sure to eat well. It gave you something to do when you wanted to complete something, but there was nothing to complete. 

But then again, compared to papyrus littoral bones it's quite the feat. You don't think he could? Gain muscles? Maybe he could use white air dry clay…tho now that you looked closer his bones they were not even that white, they had more of a yellowy tan tone almost like paper almost like faded papyrus.

Speak of the devil, he had been talking this whole time. You feel like this is an often occurrences that was a little overused now in your daily life.

So you do what any good friend would do and cut him off in the middle of his sentence 

“I haven't been listening.” you admit 

His face falls 

“I value you very much, papyrus, you are my dearest and oldest friend. And usually I do listen. In fact, I always try my best. But sometimes I get very in my head” you take a deep breath. 

“And I tune everything else out, and I apologize. And the truth is…”

Wait… you tilt your head a little and take your arm back from your friend's grasp… You use said arm to point behind him.

“Dog” you state 

Papyrus whips around 

Yes 

There was the theif 

Paps muddy red boots in the pouches mouth 

It was a chiwawa of all dogs

You don't know how it had the bite strength to carry those.

“THIEF!!” papyrus yells 

Darting after the dog the dog starts to dart just as fast away from the skeleton, dropping one of the boots in the prosses.

“HURRY MISS ITS GETTING AWAY!!” papyrus calls while putting on one of his boots 

“Hold on, I'm going to get my magnifying glass” it HAD to be in one of these pockets for crying out loud, that thing was huge! 

“NO TIME!!!” 

Before you know it, you have been scooped up by papyrus like he was carrying a big poster board to school. You being the rigid as ever poster board.

You couldn't make out much but from using context clues but in the whirlwind of it all somehow. 3 more chihuahuas had ALSO begun  stealing the boot from each other. Fighting each other. And then also somehow finding the time to trip papyrus. Papyrus tumbled many times but always made sure not to land on you to scream out an apology and then pick you back up in the fame fashion and then resume running. There was also a skateboard involved at some point. Maybe the dogs had started rigging one or paps had or the only other option. Witch was that you had actually never woken up this morning and was in a fever dream. It sure felt like it
You just shut your eyes after what feels like eons
You're starting to get extremely nauseous.

“IVE GOT YOU NOW!!!” you hear papyrus yell

The next thing you feel is free falling and then slamming into the ground

Ouch. that one was by far the worst you can already feel the bruises forming

“HHAHA THE BOOTS ARE MINE I AM VICTORIOUS!”

Apparently he got his boots

You feel papyrus pick you back up, this time normally like one would a small child.
And he places you on a bench.

You feel him gently rub dirt off of your face

“Hey Hey Lucy? Are You Alright? You Wanted To Tell Me Something Didn't You? Please Talk To Me Im Sorry” he asks gently and almost..quietly quiet for him. The quietest you've ever heard him thus far

You must have worried him..
You peak open your eyes and nod to let him know you were okay despite the headache even nodding gave you

Okay you were going to tell him now! All about you and your deal and how you where different and how you cared for him deeply and all that good stuff

Deep breath

You can do this

You open your mouth
And vomit all over his shoes.