Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You pushed open the store door, stepping into the air conditioned room. Summer had made its grand entrance by the sharp rise in temperatures these last few days so being out of the harsh rays and inside again felt like bliss. You looked around the store curiously. Figurines, books and other merchandise were all over the place. It had been pretty exciting to find out a store like this was coming to this little town so there was no way you were missing out on the chance to peruse the items they could have for sale. Even if it meant having to brave the outside world.

Your gaze fell on the cashier, and you stiffened. You were so focused on the store, you didn’t realise you were being watched. You offered the cashier a polite nod and they returned it with a smile. You let out a deep exhale and began walking around. At least they didn’t seem to be up for conversation. Damn social anxiety. You looked over all the different things the store had to offer. It wasn’t surprising that it was mostly filled with merchandise for the most popular franchises but it was still fun to take your time and look over everything. You heard the sound of the store door opening behind you as you were examining a manga for a series you had watched a while back. You glanced back just to take note of the newcomers but ended up double taking once you processed their appearances.

Skeletons. Walking skeletons had just walked into the store. Well, it wasn’t like monsters were a new thing at this point. They had been on the surface for almost a decade now. Since they had been around so long, it was impossible not to end up interacting with monsters and a few had even enrolled into your school during your last couple of years in high school. That didn’t mean you got to know them much on a personal level, though. That had more to do with the fact you were a bit of a recluse than anything else since this town was pretty close to Ebott city, where the majority of the population were monsters. So the magic of seeing a new type of monster up close was still present in you.

The skeletons who had entered were two tall ones and one short one. Your gaze went to the short one first. Despite the fact he was considerably shorter than the other skeletons, he stood straight with his chest out like he was the one looking down on everyone else. He had his hands clasped behind his back. You thought he looked like a sergeant standing at attention. He was wearing a black turtle neck, a cropped, dark red leather jacket on top of it, black, tight jeans and... deep red, high heeled boots that were just short of meeting his knees. Oh. Boots were definitely a weakness of yours so you made sure not to focus on them to avoid having your mind short circuit from overheat.

The skeleton standing next to him was the exact opposite in terms of posture, hunched over with his shoulders raised. You felt like you’re looking at a kindred spirit. He had on a black hoodie, a white-outlinted, sad emoji print on the front with the hood up as well as chequered black and yellow sweatpants and black and white sneakers. He was fiddling with his fingers, which let you have a good look at the cool gloves he had on. Yellow for the palms, black for the fingers.

Your gaze moved onto the last skeleton and instantly moved your gaze away when you realised he was staring at you. ‘Oh god, did they catch me staring at them?!’ You let out a string of curses as you focused on the manga in your hands. Was that feeling of being stared just your imagination making this whole interaction worse or was he still staring? Was he offended?

“well, hello there.”

Your head snapped up and you took an instinctive step back when you realised that the skeleton who had been staring at you was now very close to you. His voice was low and gravelly and it had you mentally purring at how nice it sounded. Now that you were forced to really examine the skeleton’s face. The first thing you noticed was his smirk and how sharp his teeth looked. Especially his canines which were considerably longer than this other teeth. His bone colour looked off white, maybe cream was a better word to describe it, rather than just plain white. Your eyes wondered up to meet with his half lidded... eye socket. His right eye socket had a white eye-patch over it while his left one had a pink... eye light? Eye light. Your first instinct was to question how a skull would be able change shape enough to make different expressions but you quickly reminded yourself this was a monster, not an actual skeleton. Somehow... he looked kind of... attractive? How are you finding him attractive?!

His grin widened, he put a hand up, making you notice the black gloves he had on, his finger and thumb in an 'L' shape that he put to his chin, “oh, made ya speechless with my good looks, huh?”

Realising you had just been staring at the skeleton in front of you, you quickly looked away from his face. You took that moment to look over his outfit. He had on a dusty purple hoodie on and athletic looking black, knee length shorts with black tights beneath them, white socks and white sneakers with black stripes. All three of them were all practically covered from neck to toe. The heat wasn’t killing them?! You focused back on his face but slightly lower that his eye socket so you could at least not be completely rude. “Sorry... didn’t mean to... Uh... hello?” Could that have come out any more awkward?

“hey,” he greeted back easily, leaning against the store shelves, “mind givin’ a bonely guy some company?”

You blinked. Bonely? Did he just...? In your confusion, you ended up meeting his gaze again, “Was that...?”

“girls like a sense of humour, don’t they? like to think ’m pretty humerus.”

Your hand came up to your mouth to stifle a few giggles that slipped out. Both the unexpectedness of the puns and the puns themselves had forced them out of you. You had always been a sucker for any jokes, including bad ones. You noticed the skeleton’s half lidded eye widen just slightly. “so that wasn’ a fib-ula then, huh? tibi-a honest with ya, i did femur puns would be a lil’ over the top but glad they’re ticklin’ ya funny bone.”

At this point, trying to stifle your amusement was impossible since you were now freely laughing. Who managed to dish out that many bone jokes in a row like that?! Well, guess a skeleton would. “That’s so good, how?”

The skeleton shrugged, looking real proud of himself, “they aren’t my go to form of humour but they make for a good ice-breaker and got to hear that pretty laugh of yours cause of them.”

That got you sobering up pretty quickly with the sudden compliment, making you start to feel bashful. “Oh, thank... you...”

“so, can i get a name to call ya or can i just call ya ‘pretty lady’ like i’ve been doing in my head?”

‘Oh good lord, he was a flirter! This is not going to be good for my heart,’ you panicked, your face already feeling hot. You stuttered out your name.

He hummed before grinning again, “adorable. my name’s blackadder. feel free to call me black, adder, or your-”

“BLACK.” The sudden new voice made you jump in surprise and look at the new comer. The two other skeletons had come over. The shorter one was closer and it seemed like the taller one, who now had some plastic bags in his hands, didn’t want to be involved with how he was avoiding looking at you. You couldn’t help but feel empathetic for him. The shorter one, on the other hand, was completely focused on the two of you. Now that he was closer, you realised he was actually a fair bit taller than you, though those high heeled boots of his definitely helped him gain a little more height over you. He just looked a lot shorter compared to the other two. You also notice scars...? or rather, cracks running over his left eye socket. His teeth were pretty sharp, too... Maybe all skeleton monsters had sharp teeth? No... you’d seen the skeleton that was the monster mascot and his teeth weren’t sharp...

Blackadder, which was both one of the odder and coolest names you’d ever heard, looked down at him, his grin lowering. “vet.”

“WE DIDN’T COME HERE FOR YOU TO GO BOTHERING THE PEOPLE AROUND US WITH YOUR AWFUL PICK-UP LINES. PARIX ALREADY MADE HIS PURCHASES SO IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO BUY, WE BEST BE GETTING ON OUR WAY.” How did it feel like he was both yelling his words but speaking at a normal volume?

Blackadder sighed, “can’t have any fun ‘round here...” he turned back to you, “any chance i could get ya number, pretty lady?”

‘What was the point of asking for my name if you were just gonna call me that anyway?’ you wondered, feeling flustered. Wasn’t this a little too much for someone you just met? Or was this normal for monsters? It wasn’t like you hated it but...

“REALLY, WHAT DID I JUST SAY?” the shorter skeleton, Vet(?), said, then tsk-ed. His gaze turned to you and for a moment, you tensed at how intense it was. Since he wasn’t facing you completely before, you didn’t realise only one of his eye sockets had an eye light in it. It was bright red and definitely intimidating. As if he could feel your unease, his expression softened, “I Apologise For Our ‘Stud’ Here Disturbing Your Shopping.” Blackadder chomped the air in his direction, the sound his teeth made as they clanked together made you wince.

“Disturb...? Oh, no, no, he wasn’t! He... he’s been very nice!” you quickly reassure him. His eye-ridges raised a little and Black let out a soft, “heh.” You turn back to him, rummaging into your bag. His eyes followed your hand and he looked even more pleased at the sight of your phone. “I... I’m not the best conversationalist or anything but I wouldn’t mind sharing numbers.”

Blackadder walked over to you so he could look over your shoulder, and your body tensed at the sudden invasion of your personal space. This close, you could make out the scent of a flavoured tobacco product and... something that smelt like a sauce you couldn’t quite place from him. You opened your contacts and Blackadder reached over, his arm pressing against yours slightly as he put in his details. You tried to focus on watching his finger press the screen but your head was distracted by the fact you could feel the hard press of bone against your arm beneath the layers of clothing and also trying to figure out how his presumably boney finger covered by a glove was actually interacting with your touch screen.

“there,” he said. He had saved himself in as ‘blackadder’ with a snake emoji. With his job done, he smoothly stepped back over to the other two skeletons. “i’ll be waitin’.” He winked. Vet shook his head at him in silent reprimand but still offered you a curt nod. You waved the three off as they walked out the store. Well... That wasn’t what you were expecting today. Now that you had a moment to gather your thoughts, you couldn’t help but wonder if he really was a playboy just messing around. You’ve had a run in with a couple before and managed to quickly cut those off but it was pretty common knowledge that monsters were a lot more open and kind than humans were... It had been a while since anyone had flirted with you so you were flattered but also didn’t want to keep your expectations high.

You decided on a few things to buy from the store before heading home. The moment you opened the door, you were slapped with the heat of summer once more. The walk home was going to be agony at this rate. Bringing a hand up to cover your eyes, you began the trek back to your home. With nothing more to do other than look around and walk, you let your mind wonder. ‘Man, a popsicle would be heavenly right now... sitting in front of a fan, too...’ You paused. It’s not like popsicles were expensive so why not get one?

With a new goal in mind, you made a slight detour to the nearest grocery store. Once more, the air conditioning welcomed you into its cool embrace. After taking a second to enjoy being out of the heat, you made your way straight to the small ice cream freezers set by the check out area. Looking over your choices in consideration. You had come here for popsicles but seeing all the cold treats up for grabs made you start second guessing your initial decision.

“OH, EXCUSE ME!” You jumped at the voice behind you. You looked back and it was a skeleton! This one was shorter than the previous three you had met before, though he was probably not too much shorter than Vet and maybe the same height as you were. “SORRY, JUST WANT TO SQUEEZE IN AND GRAB ONE.”

“O-of course, sorry,” you quickly moved out the way, letting the skeleton move in. He looked in for a couple of seconds before reaching in and taking out a few different ones. As he did, you found yourself examining his face. It was round and looked like it would be soft to poke despite the fact that he was all bone. His eye lights were a light blue and larger than Vet’s had been. He was really cute. Looking over the rest of him, he had on a grey tshirt with a white long sleeved shirt beneath it. He had a pair of darker grey pants with several little patches stitched on the right side near his pocket, one being a little star, another being a rainbow and one being... his own face? He also had dark, blue pirate boots which looked really cool and had a really nice shape and you were going to stop staring at them now. He had on a pair of gloves and a scarf that was tied around his neck with the ends hanging behind his back, both matching in colour with his boots. He nodded, grinning brightly before his gaze moved back to you, making you realise you had been staring at him.

“I COULDN’T HELP BUT NOTICE YOU HAD BEEN STARING AT THE FREEZER FOR QUITE A WHILE,” he spoke, “HAVING TROUBLE PICKING? OR WAS THAT A VERY INTENSE STARING CONTEST? IF IT WAS, TRUST ME, AS SOMEONE WHO HAS HAD A STARING CONTEST WITH SOMEONE WITHOUT EYES, THIS ISN’T A VERY FAIR MATCH UP.”

You chuckled softly, lowering your face before you looked back up, “Well... darn, guess I lost this one.” The skeleton let out a couple of his own laughs before you continued, a little embarrassed now that you realised you had been deliberating longer than you thought, “But, yeah... you’re right. I was having trouble picking one.”

“HMM, I SEE!” he nodded, “FRET NO MORE, HUMAN! THE MAGNEFICENT VERDANA WILL ASSIST YOU!” He brought a hand up to his puffed up chest, smiling widely and, oh, there were stars in his eyes! Your heart stuttered at the cuteness of the sight.

You found yourself smiling back at him, “With how long this is taking to just pick one, I’d definitely appreciate the help.”

The skeleton, Verdana, nodded a couple of times. He looked you over, bringing a hand up to his chin. You stiffened, your cheeks warming up at the sudden examining. Finally, he snapped his fingers and reached in and brought out a packet. He took hold of your hand with his other hand, making you tense at the sudden touch. He wasn’t holding onto your hand too hard but you could feel the hardness of his bones beneath the thin material of his gloves. It also felt warm which you weren’t sure was because he was actually warm or just a product of the heat. He turned your hand to face palm up and placed the ice-cream onto it. “THIS ONE!”

He let go of your hand and moved his hands away. You looked down at his choice and almost laughed. A popsicle. A berry blast flavour that looked red purple. Seems like you’ll be sticking with your first choice after all. You looked back up at him, “This looks like a really good choice! Thank you, Verdana.”

Verdana preened from the thanks, giving you the chance to see the pretty change from his round eye lights to his stars, before he closed his sockets, putting his hands to his hips and leaning on one leg, “IT‘S ALL COOL, HUMAN! BEING ABLE TO HELP OTHERS IS JUST THE ICE THING TO DO!” He opened an eye socket to look at you expectanatly. You processed the puns and you laughed, and he joined in when he realised his pun had landed successfully, “MWEH HEH HEH! I MUST GO MAKE MY PURCHASES. IT WAS NICE MEETING YOU!”

“Yeah, same here, nice meeting you, too,” you replied happily as he walked over to the cashier. For a moment, you considered asking him if he knew about Black and Vet but decided against it. He had already spent enough time out of his day just to help you with something dumb, no need to keep him away from his other obligations even longer. You looked at the popsicle, humming softly to yourself as you walked to a free till.

You made your way back home, taking satisfied licks of your popsicle and enjoying it’s tart sweetness. You had thought of Verdana’s adorableness for a bit, feeling another smile tug at your lips. Cute things always had been a weak spot for you. First the boots, now this, were all these skeletons gonna hit all your weak points? Looking down at your treat, the colour made you think of Black and you quickly got your phone out to send him a message so he would have your number, too. It almost made you drop your phone when it vibrated with a reply almost immediately.

‘knock knock’

You rose an eyebrow at the message.

‘Who’s there’

‘woo’

‘Woo who’

‘didn’t realise you were that excited to message me guess ill have to make sure to keep talkin to you’

You snorted. Yep, that sense of humour of yours was definitely broken. You tried to think of any knock knock jokes you knew before finally deciding on one.

‘okay then knock knock’

‘come in door’s always open for you pretty lady’

You huffed, smiling against your better judgement, ‘Oh come on’

‘what? just being hospitable and lettin u in’

‘:(‘

‘ok I’ll throw you a bone. start again’

‘Knock knock’

‘whos there’

‘Meat’

‘come in’

Your let out an indignant sputter but before you could reply to that, another message came in.

‘meat who’

‘... It was nice to meat you today’

There was a pause.

‘same here. here’s to a beautiful relationship’

Your cheeks warmed as you read the message. You doubted he meant that as anything more than just a literal relationship not the romantic type but you still felt a little giddy reading it. “To a beautiful relationship...”

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since you had your first run in with the skeletons. You were a little surprised you were still chatting with Blackadder, and fairly frequently. It was mostly jokes and you were a little surprised at how many you could pull out but you felt like you had to give what you got with all the ones Blackadder kept sending. Though some of the more flirty ones made you feel a little flustered. You wondered if he genuinely forgot your name since he seems determined to only call you by ‘pretty lady’. You did end up asking if he knew who Verdana was, to which he responded with a ‘yep’ and immediately brought in a joke so you guessed he didn’t feel up for elaborating. Blackadder had asked if there was a chance you could meet up again in person soon and you found yourself agreeing rather quickly. You weren’t sure if this was a date or not but it would be nice to talk to him again.

Today was another rare day where you adventured out of the confines of your little apartment. You needed to get some groceries since you had been holding out until you absolutely needed to get some. The grocery store was close by so you made sure you always walked there instead of ordering groceries to be delivered. You didn’t want to spend all your time hauled up in your room even if it was tempting. The heat was at least a little more bearable so going outside was a little less taxing.

You entered through the doors and immediately grabbed a basket, quickly going straight to the pasta aisle. Not for any of the actual pasta, duh, but for the two minute noodle bundle packets, of course. Where would you be without them? As you walked to them, you paused at the sight in front of you. There was no way. Another skeleton!

He was another tall one. He looked deep in thought as he looked over the brands on the shelf. As you stepped closer, you realised he was looking over the spaghetti packets. He had a white, crop t shirt with yellow outlining on the sleeves and bottom hem. It had three yellow stripes running down the front left of the shirt. He had on a pair of jeans, and also really nice looking red-brown leather, laced boots that reached just below his knees. He also had orange gloves, and a matching orange scarf and below everything, he had a form fitting, black long sleeve shirt covering the parts of his torso the crop top didn’t.

The way he had his hand up to his chin in deep thought reminded you of how Verdana was in the same pose when he was picking out ice cream and you wondered if they were all related. You left him to his pondering for now to get your noodles. You looked over the packets, contemplating which flavour you should get. You wished bundle packs could come in a variety of flavours so you didn’t have to just stick to one flavour for a week...

“PAPS! I GOT THE BEEF!” Your head snapped up at the familiar voice. Verdana! He walked into the aisle with a wide smile on his face, holding two, hefty packs of beef in his hands.

“GREAT! DID YOU GET THE BRAND HADRIATIC MENTIONED?”

Verdana’s face scrunched up, waving his hand dismissively, “WE’RE TRYING TO PROVE A POINT HERE! OF COURSE NOT!”

Since he was faced away from you, you couldn’t see the expression on the taller skeleton but from the way he straightened, it seemed like Verdana made the right move, “NYEH HEH HEH! GOOD JOB! WE’LL PROVE OUR CULINARY PROWESS TO HIM!”

“MWEH HEH HEH!” Verdana’s expression lightened as he laughed along with the other skeleton. You held back a laugh of your own at the interaction. Verdana’s eye-lights drifted over to you, then back to the other skeleton. His face scrunched up again as he did a double take at you and a bright grin formed on his face, his eye lights turning to stars as he made his way over to you. “OH, IT’S YOU!”

The other skeleton turned to you then. The first thing you noticed was that his teeth weren’t pointy but blunt like Verdana’s. The second thing you noticed was, ‘Oh my god, isn’t that the monster mascot?!’ You recognised him faintly from seeing videos of him online and on the news, from when monsters had first emerged to hearing about his efforts to help bridge the gap between monster and humans in different events and outreaches. He was basically a celebrity!

You quickly looked back to Verdana before your staring ended up being rude. You really hoped you hadn’t made a weird expression or anything when you recognised him. “Um... hello, Verdana. It’s nice to see you again!”

“AND SAME TO YOU, HUMAN!” He replied. He looked over at your basket, then the shelf you were standing in front of. “ARE YOU PICKING UP GROCERRIES AS WELL? ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE A SPECIAL RAMEN DINNER?”

“I guess... you could say that...” You felt a little embarrassed saying you were just going to eat the noodles with just the spice packet. Maybe an egg or two if you felt up to frying them.

“SEEING AS YOUR BASKET IS STILL EMPTY, YOU MUST HAVE JUST STARTED SHOPPING. BEING THE MAGNEFICENT SKELETON THAT I AM, I WOULD LIKE TO OFFER THAT WE SHOP TOGETHER! THREE IS BETTER THAN TWO, WHICH IS BETTER THAN ONE!” He looked so proud to have offered his company and you felt touched that he wanted to stick with you.

“Really? Are you sure I wouldn’t be getting in your way...?” your eyes moved over to the other skeleton but the sparkling in the other skeleton’s eye-sockets eased your worries that you would be too big of a bother for them.

“WELL SAID, VERDANA! I AGREE! FEEL FREE TO JOIN US, HUMAN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD, OF COURSE, BE WILLING TO BE YOUR SHOPPING BUDDY TODAY AS WELL,” he held a hand up to his chest much like Verdana had before and you weren’t sure if you were seeing things or if the scarf he was wearing was actually fluttering with no wind coming in.

“Then, I’m happy to have you two as my shopping buddies today,” you said, making the two skeletons look even more pleased.

To your surprise, Verdana reached out, his hands holding onto your arm. The sudden closeness and touch got your face heating up. “THEN LET’S BEGIN! WE’RE ALMOST DONE WITH OUR LIST SO AFTER THAT, WE WILL BE ABLE TO PUT FULL FOCUS ON YOUR OWN!”

He began tugging on your arm but you were able to stand firm, making him look at you in confusion, “W-wait, uh, I should at least grab the noodles since I’m here...”

“OH, RIGHT! SMART!” Verdana nodded, looking at the packets.

“WELL, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PICK, HUMAN?” You hadn’t realised Papyrus had walked to your other side.

“I, uh,” you tried to make a choice quickly, feeling a bit pressured at having to now choose a flavour under the expectant gaze of the two skeletons.

“LET’S SEE HERE...” Verdana leaned closer to the noodles, bringing you along with him and making you stumble slightly and bump against him, now even closer. You were already blushing but your face only got hotter when Papyrus got closer, too. You were relieved they were so focused on the noodles that they didn’t notice how flustered you had gotten from the closeness. The scent of tomatoes and two different other scents caught your attention. One reminding you of ocean themed body wash, the other of a forest themed one. Not only that, but being this close to Verdana made you realise that he really was warm from the parts of your body that were now pressed against his. It was a pleasant kind of warm. And oddly, pressing against his bones didn’t feel as hard as you expected.

“HOW MANY DO YOU NEED?” you snapped out of your silent observations and felt embarrassed that you were paying this much attention to his body.

“Huh? Sorry?” it took you a moment to process the question and you quickly responded, “A bundle pack should be enough.”

“I SEE... THEN OF THESE FLAVOURS...” He picked out the beef flavoured one, “THIS ONE!” He tossed it into your basket. “THERE WE GO, DONE!” You were about to pick up the basket but Verdana was already pulling you over to their cart. Over your shoulder, you noticed Papyrus picking up your basket for you. You sighed silently in relief. Verdana looked through their cart, “WE JUST HAVE DRINKS TO BUY NOW, RIGHT?”

Papyrus quickly looked over the spaghetti shelf again before picking a few packets and putting them into the cart, “YES, WELL, I MADE SURE TO PICK OUT A FEW JUICES AND SODAS AND THE CONDIMENTS HERE. WE JUST NEED THE WHIPPING CREAM AND HONEY.”

“THEN HONEY-COMB ON, LET’S GET GOING SO WE CAN WHIP THROUGH THIS! MWEH! HEH!”

Papyrus groaned while you ended up letting out a soft giggle. Verdana looked at you with those starry eyes of his while Papyrus looked horrified. “OF COURSE YOU’D BEFRIEND A HUMAN WHO LIKES PUNS!”

“SWEET, ISN’T IT?” Verdana let out another short laugh that Papyrus groaned to once more.

Verdana pushed the cart with one hand, his other still holding onto your arm. You were a little confused why he wanted to hold onto you. Maybe he was a physical person? Well, it wasn’t like your touch-starved self was going to complain. It really was nice. You decided to hold the other end of the cart’s handle with the arm that wasn’t in Verdana’s hold. You looked over their cart and its contents curiously. You noticed a lot of ‘MAGIC’ stickers on the products. Obviously they’d pick the magic ingredients. Monsters needed magic food. Most stores these days made sure to carry magic versions of ingredients so they weren’t anything new. You even tried magic food but having the food suddenly dissolve in your mouth was both intriguing and a little uncomfortable.

Looking over the ingredients they had here already, you asked, “Are you... making spaghetti tonight?”

“YOU’RE HALF RIGHT, HUMAN!” Papyrus answered with a raised hand. Verdana reached in and pulled out a packet of taco shells.

“WE’RE MAKING SPAGHETTI TACOS!”

“TACO SPAGHETTI!”

“THE SPAGHETTI IS GOING INTO THE TACO SHELLS SO THEY’RE SPAGHETTI TACOS! I THOUGHT WE ALREADY DECIDED ON THAT!”

“NO, YOU WENT RIDING OFF ON YOUR BIKE AFTER YOU YELLED ‘SPAGHETTI TACOS’ BEFORE WE COULD!”

The image of the two arguing about what to call their dish with Verdana yelling a final, “THEY’RE SPAGHETTI TACOS” before hopping on a bicycle and riding off before Papyrus could say anything else was too funny not to laugh.

“THERE WAS NO POINT ARGUING PASTA POINT I KNOW IS RIGHT,” Verdana huffed.

Papyrus stomped a foot on the ground, “DON’T BRING PUNS INTO THIS!”

“DITALINI-ENCY YOU DON’T DESERVE! IF YOU RE-FUSILLI TO SEE REASON THEN I’LL-”

“HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW SO MANY TYPES OF PASTA?! NO MORE OF THIS TORTURE!” Papyrus brought up his hands to where his ears would be.

Verdana leaned closer to you, a rare smirk on his face, and his voice volume got as close to a whisper as he could, “That Means I Took The Ravi-ctori.” You ended up bursting into laughter at that, gripping the handle bars as you leaned down.

“YOU’RE CORRUPTING THE POOR HUMAN WITH YOUR ATROCIOUS PUNS, AND STOP USING PASTA PUNS! TAINT THE NAME OF YOUR TACOS WITH PUNS BUT NOT MY PASTA!”

“WELL, TO TORTILL-YA THE TRUTH, I’VE BEAN REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING TO TACO-BOUT TACO PUNS. THE MAGNEFICENT VERDANA WILL DELIVER, HOT AND RIGHT OUT THE OVEN!”

“M-mercy,” you wheezed, tapping for a time out on the puns. Any more and you would be too weak to walk.

“NOW LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE, VERDANA, YOU HAVE THE POOR HUMAN IN TEARS!” Papyrus tsked.

“MWEH HEH HEH HEH! ALL WHO FACE ME WILL OBVIOUSLY BE IN TEARS FROM THE FULL EXPOSURE OF MY HUMOUR AND CHARISMA!”

“TEARS OF AGONY MORE LIKE...”

“I CAN SEE YOU’RE SMILING!”

“OUT OF PITY!”

“IF THAT’S WHAT YOU NEED TO TELL YOURSELF TO SLEEP AT NIGHT.”

You had finally managed to calm down enough to catch your breath. They were a riot! You hadn’t laughed like this in a while. “I’m... I’m okay now,” you breathed, finally straightening up. You noticed you were now in the dessert aisle. Papyrus had been looking over the whipped cream but was looking at you now and so was Verdana. Verdana was grinning wide enough that his eye sockets were closer to an upside down u shape than circles, very happy with your reaction to his puns.

“IF THAT WAS ALL IT TOOK TO HAVE YOU LIKE THAT, YOU WOULD NOT SURVIVE A DAY AT OUR HOUSE, HUMAN,” Papyrus said. He looked amused at least.

“So jokers run in the family?” you asked. Papyrus turned back to pick a few cans of whipped cream and put them into the cart.

“IT DEFINITELY RUNS IN OUR MAGIC,” Verdana piped up, “SOME MORE WILLING TO ADMIT IT THAN OTHERS,” he made very exaggerated head tilts over to Papyrus, earning him a small giggle from you. “BUT IT’S A LOT OF FUN! I’M SURE LOTS OF THE OTHERS BACK HOME WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU THERE IF YOU LAUGHED AT THEIR JOKES LIKE THAT!” For a moment, Verdana’s eye sockets drifted to the floor, his grin faltering, before he looked at you with the same expression from before. It was so quick, you wondered if you had imagined the little facial change.

After picking up quite a few honey bottles, tea packets and instant coffee jars, the two skeletons turned their attention to you, “ALRIGHT, HUMAN! NOW IT IS TIME TO GET YOUR PRODUCTS!” Papyrus said, “MAY WE HAVE A LOOK AT YOUR LIST?”

“I... don’t have one? I didn’t really need enough stuff to write one,” you said.

Verdana nodded, “ALRIGHT, THEN VERBALLY LIST OUT WHAT WE NEED TO FIND!”

“Right, uh... We have the noodles... I’ll need eggs, a couple of fruit... maybe some energy drinks... oh, maybe I can get frozen stirfry?” As you were trying to think up what you’d need while keeping your budget in mind, you didn’t notice the glances Papyrus and Verdana exchanged.

“OKAY... LET’S GO GET YOUR ITEMS THEN!” Papyrus exclaimed. You nodded and you and Verdana began pushing the cart after Papyrus.

As you walked around, you made light conversation with the two monsters. You obviously knew what Papyrus did for work but you learnt that Verdana was an elementary school teacher. It was both a surprise and felt oddly fitting. They learnt you were still a student and Verdana quickly offered to help you with your studies if you needed, Papyrus also offering his own assistance being the kind monster he was. They also let you know that the reason they were so heated about dinner today was because they realised another skeleton in the house had never praised their cooking even after living together for so long so they decided to team up and try getting him to enjoy their signature dishes, Verdana’s being tacos and Papyrus’s being spaghetti.

“I’ll be honest, I am a little curious what spaghetti tacos tastes like...” you said off handedly, tossing in a couple of your favourite energy drinks into your basket.

“WHY DON’T YOU TRY OURS?” Verdana asked. You looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I MEAN, I’M SURE WE’LL HAVE ENOUGH FOR ONE MORE! WE’RE A BIG HOUSEHOLD SO WE ALWAYS MAKE LOTS OF FOOD AND THERE’S ALWAYS SOME LEFT OVER SO IF YOU WANT...!” Verdana leaned a little closer to you, causing you to lean a little back from how close his face was to yours, your cheeks flushing. His eye lights seemed even larger and were trembling slightly. The puppydog eyes?! “YOU CAN JOIN US FOR DINNER!”

You couldn’t remember the last time you had been invited to dinner by someone. “Really? Are you sure?”

‘’WONDERFUL IDEA! BEING ABLE TO GRACE SOMEONE NEW WITH OUR COOKING... YES, HUMAN, YOU WOULD BE MOST WELCOME TO JOIN US!”

Both their imploring gazes made any reluctance to agree crumble within you. “I think... it’d be a really nice to join you for dinner.” Both of them perked up instantly, Papyrus's eye sockets sparkling while Verdana’s eye lights turned to stars.

“ALRIGHT!” Verdana reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. You notice his cover had a pretty gradient blue design with shooting, golden stars. “THEN LET’S EXCHANGE NUMBERS SO WE CAN INVITE YOU OVER AND GIVE YOU OUR ADDRESS WHEN IT’S TIME!”

“O-okay,” you got your own phone out, opening a new contact. Verdana read out his number and after some prompting from Papyrus as he struggled a bit to get his phone out, read Papyrus’s number, too. You told him your number and he froze. To your wonder, blue began tinting his cheeks.

“UH... I JUST REALISED...” he cleared his throat awkwardly, “I... DON’T THINK I CAUGHT YOUR NAME, HUMAN.”

You blinked. Thinking on it, he was right. He had basically introduced himself and you didn’t get the chance to do the same. So the blue was him blushing? Cute! You laughed a little and gave them your name. Verdana nodded, brightening up as he and Papyrus put it into their phones.

All too soon, you all had finished getting the stuff you needed and were standing in front of the registers. Verdana still hadn’t let you go and when you tried to move to the other till, he didn’t loosen his grip. You felt a little awkward trying to forcibly pull out of his grip so decided to stand in line with them. Once your little group was up, you helped put their things onto the conveyor belt. That was finally the point where Verdana let you free since he needed to use both hands to help out. You felt a little cold without him right next to you now...

After the two paid for their groceries, the price had you gaping for a moment before you fixed your expression, you put your own food up. It took a significantly less amount of time and soon the three of you were stepping out of the store. You didn’t even realise you were following them until you found yourself in front a very expensive looking red convertible with the roof up. You stared between it and the two skeletons as Papyrus pulled out a key and opened the trunk of the car like he did this everyday. Well, he probably did but it felt so bizarre seeing someone be so nonchalant with a car like this. Papyrus noticed your awe and grinned.

“ISN’T IT BEAUTIFUL?” he asked, patting the car tenderly, “IT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST PURCHASES I MADE WHEN WE MADE IT TO THE SURFACE!”

“So you’ve had this car for almost ten years?! But it looks like it could be brand new...” you stepped closer to the car, still not daring to touch it. It was missing the new car smell, but it really did look in top condition.

“OF COURSE! I MAKE SURE TO TAKE TERRIFIC CARE OF IT,” Papyrus responded. “ANYWAY, THIS IS WHERE WE WILL HAVE TO PART WAYS, HUMAN. BUT THERE IS NO NEED FOR SORROW, AS WE WILL BE MEETING AGAIN VERY SOON!” He says that but he did seem a little down about you parting ways.

Verdana bounded up to you, a skip in his step, “WE’LL SEND YOU OUR ADDRESS AS SOON AS WE CAN! DO YOU LIVE NEARBY?”

“Yeah, it’s just a bit of a walk from here. Though depending on how far you live, I’ll need a bus or use an uber or something...” you really hoped you didn’t need to use a ride share since those prices were pretty demanding.

“DO YOU NOT HAVE A VEHICLE OF YOUR OWN?”

You shook your head. You didn’t have the money for one yet. The two skeletons looked at each other. It felt like they were having a silent conversation with the different expressions they were making. Finally, they both smiled decisively and turned back to you.

“HUMAN, WHY DON’T YOU COME WITH US! YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR GROCERRIES IN THE CAR DURING DINNER AND I CAN DRIVE YOU BACK HOME AFTERWARDS!”

Your eyes widened at the offer. “No, it’s fine, I can-”

“WE INSIST!” Verdana cut you off, “IT WOULDN’T BE RIGHT MAKING YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR WAY BACK HOME DURING THE LATE HOURS OF THE EVENING ALONE!”

You slowly closed your mouth from the interruption. You definitely would feel safer if they did drive you there and back... It felt like you were going against every ‘stranger danger’ PSA you had ever seen as you nodded. “Okay, I would definitely appreciate it. Thank you!”

“ALRIGHT!” Verdana cheered, taking the bags you had been carrying out of your hands and placed them into the trunk with the other groceries. Papyrus led you to the back seat, he had to push the passenger seat forward so you can slip in. You took a moment to look around the car since you couldn’t imagine getting a chance like this again. The leather upholstery felt smooth and cool under your hand. You noticed a little skeleton plushy hanging from the rear-view mirror dressed pretty similarly to Papyrus and found it adorable. You fidgeted in your seat again, still in awe that you were getting to sit in a car like this.

The two skeletons soon entered the car, Verdana sliding into the passenger seat while Papyrus settled into the driver’s seat. They buckled in, making you remember you needed to do that, too. Once that was done, Verdana immediately turned to look through the gap at you, beaming at you.

“ANY SONG REQUESTS?” he asked. The car roared, making you jump. “PAPS!”

“SORRY! I CAN’T HELP DOING THAT WHENEVER I START IT UP,” he cackled as he started driving the car out the parking lot. It was amazing how quiet the car was as he drove it.

“U-uh, Verdana,” his attention was instantly back on you, “Anything is fine!”

“GOT IT!” he nodded, turning around. He paused before turning back to face you, his expression serious, “WORD OF WARNING. YOU SHOULD PROBABLY NOT SAY THAT TO THE OTHERS. THEY’D DEFINITELY TAKE THAT AS A CHALLENGE.”

“How?”

“SCREAMO METAL,” he replied, rubbing at the side of his skull. You winced in sympathy. “IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE IF THE VOLUME WASN’T TURNED ALL THE WAY UP.”

“Thanks for the heads up then. But I’ll trust you not to do the same.”

Verdana grinned, bringing a hand to his chest, “YOUR TRUST HAS BEEN WELL PLACED!” He turned around again. He took out his phone and tapped a bit on his phone. The audio system in the car made a small chime noise before music began playing. You were a bit surprised to hear electronic music begin playing but you definitely weren’t disappointed with the choice. The ride was spent in mostly silence, with the three of you focusing more on the music than conversation.

Chapter Text

Papyrus drove you out of the town and into the forest roads. You’d never been in this area so you were staring out your window with your full attention to admire the trees surrounding you. He turned onto a smaller side road and drove on for quite a while. A large, black gate came into view that rolled open to let the car through. You didn’t notice either of them open it with a button so maybe it was an automatic gate? Seemed a bit unsafe but you wouldn’t judge.

Soon, a long, building with grey stone bricks with quite a few garage doors came into view. One of them opened and Papyrus drove inside and turned the car off. “HERE WE ARE!” It was almost disappointing to realise the pleasant drive was over. The two almost simultaneously unbuckled their seatbelts and you scrambled to do the same. When you looked up, you were a startled to see them both looking back at you.

“OKAY, HUMAN, BEFORE WE GO INSIDE, I THINK WE SHOULD BRIEF YOU ON THE OTHERS IN THE HOUSE.”

“YEP! WE’LL BE BRIEF, DON’T WORRY!” Verdana chortled despite the glare Papyrus gave him.

“YES WELL... TONIGHT YOU WOULD PROBABLY BE MEETING... TWELVE OF THE OTHERS!”

“Twelve?!” That was a lot of people under one roof! You were starting to feel nervous having to face that many new monsters all at once.

Verdana must have noticed as he put a hand up to wave reassuringly, “DON’T WORRY! YOU’LL BE FINE! YOU’LL HAVE US RIGHT THERE WITH YOU! PLUS, EVERYONE IS... NICE.” That last sentence didn’t feel assuring. “AND IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE WITH EVERYONE, WE CAN JUST STAY IN MY ROOM!”

The compromise had you feeling a little bit calmer. At least you had somewhere you can go to if you needed time out. “Thanks, Verdana.”

“OF COURSE! MAKING SURE MY FRIENDS ARE COMFORTABLE IS NOTHING THE MAGNIFICENT VERDANA CAN’T DO!” Verdana ‘mweh’ and ‘heh’d as he got out of the car. You stared after him wide eyed. He called you his friend. Your chest felt warm. Having a friend as upbeat as Verdana felt like a blessing. You were a bit caught off guard he was willing to call you his friend when you barely knew each other but you weren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth! The passenger seat was moved forward, giving you the chance to get out of the car. There were quite a few other cars that were definitely in the high price range and two motorcycles parked next to each other.

“OH, HUMAN LOOK!” Verdana waved at you as he rushed over to the bikes and patted the black one with light blue detailing on it, “THIS ONE IS ALL MINE! MY P-RIDE AND JOY!”

You laughed a little, walking over to it.“You drive a motorcycle, Verdana?” you asked in awe. The detailing was done in a way that mimicked neon signs. Stars, smileys, bones and what looked like Verdana’s own face were painted on it along with other little random shapes.

“YEP!” Verdana confirmed. “WANNA TAKE IT FOR RIDE WITH ME? NOTHING LIKE BEING ABLE TO GO DOWN A HIGHWAY WITH THE SUN ON YOUR BACK AND WIND BLOWING THROUGH YOUR HAIR...” Verdana seemed to be lost in a fantasy, or maybe it’d be more accurate to say a memory, probably excluding the hair.

“I’ve never been on a motorbike before but-”

“YOU’VE NEVER BEEN ON ONE?!” Verdana gasped, stepping back in shock. “WE HAVE TO CHANGE THAT! HOW CAN YOU SAY YOU’RE LIVING IF YOU HAVEN’T BEEN ON A BIKE! COME ON, LET’S-”

“VERDANA. AREN’T YOU FORGETTING WE HAVE A GLORIOUS DINNER TO MAKE?” the both of you looked to Papyrus as he held up the plastic bags containing their groceries.

“OH. RIGHT. RAINCHECK THEN!” Verdana nodded resolutely. He jogged over to the car and you followed. You took a couple of bags but the skeletons wouldn’t let you carry any more than that. You huffed silently at that but didn’t push it. You all walked out the garage then walked around to the back of it. You froze at the sight of the building before you.

“Y-you two really live... there?”

“IT IS REALLY AMAZING,” Papyrus's voice called out from the garage.

Amazing barely covered it. It looked like the kind of place that’d appear on those luxury home shows! There was a stone pebble path leading to a large double story with rustic looking wood panels and rock bricks covering the walls. There were plenty of wide windows and the entrance door had lovely carvings done onto it. You must have been staring for way too long as a light bump to your arm snapped you out of it. Verdana snickered at you, “COME ON, WE CAN’T GET COOKING IF WE’RE OUT HERE!” He bounded up to the front door, only looking back to see if you were following him. He pressed his shoulder against the door and it pushed open. “ME AND PAPYRUS ARE HOME! AND WE HAVE A GUEST!” with how loud his exclamation was, you wouldn’t be surprised if it carried through the whole house. You walked into the house, muttering a thanks to Verdana for staying against the door so it wouldn’t close on you.

The inside felt and looked warm and inviting despite its large size. Lots of shades of browns were used throughout the place. It felt like a fancy mountain cabin. Verdana led you to the kitchen. The kitchen was massive too. You noted that there were two large fridges as well as two stove ovens. One of them looked to have scorch marks on the wall behind it. Papyrus soon came in with his own bags. You didn’t know where anything went so weren’t sure how much help you could be with packing things away. You just continued to examine the kitchen while Papyrus and Verdana talked about their dinner plans. You wondered if you should offer to help. As you open your mouth, you stopped when you felt a tingle on your neck like someone was watching you. You turned around and almost squeaked in shock when you saw another skeleton there. You hadn’t even heard him walk in!

The skeleton was one of the tall ones, maybe even slightly taller than the few you've seen already. He also had sharp teeth, one of his canines replaced by a golden tooth. His eyes were droopy and looked sleepy. You weren’t sure if that was his resting face or if he was actually tired. His gaze was locked on you and you felt tense being stared at like that. Did you do something wrong? Did you break some kind of rule? Or-

“RUS! DON’T STARE! YOU’RE MAKING OUR GUEST UNCOMFORTABLE!” Papyrus reprimanded him.

Rus’s eyes slowly moved to look at him then back at you. He walked over to the island counter and slumped down onto the barstool beside you, digging around the plastic bags. You took note of the deep golden coloured gloves he had on. Did all of them wear gloves? He had on a black hoodie jacket with fawn fuzz covering the edges of the hood. He had a red tank top beneath it and brown pants with golden sliders on. The side of his mouth that you could see tugged up a little before he pulled out a bottle of barbecue sauce. He removed the protective seal under the lid and then tilted his head back and began gulping it down. You watched in curiosity and slight disgust at how easily he was drinking it down. He stopped, bringing the bottle down on the counter top. His eye snapped to you, and you jumped. He chuckled, his laughter breathy.

“rusch,” he said simply, pointing at himself before turning his hand to point at you. You quickly introduced yourself and Rusch nodded slowly. The edges of his mouth tugged up more and his hand came up and pinched your cheek. You froze as he lightly pulled and squeezed at it. His hand was warm, the glove material was thin enough that it didn’t seem to filter any of the heat on it.

“Um...” you trailed off awkwardly, not sure how to ask why he decided to treat your cheek like putty as your face warmed up the longer he kept doing it.

“YOU SHOULDN’T JUST GRAB PEOPLE LIKE THAT,” Verdana reprimanded, coming over to pat at Rusch’s hand until he let you go.

“you’re soft,” he said, “’n cute,” your eyes widened, heat immediately burning at your cheeks. He placed an elbow onto the counter, leaning his chin into his hand and grinning wolfishly at you. You fidgeted under his lingering gaze, heart speeding up at having another attractive monster eyeing you. Was he... flirting? Were skeletons always this forward? You weren’t sure if you’d survive dinner if most of them were like this.

“IF YOU’RE JUST HERE TO MAKE HER NERVOUS THEN OUT,” Verdana said, pulling at Rusch’s hood. Rusch looked less than pleased to be pulled away by the shorter skeleton but he complied, giving you a lazy wave over his shoulder as he walked out the kitchen. You instinctively waved back. Verdana huffed as he left, crossing his arms.

“HUMAN FRIEND, WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME AND WATCH ME WORK MY SPAGHETTI COOKING MAGIC?” Papyrus asked, leaning forward towards you from his position across from you. “I WOULD EVEN BE WILLING TO GIVE YOU SOME TIPS SO YOUR OWN SPAGHETTI COOKING CAN TURN OUT CLOSE TO AS GREAT AS MINE!”

“OH! I’D BE HAPPY TO SHOW YOU MY TACO COOKING SKILLS, TOO!” Verdana whirled around to face you, his previous irritation completely gone and replaced with an eager smile.

“Yeah, I’d appreciate it,” you smiled, sliding off the pretty tall bar seat and getting to your feet. The moment you were standing, Verdana took hold of your arm once more and pulled you around the island counter and closer to Papyrus. Papyrus reached over and patted at your shoulder before resting his hand on it in some kind of half baked half hug. Once again, you found yourself between the two skeletons. Your heart skipped a beat at being so close to them but you also liked how warm they both were and how soft the clothes they were wearing were against the exposed parts of your arms.

“ALRIGHT, SINCE WE HAVE A NEW CHEF WITH US, WE WILL GO OVER OUR STRATEGY SO WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE,” Papyrus explained, Verdana nodding along. You nodded too, giving him all your attention. “I’LL BE FOCUSING ON MAKING THE SPAGHETTI AND SAUCE WHILE VERDANA WILL BE PREPARING THE MEAT, CHEESE AND SALSA.”

“Um...” you spoke up, raising your hand up slightly. The two skeletons looked over at you. You pointed to one container on the counter, “Are you making dessert, too?”

“IF THERE’S TIME WE COULD... OR IF FIO COMES AROUND SOON ENOUGH HE’D PROBABLY WANT TO MAKE IT,” Papyrus said, rubbing his chin, “BUT THAT ISN’T FOR DESSERT!”

At your confused expression, Verdana explained, “GLITTER MAKES EVERYTHING TASTE BETTER!” Papyrus nodded rapidly in agreement with that statement.

“Oh! Well... I do like shiny and sparkly stuff so I agree,” you nodded, reaching over to turn the bottle of glitter around. The big, bold letters reading “edible glitter” relieved you a little but you didn’t think they’d actually put craft glitter into the food... You looked over the various ingredients and a late realisation hit. They were going to be making magical food. You shuddered slightly at the thought of having to eat a whole meal of monster food but you weren’t backing out now. You were genuinely interested in tasting their cooking now.

Verdana was very pleased with your response if the stars in his eyes said anything, “I LIKE HOW YOU THINK!”

“I’M GLAD YOU HAVE GOOD TASTE, HUMAN FRIEND!” Papyrus said, patting your shoulder before dropping his hand off your shoulder, moving to start rummaging around the drawers. Papyrus getting to work seemed to get Verdana ready to get started, too, as he also let go of you to start pulling out spice packets. You felt cold at the lack of warm skeletons close to you and it was a thought you never imagined yourself having so often today.

You waited a little off to the side and out of their way as they got utensils, pots, pans and a few chopping boards out. They moved around the kitchen and each other with ease. You fiddled with your fingers, feeling a little out of place and awkward now so you looked around. Your gaze drifted over to the living room and you realised there was another skeleton there. Well, more like you could see half their legs hanging over the edge of one of the couches from this angle. From how long their calves were, they were another tall skeleton.

“OH,” you startled slightly, looking over to Verdana who had noticed who you were looking at, “I DIDN’T NOTICE HE WAS ALREADY DOWN. SWEY-SWEY!” The skeleton on the couch jolted before he slowly rose up, hand rubbing at his eyes. “COME OVER HERE AND GREET OUR GUEST!”

The other skeleton looked between you and Verdana, before throwing his legs over the arm rest to the proper side of the couch and got to his feet, bringing a hand up to half heartedly cover his yawn. He wore pale green cargo shorts, an orange hoodie, white gloves and orange sneakers. He was also the first skeleton you’ve seen so far whose legs weren’t completely covered as his calves were exposed.

“c’mon, bro, i was having such a good nap,” he said as he got closer.

Verdana waved off his complaint, “BAH, YOU CAN NAP LATER, LAZY BONES! FRIEND, THIS IS MY BROTHER, SWEYNHEIM!” nheim

“friend, huh? nice to meet ya,” he brought a hand out to you.

“N-nice to meet you...!”

“WAIT, DON’T-”

You had gotten the warning a little too late as your hand met Sweynheim’s. You felt something squish between your hands and a very loud and prolonged fart noise echoed through the kitchen. Even though you knew you hadn’t dealt it, your face heated up. A snort followed and when you looked up, you noticed Sweynheim laughing quietly, his shoulders rising and falling. He let go of your hand to show the small whoopee cushion in his hand.

“ol’ whoopee cushion in the hand prank,” he said when his laugher died down a little, “never gets old.”

“ARGH, OF ALL THE THINGS FOR YOU TO COPY FROM COMIC,” Papyrus groaned, “YOU HAD TO PICK HIS AWFUL JAPES!”

“AT LEAST IT WASN’T THE BUZZER,” Verdana mumbled.

You put your face into your hands, your shoulders shaking. The three skeletons began to panic a little, until they heard the soft sounds of muffled laughter, “That... that was kind of dumb...” you muttered softly.

“NO. IT WAS VERY DUMB,” Papyrus exclaimed.

“I WOULD USE ‘STUPID’ INSTEAD OF ‘DUMB’ BUT AGREED,” Verdana said, lightly slapping a hand against Sweynheim’s arm as he laughed.

“this is coming from the pun lover,” Sweynheim responded, elbowing Verdana’s shoulder.

“MY PUNS ARE PUNTASTIC!” The two taller skeletons booed almost simultaneously.

“heard it before. get new material,” Sweynheim jeered light heartedly.

“IF YOU MUST PUN, PUT SOME EFFORT INTO IT!”

“OH YOU MEAN I SHOULD BUT MORE... BACKBONE INTO THEM?” Verdana laughed heartily as the two groaned, Sweynheim definitely looking more amused than Papyrus. Your soft chuckles became full blown laughter mostly just from their reactions.

“ENOUGH SHENANIGANS FROM BOTH OF YOU,” Papyrus called, “WE CAN’T HAVE OUR FRIEND BREAKING FROM THESE AWFUL JOKES SO SOON! WE NEED HER FOR OUR DINNER PREPARATION!”

“FINE, I GUESS I CAN SPARE HER FROM MY RIBBING,” he paused for a moment and chortled, “FOR NOW. BUT YOU’RE RIGHT! LET’S GET TO WORK! COME, FRIEND, I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU CAN DO! YOU’RE NOW OUR VERY IMPORTANT SOUS CHEF!”

You perked up, eager to help out instead of just stand around. “and i’ll be in the living room, keeping the couch warm,” Sweynheim said, turning on his heel and walked back to the living room, hands in his pockets and looking the very picture of relaxed.

The two put you to work, which you were very happy to do. You grated a decent amount of cheese as well as chopped up various vegetables that the two needed. You also ended up being a taste tester with how many little samples they kept feeding you.

“DO NOT HOLD BACK YOUR OPINION,” Papyrus said when he first offered you a taste of the sauce he was making, “IT’S IMPORTANT WE MAKE THIS AS PERFECT AS POSSIBLE! WHICH IT WILL BE! IT’LL JUST BE... EVEN MORE PERFECT! NYEH HEH!” So you tried your best to give as honest a review of the taste of anything they give you, making sure to add that it was just your own preference and it wasn’t like you could speak for how everyone else would like it but the two waved off it off every time you started talking like that. It was still really weird feeling the food dissolve in your mouth with only the taste of the food remaining in your mouth until you swallowed but the more you ate, the more you felt you could... tolerate it.

All too soon, the food was just about ready to be served. Papyrus got out a few plates and, after seeing your eyes silently asking what you could do, handed you some while Verdana got the utensils out. You walked with them to the dining room where a long dining table was. You helped them set up the table and set out the condiments they had gotten before. You were confused when they insisted on placing the honey and whipped cream there when you hadn’t made dessert but didn’t question it.

“SHOULD I CALL EVERYONE OVER?” Papyrus asked.

“YEP! WE CAN HANDLE FILLING IN THE TACOS!” Verdana said, motioning for Papyrus to leave. He nodded, leaving the kitchen. After a demonstration from Verdana on how to fill the taco shells, you got to work filling them in. It’s been a while since you got to make dinner like this. You smiled softly to yourself. It was fun.

You heard your name being called questioningly and looked back and your heart fluttered in your chest. Blackadder stood in the doorway, his mouth agape for a moment before that half-lidded, easy-going smile that was stuck in your head spread on his face. “guess ya couldn’t wait for our meet-up, huh?”

You blushed, smiling at him, “You... could say that. Nice to see you again... Um, a little sooner than planned.”

Black rose and lowered his eye-rides a couple of times, starting to walk closer, “same here, pretty lady.”

“HOLD ON!” Verdana’s sudden exclamation had both of you looking at him, “YOU TWO KNOW EACH OTHER?”

“yep,” Black said with no further explanation. Guess it was something he did often.

“Well... we met at the new store that opened recently, uh, the one with merch and stuff,” you explained in his stead, “And... have been texting ever since.”

Verdana blinked, his eye lights looking between the two of you. “OH.” His smile returned, “THAT’S GREAT! AT LEAST YOU KNOW SOMEONE ELSE HERE SO IT WON’T BE SO BAD, RIGHT? IS THERE ANY OTHER OF US YOU KNOW?”

You tapped you chin, looking at the ground in thought, “Uh... I don’t think it counts as knowing but I did see the other two skeletons Black was with but we didn’t really talk. So, it’s just you, Papyrus and Black that I know. And Rusch and Sweynheim, too, now.”

Verdana nodded, his smile looked like it got wider, “I SEE!” Verdana peaked his head out the doorway, “SWEY-SWEY, DO YOU MIND IF SHE SITS NEXT TO US TONIGHT?” You didn’t hear or see his reaction but from the enthusiastic, “THANKS!” Verdana called out, he must have allowed it. Verdana rushed over to a few spare chairs and pulled one over. Verdana rushed back over to you, taking hold of your arm and leading you to the seat. “YOU’LL BE SITTING HERE. I’LL BE SITTING HERE,” he patted the seat next to it.

“Thank you, Verdana,” you smiled at him.

He shimmied his shoulders a little, “OF COURSE! I’LL MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING TIME HERE! OH, AND YOU CAN CALL SWEY-SWEY SWEY IF YOU WANT. HE DOESN’T MIND.”

You mentally sighed in relief. You were a little worried you’d end up verbally stumbling on that name eventually, “Oh, cool, thanks!”

The seat on your other side pulled out. Blackadder plopped himself down there. “can’t have dana there takin' the spotlight completely now can i?”

“BUT DON’T YOU USUALLY SIT-”

“and not keep the pretty lady company? nah. not like we have set in stone sittin' places anyway.”

“AH.” The air felt a little awkward for some reason and you really didn’t want to be standing between them with this silence stretching a little too long. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, you could hear chatter draw closer so the silence was broken. Which now meant you had to meet a lot more skeletons.

“Hoo boy,” you muttered to yourself, taking a breath to calm you nerves. Verdana’s grip on your arm tightened slightly. You looked at him and he smiled at you encouragingly and you did your best to mirror it. A light tugging at your shirt had you looking down to Blackadder.

“you’ll be fine, we got ya,” he assured and your chest felt a little lighter.

Chapter Text

Skeletons began coming in. Except for two of them, they all seemed to be around the same heights, either similarly tall or short, but still probably taller than you. Some of them looked at your curiously, some didn’t look to spare you a second glance while others made you avoid making eye contact with them entirely with how intense their gaze was. You noticed Vet come in and he seemed to recognise you as his eye light flickered from you to Blackadder.

“I DIDN’T REALISE WE’D BE HAVING A GUEST TONIGHT,” he said.

“IT WAS A LITTLE LAST MINUTE,” Verdana admitted.

“BUT WE HAD TO INVITE OUR NEW FRIEND TO TRY OUR COOKING TONIGHT,” Papyrus said, bringing a fist up to his chest.

“INTRODUCTIONS, INTRODUCTIONS,” Verdana exclaimed, “HMM, OKAY! EVERYONE CAN DIG IN. I’LL JUST BE INTRODUCING YOU TO HER.” They didn’t need to be told twice since many of them began eating as soon as they sat down. He pointed over to the end of the table were a shorter skeleton with a blue hoodie and black t-shirt sat. He looked like he was ready to fall asleep if it weren’t for Papyrus shaking his shoulder to keep him awake. “THAT’S COMIC! HE’S PAPYRUS’S BROTHER!”

“heya,” he greeted, offering you a double finger salute. "c'mon bro, eating's easy enough that i can do it with my eyes closed. not like i haven't before."

Verdana didn’t waste any time moving onto the next skeleton, skipping over a scolding Papyrus to point at the skeleton sitting next to him. He had braces on his teeth and glasses on. You had noticed him before with how he looked considerably taller than everyone else but with how much he was hunched over, his head was lined up with Papyrus’s in height. He was wearing a pale yellow jumper that looked very comfy with a soft looking, pale orange scarf around his neck. His slightly dark orange gloves were a nice contrast to it. You noted that his plate didn’t have any taco shells and was just the fillings. “THAT’S AGFIUSTOR!” You balked slightly at the name.

“You May Call Me Fio, Human!” he spoke, smiling at you before he continued eating heartily and you were thankful for the out. You really didn’t want to stumble over his name.

“AND SITTING NEXT TO HIM IS HIS BROTHER, ERAS!” Verdana continued. The skeleton next to him was a shorter one. You tensed at the red eye light staring at you. He had a blue varsity-esque jacket with a grey hoodie and sleeves and a shirt under it that was a matching grey with grey gloves. He also had a grey, woolly beanie on his head. He didn’t break eye contact as he ate almost half the taco in his hand with one chomp. You stiffened but still offered him a shaky nod, not trusting your voice to not betray you if you spoke.

Verdana quickly moved on, pointing to the next skeleton. He had sharp teeth, one of them being replaced with a golden one like Rusch’s had been. He had a hoodie similar to Rusch’s, except the fuzz looked fluffier than Rusch’s, like if Rusch’s looked closer to animal fur, then his looked like sheep’s wool. He had a deep red polo neck under it. He also had red eye lights and, oh, he just winked at you. You’re eyes moved to avoid contact instinctively, feeling a blush creeping on your cheeks but stopped yourself and did your best to maintain eye contact. His smirk widened. Verdana cleared his throat, “THAT’S IMPACT.” He moved his finger to point but-

“DON’T YOU DARE POINT AT ME.” The skeleton next to Impact growled, his voice loud and rumbling like thunder. It made you jump slightly. Verdana’s hold on your arm tightened comfortingly.

“AND THAT’S HIS BROTHER, HADRIATIC.” His voice lowered, “He’s More Bark Than Bite, Don’t Worry,” he grinned when you smiled at his assurance. It looked like a bite from him would hurt with how sharp those chompers of his were. He had cracks running over his right eye socket and also had red eye lights. The black button up, long sleeve shirt he was wearing looked really nice. He had dark red gloves that only covered his hands up to the wrist. The shirt's first button was undone, giving you quite the eyefull of his collarbones and you quickly looked away when you realised the sight of them was admittedly kind of- You quickly shook the thought away and averted your gaze from him completely as you felt your face warm up.

Verdana pointed to the other end of the table, where Vet sat, “THAT’S HELVETICA,” your eyes widened slightly at the rather intimidating sounding name. He nodded politely at you which you mirrored. “AND THAT’S HIS BROTHER, PARIX.” It was the reserved skeleton that had been with Vet and Black at the store. He dared to glance over at you when his name was called but immediately looked away and you felt yourself smiling softly at him. Oh, the urge to be friends with someone you could relate to was screaming in your chest. He seemed to have some kind of dental support in his canines and you managed to catch the sight of two yellow eye lights from the small chance at eye contact you had.

“YOU KNOW RUSCH AND NEXT TO HIM IS HIS BROTHER, MONTSERRAT!” Huh, were they all pairs of brothers? Montserrat was another shorter skeleton with red eye lights and a crack running over his right eye socket. You were beginning to wonder why there were so many of them that had some form of crack to their skull. He had a black, Harrington jacket with a red bandana tied around his neck. His gloves were a dark red. Montserrat looked you over and from his sneer, it felt like you failed whatever mental assessment he was making on you. You were starting to want to back out of this introduction thing but there were only a few of them left.

Verdana skipped over Sweynheim, then himself, you, Blackadder until he landed on the skeleton sitting next to him, “FINALLY, WE HAVE-”

“AND WHY WAS I INTRODUCED LAST!?” the last skeleton barked, making Verdana blink.

“IT WASN’T INTENTIONAL!” He hastily replied.

The skeleton huffed, “I’LL INTRODUCE MYSELF THEN! HUMAN,” his eye lights snapped to you. You were immediately intrigued by his eyes. They were, admittedly maybe tied with Verdana's shape shifting eye lights, the most interesting pair yet! He had heterochromia, one of his eye lights white with three intersecting triangles inside of it while the other was a mauve coloured and triangle shaped, having the same three intersecting triangles as his other eye except the middle triangle was blacked out. His left eye socket had a fairly deep crack at his top and he had little nicks on the outer edges of his eye sockets. He had on a black, denim vest with flurred arm holes as if the sleeves had been ripped off. It had a bunch of silver studs running along the chest. He had a pale purple, slightly tattered bandana, black, long sleeve shirt beneath the vest and dark purple gloves on. He pointed a thumb to his chest, his grin wide and showing off his sharp teeth. “I’M THE MALEFECIENT RADIS! IT WOULD DO YOU BEST TO FEAR ME AND STEAR CLEAR OF MY PATH UNLESS YOU’RE LOOKING TO SUFFER! TERRIBLY! NEH HEH HEH HEH!”

You barely made out the sound of Verdana scoffing under his breath. You guessed Radis fell under the more bark than bite category as well. Still, he partially had his wish. Though rather than fear, you felt tense since he was a new face much like most of the monsters here. You decided to simply nod and Radis looked satisfied with your perceived compliance as he settled down, humming under his breath. You let out a quiet, shaky sigh, forcing your shoulders to relax. That was more than enough socialising for you already.

“hey, pretty lady, should probably get to eatin’ before your food gets cold,” Blackadder pointed out,

“R-right,” you muttered, picking your taco up. It sparkled, the shimmers shifting as you examined it. Yep, certainly looked even more appealing when it shone. You took a bite and smiled. It definitely tasted worth all the effort the two skeletons put into it. The dissolving part dissuaded you from thinking of getting a second helping but you could at least enjoy the one you currently had. You could hear conversation being carried out around you. The louder skeletons didn’t bother keeping their voices down so it was easy to over hear some of the one sided conversation happening if you paid attention to them. You needed to really focus to hear the responses from the quieter skeletons.

“SO,” Verdana spoke up. You glanced at him to see he was fully focused on Hadriatic. You peaked over at Papyrus who was now just as focused on him as well. So he was the skeleton they were trying to prove themselves to.

Hadriatic looked away from Impact and looked even more irritated than before at having whatever he was saying be interrupted, “WHAT?”

“TELL US WHAT YOU THINK OF OUR DINNER,” Verdana pressed on, not the least bit intimidated by that scowl on his face. Even if they may be related, you still mentally applauded him for not looking the least bit rattled by it. You stifled a snicker at the unintentional pun you made and wondered if you should share it later.

“I EXPECT NOTHING LESS THAN SPECTACULAR ON YOUR EVALUATION OF OUR MASTERPIECE,” Papyrus said.

Hadriatic sneered and you found it interesting he could pull of that facial expression with a lack of lips. “IT’S DECENT, AT BEST. I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU PERSIST IN ADDING THAT EDIBLE GLITTER CRAP TO EVERY MEAL YOU MAKE BUT AT LEAST YOU GAINED ENOUGH BRAIN CELLS NOT TO USE CRAFT GLITTER NOW.” Your eyes widened. They actually did use craft glitter in food?! You looked at Verdana for any sign it was true but he was too focused on Hadriatic to notice. “THE MEAT ISN’T BURNED THIS TIME, THANK FUCK, BUT NEXT TIME GET A LEANER MEAT LIKE THE BRAND I’M CERTAIN I SAID YOU SHOULD GET,” his eye sockets narrowed and Papyrus pouted while Verdana avoided eye contact. “AND CUT BACK ON THE OIL, THE GREASE IS MAKING ME WANT TO GAG BUT I’LL TAKE THIS OVER THAT GRILLBY SLOP.”

“NYEH! THAT’S BARELY A COMPLIMENT,” Papyrus frowned, dissatisfied.

“IT WASN’T MEANT TO BE. IF YOU WANT TO BE BABIED, ASK ONE OF THEM,” Hadriatic pointed to Comic and Swey, “I HAVE NO DESIRE TO MAKE YOU FEEL YOUR NOW MEDIOCRE COOKING SKILLS ARE ANYTHING OTHER THAN MEDIOCRE. BE GRATEFUL I’M EVEN EATING IT.”

The two cheerful skeletons didn’t look very happy with his assessment and you felt bad on their behalf. They really did try hard from what you had seen.

You heard a “MFU FU FU,” and looked to see it was Helvetica. “IT SEEMS YOU’VE LEARNT TO EASE THE BLOW ON YOUR CRITISMS, HADRIATIC. COULD YOU BE GOING SOFT?”

That was him going easy on them?! “SOFT?!” the accusation made Hadriatic slam a fist on the table, making you jump and let out a squeak in the back of your throat that was thankfully covered by the various items on the table clattering and he began getting up. “I’LL SHOW YOU SOFT!”

“woah, boss,” Impact spoke, quickly reaching an arm out to stop Hadriatic from trying to get up. Helvetica simply looked amused from Hadriatic’s anger, his smile smug. “how about we jus' keep eatin’, wouldn’ wan’ i' gettin’ cold, right?”

“HUH?!” Hadriatic growled at him.

“Seconded,” Agfiustor spoked up, his voice soft, “It Would Be A Shame Wasting Such Good Food.” Papyrus and Verdana both had sparkly eyes at the compliment.

“atic,” Comic said simply but you could hear the warning in his tune. It was the same tune a parent used when their child was being out of line.

Hadriatic looked ready to argue some more but clamped his mouth shut. He hit the table once more with considerably less force, sending one more glare at Helvetica before returning to eating, a lot more aggressively than before.

“What The Hell Did The Table Do To You,” you barely heard someone grumble, you assumed it was Montserrat.

Impact relaxed, slumping down into his seat. You sat stiffly in your chair, thankful that whatever fight that almost occurred had been safely de-escalated. You were awful with conflict.

You felt a poke at your shoulder, making you look to Blackadder, “heh, maybe i should be calling you ‘pretty mouse’ instead,” Blackadder chuckled, making you realise your little squeak hadn’t gone unnoticed.

You felt embarrassed but you could still laugh softly, “Haha, very funny,” you replied just loud enough for him to hear. You hesitated before asking, “Is that... a regular thing?”

“nah,” he said. You expected him to leave his answer there but he continued, “usually they end up actually fightin’. guess atic’s in a good mood.”

“I-I see,” you replied. You dreaded to imagine what he was like in a bad mood.

“don’t worry, even if they did throw down, you’ll be safe behind these babies,” he said, raising his arm and doing the weakest arm flex you’d ever seen. “kerchow.”

You snorted, bringing a hand up to your mouth when you noticed a few heads turning to look your way. You slide a little down your chair, face burning. Now it was Blackadder’s turn to snort and you lightly elbowed his side.

“ARE YOU OKAY, FRIEND?” Verdana asked you and you nodded, your, “Mhm,” a little too squeaky for your taste. You could feel the amusement from Blackadder. You cleared your throat.

“Y-yeah, I’m okay, thank you,” you said, straightening up in your chair. Verdana looked doubtful from your response so you decided to change the topic, “Um, the tacos really are good!”

That did it. He beamed, eye-lights turning to those adorable stars of his, “YEAH, YOU THINK SO?” You nodded, taking a bite of the taco and smiling sincerely at him and from the taste and his shoulders did a little happy shimmy. “OF COURSE YOU LIKE IT! IT WAS MADE BY THE MAGNEFICENT VERDANA! AND PAPYRUS, TOO...” The hasty acknowledgement of his co-chef made you giggle.

“DON’T MAKE ME SOUND LIKE AN AFTERTHOUGHT,” Papyrus called from the other side of the table.

Verdana laughed, “SORRY, YOU SLIPPED PASTA MY MIND!”

Several skeletons snickered while a few others groaned. Papyrus pointed at him, “TO QUOTE WHAT SWEYNHEIM HAS SAID, HEARD IT BEFORE! LESS THAN SIX HOURS AGO! NEW MATERIAL!”

Radis groaned, leaning his head back, “OF ALL THE THINGS YOU COULD SAY!”

“DON’T ENCOURAGE HIM,” Monteserrat chastised.

Papyrus put his arms up in an X, “THAT WASN’T MY INTENTION!”

“holup, let ‘im cook,” Black said, bringing a hand up and you snickered and Rusch choked on the barbecue sauce he was drinking and he brought the bottle down with his face turned downward, his shoulders shaking in amusement. You also noticed Parix mirroring his posture and silent laughter, a hand brought up to his mouth. Seemed memes were included in their joke repertoire.

Verdana seemed to take that as a challenge as he stretched out his arms to mock crack his knuckles in front of him, “ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I’M FEELING PRETTY SAUCY RIGHT NOW! LET’S SEE HOW MANY PUNS I CAN DISH OUT BEFORE THIS DINNER IS WRAPPED UP!”

“ramen to that, verd, peach,” Comic snickered, lifting a bottle of ketchup before taking a hearty swig of it. Were the condiments just there to be used as drinks? Looking around, you noticed that, yes, definitely seemed that way. Beside Comic and Rusch, Impact had the mustard bottle close to his own plate, Swey had the honey bottle up to his mouth, you only now notice the sweet chili bottle Black had been fiddling with, Parix had the can of whipped cream and Eras just had an open can of tomato puree.

Radis pointed an accusatory finger at Papyrus, “NOW LOOK WHAT YOU’VE STARTED!”

“LIKE I SAID-”

“PEACH? GUESS YOU COULD CALL ME PASTA VERDANA,” he chuckled, “I AM APPLE-SOLUTELY READY TO SHARE MY PEAR-FECT PUNS WITH THE WORLD! BUT JUST YOU GUYS AS MY AUDIENCE FOR NOW WILL HAVE TO DU-RIAN THOUGH.”

Swey tapped the table, his plate, then empty glass next to it with the back of his fork in a “bu-dum-tss,” fashion.

“RAH, IF I HAD EARS THEY WOULD BE BLEEDING FROM THIS TORTURE,” Hadriatic grumbled.

“it’s driving you coco-nuts, huh,” Impact joked much to Hadriatic and several other skeletons’ annoyance.

“I AM GOING TO SMOTHER YOU IN YOUR SLEEP,” Hadriatic said in such a deadpan tone that it sounded more funny than scary.

After a momentary pause, Comic snorted, “well, that’s nut good.”

“nut very cash-ew money of ya,” Black added. Once again, the meme lovers burst into noticeably louder laughter than everyone else. You could already feel the tears coming in with how much you were laughing and felt like you were going to start crying with how rapid all the jokes were being brought out.

A chair being pushed back caused the punning to come to a halt. “I AM NOT GOING TO SUBJECT MYSELF TO THIS,” Montserrat declared, holding his empty plate, “THE FOOD WAS ADEQUATE.”

Radis stood up as well, his smile changing to look like a smile Verdana would make, “WELL! I WAS HAVING A GOOD DAY,” his smile dropped to a scowl, “UNTIL YOU NUMBSKULLS DECIDED TO ROT MY MIND WITH THESE TASTELESS PUNS!”

“rot?” Black rose an eye-ridge, smirking.

“tasteless?” Swey made the same expression. You could have confused them for brothers.

You could practically see the loading circle appear in front of Radis’s forehead before he let out a loud, and aggravated, “ARGH!” as he waved his hand in the air as if trying to fan the comedic atmosphere away from him, “SHUT UP!” and with that, he stomped his way to the kitchen. Montserrat huffed, looking disapprovingly at the smirking skeletons in the room before following suite.

You were a little surprised to see Eras’ shoulders shaking, breathy laughter leaving his mouth, “looks like you... spoilt their fun,” he wheezed out.

“SPOILT. EXACTLY. THIS HUMOUR IS RANCID!” Papyrus huffed, causing more laughter around the table. That seemed to be Hadriatic’s last straw as he pushed himself out of his spot and stomped out without a word but you barely paid him any mind, too focused on enjoying whatever impromptu comedy session the remaining skeletons had going on.

“Radis Was Right, I Can Feel My Mind Being Tainted,” Agfiustor shook his head, but he didn’t bother hiding the smile on his face like Papyrus was so desperately trying to fight back.

“join the club, aggie,” Eras chuckled, patting Agfiustor’s back.

“actually, maybe we got someone else lookin’ ta join,” Impact said. Through your laughter, you looked over at him and realised he was looking at you, and you straightened up under his gaze. He tilted the mustard bottle’s top your way, “how about it, toots. saw ya bustin' a rib laughin’ over there. got any in ya?”

That got everyone’s eyes on you. Verdana instantly held onto your forearm with one hand while Blackadder leaned close enough that your shoulders were touching, holding his sweet chilli sauce bottle upside down in front of your mouth like a microphone. Having their touch was surprisingly good at keeping your nerves from overwhelming you and the good mood that everyone in the room was in helped as well. Still, your eyes darted around as you thought of a joke you could make that wasn’t too awful.

“Uh...” you swallowed and cleared your throat, not willing yourself to look at any of the eye lights focused on you, and you found yourself staring at Impact’s mustard bottle, then down at Blackadder’s sweet chilli. “Oh! I guess... I can mustard up the courage t-to try ketch... up to being as funny as you all are...?” That delivery was atrocious and you really wanted to hide but a titter made you stop yourself.

“atta girl,” Impact nodded, holding up his mustard. Several of the others followed suite with their own condiment of choice in an impromptu toast, most of them chuckling while Verdana laughed heartily, patting your arm approvingly and Blackadder nudged your shoulder. Impact winked, “that kinda flattery will get ya everywhere.”

You blushed, laughing along with everyone, mostly in relief that your rushed attempt at a pun was received well enough. “cool your jets, impact,” Comic warned before his tone lightened, “wouldn’t want her dip-ping on us so soon.”

“OH, RIGHT... SPEAKING OF,” Verdana tapped his jaw, looking at you, “DO YOU NEED TO BE HOME AT A CERTAIN TIME?”

“want her out so soon, verd?” Black asked, to which Verdana sputtered.

“OF COURSE NOT! I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF I SHOULD BE KEEPING AN EYE SOCKET OUT FOR THE TIME.”

You considered how long you felt comfortable staying, shaking your head. “I don’t... really need to be home by a certain time.”

“GREAT!” Verdana cheered, “THEN WE CAN HANG OUT MORE!”

“yeah, that sounds fun,” Blackadder piped up and Verdana’s eye lights focused on him, the confusion clear on his face.

“O-OH, YES! THE MORE THE MERRIER!” he nodded, smile returning. He stood up and tugged at your arm until you stood up as well. Blackadder followed you two, sticking close to your other side “COME ON, LET’S GO TO THE LIVING ROOM! SINCE WE COOKED, WE DON’T HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THE CLEAN UP! PAPS?”

“YES, THEN I’LL BE JOINING YOU,” Papyrus nodded eagerly, getting to his own feet. He looked back at the skeletons who remained sitting, “AND I CAN TRUST THAT YOU ALL WILL CLEAN UP?”

“really working us hard here, bro,” Comic grinned at the unimpressed expression on Papyrus’s face, “but yeah, don’t worry. go have fun with your new friend.”

“have fun, bro,” Sweynheim called and Verdana gave him a thumbs up.

“THERE CAN BE NOTHING BUT FUN WHEN I’M INVOLVED!” he assured.

Chapter Text

Papyrus led the way to the living room. You took a proper look around the room. There was a large flat screen TV mounted onto the wall. Opposite it was a long L shaped brown couch with a few cushions and a couple of couch throws draped on the back. Adjecent to the couch were a couple of recliners and a little further off to the side were some beanbags. In the middle of the room was a coffee table with some miscellaneous objects in it, little statues, a small potted plant and even a bowl of candy. Overall, a very cosy looking room. Papyrus rubbed at his chin, “BUT WHAT SHALL WE DO...”

“WE COULD WATCH SOMETHING! OR PLAY A GAME...” Verdana gasped, “OR WE COULD GET A PUZZLE OUT TO DO!”

“PUZZLES ARE WONDERFUL FOR STRENGTHENING FRIENDSHIPS! LET’S DO SOME TOGETHER, FRIEND!” Papyrus patted your shoulder. You weren’t too confident in your puzzle solving skills but you nodded anyway. It could be fun. “I’LL GO RETRIEVE ONE THEN! PLEASE MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME! REFRAIN FROM LEAVING YOUR SOCKS ANYWHERE INAPPROPRIATE!” You felt like you were missing some context and Papyrus was already rushing to the stairs without giving you a chance to question it.

“HERE, BERRY, SIT OVER HERE!” Verdana led you over to the couch. You sat down, and immediately felt yourself relax. This had to be the comfiest couch you'd ever sat on. It felt like you could literally just melt into it. It took a moment for the word Verdana used to process in your current couch appreciating mind.

“Berry?” you repeated curiously.

Verdana’s cheeks turned blue slightly, “AH, WELL... I CAN’T HELP ASSOCIATING YOU WITH BERRIES SINCE I HELPED YOU PICK THAT POPSICLE! AND, YOU’RE... SORRY, IF You’d Rather I Don’t Call You That Then...”

“N-no, it’s fine! I’m just... new to nicknames. I like it,” you smiled at him before tightening your hands into fists determinedly, “Then... I’ll call you...” You didn’t want to call him just Verd, and you already heard Blackadder call him ‘Dana’ so, “Verdy!”

“VERDY!” Verdana bounced a little on his heels, fists pumping up and down a little in front of his chest before he plopped down next to you on the couch, “I LIKE IT!”

“That’s a relief,” you giggled, “It would be bad to call you a nickname you didn’t like.”

“SINCE IT CAME FROM YOU, I DOUBT IT COULD BE A BAD NICKNAME!”

Your heart fluttered in your chest. You rubbed the back of your neck, looking down, “I-I’m not sure about... thank you...”

“MWEH HEH HEH!”

“well, what about me, pretty mouse,” Blackadder sat down on your other side and leaned against your shoulder to further get your attention, “got any cute nicknames for me?”

“You’re sticking with mouse now?” you pouted a little. Blackadder smirked.

“feels fittin’,” he said, his words dragging slightly. His eye socket seemed to glow for a split second before it was gone, “now come on, gimme one, too. you two are makin’ me feel lonely over here.”

“DON’T FORCE ONE OUT OF HER! IT’S NOT LIKE I ASKED FOR ONE,” Verdana chastised him.

You tried thinking of a fitting one for him. What kind of nickname could you make from Blackadder? Adder? “Addie...?” Maybe you shouldn’t focus so much on his name? Nicknames didn’t have to come from names if the fact that he was now calling you ‘mouse’ was any indication. So maybe... something from his love for sweet chili? “Sweet... ie?” You felt him tense beside you and you cringed. “No... that’s not... hmm...” For some reason, your mind went to another name you had heard him be called, “Stud...?” Blackadder let out a loud ‘pffft’ before letting out a several breathy laughs while Verdana looked appalled you’d use that. “H-huh? Is... is that actually a weird word for you guys or...?”

“i mean, i wouldn’t mind you calling me that, mousey,” he smirked.

“IT’S NOT... BAD BUT...”

“I CALLED HIM THAT CAUSE HE WAS ACTING LIKE A DOG.” The three of you jumped and turned to face an amused Helvetica, hands interlocked and resting on the back of the couch as he stood behind it. Parix was standing behind him, a hand fiddling with one of his hoodie’s strings while he kept throwing glances at your little group.

“Huh?” you asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“INTERESTING FACT, MALE DOGS DON’T HAVE AN OFFICIAL TERM OTHER THAN ‘DOG’ BUT STUD IS OFTEN USED TO REFER TO ONE. IT FEELS QUITE FITTING IN MY OPINION. THOUGH I DON’T STRICTLY USE IT FOR JUST HIM, I’D BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO HEAR YOU USE IT IF YOU WISH. MFU FU FU,” he chortled at the end.

“O-Oh...! I-I’ll keep thinking on one then...” you muttered. You definitely didn’t want to call him that.

“oh well, it was worth a shot to ask,” Blackadder shrugged, looking pretty indifferent to not getting a nickname.

You slumped slightly, “Sorry.”

“knock knock.”

You rose an eyebrow, “Who’s... there?”

“tit.”

You choked and Verdana stuttered over several words that sounded like he was trying to reprimand him. Blackadder simply made a rolling motion with his hand for you to continue the joke.

“... t... tit who?”

“don’t worry ‘boutit.” He brought a hand up to ruffle your hair and a squawk left your mouth causing the two skeletons by your side to start laughing. You pouted, smacking his hand away. You knew your hair was probably ruined now and could only attempt to fix it as best you could with your hands.

“Okay, I’ll let... tit drop,” you joked back. Blackadder laughed while Verdana let out an overly scandalized gasp, hand brought up to his mouth and clutching his pearls. You heard a snort behind you and could only guess it was Parix since Helvetica hadn’t seemed that interested in this little comedy show at all.

Papyrus returned with a large box in his arms. “I... COULDN’T PICK A SINGLE PUZZLE,” he admitted as he made his way over and dropped the box down onto the coffee table, “SO, WE SHALL CHOOSE SOME TOGETHER!”

“GREAT IDEA, PAPS!” Verdana exclaimed, moving to sit closer to the edge of the couch to have a better look in the box. You could make out quite a lot of doo-hickeys and thingamabobs that didn’t look like any puzzle you’d ever seen. You did spot a rubik's cube or two in there.

“FEEL FREE TO TRY ANY OF THEM OUT, FRIEND,” Papyrus insisted. You took his advice and pulled one out at random. It looked like a wooden box with several layers of wood. The top layer had a small square in the middle and four triangles surrounding it. “AHH, THE SHUTTER BOX! A PERFECT FIRST PUZZLE TO WARM UP!”

You examined the box. You couldn’t see any buttons or things you could push. You glanced at Verdana, who had gotten out a box that had all kinds of wooden gears and things attached to it. It looked right out of a steam punk game. He already looked to be completely focused on solving it, a semi transparent, blue tongue sticking out of his mouth. You had noticed hints of colour in their mouths before but this was your first time seeing one of the skeletons’ tongue out. It resembled, if you could compare it to anything... maybe a slightly more transparent jelly?

“mousey, your puzzle’s down here,” you snapped your head away from Verdana, your face flushing at having been caught staring. Luckily, it wasn’t by said monster but seeing Blackadder’s silent amusement at your embarrassment definitely put him as the second worst skeleton to have caught you. His voice lowered, “if ya curious, i’d be more than willin’ to show ya mine,” you’re eyes widened as you watched him slowly start slipping out a pale, purple tongue. Yep, definitely looked like some kinda jelly tongue! You could only stared at it for a few seconds before you looked away, mentally screaming and face burning. Why was that making you feel hot inside?!

“I-I’m, uh, I’m good,” you muttered.

“ah, well. when you’re up for it, I’m always up for a physical demonstration if you need one.” You chocked, slapping a hand against his arm and causing him to chuckle.

“HMMM,” oh no, you had forgotten they were even there for a moment. They had been so quiet that you thought they simply walked away by now. Did they see all that?! Helvetica walked around to stand in front of coffee table, pointing at the box, “MAY I...?”

“GO RIGHT AHEAD! IT’S EVERYONE’S PUZZLE BOX!”

Helvetica gave him a small nod in gratitude before picking a rubik's cube from the box, except it was a 4x4. You couldn’t even solve a 3x3 so the very idea of having to solve that one was harrowing. Helvetica settled himself down onto the recliner as he began shuffling it, back straight, legs crossed and- oh no, he was wearing a different pair of high heeled boots. You wouldn’t be surprised if you actually were exuding smoke from your ears with how hot your face felt. These skeletons were gonna be the death of you! To avoid being caught staring again, you moved your attention down to the puzzle in your hand. You caught Rusch walking, or to be more accurate dragging his feet, into the room followed closely behind by a shuffling Parix. Rusch sat down on Blackadder’s other side with Parix settling next to him, sitting on the bend of the couch. You tried pushing down on the square but when that didn’t yield any results, you tried twisting the different levels of the box and-

“Ah,” it twisted! The triangles turned as you twisted the second wooden block level, now letting you pull out the little square in the middle. When you did, a little paper was wedged inside. Curiously, you pulled it out and unfolded it.

‘GREAT JOB! YOU’VE MANAGED TO SOLVE HALF THE PUZZLE’ and there was a little drawing of Papyrus smiling. You held back a little ‘aw’ at how cute it was. You folded the paper up again and placed it back in it’s spot but didn’t put the square back in.

“GREAT JOB SO FAR, FRIEND!” Papyrus cheered, exactly like his note. Even his expression looked similar!

“Thank you,” you smiled sincerely at him.

“she has managed to get to the half way point, folks,” you peaked over at Blackadder, who had a fist held up to his mouth like he was holding a microphone. He was even talking clearer to sound like a commentator. “she seems to be taking the slow and steady approach here.”

“could cost her, ben,” Rus joined in.

“Ben...?” you repeated softly, smile tugging at your lips at whatever little game the two were playing. You half heartedly continued fiddling with the box as you listened in to their commentary.

“you got that right, ryan, but maybe this is a new world record breaking strategy we’re seeing here right before our eye sockets,” Blackadder nodded. “let’s hear what our resident puzzle master has to say.” He turned his invisible mic over to Papyrus. Papyrus cleared his throat.

“WELL, I BELIEVE SHE WOULD BE ABLE TO FOCUS BETTER,” his eye ridges lowered but his smile was still in place, “IF YOU DIDN’T TRY DISTRACTING HER LIKE THIS!”

“that’s what he had to say. ryan, any commentary on that?”

“... nah,” he drawled.

“oop, judging by the stars in his eyes, puzzle master, vince meet, is close to completing his own puzzle.” Verdana definitely looked like he was close to finishing the puzzle. You couldn’t make heads or tails of what was different about it so couldn’t guess how close he was by looking at it but his starry eyes and the way he was bouncing a little in his seat as his hands fiddled with several knobs on the box gave it away.

“of course, he’s not a knob-ice in this sport,” Blackadder chuckled. You were now way more invested in seeing Verdana complete his puzzle that finishing your own. His hands worked swiftly, turning the knobs around a bit more before pulling at a different panel of the box. He turned the box over and pulled at something else and a ‘click’ noise sounded. He flipped the now unlocked part of the box open and confetti burst out.

“YES!” Verdana cheered, tossing the box onto the couch and jumping to his feet, arms spread wide to enjoy the shower of confetti raining down on him. You eagerly applauded him.

“and he did it, lady and gentleskeletons,” Blackadder announced, miming clapping his own hands, “vince meet managed to complete his, what, 500^th puzzle? and what good showmanship from our runner up for applauding her opponent.”

You looked at him questioningly, “Opponent? It wasn’t a race though?”

“what a good sport about it, too. she’s right. it isn’t about the race but having fun with it.” Rusch nodded at Black’s words, wiping away at an invisible tear at his eye.

You snickered, rolling your eyes. “Fine, fine... congratulations, Verdan- Verdy. Good game.” You noticed that the confetti on the floor was beginning to fade away. Was it magical confetti? That wouldn’t be surprising.

“YOU FAUGHT VALIENTLY, BERRY! IT WAS TOO BAD YOU WERE PAIRED AGAINST ME!” You playfully shoved him for that, causing him to stumble a little but his laughter eased your worries of offending him before they could even rise up.

“to sum up his words in two letters, ez,” Black snickered. You gave him a mock glare to which he held his hands up in surrender.

“WELL DONE, VERD! I EXPECTED NOTHING LESS,” Papyrus exclaimed, joining the applause.

“OF COURSE, OF COURSE!” Verdana beamed, bringing a hand to his chest before bowing exaggeratedly, “THIS VICTORY GOES OUT TO ALL MY FANS!”

You heard a whistle from behind you. Sweynheim’s head was peaking out from the doorway to the kitchen, fingers held up to his mouth as he whistled again. Verdana shot finger guns his way which Sweynheim returned before he turned and walked back into the kitchen and Verdana plopped back down onto the couch, picking the puzzle up to presumably reset it. Okay, this family was just a lot of fun!

You looked down at the puzzle in your hands again, twisting it around a bit more. You felt the puzzle shift a little in your hands, “Oh...!” and tried pulling it apart. It split in half pretty easily and a little burst of confetti burst out. You grinned as the confetti rained down, glimmering. “I did it...!”

“INDEED YOU DID, FRIEND! WONDERFUL!” Papyrus cheered.

“and the crowd goes... close to wild,” Blackadder announced, “our runner-up has completed her puzzle. even if she hasn’t won, that smile is enough to make her the winner in our hearts.”

“... i feel like i won seeing such a cute smile,” Rusch muttered barely loud enough for you to hear, a dusting of maroon appearing on his cheeks, eye sockets half lidded. That was the most you heard him speak and of all the things for him to say... You face flushed and you laughed awkwardly as you fiddled with the puzzle box in your hands. You were suddenly pulled into a side hug by Verdana, causing you to squeak.

“YEAH, WINNERS!” he cheered, pumping his other fist in the air. You giggled, wrapping your own arm around his shoulders.

“Winners!”

“aw, c’mon, lemme join in the celebratin’,” Black drawled, his speech returning to normal as he slumped against you. You stiffened, feeling the soft fabric of his hoodie and that scent of sweet chili and something smokey flooded your nose. Even more butterflies fluttered in your stomach.

“NO, WINNERS ONLY,” Verdana huffed. You noticed Helvetica standing from his seat, walking over to the box, holding up his completed rubik's cube. You were definitely impressed and a little disappointed you didn’t get to see him solving it.

“THIS CLASSIFIES ME AS A WINNER, NO? THEN YOU WOULDN’T MIND IF I JOINED IN.”

“AH, WELL... SORRY, VET, YOU WEREN’T PART OF THE COMPETITION SO...” Verdana trailed off, looking to the side and shrugging with a ‘what can you do?’ expression.

“hey now, if anyone decides who is in the competition, it’s the commentators,” Black piped up, he brought his invisible mic up, “and what does my co-host roger have to say about it?”

“preeetty sure he was in,” Rusch replied.

Verdana let out a sound very similar to, “GACK-”

You furrowed your eyebrows, “Wasn’t his name Ryan?”

“middle name,” Rusch waved it off.

You stifled a laugh, "Alright... Mr Ryan Roger... ”

“and what does our co-co-host, peter, have to say?” Black said, tilting his microphone in Parix’s direction. He definitely looked a lot more at ease now, even if he was now fiddling with his hoodie sleeves having everyone looking over at him.

“... in,” he said, his voice soft and lighter than you expected it to sound.

“there we go. and since he did complete his puzzle, helter skeltor is entitled to join in the victory.”

Helvetica grinned victoriously, gliding over to Verdana’s other side and sat beside him. Helvetica reached an arm behind him and his gloved hand brushed against your neck light enough to tickle, making you instinctively bring a hand up to rub at the spot he touched. His hand rested on your shoulder and pulled you closer, squishing you into Verdana, who ended up squishing into Helvetica. You almost ended up stumbling into Verdana’s lap but righted yourself but your moment of unbalance caused Blackadder to end up tumbling into your lap and Rusch ended up replacing his place against your side. You blushed as he rose and lowered his eye ridges at you a couple of times.

“GROUP HUG?” Papyrus exclaimed, “AND I’M NOT PART OF IT? I THINK NOT!” He jumped to his feet and rushed to the back of the couch, you had to tilt your head back to watch him. He threw his arms out and swooped down like a bird of prey coming down to capture it’s victim. His head squished between yours and Verdana’s and he had his hands on Helvetica’s and Rusch’s shoulders and squeezed everyone together. You felt like a sardine in a can. With very warm, kind of comfy, sardine fish bones... Wow, that was a bad comparison.

He let go and you all came apart. “AS I SAID, FRIEND, THE SHUTTER PUZZLE BOX WAS A GOOD WARM UP BUT IT CAN’T BE THE ONLY ONE YOU DO BEFORE YOU LEAVE!” Papyrus said, stepping around to the front of the couch, looking through the box before pulling one out, “OO! OO! TRY THIS ONE!” He placed a different puzzle box into your hands before taking another one out. “AND I’LL BE THROWING MY OWN SCARF INTO THE RING AND SOLVE ONE MYSELF!”

“ISN’T THE METAPHOR ‘THROW YOUR HAT IN...?’” Verdana asked.

Papyrus looked confused, “BUT... I DON’T HAVE A HAT ON?!”

Verdana’s mirrored his confused expression, “I...” he shook his head, laughing a bit, “YOU’RE NOT WRONG.”

“I SUPPOSE I STILL HAVE TIME... WHY NOT, I’LL JOIN THIS LITTLE COMPETITION MYSELF,” Helvetica shrugged, holding his hand out and Papyrus tossed him one.

Verdana grinned playfully, “THAT MEANS I CAN’T BE LEFT OUT! I NEED TO MAINTAIN MY POSITION ON THE FIRST PLACE PODIUM!”

“YOU’RE SIMPLY KEEPING IT WARM FOR MY OWN SOON TO BE VICTORY!” Papyrus’s eyes narrowed, his grin looked completely confident in himself.

“I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!”

“GOOD! THE LONGER YOU’RE WATCHING ME, THE LONGER YOU’LL BE LOOKING AWAY FROM YOUR PUZZLE, THE MORE TIME I HAVE TO COMPLETE MINE!”

“oh boy, seems our competitors are trash talking,” Black spoke up, “this is the kinda fire we love to see. Isn’t that right, my fellow co-hosts?” Rusch let out a, “woooo,” with the enthusiasm of a deflated balloon while Parix wordlessly pumped his fist up and down in the air, his hand barely reaching higher than his chin at its highest point. You laughed softly under your breath. The three other puzzle solvers seemed to have a fire in their eyes but you were happy taking a more relaxed approach since you did not want to try getting competitive against these very experienced puzzle solvers.

“PUZZLE SOLVING COMPETITION?!” You jumped at the sudden exclamation. You looked back and there was Radis, wild grin on his face, “WITHOUT ME?"

Chapter Text

Radis let out a few loud guffaws, “NEH HEH HEH! IT SEEMS YOU TWO ARE SMARTER THAN I GIVE YOU CREDIT FOR! YOU KNEW INCLUDING ME WOULD BRING YOUR INEVITABLE LOSS!”

Papyrus and Verdana looked offended at the accusation, “WE CAN PUZZLE SOLVE CIRCLES AROUND YOU!”

“NEH HEH HEH! PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS THEN!”

Black lifted his head slightly off your lap. “money? is this a bet i’m smellin’?”

“METOPHARICAL MONEY,” Radis amended, waving a dismissive hand in his direction. You swore you heard Black whimper as he settled back down again. Radis had a swagger in his step as he ruffled through the box before pulling out a puzzle that looked about as complex as the ones in Papyrus and Verdana’s hands. “I’M PARTICIPATING IN THIS DUMB COMPETITION AND I WILL PROVE TO YOU AMATAURS WHO’S BOSS!”

“YOU TWO, HM? AM I NOT INCLUDED IN THIS CHALLENGE?” Helvetica asked, Papyrus and Verdana’s complaints sounding in the background.

Radis paused, looking him over before he huffed, “YOU’RE NOT TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY. WINNING AGAINST YOU WOULDN’T BE SATISFYING.”

Helvetica hummed, tilting his head to the side with an enigmatic smile that sent slight guilty shivers down your spine. It was... quite the expression. “CONFIDENT, AREN’T WE?”

“aren’t you all?” Black piped up, bringing up his hand to point at the short skeletons and Papyrus. Rusch and Parix nodded in agreement. He put his hands into a heart sign, “and we love that for y’all.”

Radis stuck his purple tongue out, doing a similar air clearing wave he had done when he left the dining table, “BLEH, YUCK, GAG.” Radis walked over, his eye lights falling to you, “OH, RIGHT. FORGOT ABOUT THE HUMAN.” You’re shoulders tensed under his gaze. His focus moved to the puzzle in your hands and he scoffed, “REALLY, THAT BABY BONE’S TOY?”

“IT’S NOT LIKE YOU WERE AN EXPERT AT PUZZLES RIGHT AWAY!” Verdana instantly came to your defence.

“YEAH, LIKE I SAID, BABY BONE’S STUFF,” Radis snickered and you lowered yourself a little on the couch but couldn’t go much further with Blackadder still on you. He raised his hand slightly and made a motion you could only interpret as ‘simmer down’. Radis clicked his tongue, “PFFT, WHATEVER.”

He walked past you to stand in front of Rusch and stare down at him expectantly. You relaxed having his attention off of you. Rusch looked up at him sleepily for several seconds without moving. It took Blackadder nudging his leg against his to get him to move. He shifted closer to you and Black, the wrong move if Radis’s aggravated grumble was anything to go off of. “BLACKADDER!” Radis snapped with a stomp.

“aye, aye,” Blackadder sat up, coming between you and Rusch before pushing Rusch over to Parix and leaving a big enough space between him and Rusch for Radis to sit. Job done, he immediately slumped back down onto your lap, looking perfectly content to stay right there. Radis glared at Rusch before he looked through the box for a puzzle. Task successful, he sat down beside Black. It was kinda cute he wanted to sit next to his brother. The grumpy scowl on Rusch's face made you feel a bit bad he was forced off his spot but his expression seemed to lighten as Parix patted his shoulder.

“NOW WE CAN BEGIN!” Radis declared. “GET READY TO HAVE YOUR COCCYGES HANDED TO YOU!”

Verdana cackled, “I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!”

“I’D WANT NOTHING MORE THAN YOUR BEST SO MY VICTORY WILL BE ALL THE SWEETER!” Papyrus declared.

“They... sure do get competitive.”

Helvetica leaned forward to meet your eyes, “DELIGHTFUL, ISN’T IT?” he responded to your surprise. Your face flushed when you realised that if he heard you, then the very skeletons you were talking about heard you as well.

They didn’t look bothered by your statement, however. “A LITTLE COMPETITIVE SPIRIT IS NOTHING BAD,” Papyrus waved it off.

Verdana nodded, “IT GETS YOUR MAGIC FLOWING!”

You snapped your fingers, “Oh, I get that... playing versus against someone in a game always got me a little too pumped up, too.” You didn't notice Parix light up a little at the mention of a game.

“EXACTLY!”

“ARGH, CAN WE GET TO IT ALREADY?” Radis barked.

“right, let’s get this thing started then,” Black rose an arm. Radis, Verdana and Papyrus looked ready to get to it while Helvetica looked as relaxed as he has been since he walked in. “go.” With that simple word, their hands got to work, all of them working deftly, twisting and moving their individual puzzles. The puzzle in your own hands remained neglected as you were too focused on seeing how this was going to end. It was honestly amazing seeing how quickly they were all tearing through them. Verdana, Papyrus and even Radis had their tongues sticking out of the mouths in concentration. You internally cooed at how oddly cute they looked.

You noticed Rusch and Parix softly talking to each other before Rusch pulled out his phone and held it up. It looked like he was recording the competition. Almost as soon as he had his phone out did all four of them slam their puzzles down onto the coffee table, confetti shooting out of them all.

“DONE!”

“DONE!”

“DONE!”

“FINISHED.”

“They all finished at the same time?!” you said in shock.

“NO, I WAS FIRST!”

“IT WAS DEFINTIELY ME! I PUT MINE DOWN FIRST!”

“WOW, ARE YOU BOTH DAFT?! I WAS FIRST!”

“yup, that sounds ‘bout right,” Blackadder shrugged. He held a hand out and Rusch placed his phone onto it. Blackadder slowly sat up as he tapped on the screen a bit and you suddenly found yourself blocked in by several skeletal bodies piling around close to you. Do none of these guys have a concept of personal space?! You decided to focus your attention to Rusch’s phone. The last moments of the race was being played as slowly as the phone’s player could go. Everyone leaned in close as they seemed to solve their puzzles simultaneously and the room went tensely silent as they brought their puzzles down and...

“YES!” Verdana jumped onto the couch, pumping his fists in the air in victory.

“and for the second time tonight, dana has taken the number one spot-”

“REMATCH! REMATCH! I DEMAND A REMATCH!” Radis demanded, shaking his fist at Verdana like some Saturday morning cartoon villain. You had to stifle a laugh. Radis turned to you, eye sockets narrowed, “IS MY LOSS HUMEROUS TO YOU, HUMAN?!” You quickly sobered up, shaking your head quickly and putting your hands up placatingly. Did skeletons have super hearing or something?! Black put his hand up. Radis looked at it, then you, let out a harsh breathe before turning his back on you. You slumped in relief and mouthed a thanks to Black who simply gave you a thumbs up.

“ARGH... MY GOODWILL DEMANDS I BE A GOOD SPORT... BUT! I WANT! A REMATCH! TOO!” Papyrus exclaimed, stomping a foot on the ground at every pause.

Helvetica chuckled, lightly clapping his hands together, “GG, AS YOU KIDS SAY IT THESE DAYS,” Parix’s expression looked like he had eaten a lemon, which caused Rusch and Black to burst into laughter. Helvetica, having had his fun, got to his feet, placed his puzzle aside and clasped his hands behind his back “I’VE STAYED LONG ENOUGH. I SHOULD TAKE MY LEAVE. HAVE FUN IN MY PLACE, PARIX.” Parix made a shooing motion to him, a small smile on his face now at least. Helvetica turned sharply in your direction. “IT WAS A PLEASURE TO GET TO KNOW YOU PROPERLY, MY DEAR,” he said, smiling at you and tilting his head down slightly.

You didn’t think there was much ‘getting to know’-ing that had happened between you but you were glad he didn’t dislike you, at least. You hoped. “It was nice getting to know you, too, H-Helvetica...” you only just realise how long his name was as you said it, your voice softening near the end.

He chuckled, “JUST VET IS FINE. OR ANY NICKNAME YOU WISH TO USE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE.” As everyone bid a good evening to him with various levels of volume, your eyes widened a little.

“Evening? Already?”

“IT HAS GOTTEN QUITE LATE,” Papyrus said. “DO YOU NEED TO BE GETTING HOME SOON?”

You honestly didn’t really want to leave. You liked hanging around these goofy skeletons. But you didn’t want to get home too late. So, you reluctantly nodded. “I... I should go, yeah.”

“awww,” Blackadder pouted, the expression looked funny on him. A phone was brought to your view.

“ya number, cutie?” Rusch winked. You blushed, taking his phone into your hands and putting your number in. You hadn’t talked to him much either but he had been nice so you were willing to keep in contact with him. You handed him back his phone and his hand trailed up yours as he took it, a shiver running down your spine at the light touch, “thanks.”

“OH, CAN I RIDE YOU BACK TO YOUR APARTMENT WITH MY BIKE?” Verdana asked, tugging at your arm slightly. Your eyes widened, a little excited at the idea of getting to ride a bike.

“It sounds like it’d be fun!” Verdana looked ecstatic at your enthusiasm, his eye lights going starry. But they changed back to circles as you examined the skeleton still on your person.

“COME ON, BLACK, BERRY NEEDS TO GO HOME.”

“nooo, i’m so comfy here,” Blackadder whined, nuzzling into your lap. You tensed, your face becoming hot and goosebumps popping up on your skin. Verdana got to his feet and pushed him off of you with ease. He didn’t seem to be fighting against it as he simply slumped into the couch. You felt cold now without that boney heater on your lap. Verdana unintentionally helped by pulling you to your feet and looping his arm with yours, keeping you close.

“... it was nice getting to spend the day here,” you said.

“was nice havin’ ya, cutie,” Rusch said.

“AGREED! I HOPE THIS IS THE FIRST VISIT OF MANY,” Papyrus grinned.

“i’ll be seeing ya soon, mousey,” Black winked, reminding you of your planned meet up later.

You looked over at Parix, who kept glancing over at you then the floor. You gave him a wave and he stiffened before relaxing a little and gave you one back. Your smile widened. You glanced at Radis who only looked back at you with a flat expression. You simply looked away. At least he didn't say anything rude in farewell.

Now that everyone in the room had their chance to say their good byes, Verdana eagerly lead you back outside. The sun was beginning to set. You enjoyed the sight of the beautiful, blue to orange gradient sky before you were taken into the garage. Verdana got the groceries you had bought from Papyrus’s car. He placed them beside his bike before walking off to the other side of the garage and returning with a case. He attached it onto the back of the bike and popped it open. He packed your groceries inside and closed it, giving it a pat.

“SO, TELL ME WHERE WE’RE HEADING,” he asked.

“The... the apartment complex near the grocery store? Um, from the exit we took, take a left and go straight. I don’t think you can miss them.”

“I KNOW IT! GOT IT!”

He rushed back over to the other side of the garage and returned with two motorcycle helmets. One matched his bike, black with neon blue decorations, the other was simply red with a white stripe down the middle.

“ALRIGHT, LET’S GET YOU ROAD READY,” he handed you the black helmet. You slide it over your head. It felt a little loose on you. “OH, HERE LET ME...” Verdana reached out, helping you fix up the straps. You stood stock still as he did. This close, you noticed there was a faint, black circle line in his eye lights and and a pupil. His eyes were really nice to look at... was that because you’d never seen anything like them before? “THERE!” he put on his own helmet before swinging his leg over the bike and sat down with all the ease of an experience biker. Why did that look so attractive? He looked back at you and patted the space behind him. “COME ON!”

You got one leg over it, struggling a little to hop on properly. Verdana helped pull you on. Seeing you safely on, Verdana turned around, getting a pair of keys out of his jacket. “ALRIGHT, MAKE SURE YOU HOLD ON TIGHT.” He patted his sides. You nodded, your heart racing in your chest as you moved a little closer, wrapping your arms around him. “TIGHTER! I’D HATE FOR YOU TO GO FLYING OFF! IT ALMOST HAPPENED TO SWEY. YOU’D THINK THE WIND WOULD GO RIGHT THROUGH HIM. MWEH HEH!” You complied, your front now flush against his back. Oddly, it didn’t feel like you were hugging a skeleton. It felt... like a back, not a spine. Even the part your hands were around felt a little more like... flesh than... ribs?

The motorbike roared to life. He revved it up, much like Papyrus had in the parking lot earlier. Your heart was now racing for a different reason. You felt anticipation but you were also a little... well, more than a little scared to be going on a motorcycle. Your hold on him tightened.

“YEP, LIKE THAT! KEEP HOLDING ONTO ME AND YOU’LL BE PERFECTLY SAFE!” he said, giving you a cheerful thumbs up before facing forward. The bike revved up once more and then you were moving forward. You kept as tight of a hold on Verdana as you could as he began driving forward. The wind began rushing by you, but Verdana’s body kept you warm and kept the worst of the wind off of you though. Your eyes had been closed tightly at first before you dared yourself to open them. The scenery whizzed by you. You stared at the few other cars that drove by, or rather that Verdana drove past with how fast her was going. It was definitely scary but... adrenaline was flooding in you. You found yourself laughing as you sped down the highway.

“WOOHOO!” you heard him yell, through both your helmets and the wind. You could definitely see how getting to drive a motorbike everyday was hardly something anyone could get tired of fast. Although that little anxious bubble was still in your stomach that you could end up crashing, you still genuinely enjoyed the trip.

All too soon, you passed by the grocery store and then your apartment building was in front of you. The bike slowed to stop, allowing you to, shakily, pull out your keys and press the button to open the gate. Verdana drove in, parking in an empty spot. He helped you off the bike before following suite. He held you steady when you legs felt like jello once you were standing and you were thankful he didn’t show any amusement he could have had seeing you unbalanced. You both pulled off your helmets but when Verdana looked back your way, he tittered, to your confusion.

“Wh-what?”

“NOTHING, NOTHING! JUST...” he pointed to his head and you flushed realising the helmet must have ruined your hair even more. You groaned, trying to smooth down your hair as best you could. As you tried to tame your hair, Verdana got your bags out. “ALRIGHT, LET’S GET THESE TO YOUR APARTMENT!”

“No, it’s okay. I can carry them up,” you reached out for the bags but Verdana kept them out of reach.

“NO! CARRYING THESE BAGS ARE NOTHING FOR ME! WORRY NOT, BERRY!”

“Well... alright... if you insist-”

“I DO!”

“... thank you,” you gave in. There was no way you could try fight against those big, blue eye lights of his. You walked to your apartment, Verdana keeping as close as he could as he examined the area around you. You stopped in front of your door, fiddling with your keys. You hoped that maybe Verdana would be willing to hand the bags over and leave but by the way he bounced on his heels, he was waiting to be let in. Taking in a breath, you unlocked your door and opened it. Your apartment wasn’t that messy, but it was not neat. You hadn’t swept the floor in a few days, and you had left the bowl you had used for breakfast on your couch, you had left the few couch cushions you had on the floor and-

“Well... welcome,” you looked over to Verdana. He didn’t seem bothered by the messiness, he looked to just be examining the place. He took his time getting to the kitchen, placing the bags on the counter.

“IT’S COZY!” that felt like he was just trying to be polite but you appreciated it more than if he was trying to criticise you.

“Thank you. And, thank you for carrying the groceries.”

“YOU ALREADY THANKED ME! NO NEED FOR THAT, IT REALLY WAS NO PROBLEM AT ALL!”

“And, thank you for inviting me to dinner. It was fun,” you smiled.

Verdana’s eye lights turned to stars, “IT WAS FUN FOR ME, TOO! AND A LOT OF THE OTHERS AT HOME, TOO, I’M SURE! I REALLY DO HOPE YOU CAN COME OVER AGAIN! OR WE CAN HANG OUT SOMEWHERE ELSE, TOO!”

You felt warmth in your chest. It was nice having someone want to hang out with you. You didn’t see yourself as too interesting but you were relieved they could find something about you worth having around. “I’d like that. I’m sure lots of things with you would be fun!”

“HEH... WOWZERS, THANK YOU! A-AND OF COURSE, I’M A SKELE-TON OF FUN!” he laughed, you laughed along with him. Mid-laugh, you were pulled into a hug. Your laughter trailed off, heart stuttering in your chest as you returned his hug. The scent of the spaghetti tacos and some other comforting scent of freshly washed clothes wafted off of him. “SEE YOU SOON, BERRY!”

“Bye, Verdy. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you ve... berry soon.” Your pun landed successfully as Berry chortled.

“BERRY SOON, BERRY,” he nodded, letting you go. You walked him out the door and to his bike. He pulled his helmet back on. He turned to look at you and waved energetically at you with his whole arm. You waved just as eagerly back, grinning widely. He started his bike up and tore through the gates and into the night. You usually loved coming to your quiet home but you felt sad at having to go back to that empty house. You walked back up to your apartment, closing the door behind you. You didn’t feel up to cleaning up or putting the groceries away yet. Even if you had really enjoyed the company, you wanted a moment to regain your energy and refill your social energy bar.

You pulled out your phone and upon seeing a message from an unknown number, your eyes narrowed before you smiled when you realised who it was.

‘its rus black keeps tellin me to tell u knock knock jokes so pretend i told u on'

‘omg lol that’s so funny, best joke, 100/10’

A notification popped up for a message from Black.

‘i see how it is, mousey. guess my jokes don’t do it for you anymore [gif]’ Curious, you opened the message and snorted when it was a gif of tigger walking away dejectedly. Another message came in from Rusch.

‘only the best fr u, cutie’

You laughed. Another message came in, from Papyrus this time.

‘FRIEND! I’LL ALREADY HAVE A LIST OF ACTIVITIES WE CAN DO TOGETHER WHEN WE GET TO MEET AGAIN! I’M SURE YOU’RE ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT :D!’

You smiled the whole way through the message. Your little apartment suddenly didn’t feel so empty anymore.

Chapter Text

You groaned as you heard your phone buzz for the umpteenth time on your night stand, waking you up. You didn’t have any alarms set today so why was it vibrating so much?! What time was it? You reached your arm out to grasp at your phone and after a couple of misses, you got a hold of it. You squinted at your screen as you read the digital numbers on your screen. Six thirty five. You scowled a little at just how early it was, ready to put your phone back down and drift back into slumber land but the notifications under the time made you stop. It wasn’t an alarm that was blowing your phone up, apparently, but messages. From the skeletons. Oh! You must have forgotten to turn your phone from vibrate to silence. Getting texts from any of the skeletons you exchanged numbers with wasn’t anything new since the four had all been texting you regularly for the past few days. You opened up your messaging app to see what they sent you this time.

You opened Blackadder’s first. It was a gif of one of those sparkly, over decorated blingee images with flowers, birds and a rainbow, the words ‘Rise and GRIND’ on it. You noted the time it was sent was at five in the freaking morning. He never sent something that early so you wondered why he was up that early. You sent back a similar enough image, finding the most glittery, flowery mess of a good morning gif you could find. It even had a little snake in the corner, so it felt fitting enough to send to him.

Next was Rusch. To your surprise, most of the stuff Rusch sent to you were mostly cute animal videos, pictures or memes. It definitely always made your day a little brighter when he sent one. This time, it was a picture of a kitten with its paws over its ears looking like it was screaming. “I feel you little guy,” you muttered as you sent back one of the dozens of cat crying cat memes you had saved.

You moved onto Papyrus. ‘GOOD MORNING! I HOPE YOU’RE READY TO TACKLE THE DAY! I MOST CERTAINLY AM!’ plus a selfie of himself with a bright smile on his face and a thumbs up. And right under that was a picture of Comic and Impact sitting at the kitchen counter, Comic looking like he was seconds away from face planting into his bowl of cereal while Impact had his mouth open in a yawn. ‘UNLIKE THESE LAZYBONES (￢_ ￢)’ You snickered a little at the image. Thanks to Papyrus, you had a pretty sizeable collection of pictures of the skeletons already. It looked like he liked sharing random moments from the house with you and you liked having a little insider look at what they're like around the house and even outside of it, like the group selfie he took with Verdana as they were making their way to a gym nearby, with Montserrat and Radis in the background. You did notice sometimes there’d be skeletons who didn’t look quite like anyone you met at dinner in the background and wondered just how big their family was.

You typed back a reply, ‘Come on, Papyrus, I think you should go easy on them,’ you felt an evil grin spread on your face as you finished the text, ‘they look bone tired.’ Send. Almost instantly, you received a reply, ‘I AM NOT DIGNIFYING THAT WITH WORDS. INSTEAD, THIS WILL SUFFICE AS MY RESPONCE: (--_--)’ You snickered to yourself. You had to admit, it was a little fun to send him jokes since his response was funnier than any joke you could make. You didn’t think he hated it. You hoped he didn’t, at least. You shook your head. If he did, he would have just stopped texting you. Probably.

Lastly, you opened the one Verdana had sent to you. ‘Morning Berry! I hope you have a filling breakfast and a pawsitively great day!’ Following that was a cute little cartoon dog with its fist in the air. You smiled. Verdana always sent you a nice morning message, usually including a pun. It was a nice thing to see when you woke up. You drummed your fingers on your mattress in thought before you thought of one to send back. ‘Thank you! Hope you have a grrr-reat day today!’ It wasn’t the most creative one in the world but you were pretty proud of it none the less.

You decided you were too awake to go back to sleep now so threw your covers off and got ready for the day. You were pouring milk into your bowl of cereal when your phone buzzed. You looked and it was a message from Rusch.

‘u free today?’

You rose an eyebrow. ‘Yep, i don’t have anything planned’

‘wanna come over’

You blinked. You didn’t expect to be invited over again so soon. ‘Now?’

‘ye’ That incredibly short response got a little huff of amusement out of you. While you would prefer being asked something like this the day before at the latest, you did want to spend more time with almost any of the skeletons.

‘Do i need to bring anything?’

‘nah’

‘Ok, then I’d like to come over then.’

‘k ill pick u up were should i get u’

‘I can get like an uber or something, you don’t have to pick me up’

‘k ill pick u up were should i get u’ He just forwarded his previous message. Looked like he wasn’t budging on this. You didn’t feel too comfortable having someone go out of their way like this but you appreciated it. You really didn’t want to spend more money that you needed to. You relented, sending him your apartment complex’s address. He sent a thumbs up then a, ‘b there in an hourish’. You decided to simply send a thumbs up back. You felt excited to see the skeletons again. You looked down at your comfortable, very much not too be seen outside the privacy of your apartment clothes and cringed. You had to change before they got here! You hurried to change into something a little more presentable and made sure you looked as good as you could without overdoing it.

You finished up your cereal and received another text, but from Blackadder this time. ‘looks like ill be seeing you again before out lil date. lucky me huh’ You stared at the text wide eyed for several seconds, rereading it a couple of times to make sure you weren’t misreading it. Date? What the heck did he mean by date? He hadn’t called it a date when he brought it up before... Was this a joke? Or was he serious? You felt a mix of excitement and something... heavy in your chest as you considered it. Wait! Did he mean a platonic date? Yeah, he probably meant platonic date. The heavy feeling lifted. You couldn’t help feeling slightly disappointed but pushed that feeling back. You barely knew him anyway! No need to rush into anything.

‘Are you gonna be there too?’

‘:3c’ You laughed a little. The image of a tall, sharp toothed, eye patch wearing skeleton typing a kitty text-moji was funnier than it should be.

Once it was nearing about time for them to arrive, you left your apartment with a hop in your step. You stepped through the pedestrian gate and leant against the wall to wait for Rusch to show up, scrolling through random apps on your phone to pass the time and occasionally checking your messenger app to be sure you didn't miss any messages he could have sent you.

A very nice-looking, beast of a dark red car drove to a stop in front of you. The window rolled down and you were met with Black’s face in the passenger seat, Rusch shooting you a two-finger salute from the driver’s seat. They both had matching aviator sunglasses on and cigarettes in between their teeth, smoke practically flowed out the open window. While they both looked cool as hell, you grimaced a little at the smoke but tried not to show your displeasure. Instead, you focused on how you were looking forward to whatever hang out idea they had in mind. Though, you were definitely keeping your window open if you could. Black leaned his arm on the open window, pulling his glasses down his nasal bone to reveal his eye socket and eye patch. Wait, how did he manage to have sunglasses on without ears?

“well, hello there, pretty lil’ mouse,” he grinned, “real cheesed to be seeing you again.”

You laughed, “Cheesed? Then... it’s grate to see you, too.”

He chuckled a little at that. “tail me about it,” he thumbed behind him, “literally. get in. wait, gotta be a gentlemonster here,” Blackadder opened his door and got out. He opened the back seat, and bowed, motioning for you to get it, “after you, milady.”

You giggled, giving him a mock curtsey. As you stepped up to the car, Blackadder offered a hand to you, which you took, heart fluttering a bit when your hand met the smooth material of his glove and felt the hardness of his bones beneath it. The step up into the car was higher than most cars you’d gone in, so the extra help was appreciated. He held onto you firmly as you got in before he let go and closed the door behind you. The car definitely stunk of tobacco so you quickly pressed down the button to open your own window. Neither of them commented on it but left their own windows opened, to your relief.

“make sure to buckle up. hands and head must stay inside carro de monte at all times.” Blackadder instructed as Rusch began driving.

“Monte... so is this Mont... serrat’s..? Car?” You were a little uncertain on the name since you had only heard it a total of one time before.

“yes ma’am,” Blackadder replied, giving you a thumbs up as his other hand searched around him for something. You examined it a bit. It was definitely nice and the last thing you wanted was to mess up Montserrat’s car somehow since he didn’t seem to be very receptive to you when you met so you sat with as proper of a posture as you could, very aware of where any part of your body made contact with the car. Blackadder turned in his seat to face you, another pair of glasses in his hand. “can’t have you being the odd one out here.” He noticed how stiff you were sitting and snorted, “relax, mousey. ain’t no one else here but me and pooch.”

“Right,” you smiled, embarrassed as you lowered your shoulders and tentatively relaxed into the comfy seat. “Wait... pooch?”

“yep,” Blackadder said and did not elaborate. Rusch didn’t seem up to explaining either, so you dropped it, still curious but not up to pushing it if they didn’t feel like explaining it to you.

You took hold of the glasses and slide them on. You looked up at Black, playfully flipping your hair and grinning, “So, how’s it look...?”

Rusch clicked his tongue a couple of times in approval, holding his hand up in an okay sign. You looked up and realised he was looking back at you through the rear-view mirror. “what he said,” Black’s smile widened. He pulled out a lollipop from his hoodie pocket and offered it to you, “a sweetie for the sweetie. close enough to these,” he pointed to his cigarette, “that you can be part of the crew.”

“Oh, thanks,” you took it, looking down at the flavour. Blackcurrant. You let out an exhale in amusement. Well, it certainly fit him. You got the wrapper off and stuck it into your mouth, savouring the sweet taste on your tongue. “Now I’m part of the cool squad.”

“yep, we’re real chill with the application process, mousey.”

You laughed, “That’s ice to know then.” Rusch pressed a button on the audio system and music began playing softly through the car, intense guitar rifts and heavy drumbeats of what sounded like an oldie metal song. Despite the genre, it was pretty slow paced and relaxing to listen to, though you did find yourself bobbing along to it for pretty much the whole ride, and you found it easier to just enjoy the ride.

“So... what are we gonna do when we get there?” you asked curiously.

“nothin’ special,” Rusch said, fingers drumming the stirring wheel a couple of times, “jus' wanted you over.”

“Oh, thank you,” was the only response you could have, cheeks heating up. You felt a little touched that he wanted to simply spend time with you just because. Not knowing what else to say, you stayed silent and Blackadder and Rusch didn’t pick the conversation back up again, but it didn’t feel awkward. It was nice to simply listen to the music and enjoy the ride.

All too soon, you were staring at forest trees whizzing past until the impressive residence of the skeletons came into view. Rusch drove into the garage and once he had parked the car, the three of you got out. You sadly had to hand over the sunglasses. The two put out their cigarettes before guiding you out the garage. You followed them as they walked into the house. The living room was empty and peeking into the kitchen, you caught Hadriatic busying himself with something, but you couldn’t see what it was and didn’t feel like calling out to him in greeting in case he’d rather be left alone. Rusch and Black continued forward to a glass sliding door at the back of the house and walked out. Rusch gestured for you to walk out before him, so you sped up a bit to get outside. Behind the house was a relatively large clearing, there was a decently large sized fire pit with several chairs set up around it and built around the clearing were a few, cozy looking cabins. It looked like a fancy camping ground.

“This place is so nice,” you remarked as the two lead you towards one of the cabins, turning your head this way and that to take it all in. You noticed a little outdoor bin in your path and tossed your lollipop stick into it.

“thanks, if you like it so much, feel free to keep comin’ back,” Blackadder said.

“I’d love to! All this nature is so pretty.”

“what, not for our wonderful company?” Blackadder looked back at you with a pout.

“Oh yeah, that, too,” you giggled.

“eh, i’ll take it.”

“So... all these cabins...?”

“we don’t all live in the lodge, not enough room,” Blackadder explained. “see,” he pointed to a cabin closest to the large house, “that’s where pooch and monte stay,” he moved to the cabin next to it, the one you were walking towards, “that’s vet and parry’s,” he pointed to the cabin closest to the lodge on the opposite side, “and that’s where me and the liege live,” you furrowed your eyebrows at the term. Judging by the last two brother pairs staying together, he probably lives with Radis then. Must be some kind of inside joke nickname or something, “so if you feel like dropping by then the door’s always open.”

“I’ll remember that then,” you laughed little. You looked over to the other cabins he didn’t mention, wondering who lived there.

The three of you stood on the porch of the cabin. Rusch stepped up to the front of the door and knocked.

After a couple of moments of silence, a voice that sounded like Parix’s called from the other side, “who’s there?”

“candice.”

Your head snapped to him. No, there was no way he was going to make that joke, right? There was a pause before the door opened to an unimpressed looking Parix. Rusch grinned, “your supposed tah ‘ask candice who’?”

“... you’ve been around black too long,” Parix murmured.

Blackadder wrapped an arm around Rusch’s shoulders, “that means i’m just a great influence on ‘im.” Rusch chuckled, ducking under his arm and stepping past Parix to get inside. Parix’s eye-lights met your eyes, and he stiffened a bit. Was he not expecting you? You gave your best smile and waved at him, and he waved back, the corner of his mouth tugging up. He looked down and stepped to the side, “come in...” his voice was definitely softer but hey, he was talking to you! That was already a step in the right direction.

“Thank you,” you bowed your head down a little and walked in, examining the place. The inside looked more elegant than the outside did. The walls were painted white with a mostly monochrome colour scheme with modern furniture. There were quite a few eye-catching paintings hung around the room, some abstract, a couple of the forest and one was a red gloved holding a wine glass with red wine in it. The large tv mounted above the fireplace had a video game on that you hadn’t seen before. It was in two player mode if the two faint arrows pointing down on the characters on screen were any indication, with the right character held in a battle stance, holding a large axe at the ready to hit the left character. Seated on the couch was Sweynheim, who turned his head to give you all a grin, “yo.”

“h-hey!” Parix said with slight panic in his tone as hurried back over to the couch, picking up a controller and moving the left character out of the way and pulled out a sword. “... death.”

Swey laughed and made his character ran out the way as Parix’s dashed after him, swinging the sword around like a mad man, “i wasn’t going to actually hit you, c’mon!”

“yeah, get his ass, parry,” Black cheered, plopping down on a different couch. You noticed that Swey had on black tights beneath his shorts unlike before. Rusch sat beside him. You looked between the two couches thoughtfully. Before deciding to sit on one of the armchairs. You barely took two steps away from his direction before Blackadder reached a hand out to you, “noooo, don’t leave me all on my lonesome,” Blackadder called. Rusch looked at him with a raised eye ridge. He spread his arms out, “there’s nobody here.”

You let out an amused exhale, a little embarrassed he made such a big show of trying to get you to sit next to him. You went over to sit next to his free side when Rusch scooted slightly over and patted the spot between them. A part of your mind snickered a bit at the idea of Rusch being so willing to move over for you when he had been so against doing so for Radis.

“i invited ya,” he mumbled, “so i should get to sit next to ya.”

“huh, don’ wanna sit next to me, pooch?”

Rusch’s eye ridges lowered, “thought i was ‘nobody’.”

“i mean, am i wrong?” Blackadder reached over, lifting the shirt to reveal his lower spine and upper pelvis, using his other hand to swipe at the empty space there, “what body?” You quickly averted your gaze. Blackadder was right, there was literally no body there to be getting flustered over looking at, but you still found yourself blushing at the sight of his freaking pelvic bones of all things. Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed Rusch shoving his hand against Blackadder’s face and pushing him back. Blackadder chuckled, bringing his hands up innocently. Rusch huffed at him before looking back at you, raising an eye ridge at you before he smirked. Did he notice how much that little show of bone got you a little hot under the collar? ‘Urgh, bury me now!’ Fortunately, he simply patted the spot for you to sit again without saying anything. You quickly walked over, sitting down on the seat.

“yaaaay,” Blackadder drawled, smiling as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder and brought you closer in a half hug. Your already flushed face felt hotter and your heart sped up a little as he held you close to him for a few seconds before he let go, leaving his arm to rest on your shoulders loosely. Rusch had moved closer, enough for his arm to be pressed against yours and head resting on top of yours. You felt like you were in a skeleton sandwich! It was a good thing the cabin was decently cool cause they were warm. Or maybe that was mostly just your face? You were still surprised at how oddly soft they felt despite just being made of bone. And how touchy they were! Was this a normal thing for them?

“Uh...” You were about to ask but held back, realising it could sound rude.

“no, no, speak ya mind,” Black encouraged. You mentally debated if you should or not before deciding to go ahead and ask.

“I don’t mean this in a bad way but... you guys are really... physical...?”

“heh, you’re soft, cutie,” Rusch said, poking your arm, then your torso, making you jump since you were pretty ticklish.

“skeletons are warm and cuddly so this is a win win,” Blackadder smirked.

“I mean... yeah... but... how? I mean, uh...” Was that rude?

Black lifted his hands up, “magic,” he just jazz hands-ed at you.

Yeah, what else did you expect. You smiled and shook your head, “Yeah, that’s... answer enough.” Anything could be explained away with magic when monsters were involved. You looked over at the screen to watch the two gaming skeletons play.

Parix and Swey were now fighting some kind of orc looking enemy on the screen. Or well, that wouldn’t be completely accurate. “swey, what...?” Parix asked softly, eye ridges lowered and frown on his face. He was actively attacking the orc while Swey was simply moving his character around, sometimes throwing in a crouch or two.

“well, if i actually tried to help i’d just get in your way, so i’ll do something to actually benefit the team,” he crouched down then stood up, throwing several items out in quick succession before going to pick them up and doing it again. “cheer-leading squad. go parry.”

“... you can- you should do that outside the game,” Parix huffed. “actually... don’t do it. at all.”

“man, i don’t know why you don’t just,” Black slide his thumb across his neck, “him already. not like you haven’t proven friendly fire is an issue.”

“... he’s a good... walking inventory box,” Parix mumbled. You stifled a laugh.

“yeh,” Swey grinned. As impressive as Parix’s playing was, it was funny seeing Swey just goof around just far enough away that the orc didn’t attack him.

Black suddenly perked up, “wait, you two gotta do that thing,” he pointed to the screen.

“use your words, black,” Swey said.

Black clicked his fingers together a couple of times, “the, the... uh...”

“c’mon, you can do it.”

“the big, magic spell.”

“an... ultimate attack...?” Parix guessed.

Black pointed at him, “that’s the bitch. yeah, one of you gotta do it.”

“don’t... got enough... mana for it,” Parix pointed out.

“same.”

“boo,” Black pointed at you, “mousey likes sparkly shit so do it for her.” You looked at him in surprise. You had only said that to Verdana and Papyrus.

“How did you know I like sparkly stuff?”

“saw how you were lookin’ at that sparkly taco,” he said, “guessed. turns out i~i was right then.”

He chortled proudly to himself. You were a little surprised he could tell that just from how you looked at your food. He had to be really perceptive. “Huh... yeah, you were. Wait... is that why you keep sending those blingee gifs so much now?” He just chortled some more.

Rusch pointed to the screen, “do it.”

The two players looked at each other. Parix’s game character pulled out some kind of potion that he consumed. He charged up and unleashed a large blast at the orc. It could definitely be described as sparkly. It looked like the battlefield had been engulfed in bright stars and the black inky sky.

“Oh, that is pretty,” you smiled, watching the attack with wide eyes as you clapped.

“hell yeah, ya welcome, mousey.”

“i’m the- i did the attack,” Parix huffed lightly.

“Uh... thank you both then,” you said, “... mostly Parix though.” Wait, this was a chance to try befriending him a bit! Compliments were always a good way to get in anyone’s good graces! “You’re... really good! At the game! And battling stuff...?” You cringed a little at that awkward compliment. Argh, nevermind-

“th... thanks,” he mumbled, lowering his head with his eye lights moving to look at the ground, a light dusting of yellow on his cheeks. He looked really cute when he blushed. You felt yourself beaming. More progress!

“So, um... is this a normal thing you guys do together,” you asked, looking back at the screen. The attack had been enough to defeat the orc, leaving Swey and Parix to pick up the loot it dropped.

“yeeaah...? yeah,” Blackadder shrugged, “we just do things together.”

Swey snorted, “yep, just existing together and stuff. like besties.”

“yaaas, bestie stuff. like drinkin’,” Black snapped his fingers. “speakin’ of, vet would have our coccyxes if we didn’ offer ya anythin' under his roof.”

Parix instantly paused the game at that. He sat frozen for several moments before slowly looking over at you, “um... do you... want... anything?” His words got softer as the sentence progressed. It made you think of the times you were forced out your room to greet guests who came over.

You considered it for a second before shaking your head, “No... no, I don’t need anything. Thank you, though.”

“oh... okay,” Parix relaxed, giving you a small smile before, looking back at the screen and unpausing the game.

“wait, what about your other guests?” Black pointed to himself, Rusch and Swey. Parix looked at him, his deadpan expression loud enough to convey his thoughts. ‘do it yourself’.

“damn, aight, i see how it is,” Black chuckled, leaning his head back and closing his eye socket. There was a bit of a lull in conversation as Parix and Swey continued playing. You were content to simply keep watching. It felt like watching a pro going through a playthrough with how good Parix was at defeating all the enemies while dodging every hit that came his way, with Swey picking up most of the less useful loot behind him. You ended up “Oh!”ing and “Woah”ing a lot through it all, a little too focused on the game to keep your reactions quiet. You kinda wanted to try it out yourself.

They eventually came to a stop at a village. After making a few purchases at some of the vendors and shops, Parix’s character kind of just went around in circles for a bit. You curiously looked over at him and were a bit surprised when he was already looking at you. He quickly looked away again, his thumbs fiddling with the joysticks even more.

“do... you wanna...” he raised his controller a little.

You instantly perked up at the offer, but quickly tampered your excitement, “Are... you sure? This game looks pretty serious and I don’t think I can play as well as you are...”

“hey, better than i could be doing, right,” Swey said. To your horror, he suddenly let his hands let go of the controller but instead of it dropping to the ground, it floated then began drifting over to you. You stared at it in awe as it came to a stop right in front of you. You noticed a faint orange glimmer surrounding it. “go ahead, give it a try.”

“O-okay,” you said, still awestruck as you took the controller into your hands. The magic Swey must have been using dropped as you felt the full weight of the controller once you had a firm grasp on it. You examined it, getting a feel for the buttons.

“hey, why don’t you come sit here,” Swey offered, motioning for you to come closer. “it’d be easier to teach you the controls if you were closer.”

He had a point. You tried to get up but a hand tightening on your shoulder and a weight on your head reminded you of the two skeletons currently on your person and apparently keeping you in place. “Uh... can I sit over there?” You were met with no response.

Swey snorted, “they’re out cold.” They fell asleep?! You couldn’t see Rusch’s face but from what you could see from Black, he definitely looked out for the count, eye closed and mouth slightly open. You had just thought he was resting his eye or something, not taking a nap! You tried to get Black’s hand off of your shoulder but when you managed to loosen his grip on you, he grumbled under his breath and shifted so his torso was facing you, his other arm coming up to wrap around you firmly. Rusch let out a dissatisfied sounding breath before nuzzling against your hair, leaning even more against you. You froze, face flushed and heart pounding. Now you were even more trapped! Swey’s laughter did nothing to help with your predicament.

“guess we can forget you moving then. oh well,” Swey shrugged, grinning mischievously. That smile reminded you an awful lot of Verdana for some reason.

Parix shook his head a little, “we... can... just explain it then...”

You laughed a little shakily, your mind still focused very much on how entangled you were. It felt nice, really nice, but this was the most contact you had with someone for this long in a long time so you were really not used to it, “I-I’d appreciate that, yeah.” Parix and Swey explained what buttons did what, Parix doing the actions with his character along with you. It took no time for you to get used to the controls so now Parix was showing you around the village and the surrounding area for things you can do. Plus, you got to pet the dogs and cats around the village and feed some of the meat in your inventory to a pack of wolves in the forest.

You looked at the fluffy wolf eating up the slab of meat you placed in front of it before it stepped closer to you, letting you pet it. The cute interaction filled you with determination. You looked to Parix, a fire in your eyes. “How do I get more meat,” you asked.

Parix smiled, “Well... you can go to... hunt the animals around,” and lose out on potential petting buddies?? At your frown, he quickly continued, “o-or...! or you could fight some of the enemies and get money... then buy meat... from the villagers.”

“Then let’s go find some enemies to fight!” You declared, turning your character around and running further into the forest, Parix sprinting after you. Almost immediately, you ended up running into a group of gremlins. You were pumped up to start fighting but realised you hadn’t learnt how to fight yet. “Uh, uh, wait! What am I supposed to-!” One of the gremlins lunged for your character and attacked, swinging it’s powered up club on you, plummeting your health to half. You let out a squeaky, “Ahhh!” turning your character around to try escape any more attacks. Swey burst into laughter and when you glanced at Parix, he was laughing too, albeit silently. He quickly came in, sending an arc of magic at the gremlins and sending them back.

“o-okay,” he took a bit to calm his laughter, and quickly explained the combat controls.

“hey, props for going for the hands-on learning approach,” Swey snickered. “love the enthusiasm.”

You huffed a bit more before finally relenting and laughing along, “Yeah... that was all part of the plan.”

“of course, of course,” he nodded. With Parix’s help, you made quick work of the gremlins and get quite a lot of gold from it. You instantly went back to the village and used your share of the gold to buy as much meat as you could before going back out to feed the pack of wolves. You had enough to let all of them have a slab each, offering extra to the good boys and girls that let you pet them. An achievement popped up on the screen, ‘Part of the pack – befriend a wolf pack’. You grinned in pride.

“well, congrats, pal,” Swey said, giving you a quick thumbs up.

“Why, thank you,” you grinned. Parix muttered something you just barely missed. Swey rolled his eye lights with an amused smile at whatever he said, making you instantly curious.

“Pardon...?”

Parix fiddled with his joysticks a bit, “... pawesome.” You giggled. It was such a simple pun but you hadn’t expected it to come from him.

“Thank you... furry much.” Parix smiled back at you and you felt your chest warm up at how nice a smile looked on him.

You sort of lost track of time the more you played with Parix, Swey piping up now and then at some of the things you either one of you did. From applauding when an enemy was defeated or treasure was found or chuckling when there was a mess up, but with how good Parix was, it was mostly just your mess-ups making you puff your cheeks in frustration. As the playing continued on, whenever he did, it would lead to one of the cushions being lifted with magic and hitting him square in the face. With Black and Rusch still asleep and Parix’s silent laughter, it wasn’t hard to tell who your defender was. The first time it happened, you had burst out laughing. You were surprised it hadn’t woken up the slumbering skeletons. A triumphant smile pulled at your lips when you heard a muffled ‘mmph-!’ from Swey every time it happened.

You faintly heard a phone buzzing. Swey pulled his phone out, looking down at the screen. “oh, there’s lunch in the lodge kitchen.” Speaking of lunch, now that you weren’t focused on playing, you realised you were feeling pretty hungry. Parix hummed in acknowledgement, pausing the game. The two skeletons got up and looked over at you. You tried to get up and was met with the two pairs of slumbering skeleton arms tightening around you. You sighed.

“c’mon, you two, we need to let her eat,” Swey said. To your surprise, they actually did let you go pretty easily. Wait...

“urgh, ‘n i was so comfy, too,” Black mumbled, voice groggy and low and doing funny things to you inside. Rusch grunted in what you assumed was agreement. Swey thumbed over to the door. The two got up, Rusch keeping an arm around your shoulder to pull you up with him. It felt nice to get to your feet after having been seat for so long.

“How did you wake them up so easily...?”

“pfft. i didn’t,” Swey grinned at your confused expression, “they woke up a while ago. guess you didn’t notice.” You blushed, realising they had been cuddling you completely conscious for who knows how long. Neither of them looked the slightest bit guilty of being caught.

Black yawned, walking to the door, “c’mon, nothin’ like some food after a good nap.” The rest of your little group followed him.

Chapter Text

Heat washed over you as you stepped outside. The sun was much further along in the sky then when you were last outside. You noticed one of the other cabin doors were open. A skeleton was standing by the door, back facing your group. Judging from how tall they were and the big sweater and pale orange scarf, you guessed it was Agfiustor. He stepped back and turned around, closing the door behind him. You were right. His gaze fell onto your group. He lifted a hand and waved, making his way over. The group slowed to let him catch up which took no time with his long strides. It was a little intimidating just how tall he was when he was standing so much closer but his bright smile and the soft appearance his clothes, braces and glasses gave off cancelled out the intimidating parts.

“Afternoon, Everyone. And Human! I Didn’t Expect You To Visit Again So Soon!”

‘Me neither,’ you thought to yourself, fiddling with your hands a little. “Hi, Fio,” you smiled at him politely. “Well... Rusch invited me over.”

“Oh! Since You’re Here, You Can Try My Muffins!” he beamed, “There’s More Than Enough For You To Have Some Yourself!”

He had you at muffin, “I’d love to try them! What type are they?”

“You’ll See When We Get There,” he said, hands flapping excitedly before they rested back into what you could only describe as the t-rex arm pose. You all entered into the lodge. You noticed Impact sitting on the couch, eye sockets closed. You looked between him and any of the other skeletons, wondering if they would do anything to at least get him to sleep in a more comfortable position but none of them even spared him a second glance except Agfiustor but even he didn’t do anything more than look worriedly.

Walking closer to the kitchen, the scent of food made your stomach grumble, to your embarrassment. They all looked over at you and you felt your cheeks heat up.

“yikes, that’s quite the growl for a mouse,” Blackadder joked, poking at your stomach. You lightly slapped his hand away.

Agfiustor began rushing over to the kitchen, “We Should Be Getting You Something To Eat Then! Come On!” His rushing did nothing to change the leisurely pace everyone else walked at, you being forced to match it with Rusch still holding onto you. You internally mused at how it felt like you were being escorted by four skeleton bodyguards. You entered the kitchen. On the island counter was a platter with a nice assortment of sandwiches up for grabs. Eras was piling sandwiches onto a plate. He glanced at you but immediately focused back on the food. Hadriatic stood off to the side, plate in hand and eating. His eye lights looked to your group, his eye lights stopping on you.

“YOU PEOPLE NEED TO GET BETTER AT MENTIONING WHEN WE’RE EXPECTING SOMEONE,” he grumbled. Well, you understood feeling frustrated when something happens without being in on it. “THERE ISN’T ENOUGH.” You eyed all the sandwiches. There were a ton but judging by how many Eras was taking and how many skeletons there were, he probably wasn’t lying.

“my guest. 'll share,” Rusch said, waving his hand dismissively.

You shook your head quickly, “No, it’s fine! Fio’s gonna give me a muffin so-”

“Human, You Should Eat Your Fill, Not Just A Muffin Or Two!” Agfiustor said, shaking a finger at you.

“But-”

“butts are for sitting,” Swey cut you off. You paused in confusion. “don’t worry so much about it. we’re a pretty stubborn group.”

They certainly proved that. “Well... alright,” you relented.

Agfiustor got a plate out, putting two halves of a sandwich on it before going over to a large container. He pulled out two muffins out of it and placed it onto the plate and walked over to you, offering it to you. “Here You Go! If You Need More, Let Me Know!”

You took the plate, “Thank you.” Agfiustor beamed at you, clasping his hands together before going back in to get another plate. The others also got some food for themselves, all of them grabbing their condiments of choice.

“thanks, atic,” Swey said once he finished dishing up.

“oh, yeah, thanks,” Black said after him. Hadriatic grunted. Wait, did he make the sandwiches? You should probably thank him, too, right? You had half a mind to simply not bother with how intimidating he looked but you were raised with better manners than that.

“Tha... thank you.” Hadriatic looked at you and made a shooing motion with his hand you could only interpret as, ‘yeah, yeah.’ Well, at least he didn’t shout or look angry. Or rather, angrier than how you’ve seen him so far.

With all of you having your plates of food now, you migrated over to the living room. Impact was still fast asleep. Black plopped down onto the couch with enough force that it cause Impact to stir. He grumbled sleepily as he rubbed his eye sockets.

“the hell...?”

“mornin’,” Black said innocently.

Impact growled a little, opening his mouth but stopped when he noticed you. His expression did a complete one eighty, his scowl turning to a smirk that looked an awful lot like a skeleton version of a ‘smolder’. “nice ta see ya again, toots.”

You awkwardly looked around, before your eyes landed back to him, “Hi...?”

“c’mon, i don’ bite,” his smirk widened, giving you full view of his sharp teeth, “well, ah course, unless ya wa-”

“IMPACT!” Hadriatic yelled, effectively cutting him off.

The shout startled you and Impact as well if his widened eye sockets were any indication. He whirled around in the direction of the kitchen and barked out a, “what?!”

“I JUST ATE. SHUT UP BEFORE I LOSE MY LUNCH!”

A few of the others snickered, to which Impact huffed at, rolling his eye lights. “fuckin’ drama king,” he grumbled under his breath, getting to his feet. He winked at you before walking to the kitchen.

“I HAVE HALF A MIND TO...” Hadriatic’s voice lowered in volume a little, just enough for you to not make out exactly what he was saying. The others simply just looked amused so you figured they were fine. You considered where to sit before simply just sitting down on the spot you had sat in last time you were there.

“mousey, come sit over here,” Black called. Before you could stand back up, to your surprise, Agfiustor sat beside you. Eras settled on his opposite side and started getting to work on eating his pile of food. Rusch seemed intent to stay close to you since he immediately sat on empty spot next to you, silently eating his food. You shrugged helplessly at Black, who responded by pretending to rub his eye sockets in a silent ‘boo hoo’ motion, earning a stiffled laugh from you.

“Human! Go Ahead And Try A Bite!” Fio urged you, pointing to a muffin. You were going to start eating the sandwiches first but you definitely didn’t mind eating a little dessert first. Plus, you’d feel bad not doing so with how eagerly he was staring at you to try it. So you picked up one of them. You weren’t sure what flavour it was but looked like it could be banana or carrot or something of a similar colour. You took a bite, the softness of the muffin lasting only a moment before it dissolved on your tongue, only the sweet taste of the treat remained. You hummed happily.

“Oh, coffee?” you guessed and Agfiustor nodded in confirmation. You hummed and couldn’t help taking another bite. “It’s tastes good! Really good!”

“course,” Eras said, grin wide and proud, “aggie... makes the best pastries... he takes the cake.”

“I’ll Overlook That Pun This Time,” Agfiustor beamed, his cheekbones slightly orange from the praises. “I’m Glad You Like It! I’d Be Happy To Share Even More Of My Baking With You Whenever You Come Over! Maybe We Can Even Make Something Together!”

Your first instinct was to tell him he didn’t need to give you more but Swey’s words came back to mind and you decided to agree. It wasn’t like you wouldn’t want more if all his baking was like this, “I’d... I’d like that.” You dared to take one more bite of the muffin before turning your attention to the sandwich. Inspecting it, you could see lettuce, pickles, chicken and light sauce. You took a bite and your eyes widened. This had to be one of the best chicken sandwich you had ever eaten. The chicken was beautifully seasoned. Whatever the sauce was, it paired wonderfully with the chicken and you could still feel the crisp freshness of the lettuce even after it had melted away on your tongue and the barely notable sourness of the pickles wrapped it all together nicely. Not to mention the bread tasted like something fresh out of a bakery.

“pretty good, right?” You looked to see Impact walking back into the room, plate in one hand and half eaten sandwich slice in the other. He sat down onto one of the recliners, “boss’s is definitely the boss in terms of cooking.”

“This is... It’s so... It’s delicious!” you couldn’t think of any better way to describe the sandwich without feeling like you were over-exaggerating, but it still felt like the compliment paled in comparison to just how good this sandwich was. You’d even be willing to eat more than one despite your discomfort with the feeling of monster food in your mouth. Impact grinned smugly, like it was his cooking you had complimented instead of his brother’s. It was cute how the skeletons around here were so proud of their brothers’ skills.

“HA! JUST DELICIOUS? MY COOKING IS ABOVE THAT,” Hadriatic’s voice boomed from behind you. You looked back and he was standing right behind the couch, arms crossed and chest puffed out. Even if he still looked angry, you were sure you could see his cheekbones look the slightest bit blacker. He raised his hand, tilting it just slightly in the direction of the kitchen, “BUT IF THAT IS THE BEST YOUR MEASLEY VOCABULARY CAN COME UP WITH THEN I’LL ACCEPT IT.” You frowned, but your expression soon turned to surprise when another half of a sandwich flew in and landed on your plate, glimmers of black shining on it before they faded away. He lowered his hand down. “YOU BETTER FINISH IT ALL OR I’LL MAKE SURE YOU'RE NEVER GRACED WITH EVEN A CRUMB OF MY COOKING AGAIN.” Well, you doubted finishing this would be a problem, though you didn’t expect him to give you anything more.

“G-got it. Thank you, Hadriatic,” you quickly turned back around and happily picked up the half and dug in. You heard him stomp off, but you were occupied with your lunch to look at where he was going.

“huh,” Impact murmured once Hadriatic’s steps faded away. “good job, toots.” You looked at him quizzically and he shook his head, “nah, nevermind.” You just felt more confused but didn’t press it. As you ate another bite, you felt a finger poke against your cheek and looked to see it was Rusch, who was chuckling softly under his breath, his cheeks blushing maroon.

“hamster,” he muttered. You furrowed your eyebrows, cheeks heating up. On one hand, hamsters were very cute, on the other, you felt like he was teasing you. You lightly batted his hand away but he only brought his hand back to keep poking it, making you try to bat it away again only for him to do it again.

Agfiustor smiled, leaning down a little closer to you, “It Is Really Interesting Watching You Eat, Human. Rusch Is Right! It Is Like Watching A Squirrel Stuff It’s Cheeks!”

Your face flushed, trying one more time to push Rusch’s hand away to no avail, making him laugh at you even more, “E-excuse me! You two should be eating, not watching me!”

Impact chuckled, “nothin’ like seein’ a girl stuff her cheeks with mea-” He was immediately cut off with a cushion to the face, a muffled, “gack-” of shock coming out of him. You immediately looked over to Parix but then noticed it was Swey who had his hand slightly raised and looking Impact’s way.

“yeah, we’re just gonna stop that right there,” he said.

“Really, Impact,” Agfiustor tutted disapprovingly, Eras breathy chuckles coming from beside him.

Impact threw the cushion off his face and to the ground, "none ah ya are any fun." He scowled at Swey as he stuffed another sandwich half into his mouth. Black reached a fist out to Swey which he fist bumped. You saw Parix say something to him softly, which Black laughed at and Swey chuckled.

“WE’RE HOME!” The loud exclamation made you jump and quickly look back. It was Verdana, who you perked up at the sight of, and Montserrat.

“welcome back, bro,” Swey called, lazily waving a hand at him.

Rusch looked up from you, “m’lord,” he drawled. Your eyebrows furrowed at the word. Boss, m’lord, liege... there sure were a few odd nicknames around here.

Montserrat nodded at him, the frown on his face not budging while Verdana eagerly waved back at Swey. “WOW, LOOKS LIKE A PARTY IN HERE-” his eye lights fell on you. After a moment where he seemed to be processing your presence there, his eye lights turned to stars and a grin formed on his face, “BERRY!” He bounded over to you, arms wide as if he was going to hug you but let his hands drop down to rest on top of back rest of the couch. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

You felt your chest lighten at how happy he looked to see you. “Um, Rusch invited me over,” you explained once again, pointing to said skeleton, who waved lazily at him.

“OH. WELL, I WISH YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE GOING TO BE COMING OVER,” he said, patting his hands against the couch’s back rest. Montserrat followed after him, his eye lights looking between you and Rusch, making you feel nervous.

“It was... a little last minute.”

Swey pointed in the direction of the kitchen, “lunch’s in the kitchen.”

“GREAT! I’M STARV- ER, I’M READY TO CHOW DOWN!” Verdana turned to the kitchen, a bounce in his step.

Montserrat settled onto the other recliner, letting out a long sigh, “MUTT. GET ME A PLATE.”

Rusch nodded, got up and walked over to the kitchen. Mutt? Black had called him ‘pooch’ before, too but ‘mutt’ felt a whole lot more... degrading... You really wanted to know if there was a story there, but you did not feel brave enough to ask Montserrat or Black about it and you weren’t sure you wanted to open whatever can of worms that was right now. You saw Agfiustor frown out of the corner of your eye.

“rough day, huh, m’lord,” Swey asked, the nickname sounding mocking on his tongue.

Montserrat growled, waving his hand dismissively at him, “I AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR ANYTHING YOU HAVE TO SAY.”

“heh, of course, whatever ya say,” Swey said, rolling his eye lights, his smile looking tight. Montserrat glared at him before letting out a harsh breath and looking to the side. The air felt a lot more tense and you awkwardly went back to eating.

“yikes,” Impact not so quietly murmured, snickering slightly, earning him a glare from Montserrat.

Rusch soon returned with a plate of sandwiches which he handed to Montserrat. Montserrat grumbled something too soft for you to hear to him, patting Rusch’s arm a couple of times. Rusch nodded silently. Montserrat started eating and Rusch walked back over to the couch, settling back into his spot, looking at Swey and giving him a single nod. Swey's expression lightened and so did the tension in the air.

Verdana came back into the room, breaking the remaining tension with his bright grin and plate of sandwiches and a few muffins. He looked to Swey, then you, then Swey, shuffled over to Swey, then shuffled closer to you, frowned, then back towards Swey. Poor guy looked really conflicted. It was a little funny to watch. He eventually settled for just sitting on the coffee table, half-way between Swey and you, planting him right in front of Blackadder and Rusch. He happily dug into his sandwiches.

“how went the check, bro?” Swey asked him.

Verdana perked up, “WONDERFULLY! Besides One Little Set Back, EVERYTHING WAS RUNNING JUST FINE! WE EVEN MANAGED TO GET STARTED ON DESIGNING A NEW ESCAPE ROOM!” Escape room?

“Oh, The One For Halloween?” Fio asked and Verdana nodded eagerly.

“THE VERY ONE! IT’S REALLY, HEH, BARE BONES RIGHT NOW SINCE WE DIDN’T WANT TO GET TOO INTO IT WITHOUT THE REST OF YOU BUT I REALLY LIKE WHAT WE CAME UP WITH SO FAR!”

Fio clapped his hands together, smiling widely, “I Can’t Wait To See What You Have So Far!”

You looked around for any hint of what they were talking about and Verdana caught your inquiring gaze. He put a hand to his puffed up chest, “WE ARE THE PROUD OWNERS OF THE ‘BONE-A-FIDE FUN PALACE’! IT’S IN EBOTT CITY!” His eyes turned to stars as he turned to face you more, “WE HAVE OBSTACLE COURSES, ESCAPE ROOMS, PUZZLE ROOMS, AND, WELL, LOTS OF OTHER FUN STUFF YOU CAN DO THERE. YOU SHOULD VISIT IT, BERRY! YOU’LL HAVE TONS OF FUN. THAT’S A VERDANA GUARANTEE!”

You were definitely interested now. You had never been in an escape room before but the couple of obstacle courses you had been on were fun, even if you fell off the obstacles more times than you cared to admit. “That does sound like a lot of fun! I’d love to visit it, then!”

“GREAT! WE CAN GO TOGETHER WHEN WE BOTH HAVE TIME. I’LL MAKE SURE YOU’LL HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE THERE!” His shoulders shimmied excitedly. You clapped your hands a few times, a wide smile on your face.

“mousey, ya dustin’ me here,” Black whined, putting a hand to his chest, “why’re ya plannin’ dates with other skeletons left and right when ours hasn’t even been decided yet?”

“DaTe?!” both you and Verdana exclaimed, your face burning. Your only solace in this situation was that it wasn’t just you since Verdana’s own skull was a lot bluer.

“so, we goin’ on dates with ‘er?” Impact asked, sitting up a bit straighter.

Fio’s eye sockets sparkled, “That Sounds Fun! I Would Also Like To Participate And Go On A Date With The Human! When Should We-”

“W-WAIT, HOLD ON EVERYONE!” Verdana called, putting his hands in the time-out T, “I MEANT THAT AS A-A FRIEND HANG OUT! BETWEEN FRIENDS!” His eye lights darted between Impact and Black as he stressed the words out. While it left your ego a little bruised that he was being so insistent on the friend thing, you were very relieved to have it put out there. You were already stressing over one skeleton and whether they were trying to get with you or not, you didn’t need another one.

“pfft, borin’,” Impact huffed, settling back into his seat.

“I See.” Verdana sighed in relief, going back to eating. “I Would Still Like To Have A Friend Hang Out With You, Human,” Fio said, fiddling with his hands. His eye lights darted around a bit before they landed back on you, “If... You Would Like To Be My Friend?”

Well, there was no way you could say no to that! Fio seemed like a sweetheart and definitely someone you would like as a friend. “I would. Like to be your friend and hang out with you, Fio.”

“Wonderful! Here, Here,” Fio pulled out a phone that looked small in his large hands and held it towards you, “Friends Need To Be Able To Keep In Contact!” You nodded, taking in the phone into your hands and putting in your number before handing it back. Fio looked down at it and beamed, his earnest happiness at just being friends and getting your number making you feel warmer inside.

You finished up your food, making pleasant enough small talk with the skeletons, happy to listen more than talk but still being able to put in your input when they, mostly Verdana and Black, insisted you join in the conversation, too. Once you had finished eating, you tried to get up to put your plate in the kitchen but a red gloved hand taking it out of your hands made you stop. Montserrat didn’t spare you a second glance as he went around the room, taking the empty plates from the other skeletons and made his way to the kitchen. You could only call out a small, “Thank you,” after him.

After that, you spent quite a while simply watching random stuff on tv. With so many different people there, there was always a bit of an argument over what they should watch next once one thing ended but it all felt even more entertaining with all the different comments and chatter coming from them. Verdana had to reluctantly move to sit at the now empty recliner since he couldn’t just stay on the coffee table and watch the tv comfortably. Rusch had decided to snuggle up to you much in the same way he had before. Even if you had already spent hours with him latched onto you before, you still felt flustered over it. They were all lively and you felt happy and content just sitting there with them.

It was only once you began to notice the sun setting that you reluctantly decided it was about time to head out. “”I... should be going home... it’s getting late.”

“awww, already?” Black asked and you shrugged helplessly.

“There’s always next time?”

“IF SHE NEEDS TO GO HOME THEN WE SHOULDN’T MAKE HER FEEL BAD ABOUT IT,” Verdana tutted, looking very much like a reprimanding teacher.

Black caught onto it as well as he snickered, “yes, sir, mr serif. ‘m very sorry.” That was his surname? It was pretty nice sounding. Verdana tried to look unimpressed but the corners of his mouth threatening to tilt up, giving his amusement away.

Rusch groaned as he slowly let his arms drop from around you and got to his feet, “’ll drive ya,” he said. You nodded, getting up as well.

“It really was nice getting to spend the day here,” you said, smiling genuinely.

“Yes, We Must Spend More Time Together, Friend!” Fio smiled back at you. You glanced over his shoulder at Eras who was... sleeping. Was this a family of narcoleptics?

“yeah, we gotta spend time together properly, toots,” Impact smirked, his eye sockets narrowing flirtatiously, “one on one.” Against your will, your heart skipped a beat at the expression. Damn brain for finding these skeletons attractive!

You looked away from his gaze, blushing, “Y-yeah...”

Rusch wrapped an arm around your shoulder and turned you around so you were facing away from Impact and looking at the other skeletons in the room instead.. Impact let out a short bark of laughter behind you.

“it was nice spending time with ya, pal,” Swey nodded.

“Same here, it was fun!”

Parix was fiddling with his hoodie string with one hand while the other was in his hoodie pocket, somehow looking even more nervous than before your little gaming session. You smiled at him but he looked away. You felt a little hurt but knew some people needed a little more time to get used to others. You could relate to it so didn’t take it to heart.

Verdana got to his feet, “SEE YOU SOON, BERRY!” and gave you a hug. It was firm and made you feel warm inside and out. You happily returned it.

“See you soon,” you replied before you let go. As soon as you had, Rusch was leading you to the front door. Just as you about to step outside, Rusch paused. You looked back and blinked in surprise. Parix had walked up to the two of you. His mouth open and closed a few times. He clamped his mouth shut, let in a sharp inhale and pulled his hand out his pocket and stretched it out to you. His phone was in his hand.

“i... your... number...?” his words were even quieter than they had been all day and you struggled to even hear what he said but you had. Your eyes widened. You could hear the victory music playing in your head. He wanted your number! That meant he wanted to spend more time with you!

“O-okay!” you nodded, happily taking the phone in hand and putting your number in. You handed it back with a large smile on your face that you tried and failed to hold back. Luckily, the sight of it made Parix’s tense shoulders relax as he took his phone back and gave you a happy smile of his own, the sight making your heart flutter. With that done, you and Rusch left.

You walked back to Montserrat’s car, Rusch patting the passenger seat door which you assumed meant he wanted you to sit there. You got in, having to struggle a little with how high up the step was before you settled into the seat and put your seatbelt on. Rusch started the car up and off you went. He put on the radio, letting metal music fill the silence. You admired the sights outside the window and patted your thigh in time with the music, covering up a yawn as the soothing vibrations of the car made you feel sleepy.

“pact had the right idea.” You looked over to Rusch curiously, “next time, it’ll jus’ be us.”

You blushed, not even sure why. He just wanted to spend time with you alone, that was normal! No need to be getting all red faced about it, “Y-yeah, that’d be nice.”

Rusch grinned, his side profile looking really good with the orange tint of the setting sun and sight of the blue orange sky from his door window. The rest of the ride continued in silence. You arrived at your apartment complex. Rusch parked the car and the two of you sat in silence for a moment.

“Thank you. For driving me. And for inviting me,” you said. Rusch hummed. “Then... good night.”

Rusch leaned closer and you stiffened. He wrapped an arm around you and pulled you in for a hug. Your heart raced a little as you returned it. The hug lasted maybe a little longer than you thought hugs should before he let you go, patting your head a couple of times.

“night, cutie.”

“Good night, Rusch,” you breathed. You opened the door and got out the car. You walked through the pedestrian gate. You kept glancing back at the car as you walked to your apartment. It was only as you opened the door that you saw him drive off. You entered your apartment. That feeling of sadness settled in you, just like when you had come back from dinner last time. Loneliness was nothing new to you but it felt worse than usual after having spent all day with the colourful skeletons. Still, the part of you that relished being alone was content, just as you expected. You sighed, sitting down on your couch. You took out your phone. Two new messages.

‘NEW FRIEND! I LOOK FORWARD TO GETTING TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU!’

‘hey, it’s parix. if you ever wanna play anything else then let me know’

You smiled at the two messages, sending out eager replies to them both. You never felt so excited to get to spend time with so many people before and you held onto that feeling.

Chapter Text

‘HUMAN! WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME OVER AGAIN AND BAKE WITH ME TODAY?’

Seemed like Fio was a lot more eager than you initially thought for your meet up since he asked if you’d be willing to come hang out with him the very next day. You had been caught off guard reading the message but it wasn’t like you had any plans and with it being the summer break, classes weren't an issue either. Plus, if you could eat some more confectioneries, you didn’t see a reason to not agree to it.

‘Yeah, I’d love to! Just send me the address and I’ll come over’

‘NO NEED! WE’LL BE WAITING FOR YOU!’

‘We?’

‘YES! SEE YOU VERY SOON, HUMAN!’

You wondered who would be coming with him. You quickly got yourself ready and went outside, typing out a message to ask when they’d be arriving but stopped when you saw a very familiar car parked outside the gate already. Papyrus’s red convertible was there. The roof was down, letting you have full view of the two skeletons inside with very similar grins on their faces.

Papyrus waved at you eagerly, “FRIEND! IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG!” Papyrus called, loud enough for you to hear even from next to your apartment door. You quickly hurried over to them, slipping through the pedestrian gate.

“We... saw each other less than a week ago, though?”

“AND? THAT’S TOO LONG!” you laughed a little at that. You looked into the back seat. The way Fio was sitting looked a little uncomfortable since he had to sit at a slight diagonal with how long his legs were. You weren’t going to fit comfortably next to him if you wanted any sitting space between you. You sat in the passenger seat a little unsure but when neither skeleton seemed to mind your choice in seating, you buckle in. Papyrus handed you a pair of sunglasses, “FOR THE PROTECTION OF YOUR SENSITIVE HUMAN EYES AND TO LOOK COOL!”

You giggled, taking the sunglasses and sliding them on, “Thank you!” You looked back at Fio, “And thank you for inviting me. I’m already looking forward to those yummy goods!”

“Yummy They Will Be!” Fio said confidently, “After All, Anything You Make With A Friend Tastes Ten Times Better!”

“EXACTLY!” Papyrus said, raising his hand with a finger raised. “WHICH IS WHY I’LL BE JOINING YOU AS WELL! THREE FRIENDS WORKING TOGETHER IS BETTER THAN TWO!” Fio nodded enthusiastically at that and you had no objections to having him join. Papyrus drove back onto the road and began driving down to the skeletons’ property. The wind rushing by made it a little harder to talk but Papyrus and Fio’s voices were barely drowned out by the wind and they didn’t seem to have any trouble hearing you when you responded.

Soon enough, you arrived once again at the skeleton’s property. The two led you to the house, speaking eagerly about what ingredients they’d want to use. Currently, Papyrus was trying to convince Fio if they could make tomato flavoured cupcakes.

Fio rubbed his chin, “Well, If It Was A Savoury Cupcake Then Maybe...”

“SAVOURY? THEN IT WON’T BE DESSERT! IT HAS TO BE SWEET RIGHT?”

“It Is Not Like We Decided On Only Making Sweet Pastries. It Would Be A Nice Change. I Have Not Had The Chance To Make A Lot Of Savoury Pastries... But That’s A Topic For Another Time! For Now, We Should Get Started So Whoever’s Turn It Is For Dinner Won’t Have To Work Around Us. Oh, Who’s Turn Was It Tonight?”

“IT’S GAZ TONIGHT!” You tilted your head curiously. It was a name you didn’t recognise. Unless it was another nickname unrelated to their name. “HE AND CANDY ARE COMING BACK TODAY SO HE ASKED IF HE COULD! HE SENT IT TO OUR OUR MESSAGING GROUP CHAT!”

“Ah, Did He? I Didn’t Notice It...”

“THEY WILL PROBABLY BE ARRIVING WHILE WE ARE STILL BAKING SO WE CAN TELL HIM WE WILL BE COOKING FOR ONE MORE!” Fio cleared his throat a little and Papyrus paused, looked at you, then quickly added “AH, ERM, UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMETHING ELSE YOU MUST DO?”

You smiled. While you weren’t really considering saying no, you would feel bad saying no when two pairs of eye lights were looking at you so expectantly. “If you’re willing to have me, then, I’d be more than happy to join!”

The two skeletons beamed, “THEN IT’S SETTLED! ALRIGHT, FRIEND! LET US BEGIN WITH THE BAKING!” Papyrus announced loudly before turning to Fio, “FIO?”

“Right, Right, Let Us,” he shuffled over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a book from inside it. It was a hardcover, thick notebook with a forest themed cover wrapping on it. He began flipping through the pages and you and Papyrus moved closer. The handwriting looked messy but it was legible. From the brief snippets between his page turning, you could make out that the pages were filled with recipes. Obviously very used recipes if the little splotches of hurriedly cleaned up food and liquids that must have been spilled on some of the pages were any indication.

“Are these all your...?”

“Yes!” he beamed proudly before his smile turned a little sheepish, “Well, Half Of Them At Least... Less Than Half... Most Of Them Are Recipes I Found And Thought Were Neat And Changed A Little Here And There!”

“Woah! That’s still a lot!” You stared at the many pages he flipped through that had been written on, more than impressed. He could have just printed them out but something about the thought of Fio finding a recipe online or in a different recipe book and giddily writing it down in his well loved recipe book made you smile. “I mean, I can barely boil an egg without needing to look it up so this is way cool in my opinion!”

A pale orange appeared on Fio’s cheeks, “Nyeh Heh, Thank You, Human,” Fio reached over, patting you head a couple of times. It left you feeling pleasantly fuzzy inside. He looked a bit more through his book before stopping on a page. “How About This One? I’ve Been Meaning To Make This For A While.” You looked at the name of the recipe and bounced on your heels a little in anticipation.

“Ohhh! Trifles! Perfect for summer!”

Fio looked to you curiously, “You’ve Had This Before, Human?”

You nodded, “Yeah! It’ll definitely be worth it!” Looking over the recipe a little more, you realised this was going to be a trifle made from complete scratch. It had to take up two whole pages and even went onto the next page. “Well, it’ll probably taste better than any I tasted before since the ones I’ve had were quick made ones.”

Papyrus, who was silently looking over the recipe, nodded in resolve. “THIS IS NOTHING FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! WE’LL MAKE THE BEST TRIFLE THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!”

You giggled, charmed by his enthusiasm, “Best trifle ever made!”

“yeah,” you jumped at the sudden voice and whipped around. Comic was sitting on one of the island bar stools, elbow on the counter and chin resting on his hand, “that trifle is a trifle matter for my bro.” You put a hand to your chest and let out a breath to calm down. You hadn’t even heard him come down! Having noticed he had scared the bejeezus out of you, Comic winked cheekily, “sorry, bud, didn’t mean to scare you outta your skin.”

“I-it’s fine, no worries here,” you waved it off. You brought your arm up, patting at the exposed part of it, “Skin still very much... in place.” You cringed a little while Comic chuckled.

“COMIC, KEEP ANY PUNS OUT OF THE KITCHEN,” Papyrus ordered, putting his hands on his hipbones, “WE NEED OUR OUTMOST FOCUS HERE!”

“don’t sweet it, i’ll make sugar stay outta your way,” a small laugh bubbled out of you, to Comic’s delight and Papyrus’s displeasure.

“WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!”

“c’mon, you're breaking,” Comic tilted his head in the direction of Fio, who was currently taking out a carton of eggs from the fridge, “my soul here, bro.” Fio’s face scrunched up at having been used as a prop for Comic’s joke, making you laugh. “aye, at least someone’s cracking up at my jokes.”

“FRIEND, DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIM!” Papyrus exclaimed.

“I-I’ll try,” you said between laughs, “B-but I can’t help... laughing at a good... yolk!” Comic let out a hearty laugh while Papyrus looked at you in shock before narrowing his eye sockets to an unimpressed expresson which only cracked you up more. You had imagined him making those faces every time you made a joke to him over text but seeing it was funnier than you expected.

“NO! NO! THAT’S IT! I AM GOING TO BE...” The edges of Papyrus’s mouth turned up, his expression mischievous, “EGG-NORING THESE PUNS!”

You, Fio and Comic looked to Papyrus in silence for several moments before you broke in applause, giggling while Comic put a hand to his chest, grin wide, “beautiful, bro. i couldn’t be prouder.”

“NYEH HEH HEH! EVEN IF PUNS ARE BELOW ME, I AM STILL A MASTER AT THEM! BUT THAT’S ALL YOUR GETTING OUT OF ME!” Papyrus huffed, his smile still in place. “WE’VE DILLYDALLIED ENOUGH! LET’S GET TO BAKING!”

Fio chortled softly to himself, sorting the ingredients into several groups. He was going to be making the cake himself so delegated the other tasks to the rest of you. Papyrus would be in charge of making the custard while you were going to be making the jelly. While it was a little too easy of a task compared to the other two, you weren’t going to complain, even if this was going to be the biggest bowl of jelly you’d ever made. Maybe you could help Fio once the jelly was in the fridge setting.

Your gaze kept moving to Fio as he baked. He left the recipe book to Papyrus since he needed it for the custard. He was moving around and mixing his ingredients in with complete ease. It was captivating watching him bake like some kind of professional.

A clicking next to you snapped you out of it, making you blink and look to Comic, his hand was still held up in ready to click his fingers again, “looks pretty disolved there,” he looked down to your bowl. The jelly powder had completely dissolved in the hot water.

“O-oh, thanks,” you quickly walked to the jug of water Fio had gotten out, measuring out the cool water to pour in.

“looked a little distracted there, bud,” Comic oh so helpfully pointed out.

“Uh...” heat came to your cheeks at having been caught, “Well... it was just cool to watch, to be honest.”

“yeah, i get it. fio’s a natural at this kinda thing,” at the mention of his name, Fio looked up curiously from the eggs he was whisking, like a puppy that just heard it’s name being called. “when it comes to baking, he got most of us beat. real eggs-eptional.”

You glanced down at the bowl of eggs he was whisking and stifled a giggle. It seemed you caught the puns before Fio as beamed at the compliment, “Well, Thank You-” you could practically see the moment it registered in his head as his expression blanked, before he turned around and continued beating the eggs with more vigour, “No.” You burst out laughing, having to pause your stirring momentarily.

“OH BOY, I AM GLAD I MOST DEFINITELY DID NOT HEAR THAT AWFUL PUN,” Papyrus exclaimed from the stove he was stirring the pot of custard on, not even turning around to look spare the rest of you a glance. Yep, egg-noring it. Your giggles died down as you continued stirring. The jelly had just about dissolved so you turned to Fio who told you to put it into the cool fridge. You rose an eyebrow at that. Maybe they had different words for the fridge and freezer? You hefted the bowl up, careful not to spill it as you made your way to the closest one. You tried to hold a hand out to get to the fridge to open it while balancing the bowl but the other fridge’s door opening made you stop.

“THAT’S OUR HOT FRIDGE, FRIEND,” Papyrus called out, then pointed to the other fridge, “THAT ONE THERE WOULD BE OUR COOL FRIDGE!”

“Oh?” You hurried over to the fridge, sliding the jelly onto an open space and closing the fridge. You walked back over to the hot fridge to open it. Heat washed over you as you did. The inside had a few containers and tin foil wrapped plates inside. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “But, why do you need a hot fridge...?”

“TO KEEP OUR FOOD HOT, OF COURSE!” he said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. “NOT ALL FOOD CAN BE EATEN COLD!”

“well, technically it could,” Comic piped up. “but-”

“DON’T BOTHER FINISHING THAT PUN!” Papyrus yelled, already looking disapproving as if he had already dished the pun out. Comic grinned.

“c’mon, have some faith in me, bro. no need to get-”

“STOP.”

“so-”

“COMIC!”

“... heated about this.” Papyrus outraged cry was cut off by the sound of delighted laughter. You looked to the kitchen doorway just in time to see a pair of skeletons make their way in.

“well, this is certainly a warm welcome back,” the shorter one chuckled.

“Maybe For You, Candy,” the taller one said, rolling their eye lights with a smile.

Papyrus tutted, “YOU HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN BACK FOR A MINUTE AND YOU’RE ALREADY PUNNING. AT LEAST SETTLE IN FIRST BEFORE COMMITING SUCH A CRIME.”

The shorter one just laughed even more, the sound light and filling the kitchen with mirth. From the moment the two had made their appearance, you had found yourself staring at them with fascinated bewilderment. The first thing you noticed about them is that they were the least covered of the skeletons you’d seen so far, though with all of them being practically covered from neck to toe sans that one time you had seen Swey with his calves exposed, it wasn’t that big of an achievement. Both skeletons had their arms and mid drift exposed.

The second, and more eye catching, thing about them was that they had... bodies? From their necks down, there was a sort of somewhat transparent flesh around their bones that looked like a body. The shorter skeleton’s was a lavender colour while the taller one was hot pink. It looked... so pretty! You were mentally gushing at how nice it looked and how much you wanted to touch it but realised that was probably an inappropriate thought and quickly shut it down.

The two skeletons noticed your presence, both their eye sockets widening a little before sultry smiles settled on their faces. The taller one walked over to you at a surprising speed, his, you assumed with the pattern you’d noticed so far, brother trailed after him at a more leisurely pace.

“And Who Is This?” he asked, just barely a step out of your comfort zone. This close, it gave you a proper look of his eye lights which weren’t really white but closer to a very pale pink. He also smelled nice, it reminded you of vanilla. It was really enticing and you had to stop yourself from inhaling it in. He had on a pink, sleeveless, mock turtle-neck crop top with a black harness that ran two leather straps from his shoulders down, one around the top of his chest and another two close together at his waist. He had on a pair of very dark pink leggings with a chunky belt around his hips with golden circles placed around the belt with two straps of yellow that hang off of it and around his hips and a very nice pair of fawn coloured boots. And, of course, he had a pair of white gloves that only reached to his wrist.

“OH, THAT’S OUR NEW FRIEND,” Papyrus said, telling the two new skeletons your name. You were a little surprised to actually hear him say your name instead of just ‘friend’.

“What A Lovely Name,” the taller skeleton complimented, holding a hand out to you. You felt your cheeks warm as you took a hold of his hand. Unlike the other times you’ve touched the skeletons’ hands, his hand felt like it had soft, warm flesh beneath his glove. Instead of shaking it, he brought the hand up, leaned his head down a little and pressed the back of your hand to his teeth. Your heart fluttered at the contact, your face feeling hot under your skin. “Pleasure To Meet You, Sweetheart.”

“I-I, uh, it’s...” your brain was short circuiting, trying to calm down and form actually coherent words. The other skeleton moved to your other side, taking your other hand. He had the scent of sweet candy wafting off of him and his eye lights were a pale purple colour. He had on a purple sleeveless jacket with cyan fur around the collar and hem and black gloves. He had on a cross strap, black crop top beneath it with a small cut of an upside down heart in the upper part of the chest where the straps crossed, a pair of black leather jeans with a cyan belt and a pair of chunky ankle boots with some heel inches on it. His jeans were low enough that the top of his pelvic bones were showing and it was doing nothing but making you feel even more flustered and hotter under the collar.

“oh, aren’t you adorable,” he chuckled and gave your other hand a skeleton kiss, only making your heart pound harder in your chest and making your brain go even more hay wire. You tried saying something, anything, but all that came out was a squeak. He laughed a little more, low and rumbley and making your insides feel funny. “the name’s candara, and that’s my brother, abigaz.”

“Would You Like To Come Over To Our Cabin? We’d Love To Get To Know You,” Abigaz muttered, his eye sockets half lidded.

What even were words? The only thing your mind could process was the soft touch of the skeletons and the lingering tingling feeling of their teeth against your hand and how very pretty their bodies looked and how their eye lights were so nice to look at and, wow, they sure were handsome, weren’t they and-

Suddenly, the two moved away from you. You noticed faint glimmers of blue on them, “alright, cool off, you two,” Comic said, hands spread apart and having those same glimmers of magic on them.

“we’re just trying to get to know our guest a little better,” Candera grinned but he backed off.

Abigaz patted the back of your hand, “Sorry, Sweetheart. We Didn’t Make You Uncomfortable, Did We?”

“I... um... n-not... no, I think...” you muttered softly, relieved your mouth was finally making words again. Abigaz brightened, giving your hand one more pat before he let it go. You flexed your hands a little, still feeling the phantom softness of their hands on yours.

Candera sighed, rolling his shoulders, “as much as i would like to keep talking to ya, cherry, i’m about ready to fall asleep on my feet so i’ll be seeing ya later.” You could see what he meant. Once he dropped that damn heart fluttering smirk, he looked pretty exhausted even with a smile still on his face. He definitely needed a nap. Wait, cherry?

“I’ll Go Help Candy Drop Off Our Luggage. I’ll Be Back To Start Up Dinner Once We’re Settled In,” The two picked up their luggage. Candera sent one more wink your way before the two headed for the sliding door at the back. You let out a shaky breath, patting your now cooling cheeks.

Papyrus had his hand up to his chin, looking a little lost in thought while Fio was fidgeting with his hands. “Maybe, We Should Have Warned You About Them,” Fio muttered. “Are You Feeling Alright?”

“Yeah!” your reply came out a little higher pitched than you wanted, and you quickly railed it in, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just... was not expecting that...”

“usually, those two are pretty good at not crossing too many boundaries,” Comic said, spinning in his chair in one, slow full rotation before he stopped, facing you. His expression felt serious even if he still had that smile on his face, “but if they do something ya don’t like, i can tell them to cool it.”

You blinked. “O... okay, thank you.”

Comic nodded, satisfied. He turned in his seat until he was sitting facing forward again.

You shuffled a little at the silence before deciding to ask a question that had been on your mind, “So... Who’s going to be at dinner?”

“OH,” Papyrus grabbed at the chance to make conversation, “ME AND COMIC, VERDANA, ERAS AND FIO, MONTSERRAT AND RUSCH, PARIX AND VET, CANDY AND GAZ!”

You mentally counted the names. It was a little less than last time. You shook off the slight anxiety at hearing all those names and but you’d done this once, you can do this again. At least you knew most of them this time. “Alrighty, sounds good.” You looked between the two again. Papyrus had finished preparing the custard already and was moving the things he had used into the sink while Fio was greasing up a pan. You decided to follow Papyrus’s example and help with the clean up, taking away the things you had used and helping clear up Fio’s own little workstation. Papyrus kept the conversation alive, mostly talking about the latest endeavours he has been doing as monster mascot, such as helping with the, “ATROCIOUS LITTER PROBLEM AT THE BEACHES NEARBY. REALLY, HOW COULD PEOPLE TOSS THEIR TRASH EVERYWHICH WAY WHEN THEY’RE PROVIDED WITH PERFECTLY ACCESSIBLE TRASHBINS! IT WAS ONLY BENEFICIAL WHEN IT MANAGED TO FALL TO THE UNDERGROUND BUT NOW THAT WE’RE ON THE SURFACE, IT’S JUST A HUGE MESS!” Hearing what kind of work Papyrus did straight from him made you feel a little guilty for just lazing around so much when he was actively trying to do good. Maybe you could ask if you could join him on one of his future missions...

Fio slid the cake in to bake. “I Believe We’re Just About Done...” he looked around, like he was trying to find anything else to be done, before clasping his hands together in delight, “Yes, I Think That’s It! I Just Need To Layer Everything Once The Jelly Has Set.” You eyed the bowl he had used to make the cake dough. Would it be bad manners to ask to lick up the remaining cake dough in there? Fio noticed your glances and picked the bowl up, making his way to the sink. Your face fell into a frown automatically when you realised your chance at fulfilling your little guilty pleasure was going to pass. It was worth an ask!

“Um!” Three skeletons turned their full attention to you, making you nervous. Maybe you should back out? No! You were going to see this through! “Can... can I have the bowl?”

Fio looked down at the bowl in his hands, confused. “Do You Need More Bowls At Home? I Don’t Mind Parting With This One If You Do, Let Me Just Wash It Up For-”

“No, no! Not to take home! Just...” you voice softened as you scuffed your shoe on the ground. You felt like a kid asking to lick the bowl again, “To... eat the last of the dough.”

“... Oh!” Understanding dawned on Fio’s face as he smiled in amusement, “Of Course.” He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a tablespoon, holding it and the bowl out to you. You mentally cheered, practically skipping to him to take the bowl from his hands.

“Thank you!”

“FRIEND, THAT’S UNBAKED! YOU CAN HAVE THE BAKED CAKE ONCE IT HAS COME OUT THE OVEN!” Papyrus pointed out.

“I know but, I really like the cake dough,” you pressed, “Haven’t you... ever tried tasting the dough?”

“NO! WHY WOULD I DO THAT? THE CAKE IS ALREADY BAKING SO I DON’T NEED TO TRY IT!!”

You looked down at the bowl then up at Papyrus, mind set, “We need to change that.” You took the wooden spoon from the bowl, holding it out to him, “Please try it!”

“FRIEND-”

“I’ll Admit,” Fio spoke up, “Getting To Eat The Dough Afterwards Is One Of My Favourite Parts When I Finish Baking. And Eras’s, Too.” You looked at him with a wide grin, glad to have found a comrade who enjoyed this, too.

“See, that’s two, maybe three including Eras, votes of confidence! You’ll like it!” you urged but stopped when you realised you were probably being too pushy and quickly added a, “I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to! No pressure!”

Papyrus looked at the spoon then you before he straightened, smile widening, “I AM ANYTHING BUT UNADVENTUROUS! I WILL TRY IT!” You cheered, verbally this time, as Papyrus took the spoon from your hand. He looked the dough over critically.

“anytime spoon, bro,” Comic spoke up, earning him a mildly heated glare from Papyrus. Papyrus opened his mouth, promptly shoved the spoon in and closed it. You watched his expression go from scrunched up, to contemplative then slowly to what you can only describe as childlike joy as his eye sockets sparkled and a smile appeared on his face.

“THIS... THIS TASTES WONDERFUL!” he declared, his words somehow not affected by the spoon in his mouth.

“Right?!” you nodded, using a tablespoon, you scooped up some of the dough and ate it up. You hummed in pleasure at the sweet, gooey goodness on your tongue before cringing a little as it dissolved. Right, this was monster food. You didn’t know how you forgot that. At least it wasn’t that bad with the food being so liquidy. You looked to Fio, then down at the bowl, then to Comic. Well, there was way too much for just you to eat so... You placed the bowl down on the counter in front of Comic, getting two more tablespoons, “Wanna share? These are your ingredients so if anyone should eat this then...”

“well, dough-n’t mind if i do,” Comic snickered, taking one of the spoons. Papyrus let out an indignant, “Nyeh!” and Fio groaned softly, taking the other spoon. He smiled warmly at you.

“Thank You,” he said, scraping up some of the dough there with you and Comic.

“I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO EAT WITH YOU!” Papyrus declared, rushing over between you and Fio. He took the spoon out of his mouth and almost used it to scoop up some dough but Fio quickly holding his arm stopped him. It gave you the chance to see that what you were sure was his saliva on the spoon was... slightly orange? Not having anywhere near as much colour as his tongue but it was noticeable. Huh, that was a little cool. Fio got another, smaller spoon for Papyrus to use instead, which he took with no argument. The four of you enjoyed the last remnants of cake dough in the bowl in relative silence. Comic didn’t take more than four spoonfuls before he tossed his spoon over to the sink. You tensed, expecting a loud ‘clang’ from the spoon hitting the other dishes there but the spoon stopped right before it made contact and gently lowered down. Oh, magic was so cool!

Once the bowl was cleaned out, you helped Papyrus clean up the dishes in the sink while Fio pulled the cake out the oven. He set it aside to cool a little and came to help with the dishes. Papyrus opened one of the cabinets to reveal a dishwasher. The dishwasher safe dishes were put there while the rest was washed by hand, Papyrus speeding through the washing and rinsing while you did your best to dry as fast and thoroughly as you could but was no match for the growing pile of wet, clean dishes piling up. Fio put everything away. Even if you were getting the most exercise you had gotten this week just from speed drying, you felt an odd sense of calm simply doing dishes with the two tall skeletons.

When you had finally wiped the last dish dry, Abigaz made his reappearance. His eye lights brightened a little at the sight of you there. He had on a fuzzy looking, light pink sweater that covered up most of his body but the low collar and change out of his turtle neck revealed his pink body was still there and he was showing quite a bit of collarbone. You made sure you keep your gaze away from that area. He had shopping bags in his hands which he dropped on the counter, revealing quite a lot of vegetables.

As he pulled all the different vegetables out of the bags, you decided to help out since you didn’t want to just idle around. “Thank You, Sweetheart,” Abigaz cooed, making you blush a little and nod hastily in acknowledgement to his thanks.

“HOW WAS YOUR... Uh... GETAWAY?” Papyrus asked him, moving in beside you to help with sorting out the ingredients Abigaz had bought.

“Oh! It Was...” Abigaz chuckled, “Really Fun! We Really Needed The Break. I Feel Like A New Monster!” He flexed on arm, grinning widely. To your amazement, his arm actually buffed up beneath the sleeve like a real arm. Was it a real arm? Abigaz raised an eye ridge when he noticed your expression while looking at his arm, “Like What You See? I Can’t Blame You If You Do!”

“No! I mean, yes? No, wait...” you looked away, ignoring the snickers of amusement. Argh. You slowly turned back to face him, “I-I was just curious about the,” you held up your own arm, gesturing to it before pointing to his arm, “The... pink body?”

“Oh! My Ecto-Body?” with no hesitation, he lifted his sweater. You barely caught sight of a lot of his pink torso and spine before you instinctively closed your eyes. “Look, Look!”

“Gaz! You Can’t Just Do That Without Warning!” You hear Fio reprimand.

“But, She’s Curious About It So I’m Just Letting Her See It,” he huffed. You tentatively peeked and could see he had only lifted the sweater up to the bottom of his chest, the bottom rung of his ribs just barely peaking out. Now that you were closer to him, you could make out the dips of what looked like muscle. The body had the familiar glimmers of magic, hard to notice unless you were staring and paying attention. You found yourself more fascinated by it, tilting your head this way and that to see how it reacted to light. It really did look so pretty!

“you know you could have just rolled up your sleeve,” Comic helpfully pointed out.

“Hm... If It Makes Her That Uncomfortable...” He looked to you with a worried frown which turned to surprise when he noticed you were now examining him curiously. He grinned triumphantly. “See, It’s Fine!” You felt a little embarrassed at just staring so blatantly at a guy’s stomach but at least it was for a justified reason! Even if that reason was just to feed your curiosity... “Wanna Touch Me, Sweetheart?” The question threw your mind straight to the gutter for a moment, your face burning at the implication but you shock it off. Bad imagination!

“U-uh...” you looked to his stomach then up at him. Even if you were curious what it felt like, you were still a little reluctant to touch what was basically a stranger’s stomach. Abigaz must have noticed your reluctance as he let his sweater drop down and rolled up his sleeve, holding his arm out to you. Okay, this was a lot more manageable. You slowly reached your hands out and placed them onto his arm. You felt a faint buzzing on your palms. You hesitantly rubbed your hands along it and squeezed it a little. It felt almost like a normal arm, just softer and had a little more give to it. Not to mention the warmth you were now just associating with the skeletons at this point. It was awkward as hell touching up a guy with his cousins(?) just there watching but, it was informative. And a little nice. Curiosity satisfied, you quickly let go of his arm and stepped back, patting your hands on your sides.

“Is That All You Needed To Do? I’d Be More Than Happy To Let You Touch Me More!” Abigaz offered enthusiastically.

You held your hands up quickly, “No, i-it’s fine! That was... that was more than fine, uh, thank you, Abigaz.”

“If You’re Sure... The Invitation Is Always Open!” Abigaz smiled at you, looking more like he had just invited you for tea rather than invited you to feel him up more. Okay, maybe you should have mentally worded that better... “Alright! I’m Ready To Cook! It’s Been Too Long Since Everyone Has Been Graced With The Luscious Abigaz’s Cooking!” He put his hand on his chest, much in the same way you’d seen Papyrus and Verdana had done and it made you smile. Lots of cute quirks ran in this family’s blood, er, magic.

Abigaz turned, going to the cupboard you remember Verdana and Papyrus getting the chopping boards from. Papyrus scooted a little closer to you and leaned down. “Friend, If You Would Rather Touch My Ecto-Body, You Are Most Free To Do So! Not That I Could Fault You For Wanting To!” You looked to him in shock, looking down at his body that looked very much all bone, before looking back up at him, flustered and confused at his offer and exactly how you’d be able to do that.

“WATCH-” his hushed tone was gone as he raised his arm, pushing up his black long sleeve to his elbow, revealing his radius and ulna, Before your very eyes, you watched as an orange ecto arm began to appear over his bones. It looked just like Abigaz’s and after a small testing poke, felt like his as well. You poke seemed to perk Papyrus up as he let out a, “NYEH HEH HEH!”

“Is this something... you guys can do?”

“yep,” Comic confirmed. Abigaz had returned with a few chopping boards and other utensils. “think of it like a second skin. or well, first since we technically don’t have one.”

“It’s... A Little Hard To Explain But,” Fio fiddled with his glove a little, looking at the ground thoughtfully before he looked back up, “It’s Like... We Bring In The Magic We Unconsciously Let Out A Little Closer To Our Bones And It... Settles?”

You tilted your head curiously, "So, it's like... A magic you can do...?"

"Technically, Yes It's A 'Magic We Can Do'," Abigaz chuckled, "It's Not Like... A Separate Magic But It's Still Part Of Our Bodies, Just A Part We Need Semi-Awareness Of To Bring In, But It's Still A Part Of Us."

“y'know since monsters are basically all magic, well... ” he shrugged, “can’t be bothered to explain the rest. you get it, right?”

“ARGH, COME ON, BROTHER, DON’T GET LAZY IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EXPLAINATION!”

Abigaz pointed to himself, “Do You Need Me To Explain More? If Anyone Can Give You A Really Detailed Explaination, It’d Be Me And My Brother Since We Have The Most Experience!” He gestured to his body in a very clear indication of what he meant.

“It’s fine, I think I get it?” You weren’t really sure you got it but you understood enough to at least know they could all get those pretty bodies if they wanted to. “I’m good for now, thanks! Still, it’s really cool you all have those sparkly, magic bodies! They look so nice...”

“i mean, technically we always have magic bodies but yeah, the sparkles are a pretty neat add-on,” Comic chuckled.

You huffed, waving a hand at him, “You know what I mean!” You sighed a little, eyes wondering to Abigaz’s arms, his sleeves now rolled up to his elbows, and looking wistfully at them, “I wish I could have something like that...”

“COME ON, FRIEND! EVEN IF YOU WILL NEVER HAVE BODIES AS GREAT AS OURS,” Papyrus held onto your arms, lifting them up and down, “YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY WITH THE HUMAN BODY YOU DO HAVE! IT IS VERY, VERY CLOSE TO BEING AS GREAT!”

You chuckled a little, “Okay, okay, I guess this non-magic, not glittery body will do.”

Papyrus’s eye sockets narrowed, “EH... NOT QUITE THE ATTITUDE I WAS LOOKING FOR... BUT CLOSE ENOUGH!” Papyrus let your arms dropped. You turned to your chopping board, expecting him to go to his own but he gave you a quick and firm hug before he did so.

Abigaz clapped his hands a few times, “Alright! We’ll Be Making The Perfect Dish! Stir Fry!”

“I BEG TO DIFFER ON THAT POINT...”

Abigaz turned to him with a grin, “Then Beg.”

“NEVER!”

“Too Bad! My Previous Statement Still Stands!”

Papyrus let out a very dissatisfied, “NYEH!”

“Sweetheart, Are You Helping?” After your nod of confirmation, Abigaz got to work separating the workload about equally between you all. Carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, and a few others, some you didn't even recognise. Fio took a quick moment to roll up his cake sheet and make sure it was in place to set before he turned to help get to chopping. Abigaz was surprisingly strict on how he wanted the vegetables cut. Anything that didn’t make the cut, heh, was set aside and eaten by Fio. At least it wasn’t getting wasted.

With all three of you chopping, you were finished all too soon, a practical mountain of chopped vegetables now in front of you. Abigaz quickly got to work on cutting up the chicken himself. “Thank You For Helping Me, But I’ll Be Fine From Here!”

“THEN... I GUESS WE CAN SET THE TABLE! COME ON, FRIEND!” Papyrus wrapped an arm around your shoulder and began leading you to the dining room. You looked behind you, noticing that Comic had left at some point you hadn’t noticed. As you were making your way there, the sliding door opened. You looked over just in time to meet eyes with Rusch and Parix. The two perked up at the sight of you, Rusch making his way over to you with Parix trailing behind after him. Behind them, Helvetica walked in, his smile unchanged as he took sight of you.

“cutie, ya’re back,” Rusch said, his smile stretching on his face.

“Yep, I’m back! H-mmph-” your greeting was cut off as Rusch hugged you, pulling your face against his chest. You quickly turned your now flushed face, returning the hug. His scent today oddly reminded you of incense. “H-hi.”

“hey,” he said back, looking down at you with an expression that had your heart fluttering. When the hug felt like it was lasting a tad bit too long, you let your arms drop but Rusch kept his hold. You waited a couple of beats in case he would let go but when he made no move to do so, you attempted to step back. That seemed to do it as he reluctantly let you go. As nice as the hug was, you didn’t want to ignore your other... friend? You weren’t sure if you were friends yet but you hoped so. Sending late night memes to each other was a friend thing, wasn’t it?

You turned to Parix, smiling widely, “Hey Parix.”

“... hey,” Parix greeted back, a small smile on his face. He stepped a little closer to you, looking to Rusch then to you. His arms raised up a little awkwardly. It took a moment for you to realise he wanted a hug. Oh! You eagerly gave him one. His arms slowly wrapped loosely around you, like he wasn’t really sure how to hug. The thought was a little saddening and hoped that wasn’t the case. You smiled at the scent of fresh laundry detergent on his hoodie and enjoyed the nice hug for a little more before you let go. Parix’s cheekbones were now a cute yellow as he stepped back, his eye lights looking to the side and hand fiddling with his hoodie string.

You turned your attention to the other skeleton in the room. Vet was looking at you with a smile that looked more amused. “Hello, again,” you could only awkwardly greet him. It felt a little weird hugging two of the new arrivals and not the third but you didn’t think you were anywhere near close enough for greeting hugs yet, even if something about him screamed that he’d give very good ones.

“AND GOOD AFTERNOON TO YOU, MY DEAR.” Oh. Your cheeks flushed once more. You had forgotten that he had called you that before. It made you feel warm inside. “ARE YOU STAYING FOR DINNER AGAIN?”

You nodded but Papyrus spoke up, “YES! SHE HELPED MAKE EVERYTHING WITH US! I HOPE YOU’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!”

“if cutie made it,” Rusch let the sentence trail off, his expression happy.

“I mostly just helped. Papyrus and Fio and Abigaz did all the hard work!” At the mention of the third name, Rusch seemed to stiffen and Parix looked over to you, eye sockets slightly wider.

“they here already?” Rusch asked. At your and Papyrus’ confirmation, Rusch let out a harsh, audible breath. You weren’t sure what kind of reaction that was but didn’t question it.

“OKAY! WITH ALL YOUR GREETINGS OUT OF THE WAY, WE HAVE A TASK TO COMPLETE!” Papyrus continued leading you to the dining room. Rusch followed after the two of you. You got to work setting the table for fourteen. Rusch stood off to the side, simply watching the two of you work without doing anything himself. The smell of stir fry made you start feeling hungry. You couldn’t wait to get to eating it.

Table set, Papyrus suggested you go wait for dinner time in the living room. You three settled down together, you finding yourself, once again, in the middle. He turned on the TV but it fell to background noise as you found yourself paying more attention to Papyrus’s loud commentary on the animated movie that was on. Rusch had snuggled up to you once more and you figured this was just something you had to get used to. It took you a moment to get over the little bout of butterflies in your stomach. He was a nice cuddle buddy.

The second movie was half way through and Papyrus was in a heated lecturer aimed at the main character about the treasures of friendship he was so blatantly misunderstanding when Abigaz sauntered out the kitchen, holding a large metal bowl with what you were sure was filled with his stir fry as if it weighed nothing at all. “Dinner!”

Chapter Text

“EXCELLENT!” Papyrus jumped to his feet, holding your wrist and gently pulling you to your feet while he put way more force into pulling Rusch to his feet. “FRIEND, SAVE ME THE SEAT BESIDE YOU! I WISH TO SEE THIS DINNER RIGHT TO THE END!” You barely got time to nod before he was tearing off to the stairs. Walking into the dining room, Abigaz was scooping out the stir fry with a metal spoon, humming under his breath and swinging his hips in time with the tune he was humming to himself. You found yourself smiling at the sight. You waited for him to finish before you stepped forward to take your seat but paused. Where were you supposed to sit? Verdana led you to a seat last time and you didn’t want to sit in someone’s spot. Rusch noticed your dilemma and guided you to a seat, sitting in the spot beside you. Abigaz placed the much emptier bowl down in the middle of the table then made his way over to you. He pulled out the seat beside you and you quickly held a hand out. He looked at you with a heartbroken expression and you quickly explained that Papyrus had asked for the seat. Abigaz looked a little more understanding at that but still disappointed and walked around the table so he was sitting across from you instead.

Papyrus came bounding back and immediately sat in the seat beside you, bouncing a little in his seat as he smiled at you. You swore you could see little flowers popping around him. You smiled back, which got him to settle a little in his seat. Hot on his heels was the other energetic skeleton, stars in his eyes as they looked around the room and landed on you. “BERRY! YOU ARE HERE!”

“Verdy!” You replied, maybe a tad louder than you would have liked but you were happy to see him.

Papyrus brought a hand to his chest in offence, “DID YOU THINK I LIED?”

“NO! BUT IT’S STILL NICE TO SEE IT’S TRUE!” Verdana rushed over to you, wrapping his arms around you and rubbing his cheek against yours. You laughed a little, noting that his cheekbone really was squishier than bone was probably supposed to be. You happily hugged him back. You felt a little lighter inside just from hearing his own matching laugh. He let you go. He looked to the spots next to you, and you swore you saw his smile falter and you felt a little bad he couldn’t sit next to you this time. He moved around to sit on Papyrus’s other side, leaning forward with his chin in his hands to be able to look at you better.

More skeletons followed after at a much less hurried pace than the two energetic skeletons. Helvetica strolled in, hands clasped behind his back as always then settled at one of the head of table seats, just like before. Had you ever seen him walk with his hands at his sides? Parix shuffled in after him, taking the seat to his right. Montserrat was marching in next, barely sparing you a second glance as he sat at Rusch’s other side. Comic came in with Candera. Comic took note of where Papyrus was sitting and instead of sitting at the head of the table, decided to sit across from him and Candera ended up sitting between Abigaz and Parix.

Fio finally arrived, Eras following after him like a shadow. His eye light looked at you, his grin widening. You could only try to smile back and wave to him. His expression softened a little, to your relief. With everyone seated, Abigaz got to his feet, clinked the back of his fork to a wine glass. Wait, you and Papyrus hadn’t set any of those out so where did he-

“Ahem! It’s So Good To Be Back Home Again! So, Everyone, Fill Your Glasses Because I’d Like To Propose A Toast!”

“YEAH, YOU’RE BACK. LET’S JUST EAT,” Montserrat rolled his eye lights,

“Be A Party Pooper, Why Don’t You,” Abigaz commented before he continued, some people choosing to start pouring some juice or water or even milk into their glasses if they didn’t already have a condiment to drink, “Anyway Before I Was So Rudely Interrupted,” Montserrat groaned but didn’t say anything else, “A Toast!” He held up his wine glass, gesturing for everyone else to do the same. With a mix of many amused smiles and some annoyed grumbles, everyone did lift the glasses or condiments next to them, you lifting up your own, “To Me And My Wonderful Brother!” Candera eagerly raised his bottle of chutney at that, letting out a, “woo!” “Oh, And The Rest Of You, Too, I Suppose.” The cheeky glint in his eye sockets proved he was just joking and a few skeletons chuckled at that.

“I DON’T FEEL COMPELED TO DRINK TO THIS,” Papyrus grumbled before he stood up, “THEN I’LL MAKE A BETTER TOAST! HOW ABOUT WE TOAST TO ALL OF US SINCE WE ALL DESERVED TO BE TOASTED FOR!”

All the others toasted with various amounts of enthusiasm, such as Papyrus rushing to hit your glasses together so hard that you were surprised they hadn’t cracked or spilled over, Rusch lightly tapping his bottle of barbecue against your glass, Verdana reaching over to tap your glasses together once, twice, thrice and Abigaz leaning forward to clink your glasses together with half lidded eye sockets and an amorous grin that set butterflies off in your stomach before he sat back down.

Eras got to eating almost immediately. It felt like you blinked and half his plate was already empty and he was already scooping up seconds. Everyone else ate at a more laid-back pace, conversation breaking out with the different skeletons. You found yourself chatting mainly with Papyrus and Verdana since they were closest to you, with Verdana regaling you about what he had done today and being a little upset he couldn’t join your little cooking session in the kitchen. The stir fry was honestly really good. Abigaz’s eye lights looked like they got a little bigger when you complimented it. You felt completely at ease, enjoying the nice conversation and food lifting your already good mood.

All too soon, you had finished eating. Fio immediately got up, saying he’d bring the dessert in. You got up as well, you had been helping him all day so you just automatically decided to go help him out now. You didn’t know why you didn’t expect everyone to look to your sudden stance.

“I’m just... gonna...” you pointed after Fio and quickly rushed over to him. You heard someone, Verdana maybe, call your name but just quickly made your way after Fio. Fio looked up from the bowl, surprise evident on his face at your arrival. “... Need help?”

He smiled softly, “Thank you, Cupcake, But I’ll Be Alright. You Are Still A Guest. You’ve Already Helped Enough!”

“No, it’s fine! I’d really like to-” you stopped, your face scrunching up in thought, “Wait, cupcake?”

“Ah,” Fio brought a hand up to his mouth, looking mortified, “I Didn’t Mean To Call You That... But... It Feels Fitting For You...” his cheeks blushed a pale orange. He looked adorable fidgeting like that and the nickname felt fitting coming from him. Sweet and soft. Though, it felt like you should be calling him that instead. Wait, maybe...

“It’s fine! I... I like it,” you dug your heel into the tile as you admitted that. Fio lit up. You gulped, building up your courage before you dared to ask, “Is it... okay if I call you... Muffin? S-so we can match!” That wasn’t how people usually decided on friend nicknames, was it? But you didn’t want to just say it without running it by him first! What if he hated it? Fio tensed, his eye lights narrowing and instantly getting you worried. You panicked. This was exactly what you were afraid of. You quickly back tracked, “B-but it’s okay! If you don’t like it, I mean! Y-you can still c-call me ‘Cupcake’ i-if you want so-”

“Muffin...” Fio muttering the word made you snap your mouth close. His eye lights grew and looked a little fuzzy, his smile widening as he clasped his hands together. The expression was so bright it felt like you had to shield your eyes. How was this tall skeleton so cute!? “I Love It! Yes, I Would Very Much Like It If You Called Me That, Cupcake!”

Your shoulders sagged in relief, “I’m glad to hear that! M... Muffin...” This was going to take some getting used to... But! Fio looked so happy hearing the nickname that you didn’t regret it. You didn’t expect him to wrap you up in a hug. He had to bend down even more than the other skeletons with his height. You reached your own arms around him, his hold on you tightening just a bit as you did. His sweater and scarf were just as soft as you imagined them to be, he smelt as sweet as the pastries he made and hugging him felt like a wave of calm had washed over you. You felt like you could stay like this forever...

“OH HO?” You jumped at the new voice and ripped away from Fio in alarm. Helvetica was staring at you two with an amused grin, like he was seconds away from bursting into delighted giggles. He brought a hand out from behind his back, making a ‘go on’ motion. “OH, PLEASE DON’T MIND ME. I WAS JUST WONDERING WHAT WAS TAKING YOU TWO SO LONG.”

“Right! Dessert! Sorry! I didn’t mean to distract you, Fi...F...” You stopped yourself from saying his name, remembering his nickname but weren’t sure you wanted Helvetica to hear it. But with Fio’s expectant gaze, you forced your hesitation down and muttered out a, “M... Muffin...”

“You Did Nothing Of The Sort, Cupcake!” Fio straightened up a little. It felt like little flowers could pop up around him with how brightly he was smiling. “But We Must Be Getting That Dessert For Everyone Now! Did You Come To Help, Vet?”

“I HAD BUT... I WOULDN’T WANT TO INTERRUPT YOU TWO, MFU FU FU.”

You face heated up as Fio waved it off, looking not the least bit embarrassed, “Of Course Not! Come In, Come In!” Helvetica walked in, giving you a teasing look that only made you feel even more flustered cause damn, okay, he was pretty handsome and also did he have to tease you?!

Fio brought out a large bowl from the cold fridge. You looked in awe at the dessert. You could make out the layers through the transparency of the bowl. Cake, fruit, custard, jello, custard and when he placed it down, you got a good look at the top which had whipped cream and chocolate shavings. You were already salivating at the sight of it.

“COME, DEAR. THE SOONER WE HAVE THIS PLATED, THE SOONER YOU CAN EAT IT WITH YOUR MOUTH INSTEAD OF YOUR EYES,” you sputtered a little but he did have a point, you guessed. As Helvetica led you to the plates and handed you a few, he spoke up again, “THIS DOES LOOK QUITE GOOD. MARVELOUS WORK, AGFIUSTOR.”

“Now, I Can’t Take All The Credit! Papyrus And Cupcake Helped Me Quite A Bit!”

“You still did most of the work, though, M-Muffin...”

“I SEE. THEN I LOOK FORWARD TO EATING IT EVEN MORE.” You focused more on handing Fio the plates as he dished up rather than the slight flutter in your heart. Fio made quick work of measuring out enough dessert for everyone present, putting the rest of it away. The three of you carried the plates back over to the dining room. Eras literally ended up drooling at the sight of them, dark blue tinted saliva dripping down his jaw, earning him a reprimand from Fio who quickly handed him his plate and wiped up his face with a napkin. You also noted Parix lighting up at the dessert, or rather, the whipped cream on it.

You settled back into your seat, and eagerly dug in. You couldn’t hold back the moan of pleasure that slipped out of your mouth as you did. It tasted amazing! Definitely better than the ones you’ve had in the past! As you went to pick up another spoonful, a skull nuzzling into the area between your neck and shoulder made you stop. Rusch stopped once he got your attention, looking up at you a lot like a puppy as he opened his mouth and pointed at it.

“R-Rusch, you have your own plate,” you muttered, flustered as you realised a few of the skeletons were looking your way.

“mm... but i wan’ yours,” he replied, returning to nuzzling against you.

“Rusch, come on,” you mumbled, trying to get the skeleton to stop but instead, he let out a noise very similar to a whine, making your heart feel like it was trying to burst out your chest. No damn wonder Black calls him pooch. He really is like a dog, no, a puppy! Argh, why were you finding these skeletons cute!?

You face burned at the attention. You knew you wouldn’t last to the end of dinner if you didn’t comply so you did, sliding your plate over to him. One of Rusch’s eye sockets’ opened to look down at the plate before it looked at you.

“no. feed me.” Oh heavens above, help you. You shakily took as much of trifle on your spoon and held it up to him.

“H-here,” Rusch lit up, opening his mouth to take it but your shaky hand made some of it spill off the spoon but luckily, you managed to catch it before it fell onto the floor. Rusch ate up the bit on the spoon, You pulled the spoon away and put it down, moving your hand to try put the dessert in your hand on your plate. Except, a hand reached over to hold your wrist. You were a little too befuddled to react as Rusch brought your hand closer and...

Your eyes widened and it felt like the world froze as a maroon tongue came out his mouth and licked up the food and up your palm, warm, soft and very noticeably wet. You let out an instinctual squeak and Rusch was suddenly pulled back.

“YOU DAMN MUTT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?” Montserrat barked, his hand still holding firmly onto Rusch’s hoodie. Rusch frowned, looking back at Montserrat then back at you, the sides of his mouth tilted up at he ran his tongue along his teeth while keeping complete eye contact with you. Your face, no, your whole body felt hot enough to burst into flames. Rusch, what the hell?!

“Oh La La~” Abigaz chimed in.

“aw, monte cut off our free dinnertime entertainment,” Candera snickered. “i was really lapping that up, too.”

“hey now,” Comic said, looking between them, “we don’t want our guest getting uncomfortable with you looking at them...” his semi-serious expression faded as he smirked, “lick that.”

“heh heh, really... eating this up... ain’tcha?” Eras chuckled.

‘Oh lord, bury me alive right now!’ You would bury your head in your hands but with one of them currently compromised, you could only turn your head away from him as Montserrat lectured him more, something about lack of training and a leash? But you were too embarrassed to pay attention. Not just at the fact that Rusch had the gall to do that in front of so many of the skeletons and now having them all make fun of you for it, but also the heat growing inside of you as the sight of Rusch’s face as he looked at you and the feeling of his tongue on your hand and-

“REALLY,” you jumped as your hand was taken and held palm up. Papyrus took the napkin next to your plate and wiped your palm for you. “IF HE WAS THAT HUNGRY FOR DESSERT HE COULD HAVE JUST ASKED FOR MORE!”

Candera rose and lowered his eye ridges, “i think he was hungry for more than just dessert.” You felt like screaming!

“ALL OF YOU STOP THAT! YOU’RE MAKING HER UNCOMFORTABLE!” Verdana, your shining knight, admonished them, hand on his hip and shaking his finger at them disapprovingly before he turned his head to look at Rusch, “RUSCH! APOLOGISE TO BERRY RIGHT NOW! THAT WAS VERY INAPPROPRIATE!”

“sorry,” Rusch mumbled, not sounding apologetic in the slightest. You frowned at that. No matter what weird reaction you got from... that, that was still a bit of a push past your boundaries. Verdana only looked more upset at that, joining Montserrat’s lecturing with vigour. Well, that made you feel a little better.

You turned back to eating, only realising after you had taken another bite that you had used your own spoon to feed Rusch, causing you to choke on the dessert a little before it had a chance to dissolve on your tongue. “FRIEND, WHAT’S WRONG?” Papyrus asked worried as you coughed. The food dissolved soon enough, making it easier to get your breathing back in order.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m fine now,” you quickly assured him, looking down at your spoon. You glanced at Rusch’s spoon that still lay unused. You considered swapping but realised it would lead to Rusch having to use the spoon you used. Wait, but he had already used it. Argh! Forget it! With a flustered face, you pushed through and continued eating. Verdana and Montserrat’s lecturing ended soon enough and everyone went back to eating with no other embarrassing incidents coming up again. You quickly got up to get your dish into the kitchen once you were done. You noticed Rusch trying to follow you but Montserrat pulled him back down with a firm, “OH-HO-HO NO, DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.” You stood at the sink, putting your plate inside with a heavy breathe.

“um...” You whipped around to see Parix walking up to you, “... you o-okay?”

“Uh... I mean...” you laughed awkwardly, “That was... one of the most embarrassing moments of my life but... I’m okay!” You held up a shaky okay sign with a grin. Parix let out a few soft chuckles as he came up to place his own dish into the sink. He tapped his fingers against the sink a few times, opening his mouth, stopped, then opened it again but snapped his mouth closed as a few more skeletons walked in. Verdana rushed in with a few plates in hand with Fio following, Fio anxiously rubbing his hands together as he came up to you.

“BERRY, ARE YOU-”

“Cupcake, Do You-”

The two paused, looking at each other, Fio simply caught off guard at having someone speak up with him, Verdana looking surprised.

“HUH? CUPCAKE?”

“Yes!” Fio’s anxiousness lifted long enough for him to beam happily before it returned as he turned to you, “Cupcake, Do You Feel Alright?”

“Y-yes! I’m fine! It was... just... a lick...” your voice softened with every word, your face reddening again as your mind replayed the moment once more. You shook your head to clear it away. “N-no harm done!” Except to your dignity, maybe.

The two did not look convinced on that. “BERRY, I CAN KEEP YOU AWAY FROM HIM IF YOU WANT! YOU SHOULDN’T FEEL LIKE BEING FORCED TO BE AROUND HIM TO BE NICE-!”

“No, really!” you quickly cut in, “Rusch... Rusch is...” was he a friend? “Rusch is nice! I like hanging around him so... there’s no need to do that!”

“BUT IF YOU DON’T TELL HIM OFF THEN HE’LL DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN! DIDN’T IT MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE?”

You took a moment to respond. Most of the discomfort you felt was mainly centred around the fact that he had done that with everyone watching but did it make you uncomfortable? Yes! No? Of all things to be debating yourself on mentally... Of course you should feel uncomfortably that someone you’ve known of, what, less than a week licked you! But... you couldn’t describe it as discomfort... More like... that feeling of... of...?

You shook it off. Verdana was waiting for a reply! “I... think so?” No! What kind of answer was that?! Verdana looked as conflicted at the response as you were.

“O-OH.” He cleared his throat, “WELL... JUST.... YOU SHOULD LET HIM KNOW WHEN HE DOES SOMETHING YOU AREN’T OKAY WITH, ALRIGHT? OR... WHEN ANY OF US DO. WE’RE... STUBBORN BUT A FIRM ‘NO’ IS USUALLY ENOUGH TO MAKE MOST OF US BACK OF, ALRIGHT, BERRY? AND IF THEY DON’T, YOU COME STRAIGHT TO ME!” You nodded. Verdana’s smile returned with that, making you relax your tense shoulders. “NOW, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW? IT’S STILL A WHILE BEFORE SUNSET!”

“Sunset?” You rose an eyebrow at that specific time.

“DONT YOU USUALLY LEAVE AT SUNSET?”

“I... huh,” thinking about it, the last two times, you had left at sunset. The day officially starting to turn to night made it feel like you were overstaying your welcome. Not like you were going to protest staying until then again today. “I guess I do. I don’t think I have anything to do...?” You looked to Fio since he had been the one to invite you.

“Well, we already finished with making dessert like i wanted us to do,” Fio said, looking down in thought, finger tapping at his chin. “So, we can do what you want to do now!”

But what did you want to do? You thought about it while looking around for any ideas before your eyes landed on Parix, who had stayed silent and out of the conversation, his hands fiddling with his hoodie strings. You were sure he had something he wanted to say but it didn’t look like he would be saying it with them here...

“Parix,” he looked to you, “Is it fine... if we play something?”

Parix lit up, eye lights widening and he nodded eagerly, “yeah... let’s... go to mine...”

Verdana latched onto your arm, “CAN I JOIN? IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I’VE GAMED!”

“If You Wouldn’t Mind... I’d Like To Join, Too,” Fio said, hopeful glimmer in his eye sockets.

Parix hunched in a little but nodded, “if... you want to...” The two other skeletons cheered at that. There went your plan to try getting Parix alone. You didn’t have the heart to tell them you hoped it was just the two of you. Maybe he’d tell you later then. Parix scooted a few spaces before he began leading your group out but was stopped by an eager exclamation.

“Oh, Are You Going Out To The Cabins?” Abigaz asked eagerly as he and Candera stepped up to your group. “We’re Just Going To Our Cabin So Let’s Go Together! More Is Always Better!”

Your journey to Parix and Helvetica’s cabin continued. Abigaz chatted amicably with mostly just Fio until he and Candera had to part ways to their own cabin. Abigaz had given you a quick, tight hug, your nose being filled with the scent of vanilla, even pulling Verdana into it since he was still holding your arm and Candera winked at you before they walked off, leaving you flustered.

When you entered the cabin, Vet, who was seating on one of the armchairs, looked at you all enter with a cordial smile.

“I WASN’T EXPECTING GUESTS TONIGHT.”

“...sorry...”

Vet waved the apology off, “MAKE YOURSELVES AT HOME,” he got to his feet, walking to the kitchen, “WOULD ANY OF YOU LIKE ANYTHING TO DRINK?”

When everyone answered with a negative, Vet simply nodded and got out a wine glass and pulled out a wine bottle. You looked between him pouring the wine and the painting of the red gloved hand holding the wine glass. Was the painting meant to represent Helvetica? You settled down on the sofa, Verdana sitting beside you. Parix took your other side and Fio sat next to Verdana. Parix handed you a controller which you eagerly took in hand then gave one to Fio and Verdana. The screen and one of the consoles turned on and he choose a game from it’s game library that had you bouncing in your seat. You had played an older version of it when you were younger on an older generation of this console. Parix’s smile widened at your own excitement.

The game started up and the four of you got to playing, with Vet settling back in his armchair with wine glass in hand. You had a feeling Parix was holding back just so he wouldn’t completely curb stomp you all but he still ended up getting most of the victories anyway. Verdana was a surprisingly close second, letting out victorious, “MWEH HEH HEH!”s with every win. Sadly, Fio found himself dragging behind at last but he didn’t look to mind as he simply looked to be having fun. Your laughter and light chatter filled the hours until you had to go back home.

“ALLOW ME TO DRIVE YOU BACK,” Vet spoke before anyone else could offer. You blinked in surprise at that.

“Are you sure?”

“VERY MUCH SO. I NEVER GO BACK ON A DECISION.” He got up, putting his glass into the sink. “PARIX, ARE YOU COMING WITH?” Parix straightened, looking from his brother to you and then nodded. “RIGHT, COME ALONG THEN.”

The four of you followed after Vet like a group of ducklings as you left the cabin. The evening air was a little chilly for summer but Verdana’s body heat kept you from feeling too cold. You held yourself back from snuggling into him more. You walked through the house, saying your farewells to the others you passed by, Papyrus quickly making his way over to join your group and Rusch looking like he wanted to do the same but Montserrat held him firmly in place, before you were out and by the garage. Vet walked on ahead to get his car out while the now five of you waited. You wondered if they’d be tagging along and further wondered if there would be space for them.

“I WISH WE COULD HAVE SPENT MORE TIME TOGETHER...” Verdana sighed, “BUT IT WAS GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN, BERRY! I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN SOON!”

“Same here, Verdy,” feeling a little brave, you leaned your head closer and pressed the side of your head against Verdana’s. He leaned in, too, tightening his grip on your arm before slowly letting go and stepping back.

“Thank You For Coming Today, Cupcake,” Fio said, his smile soft. “It Really Was More Fun Than I Hoped Getting To Bake With You. I’d Love To Do It Again. Or Something Else! I’m Sure It Would Be Just As Wonderful A Time.”

You chest warmed at that. You smiled at him, taking a step forward towards him. Like he could read your mind, he opened his arms and pulled you into a hug, which you happily returned. When you parted, you soon found yourself swept up in another hug.

“WE MUST HAVE OUR OWN DESIGNATED HANG OUT SESSION, FRIEND! I PROMISE IT WILL BE SO MUCH FUN, IT WILL HAVE YOU WISHING TO NEVER WANT TO PART FROM ME AGAIN!” You laughed a little at the bold declaration.

“Wow! I’ll sure be looking forward to it, Papy... Papyrus!” You quickly corrected yourself. Papyrus froze and you worriedly looked up to his face. Even his expression was frozen. But only for a second before he grinned widely.

“FRIEND! YOU CAN CALL ME ‘PAPY’ IF YOU WISH!”

“Okay, can do, P-Papy...” Papyrus laughed gleefully, lifting you off your feet and twirling you around a couple of times. You squealed, tightening your hold on him. He put you down again and you laughed as you got your footing. Once you were steady on your feet again, a car began pulling out one of the opened garage doors. You looked to see a sleek looking, black SUV. It felt oddly fitting for Vet. He beckoned you and Parix over. Parix opened the back door, then gestured for you to go in. You gave him a quick, “Thank you,” as you stepped in. He quickly followed after you and shut the door. You barely had enough time to wave out the window and see the three others wave back before Vet was driving off to town.

After telling him where your apartment was, Vet put the radio on. You don’t know what you were expecting him to start playing, but RnB wouldn’t have been your first guess. But you definitely weren’t complaining, the song he choose was one you liked so you found yourself bopping your head along with the beat. You looked to Parix, who was looking out the window. Oh, right! He wanted to tell you something!

You reached over to poke his arm but his baggy hoodie made it hard to tell where his arm, or rather his humerus, was as you found yourself poking past it and just pressing into the fabric. It managed to get his attention at least so you counted it as a win. “You wanted to say something in the kitchen, right?”

“i... did... but...” he shook his head, putting his chin onto his hand, his elbow resting on the arm of the car door, “it doesn’t... it doesn’t matter now...”

“Why not?” You tilted your head curiously. “You can say it! I’m sure it matters!”

Your attempts at encouragement caused yellow blush to spread on his cheekbones. “i was just gonna... gonna ask if you wanted to play something... so...”

Oh. It didn’t matter because you ended up doing it anyway. You laughed a little at that. “Well... I stand by my... by what I said! It made me happy to hear you were gonna ask!” You blushed a little to admit it but that deepening of the yellow on his cheeks made it worth it.

“then... i’ll ask you a-again... later...” his voice softened.

“Alright! You had a lot of games there and I can’t wait to play them with you! Even if you beat me at them, haha!”

Parix chuckled, “you never know... miracles happen everyday... you could beat me at something...”

“Hey! Don’t say it like that, Mr Humble! I play a mean game of... uh...” you grasped for any game you could actually stand a chance at winning against him before you snapped your fingers, “Of 30 seconds!”

“pfft-” Parix could barely stifle his laughter, “seemed to... take you more than 30 seconds to think of a game.”

“We weren’t playing so it doesn’t count!”

“capital of cuba.”

You blinked, “Huh?”

“close but... no dice...” he grinned, his head turning to face you more, “you should... havanna-ther try at thinking of a game...”

It took you a moment to get the pun before you groaned, then laughed, “No, that wasn’t fair! Give me something else!”

“hm... a-alright... symbol for potasium?”

Your eyes widened, as you snapped you fingers, “Oh! Oh! I know this, it’s... on the tip of my tongue... Wait, wait!”

Parix shrugged, “k.”

You snapped your fingers a bit more before you eagerly answered, “It’s k!” You paused, then frowned, “Wait a minute...”

“you’re welcome.” He laughed silently at your confounded expression, his shoulders shaking. You whined, lightly slapping his arm. The rest of the ride went on much the same, light hearted banter and laughter from both of you. It felt nice to see Parix open up to you so much more. He looked so adorable when he smiled so openly, even if it was as he was teasing you.

“WE’VE ARRIVED.” Helvetica’s amused voice cut off your current conversation. Looking out you realised you really were parked in front of your apartment complex. Huh. Time just flew by without you realising it. Parix deflated a little when he looked out as well. The light mood dropped a little as the two of you sat silently, you slowly reaching for the door. You didn’t want to leave but you shouldn’t hold them up.

“knock... knock...” Oh?

“Who’s there?”

“al.”

“Al who?”

“al be looking forward to... to seeing you again.”

Warmth flooded you chest. Awww! “And I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again, too. Um...” You opened your arms and Parix met you half way in a hug. Your smile felt wide enough to spilt your face in half. You both dropped your arms. You looked over to Vet, who simply had his eye sockets closed while tilting his head side to side in time with the song playing.

“Um... Vet?”

He opened his eye sockets, looking back at you, “YES, MY DEAR?”

“Thank you for the ride home.”

“IT WAS NO ISSUE AT ALL. HAVE A GOOD NIGHT.”

“Same to you,” you gave Patrix one last wave before you left. Just like Rusch, Vet didn’t drive away until you had stepped up to your apartment door and opened it. You sighed. Here comes the sadness. It felt so foreign to be missing company this often but the skeletons made it easy to want to be with them as often as possible. You idly rubbed at your chest, smiling a little at the thought of getting to see them in just a few days if this pattern kept up.

Chapter Text

Your hunch that you’d be seeing the skeletons again very soon was right. When Black had learnt that he had missed getting to hang out with you at dinner, he had been absolutely soul broken about it. At least according to his texts. So much so that he decided to finally put into action your previously up in the air date plans.

‘im gonna take you to one of my fav places to hang out somewhere real special’

Ever since you had gotten his texts confirming that you’d be going on that date, you’d been filled with a flood of emotions. First and foremost, excitement, of course. You liked Black, you weren’t sure how much and were even less sure if it was romantic or not, but you really did like spending time with him. He was nice, lots of fun and made you laugh.

Second, was frantic. Oh god, what were people supposed to do on dates?! How were you supposed to act? What were you supposed to wear? Should you dress up? Should you stay as casual as you had whenever you saw the skeletons?! Although you had tried your best to casually ask him if you needed to bring anything and how you should dress, his response as a simply, ‘dont worry about it’. That did not help!

Third, anxiety. What if you messed up somehow? What if Black decides you were too boring or you did something that grated on his nerves, er, bones? What if he never wants to spend time with you again?!

You harshly rubbed your face then slapped your cheeks. Nope, none of that. You weren’t going to flood your brain with thoughts like that. You weren’t some crush stricken teenager. You were a, mostly, grown adult! You could handle this like an adult! Right? You hoped...

Minutes passed by both too fast and too slow, the anticipation you felt pushing you between wanting this date to start already to wondering if you should try feign sick and get the date pushed back a little more to try prepare yourself more. Despite your conflicted feelings, the hour of reckoning was drawing ever closer. You were planning on staying in your apartment to wait it out but your nerves had you feeling restless so you decided to try burning some of your energy by making a quick trip to the store.

By the time you were rushing back, you noticed a car parked by the pavement next to the apartment gates at about the same time you felt your phone buzzing in your pocket. It was some sort of luxury, black minivan. ‘Oh, long trips away must be fun in that thing,’ you idly noted as you pulled out your phone.

‘your carriage awaits fair maiden’

Oh, Black was here already? You quickened your pace, heart pounding in anticipation as you looked around for him but when nothing else was around, you slowly turned your focus back to the minivan. As you slowed to a stop next to it, the tinted passenger window rolled down and there he was, leaning his elbow on the steering wheel with his jaw resting in his hand, his other hand on his hip. You body felt locked in place as you looked at him, heart still pounding.

“come here often, pretty lady?”

You blinked then snorted, “Well... not so much lately. See, these skeletons have been taking me to their place a lot lately.”

“pfft, they sound lame as hell. come in an’ lemme take you somewhere special, bb gurl.”

Your couldn’t hold your laughter, the tenseness in your shoulders loosening up. You opened the door and climbed in. An air freshener hung from the rear view mirror and made the car smell like an artificial pine forest.

You fiddled with the plastic bag in your hand before you pulled out your purchase, and shoved the little bag into your pocket, “It’s not a bundle of flowers but...” you held the bottle of chilli sauce out to him with a nervous smile, “For you?”

Black looked down at the bottle with a widened eye socket. He smiled softly then grinned at you as he took it, “nah, this is way better than a buncha plants. thanks, mousey.” He took the bottle, his hands brushing against your hand and causing you to flinch thanks to your heightened nerves. He chuckled at you as he popped the lid open and you turned to look out the window. After a few seconds of silence, he let out a satisfied, “ah, this is the good stuff.” You were relieved at that. You had no idea what the differences between brands of chilli sauce were and were even less versed in magic food variants of it so you just picked what the most articles you searched for recommended. You heard the lid clasp shut. “c’mon, don’t give me the chilli shoulder here.”

You slowly turned to face him again, “... hi?”

“hey.” He looked amused at the awkwardness you were feeling and you pouted. But now that you were looking at him, something about him seemed... different... You squinted your eyes as you examined him more, Black let you go about your scrutinising, unbothered. Your eyes widened. You snapped your fingers and pointed at his eye patch.

“It’s black!” That’s what it was! The last few times you had seen him his eye patch was white.

“ding ding ding,” he mimed hitting a mini hammer against a bell, “i gotta dress fancy for dates, y’know?”

You looked over the rest of his clothes for any other changes but he was dressed as he always was. You looked up at him and his cheeky grin. You felt your own smile match it before you playfully pouted, pulling at your shirt, “Well, now I feel under-dressed!”

“don’ worry, i’ll look good enough for both of us,” he reached over and patted your cheek, leaving it feeling warmer, before he turned to face forward and start driving.

“Is... Is this your car?”

“nah. kind of just a communal car. belongs to the house. anyone can use it but it’s mostly for trips.”

“Oh, okay. Cool.” You looked to your hands and played with your fingers, not really sure what to talk about now.

He reached for the audio and you wondered what music would be playing this time. The opening of jolly fiddles and banjos was the absolute last thing you expected. You burst into surprised giggles. “aww, c’mon, little missy, ya hurtin’ mah feelin’s here.”

“Is this country?!”

“ye~essiree,” he replied with a very exaggerated southern accent. Your giggles subsided as you simply just smiled in amusement. Well, the song was catchy so you found yourself wiggling in time with it and even mouthing along with the chorus. You jumped when Black started hollering the chorus with his head back.

“E-eye on the road!” You urged through your laughter.

“c’mon, mousey, this song’s a duet, we gotta sing it together!”

“Okay, okay! Face forward though!” You listened to him sing the verses while you clapped to the beat or miming playing along with the instruments and ended up singing along with him through the remaining chorus of the song. It carried onto the next song and the next. Your eyes felt glued to watching Black for most of the journey, his smile wide, patting his hands on the wheel at certain parts of the song. His energy felt like gentle sunshine and you wanted to soak up more of it.

In the middle of your clumsy singing of the next song, you faltered as you eyed the now familiar gates of the skeleton’s property. You looked to Black in confusion who rose and lowered his eye ridges a couple of times.

“i did say it was one of my favourite places to be.” Well. He definitely did say that.

After parking in the garage, the two of you stepped out but as you were making your way to the door, Black stopped. You looked back at him in confusion.

“... ya trust me, right?” You furrowed your eyebrows at the question. That felt... a little ominous. A part of you was instantly on guard but for some reason, something else, something much louder inside of you told you that you did trust him. It didn’t make sense. Sure, he was really nice but you still haven’t even known him for a month! Why did it feel like you trusted him more than you probably should? Black stared at you with a neutral expression, waiting for your response. You pursed your lips, looking at the ground before you decided to listen to it.

“... yeah, I do...” the words were hesitant but they were true. The edges of Black’s mouth tilted up. He held a hand out to you. You looked at it then his eye light before reaching out and placing your hand atop his hand. Black curled his hand around yours, holding it firmly, the fabric of his gloves soft on your skin.

“aight, mousey, close ya eyes. i know a short-cut there.”

You furrowed your eyebrows. “O...kay?” It wasn’t like you didn’t know where his cabin was. Maybe there was a surprise there and he didn’t want you seeing it? That would explain why he asked if you trusted him if he was going to lead you there while you weren’t seeing anything. You closed your eyes.

You suddenly felt the world lurch around you, as if you were on an elevator that was speeding downwards. The movement had you stumble even if your feet were firmly on the ground and your eyes flew open. Black’s hold on your hand helped right you. When you looked around, to your confusion, you weren’t outside the lodge but inside a room. The room had a very similar layout to Vet and Parix’s cabin except the furniture and decorations were nothing like it. It looked like some mix between rustic and punk rock, the walls painted black with one wall having a pretty cool looking graffiti of a sharp toothed skull on it while the wall adjacent to it had jagged stone bricks covering most of it, purple neon strips of light going through some of the gaps between the bricks. Most of the furniture was either black or purple with some white and other colours here and there. It was a pretty nice looking place admittedly. Wait-

You head snapped to look at Black, “H-how did... how did we...?” you looked to Black in bewilderment.

“told ya, short-cut,” he said cheekily.

“How?! And what was that- that weird feeling?!”

“the short-cut.”

“Yeah, but-!”

“that’s what we call it. it’s basically teleportation.” You mouth snapped close. “didn’t wanna run into anyone comin’ here in case someone tried third wheelin’ so just avoided the risk.”

You blinked owlishly at him, your mind trying to catch up to the current bombshell he had just dropped on you. “Teleport... we teleported?”

“yep.”

“Like... for real?”

“you betcha.”

You stared at him a little more before looking around at the living room around you, stomping on the hardwood flooring experimentally. That was the moment it hit you and you let out a loud, “NO FREAKING WAY!” Your exclamation caught Black off guard as your hands bounced up and down to expel the flood of excited energy that had hit you like a hurricane, his hand bobbing up and down along for the ride with it still in your hold, “Oh my god! We- you- I- We actually teleported! For real?!” You knew monsters could use magic, you had seen monsters use magic but you had no idea that that magic could be used on you!

Black’s surprise changed quickly to amusement, “for real.”

“Oh my god! That’s- This is-! What the hell!” Words couldn’t even come close to describing how siked about this you were. You patted vigorously at his chest, “Black!”

“mousey.”

“You do- you can do teleports!”

“that, i can.”

“And you teleported me! ”

“that, i did.”

“AHHHHH!” It took a little longer than you would want to admit to calm down but you finally calmed down enough to actually manage to sort your thoughts into a little more coherent sentences. You flushed a little at the look on Black’s face, like he was seconds away from laughing.

You cleared your throat, “S-so... how did we... teleport?”

“mousey. how do monsters do anything?”

“... magic?”

“magic.”

You felt a little disappointed at the short answer, but you supposed it was like someone asking how you could digest food or something. You just could, much like monsters just could use magic. Still, now that you had seen a bit, you were curious. They could teleport, they had telekinesis, what else could they do?

“That’s still really cool, though,” you said, looking down at your hands and squeezing them shut. Your eyes widened when you realised you were still holding onto Black’s hand and quickly let go, your face warm as you stepped back and began looking around the place. “This is a nice place.”

“thanks, the liege decided on practically all of this,” he made a vague gesture to the space around you, “did a good job, at least.”

You nodded in agreement, patting your hands to your sides, those nerves form before starting to crawl back now. “... now what?” You paused then cringed to yourself before quickly amending your words, “Er, what are we going to do... now?”

“well, i was thinkin’,” he reached a hand over and placed it in the middle of your back, your body straightening instinctively at the touch, and led you to the couch, “you sit here an’ look pretty, while i wow ya with my cookin’ skills.”

“Cooking skills?” You sat down on the couch and Black walked over to the kitchen. You twisted around in the seat to watch him, “I can help if you want.”

“nah, watch the master at work.” He turned a few knobs on the oven before going to the fridge. He opened the freezer and pulled out two boxes which he showed off to you like a person showing off products in an infomercial. It was frozen pizza. You ‘oh’d and ‘ah’d to play along. He pulled the frozen pizzas inside of them out, pulled off the plastic wrapping and promptly slide them into the oven. He gave a very half-assed jazz hands once he was done. “ta-da.”

You snorted but still applauded, “Oo, Masterchef Black! I have been ‘wow’ed.”

“thank you, thank you,” he snickered as he made his way over to you, letting himself fall back onto the couch. His descent looked a lot slower than it probably should have been and you guessed this had to be another magic thing. He sat very close to you, his arm draped on the back rest of the couch behind you. Your heart started racing and hands held in tight fists as you looked at him from the corner of your eye. Now that you thought about it, this was the first time you would be with Black without anyone else around. But seeing how relaxed he looked made you think you were being silly getting all flustered over this. You forced your hands to unclench and took a few quiet, deep breaths to calm yourself down.

Black held up a remote and turned the TV on, “any requests?” You looked to the streaming service on the screen, Black flicking from one possible show or movie to the next. You simply shook your head. He flicked through a few before he suddenly stopped on one and snorted. It looked like some kind of reality show. All the episodes that were displayed had the watch time bar filled. You side eyed Black curiously.

“you humans make some good comedy shows,” he snickered at your raised eyebrow, then moved on. He eventually settled on a sitcom that you had heard about but never tried watching. It got a ton of recognition for being one of the first tv series created and directed primarily by monsters with the main cast being monsters, too. You had seen some clips of it here and there on the internet and they were pretty funny.

Half way through the first episode and you were regretting not watching it sooner. The plot was set very closely after the release of the monsters from the underground, despite the show being released quite a few years after monsters had been on the surface, and follows a group of monsters friends who had to settle into an apartment together and try get used to life on the surface. Most of the jokes were about things you had never really thought twice about as a human but were anything but normal to them. The cat like monster had a sarcastic sense of humour that had you snickering quite a lot. The oven dinged. Black unwrapped his arm from your shoulder and, wait, when had he wrapped his arm around you, got to his feet.

He got the pizzas out the oven and placed them onto a large tray. He got out a box of dried herbs and sprinkled them across the top and chef’s kissed. You giggled as he picked the tray up and placed it onto the coffee table.

“dinner is server, madam.”

You clapped your hands in delight, “Thank you very much, sir.”

Black sat down beside you again. It looked like a classic pepperoni pizza and the other had peppers and chicken. You reached out for the pepperoni and took a bite. Then instantly regretted it since the pizza had been right out the oven and was still piping hot. “Ha, ha!” You fanned your mouth and took a few rapid breathes to cool down your now burning tongue. Black laughed beside you, handing you a bottle which you quickly drank from. The soda helped cool your tongue and you let out a relieved sigh. You laughed a little, “Thanks.”

“wasn’t even the spicy pizza but it was too hot for you too handle, huh?”

You rolled your eyes as you blew on the slice before daring to take another bite. It took you a moment to realise it was actually organic food this time and not monster food, which you perked up at. Even if you had gotten a little more used to monster food, there was still something nice about getting to actually swallow your food. “It’s good! Thanks!”

“you're welcome,” he replied, eating his own slice. The two of you went back to watching the show while you ate, sometimes commenting on a few scenes and chatting a little. It was a little after you had taken a pause from eating that you felt a hand slide onto your shoulder. You tensed a little as his arm moved to wrap around your neck so his elbow could rest on your shoulder and his hand lowered to gently hold onto your arm. It seems now that you were aware of it, he dared to move closer, leaning his body closer so you two were now firmly pressed together.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Your heart was pounding in your ears and you felt like your face was steaming. Why was your body reacting like this? It’s not like it was the first time you’d ever been close to him! Though the last times, you were with a lot more people and you had someone else attached to your other side. Now the two of you were alone. You took a few breathes to calm down once again and focused on the show again. Yep. Just calm down.

Nope. Nope. As the episodes went on, Black started being even more touchy. Rubbing your arm, his hand playing with your hair and his fingers brushing against your cheek, pulling at and playing with your ear...

“B-Black?”

Black’s attention was currently on pushing and pulling at your cheeks, “hm?”

You cleared your throat, “You’re being really touchy, huh?” But with him messing with your cheeks, your words came out sounding more garbled than you would have liked.

He leaned forward into your lean of sight, smug smile on his face. “it a problem, mousey?”

You opened your mouth to respond but he squished your cheeks in, effectively cutting you off from speaking. He laughed, “what was that? didn’t hear ya.” You tried to pull his hands off while trying to speak once more but only resulted in even more laughter from him, “heh, ya look like a fish.”

Your dignity now insulted, you retaliated. You reached your hands out to his face but he managed to dodge your reach while still keeping his hold on you with how stupidly long his arms were. Determined, you kept reaching forward, swiping at empty air each time.

“c’mon, mousey, ya aim is a-trout-cious, heh heh.” You gave it one more try and Black dodged back once more but his expression morphed to surprise as he continued falling backward, his grip on your face letting up as he landed on the couch seat on his back. You grinned at your chance and pounced, your hands diving in to press against the sides of his face and with his back against the couch, Black had no where to dodge to.

You let out a triumphant, “Ha ha!” but it was only as you were touching him that you realised there was no way you were going to give him a taste of his own medicine since he had no cheeks to even touch, just bone.

“got me trapped and defenceless under ya, huh, mousey,” Black smirked. You very quickly realised the position you two were in, your body freezing. He brought his arms up to his chest like some helpless maiden, “didn’ except ya to attack me like this. oh no, what are ya gonna do to me now?”

“W-wait, I didn’t- This isn’t-” you quickly moved your hands away, your face burning in embarrassment. Before You could even try to defend yourself properly, the front door slammed open, making you squeal and jump away from him, looking back at whoever had just entered.

Standing at the door, his leg still up from kicking it open, was Radis. He looked completely confused at the sight of you but his confusion morphed to disgust when Black sat up.

“EW, GROSS! BLACKADDER! KEEP THIS KIND OF THING IN YOUR BEDROOM! I DON’T WANT TO WALK IN ON YOU DOING...” He gestured to the both of you vaguely before sticking his tongue out and looking away, “THIS!”

It took a moment for you to process what he meant before you were quickly shaking your head, “W-we weren’t! We were definitely not- not anything like that!”

“ve~ery sorry, my liege,” Blackadder drawled, “but didn’t think ya were comin’ back so soon so ya wouldn’ have seen anythin’ if ya came at the time you were supposed to.”

Your head snapped to him, your jaw dropping, “Black, don’t say it like that-!”

Radis let out a very loud and forced, “NEH HEH HEH. THAT’S SUCH A DUMBASS EXCUSE THAT I CAN ONLY LAUGH.”

“i aim to entertain, my liege.”

Radis’s fake smile dropped as he stomped into the room, his eye lights focused on you again. You were mentally sweating as he looked you over.

“YOU’RE THE HUMAN FROM BEFORE.”

“Y-yep...” you replied, giving a smile you hoped didn’t look as awkward as you felt it was, “And! We r-really weren’t doing anything-”

Radis quickly brought his hands up to the sides of his skull, skull stubbornly turned away from you, “NO! SHUT YOUR MOUTH, HUMAN! I DON’T WANNA HEAR THE DETAILS! SHARE THAT WITH CANDERA OR SOME OTHER PERVERT!”

You gaped at him before trying again, “No, seriously we weren’t-!”

“NO! NO! NO! LA LA LA-!”

Any more tries to explain were effectively drowned out by Radis very loudly speaking over you. You conceded defeat, slumping down onto the couch with your face in your hands. At your silence, Radis let his hands drop from his skull and reached over to grab two slices of pepperoni pizza, one in each hand. He plopped down on the armchair. Black didn’t even seem bothered by the fact that his brother thought you were doing something unsavoury, earning him a flustered glare from you. He simply shrugged with that infuriatingly handsome smirk of his.

“ah, bro, ya might wanna eat the other-”

“I’LL EAT WHAT I WANT!” Radis bit into one of the slices, chewed a few times and stopped, his face scrunching up. “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?” You’re eyes widened when he had managed to talk perfectly fine despite the food still in his closed mouth.

“pizza.” Radis stared at him blankly. Black patted your head. “for mousey.”

“ARGH. HUMAN FOOD,” he reached over and all but forced the slices into your hands. You stared down at the slices, not sure what to do with them and looked at the skeleton questioningly. He made a shooing motion at you, the look of disgust still on his face as he chewed the food in his mouth, “YOU EAT IT.”

“Uh...” you looked helplessly down at the slices again. Black noticed your troubled expression and tore off the bits that had Radis’ bite mark.

“by the way, ya don’ gotta worry about that organic stuff like germs or whatever with us,” he said as he threw the ripped off bits into his own mouth. You stared in surprise at him and Radis. “don’t they teach that in school or somethin’?”

Huh. “Well... not in any classes I had been in... maybe it was added after I finished high school...? Wait... monsters can eat organic food?”

“i mean, we can, ‘xcept, we need magic to burn through it and since it don’ give us anythin’ in return, it kinda defeats the purpose of eatin’. unless it got magic infused in it 'fore hand,” Black explained. He paused, his eye light moving to the side before it looked back at you. “only reason i can think of a monster eatin’ it is if they liked the feelin’.”

You nodded in understanding. “Oh...”

“WHAT MONSTER IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD ENJOY THIS,” Radis pointed back and forth between the pizza and his mouth, which probably still working through the bite he had taken.

It wasn’t like this was the first time you had seen a skeleton speak without moving their mouth. Most of the shorter skeletons seemed to prefer it but how weren’t his words getting jumbled up while he was speaking? “How... are you speaking...?”

Radis puffed his chest a little, “UNLIKE YOU ORGANICS, WE DON’T NEED OUR MOUTHS TO SPEAK” He put a hand to his chest, opened his mouth to explain more but paused, looked at you and smirked, “WAIT, WHY SHOULD I EXPLAIN IT TO YOU, HUMAN? I HAVE NO REASON TO DO SO!” He crossed his arm and turned away with his head tilted up.

You frowned at your lack of answers but if he didn’t want to, then he didn’t have to. You turned to Black for an answer. “we talk from-”

Radis barked out two laughs, “WO~OW! I KNEW HUMANS WERE COWARDS BUT YOU DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER TRYING TO CONVINCE ME BEFORE YOU TURNED TAIL?” You glanced back at him with a dumbfounded expression. He was leaning forward, his arms crossed and his smug expression rubbing you the wrong way. “I KNEW MY MALEFICENCE WOULD WARD OFF THE WEAK FROM EVEN TALKING TO ME! NEH HEH HEH!” You stared at him with furrowed eyebrows. You didn’t like his tune, but it felt like he was trying a little too hard... Did... he want to explain it? You glanced to Black for help and he rolled his eye light in response to Radis’ attitude and motioned you to Radis in a ‘go on’ motion and nodded. Guess he did...?

“Uh... Radis...? Could you explai-?”

“NEH! JUST AS I EXPECTED! I KNEW YOU’D COME CRAWLING BACK FOR MY KNOWLEDGE!” Your expression deadpanned and looked to Black, mentally asking him, ‘Really?’ He nodded slowly. ‘really.’ “LISTEN WELL, HUMAN! FOR I WILL EXPLAIN THIS ONCE!” You looked back at him. His grin was wide and haughty but he looked really happy to explain. The expression looked oddly cute and endeared him just a little so you decided to entertain him and listen. “WE MONSTERS DON’T NEED MOUTHS TO SPEAK, RATHER, WE SPEAK USING OUR MAGIC!”

You tilted your head, “Really?”

“USING MAGIC, WE CAN PROJECT WHAT WE WANT TO EXPRESS IN A PHYSICAL FORM AS SOUND AND WORDS! NEH HEH HEH! ARE YOU AWED, HUMAN?” He looked to you with a smug smirk which faltered a little at your genuinely intrigued expression.

“Huh, that’s... that is really cool!” Thinking about it, it explained how monsters you’d seen who didn’t have any mouths were able to speak. “Then, why do you open your mouths to speak... most of the time at least?”

“WELL! EVEN A CLUELESS HUMAN LIKE YOU KNOWS MAGIC COMES FROM THE SOUL, RIGHT?” You frowned at the insult but still nodded, “THEN, IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS WHY! OUR SOULS,” he patted his chest, “ARE USUALLY LOCATED IN OUR CHESTS SINCE THAT'S OUR CENTRE. IT IS EASIER TO ‘SPEAK’ STRAIGHT FROM THE SOUL AND LET THE SOUND ESCAPE UP THROUGH OUR MOUTHS! UNDERSTAND?”

You nodded, “I see...! Thank you, Radis!”

Indigo began to bloom across Radis’ cheekbones as he waved your thanks off, “PEH! EXPLAINING THIS IS NOTHING TO ME! SO, IF YOU WISH TO LEARN MORE FROM MY WELL OF KNOWLEDGE, THEN I GUESS I CAN SPARE MY PRECIOUS TIME TO INDULGE YOU. YOU’RE WELCOME!”

You blinked. You weren’t a fan of how he was speaking to you but you still felt a little touched he was willing to answer more of your questions if you had them. “Then... I appreciate it. Thank you.”

He held out his hand. You stared at it in confusion. He rolled his eye lights, “YOUR PHONE.” You grimaced. You didn’t like handing your phone away to people but put down the pizza slices and still took it out.

“Why...?”

“HOW ELSE ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO ASK ME ANYTHING? TELEPATHY?” You flushed a little at that, pouting angry as you unlocked your phone and opened your phone.

“You could have just asked for my number or something...” you muttered as you handed it over. He tapped at your screen before giving it back. He had saved himself as ‘THE MALEFECIENT RADIS’. You stifled a snort but left the name as is for now and pocketed your phone again.

You jumped a little as a weight suddenly draped itself on you. Black had his front pressed against your back, his chin resting on your head and arms wrapped around your shoulders. “so, bro, ya leavin’ anytime soon or...?”

Radis’ scowled, “IF YOU WANT TO DO YOUR SICKENING ACTS, THEN YOU LEAVE. I AM NOT LEAVING MY LIVING ROOM.”

You spluttered while Black spoke up again, “i’m askin’ for the purest reasons, bro.” Radis’ scrunched up face showed just how much he believed that. “but, ya heard the liege, mousey. looks like we’re gettin’ the boot.”

“Really?” you blinked in confusion as Black pulled you to your feet, moving to stand by your side with his arm around your shoulders as he led you out.

“yep, this is suppose’ to be our date anyway,” he said. Right, he had even teleported you just to avoid having to have anyone else spend time with you.

“O-oh... okay.”

“GOOD, LEAVE!”

“feel free to eat the pizza if ya want.”

“LIKE I’D WANT THAT HUMAN SLOP!”

The two of you walked outside and down the path opposite of the lodge. The trees above you were a good shade from the sun’s rays. “So... where are we going?”

He shrugged, “ya said ya liked the nature around here so go ahead and enjoy it.”

You looked up at him in surprise. You never really took him for a walk through nature kind of monster but you appreciated it. You had been curious where this path lead and you did like the forest so you were more than happy with his change of plans.

The two of you walked in silence for a while as you looked around the forest. The only sounds were your footsteps crunching dead leaves and fallen twigs, which you may or may not have been intentionally aiming for, and the faint sound of bird song and leaves rustling. The sun’s rays filtering through the leaves and all the greenery was really a beautiful sight. And having someone by your side to enjoy it with, having Black by your side to enjoy it with made something in you overflow with a calm sort of joy.

“It’s so nice that you get to live behind all of this,” you said.

Black shrugged, “eh, could live with or without it, personally. if ya like it, though, ya could always just come live with us and enjoy it everyday.”

You laughed a little at that, “Oh, that’d be nice! I’d finally have a reason to go outside then!”

“pfft. no leaves and twigs are gonna make me go outside unless i wanna.”

“Well... what if I wanted to walk with you, then?” you asked just to tease.

Black tapped his jaw as he played up pondering it, “well... ya’re a step up from plants, mousey. i guess’ll have to, then. jus’ for you.”

“Aww, a true gentlemonster,” you swooned, then gave into your giggles. The two of you continued on, making idle chatter now and then but mostly stayed silent as you admired the flora around you. To your amazement, you had even come across a little stream. You squatted down so you can run your hands through the cold water, Black squatting down beside you. Out here, it felt like all the problems you had at home were washed away by the serenity of nature. You wished you really could live at the skeleton’s estate just to enjoy it all everyday but alas. At least there was a chance you could come back if you kept being invited over. Maybe you could even reach out first.

“i’d offer ya a penny for ya thoughts but i’m a little short so mind takin’ an iou on that?”

You snorted. You shook your head as you stared down at the water then up at him, smiling, “I just... this is nice. Thanks, Black.” You didn’t realise how closely he had leant towards you and awkwardly looked back down at the water, heat spreading on your cheeks.

He was silent for a bit before he reached over, his fingers gently tilting your head to face him again. You heart was beating like crazy as you stared at him in confusion and ... anticipation? This close to him, you noticed his eye light looked a little fuzzy, and you could barely make out the faintest colouring of a reddish purple on his cheek bones. Your eyes darted around his face, taking in the shape of his bones and the sharpness of his teeth. He really was a handsome skeleton...

Your eyes widened as he began leaning in. Oh god. Oh god! Was this... was he going to kiss you?! Wait, could skeletons even kiss?! Were you supposed to, like, press your lips against his teeth? You snapped your eyes closed and braced yourself, your heart thundering in your chest and fists clenched tightly. Shoot, you really wish you had a crash course in skeleton kisses!

Black tilted your head up... then to the side and pressed his teeth against your cheek, the contact warm and buzzing against your cheek. Oh. Despite it not being the kiss you were expecting, it still left your face burning as you brought your hands up to cup at your face, only realising your hands were wet after the fact. Black chuckled while you flushed in embarrassment. At least the water was helping cool your cheeks off.

“ya’re adorable, lil’ mouse,” he muttered, sending shivers down your spine. He backed away from you, letting you breathe. Was that... actually a kiss? Or was this some monster gesture you didn’t get? Should you ask or would that be too awkward of a question to ask? You glanced at Black, only to see him still staring at you. You quickly looked away but forced yourself to meet his gaze again as you mentally chastised yourself.

“U-um...” you didn’t know what to say. What were you supposed to say?! “That... was nice...” Oh god, why?!

“be happy to give ya more if ya want,” he said.

“I- well- uh- um-” he grinned even wider at your jumbled reply.

He elected to grant you mercy and spare you from having to answer, “offer’s on the table.”

“O-okay... thanks?” You mumbled, looking back at the stream then around at the forest. Mainly, anywhere but him. Maybe it was a monster gesture then? Or just a skeleton kiss... either way, you were feeling a warm buzz inside of you. You rubbed at your chest, a smile pulling at your lips. The two of you stayed crouched by the stream for a little while longer before you turned to ask if he was ready to move on. After his one worded affirmative, the two of you continued on, Black pulling you back to his side, the warmth in your chest felt like it grew from his touch.

When the sky had began tinting orange, Black had offered to ‘short-cut’ you back to the lodge so he could get you home. You felt disappointed this little date was ending already but nodded in agreement. Your feet were starting to hurt, anyway. You'd be sure to wear shoes that were made for long walks next time. The landing was a lot easier to recover from with Black holding onto you this time, at least. He had taken you straight to the garage. He really was determined not to let you see anyone else if he could help it, huh? He opened the car door for you like the, “gentlemonster i am,” before getting in his side.

Black had opted to play some calm rock music during the ride back, it had you relaxing in your seat. The ride felt almost too short before you were in front of your apartment complex.

“Thank you for the... the date, Black. I really did enjoy it,” you said.

“thanks for comin’, mousey. how ‘bout we have another one soon?”

You blushed but nodded, “I’d... I’d like that.” Black’s eye sockets softened, his expression looked precious, it only flustered you more. “Um... so...” How do you end a date? A good-bye hug? You held your arms out to him.

“oh, what’s this?”

“C-come on! Unless you don’t want a hug...”

“catch my bluff, why doncha,” he chuckled as he leaned over into your arms and hugged you, firm and warm. You relaxed in his arms as you tightened your hold on him. Black pulled back and pressed his teeth to your forehead. “’night, mousey.”

“Good night, Black,” you breathed as you looked up into his eye light before backing away and leaving the car. Your head felt a little up in the clouds as you walked to your apartment, looking back at his car and waving as it drove off.

Chapter Text

After your date with Black, you had resolved to try learning more about monster culture. You didn’t want to any misunderstandings to arise now that you were finding yourself spending a lot more time around monsters than you had ever thought you would. And if... things did happen to become serious then you wanted to be as prepared for it as you could! Your first thought had been to go straight to the internet since that’s where all the answers were! Except, you weren’t even sure what you were supposed to search for. Social taboos to know what to avoid was a good start, right? Or maybe customs they had like maybe if guests were expected to do something when they visited? Wait, but what about greetings? Where should you start...?

As you were pondering what to type into the search bar, a notification popped up. Seeing Radis’ long contact name, you figured it was him responding to your message to let him have your number saved on his phone too. But when you read half his message, your eyes widened and you quickly opened the notification.

‘HUMAN. IT SEEMS YOU’VE FORMED SOME SORT OF (ARGH) RELATIONSHIP WITH MY TRASHBAG OF A BROTHER BUT YOU SEEM TO BE COMPLETELY CLUELESS ON MONSTERS. WHILE I WOULD USUALLY LEAVE THE BOTH OF YOU TO SUFFER WITH THIS ISSUE, I HAVE DECIDED TO BE GENEROUS ENOUGH TO OFFER YOU MORE INFORMATION. YOU WILL REGRET IT IF YOU DON’T TAKE THIS OFFER.’

... huh. Well, this felt oddly convenient. He had offered to answer any questions you had but you didn’t think he would actually reach out and... demand to teach you about monsters? While you didn’t really like how he talked to you, you could definitely do with the crash course. He was right, you had some sort of relationship with Black, and were having budding friendships with the other skeletons. They were mostly all so welcoming to you so you should at least try to understand them better! But did he have to call his brother that...? Resolved, you typed your reply.

‘That would actually be a big help, Radis, thanks! How should we do this?’ You read and reread the message before hitting send, not sure how else to ask.

‘YOU WILL BE COMING TO OUR PROPERTY. YOU’VE BEEN HERE ENOUGH TIMES TO KNOW WHERE IT IS BY NOW RIGHT?’

‘Not really? Every time i went there, one of you always drove me there so i never had to pay attention to the address...’

‘SO YOU CAME OUT TO THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS WITHOUT KNOWING EXACTLY WHERE YOU WERE GOING WITH STRANGERS YOU BARELY KNEW? I DON’T KNOW IF YOUR STUPID OR TOO TRUSTING’

You frowned at the message and your frown deepened at the one that followed.

‘NO DOESN’T MATTER THE ANSWER CAUSE IN BOTH CASES YOU WERE AN IDIOT. IT SEEMS YOU REALLY DO NEED MY LESSONS THEN. I WONT SEND YOU OUR ADDRESS SINCE I DONT TRUST YOU TO NOT GO SPREADING IT AROUND SO I’LL BRING YOU HERE MYSELF. SEND ME YOURS’

... You were starting to regret this and really considered backing out. But... he was right about following strangers you barely knew to their house which was located out of town with no one even knowing you were gone... well, not like there was anyone to worry about you going missing... You shook your head to get rid of those thoughts. Anyway! You learnt your lesson so it’s not like you needed him to scold you about it! Cheeks puffed in irritation, you sent your address to Radis, who simply responded that you better be ready by the time he gets there or he’ll turn right around and leave. You rolled your eyes and got up to get ready.

You stood waiting by your apartment complex’s gates once more for a skeleton to come pick you up, idly kicking at a stone on the pavement when the sound of a motorbike driving up the street made you look up. You eyed the bike coming up with intrigue that quickly switched to confusion and slight panic as it stopped beside you. Should you book it?! Wait... this bike looked awfully familiar...

The rider pulled the helmet off and, it was Radis! Oh, right, you had seen this bike next to Verdana’s! It was a pretty nice looking bike. There were also some cool purple detailing of a scythe on its side.

“WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” Radis barked, “GET ON!” Your eyes widened as you looked at the seat and up at him.

“Wh-what about a helmet...?”

“WHAT?! DO YOU THINK MY RIDING SKILLS ARE THAT MEDIOCRE THAT WE WOULD CRASH?!”

You stared at him in disbelief for a moment. “I-I’d really rather be safe than sorry! Even if you’re good at riding, what if someone hits you?!”

Radis laughed as if the very idea was absurd before his expression flattened. “IF YOU’RE THAT SCARED OF THAT HAPPENING THEN TAKE!” He tossed the helmet at you. You hurriedly caught it, fumbling slightly as you did. You were a little reluctant putting on a helmet he had just been wearing but it was better than nothing. You slid it on and fastened it to the best of your ability but stopped when Radis motioned you over.

“I DON’T WANT MY HELMET FLYING OFF WHILE I DRIVE SO GET CLOSER!” you quickly walked over and let him fasten it properly in place for you. Once done, he thumbed behind him for you to get on which you did with a little stumbling. You awkwardly stared down at his back, reluctantly wrapping your arms around him. You felt him jump under your touch. He took hold of your arms and tightened your hold around him by force. Just like with Verdana, it felt like you were pressed up against a back rather than a spine and ribs but now you guessed it had to be that ecto-body thing they can do. Maybe it helped with motorbike riding? “HOLD ON OR FALL OFF!” With those words of wisdom, he revved up the bike and tore off.

You held onto him for dear life. He felt like he was speeding more than Verdana had! You were holding on so tight that your arms were starting to get tired about halfway through the journey but you were glad Radis didn’t complain about it. You almost sighed in relief when he parked his bike and you shakily got off, handing Radis his helmet back. Radis rolled his eye lights at you before taking your wrist and putting your arm around his shoulder and wrapped his own arm around you, placing it firmly on your waist, your face flushing at the sudden close proximity.

“SEEING THAT YOU CAN BARELY EVEN WALK RIGHT, I’LL HELP YOU. ONLY BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH YOU CRYING IF YOU FELL OVER!”

“I-I’ll be fine walking on my own,” you said, trying to pull away from his hold to prove your point but he didn’t relent.

“SAVE YOUR SAD ATTEMPT AT BRAVADO! JUST ACCEPT MY GENEROUSITY, HUMAN! YOU SHOULD FEEL LUCKY THAT I’M EVEN HELPING YOU!” you felt your eye twitch a little at the smug grin on his face. You took in a deep breath before letting it out to calm yourself, swallowing down your irritation. You weren’t a confrontational person and while his words were really grating you, it felt like he was trying to assist you.

“Okay, thanks,” you relented. Radis’ head tilted up, grinning haughtily as he walked you to the house while you determinedly looked away from him, trying not to pay too much attention to how close you two were pressed together. You didn’t notice his own cheekbones were an indigo coloured that copied your heated face.

He pushed the door open and practically dragged you in. To your mild surprise, there were a few skeletons in the living room. Swey, who had been making his way to the couches from the kitchen with a bear shaped honey bottle in hand paused at the sight of you, his eye lights shifting between you and Radis. He held out two fingers from their hold on the bear and waved his hand from the wrist.

“hey there, pal.”

“H-hey,” you greeted back. Your voice had the other skeletons seated in the living room turning around.

Verdana twisted around in his seat as his starry-eyed gaze landed on you, “BERRY!” But the stars shifted to circles as he looked to Radis, “HUH? RADIS?”

Fio eagerly waved at the two of you, smile wide, “Cupcake, Hello! And Welcome Back, Radis!”

“I DIDN’T KNOW YOU HAD BECOME FRIENDS WITH HER AS WELL, RADIS!” Papyrus said.

“FRIENDS?! HEH, AS IF! NO, THE HUMAN REQUIRED MY HELP!”

“... WITH WHAT?” Verdana asked slowly.

“WITH US, OF COURSE! IF SHE’S GOING TO KEEP COMING HERE, I’D RATHER SHE NOT HAVE LESS KNOWLEDGE ON MONSTERS THAN A NEWLY BORN!”

You wanted to hide under a rock. Did he have to phrase it like that?!

“AND SHE WENT... TO YOU FOR THAT?” Something about Verdana’s tone had you feeling guilty. You quickly looked at him to explain but felt your heart break a little at how upset he looked.

“I-I didn’t really go to him, um, Radis offered and I agreed...” you quickly explained. For some reason, that made his expression sour further.

“NEH HEH HEH! STOP BEING SUCH A BABYBONES ABOUT IT!” Radis’ hold on you tightened as he puffed up more. You frowned at his gloating and elbowed his side. The hit wasn’t hard enough to hurt but it made his proud look dim a little more.

“Stop it...”

“I’M NOT WRONG! IF HE WANTED TO DO THIS HIMSELF, THEN HE SHOULD HAVE-”

“B-BERRY!” Verdana propped himself up and leapt over the back of the couch, the stunt making your eyes widen in awe, and rushed up to you two, smile on his face. Though, it looked a little too strained compared to the smiles you’d seen from him before... “IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MONSTERS, THEN I COULD TEACH YOU! I AM A TEACHER, AFTER ALL! THE BOOKS ABOUT THIS KIND OF THING I HAVE ARE ON AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL SO IT’D BE EASY TO UNDERSTAND AND I’D BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE!”

It wasn’t like you had forgotten but you didn’t want to bother him, and embarrass yourself, with any dumb questions you had. But with him offering, you didn’t really have a reason to say no! Plus, you’d feel awful saying no to those puppy dog eyes he was giving you. But-

“HEY! DID YOU IGNORE WHAT I JUST SAID? I’M ALREADY GOING TO BE TELLING HER EVERYTHING SHE NEEDS TO KNOW SO BUTT OUT!” -but, you had already agreed to letting Radis give you his help and it would be rude and inconsiderate to his kindness to just turn him down now just to ask Verdana instead. Feeling tension growing between the two, you quickly raised your hands, catching their attention.

“M-maybe, maybe! You could... both help me?” You offered softly. The two looked at you with very similar bewildered expressions. They could be twins! Huh, actually, now that you were seeing them this close together, if you don’t count the eye lights, the crack through Radis' eyesocket and their teeth, they really could be twins with how similar they looked in terms of skull structure... Wait, not important right now! “I-I mean! Radis did offer to teach me first and it would really help if Verdy already knows all the questions a-a clueless human would have about monsters since he probably has to answer those types of questions to his students a lot so...”

“THAT IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA, FRIEND!” Papyrus agreed, “BETTER YET, SINCE WE’RE ALL HERE, WHY DON’T WE ALL HELP OUT! WHO BETTER TO TELL YOU ABOUT MONSTERS THAN LOTS OF OTHER MONSTERS?”

Fio nodded along, “Exactly! We’d All Be Happy To Help Out, Cupcake!”

Well, you really would have preferred just having one monster but it really warmed your heart that they were so willing to help you so you couldn’t refuse. “That’d be really helpful. Thank you, everyone!”

Radis pointed a finger out to all of them in indignation, “NOW WAIT A DAMN MINUTE, I NEVER AGREED TO-”

Verdana cupped your cheeks, turning your head to look at his now very close face, his eye lights staring into you, “DON’T WORRY, BERRY, I- WE’LL TEACH YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW! I’LL BE RIGHT BACK WITH MY THINGS!” And he whizzed off up the stairs, leaving you warm faced. Radis grumbled a few curse words before dragging you over to the couch and unceremoniously pushed you off of him. You stumbled over your feet and fell backwards onto the couch with a bounce. Radis dropped onto the spot next to you with his arms crossed and... were his cheeks puffed up? You held back giggles at the sight. It felt like Radis could sense your amusement since his eye lights snapped to you and you quickly schooled your expression and cleared your throat.

Swey, who had been silently watching, sat down onto one of the recliners, drinking his honey. At your curious expression he shrugged and smiled languidly, "hey, maybe i need a refresher on monsters, you wouldn't know."

You snorted softly, "You're not wrong, I guess I wouldn't. Okay."

In no time at all, you could hear Verdana’s rapidly approaching footsteps before he was running down the stairs, jumping over the last three and bounding back over, several books in his hand and...

“Is that a whiteboard?!” You stared wide eyed at the floating white board following after him. After dropping the books down onto the coffee table, Verdana rushed over to the whiteboard and took hold of it, lowering it gently to the ground and onto its wheels before pulling it the rest of the way over.

“YEP! I GO OVER MY LESSON PLANS BEFORE I HAVE TO TEACH THEM SO I GOT ONE TO KEEP IN MY ROOM!” He rolled the white board in front of the TV. He pointed a finger to one of the markers and lifted it up, the marker flying upwards. At the very top of the board, he wrote in bold, clear letters, ‘MONSTER CRASH COURSE’ and underlined it. Job done, Verdana let the marker drop back into his hand. You eagerly applauded the little magic show. Verdana beamed and gave a little bow, Radis huffing beside you. It was only after that you realised he probably did it because he was too short to reach the top and kept that amusing thought to yourself. “ALRIGHT, BERRY! WHERE SHOULD WE START?”

You thought about it. Where should you start? That was the issue you had before. You tried to think of an answer quickly under the weight of all the awaiting eye lights staring at you before you finally decided on, “Are there any... must knows when it comes to being around monsters?”

“MUST KNOWS...?”

“Like... things to avoid or things you should say...? Stuff like that...?”

“HM.... YOU MEAN, THINGS TO GET ALONG WITH MONSTERS?” At your nod, Verdana grinned, “IF YOU WANT TO GET ALONG WITH ANY MONSTER THEN...!” He turned around and wrote on the board, ‘HAVE GOOD INTENTIONS.’ “AS LONG AS YOU HAVE GOOD INTENTIONS WITH ANY MONSTER YOU TRY TO GET ALONG WITH, MAKING FRIENDS WITH US IS EASY-PEASY!”

Radis let out a mocking laugh, “FOR YOU SOFTIES, MAYBE!” Verdana frowned at him.

“DON’T TRY CONFUSING HER! ALRIGHT, BERRY LISTEN!” Verdana turned to the board again, turning back to face you every so often as he wrote. He drew an upside down heart, “DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE BELIEVE MONSTERS SOULS ARE MADE OF?”

You tilted your head a little, “Magic?”

“WELL, NOT QUITE. A MONSTER’S SOUL IS BELIEVED TO BE MADE OF THREE THINGS,” He listed three things beside the heart, or rather soul. ‘LOVE’, ‘HOPE’, ‘COMPASSION’. Radis fake gagged beside you, which Verdana ignored. “WHILE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN SOULS VARY WILDLY IN THEIR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TRAITS FROM ONE PERSON TO THE NEXT, MONSTERS SOULS ARE ALL BELIEVED TO BE COMPOSED OF THESE THREE TRAITS PRIMARILY. SO!” He turned to face you, “IF YOU WANT THE SIMPLEST ADVICE TO GET ALONG WITH A MONSTER, JUST REMEMBER THIS: A MONSTER PROBABLY WOULD WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND AS MUCH AS YOU WOULD WANT TO BE THEIRS!”

You nodded. That definitely did help with your worries about getting along with them. So, it was just a ‘treat others as you would want to be treated’ thing?

Papyrus jumped up, raising a hand, “AS LONG AS YOU PERSIST AND NEVER GIVE UP, YOU CAN BE FRIENDS WITH ANY MONSTER!”

Verdana nodded approvingly. “WELL SAID, PAPS! BUT I’M GUESSING YOU WOULDN’T HAVE ASKED RADIS TO TEACH YOU ABOUT MONSTERS JUST TO LEARN THIS, SO! WHAT ELSE WERE YOU HOPING TO KNOW?”

“YOU’RE DAMNED RIGHT I WASN’T GOING TO TELL HER ABOUT THIS MUSHY STUFF,” Radis huffed, getting to his feet and stomped up to the board, grabbing the white board eraser and vigorously cleared the board. “AND SINCE THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY LESSON, I WILL LEAD IT!”

Verdana rolled his eye lights but stepped back, “WHATEVER YOU SAY.”

Radis looked pleased at his supposed victory before he turned to you, and you sat straighter, “HUMAN, HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN AN ENCOUNTER BEFORE?”

You shook your head, “I’ve heard about them but... I’ve never been in one myself...”

“THAT’S WHERE WE’LL START FIRST THEN!”

“Wait, Radis,” Fio spoke up, his hands rubbing together nervously, “Are You Sure It’s Okay To Be Starting An Encounter With Her? What If Something Goes Wrong...?”

Radis waved a dismissive hand at him, “IT WON’T. I WON’T LET ANYTHING GO WRONG!”

You quickly raised your hand, “Don’t encounters... bring out a human’s soul? Isn’t that... really private?” At least, that’s what you’d heard about showing your soul. Seeing someone’s soul was something that was apparently considered very private and personal. You weren’t sure you wanted it to be shown around or to just see anyone else’s.

“OUTSIDE OF AN ENCOUNTER, DEFINITELY! NEVER LET SOMEONE PULL OUT YOUR SOUL AND SEE IT IF YOU DON’T COMPLETELY TRUST THEM,” Verdana said, “BUT DURING AN ENCOUNTER, IT’S A LITTLE DIFFERENT. THINK OF IT LIKE... OUTSIDE AN ENCOUNTER, IT’S LIKE OPENING SOMEONE’S LIFE BOOK AND FLIPPING THROUGH ALL THE PAGES. BUT IN AN ENCOUNTER, IT’S LIKE LOOKING AT THE COVER AND READING THE TITLE! IT CAN STILL TELL ALOT ABOUT SOMEONE BUT NOT ANYTHING INVASIVE!”

You nodded in understanding, “Oh, alright... that makes sense.”

“BUT, I’LL BE JOINING THIS ENCOUNTER THEN. JUST AS A PRECAUTION!”

“OH! I WISH TO AS WELL!” Papyrus eagerly said.

“I... Think I Will Have To Sit This Out,” Fio shyly spoke up, “But I’ll Cheer You On, Cupcake!”

You smiled at him, "Thanks, Muffin!" 

Radis groaned, “DO WHAT YOU WANT. I KNOW IT’S HARD FOR YOU BUT KEEP YOUR NOSES OUT!”

Verdana grinned, tapping his nose ridge, “WELL, SINCE WE DON’T HAVE ONE, THAT’LL BE EASY!”

The other two skeletons groaned while Swey mimicked a sad trombone, mimed hand movements and all. Radis pointed at Verdana, “ESPECIALLY YOU!” Verdana only looked proud at the reaction. 

“And this is... safe?” You asked cautiously.

“IT’S COMPELTELY SAFE,” Papyrus assured. “SINCE NONE OF US WANT TO HURT EACH OTHER!”

“Okay...” You steeled yourself and nodded eagerly, “Alright! Let’s do it!”

As soon as the words left your mouth, Radis grinned widely and... the world went dark. You panicked momentarily and tried to look around but after a moment, a heart appeared in front of you. A glowing, green heart appeared in front of you. It was... beautiful. Something about it drew you in and you felt like you couldn’t look away from it. Was this... your soul?

Three figures appearing in front of you made you look up. Radis stood in front of you except he looked completely black and white. You couldn’t see a lick of colour on him. To his sides were Verdana and Papyrus, who were just as washed out in colour. Looking back down in front of you, you blinked in surprise at the sight of what looked like a HUD from a game in front of you. A white block with the words ‘*Radis has encountered you! *Papyrus and Verdana join in.’ Below that, you saw your name along with ‘LV 1’ and next to that was an HP bar filled to 25. LV? HP? Below that were four boxes, ‘FIGHT’, ‘ACT’, ‘ITEM’ AND ‘MERCY’. Was this... was this some sort of monster video game? You were confused as heck but this looked way cool!

"What is all this...?"

"THIS IS AN ENCOUNTER, OBVIOUSLY." You startled a little at hearing Radis’ voice like it was coming from everywhere around you.

"But why is everything all... Dark? And you're all black and white!" 

"ENCOUNTERS FOCUS ON SEEING THE MAGIC IN THE PERSON YOU'RE IN AN ENCOUNTER WITH. MONSTERS HAVE IT CIRCULATING EVERYWHERE WITHIN US SO IT'S EASIER TO SEE WHILE HUMAN'S MAGIC IS, USUALLY, JUST IN THEIR SOULS. BUT SINCE YOUR FEEBLE HUMAN EYES AREN'T SUITED FOR PICKING UP MAGIC LIKE THIS AND ENCOUNTERS WERE INTENDED FOR MONSTER TO MONSTER COMMUNICATION, YOUR WAY OF SEEING THINGS IS APPARENTLY WORSE THAN OURS AND BLACKS OUT ANYTHING ELSE OUTSIDE THE ENCOUNTER. WE, ON THE OTHER HAND, CAN SEE EVERYTHING JUST FINE, INCLUDING MAGIC FLOW! NEH HEH HEH!" Well, that kind of sucks but it's cool that you can experience this at all. 

“NOW LISTEN, HUMAN! I’LL EXPLAIN AN ENCOUNTER IN MORE DETAIL NOW. YOU SEE THE BOXES IN FRONT OF YOU?” As you nodded, you noticed your soul nod along with you. “THOSE ARE YOUR POSSIBLE CHOICES. FOR MONSTERS, ANENCOUNTER IS ONE OF THE PUREST FORMS OF COMMUNICATION THERE IS AND IS THE EASIEST WAY TO SET THINGS STRAIGHT BETWEEN PARTIES. WHILE I PREFER ‘FIGHT’ING DURING AN ENCOUNTER, I’LL SKIP OVER IT CONSIDERING HOW... PATHETIC OF A SPARRING PARTNER YOU WOULD BE. GO AHEAD AND CHOOSE ‘ACT’.”

You looked over the options curiously before following his advice and picked ‘ACT’, your soul moving off of FIGHT and onto ACT. Now there were three options, ‘Radis, Verdana, Papyrus.’ Since you were talking to Radis right now, you picked it. Now there were four options, ‘Check’, ‘Praise’, ‘Reprimand’, ‘Hug’. “NOW, IN THE ACT OPTIONS, YOU WILL HAVE THE CHOICE TO ACT IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT WAYS. THE FIRST WOULD ALWAYS BE CHECKING. THAT SHOWS YOU A GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU, THEIR STATS AND A STATEMENT ABOUT THEM. THE OTHER OPTIONS VARY DEPENDING ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PERSON. PICK SOMETHING.”

“Checking someone is fine, right?” You asked, not sure you want to pick the other options right now.

“YEAH, YEAH, PICK CHECK. I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE AND I DOUBT THESE TWO HAVE ANYTHING TO HIDE EITHER.”

“YEP, GO AHEAD AND PICK ANYTHING YOU WISH, FRIEND!”

You decided to simply choose check. ‘*RADIS – ATK 1 DEF 1 *Upset his lesson is being intruded on’ You had to stifle a giggle at that. Seem Radis really did want to be the only one teaching you right now. Radis huffed, “DAMN RIGHT I’M UPSET!”

“SORRY,” Verdana apologised, sounding anything but sorry.

Papyrus grinned, “I’M NOT! THIS IS FUN!”

You did laugh at that. Radis looked done with all of you but continued, “SINCE YOU’VE HAD YOUR TURN, NOW IT IS OUR TURN. SINCE AN ENCOUNTER HAS TWO SIDES AND WE ARE ON ONE, WE HAVE TO CHOOSE SOMETHING... ARGH, TOGETHER.”

“HMMM... MAYBE WE SHOULD CHECK?” Verdana offered, “JUST SO SHE KNOWS WHAT IT’S LIKE FROM THE OTHER SIDE?” With no other complaints, the three seemed to have decided to check.

‘*You are being checked. *ATK 2 DEF 1*You find Radis’ poutiness cute *You’re eager to learn more’

Your eyes widen as you read the text. Why did it have to admit that?! Wait... Your... defence was the same and your... attack - was that what they were? - was higher than Radis'? That didn't feel right. Maybe those mean something else? 

“YOU FIND MY WHAT CUTE?!” Radis barked, fuming, his cheekbones darker.

“... NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS EXPECTING...” Verdana laughed. “BUT THAT’S BASICALLY HOW A CHECK GOES! YOU GET A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE PERSON YOU’RE IN AN ENCOUNTER WITH IS FOCUSED ON OR WHO THEY ARE!”

“FRIEND, ACT ON ME THIS TIME! I’M CURIOUS WHAT MINE HAS TO SAY!”

Seeing no reason not to, and happy to have a reason to move on from this, you quickly went back into ACT and picked Papyrus this time. Reprimand had been replaced with ‘Compliment’. Well, you definitely couldn’t ever consider reprimanding Papyrus so that made sense.

“Um... it says Check... um...” You hesitated before continuing, going through the words as quickly as you could, “H-hug,praise,compliment.”

Papyrus put his hands up to his cheeks, beaming, “WOWIE! I’D BE HAPPY IF YOU PICKED ANY ONE OF THOSE!”

“WHAT ABOUT MINE, BERRY?” Verdana asked, eye sockets wide in anticipation, “WHAT DOES YOUR ‘ACT’ MENU SAY ON ME?”

“Uh...” You focused on backing out of Papyrus’ options and picked Verdana instead. Your eyes widened as you read the options. “Uhhhh...”

“YEAH? YEAH? WHAT’S IT SAY?” Verdana pressed.

You stared at the options silently. ‘Check, Hug, Compliment... Flirt.’ You didn’t know how to flirt! And why was it an option for Verdana?! You were a little curious what the outcome would be though... But glancing at Papyrus and Radis, that would be super awkward to pick. You took in a breath, “It says... check, hug... compliment... and...” You faltered. “I... don’t think I can say this.”

“HUH?”

“I-I mean... is there anyway to whisper it or something?”

“ACTUALLY! IF YOU WANT TO TELL ME SOMETHING SECRETLY, JUST FOCUS ON ONLY TELLING ME!” Verdana replied quickly.

Radis threw his arms up in annoyance, “WHAT THE HELL COULD THAT CHOICE BE THAT COULD BE SO BAD? WHAT, DO YOU WANT TO THREATEN HIM OR SOMETHING? CAUSE GET IN LINE, THAT’S NOTHING NEW.”

Verdana shot a glare at him, which slowly changed to a contemplative look before he looked frantically at you. “It’s not that! It’s not bad, I think! It’s... it’s...” You took a breath. The other two did not have to hear this. You focused as hard as you could on Verdana before softly admitting, “F-flirt... that’s what it says...”

Verdana looked stricken for a moment, eye lights small and smile strained. Great, you just made this super awkward, didn’t you?!

“HUH? DID YOU SAY SOMETHING, FRIEND?” Papyrus asked.

“CONSIDERING HOW THE POWDERPUFF LOOKS, IT MUST HAVE BEEN SOMETHING WORSE THAN THREATENING,” Radis snickered. Thank god, at least Verdana’s advice seemed to hold true.

“PICK IT.”

“Huh?”

Verdana’s expression lightened to his usual bright smile, “PICK IT! I’M REALLY CURIOUS!”

“A...are you sure? That won’t be weird?” Radis looked between the two of you suspiciously.

“POSITIVE! GO RIGHT AHEAD!” Well, if he said so... You hesitantly picked the Flirt option on Verdana. A thought popped into your mind and before you could reconsider it, it came tumbling out of your mouth as words.

‘*You tell Verdana his starry eyes are prettier than any star in the sky’ Oh god, that was so cheesy.

All three skeleton’s eye sockets widen. Those very starry eyes you had mentioned made their appearance as Verdana mumbled something unintelligible, an adorable smile on his face and his cheekbones darker p.

‘*Verdana is overjoyed by your words’ ... Aw!

‘*Radis is disgusted’ Yep, his expression definitely said as much.

‘*Papyrus wants a compliment, too’ Oh. Did it not say you flirted?

“Um... so, does it not say the choice I picked?”

“NO, ONLY THE ACTIONS YOU DID TO FULFIL THE CONDITION” Radis explained, his face still scrunched up. Thank the stars! Wait... didn’t he think you and Black were... an item or in some kind of relationship? No wonder he was disgusted! He probably thinks you’re cheating on his brother or something! But, he doesn’t know you flirted... maybe he just wasn’t a fan of cheesy compliments. Well, you can’t fault him for that if that was the case.

Radis continued, “ANYWAY, NOW THAT YOU UNDERSTAND HOW ‘ACT’ING WORKS, THAT’S BASICALLY ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW. ‘ITEM’ IS SIMPLY SEEING THE ITEMS ON YOU. TO END AN ENCOUNTER, YOU’LL HAVE TO DO SO IN THE ‘MERCY’ OPTION AND THEN CHOOSE TO 'SPARE' THEM. WE’LL BE CHOOSING THAT AND FOR THE LOVE OF THE QUEEN, ‘SPARE’ ME FROM THIS ENCOUNTER ALREADY, GAG.”

‘*You are being spared’

You flushed a little and quickly went to do as he said. You quickly opened the MERCY menu. 'Spare' and 'Flee' but you paused before you picked one

"Wait, but what about those other things? LV? HP? ATK? DEF? What do those mean?" 

Radis waved that off, "THEY'RE NOT IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW, HUMAN. DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO THEM." You frowned, dissatisfied by the answer. Radis chuckled darkly, "WELL, UNLESS YOU'RE PLANNING ON 'FIGHT'ING ANYTIME SOON, YOU SHOULDN'T CARE ABOUT THEM." 

"O-oh! Nevermind then!" You quickly picked 'Spare'. You blinked and the world had colour again. Verdana’s face was still a little blue while Radis still looked less than pleased with how the encounter went. You caught sight of Swey still seated on the recliner, staring at your group with an amused smirk.

“’nother little tip,” he spoke up, "even if people outside the encounter can’t see exactly what’s going on, they can still see and hear everything going on inside of it.”

So, he, and Fio, heard what you said about his brother. You shakily nodded your head, embarrassed, “G-good to know...”

Papyrus clapped his hands together twice, “NOW! IT IS MY TURN TO CHOOSE A TOPIC TO TEACH YOU ABOUT!” Papyrus rushed over to the whiteboard, picking up one of the markers. You steadfastly kept your eyes locked on Papyrus and not looking to any other skeleton as he wrote his topic onto the board. ‘INTENT’.

“VERDANA HAD MENTIONED THAT GOOD INTENTIONS MATTER BUT! TO MONSTERS, YOUR INTENT IS VERY IMPORTANT! HUMANS ARE... NOT AS IN TUNE WITH THEIR SOULS AS MONSTERS ARE, WHILE MONSTERS’ SOULS ARE VERY CONNECTED TO OUR BEING. AND BECAUSE OF THAT, IT’S A LOT EASIER FOR MONSTERS TO FEEL SOMEONE’S INTENT.” Papyrus drew two souls on the board, a human one and a monster one and drew squiggles extending from both, with the monster souls’ squiggles extending further out and straighter while the human soul’s were more squiggly and short. “IT’S LOT HARDER TO CATCH ONTO A HUMAN’S INTENT, BUT WHEN WE DO, IT FEELS A LOT MORE CONCENTRATED THAN A MONSTERS! IT’S LIKE... HMMM...” Papyrus rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “LIKE...” You could practically see the light bulb go off above his head as he thought of an example, “DRINKING A CUP OF CREAM VERSUS DRINKING A JUG OF 1 PERCENT MILK!”

Verdana tapped his jaw, “I DON’T THINK THAT’S ACCURATE ENOUGH... MAYBE MORE LIKE... HAVING TO STEP UNDER THE LIGHT OF A SPOTLIGHT FOCUSED ON ONE SPOT VERSUS WALKING INTO A ROOM LIT BY A CEILING LIGHT?”

"how about being pelted in the face with a snowball versus standing out while it's snowing?" 

Radis grinned, his sharp teeth on full display, "OR WHAT ABOUT BEING STRUCK RIGHT THROUGH WITH A BONE ATTACK VERSUS BEING CRUSH UNDER GRAVITY MAG-" 

Verdana cut him off with a simple, "NO."

You looked down thoughtfully as you tried to picture the comparisons in your head, deciding to leave that last one out completely. “I... see...? But, what exactly does intent... How does it work for monsters?”

“INTENT IS... I’LL GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE! SOMEONE CAN SAY SOMETHING THAT SOUNDS MEAN, BUT THEY MIGHT HAVE INTENDED FOR THAT TO BE A WAY TO HELP SOMEONE,” Papyrus put a hand to his chest proudly, “WE ARE EXPERTS AT TELLING THE INTENTIONS SOMEONE HAS WHEN THEY SAY OR DO SOMETHING!”

“But,” Fio spoke up from beside you, “It Does Mean That If Someone Were To Lie With Good Intentions, We Can End Up Missing It... And Focus On The Good They Were Trying To Do. So, I’d Like To Give You My Own Advice, Cupcake. Even If The Truth Might Feel Hurtful, We Can Tell You Mean The Best By It So Don’t Be Afraid To Tell Us Anything, Okay?”

“R-right, I’ll definitely keep that in mind then.” Fio patted you head, smiling approvingly.

The skeleton standing in front of the whiteboard kept switching between Verdana, Radis and Papyrus, each teaching you about different things about monsters with the very useful commentary from Fio and Swey. While it was a lot of information to be dropped on you, it was also really interesting to learn about. You learnt that monsters could feel the intent off of home-made things and much more strongly from food since positive or negative intent in food could affect a monster’s magic positively or negatively in various ways more strongly than anything else. Gifts can also give off the intent of the giver, just to a much lesser degree than something home-made.

While it was all very informative, you couldn’t bring it in you to ask how exactly... dating worked with monsters. Not with all of them here. You sighed mentally and figured you’d have to search for this yourself or ask one of them in private if you had the chance.

Chapter Text

You were lying on your couch, reading through one of the books Verdana had lent you. ‘Monster Biology for Kids’. Since it was made for kids, there were tons of pictures, diagrams and different monsters and quite a few pictures of souls. There were also a lot of sticky notes shoved into the pages with added annotations, suggesting different ways to explain things. The other books were the same, ‘Monster Culture And You’, ‘Monster Lives Yesterday and Tomorrow’, ‘Magic And You’, all of them were stuffed full with teacher’s notes and comments, some pointing out it would be useful for explaining to monster children, others explaining how it would be useful for explaining to human children. You could feel the effort Verdana put into his work just from looking at his copies.

Verdana was kind enough to let you borrow the books until the new school year began in fall.

“Are you sure? These seem really important and I don’t want to mess them up...”

“ARE YOU PLANNING ON MESSING THEM UP?”

“No! But what if-”

“THEN IT’S FINE! DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT! I TRUST YOU’LL TAKE CARE OF THEM!”

You looked down at the books and nodded. “Okay... I’ll read through them and take care of them. Thank you.”

Verdana smiled, “NO PROBLEM! TAKE YOUR TIME!”

So you were taking full advantage of the chance you were being given. So far, you had read about how monster food is converted into usable magic, how magic can be used in a large variety of ways but most monsters stick with what their specialty is, how monsters can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, that some monsters are stronger than others and some monsters can live much longer than others. You had gaped when you had read that the current rulers, King Asgore and Queen Toriel, had been alive even before the great monster human war. It was a lot of fun reading through it all. It even explained further about how monster food and intent can restore HP, which stood for Hope Points and being too low on Hope Points can be detrimental for the soul.

But one chapter had you pausing. ‘Where do baby monsters come from?’ You sat a little straighter in your chair as you read the chapter over. ‘You might have wondered how exactly a baby monster comes into existence. Do they pop up out of thin air? Do they get delivered to their parents doorstep by the mysterious flying duck monster? When two monsters want to have a baby, they-’ Woah, was this okay to put in a kids book? You shook your head, no, it was probably best to teach this kind of thing early. And you weren’t really sure how old the kids in Verdana’s classes were anyway. You continued reading, ‘-they both show each other their souls and perform a soul bond. When both monsters really wish to have a child, then during this bonding, their magic combines and creates a new soul. This new soul is tiny and weak so it has to stay inside one of it’s parent’s souls to feed on their magic directly from their soul until it is strong enough and has enough magic to form a whole new monster! How long it takes for the soul to grow can be different for many types of monsters, with some only needing a week while others can take up to a whole year!’

‘Once the soul is ready to form it’s own body, it will separate from the parent’s soul and then in no time at all, a baby monster is born! Most times, the baby monster will look like their parents, maybe more like one parent or the other, sometimes they may look like their parent’s parents or any other family members, sometimes they may not even look like their family at all! But no matter what you look like, you’re all perfect in your own way!’

So, monsters were born from souls bonding? Was that why the soul was such a private thing? Besides being the very culmination of their being, it also acted as... a reproductive... organ for monsters? No wonder they heavily discouraged showing it around!

You spent the whole day reading through the books. Even if monsters had been around for so long, close to half your life at this point, it still felt a little like you were reading fantasy books than educational ones. Maybe that was why it was so fun to read through these.

You were halfway reading about a star festival when your phone buzzed beside you. You picked it up to read through the text any one of the skeletons had sent you this time. Except, it kept on buzzing. Anxiety chilled you as you realised you were getting a call. You had half a mind to simply pretend you didn’t notice and simply let the call go to voicemail but mentally reprimanded yourself for that thought, grabbed your phone and looked at the screen. The anxiety lightened just slightly when you saw Verdana’s name as the caller but couldn’t he have texted...?

You answered the phone, “Verdy?”

“BERRY! ARE YOU FREE TOMORROW?”

“No... Schedule’s completely clear. Is something happening tomorrow?”

“WELL! SINCE YOU’RE FREE AND I’M FREE, THEN HOW ABOUT WE GO TO THE ‘BONE-A-FIDE FUN PALACE’? TOMORROW IS THE LEAST BUSY WEEK DAY SO IT’LL BE PERFECT!”

You perked up. You had been looking forward to going there since he had talked about the activities the place had to offer. “Yeah! I’m in!” Wait... was there an entry fee? It sounded like the kind of place that required an entry fee... But you already agreed and you were reluctant to ask how much it would cost.

“ALRIGHT! THEN I’LL SEE YOU IN THE MORNING! DRESS COMFY CAUSE WE’LL BE SUPER BUSY ALL DAY! SEE YOU TOMORROW, BERRY!”

“Looking forward to it! Good night, Verdy,” you hung up the phone, rolling over onto your stomach. You let yourself feel excited for tomorrow for just a bit before you opened your browser and searched for the place. Even the website was bright and colourful and the kind of place you would have loved to go to on a school trip. No, even as an adult, you were looking forward to going. You searched the website a bit more until you found it. The entry fee. Apparently, there were entry passes for specific activities and one that would let you have free access to the entire range of activities for the day. The all access entry fee was... higher than you would have liked. You would definitely be dipping a little more than you would like into your weekly budget but you’d manage.

The next morning came with a cheerful text from Verdana. You usually only saw his morning texts after you had woken up but your anticipation had you waking up way earlier than you usually did so you got to see the notification arrive in real time. He would be arriving in a few hours and was just giving you a heads up. You got to work dressing comfortably but still nice for the... outing? Yeah, outing.

Two hours later exactly, you were leaving your apartment and saw Verdana already waiting by the gates, standing beside his bike, looking down at his phone. You hurried down the stairs and went to the gates. You felt your phone buzz right before you walked out. You snuck a glance at it.

‘I’M HERE!’

You stifled a giggle. You peaked your head out the pedestrian gate, “I noticed.” Verdana’s head snapped up to you. He smiled at the sight of you. You half jogged over to him, but were a little caught off guard when he bounded up to you and wrapped you up in a hug, swaying the both of you side to side. You laughed and hugged him back.

“ARE YOU READY FOR TODAY?” he asked as he let you go, his hands moving from around you to running down your arms to hold onto your hands.

You blushed a little, goosebumps popping up on the skin his hands had ran over, but you nodded, “Yep! I was... bone ready!” You giggled at the awed look on his face at your pun.

“REALLY? THEN I HOPE YOU’VE HAD TIME TO VERTE-BRACE YOURSELF FOR A DAY OF FUN!”

“You bet I did!”

Verdana spread your arms out, his eye lights looking you over, his eye sockets narrowed as he let out a long, “HMMMM...” before he nodded twice, smiling approvingly, “YEP! YOU’RE DRESSED PERFECTLY FOR TODAY! AND YOU LOOK WONDERFUL TO BOOT!”

You snorted, lightly reached over to tap your shoe against his boot, “Thank you, so do you!”. He was dressed a little differently than usual, with black track pants and a white graphic t-shirt with comic speech and thought bubbles all over it and tight black long sleeve below it and, of course, his blue gloves and scarf. But, he was still wearing a pair of boots, just a different pair then he usually did.

“THANK YOU,” he grinned before letting go of one of your hands to use his hand to gesture to his bike, “SHALL WE?”

“I think we shall,” you chuckled. He let go of your remaining hand so he could retrieve a helmet for you to wear and helped you put it on before getting his own helmet on and getting on the bike. You carefully wrapped your arms around his torso, making sure your hold was strong. You liked this, it felt like hugging him from behind and his, you assumed, ecto-body was comfy to lean on. You were really glad he couldn’t see you as you snuggled against him.

The ride lasted for a while. Ebott City was close but it was still quite a drive away. Sometimes you’d tighten your hold on him anxiously when the two of you got a little too close to other cars but you enjoyed the ride for the most part. You were finally pulling up into the parking lot of the venue. It was... bigger than you thought it was.

“Woah... you guys really own this place?” You asked once the two of you were off the bike. You noticed you were parked in a reserved spot that had built in shading over it. Verdana helped smooth your hair back into something presentable when you had taken the helmets off, his fingers running through your hair carefully. The feeling was soothing.

“WE SURE DO! IMPRESSED?”

“... Very.” The building was massive. A large logo reading ‘BONE-A-FIDE FUN PALACE’ was hang above the doors in colourful letters and a bubbly font. On the rooftop corners of the building were two towers that resembled cartoon castle towers with a cheerfully smiling skull and cross bone flags flying above them. The parking lot had a decent amount of cars parked and people were coming and leaving the doors, monsters and human alike.

A hand taking hold of yours made you look to Verdana. Your heart fluttered as he tightened his hold on your hand. “COME ON!”

“Y-yeah!” Verdana led you to the building, both of you still holding hands. For a moment, you wondered if... maybe this was a date. But then you shook the thought off. He never mentioned anything like that and he had even said that this was just a friend hang out before so you chalked it up to him just being a little handsy.

The two of you walked through the doors and up to the front counter where three employees were standing. There were two large standees on either side of the counter explaining how the entry fee for an armband worked but the thing about them that had you gaping was the fact that both had height accurate standees next to them, one with Papyrus with his hands on his hips looking gallantly off into the distance and the other was Verdana with his fist pumped into the air, both dressed as knights in armour. It felt... a little bizarre to see the two monsters you’d been spending so much time with as friends as... mascots. Well, a different type of mascot in Papyrus’ case at least. You found yourself looking between Verdana and his standee and he laughed at your stupefied expression before pulling you over to it. He let go of your hand to stand on the other side, striking the same pose, just mirrored. You ended up laughing as well.

“Wait, wait,” you quickly pulled out your phone to take a picture of it, “This is so cool!”

“OF COURSE! I’M THE COOLEST!” When you had taken enough pictures, Verdana had insisted you also come over so you two could take a few selfies together. You weren’t a fan of taking pictures of yourself but there was no way you could refuse with how excitedly he looked as he motioned you over. Your face flushed at the amused expressions on the employees faces at your little photo session and a few other people coming in pointing over to the two of you, but Verdana insisting you look at the camera helped you ignore their looks.

Once Verdana was satisfied with all the pictures you had taken, he took your hand again and walked up to one of the employees who were currently free, waving energetically with his free hand. You noticed them all straighten up as he got closer but the smiles on two of their faces looked genuine and not the kind that employees would probably plaster on to appease their boss.

“MORNING, SAMMY, FLINT, LESLIE!”

The three of them greeted him back, the human among the three looking awfully stiff as they did so but from the light teasing the two monsters working with them did, they were just new and hadn’t had much time to settle in yet. It was weird to hear the casual work related talk the four were having and it was just further hammering home that the skeletons really did own this place. It was a little awkward just watching them talk like this but you were more than happy to stay out of the conversation.

“Oh, by the way, Mr Serif, sir,” the bunny looking monster said, the title they had used to refer to Verdana sounding more playful than serious. They looked over to you, making you take a reflexive step further behind Verdana. The bunny grinned, raising an eyebrow, “Who’s that?”

Verdana gently pulled you forward, using his free hand to present you to them, “THIS IS MY...” He was silent for a moment, his eye lights meeting your eyes for a split second before he continued, his smile widening, “MY DATE!” Your eyes widened. Huh? Huh?! Wait, this was a date?! “I’M GOING TO BE SHOWING HER THE VERY BEST OF THE PLACE!”

“So, everywhere?”

Verdana laughed, “EXACTLY! SO!” He let go of your hand to pull out a wallet, taking out a card from it, “TWO ALL ACCESS ARMBANDS!”

You snapped out of your mental freak out at that. He was paying for both of you? “W-wait, you don’t have to-”

“I WANT TO!” He quickly explained, giving you a reassuring smile before he turned back around to pay for the armbands. You were a little relieved you didn’t have to pay but you felt bad. Maybe you could offer to pay for lunch or something? Yep! You were definitely paying for lunch then! Verdana turned around with two green armbands in hand. He insisted on helping you put yours on and you insisted on doing the same for him, mumbling a thanks to him for paying for you, which he waved off. After saying your ‘thank you’s to the the staff, yours a lot quieter than Verdana’s, he took your hand once more and led you into the main area of the venue.

You looked around in awe. Laughter and chatter filled the area with people, mostly families with younger children, walking all over the place but it wasn’t crowded at least. The decorations were reminiscent of a medieval fantasy, with torches, lit with fire!, and statues of cartoony princess dragons and knights and blunt, kidified weapon props like swords, shields and maces on the walls. Around the room’s walls were giant arch ways with drawn up iron bar gates leading off to the different activities that you could. The arch way had large letters above them with cool names for each one with smaller words beneath explaining what was beyond them with a couple of employees stationed at them. Puzzle rooms, escape rooms, an indoor trampoline room, an indoor children’s play arena, food court and directly in front of you was an archway that led outside to the obstacle courses.

“Wow,” you breathed as you looked around.

“MWEH HEH HEH,” Verdana stood in front of you, lifting his arm out to the area around you, “WELCOME TO OUR CASTLE, FAIR MAIDEN! MAY YOU ALLOW ME, YOUR MAGNIFICENT KNIGHT, TO GUIDE YOU THROUGH?”

You blinked, your mouth gaping a little before you burst into delighted giggles, curtsying with an imaginary dress, “I’d be more than honoured to allow you to do so, dear knight!”

His cheeks turned a little blue from your response but he continued on with just as much enthusiasm, pulling you towards the obstacle courses. Verdana greeted the employees as energetically as the ones before as the two of you showed your armbands, making quick small talk with them before the two of you stepped outside. All around the grassy grounds were all kinds of obstacles, each divided up into different courses. There was a colour system for each one indicating how advanced they were but besides a few people in uniform standing around probably to be sure no one got hurt, it didn’t look like anyone was forced to go to any one. Ropes, tires, climbing walls, monkey bars, there was even a large climbable rope and wooden pole maze looking thing... You weren’t sure you could even manage to get half way through some of these.

“HAVE YOU EVER DONE AN OBSTACLE COURSE BEFORE?” Verdana asked as the two of you put on the provided safety gear, a helmet and elbow and knee pads.

“Kind of? In elementary school... I wasn’t good,” you admitted, laughing softly in embarrassment.

“THEN, WE’LL START WITH AN EASIER ONE!” he led you over to the easier side of the courses. Most of the ones here were made with inflatables so it would probably be easy enough!

Oh, how wrong you would soon realise you were.

You ended up stumbling and falling over way more times than you would have liked to admit. You were really glad you two had gone to the inflatable obstacles first because you were sure you would have gotten bruised everywhere if you had fumbled this much on the harder courses. Verdana had gone through each section first to show you how to do it and watch over you as you did it. He breezed through every part of it and made it look so easy! Verdana, bless his soul, was sparing your poor dignity by not laughing at all your failures but he sure looked like he wanted to.

“I did it!” You yelled victoriously as you finally reached the end of the course, having climbed the top of the inflatable wall. Verdana gleefully applauded you as you readied yourself to slide down. Except instead of sliding, you ended up accidentally rolling down the slide. You let out a squeal as you tried to right yourself as you tumbled down, before you finally rolled to a stop onto your butt with an ‘oomph’ on the grass. You were just relieved it hadn’t hurt. You blinked as you looked up at Verdana who looked like he was trying his best not to laugh as he held his hands out towards you as if he wanted to make sure you were okay. You held your arms out, grinning, “Ta-da!”

That pushed him over the edge as he burst into laughter, hunching over and you joined him. He helped you to your feet as you brushed the grass off your pants. “HEH HEH, A-ARE YOU O-O-OKAY...?” He managed to ask through his laughter.

“I’ll live,” you admitted light heartedly. “Only thing bruised here is my dignity.”

“GOLLY, BERRY. YOU REALLY FELL HEAD OVER HEELS FOR ME THERE, HUH?” he joked. You flushed a little, laughing softly. Only seconds after he had said it did it seem to click what he had actually said as his cheeks turned blue, his eye lights moving to look away from you, “A-AH...”

“Y-yep! Really fell for you!” you said, hoping the joke would make him feel less awkward about his own. His blush darkened but he laughed giddily so you took it as a win.

“MWEH HEH! DO YOU WANNA TRY AGAIN?”

You nodded instantly. Even if you spent more time falling than actually doing the course, you were confident you’d do better a second time through. Plus, it was really fun. Though, “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather do... one of the other courses? This one seems a little easy for you...”

Verdana shook his head, “BUT YOU’RE DOING THIS ONE! THOSE ONES WOULDN’T BE ANY FUN IF I KNEW YOU WERE ALL THE WAY OVER HERE!”

Butterflies fluttered in your stomach as you nodded, “O-okay...”

You ended up trying the course two more times, each time better than the last. You had managed to only fall a total of five times by the third try through! Riding your high, you urged Verdana to let the two of you try the next course over, which he heartily agreed to. And it felt like all your progress had been ruined as you immediately slipped off one of the very first inflatable bars and onto the ground. Oh well, at least it had Verdana laughing again.

The two of you spent a bit longer on the courses until Verdana decided it was time to move onto the next activity. You handed in your safety gear and Verdana led you back inside. It was definitely a little more crowded now than it was before. He took you towards the arch way of the escape rooms.

“I’ve never done one of these before,” you admitted as the two of you showed you armbands to the employees there before being let in.

“I THINK YOU’LL LIKE IT! THOUGH, SINCE I HELPED DESIGN MOST OF THEM, I DON’T WANNA SPOIL THE FUN AND JUST GIVE YOU THE ANSWERS...”

“I’ll be okay! How bad could it be?” You missed the glint in Verdana’s eyes as you said that. The room you were led to was made to resemble a room in a ruin of some kind with molding stone walls. Ambient sounds of water dripping played. All around the walls were markings, letters and numbers and there were some jutting out stones and levers and a stone table with some objects on it and on the floor. You looked around the room for a bit before a voice started talking from the speaker you. The person explained you were an explorer that got a little too cocky and ended up trapped in a room, with the ghosts of the ruins coming to curse you if you didn’t escape in time.

You quickly got to work looking around, taking note of all the different things around. At first, you were completely lost on how you were supposed to proceed. Verdana looked like he was about to burst trying not to help you but didn’t utter a peep as he simply watched you move around the room. But soon, you figured out the hidden message of the letters spread around the room, your eyes widening as you quickly rushed over to one of the walls, counting the jutting out wall stones and pulling one out, a key tumbling out the gap. From there, it felt like you were on a roll. You managed to decipher the numbers engraved on the walls which led you to twisting the number twisting lock near the ground which unlocked a panel, which led to a little cross legged statue. You looked it over and found a key hole, which fit the key you had found earlier. Opening it, you just found a blank piece of parchment paper. You placed it aside and looked around a bit more. After a few missed calculations, you managed to pull out a thin stone tablet with a riddle on it, that then led to you figuring out what order to pull the levers in which led to a secret compartment in the table to unlock and reveal a complete the picture puzzle which then...

You were having a blast going through this thing. You found yourself looking over to Verdana in excitement every time you figured something out, just because the proud smile on his face made you feel accomplished. It seemed like he was resolved not to say anything but the expression was all you needed to see to know he was happy with your progress.

The time limit was drawing closer and closer and you had jumped a little when the door rattled at the five minute mark. You were close! You were so very close to figuring this out but the final problem was the blank parchment paper you had found before. You knew it was the last hint you needed to opening the door but what were you supposed to do with blank paper? Verdana had opted to bouncing on his heels, looking just as anxious as you felt even if he wasn’t even doing the puzzle. You groaned, lifting the paper up then paused. Your eyes widen. Invisible ink! You just happened to hold it up to the light and reveal the secret ink written on it. You let out a gleeful cheer as you waved the paper around a bit before reading the instructions. You quickly put the paper down and picked up the statue, closing it once more and going over to one of the stones jutting out the wall, one that was just slightly discoloured compared to the others, and placed the statue on it.

Click.

The door unlocked!

“I... I did it...? I did it!” You cheered, looking to Verdana. His eye lights were stars as he cheered along with you.

“CONGRATULATIONS, BERRY!” He exclaimed. He let out a small grunt as you practically tackled him into a hug.

“Yeah!” You squealed as he lifted you off your feet and spun you around, you having to cling onto him.

“THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!” He carried you over to the door and placed you delicately back onto your feet. As you left the room, you were gifted a rope necklace with a plastic mini figure of the statue hanging on it. Verdana helped put it on you and insisted on taking a commemorative photo with you in front of the door despite your mild protests that he really didn’t need to.

The two of you walked over to the food court. You instantly pulled him over to the taco stand. He had to like tacos, right? And you were going to be paying for it! Except...

“Berry, I Can Make Us Better Tacos Than This Back Home,” he whispered his hand up to cover his mouth from view of the taco stand. He looked over to the employees at the stand then back at you, “But Don’t Tell Them That, They Just Can’t Measure Up To My Expert Skills And I’d Hate To Break Their Morale.” You honestly weren’t sure if he was joking or being serious. “IN ANY CASE! LET’S TRY ANOTHER STAND!”

“Hmmm, okay... where do you wanna go?”

“WHEREVER YOU WANT TO GO IS FINE!”

You pouted a little at that before trying again, “We~ell, you did say you would show me the very best around here so... maybe you could do that here, too? Um... Mr Knight?”

Verdana puffed up at that, grin determined, “OF COURSE! YOUR VALIENT KNIGHT CAN GUIDE YOU TO THE VERY BEST FOOD HERE! COME ALONG, FAIR MAIDEN! I WILL PREPARE A FEAST FOR YOU!” He held out his arm for you to take and you took it. For the first time,you were holding his arm, the thought had you laughing to yourself. You noted that his arm felt cushiony rather than boney. His sleeves looked a little more filled. Was his ecto-body on...? Well, it was nice to hold.

His first stop, was the drink stand to which he picked out a water for you. You quickly tried pulling out your wallet, but Verdana had already paid for it before you could get it out in time.

“Wait, I want to pay for the food!”

“HUH, WHY?”

“Because you paid for the armbands and you’re providing the- the transport! I wanna do something, too!”

Verdana beamed, his smile almost blinding, “YOU’RE KEEPING ME COMPANY! THAT’S WORTH WAY MORE THAN ANYTHING HERE!”

Hrk-! You felt like you were shot right through the heart with that line. “B-but... I want to do something... Let me pay for your food then!”

“HMMM...” Verdana hummed, tapping his jaw thoughtfully, “IF YOU REALLY WANT TO THEN I GUESS I CAN ALLOW YOU TO,” he grinned a little, “FORK OVER A BIT OF MONEY TO PAY FOR MY FOOD...”

You grinned in victory. It wasn’t a complete win, but it felt like the best you’d be getting for now, “Yeah! Let’s go! Pick some food!”

You had to wait to actually have to get your wallet out since Verdana was determined to pick your food first. When he said feast, he meant it. He got at least one thing from every stall. When you had pointed out there was no way you could finish it all, Verdana shrugged.

“OH WELL, LOOKS LIKE WE’LL HAVE TO SHARE THEN!” You narrowed your eyes at him. Did he... purposefully get too much just so you’d have to share with him and avoid buying anything? He avoided meeting your suspicious gaze, grin wide as he fiddled with his thumbs. "TECHNICALLY, NONE OF THIS WAS MY FOOD ORIGINALLY SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR ANY OF IT!" Sneaky little-!

“I will buy you something, Verdy,” you declared before you began to dig in. With a softer voice, you muttered, “Thank you for this, though.”

He looked at you then, “IT WAS NO PROBLEM, BERRY!” The two of you slowly went through the food. Verdana made it a point to say he usually avoided greasy fast food like this but exceptions every now and then were okay. You never would have guessed he disliked it with how quickly he was going through it but held your tongue and simply watched in amusement. You paused when you noticed the food wasn’t monster food and looked at Verdana curiously.

“This is human food.”

“YEP!”

“Is it okay for you to eat it? Doesn’t it... drain your magic?”

“IT’S MAGIC INFUSED! IT’S NOT AS FULL OF MAGIC AS ACTUAL MONSTER FOOD BUT IT STILL HAS ENOUGH. I JUST NEED TO EAT A LITTLE MORE, IS ALL!” You nodded understandingly. That explained why he was eating so much then. You were still a little surprised you managed to finish it all. Once you were done, Verdana eagerly led you to the doorway leading to the puzzles.

The room was filled with all kinds of puzzles to figure out and it felt like Verdana dragged you to near every single one. This time, he was more than willing to participate himself instead of just let you take the reins of the activity. From the floor that switched colours as you stepped on it and needed you to step in a specific order to fulfil the winning condition, and sliding wall panels to complete a picture and having to push a large rotational puzzle into place, you enjoyed every single one, especially getting to see the look of happy pride on Verdana’s face as he completed one, matched with his adorable, “MWEH HEH HEH”s.

With how many puzzles allowed for multiple people, you ended up having to work with a few of the other customers around, human and monsters alike. Verdana’s bright personality must have kept pulling people in since he kept striking up conversations with anyone around you. You felt a little left out since you were a lot less willing to jump into conversation with a bunch of strangers, but you didn’t interrupt. It felt like he could feel when you were starting to feel too left out since he usually cut the conversations pretty quickly and turned his attention back to you. It made you feel... special but also a little bad he felt he had to do that just to accommodate you.

All too soon, Verdana was leading you over to the trampoline room. Trampolines covered almost every part of the room and lower walls, with foam props and walls to jump over. Holding onto your hand, Verdana ran up to the trampolines. You felt like a kid again as you jumped all over the room, laughing along with him as you did.

“BERRY, DO YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING COOL?”

You didn’t hesitate for a second as you replied with a, “You bet I do!” Then, it suddenly felt like you were weightless. Your eyes widened as your descent slowed down drastically, your legs kicking out under you. “Wh-what?” You looked to Verdana.

“MWEH HEH! IT’S MY ULTIMATE BLUE ATTACK! WELL... IT’S NOT AN ATTACK RIGHT NOW... SO I THINK I SHOULD SAY IT’S MY ULTIMATE BLUE TECHNIQUE! I CAN MANIPULATE GRAVITY WITH IT!”

You gasped, “Magic!”

“MAGIC!”

You giggled excitedly as you two finally lowered enough to land on the trampoline before bouncing up again. You almost screamed as you flew up higher than before but Verdana’s hold on your hand kept you from going too high and hitting the ceiling. Your other hand was swinging around through the air while your legs were trying to keep your upright as you were slowly turning forward but you were laughing. It felt so freeing! You had always wanted to fly and this was close enough!

“This is so cool! Oh my god! Verdy this is amazing! You’re amazing!”

Verdana chortled, blushing, “OF COURSE! BUT, YOU’RE JUST AS AMAZING, BERRY...” His expression softened as his thumb ran over your knuckles gently. Your eyes widened, your heart pounding at the touch.

“O-oh...!” You laughed awkwardly, flustered as you looked away from his eye sockets. Did he... did he like you like that...? He had called this a date earlier but you had pushed that to the back of your mind so you could enjoy your time together without worrying about it. Wait, did... did you like him like that? He was funny, and sweet, and cute... But, you were still trying to figure out exactly what you wanted with Black! You shouldn’t like his... cousin? Relative?

You were jolted out of your thoughts as Verdana quickly helped right you with how far forward you had ended up leaning, just in time to avoid face planting into the trampoline and instead land firmly on your feet. You blinked as you two bounced up again and looked to him, “U-uh, sorry! I was... I was a little lost in thought... head up in the clouds, haha...” Verdana smile looked a little tight. Oh no, you were worrying him, weren’t you. “It’s nothing to worry about, though!” He didn’t look convinced.

“ARE YOU OKAY?”

“I... yes?” You grimaced a little. That didn’t sound convincing even to you. “It’s really nothing to worry about right now!” You waved your arm around you to motion that you were still in the air, the reminder causing your smile to widen to something genuine again. This really was so cool! Verdana looked relieved and nodded.

“YEAH! NOTHING LIKE A LITTLE WEIGHTLESSNESS TO LIFT THE WEIGHT OFF YOUR SHOULDERS!” The two of you laughed. It was a little bit of a stretch but you were just happy he was letting it drop for now. You forced yourself not to think about complicated romantic feelings as you enjoyed floating slash bouncing around with him. You grinned at all the amazed faces of the other people around you. You felt on top of the world!

You were a little surprised when the sound system came on, announcing that the palace would be closing in an hour. Just how long had you two been here for? It felt like you had just came in... Verdana turned you around to face the doorway as you two descended. You slowly landed onto your feet and felt the full force of your weight coming down. You felt heavy. You were already missing being weightless. Before you two went to the exit, you remembered you still needed to spend money on Verdana. He wasn’t going to get out of this! So now you were the one doing the leading as you pulled him to the food court again and took a turn to a little souvenir kiosk.

“Alright! Pick whatever you want! It’s on me!”

Verdana blinked, dumbfounded for a few seconds before he chortled, “GEE, MAYBE I NEED MY EYE SOCKETS CHECKED CAUSE IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE ANYTHING IS ON YOU, BERRY!”

You crossed your arms, mock serious look on your face, “Nope! You are not getting out of this one! Pick something! Please.”

Verdana sighed, smile wide, “IF MY MAIDEN DEMANDS IT,” against your will, your heart stuttered at him referring to you as ‘his’. Argh, stop that! “THEN I’LL PICK SOMETHING!” You smiled as he looked over the different things up for offer there. He stopped when he caught sight of something and picked it up, “THIS!”

You looked at his choice curiously. It was a little, light green, tiara wearing, round dragon on a key chain. It was cute but not at all what you expected him to choose. Still, it was his choice, and you were happy to pay for it. “Okay!” You eagerly took the dragon from his hand and stepped up to the cashier, only for your bravado to die down as you realised you had to talk to a stranger. You voice softened as slid the dragon over to them to be scanned before sliding the required money over. You softly thanked the cashier as you took your change and the dragon and turned back to Verdana, grin on your face.

“For you!”

“MWEH HEH! I’LL TREASURE IT!” He took the dragon from you. It was tiny enough to fit into his pocket and he patted it twice before holding his hand out to you, which you didn’t hesitate to take. The two of you walked hand in hand out of the doorway, Verdana giving every employee you passed a cheerful, “HAVE A GOOD EVENING!”

You were soon outside again. You were astonished to see it was nearing sunset. “It really felt like we just came here...”

“TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING FUN, HUH?”

“You are soar right about that.” The two of you shared a laugh as you walked over to his bike. You stifled a yawn, only realising how tired the day had gotten you. You were already looking forward to the sleep you’d be getting tonight. Verdana helped put your helmet on just like before and the two of you got onto his bike. You tucked your necklace under your shirt for safety’s sake before you two were riding back to your town. The turns of the bike helped prevent you from getting too comfortable and accidentally falling asleep with how warm Verdana’s back felt and how sleepy you were starting to feel.

Your apartment complex came into view almost too soon. This day just felt too short. The two of you got off the bike. You handed your helmet back to Verdana who placed it down onto the bike’s seat and then turned back to you to help smooth down your hair. You didn’t think there was a point to it since you’d just be going into your apartment, but you weren’t going to complain, it felt nice.

“I REALLY, REALLY LIKED SPENDING TIME WITH YOU TODAY.”

“I did too! It was a lot of fun!” Verdana’s hands through your hair slowly until they came to a stop. He stepped back so you two were standing face to face.

“I... WOULD YOU... DO YOU MIND... IF THIS WAS A DATE?”

... Ah.

You fiddled with your hands as you thought on your answer. “I... I don’t mind...” Verdana’s expression lightened at your admission, “But! But... I mean... I... I did also have a date with Black before...” You didn’t want to admit it but you didn't want to feel like you were going behind either one of their backs. 

“I... I KNOW. HE DID MENTION SOMETHING LIKE THAT BEFORE SO I KNOW,” he frowned a little as he admitted it. Right, when Verdana had brought up the fun palace for the first time when Rusch had invited you to the skeleton's residence. “BUT, YOU TWO AREN’T... OFFICIALLY DATE-MATES, ARE YOU?”

Your eyes widened, “I don’t think so... we never talked about it...” you shrugged, looking down. Verdana hummed, you watched his boots take a step closer to you and you stiffened.

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO...UH... WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER... Becoming Datemates With Me?” You snapped you head up to look at him. His cheekbones and most of his face was blue and he was looking straight at you with a resolute stare. You couldn’t look away. He wanted to officially be dating you? That answered your question on if he liked you then. But... did you like him? Staring at his hopeful eye sockets, you felt your heart skip a beat. As you thought of how kind he has been to you and all the happy smiles he's given you and how happy you felt just seeing him... Yes. You think you- No, you liked him but... was it enough to be exclusive? Your mind kept drifting back to Black and you weren’t sure you’d be willing to enter a relationship when you kept ping ponging between the two of them.

“I... I... I’m not sure...?”

Verdana smiled sadly, reaching up a hand to softly place on your cheek. You face burned at the contact. “YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY YES RIGHT NOW. I’M HAPPY TO WAIT! SO JUST... THINK ON IT, OKAY?” You nodded, relieved. Verdana leaned closer to you, his eye sockets slowly closing. You froze. Was he-? No, wait, he turned his head a little and pressed his teeth against your cheek, the feeling leaving a soft buzzing along your skin and warmth flooding your chest. He pulled away. You swallowed your nerves and leaned in, giving him a kiss on the cheek bone in return. He froze, his mouth gaping and hand flying up to his cheek.

You stared at him anxiously for a reaction, but you weren’t expecting his eye lights to shift to hearts as he smiled softly at you. You looked back down at the ground, face flushing more. It wasn't just stars?! What the hell, that was adorable! “Th... thank you for today... It was... it was a really fun date...”

“It Was My Pleasure, Berry.” The two of you stood in front of each other in silence. Part of you didn’t want to leave but you knew you had to. So, you forced yourself to step back.

“I should... go...”

“Y-YEAH! YEAH. GOOD NIGHT, BERRY.”

“Good night, Verdy.” You took one more step backward, meeting his eye lights for a moment before turning and walking to the pedestrian gate. You kept glancing over your shoulder at him as you walked to your apartment door. You stopped in front of it and looked over at him one last time, waving. He waved back with both arms eagerly. You laughed lightly before you went inside, closing the door behind you.

Chapter Text

You stared down at your phone screen for what must have been the thousandth time by now. You had barely gotten any sleep after your date with Verdana, flip flopping between the burst of butterflies that flutter in your stomach when you thought of the date with him to then get a heavy ball of anxiety in the pit of your gut when you thought about the soft way Black had looked at you on his date and how you should probably tell him. But what if he really wasn’t all the serious about the date? You had no idea if this was all casual with him or not. As nice of an idea it might be, you didn’t want to feel self centred enough to think you had TWO different guys trying to get with you. But if he was trying to date you seriously, then you needed to tell him that Verdana had asked to be serious with you, right? Wait? Were you supposed?

You groaned as you let your head drop onto your pillow for the umpteenth time. You weren’t cut out for this kind of thing. You hadn’t been in a real relationship before and had no idea how you were even supposed to proceed. You really wished you had someone you could talk to about this... For a moment, you thought about Radis. He had offered to help you... but there as no way you could talk to him about relationship troubles that included his own brother! You weren’t that desperate for help!

You felt your phone buzz in your hand and startled a little. Please don’t let it be either of the two skeletons plaguing your mind right now. Looking at your screen, you felt yourself brighten up a little. It was Parix! While not really a completely uninvolved party, he was separated enough that you weren’t too nervous to open his text. When you did, you were a little confused when you simply saw a game cover art. You recognised it. It was a game you’d seen a couple of your favourite Youtubers play but you had never played it before. It was pretty co-op heavy, so you never considered getting it with no one to play with...

The typing dots popped up before they stopped, appeared again, then stopped for a little longer. You felt yourself smile as you waited for him to say something. Finally, he sent the long-awaited message, ‘i just got this. have u played it before?’

‘Nope! but I’ve seen some videos about it and it looks fun so I hope you have fun playing it!’

This time, the dots appeared and disappeared once before his message came in, ‘do you wanna play it with me?’ Your eyes widened. Wouldn’t he rather play it with someone much closer and easier to get to? The... quieter, taller skeletons all seemed close to each other so you would guess any one of them would play with him... Unless, he wanted to play specifically with you? A little bubble of hope formed in your chest as you carefully sent your next message.

‘Really? Are you sure?’

‘yes, unless you don’t want to then nevermind.’

‘No, I do! Definitely! I’ll come over then! When should we play...?’ Wait, was inviting yourself over too forward? You were pretty sure the co-op could be done online so maybe you could-

‘today? if you want.’

A... little sooner than you expected... You would have liked to have a day to recover from all the physical activity from your date with Verdana – your joints ached from being so active after so long – but... maybe you needed a little bit of a distraction. A little time to stop thinking about this skeleton drama and play some video games! With another skeleton... where the skeletons you were thinking about lived... You really hoped they wouldn’t be home.

‘Alright! ( •̀ω•́)ゝ’ I’ll be there!’ Wait, shoot, you still needed their address. As you were typing the question, you stopped at the message you received.

‘be there soon. c u’ Oh. At this point, it felt useless to even try going there yourself, so you resigned yourself to your fate.

Vet’s car soon came driving up to the gates. When you opened the back door, you were a little surprised to see Vet at the wheel and Parix in the back seat again.

“GOOD AFTERNOON, MY DEAR,” he greeted you, smile polite. You blinked at him speechlessly for a moment before mentally shaking off your surprise.

“A-afternoon, Vet,” you greeted him back as you got in, closing the door behind you. You turned to Parix, internally cooing at the soft smile on his face. A skeleton who was well over a head taller than you with such sharp teeth didn’t have the right to look precious! “Hi, Parix.”

“h-hey,” his smile widened just a smidge before he looked down, fiddling with his sleeves. Maybe he didn’t want to talk? Well, that was fine with you! You were more than happy to sit in silence, too-

“SO, PARIX TELLS ME THE TWO OF YOU ARE GOING TO BE PLAYING SOME KIND OF GAME TOGETHER?” Ah, well, there went that plan. You looked up and instantly straightened up in your seat seeing Vet’s red eye light looking at you through the rear view mirror.

“Yes, sir- er, y-yes, Vet... uh... yeah,” you laughed awkwardly, cheeks warming in embarrassment and it only getting worse as Vet laughed.

“MFU FU, NO NEED TO BE SO TENSE, DEAR,” he assured, “IF YOU ACT LIKE THAT, IT’LL MAKE ME FEEL OLD.”

“R-right, sorry...” Huh, actually, how old were they? When you thought about it, you’d seen Papyrus on the news at around the time of the monsters getting out of the underground, and maybe Comic but he wasn’t really as vocal in any clippings you could remember, and you didn’t think he looked all that different than he does now... then again, monsters aged differently to humans so maybe they weren’t that much older than you maturity wise? You hesitated on asking the two skeletons in the car with you. For now. You didn’t want to make things more awkward than they needed to be. “And, thank you for the ride... again.”

“LIKE I SAID BEFORE, IT IS NO PROBLEM,” Vet said. His grin widened and eye sockets lowered in a way you could only describe as flirtatious, “IF ANYTHING, GETTING TO DRIVE AROUND A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG LADY LIKE YOURSELF IS MY PLEASURE.”

“O-oh!” You blushed again as you hunched up a little, heart skipping a beat. You were not used to out of the blue compliments, especially not from attractive mons- people. “Th-thank you...”

“v... vet,” Parix’s soft voice spoke up.

Vet laughed again, his whole face lighting up, “COME NOW, I’M JUST BEING TRUTHFUL! AND MAYBE I NEED TO BE IF SHE’S GETTING THIS FLUSTERED ABOUT IT. YOU NEED TO BE TOLD OF YOUR ALLURE MORE, DON’T YOU, MY DEAR?”

Your mouth gaped for a moment as your face burned before you sputtered a mess of non-words, trying to think of any type of response as your eyes darted around the car desperately. A hand on your shoulder made you stop. You looked up at Parix.

“ig... ignore him... he’s... teasing you...”

“MAYBE SO, BUT!” he brought a finger up, grinning mischievously, “I AM BEING HONEST!” Parix groaned, his hand tightening on your shoulder comfortingly. You laughed, not sure how else you could react. Fortunately for you, Vet changed the subject and made small talk with you, simply asking your interests and what you liked doing. It was pleasant enough and you felt yourself get used to him a little more. He was... a little more mischievous than you initially considered he would be, but it did have you unwinding as you talked.

The light conversation carried as you arrived on the property and walked through the doors, Parix sticking by your side while Vet walked ahead of the two of you. You heard deep laughter coming from the living room and as the three of you walked further in, you noted it was Comic and Impact, Comic sitting on the recliner while Impact was on the couch. With Comic’s seating position, he was able to look to the opening door easier. He lifted a hand in greeting.

“oh, it’s you, kid. welcome back”

“Hey,” you greeted back, waving in return. Impact whirled around to look at you, his eye sockets and grin widening making you feeling nervous.

Comic chuckled, “heh, with all these visits, might as well give ya a loyalty card. next time, ya get a free dinner.”

You huffed, smiling, “That... would be a pretty bad business idea given the free dinners you’ve all given me already...”

Comic winked, “hey, it keeps bringing ya back so must be working. seems like good business to me.”

“well, if ya need a different loyalty reward, toots,” Impact’s upper eye socket lowered, “then i’d be more than happy tah give ya a mouthful ah something in my room,” Your eyes widened, your face heating up as he licked his teeth. Yikes.

“SAVE WHATEVER THIS IS FOR NEVER, IMPACT,” Vet shooed at him, not stopping his stride to the door.

“wasn’ talkin’ to ya,” Impact growled before looking back at you, “so, wanna take me up on that offah from before? two of us gettin’ tah know each othah, mono a mono?” You took an instinctive step backwards, bumping into Parix. You jumped, quickly turning to apologise but paused at the flat expression he had as he stared at Impact. Impact only grinned back, “what? ya got a problem with that?”

“looks like they already got something else planned, pact,” Comic very helpfully pointed out. “so you should probably listen to vet and drop it.” Impact rolled his eye lights.

Parix didn’t say anything as he placed his arm around your shoulders and pulled you towards the sliding door where Vet was standing patiently for the two of you. Vet chuckled, the sound cold compared to the ones you’d heard before, “YES, UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU, SHE’S ALREADY PLANNED TO BE SPENDING THE DAY WITH US. VERY UNFORTUNATE. REALLY.” Once you and Parix had stepped outside, Vet slid the door shut, cutting off the reply Impact was about to say. But you could hear him faintly through glass. You glanced back, seeing him sulk as he settled back on the couch. You sighed in relief as the three of you continued on. You weren’t sure what to make of Impact yet. He didn’t seem bad but... maybe you needed to get used to his brand of... humour...

You walked down to Vet and Parix’s cabin, sparing a glance to Black and Radis’s one for a moment before quickly looking away. Vet held the door open for you and you stepped into the now very familiar living room. Vet offered you refreshments, to which you politely declined. You walked over to the couch and sat down onto it, waiting for Parix to get the game out as you patted your thighs. You didn’t expect Vet to take a seat next to you. Unlike a lot of the other skeletons, he actually left a respectable distance between the two of you.

“Do you also... play video games, Vet?” you asked.

Vet shook his head, “NO, NO, THEY ARE NOT MY GO TO FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT. I PREFER WATCHING PARIX PLAY.”

“I get that! Parix is really good!”

“VERY!” He grinned proudly, “HAVE YOU WATCHED HIM PLAY?”

“Well, I spent a little more time playing with him than watching him play, I think.”

“NO, I MEANT ON THAT CH-”

You hadn’t even noticed Parix come closer so when he roughly sat down on the spot beside you, you jolted in alarm. You barely caught him shaking his head at Vet before he looked down at you, his cheekbones a little yellow as he held one of the console controllers towards you. You took it, bouncing a little in anticipation as you looked to the screen, watching the game boot up.

The game was just as fun as you imagined it would be when you watched it. It was a platformer that had different tasks given by colour depending on the player and the only way to progress was for both of you to complete your individual tasks and any tasks that were dual-coloured that needed both of you to work together. Platformers weren’t your strong suite and during the game you ended up underestimating jumps or sliding off the platforms a lot more than you would have liked. Parix must have either found your lack of skills pitiable or was just tired of having to wait for you to have to redo everything whenever you died because he managed to quickly figure out when to pick up your character before you went sliding off the stage.

“Holy-! How did you even do that?!” you asked in disbelief as he managed to not only save you from impending doom from the spikes below by jumping off the platform after you but also managed to wall jump onto the one next to it to get back on, placing your character back onto solid ground safely. You turned to him, “Have you played this before?” He shook his head. “What! But you’re- you’re really good! Are you sure...?”

A soft chuckle left his mouth, “'m used to... games like this...”

“Just used to? You’re like a master or something! I mean-” you stopped when you looked back on the screen. He had picked your character back up and was carrying it around the stage while completing his own tasks, having to throw you up in the air sometimes just to manage to manoeuvre through some tight spots. Your mouth dropped and pointed at the screen, “Dude!”

He laughed then, “it’s easier.”

“Why am I even playing then if you could play it alone,” you lamented as you tried to escape, only to have him pick you up again and continue on. You tried again, jumping up and rushing over to one of your tasks, only for him to jump onto a platform above you, slide down an incline to pick up speed, jump down in front of you and pick you up yet again. “Come on! This doesn’t feel fair!” You whined, a small laugh managing to break through your played up frustration. “We’re supposed to be teammates here!”

Parix’s character jumped around a bit before placing yours in front of one of your tasks, “there. teamwork.”

“It doesn’t count if you did all the work!” you huffed as you begrudgingly went to work completing the task. With you busy, Parix rushed off to do his own tasks. Freedom! You cheered as you rushed off to go to your next task... only for the bad luck you’ve had this whole game to come rear its head and lead to you sliding off the platform and into the waiting spikes below, resetting all your progress on the level. You stared at your revived character, smile frozen in place. Vet and Parix burst into laughter, Vet bringing the back of his hand up to his mouth, while Parix’s laughs were breathy, his chest was heaving, smile wide and unbridled.

You lowered your head in defeat. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up...” You pouted, crossing your arms.

Vet reached a hand over, patting your head comfortingly as his laughter died down a little, “THERE, THERE, DEAR. GO ON AND TRY AGAIN.” You blushed a little at the soft touches and let your pout drop. “I’M SURE YOU’LL GET THAT... WHAT DO THE YOUTH CALL IT NOW? ‘VICTORY ROYALE’ OVER PARIX SOON ENOUGH!” Your face instinctively scrunched up as you looked at Vet. His laughter redoubled. A glance at Parix revealed he was mirroring your expression behind you and made you end up bursting into giggles soon after. Parix shook his head slightly, but a smile managed to weasel its way onto his face.

Parix went right back to being your little chauffeur around the level, his efforts on keeping you from going anywhere yourself strengthened. You tried your best to escape every time, leading to a lot of one-sided tag between actually playing the game how you were supposed to play it. Your cheeks were starting to hurt from how much you were smiling and laughing through it all. You hadn’t really realised the brothers had gotten closer to you until you tried to subtly stretch in your seat, only to have your elbow hit against Vet’s chest.

“O-oh, sorry!” You froze when you were now actively noticing the two skeletons against you. You had passively noted that they had shifted closer though out the game, from the nudges to the hair ruffles but you didn’t really pay it any mind until you were now really taking in that they were close. Both brothers had their thighs pressed against yours, Vet having his arm resting on the back of the couch rest behind your back, his head tilted towards you and Parix leaning his arm against yours. How hadn’t you noticed?!

“NO HARM DONE,” Vet assured calmly. You nodded, looking at the screen and trying to focus on the game again. But how the hell were supposed to just brush this off now! You felt warm and comfortable... but you were mentally freaking out! “OH, BUT ARE YOU ALRIGHT, DEAR?”

“I-I’m fine! I’m fine!” you cleared your throat, trying to give him your best assuring smile.

“HMMM... ARE YOU SURE?” Vet leaned a little closer, hand up to his chin. You leaned back, once again having your back bump against Parix and making you tense up. “YOU LOOK A LITTLE... ANXIOUS. IS SOMETHING THE MATTER?” Incomprehensible stutters escaped your mouth, as you realised he was only getting closer, your heart racing. A black and yellow gloved hand came between the two of you. You looked up at your saviour, who was looking down at Vet disapprovingly.

“I’M ONLY CONCERNED, BROTHER,” Vet said, placing a hand on his chest and moving back, smile returning on his face. But, the curl of his smile made it look cheeky instead of worried. Was he... was he teasing you again?! At your suspicious expression, Vet’s smile only widened, “I’M GLAD TO SEE YOU’RE FEELING BETTER!”

“uh huh...” Parix muttered, his tune matching how you felt. Vet snickered. You willed your cheeks to cool a little.

“OH, BUT IT IS GETTING A LITTLE LATE, ISN’T IT?” Vet pushed down his jacket sleeve, revealing a watch. He hummed then looked to you, “WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY FOR DINNER?”

You laughed softly, “Looks like I’ll be getting that free dinner benefit again, huh? Um, yes please.”

“WONDERFUL!” Vet smoothly got to his feet then extended a hand to you. You took it and got to your feet as well, a little unbalanced on your feet with how long you had been sitting. You expected him to let go of your hand then but instead, he held firm and began walking the two of you to the door. Your face flushed, not sure what to do now. You look helplessly to Parix but weren’t expecting him to be slowly reaching for your other hand. He froze when you caught him and quickly pulled his hand away, face yellow. You were left even more confused but you couldn’t help feeling endeared by him so reached over and held onto his hand. His hand jerked in your hold but then it held onto you firmly. You smiled up at him, which he shakily returned. You mentally took note of the differences of their hands, Vet’s smaller and closer to matching yours in size, the material of his glove thin and feeling closer to silk and Parix’s almost engulfing yours, his gloves having a little more padding in them. Both warm and assuring.

Vet pulled your little hand holding chain along to the lodge. You felt a little silly but you also couldn’t help smiling gleefully. You didn’t know why holding hands like this was making you feel so giddy inside but you liked it.

“Oh, My, Isn’t This Adorable!” your happy bubble popped when someone rushed over to you. Abigaz was looking between the three of you with a wide smile on his face and hands clasped, Candera strolling up behind him. Parix’s hold on your hand tightened just slightly and he avoided eye contact with the other skeletons, his other hand playing with his hoodie string. “Awww, I Wanna Join In, Too!”

“OUR GUEST ONLY HAS TWO HANDS, SADLY,” Vet raised his hand holding yours, “BOTH OF THEM CURRENTLY OCCUPIED. MAYBE NEXT TIME, ABIGAZ.”

“Such A Shame,” Abigaz sighed, smile still in place. He walked over to stand beside you, “It’s Lovely To See You Again, Sweetheart!”

“S-same here!”

“you know, cherry,” Candera walked up to be in step with you, too, “i realised you forgot to give us something the last time you were here.”

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion, “I did...?”

“course you did. your number,” he winked, “a little hard to keep in touch with you with no way to actually keep in touch.”

Abigaz nodded, pulling out his phone, “You’re Right, Candy! I Knew I Was Forgetting Something When We Parted Ways Last Time, And Only Realised It When It Was Too Late!”

You blinked in surprise. They wanted to keep in touch with you? “Uh, o-okay! Sure! Um...” You recited your number to him and were rewarded with a beaming smile. You didn’t really understand why they’d want to keep talking to you but, you didn’t see a reason for them not to.

The now five of you stepped into the lodge, the smell of something cooking catching your attention. Vet continued pulling the three of you to the dining room. Noticing the skeletons currently there, you stiffened, your feet stopping in place but with Vet still walking forward, you almost ended up tripping but were saved from falling by their hands still holding yours.

You momentarily took note of Comic, Swey, Hadriatic, Impact, and Rusch there before you focused on Black. Black, who had had his head resting on the back of his chair, tilted his head down to look at you, his eye light moving down, no doubt to look at your hands being held by Vet and Parix. You felt yourself panic a little. Shoot, wait, it had to be weird to be holding hands with other guys like this in front of him, right?! But wouldn’t it be weird to just pull your hands away now that he noticed?! Ahhhh-!

He smiled, his eye softening a little, “hey there, mousey. didn’t know ya’d be coming my way tonight.”

You blinked, your freaking out quieting a little at how calm he was, “Y-yeah! Hehe... I, um, we played some stuff... video games, I mean...”

“without me?” he pouted, “i’m hurt...”

“YOU’LL LIVE,” Vet said simply, taking the three of you to his usual spot at the table. He let go of your hand, pulling out the seat to the left of the head spot. When Parix sat on the spot beside it, you realised he pulled it out for you. You muttered a thank you as you settled down. He patted your head before going to sit down. Almost immediately, Black had gotten up from the seat he had been on and went to sit at the spot in front of you. You found yourself avoiding his gaze, which allowed you to see Rusch moving to sit beside him, staring at you.

You waved at him, “H-hey, Rusch.”

His smile widened, “cutie.”

“Eras, Stop Eating The Food!” You looked back at the archway leading to the kitchen, seeing Eras walk out the kitchen holding the large serving bowl, Fio walking beside him with another bowl in hand.

“helping privilege,” he muttered simply before picking out another piece of food and throwing it into his mouth.

“You’re Abusing It Now! Stop That!”

Hadriatic pointed at him, “IF YOU PUT YOUR FILTHY HAND IN THE FOOD ONE MORE TIME...” he growled. Eras stared at him, his grin widening as he slowly lowered his hand to the bowl again, Hadriatic’s eyes narrowing for every inch it got closer. It was when Hadriatic put his hands on the table, ready to get to his feet, did the bowl suddenly lurch out of Eras’s grip and land onto the table with a soft ‘thud’.

Fio sighed in relief, “Thank You, Swey.” Swey, who’s hand had been up to move the bowl away with magic, lifted said hand higher to his forehead in a nonchalant salute. Hadriatic let out a loud exhale and sat back down. As the two stepped closer to the table, they noticed you. Eras only spared you a glance while Fio brightened up, greeting you cheerfully before he went around dishing everyone up, giving Eras a light scolding look as he put his food on his plate. He was plating the last two plates when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around you.

“BERRY!” You held back a noise of surprise at the sudden attack, calmed down when you realised it was only Verdana, only to panic a little when you realised it was Verdana. Your face flushed as you felt him nuzzling his face into your hair as he hugged you from behind.

“H-hey, Verdy...” you greeted back shakily, torn between wanting to melt at his cute greeting but also wanting to slide under the table away from all the others around the table having to witness it, especially the skeleton in front of you who you were too nervous to look at for his reaction. Verdana finally spared you and let you go, his hands lingering slightly on your shoulders before he moved away to sit beside his brother. You also noticed Radis going to take a seat as well. You tried to relax again, poking at the macaroni as your face cooled down.

Parix poked at your cheek, making you jump a little. His hand moved down to tap at the side of your plate, then said softly, “food’s... supposed to be for eating...”

You huffed, “I-I know...” You picked up some food and actually ate your food. Parix patted your shoulder.

“yep. good job,” he teased. You half-heartedly glared at him but the cheeky smile of his was cute enough for you to let it go and smile back before you got back to eating. But you couldn’t help but feel like there were eyes looking your way. You could barely pay attention to the taste but you kept your eyes down to the food. The day had been great at distracting you but now that you had the very skeletons you were trying to be distracted from in front of you, it was a little hard not to think about them. You... you probably should tell Black now, right? This was your chance! But how were you supposed to get him alone when you were surrounded by people...? Argh...!

You snapped out of your thoughts when your fork hit an empty plate. You blinked. Oh. You barely even noticed you had kept eating. Huh. You were really glad it was monster food now because you were sure you would have choked or something eating while distracted like that. You pushed out of your seat, taking your plate. Vet placed his hand onto the one holding your plate.

“DEAR, YOU ARE A GUEST. GIVE IT HERE,” he stood up, holding his other hand out.

“I-it’s fine, I can-” Your words died as he opened and closed his hand a few times in a ‘give it’ motion. You placed your plate in his hand with a muttered thank you. He smiled in victory, reaching over to take Parix’s plate then his own and walked to the kitchen. Looking up, you noticed the table was a lot emptier than before. How’d you miss so many people leaving?

“back on earth, mousey?” Black asked, waving a hand in front of you. You blinked and laughed, the sound awkward as you fiddled with your hands below the table.

“Ye... yep! Yeah... Sorry...”

“wanna go back... and play some more?” Parix asked from beside you. You found yourself glancing to Black but Parix had invited you here. It’d be rude to say no, wouldn’t it? You... you could talk to him later.

“Y-yeah... okay,” you nodded, pushing yourself out your seat.

“OH, CAN I JOIN IN?” Verdana hopped over, Swey following after him.

“yeah, parry, let us join in, too,” Black drawled. Rusch didn’t say anything but the way he slunk forward with Black made it clear he wanted to join in.

Parix eyed all the skeletons who wanted to follow the two of you, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly. Luckily, Vet came to his rescue as he returned from the kitchen. Kind of.

“APOLOGIES BUT I DON’T FEEL LIKE ENTERTAINING SO MANY GUESTS TONIGHT,” he said before turning to Parix, “I’D RATHER YOU BRING YOUR CONSOLE OUT TO THE LODGE’S LIVING ROOM IF THIS LOT WANT TO PLAY ALONG.”

Parix didn’t look particularly happy about that, his hands fiddling with his sleeves as his eye lights darting from the side to the ceiling, then the ground but he nodded, his shoulders slumping. You reached over and tugged at his hoodie and his eye lights darted to you.

“W-we don’t have to play if you don’t want...” you were about to say ‘this many people playing, too’ since you knew how uncomfortable you’d feel feeling pressured to have other people use your things but didn’t want to be inconsiderate to all the other skeletons there so decided to continue with, “... to. We can watch a movie or something.”

He looked to the side again before shaking his head, lightly patting your hand, so you let go. He motioned with his hand to the living room and walked out to the sliding door and outside. Well, you tried. Vet took his place beside you, holding his phone out. You blinked down at it, staring at the ‘add new contact’ screen before your eyes widened.

“IF YOU WOULD, PLEASE.” You nodded, carefully taking his phone into your hands and typing in your contact information before handing it back to him. He patted your shoulder twice, “IT WAS A PLEASURE GETTING TO SPEND THE AFTERNOON WITH YOU, MY DEAR. I’LL TALK TO YOU SOON.”

“Yeah, same! Uh, it was nice spending time with you, too!”

Vet gave you one more soft smile before he followed after Parix, calling out a, “GOOD EVENING EVERYONE,” over his shoulder.

You jumped at a hand poking your shoulder. You face warmed as you looked up at Black. “let’s go get our seats. callin’ dibs on the spot next to ya. didn’ realise it was so in demand.”

“A-ah... o-okay...”

“THEN I CALL DIBS ON THE OTHER SIDE!” Verdana eagerly called, rushing forward ahead of the both of you and sitting on the couch. He patted the spot beside him, his starry gaze fixed on you, “C’MON, BERRY!”

You blinked. You could only nod wordlessly as you sat beside him. The minimal amount of space you had put between the both of you was immediately gone as he scooted closer to you, Black flopping down on your other side, his arm wrapping around your shoulders. You wanted to scream! Fate was a cruel mistress to have you sitting smack dab between the two skeletons you had been stressing over all night. You felt your heart thundering in your chest as you focused on your hands.

“BERRY, HEY, HEY, DO YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT A SAD STRAWBERRY IS CALLED?” You blinked, your eyebrows furrowing as you looked at Verdana.

“A sad strawbe... um... what is it called?”

His grin widened, “A BLUE BERRY!” You blinked, needing a moment to process it before you snorted.

“Wh-what?”

“hey,” Black nudged your side, “wanna know why it was sad?” You looked at him, head tilted. He grinned, “had to turn down a worm that wanted to go on a date with it. it’s really been eating it up inside since.”

You snorted again, your hand coming up to your mouth as a few guilty giggles escaped, “Nooo, that’s awful!”

Verdana sighed, bringing a hand up to his cheek, the edges of his mouth threatening to pull back into a smile, “IT’S REALLY SUCH A SHAME, THEY WOULD HAVE MADE A REAL GOOD PEAR.”

“nah. heard that worm was really pine-ing after it, went nuts cause of that. fig-ure that wouldn’t lead to a real healthy relationship.”

You were doubled over. The jokes were so bad, but you couldn’t help laughing over them. “Stop....!”

“seconded, actually. stop,” Swey called from the recliner.

“dunno,” you glanced up at Black’s other side. Rusch was leaning forward and looking right at you, a glint in his eye, “good jokes shouldn’ be taken for... pome-granted.”

“... Pome-granted!” you fell into more giggles, hands coming up to your face. You heard a few of the others chuckling along with you. “All of you... comedy jail!”

“hey, i’m innocent here,” Swey quickly defended himself. “you’re all the ones who need to be carted off to the slammer.”

Black snorted under his breath, “heh. slammer.” You tried your hardest to stifle the laughter that came once you realised the innuendo he was laughing at.

“HMM... I SUPPOSE WE SHOULD GIVE THIS,” he paused. Oh no. “... A-RREST.”

“Stooop!” you patted at Verdana’s arm as you laughed. “D-detain yourself!” He laughed gleefully.

You heard the sliding door slide open and you glanced up to see Parix returning, his console and controllers in hand. As you calmed your laughter down while watching him set up the console, you realised all your nerves had melted away. You glanced between Black and Verdana. Black looked as relaxed as ever while Verdana was still snickering to himself. You were the only one stressing about this, huh? You let out a quiet breath, your shoulders relaxing as you sat up. Anxiety about whatever was happening between you and them still clawed at your chest but you could push it down to a manageable enough degree for now. You wanted to game in peace!

You happily took the controller from Parix’s outstretched hand. It took a bit to get used to four people playing the game instead of just two but it was even more chaotic and tons more fun. Parix’s little game of pick up seemed really popular so now, all of them decided to throw their hat in the ring and treat you like some kind of rugby ball to keep away from each other. You barely had chances to get away but took every chance you could, laughing loudly every time you did, only for someone else to pick you up.

“Come on! We aren’t even playing the game at this point!”

“dunno, feels like we’re playin’ it good enough,” Black snickered, as his character rushed to Parix’s to try grab you, only to go flying between the two of you as Parix crouched and threw you up into the air. Verdana let out a loud, “MWEH!” as he used Black’s character as a jumping pad and managed to grab you in mid-air.

“BEHOLD MY MAGNIFIECENCE!” he boasted proudly as he ran away. Until Black came back with vengeance as he re-spawned right next to him and grabbed your character, jumping onto Verdana’s head and skedaddling away. “URK-!”

“Ohhhh! This Looks Fun! Can I Play Next?” Fio’s voice asked from behind you. Parix grunted in allowance, more concentrated on the game. Loud chatter, jeers and cheers surrounded you and you felt a wave of... belonging flood over you.

Unfortunately, sunset came once again. You reluctantly asked if someone would take you home. Black lowered his hand onto your shoulder.

“c’mon, mousey, let’s get ya back.” He groaned as he got to his feet, and you followed after him.

“It’s been fun everyone,” you called to the room in general before turning to Parix, “Thank you for inviting me. It’s been a blast!”

Parix smiled, nodding and muttering so softly that you almost missed it, “same here...”

“till next time, pal,” Swey winked, finger gunning your way. You felt compelled to return it so return it you did. It felt awkward but the way his eye sockets sparkled in amusement felt worth it.

Rusch reached over, his hand gripping onto yours. You blushed at the grin on his face as his thumb ran over your knuckles, “see ya soon, cutie.”

“Y-yeah, see you soon, Rusch.”

“And Same From Me, Cupcake! I Hope You’ll Be Visiting Us Again In The Near Future.”

You laughed, “Well, at this rate, I think that’s definitely going to happen soon, Muffin.” Fio’s smile brightened and Rusch slowly let go of your hand.

You jumped in surprise when Verdana hopped to his feet next to you, arm looping through yours. “C’MON, BERRY! WE WOULDN’T WANT YOU GETTING HOME TOO LATE NOW!”

You looked at him in confusion, your eyes darting between him and Black, “O... kay?” The two skeletons beside you led you outside, the ball of anxiety that you had managed to push back feeling heavier and heavier in your chest as the three of you walked out.

Once the three of you were a good distance away from the lodge and standing near the garage, they stopped, forcing you to stop as well. Your heart was thundering in your ears and breathing felt a little harder. Wow, did you just run a marathon or something...?

“hey, mousey, look up at the sky for a minute.” Huh? You looked up. Your breath caught as you stared out at the setting sun, lowering beneath the darkened trees, birds flying off to their resting spot for the night and the clouds a beautiful golden colour as rays of sunlight radiated through them.

“Oh... it’s so pretty...” you breathed softly. No, pretty didn’t feel right. It was gorgeous! Your eyes felt glued to the sight. The three of you stood side by side as the sun lowered silently. You felt calmer.

Once the sun wasn’t visible through the tree line, Verdana broke the silence. “BERRY.” You took in a breath and looked at him. His hand was held in a fist in front of his chest, his gaze still forward. “I... WE... UM...”

“we talked,” Black continued for him.

“WE TALKED.”

You nodded. You were a little scared but didn’t want to speak yet. You wanted to simply hear them out.

“just so ya know, dana basically kicked our door in and demanded we did.”

Verdana’s skull whirled around to look up at him, “I DID NOT!” He cleared his - non-existent - throat, “I WAS KNOCKING.”

“really aggressively.” A giggle managed to slip through you at the image.

“THAT ASIDE! UM... ACTUALLY, BEFORE THAT... WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT... MONSTER COURTING... DATING... ROMANCES?”

You looked down, “Admittedly... next to nothing... I’ve been meaning to look into it but...”

“THAT’S FINE! JUST... THE IMPORTANT PART IS... WITH MONSTERS... WE’RE A LOT MORE OPEN TO, TO POLYAMOUROUS RELATIONSHIPS THAN HUMANS.” You blinked, your eyes moving up to look at Verdana. His face was blue as he looked away.

“Huh...?” You looked to Black.

“yep, spread the love or whatever,” Black continued nonchalantly. You noticed he had pulled a cigarette out, biting down on the end. Thankfully, he didn’t look like he’d be lighting it. “’mean, not that common but definitely common enough.”

“A-AND SINCE OUR DATE, I WAS THINKING THAT... MAYBE... WE SHOULD AT LEAST CONSIDER IT IF YOU... DID HAPPEN TO LIKE BOTH OF US... UM, IF.” Verdana continued nervously. “SO, WE TALKED ABOUT IT.”

“yep. i’ll be honest, i like the idea of havin’ ya all to myself but if ya wanna be with dana, too, then,” Black shrugged, twisting the cigarette in his mouth. His hand that was on your shoulder began rubbing it soothingly, “i won’t be complainin’. would rather have ya be happy with me an’ him then not at all.”

“S-SAME FOR ME! I...” his hold on your arm tightened, “I LIKE YOU, BERRY! I REALLY LIKE YOU! AND IF YOU WANT... IF YOU MAYBE WANT THAT THEN, I’D BE HAPPY AS LONG AS YOU’RE WITH ME!”

You felt like your brain was processing this slower than molasses. Or maybe it was replaying their words repeatedly just to really take in what they were telling you as reality and not some kinda of weird dream. You didn’t really know much about poly relationships. You had never even considered being in one before since you hadn’t even gotten to the first stage of even having one significant other, much less anything more than that! They both... wanted to date you... at the same time?

“L-like... all of us dating...?”

“uh,” Black grimaced, “to be specific, you dating me and dana.”

“I... I see...” Huh... Would... would you be willing to date... both of them...? You frowned. You weren’t sure. You weren’t confident you’d be able to keep two people happy in a relationship. Some days, you couldn’t even keep yourself happy! “Are you... sure? I’m... I’ve never... been in a relationship before...”

“we’ll take things slow for ya, don’t worry.”

“B-but... I don’t want to mess up anything... I have no idea what a good relationship is like...”

“DO YOU WANT TO MESS THINGS UP?” Those words felt awfully familiar.

You took in a beath, let out it out and shook your head, “No. I really don’t.”

“THEN THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS! WE DON’T WANT TO EITHER.” You looked up at them. Verdana’s slightly fuzzy eye lights were tenderly looking at you, his smile a little less wide but still as bright. Black’s expression was the softest you’d ever seen it, his smile delicate. It felt like they were looking at you like you were... you were something special. Your heart sped up, your face warming the longer you held their gaze.

“offer’s on the table, mousey,” Black said. “do ya need time to consider it?” You shakily nodded your head. You definitely needed time to think this over. It felt like you'd been thrown for a loop one time too many, leaving you dizzy. “alright. let’s actually get ya back, then. we said what we needed to.”

You let the two of them take you to the mini-van Black had used before. Verdana sat in the back next to you while Black drove. By now, the stars were out, and you found yourself staring up at them, your mind buzzing between way too many thoughts and none at all. You felt Verdana’s hand very carefully sliding beneath yours, the contact sending tingles through your hand. You didn’t stop it from sliding completely beneath your palm and interlocking your fingers together. You let out a soft breath as you held onto it tightly and feeling it tighten in return, warmth running up your arm. Your heart fluttered. You... really needed to think on this.

Chapter Text

The clouds looked nice today. You let out a long exhale as you stared up at the slowly drifting clouds above you. The sun felt pleasant. The clouds drifting over it occasionally and the breeze helped cool you enough to not overheat. The park near your apartment was pretty much empty so it was quiet. This was... nice.

You were hauled up in your apartment for way too long, your mind tugging in all kinds of directions as you tried to think about what you should do about Black and Verdana so you decided to leave the house for some fresh air. You never actually thought they’d want to date you at the same time! It hadn’t even been something you considered a possibility! But now that they brought the offer, you’d feel awful if you even tried thinking of dating just one of them. You knew they probably wouldn’t hate you or anything if you did only pick one, but you knew you wouldn’t ever be able to face the one you hadn’t picked, from the guilt and awkwardness that would definitely come up in you if you ever visited again. So now your brain just settled on two choices: date both of them, or date neither of them. But now how can you even think of dating both of them! It felt... selfish? Two! Two really wonderful monsters wanted to be with you? Would you even be able to handle that? You didn’t want anyone to get hurt...

“THEN THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS! WE DON’T WANT TO EITHER.”

You sighed, rubbing your face. Every time your thoughts spiraled, you kept thinking of how sweetly the two of them looked at you that night. They calmed you for just a moment but only had you feeling sad once the anxious thoughts were pushed down. You didn’t want to lose that. It hurt to think what would happen if you could never see them like that again. You kind of wished they never brought up dates at all but... your heart raced at the thought of getting to go on more dates with them, hand holding, cuddling, laughing at dumb jokes together and giving each other kisses...

You rubbed your now blushing face. “Argh...” You peaked up at the clouds again through the gaps of your fingers. You wished you could ask for help on this somehow... But you didn’t think you were close enough to talk about this with anyone! Well... almost anyone... the only people you could consider yourself close to in any way were... well, the skeletons. But that’d be weird! You can’t talk about relationship advice about people in their own family!

... Right?

You stopped and considered it. Would it be weird? You were aware of yourself to know sometimes you put stricter barriers on yourself towards others in comparison to the actions they’d do to you of the same caliber. Were you over-thinking this, too? You took your phone out of your pocket, opening your texting app. You smiled a little when you saw the screen only listing the skeletons with how often you’d been talking to them. Just looking at the list made the thought of asking one of them for help seemed like a slightly more possible option. If by some weird imaginary happen-stance one of them came looking for you for advice, you’d want to help them so they would probably want to do the same for you!

You looked over the names on the list, weighing the pros and cons of asking any one of them for help, doing your best to push back any possible cons that equated to ‘that’d be weird’ or ‘I don’t wanna bother them with something dumb’. Well, those cons probably still worked best with Radis. You still were not going to him for help with his brother on this. And you felt like he might actually consider this a bother. Candera and Abigaz were automatically out since you barely spent any time with either of them. You were tempted to just leave Vet out, too, but... he had a mature air to him that felt like it would be pretty helpful to turn to for advice.

So, Vet, Parix, Rusch, Papyrus or Fio. Well, maybe not Rusch. You liked him, you could even consider him a friend now! But... you couldn’t see yourself going to him for help with this, especially when you thought of what happened at that one dinner... Yeah, no, off the list. A part of you felt hesitant to even think of asking Parix with this. You kept imagining him getting too flustered to answer any questions and if he hesitated, you knew you’d end up dropping the topic all together and not bring it up again, so you hesitantly crossed him off, too.

Vet, Papyrus or Fio. You mentally flip flopped between the three of them until you just threw your hands in the air. You couldn’t decide! And what do you do when you can’t decide? Have someone else choose for you! Or in this case, have it randomly chosen for you. You opened up a random number generator on your browser and set it to three. Yep. You were not going to struggle through this. And at least you could blame a program if this goes wrong! With a deep breath, you picked let the generator pick a number.

Oh.

Well.

There was your choice.

You quickly tapped the skeleton that had been chosen and sent out a quick message before you could even consider second guessing yourself.

‘Hey! Soory to bother you but fcan i please cask for some advice?’ You grimaced at the mistakes, but it was too late to correct them. You stared at your screen a bit as your heart thudded in your chest, feeling more and more anxious the longer he took to respond. You let out a groan as you closed your eyes and let your head fall back. He’d answer when he needed to but that didn’t stop you from worrying about-

Your phone buzzed in your hand and you quickly looked down at your phone.

‘YOU’RE NEVER A BOTHER AT ALL! WHAT IS IT?’

He responded, thank god! You typed out the message, backspaced, tried to type it again, backspaced once again and let out a noise of frustration. How can you explain this in text?! You really didn’t want to but you could only think of one option...

‘Can I call you?’

It was only a second after the text was sent that you were getting a call. No point dragging it out, huh? You quickly answered.

“... hey...”

“Cupcake, Is Something Wrong?”

You felt your worries lighten just a little at Fio’s voice. “Well, not really wrong but... I could really do with someone to talk to about this...”

“I’d Be More Than Happy To Listen! Would You Feel Better Coming Here To Do It In Person?” Would you? You thought of running into Black and Verdana and grimaced.

“I’d... rather not. I’m sorry.”

“It’s Okay. Maybe... Maybe I Should Go There? This Feels A Little Serious.”

“Are... you sure?”

“Yes! My Schedule Is Clear If You Need Me!” You felt a smile tug on your lips.

“Okay then... yes please.”

“I’ll Be There Soon!”

The moment you both hung up, you quickly got to your feet and hurried straight home. You needed to clean up! You were not having someone come to your place while it was a mess! Plus, cleaning up was a pretty nice distraction so by the time Fio messaged you that he had arrived, you didn’t have a moment to be worrying about anything besides what arrangement your cushions should be in.

You quickly went down to the front gates and were surprised to see him getting out of the black mini-van as you approached. Fio smiled at you, “Hello, Cupcake!”

“Hi, Muffin!” your smile widened at the sight of Fio beaming at his nickname. Even if you sometimes felt a little embarrassed calling him that, seeing how pleased he looked with it made it worth it. It only took a few steps from him to catch up to you and he wrapped you up in a quick hug. The scent of sweet pastries on his sweater made you wish the hug lasted a little longer.

He turned to the car, “Thank You.”

You peeked out to see who the person driving way and was a little surprised to see Eras in the passenger seat with Comic at the wheel.

“welp, delivery delivered,” Comic smiled. “have fun kids.”

Fio’s expression deadpanned, “I’m Older Than You.”

Eras and Comic exchanged a glance and Eras’ grin widened as he looked at the two of you, “...have fun kids.”

Fio rolled his eye lights with a smile and shooed at the two of them, “We Will, We Will, Now Go On.”

You waved at the two of them, “Thank you for bringing him.”

“no problemo, kiddo,” Comic winked, “call when ya done, fio.”

“I Will! And Please Don’t Clean Out The Kitchen While I’m Gone, Eras.”

Eras’s eye sockets squinted cheekily as the tinted window rose up, “... no promises.” Fio didn’t have a chance to respond before the car was driving off. You laughed as Fio clicked his tongue and shook his head, with his hands on his hips.

He turned his attention to you, and you motioned for him to follow you. You lead him to your apartment. You were a little amused seeing him have to bend down a little when he had to go through the door. He looked around your apartment and you couldn’t help but fidget a little at he examined the place.

“Hm... It’s... Cozy!” Wasn’t that what Verdana had called it, too? It kind of felt like he was just saying that to polite, too... Hmph, you knew it wasn’t the best place in the city but it was good enough.

“Thank you.” You sat down on your couch, Fio sitting beside you. You noted he was sitting with his back hunched, like a lot of other times you’d seen him sitting and wondered if it was uncomfortable...

“You... shouldn’t you... sit straighter? Wouldn’t be better on your back?” Wait, could monster backs get uncomfortable from sitting in a weird position?

He blinked, looking a little caught off guard before he straightened up, resulting in you now being eye height with his upper chest. You looked up at him a little stupefied. Even seated, he was just way taller than you. Maybe that was why he sat hunched over... His cheekbones turned a faint orange as he laughed, “It’s A Little Hard To Talk Like This...” He wasn’t wrong. You were sure you’d get a kink in your neck if you kept having to look up at him the whole time. You thought about it a bit before thinking up a solution. You gathered up your couch cushions, stacked them up then sat on top of them, having to shed your shoes just to let your feet rest on the coach seat now to avoid having your temporary throne of pillows topple over. At least now you were closer to face level with him. You smiled proudly at him as Fio chuckled, eye sockets narrowed in amusement.

“Well, I Suppose This Works! What Did You Wish To Ask Me About?” It felt like all your previous nerves returned. You looked down, holding your hands together a little tighter.

“Uh... I... The thing is...” Shoot, how were you supposed to start this? “So... there’s... these two guys...”

“Are They Bothering You?” the sharp edge in Fio’s voice made you look up in surprise. He looked serious.

“No! No, definitely not!”

“Oh,” Fio’s shoulders relaxed, “That’s Good.”

“Heh heh, yeah... see these two guys... they both... asked if I could date them...” You noticed Fio’s hand flinch a little as you said that, but his expression was still attentive, waiting for you to finish what you had to say so you brushed it off, “A-and, they’re both really great! I... I like them... And... I think because of that... they mentioned that we should... that I should... could date both of them...? But I’m just... I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like that before, like dating at all so dating two people... I’m just not sure...”

Fio hummed softly beside you, “But, You Like Both Of Them, Don’t You? If They Both Don’t See Any Issue With It And You Want To Be With Them Then I Can’t See The Problem.”

“B-but, what if something goes wrong? I don’t want to start dating them and end up blowing it! I... I really don’t want to lose either of them...”

Fio was quiet for a moment before you noticed his hand reaching for your clasped ones. He gently placed his hand over yours, easily covering both of them. “Cupcake, I Think... You’re Looking At The Negatives A Little Too Heavily.” Your hands clenched at that and Fio gently patted your hands. “It’s Just... Everything Has A Downside And If You Always Looked At The Downsides, You’ll Just Keep Going Down And Down And Down Until... The Positives Are Just Too Hard To Focus On When You’re Stuck In A Pit Of Negativity.” You frowned. He was right but you couldn’t help your thoughts focusing on the worst. He laughed softly, “But... I Know That’s Easier Said Than Done.”

You did your best to smile but you could guess it looked forced, “Sorry but... yeah... you’re right, easier said than done. I just keep thinking of... what could happen when... if things go wrong...”

“Okay, Then...” Fio brought his other hand up and separated your hands, holding one in each hand. You looked up at him then. His eye sockets were sparkling and his smile was wide, his braces shining in the dim light of your apartment, “I’ll help you do it! I am here to help, after all!”

“O... okay...? Okay.”

“Alright, Cupcake. I want you to think about things you like about one of them!”

You blinked, a little caught off guard by the request but complied, “Well... I like how... easy-going he is. He always feels really calming to be around. And he can always make me smile and laugh and he’s considerate and...” Wow, it was kind of embarrassing having to talk about this out loud but it was nice getting to gush about Black just a little. But you couldn’t really continue since you didn’t think the rest of your thoughts on him would be appropriate to say right now.

At your pause, Fio spoke up again, “And The Other?”

“Um... heh, well, he makes me laugh, too. He’s a sweetheart and optimistic and kind... ” Once again, you cut yourself off from saying anything that could be too embarrassing but that seemed good enough for Fio.

“Can You Imagine Dating Either One Of Them?” You didn’t hesitate to nod. “Then, I Think You Should At Least Try To Date Them!” The smile you didn’t realise was on your face fell. Fio’s hold on your hands tightened a little, “You Will Be Fine. Verdana And Blackadder Care About You Plenty. They’ll Take Good Care Of You, Cupcake.” You stared at him wide eyed. You didn’t mention any names!.

“H-how did you...?”

Fio chuckled, “It Wasn’t Hard To Figure Out Who It Was. And... One Of Them May Or May Not Have Mentioned It.”

“Oh... to you...?”

Fio looked to the side. You could see a transparent, orange tinted sweat drop run down his skull. Huh, so they can sweat. “Technically. Yes. But To Be More Specific. He Had Said It On Our Group Chat.”

You froze, “Wh-why?!”

Fio’s eye lights shifted to the other side but he didn’t answer this time. He cleared his throat, “I-In Any Case! I Think That If You Think You’d Be Happy Being With Them, Then You Should At Least Try It! Oh! And Talk To Them! Talking Is Important! We Have Lots Of Things We Can Do With Our Magic But Reading Minds Is Not One Of Them! Probably For The Best....”

You chuckled at that. Right. You... didn’t think you’d stop worrying but you needed to focus more on the good. You didn't want to miss out on something wonderful just because you were too scared of what could go wrong. You nodded. “You’re right. Thank you, Fio. You’re... you’re the best!”

Fio grinned, blushing, “Nyeh Heh Heh! Of Course, Cupcake!” He patted your head, “If You Ever Need Help With Anything, Feel Free To Come To Me!”

You smiled, instinctively leaning into his hand without realising it as he switched to gentle strokes, “I’ll definitely remember to do that when I need it!”

He let his hand drop from your hair. “I Suppose That’s All You Needed Then... I Guess I Should Be Taking My Leave...”

Your eyes widened. Wait, this was your chance! You were too hesitant to ask the skeletons before about dating monsters and stuff since you were in a group but now you had one alone, so it’d be easier to ask now! “A-actually, can I ask a bit more?”

Fio perked up, eye sockets sparkling, “Of Course! I’d Be More Than Happy To Answer!”

You smiled, “Okay! So, hmm... what... uh... what am I supposed to do when I’m dating a monster? Or... maybe I should be specific? What should I do when I’m dating a skeleton?”

Fio blinked. He shifted a little in his seat, his hand fiddling with his scarf, “I... Wasn’t Expecting That...”

“Wait, is that... a weird thing to ask? Nevermind then-!”

“N-No! Not... You Want To Know So I’ll Answer! I... Don’t Think It’ll Be Any Different From Dating A ... A Human, Maybe? I... “ he blushed, “I’m Not Too Sure Personally But I Think It’ll Be Similar Enough.”

Oh. Well. Maybe it was a dumb thing to ask. Monsters and humans weren’t... that different.

“But! Uh... There Is A... Difference You Should Probably Know. Well, Not Really For Monsters Generally But With Us Skeletons Specifically.” You perked up at that. “As You May Have Noticed... We Do Not Really Have Lips For Kissing,” you blushed a little at that.

“I... I did happen to notice that,” you laughed a little.

“B-But That Doesn’t Mean We Can Not! For Us, There Are Two Ways!” You nodded encouragingly, a little worried why he looked so nervous about explaining this. He didn’t have to explain this if he didn’t want to. “The First Is...” the hand of his that was still holding your own shook a little before he raised it. You didn’t consider what he was going to do until he pressed the back of your hand to his teeth. Your eyes widened, your heart fluttering as you felt the hardness of his teeth and cold metal of his braces, “... Like This...” he muttered softly. Oh. He was just demonstrating. Okay... you could handle that. But... you had to admit to yourself that he looked adorable blushing like that just from kissing your hand. Noticing you weren’t pulling your hand away, he continued, “A-And The Second, Is Like This...” he brought your hand up again to his teeth but this time you noticed a faint, orange glow around his mouth and felt a softness press against your hand this time that tingled against your skin. The feeling was familiar...

“Is that... the ecto-body thing?”

He chuckled, lowering your hand from his mouth, “Yes, It Is The ‘Ecto-Body Thing’.” You huffed a little as he laughed.

“Thank you for the h-heads up then...”

“Of Course!” Fio beamed. “IS There Anything Else You Needed?”

You thought about it but kept drawing blanks the more you tried to come up with something. The questions you did have left... were probably best left for Verdana and Black when you saw them. You shook your head, “No, that’s all I got for now. Thank you so much for... for listening...”

“You Say ‘Thank You’ A Lot, Cupcake,” Fio ruffled your hair, “And It Was No Problem At All. Anything For A Friend!”

You groaned at your now probably ruined hair. “It’s just good manners... And... if you want, do you just want to... hang out?”

Fio looked surprised at the offer, “Oh? Well, Yes! I Would Love To!” You were a little confused when he got to his feet and even more confused when he headed for your kitchen, “Can We Make Something Together? I Think It’s About Lunchtime Now.”

You hurried off your little cushion throne, quickly slid your shoes back on and rushed over to him, “Uh... I don’t really have all that much food to make anything fancy!”

“Anything Can Make A Great Meal As Long As We Are Creative!” There was a fire in Fio’s eye lights as he opened your fridge. You could see that fire dim as he examined how empty it was. He closed the fridge and walked over to your cabinets, searching through them and was met with more practically empty shelves. You fidgeted nervously the longer he was quiet as he examined the poor state of your food supply. He finally stopped and turned to you, his expression worried.

“Cupcake... There... Really Isn’t A Lot Of Food Here.”

You laughed awkwardly, “I... yeah...”

“Are You Eating Enough? Do You Have Enough Money To Buy More Food? Please Tell Me You’re Eating Three Meals A Day At Least!”

You opened your mouth, about to say that you obviously ate three meals a day just to alleviate his worries but stopped yourself when you remembered Fio asking you to avoid lying to them. You slowly closed your mouth and rethought your words, “I eat enough...” For your budget, you certainly thought you did.

Fio’s eye ridges lowered. He looked back at your kitchen then at you, the fire relit in his eye lights. “Cupcake. You’re Not... In Financial Trouble, Are You?”

You were taken aback by the question, “No!” You said quickly, “I just... it might be a little tight on money sometimes but I’m fine! It’s nothing to worry about.” Fio didn’t look convinced. “Really, it’s fine!” You had a decent apartment and food. You couldn’t complain. There wasn’t much else you really needed.

“We... We Should Get Some Things To Fill The Kitchen A Little Bit. I’ll Pay For It So You Won’t Have To Worry About Money!”

You frowned, “I... I appreciate it but, I don’t need it. Thank you, but I’ll be fine.”

Fio pulled his phone out his pocket, tapping at the screen with his index finger, “I’m Sorry, Cupcake, But That Was Not A Request. I Won’t Have You... Go Hungry.”

“But I’m not-”

Fio put his phone up to the side of his skull and spoke up while you were tried once more to shut this down, “Comic? Can You Come Back? We Need Another Trip.”

“Fio...”

Fio shot you a smile as he continued talking to Comic, “Yes, She’ll Be Coming Along With Us. Great! We’ll Go There Now.” He hung up his phone, sliding it back into his pocket. “Come On, Cupcake! The Sooner We Get There, The Sooner We Can Come Back And Make Something Wonderful Together!”

“Fio, really, I’m fine,” you tried one more time, “I’d... I don’t want you having to pay for my stuff. That isn’t fair.”

He tilted his head a little, “Why Not?”

“I mean... it’s your money! You should use it for... for yourself!”

“Exactly! It’s My Money So I Want To Use It To Buy Food For Us. Problem Solved!” Fio was not backing down. You couldn’t help feeling guilty. You’d feel bad if you kept turning him down but you’d also feel bad if he did buy you stuff. This felt like a lose lose situation... But, he was just trying to help... He had good intentions, but it felt like this was way too much. Still... if he wanted to...

“Th-then... I wanna make it up to you somehow!” Fio chuckled. He patted your head then lowered his hand to your shoulder, walking you to the door.

“You Don’t Have To Worry About That, But I Appreciate The Thought.” The two of you walked out, you making sure to lock your door behind you and walked down to the gates where the mini-van was waiting. That was fast. Fio opened the door for you with a beaming smile. You thanked him and got in. Eras’ car seat was leaning back a little, his beanie pulled down to cover his eyes, probably far off into slumber land while Comic didn’t look any better with how close to closing his eye sockets were. They blinked fully open when the two of you entered.

“where to?” he asked.

“The Closest Supermarket!”

“super,” with no further question, Comic faced forward and got to driving.

“Cupcake, Feel Free To Come Over For Dinner Any Time You Want! No Invitation Needed,” Fio said. You blinked. “Or, Well, I Suppose You’d Need To Call One Of Us To Take You There... Papyrus Would Probably Be Willing To Drive You! Or, A Certain Other Two Would Be As Well.”

“A-ah... thank you...” You really weren’t sure what to say now. You were still a little thrown off by all this. You still felt bad he felt he needed to... provide for you like this. But, a part of you was really happy he cared enough to do this. It’d been a while since...

You looked over at him, his warm smile still in place as he looked forward at the windscreen. You felt a fluttering of warm feelings in your chest as a new resolve formed in your chest. You were definitely going to make this up to him, not just for this, but for talking with you. Yep, you definitely would! Somehow...

Chapter Text

“BERRY!”

You barely had time to look up before you were practically tackled into a hug. Verdana’s hold on you was firm enough that you didn’t fall over, at least. He chortled as he clung onto you. You blushed but hugged him back tightly, enjoying the feeling of the soft fabric of his scarf against your cheek. You felt an odd shake run through his body... you could only really describe it as him vibrating. It unnerved you for a moment, but you laughed softly when it happened a second time. The feeling kind of reminded you of a message chair vibration.

You looked up and saw Black standing a few steps away from the two of you, watching you both with the side of his mouth quirked up. You felt a bit awkward for a moment before Verdana loosened his grip on you, letting you move over to Black. He instantly pulled you into a hug of his own, but with how tall he was, you found your face pressed against his ribs. That scent of incense was lingering on his hoodie you noted as the two of you hugged. You felt him press what you assumed was a kiss into your hair before he let you go.

You stepped back, looking the two of them in the eyes... eye sockets? You had taken a couple more days to think over things after your talk, and not quite so mini shopping spree, with Fio and you had made up your mind. So, you asked the two of them to meet you out in the park near your apartment, at a spot that was mostly left alone by park goers for as much privacy as you could get with them.

You had been admittedly a bit of a nervous wreck as you waited for them to arrive but now... you felt an odd sense of calm. Looking between the two of them, neither of them looked particularly worried about what your decision would be... you half wondered if Fio might have said something to them but maybe you were just easy to read.

You took in a breath, then smiled a little nervously, “Hi.”

The two of them laughed, Black’s low and fragmented, Verdana’s open and joyful.

“hi mousey.”

“HI!”

Your smile widened a little more as your fiddled with your hands, getting your thoughts in order before you spoke again. “I... I’ve been thinking about... this. Us all dating... I... I can’t promise to be perfect or anything but...” Both their smiles were already widening, “I’d really like to try... this. I...” your voice softened, “I really like the both of you so... If you really want to d-date me then-”

Verdana didn’t even let you finish before you were wrapped up in a hug again. “MWEH HEH HEH!” It felt like his body really was some kind of message chair with how much it was vibrating, and you could feel him stomping his feet excitedly as he was hugging you. Gleeful laughter bubbled out of you as you hugged him back, his happiness felt infectious. “YOU MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE, BERRY! I PROMISE! I’LL MAKE SURE YOU’RE THE HAPPIEST PERSON IN THE WORLD!” Your heart skipped a beat at the bold proclamation. Okay, wow...!

A pair of hands gently placed themselves on the sides of your head and tilted it up, so now you were staring up at Black’s pink coloured eye light. “... ditto.” You blinked then burst into another fit of laughter which Black joined in.

“ARGH, REALLY!” Verdana barked, pulling away from the hug enough to look at Black but not releasing his hold on you, “TOO LAZY TO EVEN COME UP WITH YOUR OWN DECLARATION TO HER!”

“ya did a pretty bang-up job at that already, dana, so no need to say the same thing twice,” he grinned as he glanced at Verdana before he looked back down at you. He stared down at you for a moment, his eye light going fuzzy around the edges before he lent forward. You closed your eyes tightly as he pressed his teeth against your forehead. It felt like something inside of you was singing happily from all this affection and you wanted to stay wrapped up in it for as long as you could. You reached a hand out and touched the side of Black’s skull affectionately. You felt more than heard him hum as he leaned into your touch a little, the action making you feel soft inside, then he straightened up, moving back and out of reach.

You really didn’t want to let go but you were now aware that you three were still in a public place. You reluctantly stepped out of Verdana’s hold. For a moment you worried he wouldn’t let you go with how unrelenting his hold was, but he let go as you were contemplating asking if he could. You felt floaty, like your head was up in the clouds but... you needed to talk about important relationship stuff!

“I... I searched about, um, poly relationships,” you admitted. “And... I just wanted to know if... either of you wanted to... besides me... date... other...” You could hardly bring yourself to finish the sentence with the odd ache you felt in your chest. While you were searching about poly relationships, the option of open relationships was something that came up often. You felt like you absolutely needed to get that cleared with both of them before anything else.

Verdana looked close to appalled at the question while Black didn't look the least bit taken aback by it. Verdana took hold of one of your hands with both of his. You felt a little amused as barely even five minutes in officially dating, wow that was weird to actually think, and you were realising Verdana was probably bigger on physical affection than you first assumed. His expression was serious as he stared you straight in the eye. “BERRY, I... I NEVER REALLY CONSIDERED HAVING ANYONE ELSE AS MY DATEMATE EXCEPT YOU!”

“same here,” Black piped up, “got my fill on one mouse.” You were flooded with relief. He rose an eye ridge, “unless, ya thinkin’ of havin’ somethin’ open...?”

Your face scrunched up at the thought and you shook your head. You had nothing against the idea, but... As selfish as it made you feel, you didn’t like the idea of Black or Verdana going off with another person when they were dating you, human or monster. And even just the idea of trying to date someone else yourself was less than appealing right now. “I’m happy with you two.”

Verdana’s expression lightened. “but...” Black’s tune felt serious, “if that ever changes for ya.... tell us, alright?” You blinked in confusion. Why would that ever change? But the way Black was staring at you made you feel compelled to nod. You doubted it would change, anyway. Black smiled, smoothing your hair down with his hand.

“OH! WE HAVE TO CELEBRATE!” Verdana exclaimed, “OFFICIALLY DATEMATES! THIS DEFINITELY DESERVES A CELEBRATION!”

“all ears, dana, whatcha got?”

“ALL EARS? YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE ONE!” The two laughed at the awful joke and you found yourself chuckling along, “HMM... DO YOU THINK RADIS WOULD BE HOME?”

“... liege’d probably be back ‘fore sunset but ya never know with him.”

Verdana was visibly weighing whatever options he had in mind, his eye lights moving from one side to the other, his expression shifting with each eye light movement. It was fun to watch. Finally, a bright smile bloomed on his face, “WE’LL TAKE OUR CHANCES! WE’LL MAKE CELEBRATORY TACOS TOGETHER AT YOUR CABIN! MY VERY OWN RECIPE CERTIFIED BY THE MAGNIFICIENT VERDANA HIMSELF!” Verdana spun around, lifting his other hand to point forwards, “TO THE STORE!”

You giggled, lifting your other hand to match, “To the store!”

Black huffed good naturedly, as he lazily lifted his fist up and down, “woo.”

Verdana held onto your hand as the three of you walked over to the mini-van. This time, Verdana seated himself at the driver seat, only after nuzzling against your cheek in a way that made you wonder if it counted as a kiss or not, and you and Black sat in the back. Black instantly slid close to you, cuddling up to you for the ride, one of his hands playing with your hair. You felt a little nervous as you looked at Verdana to see if he was maybe bothered by the affection while he was stuck driving but seeing him animatedly talk about the ingredients he wanted to get, you allowed yourself to relax in Black’s hold.

This was... this was really nice. Your legs were swinging, expressing the giddy elation bubbling up inside of you. But the smile on your face that you knew probably looked a little silly probably expressed that a little more clearly. You had expected to be a bundle of nerves right about now, but you just felt happy. Maybe you were experiencing some kind of really early honeymoon phase. 

You felt that vibrating feeling coming off of Black that you had felt from Verdana but only for a moment. You looked up at his face curiously and noticed his cheekbones were tinted in a dusty purple.

“What was that?”

The purple deepened, “nothin'.”

You furrowed your eyebrows, “... it didn’t feel like nothing.”

“maybe ya’re imaginin’ things, mousey,” he grinned languidly. He pulled you closer, resting your head against his chest, patting it then wrapping his arms more firmly around you, “know what could be causin’ that? lack a sleep. means now’s a perfect time for a nap.”

You blushed a little at the proximity but huffed, “The shop is really close, it’d be a really short nap.” You jolted a little as you felt it again, this time a lot more clearly with your head pressed against his chest. “There! That! What was that?”

“what was what?” Black asked, his eye socket sliding closed, looking the very picture of content. Wait.

“... When you said it was the perfect time for a nap... did you mean for yourself?” Your only reply was the edges of his mouth tilting up a little. You huffed but decided to leave him be and turned your attention to the other monster in the car. “Verdy?”

Verdana’s eye lights glanced up at the rear view mirror to meet your gaze before they turned back to the road, “YES, BERRY?”

“What was... that... vibrating thing you did?”

Verdana’s cheeks turned slightly blue as he let out a few awkward chuckles. “A-AH. THAT... IT’S OUR BONES RATTLING!”

You blinked, “Like, actual bone rattling? Huh. That’s cool! But, why do they...?”

The blue on his cheeks darkened a little more, “IT... IT HAPPENS WHEN WE’RE FEELING SOMETHING PARTICULARLY STRONGLY.” His smile widened, “I WAS VERY HAPPY... AM VERY HAPPY!”

You held back a coo at that. That was precious! You couldn’t help but equate it to a cat purring and that made the little action feel even cuter! So, if Black did it too... You smiled up at the presumably sleeping skeleton next to you, before focusing back on Verdana, “Yep! That is really cool! And... I’m... very happy, too...”

“MWEH HEH HEH HEH,” his laugh sounded particularly giddy this time. You noted the momentary shift to hearts in his eye lights before they were back to circles and felt a flush of adoration fill your chest. These skeletons were just too cute!

All too soon, Verdana was pulling into the grocery store’s parking lot. You tried to get up, but Black’s grip remained strong on you. “Black? We’re here,” you tried to shake his arm that was around your front to wake him up but he barely even stirred. You narrowed your eyes as you looked at his face. Was he actually sleeping or pretending like last time? You couldn’t tell... You tried to get his arms to let go but that was a useless move. The door at your side slide open. Verdana took one look at the scene and ‘tsk’ed, putting his hands on his hips.

“BLACK, YOU SHOULD BE FOLLOWING BERRY’S EXAMPLE HERE AND STOP BEING SUCH A LAZY BONES!”

Black groaned, his eye socket opening just a smidge, “ya can do the shoppin’ ya’self, dana. not like ya need both of us, right?”

For a moment, Verdana looked like he was contemplating it. You quickly spoke up, “W-well! I wanna help!” You poked at Black’s arm, “So... could you let me go now, please?”

Verdana perked up, “SEE? NOW EITHER GET OFF YOUR COCCYCX AND COME WITH US OR STAY IN THE CAR!”

“not really likin’ either of those options...” he grumbled before letting out a drawn-out sigh, putting the back of his hand to his forehead, “guess i’ll be comin’ with then.”

“GREAT! GET MOVING THEN!”

“alright, alright, jeez.” Black groaned as the two of you got out the car. He scratched at his jaw, a cheeky smile on his face, “sometimes ya really remind me of the liege.”

Verdana laughed, “PLEASE! NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN!” You stifled a laugh at his cheerful tune. Verdana looped his arm through yours and marched to the door. Black opted to stay a step back from the both of you, his hands in his pockets. It felt like Verdana was more energetic than usual as he pulled you from aisle to aisle, energetically talking about each ingredient he needed to get and any other extras little treats he wanted to throw in for the fun of it. You swore you were getting a workout in just trying to keep up but rushing around the store was admittedly kind of fun.

You noticed Black had all but given up on even trying to keep up with the both of you and had taken post at a crate of oranges that the both of you kept passing by from aisle to aisle. You made sure to wave at him every time you passed by and noticed he kept changing his pose to something more ridiculous each time, until he just switched to juggling the oranges, adding more and more each time you saw him. Verdana had to stop rushing around to scold him when he was juggling what had to be twenty of them, which you were sure he was doing with magic. With how much you found yourself laughing, it was safe to say this was one of the most fun shopping trips you’d ever had.

The three of you left the store with more bags than you had imagined you’d be getting. It had hurt you a little seeing just how much it all cost. Did you really need all this...? But you weren’t going to tell him how to spend his money. After depositing the bags into the car, Verdana had led you over to the back seat. Black half-heartedly complained about having to be on driver duty but didn’t protest it any more than that. Once the two of you were seated, Verdana proceeded to press up right at your side, arms wrapped around your waist and head resting on your shoulder. You felt the strongest urge to pat his head and only hesitated for a moment before you did, softly rubbing the smooth surface of his skull. He almost instantly vibrated, or rather rattled, from the touch. The feeling tickled you pleasantly so you kept petting his head. The ride was actually rather quiet now, Verdana seemingly too content with snuggling you and Black probably just not up for conversation. The silence was comforting, especially with how captivated you were with the short bursts of rattling Verdana kept letting out throughout the ride, wondering if they couldn’t do it continuously and also finding it absolutely endearing.

When the three of you had arrived, Verdana had quickly whizzed out the car. The sudden rush had startled you a little, but you smiled as he stood just outside the door, handheld out towards you with his other hand placed on his chest.

“FAIR MAIDEN, IF I MAY.” You burst into giggles as you placed your hand in his and stepped out the car.

“Thank you, Sir Knight.” Verdana grinned. He closed his eye sockets, pressing your knuckles against his teeth tenderly, your face warming at that simple contact, before letting it go and turning to the bags. You managed to snatch one bag to hold yourself before Black came around to take the remaining one that Verdana wasn’t holding onto.

“can’t we just short-cut there,” Black asked as the three of you trudged up to the front door.

“THE LAZY WAY OUT? I THINK NOT!” Verdana brazenly opened the door and lead the way through the living room. Sitting in the living room together were Eras and Swey, the TV playing a sitcom you only really knew vaguely. “WE’RE HOME!”

“welcome back, bro,” Swey greeted, his eye lights drifted to you, “hey, buddy.”

“Hi,” you greeted him with a smile before looking to Eras. “Um, hi, Eras!”

Eras slowly lifted his hand in a wave “... s’up.”

Almost reflexively, you replied, “The ceiling.” You froze then internally face palmed. You were so used to using that as a reply when you were younger than it just became your go to reply.

Eras let out a breathy laugh, “well, whad’ y’know... it is.”

Swey shook his head, his smile rueful, “i expected better from ya, pal.”

“NO, THAT WAS PERFECT!”

You laughed, “It... it really wasn’t. No need to spare my feelings about it, Verdy.”

“AHA, WELL...”

Black bumped his elbow against your shoulder, “don’t worry, mousey, we still like ya, for better or worse or whatever.”

“Gee, thank you,” you bumped your shoulder against his arm in return.

“ya welcome.” He chuckled at your light-hearted glare.

“SWEY-SWEY, WE’LL BE AT BLACK AND RADIS’ CABIN IF YOU NEED US,” Verdana explained continuing onwards.

“uh huh, so i’m guessing...?” Verdana managed to lift his arm in a thumbs up even with the bags he was holding, smile beaming. “cool.”

You looked between the two of them curiously as you followed after Verdana. Could he... have been asking about if you were together now or not? If so, you were glad you seemed to have Swey’s approval at least.

You entered the familiar cabin of Radis and Black. Verdana made his way straight to the kitchen and got to work unloading everything. Black simply dropped his bag off before going straight to the couch and plopping down on it face first. Verdana huffed disapprovingly but he brightened up as you joined him in the kitchen. The two of you got to work on preparing the tacos, switching from pleasant silence to light chatter. You glanced over at Verdana as he stirred the cooking meat in a pot, talking animatedly about an incident with one of his classes. A smile tugged on your lips as you looked back down at the vegetables you were cutting.

Once you were done, Verdana ever oh so graciously even relinquished glitter sprinkling duty to you, you all settled on the couch, Black getting up and making room for the two of you when you approached. You sat between the two of them, platter of tacos on the coffee table and holding onto your own portions.

Verdana cleared his throat, “ WE NEED... WE NEED A TOAST!”

“but we already got these tacos.” Black grinned. A couple of chortles escaped from Verdana before he reeled them in.

“REALLY! WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS SPECIAL!” Verdana leaned closer to you, nuzzling into the crook of your neck. You giggled, your heart fluttering in your chest.

Black hummed thoughtfully, his free hand reaching over to play with the strands of your hair absent mindedly. “how about...” he’s smile widened, raising his taco, “... to a beautiful relationship.”

Your eyes widened. That was...

“OH, YES! THAT’S A GOOD ONE!” Verdana happily raised his taco to that, “TO A BEAUTIFUL RELATIONSHIP!”

You looked between the two of them, receiving two happy smiles back. You beamed, lifting your taco, “To a beautiful relationship!” The three of you tapped your tacos together, laughing happily.

Chapter Text

A soft groan left your lips as your eyes blinked open. You groggily rubbed your eyes as you sat up in bed. Bed? Wait, when did you get to bed? As you got your bearings, you realised this was definitely not your room. First, because the sheets on the bed under you felt silkier than your own and second, because the comforter on you was the softest comforter you had ever felt. Patting your hands on it felt like you were patting a blanket made of cotton. Looking around, you noticed the soft glow of neon blue strip lights circling the edges of the ceiling of the room. There were glow in the dark stars and moons stuck to the ceiling that glowed despite the light from the neon lights. Next was a futuristic, cyber style poster with a motorcycle riding down a lit up street in a skyscraper filled city. You looked from the desk with a laptop on it, to a decently large black dresser with several pictures of Verdana and Swey on it and a large bookshelf next to it then finally at a very familiar whiteboard. Was this Verdana’s room? How did you get here...?

You got to your feet, quickly making the bed behind you, and looked around the room a little bit more. It was mostly neat and in order except for a few things out of place here and there. There was even a little castle model with little figures inside, from a king and queen, a princess, a dragon and quite a few knights. You giggled softly when you noticed a knight with the most intricate armour had a skeleton’s skull for a head that didn’t match the rest of the figures’ heads.

Little examination done, you focused back on figuring out why you were here. Well, after eating a few tacos, you, Black and Verdana decided to watch some stuff together while you finished off the rest of them. You remembered watching a couple of movies, one was a movie Black had picked that was so bad that you three couldn’t help but laugh, another that Verdana had picked that was filled with fantasy, beautiful scenery and fight scenes that had you gripping onto the arms of the skeletons beside you in excitement... and the last movie you had picked randomly to try something new but you couldn’t remember anything about it besides the intro. Had you fallen asleep? You hoped that didn’t ruin the celebration.

Looking out the window, you could see the stars and crescent moon out already. The stars looking even more bountiful than the view from your own apartment, the little lights twinkling beautifully across the night sky. It was a little difficult to tear your eyes away from the sight of them, but you did, knowing you’d be stuck staring at them. How late was it? You patted around your pockets for your phone, felt panic run through you when you couldn’t feel it anywhere on your person and searched the room. You let out a sigh of relief when you saw it, your wallet and keys safely placed on the computer desk. You checked the time. Eight pm?! Why didn’t anyone wake you up? Then again, it wasn’t that late... You should probably ask someone to take you home now...

You slowly opened the door and peaked out. Directly across from you was another door. The door had danger warning tape, a decently sized stop sign, other different labels as well as a paper taped front and centre written in a jagged handwriting. ‘NO GIRLS ALLOWED! NO BOYS ALLOWED! PAPYRUS ALLOWED! (EXCEPT FOR SOME EXCEPTIONS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES! EXCEPT THE LAST ONE!)’ You let out an amused exhale. Papyrus’s room then. Looking right, there were several more doors going down the hall. To the left was a glass door leading outside to a deck, or rather, a balcony since this had to be the second floor. You could see the darkened forest trees and the night sky above them. 

You walked down the hall and examined each door. Verdana’s door was pretty similar to Papyrus’s, with a sticker of a halting hand with the bones of the hand drawn in marker, a yield sign and other stickers and such attached. The paper taped on in his clear handwriting read ‘VERDANA-T ENTER WITHOUT PERMISSION! MWEH HEH HEH!’ You stifled a giggle at that.

The door next to Verdana’s simply had a paper reading ‘sweynhieeim’ in marker and the one across it simply read ‘comic’, also in marker. Straight and to the point, you supposed. Between Papyrus and Comic’s doors was a large painting of a bone. Artistic.

The next pair of doors were unmarked but the one after that also just had a simple paper taped on with ‘eras’ written on. The one next had an exclamation sign and a ‘do not enter’ road sign sticker plastered on. The paper on there read, ‘DO NOT PASS. UNLESS GIVEN PERMISSION BY AGFIUSTOR!’ You were noticing a theme. The doors across from Fio and Eras’ doors were also blank and so was the door at the end of the hall, which was slightly ajar.

Curiosity scratched at the back of your brain. You quietly walked over to the door and took a peek through the gap. You were a little surprised to see a study. There were bookshelves stuffed full of books and files. Though, directly in front of the door was a desk with a computer on it. You couldn’t see past the monitor, but you could catch a glimpse of whoever was behind it’s black top and red gloves typing on the keyboard, the soft clacks of the keys the only sound you could hear in the room. And judging by the fact you couldn’t see their head going above the screen, you had to guess it was-

“I KNOW YOU’RE THERE, HUMAN.” you jumped but the voice confirmed your guess that it was Montserrat.

“Sorry!” You quickly apologised, moving to leave but stopped when you heard him call out to you.

“HOLD IT.” You slowly back tracked. Montserrat had shifted his chair to the side so he could look at you straight on. You tensed at his serious expression, his red eye lights making you really nervous at how unwavering they were staring you down.

“Y-yes?”

His eye sockets narrowed, “WHY ARE YOU SNOOPING AROUND?”

Your heartbeat started speeding up at the thought that he must think you were a creep or something. “I... I, um... I’m sorry...”

“THAT DOESN’T ANSWER MY QUESTION.”

You held back a flinch, “I... was curious...”

There was a momentary silence. “YOU WERE CURIOUS.” He didn’t sound convinced. You nodded. Okay, maybe that sounded dumb but you really were just curious. Montserrat let out an audible exhale, “DON’T SNEAK AROUND HERE BY YOURSELF LIKE SOME KIND OF THIEF.”

“I-I wasn’t-!” You stopped yourself. No. Maybe they had really important stuff they wouldn’t want a person they barely know seeing. It wasn’t like Montserrat knew you enough to trust you so you could understand why he could be upset. You backed down, “Sorry.”

Montserrat slid his chair back in front of the computer, “IF YOU WANT TO FEED THAT THOUGHTLESS CURIOSITY OF YOURS, THEN ASK ONE OF THE OTHERS TO SHOW YOU AROUND INSTEAD OF STICKING YOUR NOSE AROUND PLACES IT SHOULDN’T BE.”

You grimaced. You could see his point but did he have to say it like that? You nodded, slowly shuffling backwards, “I’ll... I’ll do that... Next time?”

“AND STOP APOLOGISING SO MUCH. IT’S GRATING IF YOU KEEP DOING IT OVER AND OVER.”

“Sor- right, okay...”

Montserrat grunted, sticking his hand out to shoo at you. With him not looking at you, you didn’t bother holding back your frown. “GOOD. DISMISSED.” With that go ahead, you quickly turned around and quickly made your way away from the door. The moment you were a good distance away, the door slammed shut. You let out a long breath. That felt like you were getting lectured by a teacher or something. You felt somehow, Montserrat’s probably low opinion of you had sunk even lower...

You had looked around the hallway enough, so you decided to finally make your way downstairs. You’d probably be more welcome down there than anywhere up here right now. Maybe besides Verdana’s room. You quietly went down the stairs. You could hear the sound of the TV playing as you walked closer. Stepping into the room, you spotted Eras and Comic seated on the couch with Swey on one of the recliners. The TV was playing a sci-fi film you weren’t familiar with. You looked between it and the three of them, contemplating calling out to them but... they really looked invested in that movie... Eh, you’ll check the kitchen for Verdana, Fio or Papyrus. You didn’t want to ruin their little movie session.

You tried your best to step past the couch as quietly as you could, keeping your eyes on the three of them as you walked past. You were feeling pretty proud of your almost successful stealth mission until you heard a snort. You froze. That snort seemed to be what broke the three of them as they all fell into chuckles.

Swey held up a hand, lifting and lowering it at the wrist in your direction, “no, no don’t mind us. keep,” snort, “keep going.”

“yep, act like we’re not even here,” Comic piped up.

You felt your cheeks heat up. “You... you noticed me?”

“you’re... not easy to miss...” Eras said.

You stood stiffly for a few more moments before you let out a soft, “Oh.” That seemed to tickle the three skeletons into another set of chuckles, which only made you feel even more embarrassed. The very thing you were trying to avoid happened and now you made a fool of yourself, too! You cleared your throat, “Welp... there goes my hopes of a spy career...”

“heh heh, looks like that chance snuck by ya,” Comic chuckled, “though, didn’t realise you were over today so i guess that’s one thing to put on your future spy resume.”

You glanced at Eras and Swey. Swey shrugged, Eras simply stared back. Though when you thought about it, they didn’t have a reason to be spreading around the fact that you were visiting.

“I-”

You heard a particularly loud DOOF coming from the kitchen followed by the softer noise of dishes clanking.

“VERDANA! THE DISHWASHER IS TOO DELICATE TO BE HANDLED SO HARSHLY!”

“SORRY! I’M JUST IN A BIT OF A RUSH! OKAY, GOTTA GO!”

You looked over to the kitchen archway just in time to see Verdana rush out. He skidded to a halt at the sight of you then trotted up to you.

“OH, YOU’RE AWAKE ALREADY!”

“Y-yeah! I’m up! Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep...”

“DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT! THE MOVIE WAS A TOTAL SNOOZE-FEST!” Verdana chuckled and you felt a smile tug at your own lips. “ANYWAY, UM... IT’S A LITTLE LATE RIGHT NOW AND I DON’T THINK IT’D BE SAFE FOR ANY OF US TO BE DRIVING HOME IN THE DARK! SO!” Blue blossomed along his cheeks as his expression hardened, “WOULD! YOU LIKE! TO... SPEND THE NIGHT?”

You blinked. A sleepover?

“A SLEEPOVER?!” Papyrus’ excited voice called from the kitchen before he came rushing out. He ran up to the both of you and you held back a squeak of surprise at how fast he had managed to get from there to right in front of you. He placed his hands on your shoulders, his eye sockets sparkling, “THIS IS PERFECT! I HAD ALREADY BEEN PLANNING TO INVITE YOU OVER TO HAVE A SLEEPOVER! IT’S PRACTICALLY A FRIENDSHIP RITE OF PASSAGE!” He looked to the side with a contemplative frown, “Unfortunately, It’ll Mean We’ll Have To Scrap The Make-Over Ideas Since We Do Not Have Any Human Skin Care Products Besides Soap... And We Won’t Be Able To Get Through Even Half My List Of Plans...” His expression brightened again as he looked back at you, “BUT WE CAN ALWAYS GET TO THOSE AT YOUR NEXT SLEEPOVER!”

“I...?” It kind of felt like he already had his mind set on you sleeping over already. “Sounds fun, Papyru... uh...” You face warmed as you remembered the nickname you had asked to call him, “P-Papy.”

Papyrus looked surprised for just a second before his face bloomed into a very large grin, “NYEH HEH HEH! EXCELLENT!”

Verdana stepped closer to you, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you back a step and out of Papyrus’ hold. You heart skipped a beat as his hand gripped your waist firmly, the touch alone sending tingles down your spine. Great, you had a feeling you were going to be hyper aware of anything involving your two new datemates now. Wow, that was still going to take some getting used to mentally. “OF COURSE, BERRY’S FIRST SLEEPOVER HERE HAS TO BE THE VERY BEST! NOTHING LESS!”

“THEN I SHALL GO RETRIEVE MY GUIDE FOR THE BEST THINGS TO DO DURING A SLEEPOVER! I WROTE IT MYSELF SO IT’S GUARENTEED TO BE A SUCCESS!” Papyrus ran off to the stairs.

“I’M SORRY THIS IS LAST MINUTE, BERRY,” Verdana said, looking a little abashed.

You shook your head, “It’s alright. I don’t really mind staying the night... If you think it would be dangerous driving at night then I wouldn’t want to risk it. And I think it’ll be fun!”

“I WOULDN’T LET IT BE ANYTHING BUT!” Verdana chortled before ushering you over to the couch. “I’LL BE RIGHT BACK!” He turned to run off, too but paused. He looked at you, his mouth down turned pensively before he leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to your cheek and he ran off, leaving you to sit frozen in momentarily stunned.

“so,” Swey’s voice had you snapping out of it. You blushed as you met his gaze, feeling a little awkward about having him, and the two others, see that even if it was such a small act of affection, “guessing things went well with my bro and black?”

Why did it feel like you were being put on the spot? You sat a little straighter, nodding quickly, “Y-yeah. Things... things went well... I thi-” You stopped yourself, shaking your head. You repeated yourself with a bit more finality, “Things went well!”

Swey nodded, his mouth quirking up, “good to hear.”

You nodded, too. Silence fell on the four of you, the only thing breaking it is the audio from the TV. Looking between the three of them, they had their attention gripped by the movie playing. You were more than okay with none of them pushing for any conversation and were happy to simply watch along, even if you were completely lost on the plot so far.

“the dude on screen’s the captain,” you looked to Comic in confusion, “guys around him are his crew. they’re space explorers and this is the third planet they’ve visited so far and they’re lookin’ for a fill up on their oxygen on the ship ‘fore it runs out.” Oh, he was catching you up. You nodded, smiling gratefully.

“Thanks!”

Comic winked, “figured someone o2 fill ya in on what’s happening.” You took a moment to process the pun before you chuckled.

“That’s an oxygen-uinely good one!” Comic was pleased at your response if his squinted eye sockets and widening smile was any indication and Eras let out a few low chuckles. You patted yourself on the back mentally. Swey only shook his head with a bemused smile but two out of three was good enough for you!

The sound of thundering footsteps racing down the stairs interrupted the amicable silence of the room. You only had enough time to look back to see something fly towards you. You tried to move out the way but was engulf in darkness, soft and fluffiness covering your body.

“WE HAVE RETURNED! WITH SLEEPOVER ESSENTIALS!” You wrestled with the fabric until you managed to free your head. You looked down at projectile that had been thrown on you to see it was a blue blanket with yellow stars all over it. And it was the fluffiest blanket you had ever felt. You didn’t hesitate to wrap it further around yourself as the two energetic skeletons dropped down a mountain of pillows and blankets onto the floor, the coffee table moved aside. Both of them had changed out of their regular clothes and into pyjamas.

Papyrus wearing pair of striped pants and a loose fitting, long sleeve shirt. The graphic had a smiling skeleton skull along with the words, ‘COOL TO THE BONE DUDE’. The ‘dude’ looked like it was written in by marker. Verdana was wearing spotted pyjama pants and a t shirt with a cute cartoon sheep sleeping on it, with the words, ‘How did you sheep?’ on it. It was the first time you’d seen Verdana’s bare arms but even stranger was that neither of them were wearing gloves, which made it the first time you’d seen any of the skeletons without them. And yep, their hands were just bones. You found yourself staring for maybe a little too long at how the bones were just held together without anything visible keeping them together but chalked it up to monster magic working it’s, well, magic.

Verdana walked up to you with a bundle of clothes in his hands. “HERE, YOU CAN BORROW A PAIR OF MY PYJAMAS TONIGHT!”

You looked down at them, cheeks heating up. “You don’t need to-”

“BUT PYJAMAS ARE THE REQUIRED DRESS CODE FOR A SLEEP OVER!” Papyrus exclaimed.

You hesitated but Verdana spoke up very loudly before you could say anything.

“DATEMATE PRIVILEGES!” Verdana announced, loud and proud, stars in his eyes. You blushed even harder, good lord, well, okay! “MWEH HEH!” He’s cheek bones were turning a pretty blue as he held the pyjamas closer to you, “OF COURSE YOU GET TO SHARE MY CLOTHES! WHAT KIND OF DATEMATE WOULD I BE IF I DIDN’T LET YOU?” Warmth pulsed through your chest at his words. You felt like you were going to combust at how hot your face felt as you conceded, reaching over to take the clothes, muttering a ‘thank you’. Verdana very happily told you to feel free to change in his room for privacy and you quickly made your way up there. You managed to hear Papyrus gasp and ask an excited, “DATEMATES?!” as you left.

You quietly entered Verdana’s room, only sparing the office a glance as you walked past it. The bed had been stripped bare except for the sheets. You unfolded the clothes and looked them over. A plain pair of green, fuzzy pyjama pants and a t-shirt that, of course, had an accompanying pun on it. ‘Slee-pea’ with three cartoon peas with sleeping faces. You smiled at it despite how much your heart was hammering in your chest.

Okay. Stop that! These are just clothes! Clothes you were borrowing. From your datemate. You held back a squeal at that. It felt so weird to think that, but butterflies fluttered in your stomach when you did. You managed to calm down enough to actually get dressed, folding your clothes up and placing them on the bed, before slipping on your borrowed ones. They fit you almost perfectly for pjs, being nice and loose on you. Perks of having a datemate the same height as you, at least. They were divinely soft on your skin and the shirt smelt like it was freshly washed, with a hint of some other scent... it was something you couldn’t quite place and also a little bit chalky? ... You liked it.

Officially dressed for the occasion, you walked out the bedroom and made your way back downstairs. You were greeted with a squeal.

“FRIEND! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU, BLACK AND VERDANA WERE COURTING?!”

You blinked, looking around to the other skeletons confusedly and noticed Comic was settled face first in the pile of pillows and blankets. It looked like Verdana was in the middle of an attempt at picking him off of them but he was now frozen in place, heart shaped eye lights roaming your form before settling on meeting your gaze, face blue and big grin on his skull. You fidgeted with the hem of t-shirt, a pleasant, ticklish warm spreading in your core at his very positive reaction but still ended up avoiding his gaze. “We... only started dating today? I didn’t really have a chance to tell anyone...”

“VERD HAS TOLD US THAT ALREADY! RIGHT NOW! WHEN IT HAPPENED ALL THE WAY BACK IN THE AFTERNOON! WELL, REGARDLESS, I AM VERY HAPPY FOR YOU TWO! OR THREE... WELL, BLACK ISN’T HERE SO, TWO!” Papyrus placed a hand to his chest, “SKELETONS MAKE EXCELLENT DATEMATES! I CAN SAY THAT WITH ONE HUNDRED AND TEN PERCENT CONFIDENCE!”

Comic said something but it was muffled by the stack of pillows his face was pressed on. Papyrus side eyed him, “WHATEVER YOU JUST SAID IS TRIGGERING MY PUN SENSES, BROTHER SO I ASK YOU DON’T REPEAT IT.” Comic put up a thumbs up. Didn’t he need to come up for air?

“WHAT, NO! LET HIM SPEAK!” Verdana very quickly him up above his head like he weighed nothing.

Comic shrugged, “sorry, you heard him. can’t repeat what i said.”

“AWWW...”

There was a twinkle in Comic’s eye socket, “doesn’t mean i can’t say something else.”

Papyrus went from side eyeing him to whirling around to stare at him head on, “NO-!”

“glad you formed a real close bone-d.”

“ARGH!” Papyrus cried, hands flying up to his face.

“weak,” Swey chimed in. You found yourself rarely on the same boat as them this time. That one was a stretch.

“heh, tough crowd.” Comic shrugged. “sorry, got my better one silenced,”

Verdana let out a forlorn sigh as he set Comic back down at the spot he was sitting on before. “THERE’S NO WORSE...” he’s frown turned upside down, “PUN-ISHMENT FOR A COMEDIAN.”

“ya... might have missed it...” Eras grinned, “but... i didn’t.”

Comic looked to Eras like he was his saviour, “eras...”

“ERAS! I SWEAR TO-” You didn’t expect for Verdana to swipe one of the blankets and leap up so he was above Papyrus. You and Papyrus both only managed to let out a noise of surprise before Verdana landed on him, covering his skull and chest with the blanket and locking an arm around his neck and legs around his torso tightly, keeping Papyrus’ arms stuck to his sides, while his other hand pressed against where you assumed Papyru’s mouth was. You could hear Papyrus’ muffled noises of fury as Verdana kept hold, even when he started trying to buck him off like a tall skeleton bull ride.

“ERAS, NOW!”

There was no way you couldn’t laugh at that! Your laughter cut off Eras’ attempt at talking. “S-sorry, don’t mind-” Papyrus letting out another muffled shout, strengthening his efforts to get Verdana off while Verdana let out an excited, “YEEHAW!” had you laughing even harder. When your laughter become closer to silent wheezes, Eras managed to speak up, “heh, she’s already laughin’ before... i could get to the... pun-chline,” another muffled enraged cry and another wheeze of laughter from you, “but i’ll... say it...for ya, comic.” Comic put a hand to his chest, touched. “hope you guys feel nothing but... joy... nt together.” Verdana burst into delighted laughter even with Papyrus still trying to get him off.

“OH, WE WI-!” Papyrus finally managed to get Verdana off by violently bending forward at the hip. Verdana’s lost his grip on him and went tumbling into the bundle of pillows with an, “OOF!” and a surprisingly loud thud when he landed. You flinched a little at how harshly he landed even with all the padding and went over to check on him.

“Are you okay...?” Verdana was still chuckling but opened his eye sockets at your question. He gave you a thumbs up.

“IT’LL TAKE MORE THAN THAT TO GET THE MAGNIFICENT VERDANA DOWN!”

Your shoulders sagged in relief. “That’s good...”

“NYEH!” Papyrus triumphantly pulled the blanket off like a hero flipping their cape behind them, “VICTORY TO PAPYRUS!” Comic gave him a few congratulatory claps which Papyrus basked in it.

“BUT!” Verdana spoke up. “IF! YOU WISH... TO KISS MY, VERY MUCH NON-EXISTISTING, OUCH- INJURIES AWAY THEN... I WOULD NOT STOP YOU!” You blushed, caught off guard at how he could ask that in front of the others. But his large, blue eye lights staring up at you like an expectant puppy made any possible resolve you could have crumble. You got down to kneel beside him, his eye lights turning to stars as you did. You pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. Verdana chortled happily, shoulders shimmying. You couldn’t help giggling from how happy he looked from just that.

“YOU TWO CAN CANOODLE LATER!” Papyrus exclaimed, “WE NEED TO SORT OUR SLEEP OVER ARRANGEMENT!”

“OH, RIGHT!” Verdana rolled off his back and got up and off the pile.

The two almost instantly began disassembling the pile until you were left with just the carpet. After little discussion, the three of you got to setting things up, putting a few blankets and large pillows down as a base before setting the remaining pillows and blankets on. The other three in the room were content to leave you all to it. By the time you were done, it was a very comfortable and much more organised pile of blankets and pillows.

Once done, Papyrus pulled out a pile of papers that were stapled together in a book. The cover page read, ‘PAPYRUS’S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SLEEPOVERS!’ “LET’S SEE...” he glanced up at the screen, “WELL... SINCE THERE IS ALREADY A MOVIE PLAYING... I PROPOSE WE GET THE POPCORN AND SNACKS OUT!” You perked up at the mention of snacks.

“Popcorn is the ultimate movie food! We have to!”

“GLAD YOU AGREE, FRIEND! COME ON!” Papyrus led the way to the kitchen with you and Verdana following after. Papyrus led the effort of actually popping the corn while Verdana got out a few snacks along with all kinds of spices out. Once all the corn had been popped, the two of them very enthusiastically explained you could sprinkle in any of them you want. Though the way they were furiously shaking the shakers into the bowl felt like the word ‘sprinkle’ was too light. You immediately got your hands on the butter salt and joined in, though.

After grabbing some drinks, you all returned to the living room with your haul. “JUST THIS ONCE, AS LONG AS YOU ARE CAREFUL!” Papyrus actually looked pained to say this, “WE CAN EAT UNDER THE COVERS.”

“no need to tell me twice,” Swey immediately got into them. Comic quickly followed, by pushing himself off the couch and face first into the pile once more. You laughed. Guess that’s what he did last time. Eras was a little more careful about getting in himself. You’d think he melted into them with how heavily he sunk into the blankets, looking more content than a cat in a sunny patch. Papyrus settled down beside Comic and Verdana beside Swey, both carefully placing the snacks down on the couch above you. Papyrus flipped Comic over with a huff afterwards. They were packed up pretty closely together so there was still room for you on the edges to get in, at least.

“Where’s Fio?” you asked seeing Eras without his own brother while the other pair of brothers were together.

“HE TURNS IN FOR THE NIGHT A LOT EARLIER THAN THE REST OF US!” Verdana explained, “ESPECIALLY WHEN HE HAS A SHIFT IN THE MORNING!”

“A shift?”

“DIDN’T HE TELL YOU? HE WORKS PART-TIME AT A BAKERY IN EBOTT!”

“Oh!” You pictured Fio handing out pastries in a cozy bakery to smiling customers in a ruffled, pink apron. “That feels... that feels fitting.”

“yep,” Eras agreed. “think... his stuff... is the best there.”

“THAT’S BIASED COMING FROM YOU, ERAS! BUT I AGREE!” Papryus said.

“doesn’t it feel a little more biased from you, paps?” Swey asked with a raised eye ridge.

You looked at Papyrus a little confused. “Why?”

“ER, WELL...” Papyrus’s eye lights shifted from side to side nervously, “FIO IS... LIKE A BIG BROTHER TO ME!”

Aww! “That’s... sweet!” You were about to say cute but thought better of it. After a few chuckles from the three jokers, you belatedly realised the unintentional pun.

“but what about me, bro?”

“YOU CAN’T BE ‘LIKE’ MY BIG BROTHER IF YOU’RE MY ACTUAL BIG BROTHER!” You had a feeling Comic was the elder of the two. Though now you were curious about the rest...

“Actually... I do have a question... well... no, two questions...”

Verdana eagerly patted the spot next to him for you to settle on. You sat down only to sink into the pile, too. Wow, this was soft! You let yourself fall back. It was like lying on a cloud...

Verdana draped the blanket that had been thrown on you earlier on top of the both of you and asked, “WHAT’RE YOUR QUESTIONS?”

You happily got your hands onto the blanket, running your hands on it appreciatively, “Well... I know you’ve all got brothers but who’s the older and younger brothers?”

“OH! I’M THE OLDER ONE!” Verdana quickly exclaimed, reaching a hand over to pat at Swey’s skull, who was turned around tossing a couple of pop corn kernels into his mouth, “SWEY-SWEY’S MY PRECIOUS LITTLE BROTHER!”

Swey snorted, “wouldn’t use the word precious but appreciate it, bro.”

“AND, WELL... UM... BASICALLY! IN THE HOUSE... THE SHORTER BROTHER IS ALWAYS THE OLDER ONE!”

You nodded slowly. So, that meant... Eras, Montserrat, Candera, Vet, Impact and Radis were all the older brothers, too? That felt a little odd... but maybe skeleton genetics worked that way?

“Okay... so my second question is, I know what you do, and Papy and now Fio but...” you peeked over Verdana to the others. “What do you all do? Just curious. Wait... what does Black do...?” You were a little ashamed you had no idea what he did before deciding to date him.

“OH, BLACK’S A TREASURER!” You blinked in surprise.

“Huh... Alright.” That was a surprise. Though you couldn’t exactly imagine Black in a suit and tie dealing with finances, you did end up imagining him in a suit and a cigarette in hand smirking down at you and that... oh boy. Not focusing on that thought right now!

“OH, OH, AND!” Verdana pulled Swey up, who was in the middle of munching down on a handful of popcorn, looking like a proud parent as he patted Swey’s chest, “SWEY-SWEY’S A CONSULTANT!”

“Consultant? A career consultant?”

“bingo,” Swey replied.

“AND! AND! HE HELPED A LOT OF MONSTERS FIND JOBS ON THE SURFACE REALLY EARLY ON! AND, WELL, HE STILL DOES! MWEH HEH HEH! MY BRO IS THE COOLEST!”

Swey shoved the rest of the popcorn into his mouth before wiping his hand on his jacket, “nah, you already have that title, bro.”

Verdana let out an unimpressed noise and stretched Swey’s arm out and away from his shirt, taking a napkin to rub furiously at his gloved hand, “STOP IT! WE BROUGHT NAPKINS FOR A REASON!”

You smiled at them, feeling both endeared and a little jealous of their bond. “That’s a really impressive job!”

“ISN’T IT?” Verdana beamed.

Swey’s smile widened, “thanks.”

Taking up Verdana’s task, Papyrus piped up, “AND MY BROTHER IS AN ASTRONOMER!” You were even more surprised at that, looking at Comic with wide eyes.

Comic shrugged, “eh, it’s no big deal.”

“IT IS TO A BIG DEAL!”

“if ya say so, paps. guess it is pretty... out of this world.”

“ARGH! THE ONLY DOWNSIDE IS THAT HE USES SPACE PUNS EXCESSIVELY MORE THAN HE DID BEFORE!”

“That’s... that’s super cool though! Puns ex... no, puns included!” Papyrus’ smile turned to a frown while Comic’s grin widened.

“exactly. talk about career benefits, am i right? it’s real stellar.” You giggled while Papyrus groaned.

“MOVING ON!” Papyrus exclaimed, “ERAS WORKS AS A CARPENTER! AND HE MAKES VERY GOOD WOODEN SCULPTURES, TOO!”

“Oh! It’s a good thing you live in a forest then!”

“heh heh... don’t cut... down these trees for work... just for... personal use... sometimes.” Ah. Well, your words could still apply to that at least. “do like... livin' near the forest though...”

“I see...” you laughed awkwardly. “A-and I can totally see why you like living out here. It’s so peaceful...”

“feel like... livin’ in the city... ‘s a real pine in the spine.” You giggled but nodded in agreement. It was nice being close to convenient shops and activities but sometimes it could be a little overwhelming...

“ON BEHALF OF FIO, NO! CUT DOWN ON THE PUNS ALREADY!” Papyrus exclaimed at Eras who looked proud of himself.

“cut down...?”

Papyrus let out an aggravated noise as Verdana, Eras and Comic laughed.

Swey shook his head solemnly, “damn, they got ya, too, paps.”

“THEY DID NO SUCH THING! THAT WAS IN NO WAY INTENTIONAL!”

“got ya questions out the way?” Comic asked, “cause we still got a movie to watch and if we don’t, swey’s gonna get through the popcorn ‘fore we do.”

Swey froze, his hand in the bowl again. He slowly pulled his hand out and shoved the handful of popcorn he got out into his mouth as he stared down everyone else. Verdana scrambled up to check the bowl and gasped.

“SWEY-SWEY!”

“if no one else was gonna eat...”

Verdana huffed, taking the bowl away from Swey’s grasp, “UNLIKE YOU, WE HAD THE DECENCY TO WAIT FOR THE MOVIE TO ACTUALLY PLAY!”

You get a look into the bowl. He already made a dent in the amount of popcorn, probably close to half. As someone who also goes through popcorn a little too fast, you couldn’t find it in you to be too angry at him for it.

With no complaints on continuing the film, Comic started the movie up again. There had to be a little bit of rearranging with the pillows so you could all watch with your backs propped up. The popcorn was passed around when needed, with Verdana offering it to you every time it came into his hold which you happily indulged in. It was... a little more seasoned than you preferred but popcorn was popcorn! Even if it was dissatisfying not being able to crunch it with how quickly it dissolved. You made a note to bring your own popcorn if you ever did this again.

Sitting so close to Verdana, it was inevitable that your arms would brush together. it was the first time you managed to touch any of them bare boned, heh, not including their skulls. His humerus felt... closer to rubbing your arm against smooth rubber than what you imagined bone to feel like. You almost felt the urge to squeeze it but held back.

You also snuck a chocolate bar off the snacks on the couch since it was the only one present, happy to offer some to Verdana quietly. He was more than happy to take bites of it right from the bar in your hands. You felt fuzzy warmness seeing how happy he looked eating it. Guess he really liked chocolate, too.

When the movie was done, Papyrus declared that you needed to do more than just lazying about watching movies and promptly pulled his sleepover guide back out. Verdana sat up straighter while the three more laid back skeletons looked more than happy to stay right there, Eras happily snacking from a biscuit packet, Comic letting out a yawn and Swey settling himself further into the blankets.

Papyrus huffed but made no comment as he looked back at his guide. He lit up and pulled out a deck of cards from... somewhere before announcing they would be playing card games. He made sure to deal cards out to everyone. You had to shuffle into a deformed circle in order to play. First was crazy eights, which led to the first round ending way too quickly with Eras and Comic deciding to just keep drawing from the pile instead of putting anything down. After a reprimand from Verdana and Papyrus, the game went a little more seriously. Okay, not seriously since it only seemed you, Papyrus and Verdana looked any kind of competitive but at least it was a fair game this time. But to everyone’s surprise, Swey managed to put his final card down first, putting his arms up with a small victorious smile as Verdana and Papyrus demanded a rematch.

So, the games continued. Switching from one card game to the next, managing to snag a few of the victories for yourself. The first time, you received a congratulatory squeeze from Papyrus which had you giggle before having Verdana press a few kisses to your cheek, making you flush and heart flutter which led to you doing the same for both of them. It was hesitant at first before it became easier to do as the games went on, with you practically tackling Papyrus into a hug and Verdana’s skull receiving quite a few smooches, both skeletons looking very pleased with their little rewards.

Though that hesitance came back when Comic asked why they were being left out of the victory hugs when they won, getting cheeky agreements from Eras and Swey. You couldn’t imagine why they’d want any but didn’t see a reason to say no. It was more than awkward having to shuffle over to each skeleton to hug them, but you could admit, they were pretty good at giving them.

When Eras had held onto you for a little too long, looking like he was about to go to sleep with you in his arms, Verdana called a change in games and helped pull you out of Eras’ hold. Eras jerked fully awake once you were out of his hold, his smile lowered a little and you felt a little bad to interrupt his soon-to-be-slumber so abruptly but realising Verdana might have felt uncomfortable with you hugging someone that long made you feel guilty for not moving away a little sooner.

Papyrus verbally went through some of the ideas he would have liked but with Montserrat working and Fio sleeping upstairs, lots of the music-based ones felt like they had to be skipped for now to not disturb them. He did not look pleased to have more of his ideas cut down but pushed on. You ended up doing a couple other party games. Charades was first, the last round having Papyrus very obviously gesture ‘rowing’ but each guess getting further and further away from it just to purposefully see Papyrus look more frustrated until he looked like he was about to blow a casket when Swey simply said '21'. Next was heads up, which Papyrus very angrily decided you all would do next after how the last charade round went, which was fun with how easily you were able to guess the answer in comparison to the others to your own surprise.

At that point, it was getting really late. Eras was completely out for the count so the rest of the games were put to rest. Papyrus put up a selection of movies to watch to end the night and suggested an animated movie you liked so you were very quick to agree and he selected it just as quickly.

The rest of the snacks were eaten as the movie played and you found yourself leaning against Verdana. You saw Verdana lit up beside you before quickly moving to wrap his arm around your waist and pulled at you gently until you shuffled closer. He pulled the both of you a little lower onto the makeshift bed so you could rest a little more comfortably against him, using his other hand to adjust the blanket on you. Your heart was racing in contrast to how relaxed Verdana looked as he held you but after... a little longer than you would like to admit, you relaxed. He was warm and comfortable to have against you. His bones rattled softly, which you chuckled quietly at.

A sigh of contentment left your lips as you rested against him. You could already feel yourself getting pulled into a peaceful slumber. This was definitely the best sleepover you’d ever been to.

Chapter Text

You were pulled from the gentle embrace of sleep. For a moment, you blinked your eyes open groggily but was met with darkness. Why were you even awake? It was so comfortable and warm, even if the pillow you were hugging was a little hard. The soft humming under your ear was lulling you back to sleep...

You were forced back into consciousness by a pressing in your lower abdomen. That’s what woke you up then: you needed the bathroom. A soft whine left your lips as you nuzzled into the warm pillow you were hugging but paused at how oddly firm and... grooved it felt. Blinking your eyes open revealed the room was pitch black. You had to rub at your still sleep heavy eye lids to try wake up a little more. As you did, you tried rolling over onto your back but your attempted was halted awkwardly by the weight on you tightening it’s hold around your waist and rolling you back over.

Your confusion was now enough to snap you into a slightly more alert state as you looked up. Your now darkness adjusted eyes met the slumbering face of Verdana, who had a toothy grin even in his sleep. Right, you were spending the night at the skeletons’. And you didn’t remember getting to use the toilet before you slept so now your bladder was forcing you to use it at who knows when o’clock.

When had the two of you end up cuddling in your sleep? Though... you couldn’t complain. You stared at his peaceful face for just a bit. That fuzzy warmth in your core came back and you hugged him just a little tighter. You couldn’t even remember the last time you got to hug someone like this in bed... He made a very nice cuddling pillow despite being just bones. Though now that you were more awake, you also realised there was a soft sort of hum coming from Verdana’s chest. It made you think of white noise you’d put on to help fall asleep.

But now wasn’t the time for this! You needed to get to a bathroom! You tried to carefully pull Verdana’s arm off of you but the grip his hand had on your shirt, that you hadn’t even noticed until now, tightened and his arm refused to budge. You tried once more, a little more carefully but Verdana let out a dissatisfied groan above you, his face scrunching up.

You froze but your attempt at not waking him up was for naught as he stirred, his eye sockets slowly blinking awake. For a moment, his eye sockets were completely black, looking like a pair of deep, dark abysses that had you on edge but after one more blink his baby blue eye lights appeared, glowing slightly in the darkness. Their size expanded and contracted for a bit until they finally settled on their usual size. It was definitely... an interesting thing to witness.

His eye lights shifted around a bit before they looked down at you. His eye sockets squinted sleepily at you like he was trying to process you being in front of him.

“Verdy...?” you called softly. That seemed to do it, as his eye sockets widened to full alertness, his cheeks turning a little blue and a particularly strong rattle shook through his chest that made you jerk in surprise which in turn caused Verdana to jolt. You stared at each other for a moment before you fell into quiet chuckles.

“Sorry,” he said softly and you shook your head.

“It’s fine... sorry for waking you up but... I kinda need to use the bathroom...” Verdana looked a little confused for a moment before his eye sockets widened and he quickly pulled his arms away from you.

“O-Okay! Right, Let Me- Let Me Show You Where They Are!” The both of you carefully got up from the makeshift pillow blanket bed pile. Glancing out the windows and glass door, you could see the night sky still out. You glanced down at the other dozing skeletons, stifling a giggle at the sight of Papyrus having one of his arms draped across both Comic and Eras’s chests, his other arm almost going off the side of the pile with his leg straight up just sticking out of it and on the floor. Comic and Eras were sleeping similarly, on their backs and arms tucked in under the blankets under them. Swey was curled up around a large sized pillow, the sleeping position oddly cute. All their jackets were strewn haphazardly on the couch.

Verdana quietly led you up the stairs and towards the two unmarked doors between Swey and Fios, and Comic and the other unmarked door. Verdana explained they were both bathrooms and you could take your pick. After a quick game of eenie meenie minie moe, you went into the right bathroom. It was primarily white and blue, with half the walls tiled in white and the upper half painted a light blue with some large transparent stickers of fish and bubbles on them. The floors were tiled white as well with blue carpets near the shower bath combo, the toilet and the double basins. There were a few products on the cabinet around the basins and two toothbrushes in a glass. There was a hand towel hanging on the wall beside each sink as well as a towel beside the shower. There was a long, white cupboard with blurry windows showing more towels inside.

You quickly did your business and washed your hands, eyeing the toothpaste and figuring you should at least finger brush your teeth at the least. After reading over the toothpaste to be sure it was okay for human use, you quickly cleaned up your mouth.

Business attended to, you walked out the bathroom, “Tha-” yawn, “-anks...”

Verdana smiled softly at you, putting a hand to your back and leading you back downstairs. You were more than happy to collapse back into the divinely soft embrace of the pile to go back to sleep. Verdana settled back into his spot beside you and immediately pulled you back into his arms. Your chest fluttered at that and you didn’t fight against more sleep cuddling. Sleepily brought your arms back around him and nuzzled against his chest, causing another, softer rattle to vibrate through him as you did. The soft humming of his chest lulled you back into a peaceful sleep.

You were pulled into semi-consciousness at the sounds of voices and other noises. You tried to ignore it but being cursed with flip flopping between being a light and heavy sleeper, your brain decided right now you were a light sleeper so you couldn’t get yourself back to sleep. You let out an unhappy groan as you tried to force yourself back to sleep using the comforting warmth of Verdana in your arms but you noted something about his scent was different. His shirt smelt... sweet. And his chest, or rib cage, felt longer...? Well, it didn’t matter, he was warm and comfy and you were feeling yourself fall back to sleep...

Until a particularly loud ‘clang’ followed by harsh, angry whispering that was too loud to even count as whispering had you snapping your eyes open. Well, never mind to sleeping then!

Wait. This wasn’t Verdana.

You stared between the white t-shirt then up at the still sleeping face of Swey. You could see the pillow he had been clinging to peaking out from behind him and realised you had somehow taken it’s place. You flushed and tried wriggling out of his hold but just like his brother, his hold on you did not relent. You paused your efforts to think of a way out of this before trying your best to reach for the pillow behind him by stretching your arm across his torso to try make the switch between it and you again.

But of course, the world couldn’t work with you today since his eye sockets opened and his eye lights snapped down to look at you. The both of you stared at each other in silence for a moment before you jerked out of his hold, tumbling off the makeshift bed. You were very relieved you were basically on the floor already because you would not have liked to have fallen onto the stone floor from any possible higher height. You covered your heated face as you heard soft shuffling from the beside you and peaked through the gaps of your fingers to see Swey looking down at you.

“so, was i that bad of a cuddle buddy?”

You muffled your noises of embarrassment with your hands, “I-I don’t know when that- I thought you were...” Swey rose an eye ridge, smirking. You doubted he had been cuddling you in his sleep intentionally at least, but that expression was rubbing you the wrong way... so you took the closest pillow and tossed it at his face without any real power behind it.

“golly, this feels familiar,” his muffled voice said before he simply pulled the pillow off. With how non-chalantly he was acting about it, you ended up relaxing as well. You slowly sat up, bringing a hand up to cover an incoming yawn. “can’t sleep?”

“Well... I was but...” a glance over to the kitchen where all the noise was coming from seemed to tell him all he needed to know.

“sorry, guess they’re just too used to us,” he gestured to the other still conked out skeletons, now sans Papyrus. His eye sockets narrowed contemplatively before he continued speaking, “we sleep like the dead.”

You stared at him, your eyes widening. “Did... did you just pun-”

“no one will believe you,” he smirked. You didn’t know whether to laugh or just gape in silent confusion as you stared at him with a disbelieving smile. He pushed himself to his feet, holding a hand out for you. “c’mon, i’ll take ya to verd’s room. or mine but trust me, you really don’t wanna go in there.”

Now was your chance to gape in confusion as you took his hand, “You don’t have to take me there, I know where his room i-iiii-!” You hadn’t expected for him to jerk you up to your feet, causing you to almost end up stumbling forward but he held onto your hand firmly so you avoided face planting the ground at least, “... is.”

“... my bad,” he mumbled, looking apologetic. He let his hold on your hand drop and led the way to the stairs. You followed after him, glancing back at the kitchen to see Papyrus, Verdana and Fio in there already, all seeming very busy in there so you left them be.

Swey opened Verdana’s door like it was his own room and made a grand motion for you to enter, “after you.”

“Thank you? Uh, thank you.” you walked inside, then eyed the bare bed. “... right, the bed stuff is downstairs.”

Swey walked straight to the dresser, opening one of the large, lower doors and pulling out a pillow and blanket. Peaking into the cupboard revealed it was mostly empty with only another stray pillow in there. He placed the pillow on the bed and motioned to it in a ‘well, go on then’ kind of way.

You looked between the bed and him awkwardly but shuffled over to it, “You... didn’t need to do all this?” You carefully got onto the bed, lying down on your back. He tossed the blanket into the air above you and it fell down slowly, like a leaf floating on a breeze, the subtle sparkle of orange magic popping around it. The blanket fell to cover you almost perfectly. It definitely didn’t compare to the fluffy blanket from before or even the comforter but it did the trick.

He sat down on the edge of the bed. “eh, no biggie. figured this would give us a chance to... talk.”

The way he said that word sent very nervous shivers down your spine as you sat up, “... talk?”

“yep, talk.” Swey moved his hands like he was going to put them into his pockets but only remembered last minute that his jacket was all the way downstairs and ended up only placing his hands on his lap in loose fists, a very faint orange tinted on his cheeks. That little blunder was enough to calm your nerves just slightly. “uh... look. my bro’s really important to me,” Was this the shovel talk?! Swey snorted at the look of terror that you could guess was on your face, “don’t worry, not gonna bother with the whole ‘hurt him and you’re in a world of trouble’ thing or whatever. you’re... you’re good. just... are ya sure?”

Your eyebrows knitted together, “Pardon...?”

He sighed silently, his shoulders sagging before he straightened up, “we... you...” his chest expanded as he took a breath, “even if it’s been a while since we’ve been on the surface... things aren’t great for monsters...” You nodded slowly. Even if you didn’t pay too much attention to the news, you still stumbled on posts about protests against the monsters arrival and bigots who still wanted them back underground even after almost a decade of them being here. There were even still countries that refused to see them as actual citizens legally. It was impossible not to know about the prejudice. “and... monster-human relationships- er, romances and stuff are starting to pop up more but they’re not really common. monsters are generally more open about it but... humans...”

Oh. Your hands gripped the blankets tightly. You hadn’t even thought about that. “R... right...”

“... i know my bro and black probably already know the risk so...” his eye lights on you suddenly felt heavy, “what about you. would you be willing to stay with them through that?”

You looked down at you lap, your eyes absently looking over the fibres of it. The thought of what some of the more... aggressive outrage acts did scare you. You.... really didn’t want to have to experience that.

But, despite the fear, you couldn’t even consider breaking up with them. Thoughts of you happy with the two of them kept overriding the possible negatives that could come of it. Maybe you were still on a small new relationship high but... “... I will.” You nodded firmly to yourself and to Swey and looked up at him, “I want to be with them even if things will be... hard. I’ve already decided to try and... I’m not changing my mind.”

Swey stared at you unmoving for a moment longer than comfortable but finally a small smile tugged at his mouth, the heaviness on your shoulders lifting. “hm. alright.” He stood up and walked closer to you. He placed his hand onto your head then proceeded to ruffle your hair.

“Hey!”

He laughed, patting your head a couple of times then stepped back. “aight, i held you back from your sleep long enough. unless ya want a part two to our lil’ cuddle session earlier, which i would not be complaining if you did by the way,” you blushed, letting out an indignant squawk that had Swey chortling, “i’ll be leaving you to it.”

You huffed, fiddling with the blanket in your hands. Swey turned around and opened the door. “Swey,” you called. He paused, turning his head to look over at you, “... thank you.”

He shrugged, “i didn’t do anything. night, hon.” And then he walked out, closing the door behind him.

“Night...” you called softly after him. Maybe you should have said morning instead... You flopped down onto your back, staring up at the glow in the dark stickers. You honestly did feel a little dumb for overlooking the obvious fact that they were monsters. It wasn’t like you just forgot that, it was impossible to when you were literally just staring at skeletons in clothes! But, you didn’t consider what that meant outside of just you and them. The judgement the three of you could face...

“Argh...” you didn’t want to think about it. Right now, you were sleepy and just wanted to sleep just a little longer. You pulled the blanket over your head, trying to stomp down the slowly rising anxieties that were swimming in your head in the quietness of the room. No, this was not working. You needed something else to focus on. Quickly got to your feet and got your phone that was still on the computer desk, unlocking it to play some video you could play softly to fall asleep on but your finger froze when you noticed all the texts you received.

You missed out on the late night messages you’d usually share with the others. From the texts you were reading, no one else seemed to know you were even here besides the skeletons that stayed at the main lodge. It was a little funny to think you were literally just a little walk away from them. You quickly replied to every one of them, leaving Black for last. His last message was sent pretty late last night, another blingee gif, this one wishing you a good night with hearts so that was cute, so you assumed he was asleep. You giggled under your breathe and sent a similar one in reply before you picked a random video on your phone to drift off to sleep.

Third time’s the charm, since you managed to wake up naturally without any outside influence. You had almost been startled out of your skin when you saw Verdana in the room with you, folding and putting away the last remnants of the blanket pillow bed pile into the cupboard Swey had gotten the pillow and blanket from. Now that you were awake, Verdana pulled out a shirt and pair of pants and offered them to you.

“HERE! YOU CAN CHANGE INTO THESE AFTER YOU WASH UP!”

“No, it’s alright! I can just change into the clothes I wore yesterday...” From the disapproving frown on his face, you figured he did not like the sound of that.

“I CAN’T LET YOU WEAR DIRTY CLOTHES AFTER YOU SHOWER! IT’S FINE TO BORROW MY STUFF, BERRY,” Verdana insisted. You sighed but couldn’t help smiling a little as you took the clothes.

“Okay... thank you,” you hesitated for a moment before giving him a grateful kiss to his cheek. He brightened up instantly, blue spreading across his cheek and nasal bones.

“MWEH HEH! I’D GIVE YOU ALL MY CLOTHES IF I ALWAYS GET A KISS FROM YOU FOR THEM!” you giggled, his grin widening at the sound of it. After telling you both the bathrooms were free, Verdana ushered you over to them and returned to sorting out all the blankets.

Once back inside the bathroom you had chosen before, you looked the clothes over. A pair of blue sweatpants and a simple, black v-neck t-shirt. Nice and simple. After fighting with the shower knob for a bit for the perfect temperature, you washed yourself up. The water pressure from the shower head was perfect and it took a lot in you to force yourself out before you had the chance to linger any longer under the warm embrace of the water raining down on you.

You dried yourself quickly using a towel from the cabinet and got dressed. The clothes were once again a pretty good fit so after placing your used towel and clothes into the laundry hamper, you walked out and returned back to the Verdana’s room, putting your belongings into the pockets of the pants. It was surprising to see Verdana had managed to tear through the sorting out so fast since he was already on the last one. You lingered long enough for him to finish. He sprung to his feet and eagerly lead the way down the stairs and to the kitchen.

There were more skeletons there than you were expecting. Rusch and Parix were standing near the kettle, both looking like they were half asleep as Parix was sipping from a mug. On the other side of the kitchen standing in front of the hot fridge were Candera and Radis, Radis reaching inside of it with Candera leaning close behind him. It was a little disappointing you missed out on greeting Papyrus and Fio but seeing Rusch and Parix was a welcome surprise so you made your way over to them as Verdana walked over to the two others.

“Morning! Hello!”

The two of them brightened up when they noticed you. Rusch opened his arms for you which you were happy to walk into for a hug.

“mornin’,” Rusch mumbled. You gave him a hearty squeeze before wiggling out of his hold and turning to Parix. He smiled softly, lifting his free arm for you to come over. After giving him a hug too, he looked down at you with his head tilted curiously and you could guess the question he must have.

“I stayed the night.”

Parix’s smile lowered to a pout, “oh... didn’t... know you were here...”

“Sorry?” Parix shrugged but the pout remained. “Um...! Well, next time we could have a sleepover together! Right?”

The smile returned, soft yellow blooming on his face, “y-yeah...” You smiled back.

“ooo, mind if i join in then, cherry?” Candera called, “or, maybe we could have one of our own. me and abbie would love having you over for a night-” Radis let out an aggravated growl, suddenly whipping around and swinging a fist at him, which Candera dodged, putting his hands to his cheeks.

“oh my, violence so early in the morning, raddie? rude.”

“IF IT WILL GET YOU TO GET OUT OF MY SPACE THEN YES!” He swung at him again, which Candera dodged again, putting the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically, “AND DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

Candera grinned, “but it’s so cute!”

“DO I LOOK CUTE TO YOU!?” Radis pointed a finger to his glowering face.

Candera reached his hands out and pulled at Radis’ cheeks, “yesh, you do! a cutie patootie!” Radis let out an even angrier screech as he brought his hand up to push Candera away but he managed to dodge out the way right at the last minute again, laughing.

“EXCUSE ME,” Verdana called, slipping between the two of them, and reaching into the fridge, “NO FIGHTING IN THE HOUSE!”

“THEN TELL THAT... THAT... DEPRAVED TOOTSIE POP TO LEAVE ME ALONE OR I SWEAR I’M GONNA PIER-!”

Verdana brought a hand out in front of Radis’ face, Radis puffed up like an angry cat at it. “AH, AH, AH, NO!” Verdana exclaimed over him, before going back to rummaging through the fridge. “NO FIGHTING!”

Radis growled, “YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!”

Verdana stepped away from the fridge with two plates in hand. “COME ON, BERRY! BREAKFAST!” Radis still looked like he was fuming but he quieted down to angry grumbles as he stepped back to the fridge himself. You stiffled your amusement and nodded, walking after him, and Parix and Rusch following after you.

The four of you settled on the couch. The coffee table was back in its place, any trace of the sleepover completely gone. Verdana handed you a plate with a burrito. After a quick ‘thank you’, you dug in, revealing it was a breakfast burrito that tasted amazing. As you ate, Rusch snuggled up to you, resting his head atop yours and wrapping an arm around you. You tensed, awkwardly looking over to Verdana. Was this crossing a line? Verdana was eyeing Rusch but when he noticed your gaze, he smiled like he normally did. Was... was this fine? You didn’t know how to take that but smiled back at him and left Rusch be. If Verdana wasn’t going to say anything then... maybe it was okay?

You ate with light chatter, Candera and Radis coming in with their own food, Candera sitting beside Verdana while Radis took one of the recliners. Candera seemed pretty intent on finding out more about you and was asking quite a few questions to get to know you, which you didn’t mind. All the attention felt a little embarrassing, but it was nice.

For a moment, you could imagine getting to wake up and start your day by chatting away and eating breakfast here with all of them instead of at your empty apartment everyday... A feeling of longing tugged at your chest at it and absent mindedly reached over to hold Verdana’s hand, who paused talking for just a moment to beam at you before he continued, holding your hand back firmly as Rusch nuzzled into your hair. Well, you could enjoy it this morning at least.

Chapter Text

The following days had been blissful. You’d already gone on another date with Verdana and one with Black and you had been talking with them near constantly. Things didn’t feel too different than they had been before to your relief, except for the additional butterflies in your stomach when you spent time with them and additional affection. Which was surprising that they had even more affection to give considering they had been pretty affectionate even before this. In any case, your relationships with the two skeletons were progressing smoothly in your opinion. You didn’t want to rush anything and wanted to savour every new moment. The both of them were content to go along with it from what you’ve seen.

And as for the other skeletons, you’d think your friendships with the skeletons you’d gotten to spend time with at the sleepover and the day after had strengthened, particularly Swey if the fact that he had adopted his own nickname for you, ‘hon’. It was a little embarrassing but it made you happy regardless. You didn’t notice it before but after that, it felt like an invisible wall between the two of you had been taken down with how Swey seemed to want to engage with you more than simply stay at a distance. Maybe being with his brother made him want to get closer? Well, you didn’t really care what the reason was, you liked Swey and were happy with this.

Speaking of skeletons you got a little closer to, Vet ended up becoming part of the ‘skeletons who randomly sent you messages’ group. No where near as frequently as the rest... okay, you’d only received a couple of messages so far. The first message talking about how he’d love to host you at their cabin again, maybe even for a sleepover like you had in the main lodge which you found yourself getting a little excited for. Imagine all of Parix’s games you could play?! The other was, surprisingly, asking for your drink preferences since ‘It seems you’ll be a regular guest, so I’d like to be prepared for your inevitable next visit with a proper welcome.’ You hadn’t expected him to go out of his way for you like that and felt a little embarrassed but very touched by it. After a few attempts to try convince him it was alright, all of which were met with failure, you gave in and simply told him the drinks you liked. Even if the reply hadn’t at all been written in any way but as a simple ‘Thank you, I’ll make note of that,’ you could somehow picture the smirk of victory on his skull as he sent it.

Anyway, coming back to the present, you looked down at your phone to read the message you had gotten. Papyrus had sent you an official invitation to a do-over sleepover to make up for the last one.

‘But I really liked the last one! It was fun!’

‘I AM NOT AIMING FOR JUST ‘FUN’! MY NEW SLEEPOVER SHALL SURPASS THAT AND BE UNFORGETTABLE! LEGENDARY!’

Well, with those persuasion skills, how could you refuse? You gave in and gave your acceptance to his invitation. You had half expected him to announce it was tomorrow since you knew not even Papyrus would announce an event starting at seven pm but to your pleasant surprise, he said it’d happen the day after tomorrow, giving you plenty of time to prepare. With the plan set, you said your good nights for now and you were ready to simply bum around for a bit but a message from Black had you pausing those plans.

‘heard ur comin for nother sleepover’

How did word spread that fast? ‘Yep, Papyrus insisted’

‘n ofc u need a ride right’

‘Well, since a certain group of monsters arent telling me their address, i dont really have a choice but to get one’

‘then isnt it lucky u have a kind and caring datemate whose wilin to bring u over with no complaints’

‘Oh? Really? thank you then!’

‘i have a price tho’

You rose an eyebrow questioningly. You doubted he’d ask for actual money so your curiosity was peaked.

“well, welcome, mousey. i’d say ‘mi casa es tu casa’ but this is not my house.” The last thing you expected for Black’s ‘price’ to be was a sleepover of his own, much less it being at Parix and Vet’s cabin. You had expected he’d want to have had a sleepover be just the two of you but you couldn’t really complain at the idea of spending more time with the other skeletons. Black had shown up at your apartment the morning after your little text chat to whisk you away straight to the cabin’s front door, the ‘shortcut’ making you lose balance again but Black was there to keep you upright just like before.

He opened the door like it was his own cabin. The first thing you noticed was Parix’s head immediately snapping to look at the opened front door with the alertness of a wild deer having heard a stick snap in the forest. You could see him relax when he saw it was you and Black. Looking around, you noticed the couch had been moved back a little with a presumably napping Rusch laying on it, the coffee table moved away to a far corner and a mattress put in its place with a few blankets and pillows piled on top of it. You also noticed Vet standing beside Parix, probably assisting him with whatever sleeping arrangement they had planned for the night. Wait, why were the sleeping arrangements being made now..?

“WELCOME TO OUR CABIN ONCE MORE, DEAR,” Vet greeted, looking at you with a wide smile that definitely made you feel welcomed. He gracefully made his way over to you, Parix following after him in a noticeably less graceful shuffle. But there was something about Vet that immediately caught your attention from the moment you laid eyes on him. You did notice Parix and Rusch dressed a lot more casually with both of them donning sweatpants and without their hoodie and jacket, both of them folded and placed on the coffee table, with Parix wearing a loose long sleeve and Rusch in his red tank top. Vet was wearing a large, golden woolly cardigan that reached his knees in length with a thin strap, black tank top beneath it, letting you notice he had his ectobody on, it’s colour a dark maroon, and a long, flowy, dark red skirt paired with black boots. For a moment, you were taken off guard. You hadn’t expected to see Vet dressed so... comfortably but you had to stop yourself from staring too hard with how good he looked dressed like this, too. 

“I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND MY CASUAL ATTIRE,” Vet spoke up once he had made his way to you, making you blink out of your stupor, “SINCE I DON’T PLAN ON LEAVING THE CABIN TODAY, I DECIDED TO DRESS COMFORTABLY.”

“O-of course not! You look really nice!”

“OH?” Vet’s eye sockets widened before a lovely smile bloomed on his face, a slight maroon blush coming to his cheeks. You hated the fact your heart skipped a beat at that new expression. You couldn’t deny he was a nice looking skeleton. “THANK YOU, MY DEAR,” he held out his hand, which was unusually lacking a glove and you instinctively put your hand in his. Your face warmed as he brought the back of your hand to his teeth.

You spluttered as he chuckled, letting go of your hand, “HERE, GIVE ME YOUR BAG, I’LL TAKE IT TO MY ROOM,”

“O-okay,” you give it to him but quickly spoke up before he walked off, realising you should probably at least ask first, "But um... so, are you...?" you weren't sure what word to use next but Vet caught onto what you meant as he looked at you with an amused glint in his eye socket. 

He put a hand to his chest, "I AM SIMPLY ME. CONTINUE TO REFER TO ME HOW YOU ALWAYS HAVE AND AS PARIX' OLDER BROTHER," and with that, he turned and walked off, his skirt twirling prettily as he did. You processed his answer silently and accepted it. You didn't feel like you needed to ask more about it.

“hey, no welcome for me? your other guest?” Black called after him, making you jump. The warmth on your face heated up at the fact that he just silently watched your interaction. Was that too much? Did he mind if Vet only kissed your hand...?

Vet hummed as he returned from his room, made his way into the kitchen and took out a bottle of one of the drinks you had told him you liked along with a glass, “WITH HOW OFTEN YOU VISIT, I FAIL TO SEE THE POINT TO DO THAT EVERYTIME.”

“booo, favourtism,” Black jeered playfully as Parix shuffled up to replace Vet’s spot in front of you. Before you could greet him, you found yourself being hugged against a hard but warm ribcage, boney arms wrapped around you, both having less cushioning that normal with the lack of his hoodie. You were momentarily taken off guard by the suddenness of it but were more than happy to hug Parix back, a happy warmth in your chest formed at the contact. It was small, but you felt a rattle from him. He let you go almost as soon as it happened, yellow blossoming on his cheekbones as he looked to the side for a moment before looking back at you.

“... hey. um... welcome,” he said, gesturing around him before letting his arms fall. “take a... wait...” he looked at the couch, frowning at the sight of Rusch taking up the whole couch. Parix lifted a hand towards him then brought his hand towards himself and like a puppet on strings, Rusch moved to sit up and jerked awake, his eye sockets blinking awake. “rus... she’s here.”

Rusch yawned, his chompers on full display as he did before his mouth slammed shut hard enough that you were surprised it didn’t make a clack sound when his mouth closed. His eyes lights sleepily went from Parix to you, smiling when his eye lights landed on you.

“cutie,” he cooed, voice low and groggy and doing funny things to you inside which you very quickly shook off. He held his arms out to you, probably for a hug. Instinctively, you looked to Black to be sure he wouldn’t mind this time. He huffed, smirking.

“come on, look at ‘im. i’m not gonna stop ya,” he nudged at you lightly and you smiled. You turned your attention back to Rusch, walking over to hug him, bending down so you could hug him proper. He immediately latched onto you, which you were half prepared for but he suddenly pulled you in, making you lose your footing. You made a strangled noise of surprise as Rusch pulled you down and settled you onto his lap. You could only blink as your brain caught up with the sudden change of position, your face warming as Rusch snuggled up to you like a human sized teddy bear. “U-uh... hello to you, too?”

“... yeah, take a seat,” Parix shrugged, shuffling back over to the tv stand. Black flopped on the couch behind you and his arms slipped beneath your arms and wrapped around you, his face pressing into the space between your neck and shoulders, the opposite side to the side pressed against Rusch. You felt like you could combust, your heart pounding in your chest. Okay, okay! This was fine. This was fine.

“MY, MY, DON’T YOU ALL LOOK SNUG,” Vet entered your field of vision, but you had to look up to see his skull and were greeted with an amused expression, a glass in his hand. Having gotten your attention, he held the glass out towards you, one hand behind his back like always and leaned a little closer, causing his sleeve on one of his shoulders to drop, giving you full view of his sparkly, ecto shoulder and the collar bone underneath. Not so okay! This was not fine! These monsters will be the death of you! You almost felt like screaming but settled for moving your gaze down to your lap, taking the glass.

“Th-thank you,” you muttered, before quickly taking a few gulps of the drink to cool yourself down.

“MFUFUFU,” you heard him chuckle. You flinched slightly at the feeling of a thin hand on your head, closer in size to Verdana’s than Black’s so figured it was Vet. He gave your head a few pats before he let you be, “YOU'RE WELCOME, DEAR.” And with that, the bottom half of his body that you could see with your head turned down walked out of your limited view. You felt more than heard Black huff into your shoulder and patted at his arm, not sure what else to do with the position you were in.

“uhh...” despite having one skull on your shoulder and another practically using your head as a pillow, you managed to look up at Parix as he held out a controller towards you. Looking a little behind him, you noticed Vet sitting in what you were now mentally designating as his armchair, one leg crossover over the other and hands resting on his knee, fingers interlocked. You turned your attention back to Parix pretty quickly when you noticed the mischievous grin Vet was giving you. “you wanna...?”

You brightened up, happily taking the controller into your free hand, “Yeah, thanks! Uh...” How were you supposed to play the game when you were forced to face the side like this...? Seeing your plight, Parix solved one of your problems by carefully taking your glass and placing it on the side table beside the couch and the other by reaching over and knocking on the skulls of the two monsters hugging you, the ‘dud dud’ sound it made almost made you laugh. “... come on, knuckleheads... let her see the screen.”

“Pffft...”

Black moved his head upwards, the side of his skull pressing against your head, the smooth, rubber like feeling nice, “why? we’re all nice an’ comfy here.”

“mm,” Rusch let out in agreement.

“Um... cause I’d like to...?” You chimed in.

“... only for you, mousey,” Black conceded, bringing his hand up and booped your nose. “well, big guy, you heard ‘em.”

Rusch grunted. Like they were mentally in sync, they moved almost at exactly the same time, Black pulling you off of Rusch’s lap and onto his own, shifting you to face the TV, neither one letting go of you. Rusch simply curled up more so his head could rest on your shoulder, leaning most of his body weight against you. You were really glad that they were skeletons with how surprisingly light he felt on you. You shifted a bit to get comfortable, pausing slightly as you realised how oddly comfortable it felt before realising he must have activated his ecto-body, on his legs at least. You curiously poked a finger into his thigh. You didn’t expect for his leg to jerk underneath you, making you yelp at suddenly being lifted on one side. Well, you had felt something squishy from your little test so your guess was right.

“woah, careful where you put those hands of yours, mousey,” Black chided lightly, “didn’t realise you were the type to get frisky in front of others.”

Parix’s head snapped to your little group with wide eye sockets and Vet put his hand up to his mouth with an exaggerated ‘OH MY’ expression while Rusch simply opened one of his eye sockets to look between the two of you questioningly. Your face instantly burned at the implication, “W-wait, I wasn’t- sorry, I didn’t mean to-!”

“AH, THAT’S RIGHT, YOU ARE DATEMATES, IT HAD SLIPPED MY MIND,” Vet chortled, “I SUPPOSE YOUNG LOVE CAN MAKE YOUR SURROUNDINGS FADE AWAY.”

“Nooo! I was definitely not doing anything like that!” You continued to insist but after hearing some barely hidden chuckles, you realised they were all just teasing. You huffed, grabbing a cushion and aiming it behind you, your embarrassment cooled a little as you felt it hit your target for causing this, though that only got a few more airy laughs from your victim. “Awful, all of you! Except Parix.”

Parix, the only one who had spared you from any laughter, beamed proudly, happy to be the only one spared from your scorn.

“nooo, i’m sorry, mousey,” Black whined, nuzzling into your hair and tightening his hold around you. Your face warmed as you felt him press a few kisses on top of your head, tingly, soft feeling of ecto kisses making your stiffen, those pesky butterflies in your stomach whizzing around double time. The evil, evil skeleton behind you had already learnt your weakness.

“O-okay, okay!” you relented before your heart gave out from how quickly it was beating. You didn’t mind a little PDA but too much was just embarrassing. Black hummed, pleased his strategy had worked.

“and as the good datemate i am, i demand apologies from the rest of you to mousey,” Black announced to the other skeletons there.

“OH, YES, I APOLOGISE AS WELL, DEAR. I ONLY MEANT IT AS A JOKE."

“yeah, sorry, cutie,” Rusch muttered, rubbing against your skin in a very familiar way that had you forcing yourself not to move away from how ticklish it felt.

“Y-yes, yes, apologies accepted, thank you,” you quickly replied with a laugh.

With that matter settled, you could finally get to playing games with Parix like you had hoped you would, with the many distractions of Vet, Rusch and Black. Vet continued to make awful comments that had Parix groaning and/or cringing, one of which he threw in when you had finally managed to win a match against Parix being, “AH, GET ‘OWNED’! IS THAT HOW IT GOES?” The look of pain on Parix’s face had been sweeter than the victory you received. Black and Rusch had brought back their little commentary tag team of Roland and Bryce, which you were 100% sure were not the names they used before but when you pointed that out, only got two similar grins from the skeletons who only brushed off that little issue.

You and Parix were in a heated final lap of kart racing when three very loud knocks were made to the front door, making you loose focus and get bumped into by an npc and shoved right off the road and into a deep abyss. You let out an indignant huff but didn’t have a chance to react in any other way when the door swung open.

With your chances of victory dashed, you looked over to the door, which was a bit of a struggle with Rusch clinging onto you like a koala. Deja vu hit you as you found Radis standing there, who was looking over the scene with a confused furrow of his eye ridge.

“IF YOU’RE GOING TO JUST STAND AROUND LIKE THAT, AT LEAST STEP INSIDE AND CLOSE THE DOOR,” Vet called. Radis’ confused expression dropped to annoyance as he did what he was told, albeit with a heavy stomp to his steps and slammed the door closed. Vet’s smile didn’t lower but the squint in his eye socket felt like a sign of his irritation at the move.

“what ever is the matter, my liege,” Black drawled, one of his hands lightly playing with your hair.

“HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME HAVE TO WALK ALL THE WAY HERE TO FIND YOU,” Radis immediately dug into it, pointing at Black, “WHY THE HELL WEREN’T YOU ANSWERING YOUR PHONE?”

“... ah. i left it in my room. my bad,” he said, sounding more like he simply forgot to turn off a light or something.

“YES 'YOUR BAD'! ARGH, WHATEVER, I WON’T WASTE MY TIME KNOCKING ANY SENSE INTO THAT USELESS SKULL OF YOURS,” you frowned a little. That felt like a little much. Before you could consider defending your datemate, he continued, “ANYWAY, IT DOESN’T MATTER ANYMORE.” You had thought he would march his way right out after that but instead he silently looked over all of you, his eye lights moving between you and Black for long enough that you wanted to move a little more to use Black as a shield to his gaze. His gaze finally moved off you to move onto the now paused screen, walking closer to all of you, “REALLY, YOU’RE PLAYING ONE OF THOSE KIDDIE GAMES? PFFT.”

You noticed Parix side eye him in your peripheral but he didn’t say anything. “yep,” Black answered simply.

“PFFFT PFFT!! A GAME LIKE THIS WOULD BE NOTHING FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME! IT’D BE A CAKE WALK, ACTUALLY,” Radis smirked, a hand on his hip and the other on his chest. You rose an eyebrow, looking to Parix who only looked back at you with a similar look of befuddlement.

“hmmm... i dunno, my liege.”

The corner of Radis’ smirk twitched before it dropped to an expression that dared Black to keep questioning his power, “YOU ‘DUNNO”? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?”

“well, of course you’d be able to do good bu~ut...”

Radis let out a few more indignant huffs, stomping his foot on the ground, “OF ALL THE- YOU DARE QUESTION MY SKILLS?! HA! I’LL MAKE YOU REGRET THIS!” Radis pointed to the controllers in your and Parix’ hands then snapped his fingers, “HAND ME ONE OF THOSE!”

Parix blinked up at him then looked to Black. You felt a few taps at your mid section, that made you jerk and look down and see Black’s hands pressed together in a silent plea. Oh. Well, you didn’t mind one more player. Whatever look Black must have given Parix must have gotten his silent ask across as Parix looked off to the side and nodded mutely, his shoulders curling in as he levitated a controller over. Radis grabbed it as soon as it was within his reach, marching over to the free armchair and plopping down onto it, sitting on it with the pride of a king on his throne.

“ALRIGHT, PLEBS, I’LL SHOW HOW MY SKILLS AREN’T ONLY PUZZLE BASED BY THOROUGHLY CRUSHING BOTH OF YOU WITH EASE!”

“... didn’t you lose to verd before?” Rusch spoke his first words in a while. Vet chortled.

“SHUT UP!” Radis immediately barked, before composing himself and waving his hand dismissively. “I WASN’T PLAYING SERIOUSLY THEN, AS IF I’D USE MY ALL ON A SIMPLE PUZZLE COMPETITION LIKE THAT!”

“of course, my liege,” Black replied, his tone sarcastic to you but Radis must have missed it somehow as he only tilted his head up proudly. You were starting to relax again despite the sudden change of plans. Parix ended your current match, his look of displeasure at having to quit when he was so close to victory matching how you felt inside. After setting up a new match for three players. As soon as you were choosing your racers, you made a very quick discovery. Radis had no idea how to play this game. He didn’t say anything or ask for help but the way he kept glancing at his controller and the screen as he pressed the buttons made it obvious. You considered asking if he needed help but held back. You didn't think he'd appreciate it.

Racers, karts and race track chosen, you all got put into your positions. You felt an excited smile come to your face as you got ready to start. As soon as the horn blared, you and Parix had immediately boosted out of there but Radis hadn’t so much as moved. He made an angry noise as he tapped at a few buttons before figuring out the button to start driving, quickly joining the race. It kind of hurt to watch him stubbornly refuse to ask for any help on the controls. By the end of the race, the gap between you and Parix, and Radis in rankings was very noticeably large.

“WITH EASE, HMM?” Vet jabbed. Radis glared at him.

“I WAS JUST GOING EASY ON THEM!” He snapped.

“come on, vet, don’t underestimate ‘im,” Black said. “the liege is simply puttin’ ‘em in a false sense of security.” You felt Rusch’s huff of amusement.

You worriedly glanced at him then the screen before an idea came to your mind. It was at least worth a try and you didn’t think he’d like the straight forward approach to helping. As the next race was beginning, you turned to Parix.

“Parix, how do you do the... the beginning race boost thing?” you asked him. Parix tilted his head, looking from the screen to you, since he had seen you do it multiple times already. With your back facing Radis, you discretely looked in the direction Radis was behind you and back at Parix a few times and that seemed to make it click for him. He didn’t seem to care and softly explained it just in time for the countdown. Your little plan had worked as Radis had also managed to use the starting race boost with you and Parix, making you feel proud your little plan had worked.

The more you played, the more you did your best to help Radis with the little game mechanics that weren’t obvious to a beginner, like intentionally going to shortcuts in the first lap so he’d know they existed or asking Parix for more little tips. Now, you weren’t going to take all the credit for him becoming a better player but it sure was satisfying seeing him eat up the little breadcrumbs you left for him to peck at.

“YES!” Radis yelled as he managed to get first after countless races. He was standing on the armchair faster than you could blink, raising his fists in the air like he had just won a championship match, “BEHOLD MY EXCELLENCE! I TOLD YOU THIS PATHETIC GAME WAS NO MATCH FOR ME!”

You held in the laughter you so desperately wanted to let out. You couldn’t help but think Radis was adorable in that moment but you’d sooner bury yourself alive than admit it so you settled for simply applauding, Black doing the same. It was pretty impressive he managed to snag a victory from not just you, but Parix, too, even if it was only because Parix failed dodging a blue shell near the finish but still. “Congrats, Radis!”

Radis preened from your praise, putting his hands to his hips and puffing his chest out more, “NEHEHEH, NOT LIKE I NEED YOUR PITIFUL PRA-AAII-!” Suddenly, Radis was gravitated up and practically thrown back to sitting on the armchair with a loud thump. “ACK!” You gasped silently, looking around at the other skeletons to see Vet pointing at Radis, the fading glimmers of magic on his hand.

“NO STANDING ON MY FURNITURE, THANK YOU,” Vet calmly reprimanded, putting his hand back down to his lap.

Radis seemed out of it for a second before his hackles were raised, scowling at Vet, “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU-!”

“I’D REALLY RATHER NOT HAVE TO SHOW YOU YOUR PLACE SO IF YOU MUST HAVE A TEMPER TANTRUM, DO THAT OUTSIDE,” Vet interrupted, his eye sockets narrowing and smile thinning.

“SHOW ME MY PLACE? TEMPER TANTRUM?!” Radis laughed before his expression darkened, his left eye glowing a menacing purple, “HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!”

“MY, IT SEEMS YOU NEED SOME HELP LEARNING SOME MANNERS,” Vet said, moving his interlocked fingers under his chin, his expression causing shivers down your spine.

Tightening your grip on the two skeletons holding you, you really wished you could get out of there. This... did not seem good. Sure, you wondered what a monster fight might look like sometimes but that didn’t mean you wanted to be in the middle of one!

“darlin’s, darlin’s, you’re both hot shit,” Black spoke up, bringing up the hand you weren’t holding onto, getting the attention of the two ready to rumble skeletons, “let’s take a moment to calm down.”

“y... yeah...” Parix mumbled, looking towards Vet. Rusch didn’t seem to care at all as he simply yawned like this was just another Tuesday.

Vet and Radis were silent for a bit. “I SUPPOSE IT’S ABOUT TIME I START MAKING DINNER. I’VE BEEN ITCHING TO MAKE SOMETHING LATELY,” Vet suddenly announced, getting to his feet, walking into the kitchen with his hands behind his back looking as calm as ever.

Radis ‘humphed’ and settled back in his seat with his arms crossed, tapping one of his feet on the ground, “FIGHTING YOU ISN’T EVEN WORTH IT.”

You let out a heavy, silent sigh of relief. You hadn’t realised just how tense you had become as your body slumped against Black’s torso. Mental note: never stand on Vet and Parix’s furniture. Black petted at your hair gently, helping calm you down more. While you didn’t think verbally thanking him for de-escalating things would be good in the situation, you settled for taking the hand you had been holding onto and giving it a grateful kiss. You were rewarded with a soft rattle against your back. Radis let out an exaggerated gag and you blushed, lowering Black’s hand but didn’t regret doing it.

Chapter Text

The three of you went back to playing, this time without you giving Radis any help and actually focusing on actually racing. Radis still gloated over any victory he received but in a way that didn’t have the possibly of stirring the wrath of Vet. The smell of something good wafting from the kitchen got your attention and made you realise just how hungry you had become. Taking the small break from playing you got from just having ended a race, you looked out the window, surprised to see the skies already turning orange. No wonder you were getting hungry!

Deciding your body needed a break, you get to your feet. Or tried to. When your first attempt failed thanks to Rusch and Black not letting go of you in a way that gave you deja vu, you announced your need to get up. Luckily, Parix helped untangle the skeletons on you and you managed to get to your feet, ignoring the whimpers from Rusch and disappointed grumbles from Black. After a few stretches to get your blood flowing, you told Radis and Parix they could keep playing without you. Neither one looked too keen on it, Radis’ frown a lot more pronounced than Parix.

“A ONE ON ONE ON THIS THING WOULDN’T BE AS SATISFYING,” Radis simply said, tossing the controller aside with a shrug. You and Parix had similar reactions of startled shock but instead of plummeting to the floor, it only levitated onto the couch, resulting in quiet sighs of relief from the both of you.

You walked over to the little kitchen, looking over the work Vet had gotten done since he left. Your attention was immediately on a casserole dish sitting on the stove top, steaming hot and already making your stomach grumble just looking at it. You could make out some farafelle pasta and broccoli in the cheesy goodness inside the dish. Vet smiled, pleased at your silent reaction to his cooking.

“I WAS JUST ABOUT TO TELL YOU ALL DINNER IS READY,” he said, waving off a few dishes into the sink with his magic, “JUST IN TIME, IT SEEMED.”

You laughed a little awkwardly, rubbing your stomach, “It definitely looks and smells good! I can’t wait to eat it! Uh...do you need help with anything?”

“AW, HOW CONSIDERATE,” Vet cooed. He gestured you closer and got out a few plates. You awkwardly stood around as you waited for any type of instruction as he scooped out the servings himself, your eyes boggling at how much he packed onto each plate but one. Once he was done, he put the casserole dish into the fridge and took the plate with the smallest serving, sliding it over to you. Confused, you took the plate and thanked him. He took a plate in each hand and walked out, with you following after him.

“DINNER IS SERVED,” he called, holding the second plate out to Parix, who mumbled a soft thanks as he took it. You took a moment to stand in bewilderment at the fact he didn’t ask you to do anything. Radis’ mouth moved in silent grumbles as he got to his feet, walking to the kitchen. You were about to go over to your seat and paused as you looked at the unmoving Rusch and Black, Black repeating his light protests about favourtism again. You placed you plate on the coffee table and went back into the kitchen space.

Radis had taken his plate already as you went to take the two remaining plates. Radis eyed you as you left and offered the two remaining plates to the seated monsters. They instantly perked up.

“aww, thanks mousey,” Black smiled.

“thanks,” Rusch muttered. You smiled, feeling pleased as you went to get your own plate and sat between the two after they insisted you do, just to immediately get sandwiched in by them.

“WARNING, MY DEAR, YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO ENCOURAGE THEIR LAZYNESS,” Vet spoke up as he pointed his fork at the two of them.

“FOR ONCE, I AGREE,” Radis said as he walked back in, sitting on his chair, “LIKE THEY NEED ANYMORE REASONS TO BE LAZIER.”

“I don’t mind though,” you shrugged, “Giving them their plates I mean,” you remembered the words Verdana had used before and blushed as you used them yourself, “I-it’s just... a datemate privilege, that’s all...”

“you heard her, ‘datemate privilege’,” Black repeated smugly. He gave the top of your head a quick peck before leaning back on the couch proudly.

“AND HIM?” Radis pointed to Rusch.

“Uh... friend privilege?” you shrugged, “There was only one more plate. It didn’t hurt to bring it, too.”

“HEH, SURE,” Radis rolled his eye lights and went back to eating. You rose an eyebrow, wondering what that meant but didn’t want to question it. Since no one was playing, Parix switched the display over to a recently released superhero movie. He had glanced at you and after receiving a smile of encouragement, he put the remote down. Besides Radis' silent grumbles of having to settle for this, there were no complaints about his choice as everyone began eating.

You made a slight noise of surprise as you realised the food wasn't melting away as you chewed. Radis had kicked up a fuss about it being organic food and Vet calmly pointing out it obviously had enough magic added to make up for that. You let out an unintentional happy hum as you ate, even more eager to finish your plate. The drink you had forgotten all about was handed back to you with a few ice cubes put in, which you bashfully thanked Vet for, quickly adding a compliment to his cooking as you did, hoping he knew you meant more than just how it tasted. The lovely smile he gave you in return made you guess he probably did.

You had lightly prodded Parix for a bit of info about the movie and hadn’t expected him to light up like you just offered him a treasure box before he began instantly launching into the lore about it from the comics he read that wasn't shown in the movie. You didn’t think you’d ever heard him speak this long about anything, but it was an absolute joy to listen to.

By the time you had finished eating, Vet had begun gathering up the dishes, but you squirmed out from between Rusch and Black to help. He didn’t deny your assistance like last time and gave you a pleasant smile as you did. Parix fidgeted before following after the two of you with his own plate.

As you entered the kitchen, you paused as you noticed Vet begin filling the sink with water. “You’re doing the dishes... now?” you asked as you placed the plates you gotten on the counter.

“I’D PREFER NOT LEAVING ANYTHING TO SIT OVERNIGHT,” he explained as he shrugged off his cardigan. You almost felt like you had to look away with just how of his arms and shoulders you could see. This was ridiculous, it was like getting all flushed over seeing a Victorian girl showing off her ankles!

“Th-then, can I help? I mean, you already had to cook by yourself so...”

“AH, NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT IT. THAT’S WHY PARIX IS HERE,” Vet moved his hand over to gesture to Parix. Parix was fiddling with his hands but nodded in confirmation.

“... it’s fine,” he added simply. You still felt weird inside just sitting down and doing nothing while they had to do the clean-up. Vet stepped closer to you, taking one of your hands, holding it with one hand and patting the back of it with the other. You instantly tensed up, your heart skipping a beat at the soft feeling of his hands holding yours. It was your first time holding a skeleton hand with ecto on and without a glove in the way. It made pleasant tingles run through your hand and arm.

“YOUR DESIRE TO HELP IS ADORABLE, REALLY, BUT YOU’RE A GUEST UNDER MY ROOF. YOU SHOULDN’T FEEL ANY NEED TO FRET OVER IT,” Vet gently chided you. At that point, trying to push it more felt rude so you relented with a nod and as best a smile you could make to show you understood.

Parix stepped over to you, slowly placing his hand on your shoulder. When you only looked at him questioningly, his cheekbones turned a little yellow as he walked behind you, brushing his hand across your shoulder blades to rest on your other shoulder, making you jerk a little at how ticklish it felt. He placed his other hand on your other shoulder and guided you right out the kitchen and back to the living room. He gave your shoulders a couple of pats before going off again. No more kitchen access for you.

Black and Rusch had migrated to the mattress, having somehow managed to transform the piles of folded up blankets and pillows into a makeshift bed that honestly could be a worthy rival to the one that Papyrus and Verdana had made. Radis had taken control of the remote and was looking through the collection of stuff to watch that the tv had to offer, looking way more focused on the task than he probably needed to be.

“come on, mousey, we got this spot just perfect for ya,” Black beckoned you over, patting the spot between them. You wondered if you’d forever be cursed to be stuck between the two of them whenever you were with them then wondered if that was really a curse. You were about to join them but stopped, remembering Papyrus’ words of wisdom.

“Pyjamas are the required dress code for sleepovers,” you recited, “Let me change really quick, I’ll be right back.”

“hmph,” Rusch huffed, receiving a light shove from Black.

“ignore him, take ya time. ya know where to find us,” Black waved you off to do what you need to do, putting his hands behind his head.

“FEEL FREE TO JUST ENTER MY ROOM THEN,” Vet called from the kitchen, startling you. “AND DON’T FEEL SHY TO USE THE BATHROOM.”

“Right, thanks!” You went off to the door Vet had gone through before and opened his bedroom door. You couldn’t help looking around as you walked to your bag that Vet had placed atop his bed. It had the same modern feel the living room had, with white, black and red dominating the colour scheme, with some gold accents here and there. What you hadn’t expected was for half his bedroom to look closer to the workshop of a boutique.

There was sewing machine and a desk with a sketch book open, a lovely design for a loose, ruffled dress design sketched inside with measurements and other comments written around it. A closed little chest that you assumed had sewing supplies inside sat beside it. Hanging above the little workstation were rolls of different fabrics held on multiple shelf levels. There were even a couple of headless mannequins, one modelling a lovely, evening dress, the other a velvety looking suit. Was Vet a designer? You never did ask what he did for work. Or what most of the other skeletons did, actually...

After marvelling over this new discovery for a little bit, you turned your attention back to the reason you even came here, getting your pyjamas out. You considered just getting changed but decided to take advantage of Vet’s offer and went to wash up first. One glance at the door across from yours having a few stickers of comic book characters and pretty drawings on it, you were able to quickly figure out which door led to the bathroom, and which one led to Parix’ room. Did Parix draw those or was it Vet...?

After marvelling at the bathroom that seemed like it fit in a hotel rather than a cabin like this, you brushed your teeth, took a quick shower, got dressed into your pyjamas, and returned back to the living room with a spring in your step. You had to carefully manoeuvre over Black to get to your designated spot, only getting a moment to enjoy how nice and comfortable it was before you were met with Rusch cuddling up to you, nuzzling into your neck again and making you yelp.

“R-Rusch, stop,” you scolded softly, putting a hand between him and the spot he had been rubbing against.

“ya smell nice, cutie,” he said, calming down at least.

“Thank... thank you...”

“jeez, you’d think he was the one dating ya,” Black muttered. A blush came to your cheeks and you could only laugh awkwardly, not sure if that meant he didn’t like this or not. He didn’t push it any further as he simply settled in on your other side, managing to slip his arms around you, too.

“BLEH, JUST LOOKING AT YOU ALL MAKES ME SICK TO MY STOMACH,” Radis sneered.

“what stomach?” was Black’s immediate response.

“... YOU THINK YOU’RE REAL FUNNY, DON’T YOU.”

“hilarious actually, my liege.” You had to stifle a laugh.

Radis rolled his eye lights, going back to searching through the movies before he stopped on one, a wicked smile spreading on his skull. “YES, PERFECT.” He selected it and to your surprise, got up from his seat and plopped down on Black’s other side, kicking his boots off and leaning into the pillows, his smirk never fading. You had a bad feeling about what that smile meant.

Your bad feeling was proven right as just a few minutes in, it was very clear he had chosen a horror film to play. You were awful with horror films. Not really the watching part, you can mostly handle that. It was the aftermath that sucked. Watching one always had you way more paranoid of the dark and quietness of the night. Still, looking at the absolutely unfazed expressions of the two skeletons beside you, you didn’t think you should say anything. Unfortunately, your apprehension must have been obvious on your face as Radis leaned over Black to look closer to you.

“OH? WHAT’S THIS? DON’T TELL ME YOU’RE SCARED, HUMAN.”

You scrunched up your nose at his tone, “Well... kinda?” you decided to answer honestly, not feeling up to trying to sound tough, “But if you wanna watch it then I’m not gonna stop you either.”

That seemed to take the wind from his sails a little as his smile lowered before he snorted, his sharky grin coming back in full force, “HELL YEAH, I’LL BE WATCHING IT. A MOVIE LIKE THIS IS NOTHING FOR ME SO SIT TIGHT AND DON'T WET YOURSELF!” You didn't hold back letting your face show how unimpressed with his comments you were, which he only seemed to eat up if his cocky little chuckles meant anything.

“don’t worry, mousey, ya got two big, tough monsters by ya side, right pooch?” Rusch only let out a loud exhale, seeming more like a content, napping golden retriever than a ‘big, tough monster’. “exactly.”

You giggled, “Well, thank you very much,” you leaned against him a little which he responded to by leaning his head against yours.

“SHHH, THE GOOD PARTS ARE COMING!” Radis very loudly interrupted the both of you, waving his hand in front of your faces to shut you up despite being the loudest one there.

Vet and Parix came back into the room to find Rusch out like a light as he held onto you, Radis watching the screen with loud, enraptured interest as the killer hacked at his next victim, Black watching the screen with the same level of interest one would expect from watching paint dry and you holding his arm over your eyes as a shield for the current blood bath on the screen. Parix had settled in beside Rusch easily, wrapping himself up with one of the blankets while Vet went for simply sitting on the couch behind you all.

The movie couldn’t have ended sooner. You let out a relieved sigh as you let Black’s arm lower back down to hold onto you proper. Radis had cheered as the movie’s credits rolled, pumping a fist into the air and you cheered internally, too. Black had taken control of the film next and after some hushed discussion between you that basically concluded with, “Anything but another horror.” And that turned to Black choosing some awful 90s comedy to watch, so bad it made the few laughs it did manage to get out of you feel painful.

As you covered up a yawn, relaxing contently in the arms of the two monsters at your side, causing Rusch to murmur and shift beside you and Black to press a few stomach fluttering kisses to your forehead, you felt completely at peace.

A ticklish feeling against your neck had slowly pulled you back into consciousness. You were starting to get used to waking up without even realising you had fallen asleep. You had fuzzy memories of Parix taking over the tv to play some games once you all had gotten through some movies and you were pretty sure you joined in, but you were so sleepy by then, you barely remembered what you played. You must have zonked out at some point during that.

As your eyes blinked awake, you snapped awake at the sight of two red lights staring down at you but relaxed as your night vision quickly came in and made you realise it was just Rusch. You rubbed at your eyes as you sat up a little to look around, Radis was knocked out, too, on his side and clinging onto Black in a way that made you coo inside, but the furrow in his eye ridge and frown on his skull worried you a little. Black was asleep silently beside you as well. He looked so peaceful that you couldn't help giving the top of his skull a gentle rub. Looking to your other side, Parix was sleeping, too, hugging a long pillow to his chest and Vet was nowhere to be seen. You at least remembered the lights being turned off further into the night, so you weren’t surprised at how dark the room was.

“What time is it,” you whispered as softly as you could. You had a feeling the taller skeletons were heavy sleepers, but you weren’t so sure about Radis. Rusch shrugged, laying his head back down on his pillow. Question left unanswered but not bothered enough to get off the comfy bed or out of the comforting arms around you, you didn’t bother doing anything more to find the answer.

You were starting to fall asleep again when you heard it.

“i like ya.”

You were instantly awake again as you looked over at Rusch. He stared back at you evenly. The longer you stared at him, the warmer your face became. Maybe... maybe the fact that you had just woken up was messing with your head and you imagined that?

"Sorry... can you repeat that?"

"i. like ya." Yeah, no, definitely did not imagine that. At this point you felt so awake that you couldn't blame whatever you heard now as simply being a sleepy hearing mistake. You carefully shifted so you could face him a little, the move a little useless as you found it hard to actually look him in the eye sockets.

“... You... like me...?” He gave a short nod. Okay, maybe this whole date mate thing was messing with your head. He could just mean as friends! No need to act conceited enough to think three of them liked you like that.  “L-like... how?”

“dunno,” you blinked owlishly. He continued softly, “i like being ‘round ya. i like being close to ya. i like how ya feel. i like how ya look. i like hearin’ ya. i like ya.” With every word he spoke, the small smile on his face lifted more and more, his eye lights becoming fuzzier, his hand brushing against your cheek softly and making you stiffen up again, your jaw tightening.

It felt like your heart was thudding so loudly in your chest and your ears, that you wouldn’t be surprised if he was able to hear it. “O-oh, I, um...” You looked around, not sure at all how to respond. You felt really touched to hear how much he liked your company, but it felt like your thoughts were in a big, blobbish mess with how confused you felt. You carefully asked, “Do you... mean that romantically...?”

Rusch was silent for a bit as his eye lights drifted to the side, each second of silence causing dread and anticipation to grip your heart almost painfully. Finally, he looked back at you, “dunno.” You had assumed he might have taken your first try at asking the question as ‘how do you like me’ instead of ‘which way do you like me’ but his response remained the same either way.

“What do you... um... could we have this conversation... outside?” you asked, looking at all the sleeping figures around you. Rusch slowly sat up, helping move Black’s arms off of you and replacing you with a pillow. He didn’t even stir so you counted that as a victory. He got to his feet and helped you to yours, a very familiar physical lightness coming over you as you realised he made you practically weightless with magic. He barely had to use any strength at all to pull you to your feet and your footsteps outside were silent as you walked outside.

You stepped out onto the porch, looking out at the night sky. The stars were as plentiful as the last time you saw them, the moon glowing a beautiful white. The night air had a bit of a breeze, but it felt more refreshing than chilling and helped wake you up a little more. The main lodge’s lights were out, only one of the rooms on the upper floor having their lights on. Looking out at the other cabins, none of them had their lights on. The only thing that ruined the peaceful scene was how dark and foreboding the forest looked past the immediate area surrounding.

Still, you weren’t sure what was scarier, staring out at the dark tree line or facing the monster standing beside you. Rusch had managed to shut the door silently before going to stand beside you. Your heart felt like it was in your throat as the two of you stood in silence that stretched out longer and longer as your mind whirled with questions you couldn't really put into words. Despite your racing thoughts, you realised you were going to have to start this talk back up.

“You... like me.”

“yup.”

“And it’s... like a friend?”

“... dunno.”

“As... someone you could date...?”

“dunno.” This wasn’t getting you anywhere.

“Well, um...” you shifted gears, “Do you... want to date me...?”

“... don’t really care about that kinda stuff, i think,” he said, finally getting you both somewhere. “but... i wanna get to do the stuff black does with ya.”

You froze. All the stuff you do with Black and Verdana at this point you practically did with all the skeletons, not including kisses that weren’t on the hand. “And by that, you mean...?”

“kisses ‘n stuff. i wanna give ya kisses.” Oh, well. “ya act so cute i gotta hold myself back from doin’ it and scarin’ ya off like last time.” Oh! Well! You tried to wrack your brain for any time something like that happened and realised what he must have been referring to. You didn't think licking your hand was the same as kissing it...

"... I don't think that is the same as..." 

"i know. still scared ya off by doin' somethin' like that so didn't wanna risk it." 

“But, you really do just mean k-kisses, right? You're not gonna, like, lick me or anything again...?”

He was quiet for a bit, “yeah. only did it then cause it was funny." An affronted noise left your mouth that had Rusch chuckling. "don’t care about fucking or other datemate stuff like it.” Wait, they could do that...? No, now wasn't the time to think about how that worked! Your face burned at how easily he said it but you were also a little relieved.

“So... you like me... and just wanna kiss me...?”

“yep.”

“And that means you want us to be...?”

“... don’t really care. friends or datemates or whatever. same difference to me. s’long as i get to keep ya close.” That made your heart skip a beat. This was definitely the oddest confession(?) you had ever heard.

“I... think I see? I, uh...” your hands fiddled with the hem of your shirt, feeling restless and needing a way to let it out. What were you supposed to do now? You had no idea how stuff like this was supposed to go! Would you mind if Rusch kissed you...? Imagining it, the thought definitely didn’t bother you. You weren’t sure if that warm fuzziness you felt around him was exactly how you felt for Verdana or Black but you definitely wouldn’t mind if platonic kisses were added to your... friendship? Still...

Daring to look up, you were partly startled to meet Rusch’s eye lights already focused on you. You cleared your throat, “I... I like you, too, Rusch. Um, as friend, I mean.” You weren’t sure about how your feelings were romantically towards him but you definitely valued him as a friend, “I like being around you, too and... you make a nice hugging buddy,” you added in with an awkward laugh, hoping to lighten the air. Rusch let out an amused breath.

“you, too. best cuddle bud ‘round.”

“But... I... need to talk to Black and Verdana about the... kissing part...”

“guessed so,” Rusch shrugged. You were amazed at how calmly he was taking this all, it made you feel envious at how laid back he could be. The corner of his mouth tilted up in a half smile, making you tilt your head curiously. He reached his hand out and pinched your cheek, the same way he had when you first met, “cutie.”

“H-hey,” you whined, trying to pull his hand off your cheek but only resulted in him pulling it more, making you lightly complain more but your mouth clamped shut when he suddenly pulled you into a hug. After taking a moment, you hugged him back. The heavy anxiousness of how this could have gone lightened but now you had a ball of worry in its place at having to talk about this with Black and Verdana. Maybe you should have just declined but it felt too inconsiderate to suddenly back out now.

After admiring the night sky a little more with Rusch silently by your side, the both of you returned into the cabin, carefully getting back into your spots. You felt oddly guilty as Rusch helped pull the pillow out of Black’s hold so you could take your original place in his arms. As Rusch copied him and hugged you close, it took way longer than you would have liked to go back to sleep. As you stared up at the wooden ceiling, you silently mused how you had expected to be sleepless because of that horror movie but it was the furthest thing from your mind right now.

Chapter Text

Despite having struggled to fall asleep, when you finally had managed to drift off into slumber land, it felt like you had only blinked before you were groggily opening your eyes again. The room was barely lighter than the last time you opened your eyes. The first thing you were met with was the sleeping skull of Black and, to your surprise, without his eyepatch. Your sleepy mind had wondered who he was for a second since you had never seen him without one before but those long fangs of his were proof enough. You felt a few butterflies flutter in your stomach as you stared at him. Two times waking up to your datemate’s face! It made you want to kick your feet and squeal but held it in. Despite your current giddiness, you did not want to wake him up and have to think about the talk you two would have to have, or rather three. Still, this situation was a little odd since it wasn’t just your datemate cuddling you but your… friend, too. You could feel him clinging to your back. Well, considering the fact you woke up hugging Swey at your last sleepover on the premises, it was apparently becoming a trend.

You wanted to simply stay nice and cozy in bed feeling all warm and fuzzy inside and out without having to think about the talk you’d have to have sooner or later but the almost silent shutting of a door got your attention. You considered pretending to go back to sleep but managed to muster up the will to squirm out of the hold of the two, placing pillows into both their arms as soon as you had so they at least had something to hold in your absence. Radis was nowhere to be found and Parix was still hugging that long pillow, looking like a baby koala clinging to its mom. A very long baby koala. You let out an amused exhale at the mental image of Parix in a koala onesie as you got to your feet, just in time to see Vet walking into the living room. He was dressed in a fashion you were more used to seeing him in, a turtleneck, leather jacket, and jeans. It wasn't surprising to see he was already prepared for the day.

“My, You’re Up Quite Early,” he said, voice softer than usual, “Good Morning, My Dear.”

“Morning, Vet,” you greeted back, a smile tugging at your lips as you did. “Is it that early?” That explained how dark it was. Oddly, once you had shaken the drowsiness off, you felt pretty refreshed. As nice as sleeping in would be, you didn’t see the harm in just staying up.

“Seeing That We’re Both Up, Why Not Leave The Boys To Sleeping And Have Breakfast In The Main Lodge?”

“Oh! Uh,” you hesitated for a moment. You couldn’t recall ever spending time with just Vet before. You didn’t really think you had ever spent time with just Parix, either. They seemed to come as a pair or group if you included Black, Rus, and Swey. You felt a little nervous about it just being the two of you but also a little eager. “Sure! Let me just… uh,” you pulled a little at your pyjama shirt then tilted your head to the bathroom.

Vet chuckled, bringing a hand out from behind his back and urging you to do what you needed to. You quickly get to it, washing up and getting dressed in a fresh set of clothes. You walked back to the living room, your bag in your hold, the strap slung over your shoulder.

“Couldn’t You Just Leave The Bag And Stay Another Night?” Vet asked. You genuinely couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not but still let out a small laugh.

“Sorry, Papyrus already booked me,” you shrugged helplessly, “But thank you for letting me stay over.”

“You’re Always A Pleasure To Have Here, My Dear. Please Don’t Hesitate To Visit Whenever You Wish.” That familiar warm, fuzzy feeling in your chest returned as a touched smile came to your face.

Vet held a hand out towards you. This time you took a moment before deciding to place your hand in his. Holding your hand in a way you can only think of as a princess being guided to the middle of the dance floor by a suitor, he led you out of the cabin and towards the main lodge. You kind of wanted to be holding his uncovered hand again but at least the fabric of his glove was soft on your palm. It really was barely dawn, the sky a deep blue with golden clouds. You couldn’t see the sun rising with the large building in the way, but it was still a lovely sight. Now that it was just the both of you, you took your chance to ask.

“Um, by the way, Vet,” he hummed softly to show you had his attention, “I... like those clothes you had in your room. The dress and suit, I mean.”

Vet turned his head so he could see you with his non-empty eye socket, his mouth opening slightly in interest, “THANK YOU, DEAR. TRUTHFULLY, I WASN’T SET ON THEIR DESIGN JUST YET SO THEY’LL LIKELY STILL HAVE A FEW CHANGES TO THEM.”

“Oh? Is making clothes a hobby of yours?”

Vet chuckled, “I SUPPOSE... I DO ENJOY DOING IT. SPEAKING OF, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU’D BE INTERESTED IN ME MAKING SOMETHING FOR YOU.”

You almost tripped over your own feet at the offer but Vet’s hold on your hand prevented you from falling. Vet paused mid-step as you righted yourself. You cursed your feet for just a second before looking back at Vet, not knowing just how awed the expression you were giving him was, “You- huh? Really?!”

Vet laughed, squeezing your hand, “WHY WOULDN’T I? IT WOULD BE A FUN LITTLE PROJECT AND I CAN IMAGINE HOW MANY DRESSES I COULD MAKE THAT WOULD SUITE YOUR BEAUTIFUL FORM WONDERFULLY.” Your shoulders hunched up a little at the sudden compliment, your face combusting.

“Th-thank you...”

“MFUFU, YOU FLUSTER QUITE EASILY WHEN COMPLIMENTED, DEAR, IT REALLY IS ADORABLE!”

“Vet...!”

The two of you stepped inside as Vet continued to chuckle at your bashfulness. You paused as you saw Fio and Papyrus just about to leave through the door. The two glanced back at the sound of the back door opening and stopped in their tracks.

“OH, VET! FRIEND!”

“Cupcake!”

“Papy! Muffin!” you let go of Vet’s hand to walk over to the two as quickly as you could, practically half running really, bringing your arms up. As if reading your mind, Fio did the same, opening his own arms and leaning down for you to easily hug him once you were close enough. Laughter bubbled out of you when Papyrus wrapped his arms wrapped around the both of you and squeezed.

“WOWIE, YOU SURE ARE HERE EARLY! YOU MUST HAVE BEEN REALLY EXCITED FOR MY SLEEPOVER!” Papyrus noted, making you snort. He let you both free and Fio let you go soon after. “ALTHOUGH I AM HAPPY TO SEE HOW ENTHUSIASTIC YOU ARE FOR IT, WE NEED TO GET GOING!”

“Ah… Sorry, Cupcake But I Do Need To Get To Work…” Fio admitted, rubbing his hands nervously, already beginning to very slowly inch towards the door.

“BUT DON’T WORRY, I SHALL RETURN SHORTLY! FIO, NOT QUITE AS SHORTLY BUT EVENTUALLY!” You didn’t know if Papyrus said lines like that intentionally trying to be funny or not, but it made it impossible for your smile to lower.

“No, no, don’t worry about it! Go on before you’re late!”

“Ah, I Had Prepared Breakfast And Made One Extra For You To Eat When You Arrived, Please Feel Free To Have It. It’s In The Hot Fridge So, Um, Please Eat As Soon As You Can, Cupcake. And To You, Too, Vet.” You glanced behind you to see that Vet had walked closer.

Vet gave a short nod, “VERY APPRECIATED, AGFIUSTOR.”

Fio gave your head a few gentle pats before he and Papyrus hurried out the door. Despite how short the interaction was, you felt a little more uplifted. “MY, YOU ABANDONED ME QUITE QUICKLY WHEN YOU SAW THEM, DIDN’T YOU?”

Your eyes widened as you realised that just running off like that was rude to Vet. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to-” Vet placed a hand on top of your head, silencing you.

“I WAS JOKING, MY DEAR.” Your mouth gaped before your nose scrunched up, your cheeks puffing up in offense, prompting Vet to chuckle. He put his hands behind his back and walked towards the kitchen, looking at you over his shoulder, “YOU’RE SIMPLY TOO MUCH FUN TO TEASE, YOU NEED TO MAKE IT LESS EASY.”

You stomped after him, crossing your arms, “It’s not like I mean to be! You’re all just ruthless! Especially you, apparently!”

“MFUFUFU~”

As you approached the kitchen, you were surprised to see someone inside already. Standing behind the island counter and chopping at what kind of looked like half an apple, sort of, was Hadriatic. It was a little bit of a shock seeing him dressed in a black and white chef’s uniform. He only spared you and Vet a glance before looking back down at the fruit he was cutting. It was a little mesmerizing to watch how quickly he sliced it up.

“HADRIATIC,” Vet said simply in greeting.

“HELVETICA,” Hadriatic grumbled in reply. “WHY IS THE HUMAN HERE? WASN’T THAT THING THE GOODIE-GOODIE ONES HAD PLANNED FOR SUPPOSED TO START LATER TODAY?” Goodie-goodie ones...?

“WE DECIDED TO HAVE A LITTLE PRE-PARTY FOR IT,” Vet answered easily. Hadriatic glanced up at him with a sneer and raised eye ridge, his confusion was clear but didn’t comment and simply pushed the chopped-up fruit aside to bring in fruits you could confirm to be bananas.

“Um… good morning, Hadriatic,” you called to try to be polite. He only let out a grunt in response, but it was better than nothing.

“CAN YOU NOT ANSWER BETTER THAN THAT? LAST I CHECKED, YOU WERE A MONSTER, NOT AN ANIMAL.”

“I WILL BITE YOU.”

You had to stifle a laugh at that reply as the corner of Vet’s smile ticked up a smidge, “YOU’RE NOT HELPING PROVE ME WRONG.” You gave Vet a curious glance regarding Hadriatic’s clothes, and he explained, “AH, HADRIATIC WORKS AS A CHEF AT A RESTAURANT IN THE CITY. I MUST ADMIT, IT’S A LOVELY ESTABLISHMENT. PERHAPS WE COULD GO TOGETHER SOMEDAY.”

You blinked, taken off guard at the offer, “O-oh?”

Hadriatic barked a laugh as he straightened up, “IF YOU WANT MY COOKING THAT BADLY THEN ASK... NO, BEG! YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO PAY FOR IT THAT WAY!”

“IF YOU THINK I WOULD EVER BEG JUST FOR YOUR COOKING, YOU’RE A BIGGER COMEDIAN THAN I ASSUMED,” Vet chuckled. Hadriatic’s amusement faded to a scowl, “IT’S THE ATMOSPHERE THAT I AM QUITE FOND OF… AND IF WE DID GO THERE, YOU’D HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SERVE US, CORRECT?”

Hadriatic clicked his tongue, picking up his cutting board and literally turning his back on the conversation. You hadn’t seen the blender placed behind him until he moved. It already had a few other chopped-up fruits in it and Hadriatic pushed the newly cut ones into it with the back of his knife. You had mentally prepared yourself for the loud whirring of the blender working but instead, it was practically silent, with only a soft buzz.

“So… a chef and a baker... must be nice having two professionals under the same roof,” you commented softly to Vet once it was clear Hadriatic was not interested in talking at the moment.

“I THINK THERE ARE PLENTY OF GOOD COOKS IN THE HOUSE, “ he put a hand to his chest, “MYSELF INCLUDED.” You couldn’t disagree.

You laughed softly, “I can definitely agree with that.” Vet looked pleased with your response.

Vet walked over to the hot fridge then, leaving you to debate on what to do now. Rather than just awkwardly stand in the middle of the doorway, you decided to sit on one of the bar seats and wait. Your gaze kept drifting to Hadriatic’s back. He and his brother were two of the monsters on the premises you had spoken to the least, him in particular slightly less so.

“WHAT?” you jumped at the sudden bark of the word. “IF YOU’RE GOING TO GAWK AT ME THEN YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR IT, HUMAN.” How the hell could he tell?!

“Ah, um, sorry, I, uh…” Another apology was on the tip of your tongue but remembering Montserrat’s scolding you on how much you apologised, you quickly swallowed it down. It felt like Hadriatic would end up having the same response if you did, “I just, the way you’re like cutting and stuff looked really professional so…?”

Hadriatic slowly turned to look at you with his eye ridges lowered, his eye lights looking to his hands that were very much not cutting at that moment then back at you and you realised your explanation made no sense. “IF YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE AN EXCUSE, AT LEAST MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.”

“No, I meant, uh… I was curious? About you...? Wait…” You quickly broke eye contact with him then, too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. Where the hell was a hole for you to crawl into?!

“HMPH,” you heard him grunt again. The buzzing of the blender stopped and you heard a cupboard opening. “I LEAVE IN FIVE MINUTES. IF YOU’RE SO CURIOUS THEN I’LL LET YOU ASK YOUR QUESTIONS BUT THEY BETTER NOT BE ANYTHING STUPID.” You looked up in surprise, seeing Hadriatic leaning against a cupboard with a large glass mug in his hold, the smoothie he had made inside. You gaped wordlessly. “WHAT, ARE YOU JUST GOING TO CONTINUE STARING AT ME WITH YOUR MOUTH OPEN? HAH, I ALREADY KNOW HOW STRIKING MY APPEARANCE IS SO I SUPPOSE I CAN’T FAULT YOU FOR BEING MESMERIZED.” … Huh? Your head snapped up, half expecting him to be joking but the smug grin on his skull gave you nothing. You looked to Vet for any help but he had only been standing on the other side of the counter looking between the both of you in amusement, two plates of delicious-looking omelettes in front of him and giving you absolutely no help. Well, it wasn’t like Hadriatic wasn’t a good-looking monster but…!

No, just… move the subject back to what it originally was. Questions. What questions to ask… “Uh… what do you… like doing in your free time…?” Was that a good question? You had no idea but Hadriatic didn’t seem to dislike it at least since he didn’t immediately shut it down.

He flashed you a wicked smirk as he brought his hand up, “CRUSHING THE SOULS OF THE WEAK!” He clenched his fist tightly.

When all he got from you was an owlish blink, Vet cut in, “HE JUST ADORES SPENDING TIME WITH THAT CAT OF HIS, MOSTLY.”

Now that caught your attention. “Cat? A cat? You have a cat?”

Hadriatic shot Vet a glare as lowered his hand. After taking a swig of his smoothie, he responded, “YES. DESPITE HIS APPEARANCE, HE MAKES FOR AN EXCELLENT MALEVOLENT MINION. UNDERESTIMATE HIM AND YOU’LL FIND YOURSELF IN AN EARLY GRAVE BEFORE YOU CAN BLINK!”

“I’M PRETTY SURE YOUR LITTLE 'HARBINGER OF DOOM' WOULD CURL UP AT THE FEET OF SOMEONE ABOUT TO ATTACK YOU AND TAKE A NAP INSTEAD OF DEFEND YOU… OR ANYONE, REALLY.”

“HMPH, YOU UNDERESTIMATE HIS ABILITY TO LOWER THE GUARDS OF EVEN THE MOST POWERFUL FOES. NOTHING IS EASIER TO TAKE DOWN THAN SOMEONE WITH THEIR DEFENCES DOWN,” Hadriatic shot back proudly. Vet simply shrugged, giving a short nod in agreement that made you look at him questioningly but quickly turned your attention back to Hadriatic.

“Can I see him?” the question was out as quickly as you could ask it. Hadriatic smirked as if that was the expected response. He walked up to you as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“PREPARE YOURSELF, HUMAN, FOR SEEING HIS VISAGE IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.” As he turned the screen to you, you instantly agreed. A soft, “Oh my god,” left your mouth as you stared at one of the fluffiest balls of fluff you had ever laid your eyes upon. With your limited knowledge of cat breeds, you guessed he had to be a ragdoll. He was lying on what you guessed was a platform of a cat tree, his head laying over the edge, little paws in the air, and deep blue eyes staring at the camera, patches of brown over his ears, face, and tail. He looked absolutely precious! “WHAT DID I TELL YOU?! ANYWHO LOOK UPON HIM SHALL BE RENDERED DEFENCELESS! MWAHAHAH!”

“Oh, definitely! He looks so cute! I can totally imagine no one being able to even dare to think of fighting looking at him,” you agree wholeheartedly as you stared at him. “What’s his name?”

“HIS NAME IS DOOMFANGER!” you barely reacted to the name. With how he had been describing the little guy, you would have been more surprised if his name was a normal name like ‘Fluffy’ or something. “HMPH, GOOD. AT LEAST YOU SEEM TO KNOW HIS POWER, UNLIKE SOME OF THESE IDIOTS.”

That comment had Vet speaking up. “COULD YOU REPEAT THAT?” Vet asked, his voice sounding so saccharine sweet that it made you a little nervous.

Hadriatic continued as if he hadn’t said anything, “SINCE IT SEEMS LIKE YOU HAVE… DECENT JUDGMENT, I MIGHT EVEN LET YOU MEET HIM.” You instantly perked up at the proposal.

“Please!”

“HAH! He turned up his mug, gulping down the rest of his smoothie in one go, “MAYBE IF I’M IN A GOOD MOOD THE NEXT TIME WE CROSS PATHS, I’LL CONSIDER IT. COUNT YOURSELF LUCKY.” He put his glass into the sink and began walking out of the kitchen. “I’VE WASTED MY TIME HERE LONG ENOUGH. CONSIDER THE THINGS YOU WILL BE ASKING WHEN YOU’RE IN MY PRESENCE AGAIN.”

You felt a little put off at how quickly he ended the conversation but called out, “Good luck at work!”

“AS IF I NEED SOMETHING AS USELESS AS LUCK” he barked as his head snapped around to look at you, making you flinch. He clicked his tongue, “BUT… YOUR CONCERN IS ACKNOWLEDGED.” With those final words, he speed walked towards the front door, shutting it behind him. You blinked as you realised the nerves you had felt around him before had practically vanished. Hadriatic wasn’t as bad as you thought he was! A little rough but not bad. Or maybe his earlier scariness seemed tamer because he had such a cute cat that he so obviously loved…? Wait, didn’t he just offer to talk to you again later? Maybe he wasn’t as big, bad, and gruff as you had initially thought.

You and Vet had migrated over to the dining room to eat. After a few moments of silence with the both of you only eating your, honestly really good, magic omelettes, you poked at your eggs as you couldn’t help but ask, “So… about… the clothes making...”

Vet grinned, leaning a little closer to you, “DO YOU WISH TO TALK ABOUT WHAT IDEAS I HAD IN MIND FOR YOU?”

“I, well, that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind but… I do really wanna know!” You didn’t want to seem like you were that eager for him to make you something but if he was just going to bring it up then of course you’d make your interest known!

As the two of you ate, you listened attentively to the dress ideas Vet had in mind for you. You struggled to picture some of the dress styles and materials and other designing lingo he rattled off easily, even some of the colours he used were colours you’d never heard of before. What the heck kind of colour was ‘Gamboge’...? He seemed especially happy when you asked for clarification on things and eagerly did his best to help bring his images more clearly to life for you. You had no doubts about his skills after hearing all this. And now you were really starting to look forward to whatever final design he would decide for you.

In the middle of him suggesting he could make you something else if dresses weren’t your style, a loud gasp interrupted him. You and Vet turned to look back and you were met with the sight of two skeletons going down the stairs. Swey dragging behind, looking like the literal walking dead with how groggy he seemed, and the second who was responsible for that gasp…

“Verdy!” At your exclamation, Verdana had jumped over the remaining set of stairs and sprinted to you like an Olympic athlete trying to win gold. You were honestly a little afraid he’d barrel you over but he slowed down as he neared you before glomping onto you, pulling you into a bear hug with an impact still strong enough to get a little grunt from you. You laughed as you happily hugged him back, the familiar warmth of being near him filling your core.

Verdana pulled back just enough to look at you, his eye lights turned to stars, “BERRY!” He leaned in again, pressing several skellie kisses to your cheek and prompting even more giggles from you.

“G-good morning to you, too,” you said between laughs. Verdana chuckled as he continued to hold onto you. Swey walked up behind him, yawning. “And good morning to you, Swey.”

Swey smacked his… mouth once his yawn was done and nodded at you, “yep, mornin’, hon. vet.” Swey greeted, “how was that sleepover?”

Verdana mouth dropped open, “OH, RIIIGHT! THAT’S WHY YOU’RE HERE SO EARLY!” He clicked his tongue in an, ‘I just remembered!’ kind of way but it was so exaggerated it had to be fake. You very much did tell him you’d be going there just so it didn’t feel like you were going behind his back or anything. You asked that he keep it on an absolute need-to-know basis since you were a little worried Papyrus would want to join in to start his sleepover early. You half wondered how Swey knew but with how close he was with the skeletons at the sleepover, they probably just told him themselves.

“Uh-huh, that’s why I was here,” you grinned before you answered Swey’s question, “And the sleepover was fun! I had a great time.”

“MOSTLY BY MY DOING, MIND YOU,” Vet spoke up. “I MADE SURE TO BE A VERY GOOD HOST. RIGHT, MY DEAR?”

“Oh? Yeah! You were a great host! I’d love to stay over at yours and Parix’s again!”

You wondered if you imagined it, but you swore you saw Verdana’s eye socket twitch but when you looked at him, his expression was a bright and chipper as before, “OF COURSE, OF COURSE! VET’S A GREAT HOST! BUT OUR SLEEPOVER WAS GREAT, TOO, RIGHT, BERRY?”

“Yeah! It was! Both of them were really great!” Verdana pressed a few kisses into your hair and now you were starting to get a little embarrassed over it despite the fluttering in your chest. The pair of brothers went off to get their own plates and took their seats at the table, Verdana taking the other seat beside you, shuffling it closer before asking for a recap on what you did the day before. You were happy to talk about it, but as you neared the end, you tripped over your words before you started talking about how nice the night sky looked when you saw them with Rusch, remembering the talk. You had managed to push the thought out of your head only for it to hit you head-on like a brick.

“BERRY? WHAT’S WRONG?”

“Uh, it’s… it’s nothing,” you tried to brush off but grimaced as you remembered your promise to be honest, “I mean… it’s not important right now.” You prayed none of the skeletons would push on it.

To your relief, Verdana had put on his bright smile again, “ALRIGHT, LATER THEN.” That just brought a different kind of anxious ache to your chest knowing Verdana was prepared for it. The conversation switched to lighter topics. Verdana lamented about how he had been asked to help with a summer school class so wouldn’t be able to join in the sleepover until way too late. You realised that would mean the talk would have to happen later today and you weren’t sure whether to cheer or groan. Even Swey said he had to go to the monster ministry in the city for work reasons so also basically had to bow out on the afternoon activities. Vet very plainly said he just wanted an afternoon to himself so simply excused his absence. You were a little sad but wished the brothers a good day of work, and Vet a good day of relaxing.

All too soon, the two needed to make their leave. Verdana had stalled his leaving while giving you hopeful glances until you finally got the hint and gave him a goodbye smooch on the cheek. After an adorable, “MWEH HEH,” and one last glance at you with heart-shaped eye lights, he quickly walked out of the lodge, dragging Swey along with him. The taller brother managed to wave you goodbye that you managed to return just as the door shut.

After helping put the dishes into the dishwasher, without being turned away surprisingly, you offered to walk Vet back to his cabin. “HOW COULD I DENY SUCH A COURTEOUS REQUEST?” You decided to be a little silly and offer your hand like he had offered his own. He didn’t hesitate to give it to you. With a skip in your step, you were the one leading him.

Once you arrived, you put your hand on the door handle. When Vet did nothing but look at you in amusement, you opened the door with a flourish, bowing slightly, “After you, my dear skeleton.”

“MY, MY, THANK YOU, MY DEAR HUMAN,” he chuckled as he walked in, letting go of your hand. Peaking inside the cabin, you barely had time to examine its state before your view was blocked by a black tank top. Slowly looking up, you were met with a familiar pink eye light but also a very unfamiliar closed eye socket that was not covered.

“Oh, Black! Eyepatch!” the words stumbled out your mouth before you could properly put them in a sentence that made sense. You didn’t expect him to still be eyepatch-less!

“… mornin’ to you, too, mousey,” he said, the corner of his mouth tilting up more.

“Ah, right, good morning! Very good morning!” you quickly greeted but you were too distracted glancing at this new little piece of uncovered skull. With how many of the skeletons had scars over their eyes or just on them in general, you were surprised to see it look completely fine, from what you could tell. Which was good! You didn’t want to think he got hurt bad enough to get a scar but you couldn't help but wonder…

“curious?” You blinked. He pointed to his closed eye, “eye can tell.”

You snorted, “I mean… yeah! It’s kind of, like your… your image!” 

“exactly, i feel all vulnerable and exposed now,” he hugged himself with one arm and put his other hand to his forehead in a faux swoon.

“Is it… bad if you aren’t wearing it?” you asked carefully. Black let his arms drop.

“… nah. mostly just wear it to look cool. also, 'cause keeping my eye closed all the time is real annoyin’.”

“… does it hurt…?” You pushed a little more, now starting to get worried.

He smirked. To your surprise, he actually opened his eye and… it looked the same as his other eye. You rapidly looked between the two to find any difference but came up with nothing. Well, it was nice to see a matching pretty pair to his other eye light but still-!

“eye eye eye, you’re gonna get me all hot ‘n bothered staring at me like that,” Black winked. Wow! He could wink!

You were starting to get used to his sense of humour with those kinds of comments so you weren't as flustered by it as you used to be, “Ah, sorry, um… it’s cause you’re so handsome?”

“heh, i’ll take it,” you were rewarded with a kiss to the forehead, the touch making you feel warm. "also takin' it as an apology for havin' me wake up all cold and alone in bed. boo hoo."

“I didn't want to wake you up! You looked like you were having a really nice sleep so..."

"... ya got a point, still would have liked to have ya there though..." Now you felt bad. "come on, don't give me that look. it's fine, I didn't mean to cornea about this." 

You did your best to suppress your smile, "Sorry still... But, your eye…? Is there really nothing wrong with it…?”

“nothin’ for you to worry about, at least,” he answered simply, his eye socket drawing to a close slowly, “it’s just a bitch to look through.” You stared at him to elaborate but he only smirked wider, turned around, and walked into the cabin, giving you nothing more. “so, don’t worry ‘bout it, mousey.”

“But, of course I’m gonna worry,” you mumbled as you walked after him. He looked back at you, taking a step back to stand in line with you and pull you into a side hug, which was a little awkward with all open space between his ribs and pelvis under his shirt but you didn't mind.

“i’ll patch you up on what the deal with it is eventually, deal?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to… but if you do want to then, deal!”

With that settled, you joined in the clean-up efforts to put away the remnants of your sleepover. You had happily given Parix a quick ‘good morning’ squeeze and not so quickly went to give Rusch one, too, making very sure to not even glance in Black’s direction. Argh! How did this make you feel the same anxiousness that considering which skeleton to date between Black and Verdana bring?!

Chapter Text

“ALRIGHT, FRIEND! ARE YOU READY TO BEGIN THE EXCITING SET OF ACTIVITIES PLANNED OUT BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS?”

“Yeah!”

“COME NOW, YOU CAN BE LOUDER THAN THAT! SPEAK FROM YOUR SOUL! ARE YOU READY?!”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“NOW THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!” You burst into a fit of giggles. Once you had finished helping clear out the remainder of your sleepover at Parix’s and Vet’s, Vet politely kicked out everyone but Parix. He had said you could come back if you wished, without the other skeletons. When Parix didn’t look to object it, you guessed they both just needed a recharge, so you thanked them and left them to it. Black had asked if you wanted to go to his cabin, but you decided to wait in the main lodge instead. And with Rusch slinking off in the direction of his own cabin, you were left to your lonesome until Papyrus came back. The peace was nice. It gave you a chance to do a little harmless snooping around the open space that being around the skeleton's company didn’t let you do normally.

Papyrus had kept his word on being back quickly cause the door slammed open before you started getting bored. He immediately got his guidebook and now the two of you stood in the middle of the living room, you having to stand on the tips of your toes to get a glimpse inside his book. The writing was… legible and there were lots of little doodles and highlights on each page.

“NOW, AFTER HAVING DONE MUCH RESEARCH INTO WHAT MAKES A SLEEPOVER MEMORABLE AND DOING EXTENSIVE TESTING MYSELF, I AM POSITIVE THIS GUIDE IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO END ALL SLEEPOVER GUIDES!” You nodded, now even more curious about what the two of you would be doing. “HOWEVER, TO MAKE SURE THIS EXPERIENCE CAN BE AS SPECTACULAR AS I KNOW IT WILL BE, I KNEW EVEN MY GREATNESS NEEDED TO EXPAND TO… SOMEWHAT OUTSIDE SOURCES FOR ASSISTANCE!” Noticing your imploring gaze, Papyrus cleared his throat, “BUT, AS I ALWAYS SAY! THE MORE THE MERRIER! SO THIS IS, IN FACT, A GOOD THING! SO HAVE NO WORRIES, FRIEND!”

“I… didn’t really have any worries in the first place but, yes sir!” Papyrus gave a firm nod at your response, his eye ridges lowering resolutely.

“EXCELLENT, THEN WE SHALL MAKE OUR WAY THERE PROMPTLY!”

“Huh?” Papyrus’ hand kind of just engulfed your hand and wrist as he led you out to the back of the lodge. “Wait, it’s not happening at the main lodge…?”

“WELL, THE MAJORITY OF THE DAY WILL BE THERE AND THAT’S THE IMPORTANT PART!”

“Um, well, alright then,” you blinked, deciding to focus on keeping pace with Papyrus’ ridiculously long paces. Really, it felt like you were practically jogging while Papyrus looked like he was just having a leisurely walk. You didn’t expect him to lead you right up to Candera and Abigaz’s cabin door, giving it a few firm knocks.

“Just A Second!” Abigaz’s voice called from inside. You glanced up at Papyrus for any clue on what the two of you were doing here but his affirmed grin gave nothing away. The door opened and instead of Abigaz, Candera stood on the other side. He was dressed a lot more comfortably than the last time you saw him. He had on a loose, black crop top with a blue heart on the front with a purple, fuzzy batwing cardigan. He also had a pair of black sweatpants that looked like they were hanging a bit… too low but at least they seemed fastened on tight enough not to slip off. To top off his outfit were a pair of fluffy, light blue slippers and his gloves. This look felt like it fit him a little more than what you saw him in before just because of how comfortable it looked.

“well, well, well, cherry, looks like you finally made your way to our front door,” Candera’s smile widened as his eyelights took you in, crossing his arms and leaning his arm against the door frame so he was standing in front of you specifically.

“Um, yep! Not sure why yet but… uh… hello!”

Candera snorted before letting out a few chuckles, “don’t worry, we won’t bite… without asking first,” he winked, and you let out a soft laugh, a slight heat coming to your cheeks. “heya, paps.”

“CANDY! IS EVERYTHING READY?”

Candera shrugged, “who knows? abbie decided to set everything up himself without letting me do anything so you’ll have to ask him,” Candera pulled the door open a little more and stepped aside, fully revealing the inside to the both of you, motioning for you both to enter.

You eagerly took in every detail about the place that you could. The first thing that caught your attention was the smell. It smells… wonderful in here! It reminded you of the potpourri an old friend of yours used to have in their house when you visited but… amplified. After a few sniffs, you stopped yourself. Nope, even if you wanted to, you restrained yourself since that’d be embarrassing if any of them noticed.

You weren’t surprised when the general layout of the place was the same as the other cabins you’d visited. The walls were painted white and the general colour scheme of the place seemed to be black, white and pink. There were black and white photographs of Candera and Abigaz on the walls that looked professionally done and… like they were made for a scandalous magazine cover that had the model covered enough to be allowed to be displayed publicly… They looked real damn amazing in them, you had to admit. In the middle of the living room was a black and white, geometric patterned rug. The couches had dull pink coverings over them that matched the footrests put on either side of the rug. There were a few other things here and there that only seemed to act as decorations like a black potted, fake plant and a little, silver statue in the corner with no real distinguishing features but was kind of humanoid-shaped.

But what had your attention most was Abigaz who hadn’t stopped moving even after you and Papyrus walked in. Just like Candera, he was dressed more comfortably with a black top that looked an awful lot like a sports bra as well as a pair of flowy, loose pants with a tie-dye pink pattern on them that you had assumed was a skirt until you noticed the split and a pair of black, low wedges. Even if this outfit wasn’t all that more exposing than what you usually see him in, this still made you feel a little awkward looking at him. But you were not going to lie to yourself, he definitely made the look work really well. Though now you were wondering if maybe he was also...

On the glass coffee table were a whole bunch of products and other stuff. Were those…? The kitchen counters were cleared but you noticed a cutting board, a used knife, a spoon poking out the sink… What was going on here…?

“abbie, we got company.” Abigaz stopped what he was doing, which was whisking whatever was in that bowl of his to look up at you and Papyrus. He instantly broke out into a smile.

“You’re Here! You’re Here! Sit, Sit, Get Yourselves All Nice And Comfortable,” Abigaz gestured to the couch, letting go of whatever he was using to stir in the bowl to gesture to the couch, “Do You Need Anything Before We Get Started? I Got A Few Drinks In The Fridge If You Do And-” Abigaz listed off the drinks they had to offer as Papyrus led you to the couch and plopped down with a slight bounce. You followed with a little more care to how you sat, looking up at Abigaz as he went back to stirring as Candera sat beside you. You also noted the towels lying on one of the couch’s armrests. “-But If You’re All Set For Now, Do You Want To Get Started Right Away Cause I’m More Than Ready!”

“YES, SO ARE WE!”

“Um…before I agree,” you lifted a hand hesitantly, “Ready for… what exactly…?”

Abigaz puffed up, eye sockets sparkling, “Your Make Over Slash Spa Day, Of Course!”

… Huh?

“Huh?”

“YES!” Papyrus spoke up before he launched into his explanation, “DURING MY RESEARCH, THE TOPIC OF ‘MAKE OVERS’ AND ‘SPA DAYS’ KEPT COMING UP AND AFTER LOOKING INTO IT MORE, IT LOOKED LIKE IT WOULD BE MOST USEFUL FOR BRINING OUT OUR BEST SELVES! AND SINCE WE ARE ALREADY SO AMAZING, IMAGINE HOW MUCH MORE AMAZING WE CAN BECOME AFTER THIS!”

“And Since Knowing How Much Me And My Brother Take Excellent Care Of Our Bones, He Came Right To Yours Truly! As He Should!” Abigaz let out a proud, “Nyu Hu Hu Hu~” as he twirled around to put the bowl down, letting you have a look at the… glowing? aqua-coloured mush inside. “You Two, Er,” he glances at Candera who raised and lowered his eye ridges a couple of times, earning him an amused eye roll from Abigaz, “Three Are In Good, No, Perfect Hands!”

“...Oh!” When was the last time you ever did something like this? When you were a kid playing around in the mud pretending it was a mud mask? Okay, maybe not exactly the same thing but now you were starting to get excited as a smile came to your face, “That does sound fun! Is there anything you need help doing? Should I bring out anything from my toiletries…?”

“Oh, No, Sweetheart,” Abigaz tutted gently, stepping around the couch to lift up two large bowls of water, the pink sparkles surrounding them showing that he was using magic to help him lift them. He lifted them up to almost his head height and let go. Momentary panic held you until you realised they weren’t moving an inch and let out a breath of relief. When were you going to get used to them doing that…? “I Have Everything We Need, So Don’t Worry That Pretty Head Of Yours About It.”

Abigaz was luckily too occupied looking over the bunch of products on the table to have noticed your small moment of panic but Candera let out a barely noticeable snort. You almost pushed him like you usually would with the other skeletons you were more comfortable with but held back. The two of you weren’t close enough for that... yet. Candera didn’t know the admittedly small grace you had offered him. Papyrus on the other hand had only given you a curious glance but after smiling at him to show nothing was wrong, he returned it with one so bright that you almost felt compelled to cover your eyes.

Abigaz came back with two different bottles, one he handed to Papyrus, and the other he explained was one of the best human facial cleansers he could get his hands on but as he explained, he leaned into your personal space and took a soft hold of your chin. You froze up as he looked you over with a critical eye light, humming as he tilted your head left and right. His gloveless, ecto hand tingled along your skin, causing tingles to run down your spine, the scent of vanilla wafting off him noticeably.

“You Have Lovely Skin,” he purred, moving his fingers up slightly to squeeze at your cheeks a little, “Though, You Do Have A Little Bit Of A Breakout… Make Sure To Drink More Water, Okay?”

You blinked, your head oddly feeling in a bit of a daze. You mentally did your best to shake it off. He said water, right? Drink more of it? Hurriedly, you answered, “Y-yeah, I’ll try.”

“Good Girl,” he praised, patting your cheek lightly and a part of you purred internally before you realised it and a wave of embarrassment came over you. This skeleton was dangerous!

“careful, abbie, we’re still,” Candera made a motion outward from his chest that you could only really interpret as wind being blown.

“Oh! Right, My Bad,” Abigaz chuckled as he took a step back, letting you take a clearer breath of air without that vanilla scent of his muddling up your mind.

“A-AHEM… IS THIS… A BAD TIME OR…?” Now that was worrying. Papyrus, looking and sounding this nervous?

“No, No! All Good! Just… It Ended Yesterday So Gotta Be A Little Careful,” Abigaz explained with a flick of his wrist.

“IT WAS YESTERDAY?! ISN’T THAT A LITTLE SOON TO BE-”

“Nothing To Worry About, Paps! This Is My Brother And Me You’re Talking About! We’d Get Nothing Done If We Needed Days To Recover,” Abigaz laughed. Papyrus didn’t look convinced and now you were starting to get worried. Were they recovering from some kind of sickness...? “Putting That Matter Aside, Come On,” Abigaz turned and walked out of the living room, tubs of water following after him like balloons tied to a string. Papyrus followed almost instantly while you needed a second to get up and follow, Candera hot on your heels.

The three of you were led into the bathroom, which looked similar to Vet’s and Parix’. He pushed one of the tubs Papyrus’ way, telling Candera to help him out before focusing on you. He gently instructed you to sit on the side of the bathtub. Bringing the bowl down in front of you, Abigaz handed you a headband to keep your hair back and asked you to get your face wet. Hair secured and after splashing the pleasantly warm water on your face a few times, you sat up. After draping a towel around your shoulders and warning you to keep your eyes shut, you felt the familiar tingles as he placed his hands on your face. You did your best to keep your eyes closed tight as he gently rubbed in the cleanser on your face. It wasn’t like you’d never used face cleansers before, so did he have to do this…? But it felt nice… It felt like you were getting a face massage. Face thoroughly lathered up, you rinsed it off and used the towel to dab your face dry, just like Abigaz instructed when you tried rubbing the towel on your face and got a scolding for not treating your ‘Sensitive Skin’ better. Honestly, just that wash alone had you feeling a little fresher.

Once that was done, you were led back to the living room where Papyrus and Candera already were, except now you noticed music playing, the tv turned on and showing a list of songs. You kind of recognised it as a slower-paced pop song you heard here and there but liked whenever you did hear it. It definitely got Abigaz approval if the fact he let out a pleased noise and started singing along heartily was any indicator. You retook your seat between the two. Abigaz swayed his hips to the beat and you did your best to look anywhere but at him when he did. You were spared from having to avert your eyes as you were asked once more to close your eyes.

“Alright, As Our Guest, You Get To Go First To Try Out My Perfected Face Mask! Now Able To Benefit Both Skeleton Bone And Human Skin,” he boasted, holding up the bowl of the glowing stuff you’d seen before. “Plenty Of Calcium In This Baby, Along With A Few Special Magic And Organic Ingredients.”

You did your best to stay still as the face mask was applied. It was pleasantly cool and tingly on your skin and the scent of honey and milk instantly caught your attention which was topped off with two cool, circular slices of something put over your eyes. Cucumbers? You already began to feel the tension inside you begin to ebb away the longer it all remained on your face. You heard Papyrus let out a happy, “NYEH,” by your side when Abigaz had finished putting it on him, too.

“This feels so nice,” you mused softly, letting yourself relax into the back of the couch seat.

“Of Course! Because I Made It!” Abigaz said proudly before he let out a frustrated huff, “And It’s Supposed To Be For Having On You, Not In You, Candy! Stop Licking It!”

“heh, that’s what he said,” Candera said beside you. That took a moment for you to process before you had to hold in particularly loud snerk. “shouldn’t have made it taste so nice then, abbie, can’t blame me for that,” Abigaz let out an annoyed groan. Well, now you were curious how it tasted, too but that glow deterred you from trying.

“HEY, THIS DOES TASTE PRETTY GOOD!”

“Paps, Not You, Too! Now Look! You’re Being A Bad Example!”

“well not like i ever got glowing reviews for being a good example,” Candera chuckled.

“No, You Will Not Dirty My Face Mask With Those Puns And Jokes Of Yours!”

“aww, but you know i love to dirty things.” The rumble in his voice at the word made those treacherous butterflies in your stomach flutter. Curse these skeletons and their voices!

“Do I Need To Sic Monty On You?” You didn’t know what Candera did but whatever it was got a satisfied huff from Abigaz, “That’s What I Thought. Now No More Eating My Mask! Both Of You! Don’t Think I Didn’t Notice That, Paps!”

Papyrus let out a high-pitched squeak, “NYEH!” You let out a laugh.

As you waited for the masks to work their magic, Abigaz and Papyrus led the charge in conversation, though it was mostly just light chatting that had you opening up a bit more to the two new skeletons. By the time the masks needed to come off, you felt a lot more relaxed around them than when you entered and it had barely even been thirty minutes!

By the time Abigaz had just about finished applying the moisturiser on you, the three had somehow managed to get you gushing about Black and Verdana. Okay, Abigaz did after he had lightly prodded on the topic until you gave in. Maybe a part of you was just desperate to talk about your datemates and your relationship with them to anyone.

“-and Black is just really cool! Like, his fangs are...! And, and even his eyepatch is... you know?!”

“Sweetheart, Don’t Worry, We Know. If I Could Get Those Fangs I Would. People Go Crazy For A Real Monster’s Monster, Y’know?”

“Yeah! I know! And! You know, Verdy is just the sweetest guy I’ve ever met! Whenever we meet up, he always runs up to me like- like he’s just that happy to see me!”

“i always knew he gave off puppy energy but hearing this just means i mutts be right.”

“Pfft, exactly! He’s like a puppy! Especially those puppy dog eyes!”

“Nyu Hu Hu Hu, I’m A Sucker For A Good Pair Of Puppy Dog Eyes, I Don’t Know If I’m Jealous Or Sorry For You.”

“Oh! Speaking of! That thing he does with his eyes, like changing to stars or hearts-”

“OH, THAT’S RIGHT! I DID NOTICE THAT AT OUR LAST SLEEPOVER! HE DID THAT A LOT FOR YOU!”

“you’re on heart-eye level? danny’s got it real bad for ya.”

You blinked, “R-really?”

“You Sweet, Sweet Girl. He’s Hooked On You Harder Then These Weirdos,” Abigaz thumbed to Candera, “Are To Their Condiments.”

“eh, i dunno about that,” Candera chuckled but opened one eye socket to look your way, “but agree on the hooked on you part.”

“... oh.” The way they were saying it felt a little more than just ‘he likes you’.

“WHY DO YOU LOOK SO SAD? ISN’T ‘BEING HOOKED ON HER’ A GOOD THING?” He glanced to Abigaz and Candera for confirmation.

“ehhhh...” Candera shrugged, sneering slightly and tilting his head side to side in a ‘it depends’ kind of way.

“Come On, We’re All Friends Here. Pour Those Thoughts Our Way, Sweetheart,” Abigaz insisted, putting away the last of the products and plopping down in the small space between you and Candera, turned to give you his full attention while resting his arm on the back of the couch, his forearm lightly pressing against your shoulder. Woah, friends, already? Even if you technically knew them for a while before this, this felt like some kind of record for friend-making.

“OH! IS THIS THE ‘BOY TALK’ PART I KEPT READING ABOUT?! I DIDN’T THINK IT WAS A NECESSITY WE NEEDED TO FULFILL!” Good lord, this really was like a stereotypical teenage girl sleepover!

“Trust Me, This Is Very Much A Necessity,” Abigaz assured, reaching a hand over you to pat Papyrus’ hand before a wide grin came to his face, “I Love Hearing About The Love In Other People’s Lives So It’s A Necessity For Me At Least, Nyu Hu Hu!”

The boldness of his statement brought a chuckle out of you. Well... Why not? “It’s just... I am happy that he apparently likes me that much-”

“feels like that 'apparently' doesn’t need to be there.”

You looked Candera’s way with lowered, unimpressed eyebrows and a small smile you couldn't force away, which he only responded to with a grin and shrug. “... But... I don’t know... it’s not like we’ve been dating for that long...”

“FRIEND! WITH MONSTERS, TIME MEANS LITTLE TO US IN TERMS OF HOW CLOSE YOU BECOME!”

“Yep, Listen,” Abigaz reached out and pressed a finger the top of your chest, right where you assumed your soul must be, that familiar tingle of their ecto skin spreading through your chest like ripples in water, “When A Monster Feels Something Here, They Feel It, Especially When Those Feelings Are Positive. There’s A Reason Why We’re Known For Our Compassion, Hope And Love.”

“I... I see... so does that mean...”

“not like we can talk for him for everything. that’s for you two to figure out.”

“Bu~ut, If You Ever Have Any Type Of,” Abigaz winks twice, "Question You Want Answered, Feel Free To Come Right To Us! Any Time! Absolutely No Judgement Here!”

“unless you want someone to go to if you’re ever in a fight with them, then all the judgement you need,” Candera piped up, grinning. He clicked his fingers, “we’ll give you all the ‘oh no he didn’t’s you could ever need.”

You burst into laughter at the mental image alone, “I-I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”

Abigaz patted your head lightly, “Since We Got The Spa Day Portion Out Of The Way, Do You Still Want That Makeover Part, Paps?”

“cause both of you already look like you’re glowing,” Candera slid the joke in which earned unimpressed huffs from both of the tall skeletons and a snort from you.

“WELL... MY BONES HAVE NEVER FELT FRESHER SO I SUPPOSE WE WON’T NEED THE MAKEOVER...” he looked over at you to see your reaction.

“... Yeah, as nice as being made up would be, I kind of don’t want this,” you brought your hands up to your cheeks that felt softer than you had ever remembered it being, “Being covered up by makeup or anything.”

“I Love To Hear It! I Would Have Loved To Doll You Up But You’re Already Plenty Gorgeous Without It!” Abigaz assured, poking your cheek lightly and bringing a heat to your face.

“Thank you... um... you’re all really...good-loo- hmm...” Good looking wasn’t wrong but it didn’t feel right, either. Well, Abigaz wouldn’t mind if you used the same word he did, “No, you all look gorgeous, too!”

Papyrus instantly wrapped you up in a hug, “THANK YOU, FRIEND! THOUGH I MUST WARN YOU ONCE MORE NOT TO BECOME TOO CAPTIVATED WITH MY WONDEROUSLY GOOD LOOKS!”

You laughed, patting his arm, “I remember, I remember.” You were oddly reminded of Hadriatic and your little interaction from earlier. They were related so even with how different they acted, they still had their similarities...

Candera put his hands to his cheeks like he had done when Radis had tried to attack him, “oh, gee, aren’t you a charmer, cherry?”

“I Know,” Abigaz chuckled, putting a hand to his chest and winked, then moved his arm to wrap around your shoulders, giving you a half hug to your other side, the side of his head resting on top of your head, “But Thank You, Sweetheart!” ... Speaking of similarities. How do you keep getting stuck between two skeletons, one of them always being one of the taller ones? “Ah, Paps, What Else Was On That Guide Of Yours?”

“AH, RIGHT!” Not quite letting you go, he shuffled a bit so he could pull his guide out again. Where was he keeping that thing?! He flipped it open and looked through the pages. But wait...

“Aren’t you going to get a face mask, too?” you asked, looking over at Abigaz. He blinked a couple of times at you, not having expected that.

“Hmm, I Suppose... It Would Be Nice...” Oh, now there was no way you were letting him not get one! Especially after he had done it for all three of you!

You jumped to your feet, leaving Papyrus and Abigaz to have to quickly right themselves at the sudden loss of human to hold. “Then, let’s give you your own little spa day, too! It’s only fair.”

“Aww, You’re Sweet, But You Don’t Need To-”

“nah, i agree with cherry,” Candera cut him off, “wouldn’t be a toner fun without my bro joining in.”

Abigaz and Papyrus let out similar groans at the pun but Abigaz had a smile pulling at his skull. “Alright, Alright! I’ll Let You All Pamper Me Just This Once!”

“NO NEED TO TELL US TWICE! FIRST, THE WASHING!” Papyrus grabbed onto Abigaz’s arm and suddenly took off. Abigaz let out a small noise of surprise before laughing as he quickly adjusted and followed after him.

Ah. That just left you and Candera... You didn’t really know what to do now.

“Uh... I like your photos,” was the only thing you could think to say. At Candera’s raised eye ridge, you awkwardly pointed to the photos of him and Abigaz.

“ah,” he chuckled, “yeah, i like ‘em, too. abbie had us get them as soon as we moved in here. he wanted something to make this place feel more like a home. practically took over the photographing session and the photographer had to just settle for taking the pictures while abbie was the one yelling the orders.”

“Huh... really?” You looked back at the photos curiously. Looking at it with one of the two monsters in focus made it kind of awkward but it also gave you a chance to look them over without having to only sneak glances at them without being noticed. The two photos that caught your attention most were the two largest ones, placed side by side. Both brothers had a fluffy, light-coloured boa wrapped around their necks, Abigaz hugging onto it while Candera held out the ends loosely, and... nothing else being visibly on them from what you could see in the image. With the pictures being black and white, you couldn’t tell what colour anything there was. Both their eye sockets were half-lidded and staring up at the camera in a way that sent a shiver down your spine. The way the images were taken and put together, it looked like it was one long boa and the brothers were back to back.

“... were you really not wearing anything in those big ones,” you blurted out.

Candera barked out a laugh, “hoping to see us bare-bones, huh?”

You’re face instantly heated up, “N-no! B-because, in the picture-”

“don’t worry, the photographer made it real clear we needed something on in their studio.” ... why is he saying that like that was the only reason they did wear something?!

“Well... you two could definitely make it as models,” you said honestly.

“thanks, cherry. could say the same about you.”

You glanced back, eyes wide. “I- uh...” you didn’t think you were model pretty but at the same time, you didn’t want to say that and feel like you were fishing for compliments. “... thank you for thinking so...”

“just speaking the truth,” Candera smiled leisurely. Before the quiet between you got awkward, the two tall skeletons returned, Papyrus leading Abigaz back to his seat.

“RIGHT, NOW, WE ADD ON THIS YUMMY FACE PASTE!”

Abigaz let out a forlorn sigh as he lounged back, “I Did Not Work So Hard On My Face Mask Just For It To Be Called That...”

You immediately joined in on slathering the mixture onto his skull, being extra careful to make sure none of it slipped into his eye sockets. You didn’t realise it was supposed to go over his teeth, too, until Papyrus filled it in for you. Well, now you understood why Candera and Papyrus kept eating it. Once thoroughly covered, maybe a little more than needed if Abigaz’ commentary of, “I Feel Like A Frosted Cake,” was any indication, you all waited the required time for it to get to work.

"cherry likes the pics, abbie," Candera spoke up. You looked at him with wide eyes. Did he have to tell him?

Abigaz's eye sockets opened and sat up straight to look at you, sparkles in his eye sockets, "You Do?!" 

"Uh... Yeah, I do. You two look really good in them. Um, Candera told me that-" 

"oof, call me 'candy', honey. using my full name feels so... detached." 

"Oh, um, Candy said you were basically in charge of everything...?" 

"Basically In Charge? I Had To Take Complete Charge!" In a lower voice, he added, "Even If It's Not Really My Style..." Candera snorted. Abigaz cleared his throat, "Those Photographers Just Didn't See The Vision I Wanted And I Was Not Going To Have Our Money Wasted On Plain, 'Ol, Boring Pictures! I Wanted Them To Show..." he held his arms out to the plethora of pictures, "Us." 

"I see..." Them, huh? It certainly got a point across. "That's really cool." You respected that a ton. 

Abigaz beamed, slowly leaning back to relax before he shot up again, pointing at you, "And, I Hope You Aren't Gonna Call Me 'Abigaz', Either. After All This Bonding, I'd Be Soul Broken!" 

You blinked in surprise. "So... Abbie?" Once you had said it, you remembered that some of the others called him 'Gaz', too. Wait, was Abbie a brother-only nickname or...?

Your worries were washed away at the pleased smile Abigaz gave you, "At Your Service!" He chuckled as he went back to fully relaxing. 

After a bit more chatting, time was up and the mask needed to be rinsed off. “Ohhh, That Was Nice, Thank You,” he mused as he rubbed some kind of monster moisturiser onto his skull himself, his expression content, “Abigaz, You’ve Done It Again, Nyu Hu Hu...”

With Abigaz now just as pampered as the three of you had been, Papyrus got out his guide again, “LET’S SEE... TO MAKE UP FOR THE FACT THAT WE DID NONE BEFORE, WE’LL BE DOING MANY OF THE MUSIC-BASED ACTIVITIES WE MISSED OUT ON LAST TIME! WOULD YOU TWO LIKE TO JOIN?”

“No Need To Ask Me Twice,” Abigaz agreed instantly, hopping to his feet.

“not like i’m booked today,” Candera jerked his head up in a nod, getting to his feet as well.

“EXCELLENT! THEN, ONWARDS TO THE LODGE!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 7(some smaller add ons and changes are missing that the final has but mostly just took out Rusch and Black getting drunk lol. It’s still canon that vinegar gets them conked but changed my mind on using it like this here)

The next few days had been mostly uneventful, excluding the new texting buddies you had gained. Papyrus and Verdana were pretty consistent with sending morning and night messages, each one either wishing you a good morning or a pleasant night’s sleep. It was very sweet. They also gave little tid-bits on what they had planned for the day in the morning and how their day went by the end. These messages helped you learn they frequent the gym a lot and train together, usually with Radis, Montserrat and Hadriatic when they felt in the mood to work out with other people.

Black and Rusch were a bit more sporadic on when they contacted you, Black was basically more of the same but Rusch’s texts were pretty short and to the point or he just sent images or videos. Sometimes funny stuff from the internet, but sometimes, he sent pictures taken from the house showing random stuff happening with the skeletons. Seeing an image of Hadriatic looking to be yelling his head off mid throw of a hash brown with his victim, Montserrat, who was yelling back looking like an angered kitten, being pushed aside by Eras as he had his focus completely on the air borne food with his mouth wide open like he was trying to catch it was unexpected but the definite highlight of your evening. You were a bit surprised when Rusch invited you over to their house. ‘It’d be nice to c u’. You didn’t think you’d be invited over so soon again but you were happy to agree. Black seemed to be in on it since he had sent you a text not long after you accepted reading, ‘looks like ill be seeing you again before out lil date. lucky me huh’ which only made you spend way to long trying to figure out if he meant date in the romantic sense or a friend hang out before you pushed that mental struggle to the back of your mind.

Rusch said he’d pick you up once he learnt you didn’t have a vehicle of your own so you were now waiting in front of your apartment complex’s front gate, checking your phone every minute just in case something went wrong or he had to change plans. A very nice looking beast of a dark red car drove to a stop in front of you. The window rolled down and you were met with Black’s face in the passenger seat, Rusch shooting you a two finger salute from the driver’s seat. They both had matching aviator sunglasses on and cigarettes in between their teeth, smoke practically flowed out the open window. You grimaced a little at that but tried not to show your displeasure and instead focused on how excited you were to hang out with them again. But, you were definitely keeping your window open if you could. Black leaned his arm on the open window, pulling his glasses down his nasal bone to reveal his eye socket and eye patch.

“well, hello there, pretty lil’ mouse,” he grinned, “real cheesed to be seeing you again.”

You laughed, “Yeah, it’s been fur too long, huh?”

“tail me about it,” Rusch piped up, bending forward so you could see him better past Black. He thumbed behind him, “literally. get in, cutie.” You knew they were just using nicknames, but you still felt pretty flattered hearing them.

“hol’ up, rus, we gotta be gentlemonsters here,” Black opened his door and got out. He opened the back seat, and bowed exaggeratedly, motioning for you to get it, “after you, milady.”

You giggled, giving him a mock curtsey. As you stepped up to the car, Black offered a hand to you, which you took, heart fluttering a bit when your hand met the smooth material of his glove and felt the hardness of his bones beneath it. The step up into the car was higher than most cars you’d gone in so the extra help was appreciated. He held onto you firmly as you got in before he let go and closed the door behind you. The car definitely stunk of tobacco so you quickly pressed down the button to open your own window. Neither of them commented on it but left their own windows opened, to your relief.

“make sure to buckle up. hands and head must stay inside carro de monte at all times.” Black instructed as Rusch began driving again.

“Monte... so is this Mont... serrat’s..? Car?” You were a little uncertain on the name since you had only heard it a total of one time before.

“yes ma’am,” Black replied, giving you a thumbs up as his other hand searched around him for something. You examined it a bit. It was definitely nice and the last thing you wanted was to mess up Montserrat’s car somehow since he didn’t seem to be very receptive to you when you met so you sat with as proper of a posture as you could, very aware of where any part of your body made contact with the car. Black turned in his seat to face you, another pair of glasses in his hand. “can’t have you being the odd one out here.” He noticed how stiff you were sitting and snorted, “relax, mousey. ain’t no one else here but me and rus.”

“Right,” you smiled, embarrassed as you lowered your shoulders and tentatively relaxed into the comfy seat. You took hold of the glasses and slide them on. You looked up at Black, before playfully flipping your hair and grinning, “So, how’s it look...?”

Rusch clicked his tongue a couple of times in approval, holding his hand up in an okay sign. You looked up and realised he was looking back at you through the rear view mirror. “what he said,” Black’s smile widened. He pulled out a lollipop from his hoodie pocket and offered it to you, “a sweetie for the sweetie. close enough to these,” he pointed to his cigarette, “that you can be part of the crew.”

“Oh, thanks,” you took it, looking down at the flavour. Blackcurrant. You let out an exhale in amusement. Well, it certainly fit him. You got the wrapper off and stuck it into your mouth, savouring the sweet taste on your tongue. “Now I’m part of the cool squad,” you gave him a double thumbs up.

“yep, we’re real chill with the application process, mousey.”

You laughed, “That’s a ice thing to know then.” Rusch pressed a button on the audio system and music began playing softly through the car, intense guitar rifts and heavy drumbeats of what sounded like an oldie metal song. Despite the genre, it was pretty slow paced and relaxing to listen to and you found it easier to just enjoy the ride. Neither Black or Rusch said anything to keep conversation up but you didn’t mind. Just bobbing your head along with the music and watching scenery passing by was nice.

All too soon, you were staring at forest trees whizzing past until the impressive residence of the skeletons came into view. Rusch drove into the garage and once he had parked the car, the three of you got out. You sadly had to hand over the sunglasses. The two put out their cigarettes before guiding you out the garage. You followed them as they walked into the house. The living room was empty and peaking into the kitchen, you caught Hadriatic busying himself with something but you couldn’t see what it was and didn’t feel like calling out to him in greeting in case he’d rather be left alone. Rusch and Black continued forward to a glass sliding door at the back of the house and walked out. Rusch gestured for you to walk out before him so you sped up a bit to get outside. Behind the house was a relatively large clearing in the forest, there was a decently large sized fire pit with several chairs set up around it and built around the clearing were a few, cosy looking cabins. It looked like a fancy camping ground.

“This place is so nice,” you remarked as the two lead you towards one of the cabins, turning your head this way and that to take it all in.

“thanks, if you like it so much, feel free to keep comin’ back,” Black said.

“I’d love to! All this nature is so pretty.”

“what, not for our wonderful company?” Black looked back at you with a pout.

“Oh yeah, that, too,” you giggled.

“eh, i’ll take it.”

Rusch stood in front of the door and knocked.

After a couple of moments of silence, a voice that sounded like Parix’s called from the other side, “who’s there?”

“candice.”

Your head snapped to him. No, there was no way he was going to make that kind of joke, right? There was a pause before the door opened to an unimpressed looking Parix. Rusch grinned, “not gonna ask candice who?”

“... you’ve been around black too long,” Parix muttered. Rusch chuckled, stepping past him and inside. His eye-lights met your eyes and he stiffened a bit. Was he not expecting you? You gave your best smile and waved at him and he waved back, the corner of his mouth tugging up. He looked down and stepped to the side, “come in...” his voice was definitely softer but hey, he was talking to you! That was already a step in the right direction.

“Thank you,” you walked in and examined the place. The inside looked more elegant than the outside did. The walls were painted white with a mostly monochrome colour scheme with modern furniture. The large tv mounted above the fire place had a video game on that you hadn’t seen before. It was in two player mode if the two faint arrows pointing down on the characters on screen were any indication, with the right character held in a battle stance, holding a large axe at the ready to hit the left character. Seated on the couch was Swey, who turned his head to give you all a grin, “yo.”

“h-hey!” Parix said with slight panic in his tone as hurried back over to the couch, picking up a controller and moving the left character out of the way and pulled out a sword.

Swey cursed and made his character ran out the way as Parix’s dashed after him, swinging the sword around like a mad man, “i wasn’t gonna actually hit you, c’mon!”

“yeah, get his ass, rickie,” Black cheered, plopping down on a different couch.

A hand on your shoulder startled you slightly and you looked over to see it was Rusch, “want anything?” he tilted his head over to the kitchen.

“No, I’m good for now, thanks,” you shook your head. You didn’t expect him to pull you to his side and into the kitchen but you didn’t mind so you didn’t protest. The smell of cigarette smoke was heavy on his jacket but it wasn’t unpleasantly strong, at least. You could feel him squeezing a bit at your shoulder before his hand moved a little down to your upper arm. You face flushed a little at how touchy he was being but his hand wasn’t touching any spots you weren’t uncomfortable with so you let him be.

He walked to a cupboard and got out a bottle of... vinegar? He was about to put the top to his teeth but paused when you looked over at you. He looked down at the bottle before tilting it to you, “wanna try?”

You hesitated. “Shouldn’t we pour it into a cup first or something?”

Rusch rose an eye ridge, “why?”

You furrowed your eyebrows, pointing to the lid, “Cause, germs...?”

At that, realisation dawned on his face, “oh, that... monsters don’ really... get that kind of stuff...” They don’t?! Well, when you thought about it, it made sense. Monsters were made of magic, not organic material like humans so bacteria and other pathogens probably wasn’t that big of a problem for them. Hell, even monster food never went bad since it was made of magic. That was really convenient. “don’ worry ‘bout it. wanna try it?”

Well, you had your moments in your childhood taking sneaky sips of the different sauces and stuff in the kitchen cupboards, vinegar being no different, so you nodded. You reached for the bottle but Rusch moved it out of your grasp. His hand came up and his hand lightly held your chin. Your heart began raising as you looked up at him in confusion. His eye sockets narrowed a little and he grinned wolfishly. Okay, maybe you weren’t looking at him enough before cause you were only now realising how cool and... handsome he looked.

Rusch tilted your head up a bit, and spoke, his voice low, “c’mon, open ya mouth fer me, cutie.” You mentally screamed a little as your face burned hot.

“Wuh, w-what?” you stuttered.

He held up the vinegar, shaking it a bit, “you wanted to avoid drinkin’ it straight from the bottle, right? so.”

“O-oh...” you muttered. Why did he have to offer like that...?! You mentally shook the thought away and opened your mouth. Rusch popped the vinegar open and tipped the bottle to let some of it pour enough into your mouth for a reasonable swallow. Yep, that’s vinegar. Magic vinegar but vinegar. You weren’t sure what else you expected. Your face scrunched up at the taste a little and Rusch snickered.

“want another?”

“Nope, nah, I’m good,” you quickly said, shaking your head.

“more for me,” he shrugged before drinking the vinegar. Whatever expression you made made Rusch choke and laugh silently. You stuck your tongue out at him and he patted your shoulder placatingly.

“ruuuus,” Black’s voice called from the living room, “c’mon don’t hog her!”

“i’m the one who invited her,” Rusch responded, “stop swine-ing.”

“snort, snort, very funny,” Black said. Rusch winked at you, making you blush again before he led you back to the living room. Parix and Swey were now fighting some kind of orc looking enemy on the screen, Black perked up at the sight of the two of you and patted the spot next to him a couple of times. Rusch walked over and sat down, leaving you the space between the two of them. You sat down and almost immediately, the two of them leaned against you.

“Uh...” You were about to ask something but held back, realising it could sound rude.

“no, no, speak ya mind,” Black encouraged. You mentally debated if you should or not before deciding to go ahead and ask.

“I don’t mean this in a bad way but... you guys are really... touchy...?” You tried your best not to sound upset about it.

“heh, you’re soft, cutie,” Rusch said, poking your arm, then your torso, making you jump since you were pretty ticklish.

“skeletons are warm and cuddly so this is a win win,” Black smirked.

“I mean... yeah... but... how?”

Black lifted his hands up, “magic,” he gave you the jazz hands.

Should have seen that coming. You smiled and shook your head, “That’s... answer enough.” You looked over at the screen to watch the two gaming skeletons play.

“swey, what are you...?” Parix asked softly, eye ridges lowered and frown on his face. He was actively attacking a monster while Swey was simply moving his character around, sometimes throwing in a crouch or two.

“please, it’s not like you need me to help you here, so i’ll do something to actually benefit the team,” he crouched down then stood up, throwing several items out in quick succession before going to pick them up and doing it again. “cheer-leading squad. go pari.”

“... you can- you should do that outside the game,” Parix huffed.

“man, i don’t know why you don’t just,” Black slide his thumb across his neck, “him already. not like you haven’t proved friendly fire is an issue.”

“... he’s a good... walking inventory box,” Parix mumbled. You stifled a laugh.

“eh, good enough for me,” Swey shrugged. As impressive as Parix’s playing was, it was funny seeing Swey just goof around just far enough away that the orc didn’t attack him. Black and Rusch kept passing the vinegar bottle back and forth between each other. Were all condiments just fair game for this family?

“Why do you... all like drinking stuff like,” you pointed to the vinegar bottle. Rusch and Black exchanged glances.

“why do you like drinking anything?” Black responded, “tastes good.” Was it like drinking a normal drink then?

“at least give her the full explanation,” Swey spoke up before he started explaining in his stead, “most of the ‘weird’ stuff has vinegar in it. it’s pretty addictive for us skeletons and makes our magic mellow out. best comparison for it is like... alcohol for humans. but for the most part, specific stuff is up to taste, yeah.”

“Oh, learnt something new today, then,” you nodded, but then you remembered Swey had just been drinking straight honey at dinner a few days back, “Then why were you drinking honey?”

“can’t a guy just like a drink?” he shrugged, smirking. “better than getting crocked.”

You looked at the two drinking skeletons, “Isn’t it a little early to be drinking...?”

“five o’ clock somewhere,” he grinned before his eye socket widened, “wait, you two gotta do that thing,” Black pointed to the screen.

“use your words, black,” Swey said.

Black clicked his fingers together a couple of times, “the, the... uh...”

“c’mon, you can do it.”

“the big, magic spell.”

“the... ultimate attack...?” Parix guessed.

Black pointed at him, “that’s the bitch. yeah, one of you gotta do it.”

“don’t... got enough... mana for it,” Parix pointed out.

“same.”

“boo,” Black pointed at you, “mousey likes shiny shit so do it for her.” You looked at him in surprise. You had only said that to Verdana and Papyrus.

“How did you know I liked shiny stuff?”

“saw how you were lookin’ at that sparkly taco,” he said, “guessed. turns out i~i was right then.”

He chortled proudly to himself. You were a little surprised he could tell that just from how you looked at your food. He had to be really perceptive. “Huh... yeah, you were.”

Rusch lifted the vinegar bottle towards Parix and Swey, “do it.”

The two players looked at each other. Parix’s game character pulled out some kind of potion that he consumed. He charged up and unleashed a large blast at the orc. It could definitely be described as sparkly. It looked like the battlefield had been engulfed in bright stars and the black inky sky.

“Oh, that is pretty,” you said, watching the attack with wide eyes as you clapped.

“hell ye, ya welcome.”

“i’m the- i did the attack,” Parix huffed lightly.

Chapter 9 (mentioned them in chapter notes for Chapter 9. Scrapped content including Kel and Ariel, skeleton bros from reversed Undertale AU where everyone’s personality is the opposite of canon, not swapped with someone else. Basically, I wrote the Sans to be preppy valley girl like while Kel was mopey and depressed based on an information sheet for the AU that I could find but unfortunately I can’t remember the AU name so I can’t find it. They’re outfit colour scheme was inverted from the normal colour BUT it wasn’t Negativetale. Otherwise the chapter is the same)

“SAVOURY? THEN IT WON’T BE DESSERT! IT HAS TO BE SWEET RIGHT?”

“It Is Not Like We Decided On Only Making Sweet Pastries. It Would Be A Nice Change. I Have Not Had The Chance To Make A Lot Of Savoury-” he paused when the three of you entered the kitchen. Your eyes blinked in surprise at the sight of the skeleton there. It was someone you hadn’t seen before.

“OH, ARIAL! HELLO!” Papyrus greeted him eagerly. The skeleton turned to face you, revealing the mug he was stirring, another one sitting on the counter. He was another shorter skeleton. He had on a beige button up cardigan with a white shirt under it, light coloured jeans, black gloves and green converse shoes.

He smiled brightly, “hiya, paps, ags, totes awesome day, today!” You blinked, schooling your surprise. You certainly weren’t expecting him to speak like that.

“INDEED IT IS! HOW IS KEL DOING?”

Arial shrugged, eye lights moving to look up at the ceiling, his fingers tapping the mug, “i mean, like, t-b-h he’s doing kinda better? he’s still not totally okay but he should be, like, okay enough by dinner. so, we’ll probs be there with everyone tonight.” His gaze moved to you and you straightened up. “oh, heya! we didn’t meet before, right?” He’s pause made you realise he was waiting for a reply and you shook your head. His smile brightened as he placed his mug down and reached a hand out to you, the other flapping excitedly at the wrist, “oh em gee, it’s so nice to meet you!”

You quickly took hold of his hand, “S-same to you,” you replied, feeling a little thrown by his personality but he seemed nice. He gave your hand a few enthusiastic shakes before he pulled you towards him. You stumbled over you feet a little but he caught you in a hug. You stiffened a little and could only reflexively hug back. It honestly wasn’t a bad hug, at least. He did feel pretty nice to hold. And he smelled like milk tea!

“OO, ARE WE HUGGING?” Papyrus asked from behind you before you found yourself being hugged from behind, too. Papyrus’s long arms managing to circle both you and Arial before you were suddenly lifted off the ground. You yelped, your legs kicking out beneath you and your hold on Arial tightening while he simply giggled gleefully, Papyrus cackling along with him.

“Really, You Two,” Fio spoke disapprovingly, “Put Her Down Before You Break Something!” Papyrus swung you both left and right, finally drawing a laugh from you, before he put you down. Arial held on just a little more before he let you go and stepped back. Fio simply sighed, shaking his head with an amused smile.“We’ll Be Baking Some Things Together, Arial,” Fio said, fidgeting his hands, “If You’d Like, We Can Stop By To Drop Some Off? If We Can.”

Arial brightened, flapping one of his hands a little, “oh my god, yes! yummy! kels would love that. totes appreciated!” He turned to you, “and we totally gotta hang out sometime! are you staying for dinner or..?”

“I...?” you looked to Fio and Papyrus for an answer.

“Would You Like To?” Fio asked. “You’d Be More Than Welcome To Join Us! Oh, Who’s Turn Was It Tonight?”

“IT’S GAZ TONIGHT!” You tilted your head curiously. It was a name you hadn’t recognised. Unless it was another nickname unrelated to their name. “HE AND CANDY ARE COMING BACK TODAY SO HE ASKED IF HE COULD! HE SENT IT TO OUR OUR MESSAGING GROUP CHAT!”

“Ah, Did He? I Didn’t Notice It...”

“THEY WILL PROBABLY BE ARRIVING WHILE WE ARE STILL BAKING SO WE CAN TELL HIM WE WILL BE COOKING FOR ONE MORE!” Fio cleared his throat a little and Papyrus paused, looked at you, then quickly added “AH, ERM,UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMETHING ELSE YOU MUST DO?”

You smiled. While you weren’t really considering saying no, you would feel bad saying no when three pairs of eye lights were looking at you so expectantly. “If you’re willing to have me, then,” you turned to Arial, nodding, “Seems I am joining you all!”

“awesome! oop, spent waaay too long down here, kelly is probs missing me already lol. t-t-y-l, papy, aggie, tootsie!” He took the mugs behind him and hurriedly made his way to the stairs, practically skipping up them. You giggled a little, entirely entertained by Arial’s way of speaking. It felt a little nostalgic to those pre-teen movies you watched as a kid. You thoughts faltered a little when you realised that he had meant ‘tootsie’ as a nickname for you. It was a... cute nickname but just how many nicknames would they choose to use over your own name?

...

Arial came practically skipping into the room, pulling another skeleton with him.

The first thing you notice about him is that he looks... sad. His mouth was in a deep frown, posture hunched and shoulders slouched down like the whole world was weighing them down. It looked a little weird seeing Arial look so happy when he had such a gloomy skeleton right next to him. He had on a sweatpants and sweatshirt set that were both a dark grey that looked really loose on him. The only colour on him was the light blues of his scarf, light blue lines running down the sleeves of his arms and the pale, dark blue of his sweatpants’ waistband. His sweatshirt wasn’t even completely tucked in or out, just kind of half tucked in on one side. Poor guy looked like he needed a hug. Or ten of them.

Arial looked over at you and patted at his brother’s arm, “oo, kelly! you gotta meet tootsie! come, come!” ‘Kelly’ only let out a long sigh as Arial pulled him over to you. “tootsie, this is my brother, kelmscott!”

“Y-YES... HELLO THERE... HUMAN...” Kelmscott’s frown wobbled a little like he was trying to change it and his barely opened eye sockets opened a little wider and you could see the liquid sitting on the edge of his sockets, ready to spill over. “I’M SORRY YOU MUST AQUINT YOURSELF WITH ME, THE M-MISERABLE KELMSCOTT..!” That seemed to be all he could handle before he couldn’t keep his tears in check and they came flowing down, the poor boy letting out a loud, “NYOO HOO HOO...!”

“KEL! WHAT DID WE SAY ABOUT CALLING YOURSELF THAT?” Verdana spoke up, his arms crossed.

Arial pulled out a tissue from his pocket and handed it to him, which Kelmscott quickly got to wiping his face. Kelmscott sniffled a few times before he answered, “NOT TO...”

“EXACTLY! WE PA-Ahem, WE ARE ALL GREAT! I WILL NOT STAND FOR ANY UNTRUE WORDS AGAINST YOUR SELF!” Papyrus piped up, holding his arms up in a strong man pose, “NOW, DO YOUR INTRODUCTION OVER!”

“yeah, bro! you totes got this!”

Kelmscott took in a shaky breath, his back straightening before he faced you again, “H... HELLO, HUMAN...! I AM THE... THE...” His determined stance faltered. Arial pulled him down and whispered something to him, “THE... A-A-AWE... SOME KELMSCOTT...”

“yay! bro!”

Verdana broke into applause while Papyrus nodded approvingly, “THAT’S THE SPIRIT!”

You felt a smile tug at your lips at all the encouragement they were showing him. Poor guy looked like he needed it. “It’s nice to meet you, Kel-”

Kelmscott suddenly hunched over, letting out an agonised wail, “I CAN’T... I CAN’T START AN AQUINTANCESHIP ON A LIE...! NYOO HOO HOO, I’M SORRY HUMAN...I AM NOT AWESOME!”

“I... I... Huh?” You looked to him and the others in confusion.

The three skeletons’ expressions looked a little disappointed but Verdana and Papyrus quickly brightened up, “NO WORRIES! WE WILL JUST KEEP WORKING ON IT UNTIL YOU FEEL IT IS TRUE!”

Arial nodded at that, “we almost got it. we’ll get it next time!” Arial patted his arm encouragingly. Kelmscott sniffled, then nodded a couple of times. Arial turned to you with a wide grin as he patted at Kelmscott’s arm like he was showing off a treasure, “isn’t my bro, like, just totes adorbs?”

You looked from him to Kelmscott then asked softly, “Is he... is he okay?”

“hm? oh, yeah! he’s still low-key not at his best right now but he’s fine so don’t even worry about it, kay?” At your hesitant nod, Arial turned Kelmscott around to lead him to the other side of the table where the available seats where.

You looked to the skeletons around you to gauge their reaction but a few of them were simply conversing among themselves for the most part, looking pretty unbothered by that display. Papyrus had asked how he was doing earlier... was he sick or... You spared the two brothers one last worried glance before leaving them be even if something inside of you wanted to reach out to them a little more and try helping.

Chapter 10(more scrapped Kel and Ariel content)

“Ahem! It’s So Good To Be Back Home Again! So, Everyone, Fill Your Glasses Because I’d Like To Propose A Toast!”

“BIG WHOOP, YOU’RE BACK. LET’S JUST EAT,” Montserrat rolled his eye lights,

“like, boo! major snore over here,” Arial heckled. Montserrat did not look happy at that. Ariel’s smile faltered, his eye lights darting around nervously before he quickly pointed at Abigaz with a wink, “g-go on, abby!”

Abigaz sent his own wink back at him before he continued, some people choosing to start pouring some juice or water into their glasses if they didn’t already have a condiment to drink, “Anyway Before I Was So Rudely Interrupted,” Montserrat groaned but didn’t say anything else, “A Toast!” He held up his wine glass, gesturing for everyone else to do the same. With a mix of many amused smiles and some annoyed grumbles, everyone did lift the glasses or condiments next to them, you lifting up your own, “To Me And My Wonderful Brother!” Candera eagerly raised his bottle of chutney at that, letting out a, “woo!” “Oh, And The Rest Of You, Too, I Suppose.” The cheeky glint in his eye sockets proved he was just joking and a few skeletons chuckled at that.

“I DON’T FEEL COMPELED TO DRINK TO THIS,” Papyrus grumbled before he stood up, “THEN I’LL MAKE A BETTER TOAST! HOW ABOUT WE TOAST TO KEL FEELING BETTER?”

“oooo, i definitely second that!” Arial nodded vigorously, shaking Kelmscott’s arm in his hand. Kelmscott looked like he had at least stopped crying.

“YOU SHOULD NOT WASTE A TOAST ON M-” Kelmscott’s weak protest was cut off by Arial raising up his own glass, and using his other hand to lift Kelmscott’s arm that was holding his own glass. Kelmscott gave up with a sigh, slumping down a little, “OKAY... TO MY MISER... TO ME...”

...

“aw boo,” Arial pouted, “me and kels got to go up to our rooms. bummer! i wanna join in!”

“BROTHER... YOU DON’T HAVE TO COME JUST TO KEEP ME COMPANY...” Kelmscott said but Arial waved it off. “I AM NOT... ANY FUN...”

“shush up, i’ll always stick with you, bro! you’re mega fun!” Arial patted his back heartily then turned to you, “so, like, let’s chill out together when you come to hang later, tootsie!”

You waved at the two, “Y-yeah! Let’s! Bye, Arial, Kelmscott.”

“t-t-y-l!” Arial cheerfully said, Kelmscott waving languidly at you as they made their way to the stairs

Chapter 12 (originally was gonna have Impact and Candera for the Radis tutoring session to give them some focus time but hit roadblocks on how to write them so gave up)

“ooo, cherry, you’re back so soon. missed me?”

“heya, toots. ain’t ya a sight for sore eye sockets.”

Of all the skeletons to be here, it had to be the two flirts. Impact and Candera had very similar smirks on their faces, they’d look identical if it weren’t for differences in teeth and eye lights. Well... a lot of the skeletons had a lot of similarities in terms of appearances... huh...

“Hi-” Your greeting was cut off by Radis continuing onward to the glass doors.

“YOU CAN CHIT-CHAT WHEN THE HUMAN ISN’T ON MY TIME!” he exclaimed.

Candera tapped his cheek, “aww, why’re you hogging all the fun, addie-?”

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!”

“come bring her here with us!” He waved the two of you over, but his eye lights were locked on you. You quickly moved your gaze to anywhere but him.

Impact brought his arms out, making a ‘come here’ motion with his hands, “yeah, we wanna get tah know ‘er bettah.” You shuddered. It felt like these two were going to eat you or something!

“ARE YOU TWO DEAF?! I SAID SHE’S ON MY TIME RIGHT NOW! WE HAVE THINGS TO DO!” Thank you, Radis!

Candera rose an eye ridge, intrigued, “well, you can’t just leave without letting us in on whatever little thing you two have going on, then.”

Radis scowled, “THERE IS NO ‘THING’! I AM GOING TO BE TEACHING THE HUMAN ABOUT MONSTERS!”

The two skeletons did not look to be expecting that answer as their hungry expression dropped to curious ones. “oh? Are ya? Then who bettah than othah monstah’s tah help ya out!” Impact chuckled, “bring ‘er here and ah’ll be sure to tell ‘er everything she needs.”

Scrapped Chapter 13 (originally, chapter 13 was supposed to take place immediately after the teaching session was over but changed my mind)

Even if all this learning was fun, you were never too good at having to pay attention for long periods of time and after zoning out enough times for the skeletons to notice, a break was announced. You eagerly stepped up the board, pointing to the markers, “Can I...?”

Verdana nodded, “WHAT DO YOU WANNA DO?”

You grinned and picked up the marker and got to work. “I’ve always loved doodling on the whiteboards in class when I got the chance and it’s been years since I last did it,” After making a few stars and flowers, an idea popped into your mind. You narrowed your eyes in concentration as you crafted your masterpieces in blue, then switched to purple then red. “Ta-da!”

Verdana and Papyrus let out similar gasps, hands coming up to their cheeks, “IS THAT US?”

You giggled, “I tried to capture your... greatness, magnificence and maleficence to the best of my ability!” You were just glad their features were simple enough to turn into drawings. You had decided to draw your three teachers of the day, Verdana with his large smile and starry eyes, Papyrus with his proud grin and sparkly eye sockets and Radis with that smug smirk of his, with his eye sockets closed since you weren’t confident enough to draw his unique eye lights. You began quickly drawing in Fio and Swey as you nervously waited for their responses, Swey with a little honey bear bottle and Fio with an accompanying muffin.

“NYEH HEH HEH, YOU’VE CAUGHT MY GREATNESS QUITE WELL!” Papyrus nodded approvingly as he looked at his little drawing.

“I Love It!” Fio beamed, hands clasped together.

Swey waved his bottle a little, “pretty life like if you ask me.”

“IT’S ADORABLE!” Verdana gushed. He pulled out his phone and held it out. It took you a moment to realise he was taking a picture of it and quickly got out the way, “WAIT, STAY IN! WE HAVE TO GET A PICTURE OF THE ARTIST AND THEIR WORK!”

“I-it’s only a silly doodle,” you laughed awkwardly. While you didn’t think they were worth being photographed, you also weren’t the biggest fan of having your picture taken so wanted to stay out. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, Radis didn’t let you as he pulled you back over to the board, keeping you in place with his arm wrapped around your waist.

“YOU DARE TO TRY DRAW MY FACE AND THEN ACT EMBARRASSED ABOUT IT?! I DONT THINK SO!” Why did he sound so offended about it?! “IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO ATTEMPT TO DRAW ME, THEN YOU WILL HAVE THE GUTS TO TAKE CREDIT FOR IT! TAKE THE PICTURE!”

“BUT WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE IN IT?” Verdana asked, eye ridge raised.

Radis pointed to his drawing, smirking almost exactly the same as it, “WHO’S FACE IS THAT? I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE CAPTURED SINCE IT WAS MODELLED AFTER ME!”

Verdana lowered his phone, frowning, “THEN WE ALL HAVE A RIGHT TO BE IN THE PICTURE, YOU DON’T HAVE SPECIAL PRIVILEGE.”

“YES, WE DO ALL HAVE A RIGHT TO BE IN THE PICTURE!” Papyrus plucked Radis’ phone out of his hand, “COME ON, LET’S ALL BE IN IT THEN! SINCE I HAVE LONG ARMS, I WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE A PERFECT PICTURE WITH ALL OF US IN IT!”

“I SECOND THAT!” Verdana smiled, waving a hand over to Swey and Fio, “COME ON, EVERYONE IN!”

The two skeletons looked caught off guard to be included but got up and walked over. You giggled a little, as everyone shuffled around to try fit properly while Radis grumbled angrily beside you. With how tall Swey, Papyrus and Fio were in comparison to you, Radis and Verdana, they had to bend down quite a bit, even with you all crouching to let your drawing appear in the picture. You sure were glad for your height right now since the position did not look comfortable. Your earlier apprehension faded a little now that you weren’t the only one having your picture taken.

“OKAY, EVERYONE LOOK AT THE CAMERA AND SMILE!” You looked up, seeing yourself surrounded by smiling skeletons, well, mostly smiling since Radis was keeping his scowl on his face and vehemently refused to smile, brought a warmth in your chest and a feeling of... belonging. The smile on your face as the picture was taken was wide and genuine. Picture taken, Papyrus brought the phone down so you all could look at it better.

“Can... you send that it to me, Papyr- Papy?” you felt your cheeks warm, remembering at the last second the nickname you had decided for the skeleton.

“OF COURSE! I’LL SEND IT TO EVERYONE HERE! OH! I SHOULD JUST SEND IT TO OUR GROUP CHAT! THAT’LL BE EASIER!”

“OR, YOU COULD NOT DO THAT,” Radis said with a grimace. “IF ANYONE OF THOSE IDIOTS SEE IT THEN-”

“SENT!”

Radis threw his hands up, “SURE, IGNORE ME, WHY DON’T YOU!” Instinctively, you reached over and patted his shoulder comfortingly. He let out a harsh breath but seemed to simmer a little.

“IT’S FINE, RADIS! WE’RE JUST SHOWING THAT WE’RE HANGING OUT WITH OUR FR-”

The sliding door banged open, causing everyone to look towards it. Standing at the door, tall, imposing and phone in hand, was Rusch. For a moment, he actually looked pretty intimidating, a lot like the first time you had seen him, but his expression softened as his gaze spotted you, the tender look had you feeling fuzzy inside.

“cutie,” he cooed as he came up to you, warms spread out to hug you. But his path was blocked by Radis.

“AREN’T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING?” he asked. Rusch stared down at him, his smile lowering.

“can work later,” he said, moving to step around him but was stopped again by Radis.

“WANT TO SAY THAT TO MONTSERRAT?” Rusch’s smile lowered completely. You felt a little bad for him, especially since it seems like he came out here to greet you.

“Um...” you stepped out from behind Radis and came up to him, “He was just going to say hi, right? A-and taking breaks from working is good so-” You were cut off by Rusch latching onto you, arms wrapping around you tightly and face rubbing into the exposed part of the skin between your neck and shoulder, making you squeal at the ticklish feeling of the fur on his hoodie and a slight buzzing feeling. “R-Rusch!”

“RUSCH, STOP THAT!” Verdana exclaimed. Both he and Radis pulled him off of you, which was admittedly a struggle since he seemed pretty against letting you go but they managed.

“heh,” Rusch had a serene smile on his face, maroon colouring his cheekbones. He held up a hand and waved at you as he began making his way back out the door, “see ya, cutie.” You could only wave back while staring after him, flushed and bewildered.

“S-see? He just wanted... to say hi?” The skeletons in the room gave each other glances that had you feeling awkward before Fio stood up, placing a hand on your shoulder and gently leading you to the kitchen.

“I’ve Been Meaning To Show You Some More Recipes I’ve Been Thinking Up, Cupcake! Maybe We Can Make Them Together?” You sighed in relief at the new topic and perked up.

“I wanna see them! Yeah!” You hadn’t gotten a chance to see what other recipes he had in that recipe book of his and were curious what would be in it. Your three teachers of the day had followed after you, with Radis and Verdana flocking to your sides while he was explaining some of them while Papyrus opted for standing a little closer to Fio. Verdana had wrapped his arms around one of yours and leaned his head into the crook of your neck. You were starting to get used to how touchy some of them could be but after what had happened during the encounter demonstration, your face felt incredibly warm at how close he was. And Radis wasn’t helping when he wrapped his arm back around your waist to lean in to look closer at the recipe book.

Actually, the two were... really clingy for the rest of your time there. Your little lesson session was switched for other more generic things.

Scrapped Chapter 13(instead of Verdana date, it was supposed to be the sleepover chapter. Changed my mind cause I wanted Verdana to get his own date like Black a little sooner.)

You were halfway reading through about a star festival when your phone buzzed beside you. You picked it up to read through the text any one of the skeletons had sent you this time. It was Papyrus!

‘GOOD AFTERNOON! I HOPE YOU ARE BEING PRODUCUCTIVE TODAY! ARE YOU FREE TOMORROW?’

‘No, what’s happening tomorrow?’

Instead of a message, your phone began ringing with an incoming call. You jumped slightly, anxiety flooding you for a moment which calmed a little when you saw Papyrus’s name. You quickly answered it.

“H-hello?”

“HELLO, FRIEND!” Papyrus’ cheerful voice replied. “AHEM! WELL, WE’RE PLANNING TO SPEND THE DAY TOGETHER WITH A FEW OF US TOGETHER! WHEN ONE OF US MENTIONED INVITING YOU, EVERYONE AGREED SO NOW I AM EXTENDING THE INVITE TO YOU!”

Oh. Huh. They wanted to include you in some kind of family thing? That was... so sweet... Against your will,, happy tears filled in your eyes. You wiped them away. It was just an invite, why were you getting all emotional about it?

“Sounds fun! Count me in then!”

“EXCELLENT! SINCE YOU ACCEPTED THAT INVITE, I SHALL PROPOSE ANOTHER! WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY THE NIGHT?” You almost dropped your phone in surprise at that. “WE WILL BE STARTING BRIGHT AND EARLY SO I WOULD LIKE FOR YOU TO BE THERE FROM THE VERY FIRST MINUTE!”

Damn, when was the last time you slept at someone else’s house? Actually, never mind, you didn’t want to try remember. The idea of a sleepover was exciting though, and a little nerve-racking but the skeletons were always so welcoming so you weren’t too worried now about being around them.

“Well, then count me in times two! A sleepover sounds fun!”

“THEN I’LL BE SEEING YOU LATER FRIEND! I NEED TO GET THINGS PREPARED FOR OUR SLEEPOVER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, PROMISE IT WILL BE THE VERY BEST YOU HAVE EVER WITNESSED! NYEH HEH HEH!”

You giggled softly to yourself, “I look forward to it then, great Papyrus!” After an energetic farewell from Papyrus, he hung up. You put your phone down, and an idea came to mind. Since you had time before Papyrus was arriving, maybe you should prepare something? It was the least you could do with them always inviting you over and giving you food all the time. Time to return the favour!

After a quick trip to the store, you got to work on baking. You weren’t the greatest cook but you were a pretty decent baker, at least. As you were mixing your ingredients together, your mind wondered back on intent and wondered if simply making something was enough to put intent into it. Just to be safe, you made sure to focus on the feelings of gratitude and the warm fuzziness that bloomed in your chest when you thought of quite a few of the boys as you baked, hoping it’ll transfer the intent in somehow. It felt a little dumb but no one could judge you at least!

Since you couldn’t go too crazy on the ingredients, you had just made simple vanilla cupcakes. Magic ingredients and magic infused organic ingredients were a little pricey in comparison to simple organic ingredients but you could cut back on your budget this week to make it work, even if it’d be really tight. You managed to make 36, enough for all of them to at least get two. Well, they were small but it was better than nothing! Cupcakes done, you got to work getting yourself ready and packing up for the sleepover.

You were just packing your pyjamas when Papyrus sent you a message that he will be arriving in two hours, ‘ON THE DOT’ and two hours later exactly, Papyrus’s car came driving in. Unlike the previous times, you’d seen him, he was by himself. You waved eagerly at him as you walked up to the car, which Papyrus returned. You placed your gym bag, pillow and blanket into the back seat before sitting in the passenger seat, placing your container of cupcakes on your lap. You squeaked in surprise at suddenly being pulled into a hug by him but laughed and returned it.

“ARE YOU READY FOR A SPECTACULAR DAY AT THE GREAT HOUSE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS?”

You tightened your hands into fists, grinning, “Yep! Definitely!”

“THAT’S THE SPIRIT!” Papyrus patted your shoulder approvingly before pulling out a pair of sunglasses seemingly from out of nowhere to hand to you. You gratefully took them and slid them on as Papyrus began driving. You felt a little like you were in a movie, sunglasses on, being driven down a highway in a red convertible with the wonderful weather...

“I can see why you love this car, Papyru-, um, Papy,” you admitted to Papyrus, flushing slightly as you remembered the nickname you had chosen for him and brushing your hair out of your face as the wind blew it around. You hoped it wasn’t too ruined.

Papyrus glanced at you, smile bright enough to compete against the afternoon sky, “OF COURSE! IF I LOVE SOMETHING THEN IT IS GUARENTEED TO BE GOOD! BUT I’M GLAD YOU LOVE IT, TOO!” Looking at him, he definitely felt like a main character in a movie, too, with his scarf fluttering behind him and looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. The thought had you grinning the rest of the ride there as Papyrus excitedly talked about what the two of you could do once you arrive there.

In a now increasingly familiar manner, you stepped out of his car once he had parked it and walked with him to the door, Papyrus taking hold of your other belongings while you carried your container of cupcakes. “WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN THERE? IT SMELLS LIKE SOMETHING SWEET.”

He could smell it? You tried sniffing the air but couldn’t catch anything, “Well... I wanted to make something for you all since you all keep feeding me.”

“YOU BAKED SOMETHING FOR US? WOWIE! CAN I TRY IT?” You nodded, opening the lid and slipped out a cupcake for him. He carefully took it out your hand and peeled off the cup and took a bite. His eye sockets were sparkling as he looked down at you, then he finished it off in two more bites.

You blinked in surprise, “Does that mean you liked it...?”

“I LOVED IT!” he said, “THANK YOU VERY MUCH, FRIEND!”

You sighed in relief and smiled, “No problem!” Papyrus reached over and opened the door for you, announcing loudly that he was home with you. The two skeletons on the couch turned to face you. The glint in Imapct’s eyes as he looked at you had you quickly looking away from him and towards Comic, who winked at you, lifting his hand off the back of the couch leisurely at you.

“hey, paps, hey, buddy,” he greeted you.

“Hi,” you replied. Impact got to his feet and followed after you and Papyrus into the kitchen.

Chapter 18 went through a lot of changes, oh boy. This chapter fought with me while I was writing it, damn.
Chapter 18( this version had MC actually talking to Fio before he went off to work and helping out with breakfast and packing up the sleepover. Though the Hadriatic scene was reworked to be with Vet instead of Verdana)

Your peaceful slumber was interrupted by the very unwelcome call of nature. A soft moan of unhappiness left you as you nuzzled your face into the warm pillow you were hugging as a weak protest to your bodily needs, a soft calming hum pulling you into sleep more. Oddly, you felt your pillow vibrating against you. When did you get a message pillow...? And when could pillows hug you...?

You sleepy confusion had you reluctantly blinking your eyes open. To your confusion, your vision was tinted blue and you found yourself staring at... a cartoon sheep? Last night slowly came back to your sleep idle mind, which very quickly woke you up. At some point, you and Verdana had gone from kind of snuggled up together to the both of you full on hugging in your sleep. You realised the humming you were hearing was coming from Verdana’s chest, which followed by another soft rattle from him. You couldn’t hear a heart beat but you liked the sound of whatever this humming was. Though now that you were awake, you figured you couldn’t stay in the comfortable and warm hold of Verdana and the make-shift bed when you were really feeling the need to go.

You reluctantly pulled off the blanket covering you. The tints of dawn was breaking through the darkness of the rest of the house, except for the kitchen, where you could see the kitchen lights turned on. You could hear the soft clutter of someone in there. Verdana looked like he was still deep in sleep, his mouth slightly open but you couldn’t hear any breathing despite his chest rising and falling. He looked adorable asleep and now you had to try avoid interrupting his peaceful looking slumber. You very carefully tried to extract yourself from Verdana’s hold but he let out a groan and tightened his hold on you to keep you from moving. You tried to move even slower but he let out a longer groan.

“Noo...” he mumbled. It felt like you had no choice but to wake him up at this point. You apologised to him mentally as you shook his arm.

“V... Verdy?” you called softly. Verdana’s face scrunched up before his eye sockets blinked open. For a moment, his eye sockets were dark before his eye lights seemed to blink on. It was a little jarring but interesting to see what it was like seeing how he woke up. His eye lights looked around him slowly before they landed on you. His eyes squinted at the sight of you in confusion before a happy sleepy smile came to his face as he hugged you closer, nuzzling his mouth into your hair.

“Berry...” he sighed, another rattle running through his bones before he slackened again. You felt fuzzy inside but couldn’t enjoy it with another reminder from your body that you needed out.

No! You did not want him going back to sleep! You shook at his arm again, “Verdy...!” Once more he let out a noise of protest before he woke up again enough for you to wiggle out of his hold, “Sorry... I... bathroom...”

That seemed to snap him out of his sleepy daze as he fully let you go, “OH! RI-” He flinched and glanced back at the other sleeping skeletons and lowered his volume, “Right... I’ll Show You Where It Is.” You slowly made your way out of bed and Verdana followed after you. You spared a glance to the other skeletons sleeping. Papyrus was sleeping with his arms and legs spread out, his arms and one leg sticking out from the blanket, one of his arms draped across both Comic and Eras. You noted that Comic, Eras and Swey had ditched their hoodies and jackets, letting you see their exposed arm bones as they slept. Swey was hugging a long pillow tightly, sleeping on his side while Eras and Comic were sleeping on their backs.

As you were going to the stairs, you glanced into the kitchen and smiled seeing Fio. He looked busy cutting something up but did glance up at you and Verdana. He did a double take at the sight of you and beamed. “Cupcake!” Verdana put a finger up to his mouth then pointed over to the living room. Fio quickly shut his mouth, looking abashed as he nodded. He opted to walk over to the two of you instead. “Good Morning, Cupcake, Verdana.”

“Good morning, Mufffin,” you whispered. Fio bent down to give you a hug. You smiled and hugged him back.

“Morning, Fio! Getting Ready For Work?”

“Oh, Yes!” He quickly pulled back, “Well, Not Really For Work... I Woke Up A Little Earlier Than Normal So I’m Making Breakfast For Everyone! I Should Be Getting Back To It...” He glanced back at the kitchen before looking at you, then Verdana, then the hand Verdana had on your shoulder. “Oh, Did Things Go Alright...?”

“Yes!” You quickly answered but flushed at how loud your reply was and put your hand to your mouth, glancing at couches. When you didn’t hear anything, your shoulders sagged in relief and you continued quieter, “Yes, everything went great. Thank you so much, Fio.”

Verdana looked confusedly between you and Fio while he laughed happily, “Nyeh Heh! It Really Was Nothing, Cupcake! I’m Happy It Worked Out! Excuse Me... I Really Should Get Back To Cooking... But Feel Free To Join Me If You Can!” Fio gave you one more pleased smiled before going back to preparing breakfast.

You and Verdana continued forwards up the stairs and towards the two unmarked doors between Swey and Fios, and Comic and the other unmarked door, explaining they were both bathrooms and you could take your pick. After a quick game of eenie meenie minie moo, you went into the right bathroom. It was primarily white and blue, with half the walls tiled in white and the upper half painted a light blue. The floors were tiled white as well with blue carpets near the shower bath combo, the toilet and the double basins. There were a few products on the cabinet around the basins and two toothbrushes in a glass. There was a hand towel hanging beside on the wall beside each sink as well as a towel beside the shower. There was a long, white cupboard with blurry windows showing more towels inside.

You quickly did your business and washed your hands, eyeing the toothpaste and figuring you should at least finger brush your teeth at the least. After reading over the toothpaste to be sure it was okay for human use, you quickly cleaned up your mouth, got your hair into reasonable order before you walked out the bathroom again. The hallway was empty but not for long because Verdana quickly walked out his room when he heard the bathroom door open. He hurried over to you with another bundle of clothes in his hand.

“Here! You Can Change Into These After You Wash Up!”

“No, it’s alright! I can just change into the clothes I wore yesterday...” From the disapproving frown on his face, you figured he did not like the sound of that.

“I Can’t Let You Wear Dirty Clothes After You Shower! It’s Fine To Borrow My Stuff, Berry,” Verdana insisted. You sighed but couldn’t help smiling a little as you took the clothes.

“Okay... thank you,” you hesitated for a moment before giving him a grateful kiss to his cheek. He brightened up instantly, blue spreading across his cheek and nasal bones.

“Mweh Heh! I’d Give You All My Clothes If I Always Get A Kiss From You For It,” he giggled before ushering you back into the bathroom, “Take Your Time. It’s Still Really Early So The Others Won’t Be Waking Up For A While. Feel Free To Use Anything In There That You Need.”

You nodded, going back into the bathroom. Wait, if it was so early, why couldn’t you have just gone back to sleep then? You’d see if you could once you were washed up. You definitely appreciated being able to shower first before anyone else. You looked the clothes over. A pair of blue sweatpants and a simple, black v-neck t-shirt. Acceptable. After fighting with the shower knob for a bit for the perfect temperature, you washed yourself up, enjoying the perfect water pressure from the shower head before you forced yourself out before you had the chance to linger any longer under the warm embrace of the water raining down on you.

You dried yourself quickly using a towel from the cabinet and got dressed. The clothes were once again a near perfect fit so after placing your used towel into the laundry hamper, you walked out. You could hear the sound of the shower in the next bathroom going so figured Verdana must be showering, too. With nothing else to do, you ventured down and into the kitchen to check in on Fio before you could go back to the makeshift bed in the living room.

You were a little surprised to see Papyrus in the kitchen with him, talking animatedly as the both of them were busy on different tasks. It sounded like he was talking about last night. Papyrus stopped talking when you walked in, waving at you eagerly.

“GOOD MORNING, FRIEND!” You flinched a little at how loud he was and spared a glance to the living room. “OH, DON’T WORRY ABOUT THEM. THEY CAN SLEEP THROUGH AN EARTHQUAKE! WHICH I HAVE SEEN COMIC DO!”

“That’s a relief... er... not about the earthquake... uh, morning Papy!”

“DID YOU SLEEP WELL?” You nodded, flushing a little as you remembered Verdana’s warmth surrounding you. “AS DID I! I’D SAY YOUR FIRST SLEEPOVER WAS AN OFFICIAL SUCCESS! EVEN IF IT WAS SEVERLY LACKING IN MANY OF THE ACTIVITIES I WISHED WE COULD HAVE DONE...”

“I’m A Little Sad I Missed Out On It,” Fio sighed, taking a pause from whisking before he continued, “But I’ll Be Sure To Join Your Next One!”

You nodded, “Definitely! The more the merrier, especially with you all!”

“EXACTLY!”

“Um... is there anything I can do?”

“Well... You Could Bring Out The Plates?” You nodded, walking to the cabinet with the plates in, counting out seventeen and doing your best to spread them out evenly on the island counter. With nothing else to do, you put yourself into clean up duty and dutifully got to work keeping Papyrus and Fio’s work stations clean. They both were grateful for it so you were now even more revved up to help out.

Verdana came back down once Fio was half way frying up the omelettes, looking fresh and full of life. Seeing Papyrus awake, he turned to the living room. He soon came back and to your bafflement, was carrying Comic and Eras under his arms with Swey hanging over his shoulder, all of them still fast asleep and looking like loss sacks of potatoes. You could only stare at him effortlessly carry them all up the stairs until he was on the second floor and out of sight. You looked to Fio and Papyrus but besides looking mildly amused, neither looked like this was out of the ordinary.

Verdana came rushing back down and up, this time with pillows and blankets in hand. With nothing else to do currently besides just wait for messes to clean up, you decided to switch your assistance to Verdana instead. He tried to tell you it was fine but when you insisted you wanted to, he didn’t protest further and let you take some stuff to carry yourself. He simply instructed you to drop them off in his room for now so you did.

You got a surprisingly good workout hefting all those blankets up and were more than happy to plop down on the couch when you were done, raising your hands triumphantly at the now blanket and pillow free carpet. Verdana eagerly took the chance to high ten your opened palms from behind you, with enough power behind it to leave your palms stinging a little.

“Owww... a job well done stings,” you half heartedly whined, flexing your hands.

“SORRY! GIVE THEM HERE,” Verdana took your hands into his, the familiar fabric of his gloves instead of his bare boned hands meeting your skin, before pressing them to his teeth. You flushed, laughing.

“Already better! Thank you!” Verdana let your hands free and walked over to the coffee table. He eyed it thoughtfully. “Do you need help?”

“NO... WELL... MAYBE YOU COULD HOLD THESE?” He pointed to the little items atop it. You quickly got to your feet and picked them all up. “THANKS!” Then, he proceeded to lift the table above his head with ease. You felt like you needed to stop being shocked at the physical feats Verdana could do but you couldn’t help staring at him impressed. How easily could he pick you up like that? He placed it down in its rightful place and motioned you over with the trinkets. After arranging everything in place, he looked over the living room with a satisfied smile before trotting over to the kitchen, only glancing back at you to be sure you were following after him. Fio was down cooking and was hurrying through his own plate while Papyrus cleared out the kitchen while he did. Fio had finished in practically just two blinks, putting his plate away and rushing to the door, Papyrus rushing after him.

“Bye, Cupcake! Bye, Verdana!”

“Thank you for breakfast!”

“THANKS!”

The two of them smiled back at you in acknowledgement and they were out the door with Papyrus closing the door behind them.

“FIO DOESN’T HAVE A CAR SO PAPS DRIVES HIM TO WORK SINCE HE HAS A CAR THAT FITS HIM AND HE USUALLY WAKES UP PRETTY EARLY, TOO!” Verdana quickly explained, picking up two of the plates and taking them to the dining room. The two of you ate your breakfasts with light chatting filling the silence. It was nice and peaceful and felt very... domestic. It was a nice feeling.

You heard the sound of the sliding door opening followed by swift footsteps walking along the wooden floor. Hadriatic quickly walked through the archway and cutting through to the kitchen through the dining room. It was a little bit of a shock seeing him dressed in a black and white chef’s uniform, his hands fiddling with his sleeve. His eye lights glanced over at you and Verdana but he didn’t stop walking on.

“WHY IS THE HUMAN HERE?” He asked loudly from the kitchen.

“WE HAD A SLEEPOVER!” His only response to that was a grunt but he didn’t speak up after that.

“Um... good morning, Hadriatic,” you called to try be polite. He only let out another, slightly louder grunt in response but it was better than nothing.

“CAN’T YOU ANSWER BETTER THAN THAT? ARE YOU AN ANIMAL?”

“I WILL BITE YOU.”

You had to stifle a laugh at that reply as Verdana looked less than impressed, “YOU’RE NOT HELPING PROVE ME WRONG!” You shot Verdana a curious glance regarding Hadriatic’s clothes, he explained, “OH, HADRIATIC’S A CHEF! IT’S A NICE PLACE! REALLY FANCY! WE SHOULD GO THERE!”

Hadriatic’s voice called from the kitchen. “IF YOU WANT MY COOKING THAT BADLY THEN ASK... NO, BEG! HAH! YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO PAY FOR IT THAT WAY!”

“IF IT WAS JUST ABOUT THE FOOD, I WOULD HAVE ASKED BUT IT REALLY IS A NICE LOOKING PLACE! PLUS, THERE’S A FIFTY FIFTY CHANCE YOU WOULD COOK FOR US BUT IF WE GO THERE, YOU HAVE TO!” Verdana grinned victoriously at Hadriatic’s momentary silence.

“... WHATEVER, NOT LIKE I CARE EITHER WAY.” He finally settled on. After a few more minutes you heard a plate clanking into the sink and Hadratic’s quick footsteps on the floor, only catching a glimpse of him as he passed by the kitchen archway before he was gone, the front door opening and closing as he left.

“A chef and a baker... must be really nice having two professionals under the same roof,” you commented as you got back to eating.

“I THINK THERE ARE PLENTY OF GOOD COOKS IN THE HOUSE! MYSELF BEING THE BEST, OF COURSE! BUT ALL THE OTHERS ARE VERY, VERY GOOD, TOO!”

You laughed softly, “Of course.”

Once you were done eating, the two of you placed your dishes into the sink. Verdana opened the cupboard doors leading to the dishwasher before pulling it open. It was stuffed full. Verdana was about to ask if you’d rather rest but seeing you standing firmly beside him, he stopped himself and simply handed you a spare drying cloth with a determined grin. It was around then that Papyrus returned, calling his arrival to the house before going straight upstairs.

Chapter 18(Alternate version where MC does get to sleep in and doesnt wake up to pee but because loud skeletons are loud lol)

You were pulled into semi-consciousness at the sounds of voices speaking. Between that fuzzy state of awakeness and sleeping, you passively took note of the words you heard.

“... WE NEED TO START PACKING THINGS AWAY! IT’D BE INCONVIENENT HAVING ALL THIS ON THE GROUND THIS LONG. HAVEN’T YOU BOTH SLEPT ENOUGH?”

“BUT, I DON’T WANT TO WAKE HER UP! WE STAYED UP REALLY LATE AND SHE LOOKED PRETTY TIRED... YOU KNOW HUMANS NEED TO SLEEP LONGER THAN US.”

“HMMMM... I GUESS... SHE CAN JUST SLEEP IN YOUR ROOM THEN! PROBLEM SOLVED! SO UP AND AT ‘EM!”

At this point, you were fully awake. You reluctantly opened your eyes, rubbing at them. The movement caused the conversation to come to a halt. You blinked your eyes open, this time the room wasa lot brighter than before. Looking up, you met Verdana’s blue eye lights and Papyrus’s white ones, who was standing and much further away.

“... Ngeh?” was the eloquent thing you managed to say.

Papyrus eagerly waved down at you, “GOOD MORNING, FRIEND! DID YOU HAVE A GOOD SLEEP?”

You quickly sat up, “Y-yeah, I did, thanks! Did you sleep well...?”

“OF COURSE! EVEN ON THE FLOOR, I HAD NOTHING BUT THE BEST OF SLUMPER!”

Verdana sat up beside you, “HAVE YOU SLEPT ENOUGH? YOU CAN GO TO MY ROOM IF YOU NEED TO REST MORE...”

You smiled at his consideration. You thought about it but shook your head, “No, I think I’m okay for now. Thank you, though. How did you sleep, Verdy?”

Verdana grinned brightly, “THE BEST SLEEP I’VE EVER HAD!”

“IF YOU WISH,” Papyrus spoke up, “FIO AND I MADE BREAKFAST FOR EVERYONE BEFORE HE LEFT! FEEL FREE TO HAVE A PLATE OF OUR MASTERFUL CREATION!”

Your stomach growled at the prospect of food. Verdana was instantly getting to his feet and leading you over to the kitchen. Upon entering it, you saw Abigaz there, stirring a mug and dressed differently than how you’d seen him before, with him wearing a nice button up and slacks. He smiled as the two of you entered, his smile widening when he’s eye lights fell on you.

“Oh, Good Morning, You Two! Happened To See How Cozy You All Looked This Morning,” he grinned before he sighed forlorningly, “I Wish I Got The Invite To Your Little Sleepover And Joined In On The Snuggling...”

“G-good morning, Abigaz,” you greeted him.

“MORNING!” Verdana scooted around Abigaz to the hot fridge, pulling out two plates from it. “WELL, THERE’S ALWAYS NEXT TIME!”

“There Is! Oh, It’d Be Super Fun!” Abigaz walked up to you, hand coming up to hold your chin. You tensed as he gently tilted your head from side to side, his eye lights looking over your face, the attention making your face flush, “Sweetheart, What A Nice Complexion You Have...!” His eye sockets sparkled, “Oooo, We Need To Have A Make-Over Session! It’d Be So Fun!”

Well, Papyrus had been planning on doing that, too, so, why not? “S-sure?” Wait... this is probably crossing some kind of dating comfort line right? You raised your hand to push his arm down.

Abigaz grinned, “Wonderful! It’s A Date!”

You froze, your hands in mid air, “Uh...! I’m- We-!”

Verdana swooped in then, bumping his elbow lightly against Abigaz’s side. He didn’t look upset if the grin on his face any indication, “GAZ, ARE YOU TRYING TO STEAL MY DATEMATE?”

Abigaz’s hand flew up to his own jaw, head snapped to look at him then at you, “DATEMATES?!” Abigaz’ looked over at you, beaming, “Really?!”

You let out a few laughs, flushing harder, “Y-yeah...”

“MWEH HEH HEH!”

“Um, well! A-and... and Black, too...”

“Oh My Stars! And We’re Just Learning This?! Danny! You Can’t Keep This Kind Of Thing To Yourselves!” Abigaz looked up, above your head, “And You, Too, Addie!”

You blinked in confusion, about to turn your head back but was attacked with a hug from behind.

“sorry,” Black said, not sounding the least bit sorry

Chapter 18( Kinda blanking on when this one took place. I had decided to stick with the waking up to pee part but changed it so Papyrus was awake as well but Verdana wanted to help too so had left MC to sleep)

“AN EARLY START TO THE DAY IS THE BEST START TO A DAY!” Papyrus exclaimed.

“Good Morning, Cupcake!” Fio called, turning around, pan in hand. He flipped an omelet onto a plate before placing the pan down making his way over to you.

“Morning, Fi-” Fio gently patted your head, causing your face to flush a little, “Morning, Fio.”

Fio smiled, then went back to cooking, “Papyrus And Verdana Have Been Filling Me In On What Has Happened Yesterday. While I’m A Little Sad I Couldn’t Join In, I Am Glad To Hear Everything Turned Out Alright Between The Three Of You!”

“Oh! Yeah!” You looked over at Verdana, feeling a smile pull at your lips, “Thank you so much for the help before, Muffin!”

“Nyeh Heh! It Really Was Nothing, Cupcake! I’m Happy Things Worked Out!”

“Oh, wait, aren’t you supposed to be going to work soon...?”

“Ah, Well, I Did End Up Waking Up A Little Earlier Than I Thought So I Decided To Make Breakfast For Everyone So It’s Alright...?” he glanced at Papyrus.

“YES, DO NOT WORRY! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT EVEN A SECOND LATE!”

Fio smiled gratefully at him before continuing, “Yes! And Papyrus And Verdana Were Nice Enough To Join In!”

Chapter 18(Divergence from posted chapter after waking up hugging Swey, instead of taking you to sleep somewhere peaceful, he just goes back to sleep lol)

and hugged it to his chest as he flopped back down and out of view. Huh. Him being so nonchalant about it ended up making you end up feeling a whole lot less embarrassed, at least. Sitting up, you noticed the light of dawn streaming through the windows and glass. Looking over, you noticed Papyrus wasn’t here either but listening in to the loud voices from the kitchen revealed that’s where he and Verdana had gone, with Fio’s voice chiming in every now and then.

After a few little stretches to shake off the worst of the sleepiness away, you made your way over to the kitchen. The three skeletons were indeed all there, Fio and Papyrus standing by the stoves while Verdana was whisking a bowl with passion. As if they could sense you there, the three paused talking and looking at you.

“BERRY! YOU’RE AWAKE ALREADY?” Verdana asked.

“Y-yeah...” Verdana narrowed his eye sockets at you before frowning.

“DID WE WAKE YOU UP?”

You shrugged slowly with a soft, “... Yeah...”

“I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN QUIETER! I’M SORRY, BERRY!” Verdana quickly put his things down and walked up to your side, “IF YOU WANT, YOU CAN GO SLEEP IN MY ROOM! IT’S A LOT QUIETER THERE!”

You shook your head, “No, it’s fine! If you’re all up anyway then it was probably time for me to get up, too...”

“I’m Sorry, Cupcake,” Fio called.

“I APOLOGISE AS WELL,” Papyrus said, “WE ARE JUST USED TO... VERY HEAVY SLEEPERS,” a glance at the living room told you all you needed to know.

Another chapter I fought with, geez

Scrapped Chapter 19(Instead of a sleepover with the Swapfell skeletons, it would have started immediately with Papyrus’)

Anyway, coming back to the present, you found yourself being driven once again to the skeleton’s residence by Papyrus and Fio. Both skeletons had a day off and decided to have you over to spend time with them. You had an inkling that Fio just really didn’t want you spending time alone in your apartment even after his little kitchen restocking spree and the thought had you feeling warm inside. You had checked in with both your datemates to see if either would be home when you visited, even just thinking of the word had you feeling giddy, through a group chat you quickly made to talk to them both and Verdana had bemoaned how he wouldn’t be home until much later due to work at the Fun Palace. Black had gloated he’d be home and getting you all to himself, receiving a cute angry cartoon skeleton gif from Verdana and a ‘Well, technically, I’m here to hang out with Fio and Papy so not all to yourself...’ which was promptly answered with, ‘yea but theyre not dating u so doesnt count. all mine’ Which prompted an unintentional squeak from you in response, placing your phone screen down on the car seat, that pesky fluttering feeling coming again. You felt your phone buzzing again, probably because of a response from Verdana but you needed a moment to recover.

“Cupcake? Is Something Wrong?” you heard Fio ask over the rush of the wind in your ears.

“HUH? DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?” You looked up to see Papyrus still focused on the road like a model driver but you did notice him glance over at the rear view mirror while Fio looked at you curiously.

You let out a sigh which turned into a soft chuckles, “I-It’s nothing to worry about, don’t worry!” You shook it off, looking at the two with a smile you hoped was assuring, That seemed to put Fio more at ease as he relaxed more, at least. “So, could you tell me what you had planned today?”

“OH, YES! WELL, I FIGURED SINCE WE WERE SO HORRIBLY PREPARED FOR THAT SLEEPOVER, WE’LL MAKE UP FOR IT! THE ACTIVITIES WE COULDN’T DO THEN, WE’LL BE DOING NOW!”

“Oh! That sounds fun!” And explained why they asked you to bring an overnight bag just in case.

“And this time, I’ll actually be awake to join in,” Fio chimed in, a soft smile on his face.

“Yep! With you there, it’ll be one hundred times funner, Muffin!” you said, partly as a joke but you really did look forward to spending time with him. You noticed that faint orange blush on his cheekbones coming in from that, the tall skeleton tugging at his sweater sleeves.

“Nye Heh Heh...”

As the drive continued, you eventually found the strength to check your phone after a couple more buzzes. Black had added a message to his other one saying how it was only fair to even it out since you got to spend a whole sleepover with Verdana and not him to which Verdana defended himself that it was a last minute decision. Black seemed to back off oddly easily after that. Something felt a little odd to you about that but you didn’t press it, instead choosing to tell Verdana you couldn’t wait to see him whenever that might be and that you were excited to see Black when you arrived. The conversation came to a pleasant end soon after, you feeling a happy buzz inside you that wanted to keep talking to them but that would be rude to your current company and typing on a phone under the glare of the sun was a little hard.

The rest of the ride passed pleasantly with you and Fio listening to Papyrus talk about the outreach he did yesterday with the skills of a true story teller that had you hooked on every word. You wondered how he had the energy to go from being so busy yesterday to being willing to host you today but you weren’t going to complain. When you arrived, you were just expecting a relaxing afternoon with Papyrus and Fio but planning to spend time with just the skeleton you made plans with had never been something that’s happened to you yet at their residence.

“there you are, cherry. was wondering when i’d get to see your pretty self around here again.” You blinked as you looked at Candera. Papyrus had gone off to get ‘ESSENTIAL SLEEPOVER MATERIALS’ from his room so it left you and Fio to wait for him downstairs and your pacing around had led you to the kitchen doorway where you happened to meet eyes with Candera. You hardly saw the purple bodied skeleton or his brother when you visited, the last time you saw Candera being the short time he was there for breakfast after the sleepover but he was quickly on his way out, shooting you a wink goodbye.

You quickly shook the surprise off mentally and smiled and waved. “Hi, Candera!”

Candera pulled a face, well as much as he could with that near permanent smile on his face, “full name? makes it feel like there’s a wall between us,” while not a wall, your eyes did glance down to the kitchen island actually between the two of you and wondered if that was a joke you should say out loud. As if he could read your mind, his smile widened as he stepped around it, “well, I’d prefer if we were closer, in all senses of the word by the way.” He stopped just a step into your personal bubble, the short distance between you and his half lidded smirk making your treacherous heart skip a beat. No! You were a loyal woman! You would not be swayed by another, nope! You wanted to take a step back but would that be considered rude? Candera continued speaking while you were having your mental debate on politeness, “call me ‘candy’. or well, anything those sweet lips of yours wants to call me.”

You felt like your face was going to combust. Was that flirting? It probably was... So, that was a crossed line, right? Right! You laughed awkwardly as you took a step back, “C-Candy, I’ll just stick with Candy then!”

“sweet, that’s a deal then,” Candera chuckled, stepping back and giving you your space. You let out a silent breathe of relief, not even registering the pun yet.

You felt a hand on your head and looked up to see Fio, who was looking at Candera with an expression that looked a lot like a scolding parent, “Candera...”

“i know, i know,” Candera shrugged, before his voice lowered to sultry tune, “you know i’d never give more than what anyone can handle.”

Fio pet at your head a few times, the touch a little embarrassing but also made you feel warm inside, “Yes, I’d Hope So. I Don’t Want Cupcake Getting Uncomfortable Here For Any Reason So I’d Hope You’ll Know To... Keep It In Check.”

Candera winked, “course. I’d hate for her to get sick of me before we even get started.”

“Started...?” you repeated questioningly.

“ah well...”

“CANDERA AND ABIGAZ WANTED TO JOIN US!” You jumped slightly, not expecting Papyrus back so quickly. How had you not heard him coming down the stairs...? He came bounding into the kitchen with a box in his arms, “AND OF COURSE, THE MORE THE MERRIER!”

You weren’t sure if you completely agreed with that phrase currently so choose not to say anything. You didn’t want them catching even the slightest bit of insincerity in your words so settled for simply nodding. You were kind of just hoping for just a smaller hang out with Fio and Papyrus and maybe also one or both of your datemates if they were home not anything big. But hang outs here always turned out good so no need to be pessimistic!

“Now That Papyrus Has Gotten What He Needs, Let’s Get Going, Shall We? Is Everything Ready On Your Side, Candera?” Fio asked. You blinked. Huh?

“knowing abbie, he’d probably about done by now so we can head over,” Candera replied. His gaze moved to you and you stiffened. He held his arm out, “well, my escortin’ duty isn’t over till you all arrive so allow me.”

“O-oh, um...” you were about to take his arm but stopped, “I have to make a stop, actually!”

“A STOP?” Papyrus asked curiously.

“W-well, you see... I’d like to at least say hi to Black first so...”

“awww, now ain’t that sweet. fittin,” Candera chuckled. “ah, well, nothing’s stopping ya from getting a quick pit stop then. probably wanna get some sugar from ya sugar skull, huh?”

Your cheeks warmed, “I-I. uh... just want to say hi! I’ll be over right after!”

“IT’S GREAT TO SEE YOU STILL SO ENTHUSASTIC FOR OUR HANG OUT THEN,” Papyrus spoke up, “THEN GET A MOVE ON, FRIEND! THE QUICKER YOU CANOODLE OR WHATEVER YOU DO WITH BLACK, THE QUICKER WE CAN GET TO BEGIN OUR ACTIVITIES!”

Oh dear heavens above. You could only nod and quickly make your escape, hearing a snort from behind you. You hurried out the house and took a breath, rubbing your hot face to hopefully cool it down. After a moment to recuperate, you made your way over to Black and Radis’ cabin, giving the door a few hearty knocks once you arrived.

You didn’t expect to hear a very familiar voice almost as soon as you finished your last knock, “who’s there.”

You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help the smile that pulled on your lips as you thought of a reply, cringing just a little as you thought of one but it also felt too good to simply pass up, “Iguana.”

“hmmm, don’t know an iguana. sorry, buddy.”

You huffed, “Fine, let a good knock knock joke go to waste then. I’m so disappointed...”

“oof, last thing i want is to make whoever this iguana dude is disappointed. alright, iguana who?”

“Well, I was gonna say ‘Iguana see you so please open the door’ but I’ll just take my leave then.” You only managed to have turned your back to the door when it finally opened. You didn’t expect to have a pair of arms wrapped around you from behind faster than you could blink and you let out a gasp in surprise.

“well, wouldya look at that. Turns out it wasn’t an iguana but a mouse,” you surprise quickly turned to amusement as you relaxed in his hold. That quickly changed as Black leaned down, practically whispering the next words in your ear and causing a shiver down your spine, “caught ya, mousey.”

Your heart started thudding in your chest and your breathe caught for a moment before you could only let out a squeak in response. Black’s breathy sounding laughter tickled your ear despite the fact that no air was coming out of his mouth, flustering you even more. “I-I’m gonna guess it was my very clever knock knock joke that has you cracking up like that.”

“yep, totally,” he said as his laughter died down, his grip on you lessening just a bit. “come on, let me see ya.” You’re already warm face heated up more as you slowly

Scrapped Chapter 19 (another divergence after the first three paragraphs. Was supposed to have Black have his solo sleepover to shine but well that didnt pad out now did it. A little sad looking back at it cause this was so cute)

You were pulled back into the present but a soft rumbling against your cheek. You sleepily looked up at Black, who’s cheekbones were a little more purple then when you last looked at him. To backtrack a little, you had been invited to another, more proper sleepover by Papyrus to make up for the first one, despite you insisting the first one had been a blast. Black had announced he’d be taking you to the lodge this time except, he arrived a whole day earlier than expected.

Black had insisted on getting a sleepover with you after learning he got ‘cheated out of the last one’, his words. He had even suggested it be at your apartment instead of at the lodge so he could have you all to himself without any interruptions. The wording had your brain and face overheating but you couldn’t argue. It would be nice to get to spend time with your datemate without the threat of another skeleton being a room away.

Currently, both of you were simply just bumming around on your couch, a random movie playing on your tv and a few snacks that Black had brought along on the coffee table in front of you. Black had immediately pulled you close the moment you sat down, which made your heart race. But after a while, you had settled into a very comfortable calm, resting against Black like he was a very comfortable body pillow, made even nicer by the fact he had his ecto-body activated. “maybe i just feel like using it,” was his excuse when you noticed it happen thanks to the rare moment of Black foregoing his trusty hoodie but the smirk on his skull made it obvious he was doing it for you. It had surprisingly gotten your heart beating a little faster seeing so much of his torso exposed since he apparently only wore a black tank top under his hoodie. You definitely did not mind though. It felt pleasantly tingly against your skin.

A smile pulled at your lips as you reached up to gently cup at his cheeks, the move a little awkward with your position but not impossible. His cheekbones felt smooth, firm and warm under your palms and made you want to rub them. Even if the only light in the room being the television, his handsomeness shone through clearly, his sharp canines and his naturally laid back expression making something in you flutter excitedly. His pretty, pink eye light met your gaze easily, one of his eye ridges raising a little at your prolonged stare and hold on his skull. You’d think he was completely unaffected by it if not for that blush on his cheeks darkening.

“got ya captivated by my good looks, aye?” he asked softly, his grin widening.

Maybe it was the calmness of the atmosphere getting you more relaxed than normal but you ended up blurting out an honest, “Yeah.” Black paused, his grin lowering just a little as both his eye ridges rose up. Now it was your turn to blush as laughed a little awkwardly as your gaze moved off of him, “Well... I mean... you are a good looking skeleton so...”

“only on a skeleton scale?” he teased, bringing his own hands to your cheeks, pulling at your cheeks slightly.

“Okay, okay, you’re good looking, period,” you amended. That satisfied him as he let go of your cheeks but kept on of his hands on your cheek, lightly pressing on it as the other went back to lightly resting on your back.

“you’re pretty easy on the ol’ eye socket yourself, mousey,” he shot back easily, pressing his finger into your cheek which puffed up a little in mock frustration as you looked up at him. Your heart warmed at the sight of the soft smile on his face. It felt a lot more relaxed than his usual ones, a smile you’d been seeing more and more lately and frankly were inwardly elated to see every time.

“Gee, thank you,” you huffed but gave up the annoyed act pretty soon after as you continued looking at him, more interested in him than the movie at the moment. Black seemed more calm with you gaze as he silently let you do so, his hand lightly drifting over your cheek. There was one thing about him that you were curious about and staring at it for this long only made your curiosity grow larger than normal. “Why do you wear an eyepatch...?”

Black blinked, the hand that had been on your back coming up to lightly touch at said eyepatch. For a moment, you worried you hit a sore spot for him. “cause it looks cool.” You blinked, then blinked again. At your dumbfounded expression, Black laughed airily. “wanna see me without it?”

“I mean... a little?”

“mousey wants to see me all exposed,” Black jokingly gasped, moving his hand to his forehead, pressing the back to his forehead and poking at your cheek.

“Pffft,” you giggled and decided to play along,letting go of his skull to make grabby hands at him, “You got me all figured out, show me, show me.”

Black chuckled, letting the half hearted act drop. He hooked the strap of his eyepatch under his index finger, “alright, you asked for it, mousey.” He slowly pulled it up and you held your breath, watching more of the area you had never seen slowly being exposed under the dim light of the tv. Black had to be teasing you with how long this was taking. As more of his eyepatch was removed, you were half surprised not to see a scar there like a few of the other skeletons. You were even more surprised when he opened his eye and it was... exactly the same as his other one. The confusion on your face must have tickled him since Black laughed again, his chest vibrating with his laughter.

“told ya. wear it cause its cool,” he said, twirling the eyepatch around his finger.

“... really?” you pressed, unable to look away from the newly revealed eye light shining in the darkness along with it’s double.

“aww, don’t like it?”

“No, its just... I can’t really imagine covering half my eyesight just to look cool,” you answered honestly.

“heh, well, only cause it’s you, i’ll tell ya,” your eyes widened, having already settled for his ‘cause it’s cool’ answer. He pointed to his right eye light, “this little fucker sees shit different.” At your curious head tilt, he elaborated, “it’s like... constantly seeing the type of stuff ya see in an encounter, like checkin’ everyone all the time. got annoyin’ seein’ 24/7 and keeping my eye closed all the time got annoyin’ too so covered it up.”

“Huh,” you nodded in understanding. You thought it must be pretty useful but being checked all the time without knowing might feel a little embarrassing. “Oh, then what do you see when you’re looking at me?”

The corner of his mouth tilted up. He stayed quiet as he moved his eye patch to simply rest around his neck like a necklace. “... nah.”

“... huh?”

“eye,” he winked, “’m keepin’ that my little secret.”

“Awww, come on, unfair!” Despite your protests, Black did not spill whatever read he got from looking at you but after a few more attempts to get it out of him, you gave up. Mostly because he suddenly pulled you up higher and leaned in, pressing a few kisses to your cheek then forehead, getting you too flustered to even think of pressing the issue. Black chuckled softly as he nuzzled into your hair, forcing a smile to come onto your face as you happily took in the soft affection, snuggling up to him as you got comfortable in your new position.

Chapter 19 (alternate of what happened when you arrive at Vet and Parix’s)

Rusch suddenly sat up, making you flinch in surprise but you noticed the faint shine of magic and calmed down. Rusch didn’t even so much as stir from the adjustment. “... take a seat... if you want.”

“Thank you,” you smiled, walking over to the couch and sitting down, giving Rusch his space to nap in peace. Black took his spot right next to you. You didn’t expect him to pull his hoodie off, leaving him in just a black tank top. Your eyes roamed over all the suddenly exposed bone. You didn’t know how your brain was categorising a bunch of bones as attractive but somehow, looking at him had you blushing again and you awkwardly looked away to look at the tv screen but since the screen was black, you could still see him through the reflection. He chuckled besides you and you saw him reach out to wrap his arms around you and pull you close to him. You were able to see in real time his own ecto-body forming, a pretty dull lavender colour, and it helped make the cuddling more comfortable than it already was with how cushiony his body was.

“um, so...” Parix cleared his throat, getting your attention again. His hand came up to his wrist“i didn’t really plan anything so if you wanna do anything... just let me know.”

“Oh!” you immediately remembered your excitement at the idea of getting to play more of his games if you had a chance and he just handed it to you on a silver platter. “Can I see the games we can play?”

Parix lit up adorably, quickly turning around to go to a chest that had been placed next to the tv stand. He picked it up like it weighed nothing and quickly made his way over to you, awkwardly stepping around the mattress on the bed. He opened it and seeing the many game covers was like looking into a shining treasure chest. “take your pick.”

Take your pick you definitely did. You carefully looked through the games available before finding a a game you had seen, eagerly asking him if you could play that. Parix didn’t seem to mind your choice at all with the small smile on his skull as he nodded, the cover being gently pulled out of your hold by his familiar yellow magic as he went to put the chest back down. As he walked over to the consoles in the tv stand, the game cover floating into his hands.

As he set the game up, something cold pressed against your cheek, startling you. You quickly turned your head to see a glass of your favourite soda being held by a bare, skeleton hand. Looking up, your eyes met Vet’s red eye light, his smile mischievous.

“HERE YOU ARE, DEAR,” he said, his smile widening before he continued, “I HOPE YOU, HM, ‘CHILL-AX’ DURING YOUR TIME HERE.” Black snorted.

“argh,” Parix recoiled like he had been personally attacked, but the poorly smile on his showed the pun had at least gotten to him.

You let out an exhale in amusement, “Th-thank you.” You took the glass from his hold and sipped at the drink happily.

“and what about-” Black was cut off with a bottle of sweet chili almost hitting him right in the face but stopping just a few centimetres off. You had flinched back at how quickly it came in but Black didn’t even blink. He simply took the magically delivered bottle, lifting it slightly in Vet’s direction, “ever the perfect host.”

“I DO TRY,” Vet said, his smile returning to its usual leisurely one as he walked to what you now were just assuming as his recliner, sitting down and crossing one leg over the other, his hands interlocked and resting on his knee. Parix came not quite jogging not quite walking back, two controllers in hand. He gently placed one in your awaiting hand before sitting in the open space between you and Rusch, close enough that your arms were touching. You felt a little fuzzy that he choose to sit so close despite how much free space was available for him to sit.

For a while, it was pleasantly tranquil between the four of you, Parix helping you get the hang of the game and the oh so hilarious commentary of Vet and Black. You hadn’t realised what an awful pair the two of them made together until they were both tag teaming to light-heartedly tease some of the little slip ups you did, with your datemate taking advantage of his closeness to poke and squeeze at you at the worst times as you played. You were thankful at least one skeleton was on your side since Parix steadfastly took up his role as your defender with his trusty cushion, even if they simply dodged the projectile more times than not. You had worried Vet wouldn’t be too keen on having a pillow thrown at his face but he seemed tickled pink at his younger brother’s (failed) attempts at silencing him more than anything. It got you giggling and at least made up for the teasing.

You were a good portion into the game when a soft snort caught your attention. Taking short glances to your side, you noticed Rusch slowly blink his eye sockets open, before he let out a long, quiet yawn, his chompers on full display.

“’s cutie here yet?” he mumbled sleepily. You stiffened, cheeks warming up. He just woke up and that was his first thought? Then again, maybe he had just fallen asleep waiting for your arrival so it’d make sense it was the first thing he thought of when he woke up.

“I’D RECOMMEND CHECKING FOR YOUSELF,” Vet replied instead. Rusch huffed, dissatisfied, moving a little in his seat when his eye light suddenly snapped to meet your gaze. You gaze automatically moved right back to the screen when it did but you shook the awkwardness off to pause the game and face him properly with a smile.

“Morning, Ru-ahh!” You did not expect him to practically throw himself onto your lap, his face pressing his face into your stomach and wrapping his arms around your waist. Parix made a similarly strangled noise at having Rusch drape himself over his lap to reach you. You looked to the other skeletons for any help but Vet simply looked amused, Parix looked a little annoyed and Black only huffed, pulling your upper half closer to him but otherwise not moving Rusch off of you so you were on your own in dealing with the pile of bones clinging onto you. “Uh, um... hello?” You awkwardly patted his back, not sure what else to do.

Rusch didn’t reply, simply settling on your lap like his own personal pillow. Now you were at a total loss on what to do with him. You didn’t really mind him being there, it wasn’t like he was heavy so you decided to leave him there. He was a nice belly heat warmer at least. You decided to simply go back to playing for now.