Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This… Was supposed to be a regular Friday for you. Get home from work, pop in that leftover Chinese food, chill in front of your computer, maybe play a few games hoping to everything that the storm tonight wouldn’t knock out your power…
However the six pairs of tiny skeleton eyelights staring at you from the dirty cage they were in threw all that and more out the window.

Welp, it’s a great thing you started your vacation today, you wouldn’t want to have to go to work in the morning.

Now you’ve heard of bitty’s before, hell you’ve gone down the usual wiki rabbit hole reading page after page on them. The care of them, the types of them, you’ve even thought about adopting one yourself till you realized just how intelligent they are. They would be more of a roommate than a pet and it just didn’t sit right with you to force them into your home under your thumb… Especially when you weren’t sure if they’d even like you or any of your weird habits in the first place.

Unfortunately with the situation that you’re placed with right now, you couldn’t ponder that too deeply.

All six of them were backed into the corner, dirty, hurt, glaring, maybe scared… Definitely ready for a fight with all the tiny bones they conjured up and floating in place.

Directly at your face of course.

You’d found the cage just sitting on your doorstep covered up in a dirty sheet that may have been white when it first started out. You’d first thought it might have been from your elderly neighbor. She tends to set live traps for the critters running about. She never had the heart to kill them off but couldn’t figure out what to do with them, so you’d made a deal that you’d release them out far away from her home and in return you’d get freshly baked cookies from her.
You brought the cage inside and set it on your countertop to make sure the animal didn’t need help or anything.

And well… Here you are now. Having a one to six stare off that might end up losing you an eye.

You forced yourself to breathe, there was no use in panicking. Just… Take it slow, just as you always do.

You gave them a soft smile.

“Uh… Hi? Sorry I-“

“NOT ANOTHER STEP HUMAN!” The tallest bitty, sharped toothed and slender (a Boss bitty most likely you think) and covered in scars and scrapes and the like stepped forward and barked at you… Or maybe commanded was more the right term. Either way he had your full attention.

You immediately froze. “I-I won’t move, I don’t plan on hurting you” You briefly thought about raising your hands in surrender but… That’d probably spook them more.

There was a loud grunt from one of them at your words as one of the smaller, rounder skeletons moved forward. “AND HOW CAN WE TRUST YOU? YOU’RE A FILTHY HUMAN LIKE THE REST OF THEM”

Was… Was that a Baby Blue? It was so hard to tell but… It certainly looked like one, but weren’t they supposed to be friendly? The sheer venom that filled his voice was shocking to say the least.

However, before the thought could reach you, your stupid stupid mouth decided to make a move for you.

“I was about to get a shower if that helps any, I really like being clean, honest!”

You regretted it the moment it came out as every eyelight looked at you in disbelief. You know, maybe one of these days you’d learn when to stop talking.

“hey” You think that was an Edgy talking, small round and sharp teeth, he was standing right in front with the Boss bitty “are ya stupid or something?”

Well only one answer to that.

“Yes”

…You’re hoping the snort you heard was one out of held back laughter and not something else.

What was that thought about panicking? How not too? Well at least it was more of the fact that you socially screwed up rather than at the situation. Speaking of.

“I uh… Could open the cage door and leave the room? Er uh, you’re in my house right now, and… And! I have monster food!” You’ve heard that helps bittys! Thank goodness the foodie in you wanted to be adventurous! “I uh, can whip something up! Some of ya’ll look hurt and it wouldn’t hurt to uh, wow said hurt twice, suppose I’m hurting my situation here-“ Another snort, please please be again of laughter! “B-but anyways! You guys do look like you need it!”

There was a beat of silence, eyelights glancing back and forth from each other as they seem to have a silent conversation between themselves.

Finally, another lanky skeleton moved forward, maybe a lil bro?

“alright, and how do you know what we need?” It was asked casually but the piercing stare and clenched fists told you it was anything but…

You swallowed thickly before finally opening up your mouth.

“I don’t… But…” You met his stare. “I know pain when I see it. It’s your guy’s choice on what you wish me to do. I’ll respect it” Once again, their eyelights looked back and forth from each other before seemingly coming to a decision.

“ALRIGHT HUMAN, YOU’LL MAKE US FOOD-“ You internally cheered! “BUT! I WILL BE ON YOUR SHOULDER! IF YOU DO ANYTHING SUSPICIOUS I WILL GOUGE YOUR EYE OUT! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!” The Boss bitty stepped forward, glaring at you.

You however… You couldn’t stop the beaming smile on your face. That was a good first step!

“Yes! Yes that works out perfectly fine!” You stood stalk still as he looked at you… Was he weirded out or angry? It was hard to place the look that he was giving you. Either way you weren’t going to move till he hopped up on your shoulder.

Wait, he couldn’t yet…

“I.. Uh… Can I… Open the door? Or uh… Do you still not want me to move…?”

An exasperated sigh exited out of the grumpy Boss bitty. “YES. OPEN THE DOOR. NOW. STARS YOU REALLY ARE STUPID.”

Well, ouch, but at this point it wasn’t worth commenting on. You moved to open the rusty door and then found another obstacle in your way. A padlock, and no key.

“Ok so… It’s locked up… I have a bolt cutter, uh but it’s in the garage. Can I go and get it?” The long aggravated sighing was probably going to be the one of many that you’re going to be hearing for the next while or so.

After a lot of threats and struggling to get the hand strength to use the bolt cutter to cut the lock off, the bitty’s were free and you were making dinner with your pointy escort on your shoulder. After getting a good look at them you finally think you figured what each of them were. A Sansy, who was in pretty bad shape judging by the way he was struggling to keep upright and the dim sockets. Right beside him, helping keep him up was a Papy. He kept looking between you and the Sansy warily as he was favoring his right arm… You couldn’t get a good look at it but you hoped that it wasn’t broken… How would you even treat that on a skeleton anyways?

They were sat on the furthest part of the counter, away from where you were in the kitchen.

Next was a Lil Bro and Baby Blue, standing side by side in front of the Sansy and Papy, most likely keeping guard. Both had scars and the lil bro seemed to be limping whenever he moved somewhere. Probably hurt his leg, for you you'll count it as a 'not so bad' since he seems to be walking around.

Finally was the Edgy and Boss. The Boss of course, was on your shoulder so you couldn’t get a real great peak at him, but the Edgy, well, he’s definitely looks like he went through it. His bones were littered with cracks and scars, he most definitely had it bad… But he still looked up at you like he could take you out if he had too.

…Honestly you were getting worried he probably could.

“HUMAN GO BACK TO THE FOOD! NOW!” Whoops, you were staring too long.

“Right right sorry, I got distracted” You turned back to the stove as you stirred in the meat. You decided to do something easy, you had some glamburger meat (haven’t been brave enough to try it quite yet, the description weirded you out) which you broke up threw into a skillet. Then you threw in some cheese and had some pasta boiling to the side, a kind of meat and cheese macaroni that’ll hopefully settle well…

Actually did they even have stomachs?

Er thought to voice out another time perhaps. You had a different one you needed to get to first.

“Would you all like a bath too? I could set something up so you could get the grim out, you guys can’t be feeling comfortable like that” You tried to glance at your shoulder at Boss. Stars, even their cloths looked horrid, like someone tossed them scraps of cloth to try to work around themselves… Not to mention the smell coming off of them was starting to get to you a bit. You wouldn’t have been surprised if they hadn’t been able to clean themselves in a long time.

“NO WE DON’T-“

“U-UM ACTUALLY” The Papy bitty spoke up bringing everyone’s attention to him. He glanced over at Sansy before his eyes darted to you then everyone else. “WE MIGHT WANT TO CONCIDER HER OFFER”

There was a series of “WHAT?” and a “are ya fuckin serious?!” before suddenly the group surrounded the Papy in hushed whispers. The boss bitty, of course, still sitting on your shoulder, probably furiously looking in the direction of the Papy.

…You tried your best to not eavesdrop as you went back to the food.

Every once in awhile, as the group huddle continued, you could feel the Boss bitty’s grip tighten on your shoulder, his sharp claws digging in as you had to suck in and not flinch.

From the bits and pieces that you were accidentally getting, it seems like there was a lot of back and forth on the risks of taking up your offer. They would weirdly get silent at certain points (heh, dead silent… Best to keep that one to yourself for now) as the debate went on before finally the Edgy stepped forward.

“alright, we’ll take you up on that, but ya fuckin do anything yer dead meat- got it?” His eyelights were piercing into you as you nodded slightly, making sure to not jostle the Boss.

“Yeah, of course! Food will be done in a few minutes, I’ll see about getting something for ya’ll to wash up in” Very quickly you drained the pasta and dumped it into the meat and cheese mixture. Added some black pepper and voila! It was done!

You grabbed the smallest plates you could (a lot of good that did, they were only just as big as the bitty’s were) and started setting them down on the counter, just slightly away from the group. You put the steaming food onto the plates before moving away to let them eat in peace.

“I’m going to see about getting containers and stuff for baths, hang on just a few minutes” There was a grunt of affirmation from the Boss… Actually did they have names? This was going to get a little old calling them by what they are.
But then again, you may need to save that question for when a better moment comes around.

You got into your cabinets and grabbed some bowls together, three of them, and got the tap on your sink running hot. It always took a bit for it but thankfully it seemed to get hotter faster for you today. Maybe helps that the weather was warming up or maybe someone up above decided to pity you for the hostage situation you were now in. Either way you were happy to take it.

You grabbed some clean hand towels, nice fluffy and white and moved to set them on the counter, and a dap of dawn dish soap in each bowl. Swirling it around, you got it all nice and bubbly. By this point all the bittys were going after your food with gusto, getting as much as they can get. They were mess while doing it too… Stars they must’ve been starving.

But then that means that the boss bitty that’s been sitting on your shoulder is probably the same way. You tilted your head towards him, enough to at least get him in your peripherals.

“Hey, listen. You’re starving too right? You can just climb down and I leave the room. I’ll just shut the door and whenever I need to come out I’ll just knock and ask first, would that work?” He glared at you, claws digging in once again.

“NO”

A single, pointed, no nonsense answer. Message was loud and clear.

“Alright then. I’ll wait” You leaned yourself against your kitchen sink, watching the bittys. As much as you didn’t like it, you can’t force someone that stubborn to move in a direction you want them too. Best course was to wait until they’re ready to move, pushing them just always makes it worse…

Or maybe that’s just you. You never were exactly a great word smith to start with, nor did you like confrontation. Or maybe it’s just that you’re terrible at reading people, you’ve definitely weirded out more than you’re share of people by getting the wrong read and apparently saying something really off the wall.

Ah, wait, they’re starting to finish up their food if by how they were slowing down was any indication. That meant bath time was next.

As curious as you were to see what’s underneath those scraps of cloth, you’re sure as hell aren’t going to watch them undress.

You close your eyes.

You listen as they shuffle around, clack of bones on the counter, cloth rubbing together, squishing of the food… Ok that last one was a little gross, but none the less you’re not going to react to that.

You kept waiting for the inevitable splash sound to come, the kitchen counter digging uncomfortably into your back as you did your best not to move around. Don’t want to risk the bitty next to you get trigger happy if you made the wrong move…
Actually you could feel him shifting around on your shoulder. Was he making himself comfortable, or was he about to fall off? You really hope he’s not about to pass out, he really really needs to eat. Maybe you can get him to switch off with one of his companions? That might be an easy compromise. Although… He might not agree to it till after everyone’s taken care of. He seems to be acting protector of the group… Or he’s just that confident he could handle you in a fight, which means your chances of going blind are pretty good.

Your internal musings were brought to a sudden halt as you realize it’s gotten eerily quiet. No sounds of movement, nothing. Was everything alright? The temptation to take a quick peak was strong but you held off.

“Um… You guys ok…? I could get you more stuff if you need…?” More shifting on your shoulder.

“HUMAN, WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOUR EYE’S CLOSED?” Ah, baby blue has spoken… And sounded pretty baffled. Was what you were doing really that weird?

“Er… It’s to give you guy’s privacy? I mean, ya’ll are about to bathe and I’m not going to stare at you like some creep… It’d be really rude” You had the urge to tilt you’re head to the side but refrained… It was still way too quiet for your liking. Were they wanting you to say something else???

“…Unless ya’ll want me to watch…?” There was a very sharp, painful poke to your cheek that made you flinch.

“Eye’s stay closed! Eye’s stay closed! Got it got it sorry!” You and your big fat mouth. You’re reminded once again why you needed to keep it shut.

Your rush of panic over, you once again hear movement, and finally splashing. A near silent sigh exits out of you, hoping that at the very least this will help them out….

Time seemed to pass slowly, with nothing but the occasional splash or grunt, but it was relaxing at the very least. You ended up letting your thoughts wander, about the bitty’s and what to do next.

It all got stopped once again. And quite abruptly at that.

“ey bro, my turn” You felt your soul leaving your body as you heard him on the other side of your head. Where’d he come from?!?!?!?!

“Wait! How’d you get-“ Another sharp poke to your cheek, leaving you to flinch and stiffen up. No questions for you then.

“BROTHER I DON’T-“

“you an’ I both know that ain’t how this’ll work. now get going” There was a huff and a grumble from the boss bitty… But he seemed to relent pretty easily to the edgy… You practically feel the weight from your shoulder lifted off as he practically disappeared from your shoulder….

You… You don’t think you even felt him move. How were they getting around????

Although, that’s probably another thought to sort out another time as you now had a new passenger… And probably more sharp bones at the ready if you messed up. You… Well kinda relax back again against the counter, right now there’s no use in doing anything until they permitted you, better this way for the time being.

“EXCUSE ME? HUMAN?” The Papy spoke up this time and thankfully not in your ear. You turn your head slightly towards the sound of his voice. He’s still on the counter right?

“Yeah? What’s up?” There was a slight pause…

“…THANK YOU”

You couldn’t help it. Your cheeks started to hurt with how hard you started smiling as your chest warmed. That probably wasn’t easy for him to say so you felt more than honored at the spoken gratitude.

“You’re welcome! If there’s anything else you need, let me know! I think I have some monster snacks around if ya’ll need more- Oh! Um, I can also see about setting up pillows or something! Ya’ll are probably tired right? I got plenty to spare and-“ Once again your prattling was interrupted with an extra sharp poke.

“ey! what makes you think we’re gonna stay here huh?! what? you fuckin’ think we’re gonna be your pets?!”

Oh… Oh boy… Well… They weren’t going to take this next bit of info well.

You pointed towards the direction you think your window is in.

“There’s a storm brewing tonight, bad one. Ya’ll can either stay here where you have shelter or you can hoof it out in the lightning and rain. You can leave in the morning if you wish but ya’ll won’t make it if you go tonight” And almost as if to make your point, a low rumbling sound comes in. Distant but unmistakable sound.

The bitty on your shoulder cusses under his breath and you can feel him digging into your shoulder. Yeah bud, you weren’t happy about it either.

“Look, I honestly don’t plan any harm to any of you. I don’t know how I can prove it to you for the night at least but… Erm…” Damnit what can you do? There’s no way you can get them to trust you right away but you also don’t want to be held hostage in your home for the entire night.

“I… Have a spare bedroom? It uh… Has a lock? On the inside of course, I won’t be able to come in if ya’ll want to use it”…………………..

Silence.

Were they…. Considering the offer?

“kid, you’re a real weirdo” You don’t recognize that (surprisingly) deep voice, was that the sansy??? Was he doing better?

“i say we check it out, we don’t like it we leave, do you have any objections to that?” There was a lengthy pause before you realize he was probably talking to you.

“Oh! Oh yeah! That will work! No complaints from me!” You gave him a slight nod, hopefully in his direction.

“then we have a deal…”

“don’t make us regret this”

Chapter Text

You sigh, toweling your wet hair off before flopping back in your bed. Already the rain came swooping in, drumming on the windows in a soothing pattern. It was a very far cry from the chaos of before. The bitties have released you from your hostage role and have all been settled into the guest room… Well at least you think they have… Maybe…

The moment they had walked in (very insistent on not being carried, even climbing down the counters on their own which gave you a heart attack) and you closed the door, you heard the immediate click of the lock being turned. How they managed to do it so quick, you’re not sure, but you didn’t really want to ask questions. Minus the occasional rustling, you didn’t hear too much after that so you decided the best course of action was to get yourself a much needed dinner and a good shower, it did wonders on letting your thoughts sort itself and what was needed to be done next.

Actually, speaking of…

You popped back off the bed and dragged your laptop over from your bedside table where it was plugged in, immediately getting to work.

As much as those bitties insist that they weren’t going to stay, the least you could do was load them up with monster food and bitty clothes. Staying or leaving or being dropped off somewhere, they should at least have things they can own for themselves, and supplies to help them last. So off you go to the convenience of online shopping.

As far as you know, there really wasn’t anything bitty store related close by to where you lived. Sure, bitties were growing huge in popularity, but so far all of the bitty stuff was mainly condensed to being around mt Ebott… Especially with the whole monsters coming from out of the ground bit.

It’s been about 5 years since then, and monsters for the most part have been welcomed back, but like all things there’s time and process. Old wounds needed to be mended, new laws written, jobs, money conversion, peace talks, basically a bunch of politics and a need to make sure that the monsters were protected from any harmful intentions that the less welcoming humans could have.

While it was slow going, monsters have started to slowly branch out in the world. It’s not fast or extensive by any means (well, Mettaton might be the exception to this, guy was born for the stage), but it’s steps forward towards a bright future. You have no doubt that monsters would eventually be integrated into human society, fully and equally, but it’ll just take time. Although bitties on the other hand…

Well that’s a whole different story.

You briefly shook the thought out of your head with that one. Monster politics with humans was complicated enough on it’s own, you rather focus your energies elsewhere to the things you can control. Like how to spend your own money on… Very expensive clothes.

Damn, what are these clothes made of? Spun with the finest gold and lined with precious diamonds? They better be with these prices.

You grumbled under your breath as you searched around different bitty sites, trying to find something that wouldn’t make your wallet plead for mercy. Then again, you might not have any choice but to dip into your savings. You wanted something that could last the troupe, if they’re going to spend as much time outside as you think they are.

Your eye’s briefly went back to the window, just in time to catch a flash of lightning across the sky. You flinched slightly as the thunder followed closely, and loudly, behind before turning back to your screen. A part of you really hopes they don’t immediately dip out, you could only imagine the kind of threats that could maim or kill you from just being a few inches tall, especially with some of the wildlife that hang around here… But… Would they even consider any help? Or going to an adoption center? With how little they trusted you, you highly doubted they’d take other options…

You were briefly pulled out of your thoughts as a link grabs your attention…

Oh… Oh that site actually looks promising! Backyard Bitties, the tough apparel wear for your bitty’s needs.

You click into it, and while the prices still remain higher than what you liked… It was perfectly what those bitties needed!

Outdoor wear! Complete with other things, like shoes, socks, underwear, t-shirts, pants… All advertised in front of a leafy green background featuring a variety of bitties that were modeling the clothing. It was perfect! And as for the ratings…

Even better! Praises of the clothes durability, keeping bitties warm in the cold, cool in the hot, with a full range of sizes and colors catered to many many bitty types. Expensive but the prices were well worth it!

Wait, there were even little backpacks for them! How cool!

Ah but… Would the bitties like them…? You’re not even sure of their favorite colors… Minus the pre-determined usual go to for their types. You really didn’t want to assume…

You click your tongue as you shifted to a more comfortable position on your bed, leaning back into your pillows a little more. It probably wasn’t a good idea to give a knock and ask them. They’re already warry of you as they are, and you didn’t need to disturb whatever fragile trust you managed to obtain with them… Nor do you want to bother them if they went to sleep, from the looks of things they needed all the rest they could get…

Well… There was something you could do… But…

Eh, screw it. Your quarterly bonus should be coming up, you could spend some money. You decided to get the backpacks, jackets, gloves, shirts, shoes, socks, underwear, pants, all in different sizes and colors. Anything they didn’t want out of the variety you picked, you could hopefully return, or they could keep as spares as a just in case.

You… Try not to flinch too hard at the final price. This was for a good cause, those bitties are in need! You’ll just need to cut back on spending on frivolous things, maybe even pick up a few extra hours at work. You could make it work!

Entering in the final information anddddddd- Ah, nice! Free shipping! And it can be here by tomorrow afternoon! As long as you can convince those bitties to stick around for a bit, they won’t have to keep themselves covered with those rags.

One thing done! Now it was time for some monster food! Hopefully those don’t break your bank as much as the clothes did…

So focused you were in your task, you missed the two white pinpricks of light that stared at you from the vent above your bed………………………………………………………..

Lucky for you, and unlucky for the group of bitties, the storm continued through the night and looked like it was going to go on through for the next few days or so. Thankfully they deemed that the room felt safe enough for them to hole up in till the storms pass… Well at least you assume so. They didn’t want to come out to you and any attempts for conversation usually ended you with the cold shoulder, or a big ol’ fuck you from the Edgy… And there’s definitely been some banging around in the room as well so you know that they’re still in there... Doing things?

You… really really hope they didn’t break anything…

Well, another problem to deal with for another day. Now thankfully you still had some leftover glamburger meat and noodles, so you set some plates down in front of the door and loudly announced that there was food for them should they want to eat.

Then promptly, you left to get yourself some breakfast and stick around in your living room for some quality time with your tv. You resisted the urge to get up and check every 30 seconds to see if the group actually got into the food or not, because as much as you want them to eat, you also know that barging in on them while they’re eating will most likely get you a face full of sharp sharp bones…

You’d… Really be boned then wouldn’t you?

Ahhhh, if only you could say these jokes out loud.

With that last musing, your doorbell rang with the telltale of a delivery so you get up and trot to your front door.

Package on your counter and scissors in hand, with a little bit of a struggle you quickly found that it was the bitties new clothes, all pressed in neat little plastic sleeves and a little thank you card with a discount for another purchase… You doubted you’d buy anything again from them real soon, but hey, that’s company advertising for you. You work quickly to unwrap them from their little prisons (though you quickly gave up on the really small items, no way you were going to risk damaging those, the bitties could open them themselves) and carried them over to the door.

You were pleasantly surprised to find that all the food had been polished off the plates. With a sigh of relief that they weren’t going to starve themselves, you quickly stacked up the plates before laying out the clothes in front of the door, separated and sorted so they could get to them easier.

You announced loudly that there were new clothes for them (met with several noises of bafflement you think… Or maybe disgust, you’re not sure) before walking away again, this time to get the dishes washed and dried.

The moment you get those up, your doorbell goes off again, this time with the monster food you ordered. Perfect timing!

You managed to get a variety of foods, from bitty snacks to full on big person meals, part of which you were planning to cook for yourself. Just because you were buying mainly for the bitties didn’t mean you didn’t want to try some of the food they had. The foodie in you demanded it.

Speaking of… Your thoughts immediately turned to dinner. If the bitties had just finished their food, they’d probably wouldn’t be interested in lunch quite so soon… With a brief check to the clock on the oven showing a 12:24 to confirm your suspicion of the time frame, you get to work squirreling things away and into your pantry.

You pause at the work though, with the package of monster pasta in your hands. While the bitties might not be up for lunch, you sure are… You’d probably just make enough for yourself and give it a test, that way you could improve on it for dinner tonight. Plus, there’s no way you could go wrong with pasta! Everyone likes it!

A beaming smile stretches from ear to ear, pleased by your own decision before immediately pulling out a pot and getting some water in. Moving it onto your (as you dub it) favorite stove burner, you quickly turn on the flames and put a slight pinch of salt into the pot.

Waiting for the water to start boiling, you pull out another, smaller pot and start moving to your pantry. Rummaging around, you know you have… Aha! Yes! You had the good tomato sauce! You knew you bought some… When again actually?

You stared blankly for a moment before turning the jar around and… Ok expiration date is another few months, still good. Don’t want to make that mistake again, that one night hanging off of the toilet was one night too many for you.

And with that settled, you put the empty pot on your (second favorite) burner and dumped the tomato sauce in… But waited to turn the heat on. You try cooking that now, it’d be boiling hot, possibly burning, when the spaghetti’s done… Another mistake you weren’t going to make… Again.

Next was the cutting board, garlic cloves, basil, can of those pre-sliced black olives, and finally the knife.

When you slide it out of it’s knife block however-

*clickclack*

The sound of something hitting the island counter behind you caught your undivided attention.

Whipping around, you spot the terrified eye-lights of the Papy bitty as he froze, half sitting up from his horizontal position on the table, mouth clenched shut clearly having, tripped maybe? Fell? You weren’t entirely sure actually.

You, yourself, were also frozen stiff, knife clutched tightly in your hand as you had your stare off-

Wait.

The knife.

THE KNIFE!

You dropped it like you had burned yourself, letting it clatter to the floor. You probably scared the non-existent crap out of him spinning around with that!

…But unfortunately that didn’t matter so much since you scared him all over again. The resulting sound of the knife hitting the floor sent him back up to his feet, wincing as he clutched his right arm trying to back up slightly.

It immediately drew your attention. That was the arm that was hurt from last night right? Did him falling over make the injury worse? You froze up again, eye’s bouncing between his arm and his face, trying to get a gauge on what you needed to do, if you needed to do anything. Thankfully it seemed he wasn’t going to fall off the counter… But he did lock gazes with you, frozen stiff once more.

For a brief moment you entertained that it was like the two of you were trying to figure each other out, what move to make next, fear and uncertainty reflected in each other’s eyes… Eye sockets?

A moment more, and you decided make the first move.

“Uh… Hi?” You squeaked it out, almost flinching at your own voice. Lovely, great first start.

The Papy bitty did however flinch, but you could see the surprise cross his skull, his bone brows going up slightly and teeth… Kinda curving into a small frown.

Gingerly, almost timidly, he slowly raised his other, non-injured arm in a slight wave.

“H-HI…”

“…… I am so sorry!” You blurt it out and the Papy’s eyes grow wide. “I scared the life out of you didn’t I? I can be better and move slower for you a-and putting the knife down, so so sorry!”

“YOU’RE… APOLOGIZING?” The incredulous look the Papy was giving you was… Were you doing something weird again?

“Er, yeah. I didn’t want to scare you or anything… And I managed to do that so…” You furrowed your eyebrows slightly, shifting slightly onto your other foot. Maybe it’d be better to change topics before things got more awkward. You slightly lifted your hand to gesture at him. “Um… By the way, is your arm ok…?”

The moment the question was out, panic crossed his features. He swung his injured arm behind him, grimacing as he did so, but was very quickly replaced by a nervous smile.

“YES OF COURSE! PERFECTLY OK! NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT HERE HUMAN!” You could see a small bead of sweat starting to drip down from his skull, to his jawbone as the little eyelights in his eyes couldn’t quite meet yours for more than a second at a time. They kept flicking around to you, the guest room, your hands…

…It was a load of bullshit if you ever heard it. You were dense to certain things at times but certainly not with this, not with pain.

The poor guy got really messed up, for certain by humans just like you.

You couldn’t even begin to guess the details of what he might have been through, but that wasn’t the most important thing at the moment. Right now, you gotta try to take care of the guy without freaking him out any further.

You gave the Papy a gentle smile.

“Ok then, if you say so” You turned around slowly, very pointedly ignoring the knife on the floor for the moment. “Say, if you’re interested, I’m trying out this monster pasta. Never had it before so I’m experimenting with it a little. Would you like to try some? I’d be happy to get another opinion on it”

It was a hopefully subtle enough way to give him some help with his arm. There’s not a whole lot you could do anyways, not being a doctor nor any bitty centers close by, but with everything you heard about monster food…

Well with enough of it, if it wasn’t too bad, it could possibly heal it up with no problems.

The Papy bitty was silent for a long while, long enough that you had to turn the heat down on the water so it didn’t bubble out of the pot. Eventually enough time had passed that you figured he’d probably didn’t feel comfortable with you just yet so you started pouring the pasta in to cook and grabbed a clean knife to cut up the rest of the ingredients.

Maybe you could stick a little plate with some in front of the door, see if he’d be interested if you weren’t around.

Just as you finished up the garlic and tossed it into the tomato sauce… Out of the corner of your eye you see the Papy bitty climbing up to the counter right next to you. You slowed down what you were doing as you watched him, trying to keep any spooking you could possibly do to a minimum.

Even with an arm incapacitated… He was surprisingly agile, climbing up swiftly with almost no issue, something you managed to miss observing last night. Even with places you didn’t think had good hand holds too he had a great grip on, never slipping up.

He was also very VERY quiet.

There was barely any sound as he made his way up, no clicking of bone hitting the cabinet, nothing… It was honestly impressive.

But that was a thought for another day. You gave him another smile, turning your head slightly in his direction.

“Lemme know if there’s anything you want added, if I have it I’ll be happy to try and work it in” You see the Papy bitty nod slightly before you turn your focus back on the food.

You chopped up the basil and dumped the pre-sliced olives into the tomato sauce, then got to work on occasionally stirring both the spaghetti and the sauce. In between stirring, you got plates for you and the bitty, as well as a strainer.

A few more minutes passed and you finally determined that the pasta was done. Setting the strainer in the nearby sink, you turn to the Papy bitty once again.

“Hey so, just so you know, I’m going to dump the spaghetti into the strainer, there’s going to be a bunch of steam from it and it’ll be a bit noisy. That ok?”

The Papy gives you a tentative nod, so you take that as permission enough and you move to do just that. Pouring the boiling water down, you lean back a little as the billow of steam springs up from the sink drifting towards your ceiling.

You watch it for a moment, enjoying the way the steam curls and floats before setting the pot back on the burner and reaching down for the strainer. You give it a good few shakes in the sink before turning around to grab plates and dish up the pasta. Finally with generous amounts of sauce, it was done!

You placed the small plate for the Papy close by, enough space to hopefully make him a little more comfortable but without it being too far of a walk for him to get to.

“There you go! One plate of… Ah wait…” You internally flinch as you suddenly realized a problem with your perfect pasta plan. “I just realized I don’t have any utensils your size and that’ll be messy to eat otherwise… Uhhhhh hang on a min and I can see about Macgyvering something up for ya” You turn away, missing the puzzled expression on the Papy’s face before totting over to your miscellaneous drawer.

There you have all sorts of odd bits and bobs, from batteries to mini screwdrivers and just about everything in-between. It’s certainly saved you a couple of times you needed to makeshift somethings, it should help you now.

You briefly considered maybe a chopstick option, whittling down some toothpicks to possibly make a good substitute… But then you threw that out the window as you didn’t want to force the Papy with the frustration of learning to use them. So on to your next brilliant plan, bending paperclips! Maybe you could-

Wait, why is there a squishing sound and why did it sound so familiar?

Turning back around to the counter, you find that the Papy bitty was hands deep in his food, shoveling it into his mouth handfuls at a time…

Ah, well… Saves you some work?

A rueful smile plays at your lips as you grab a paper towel and place it close by him. Already he was getting covered in spaghetti sauce.

“That good huh? Next time I’ll make sure to have utensil’s ready before the food” You joke briefly as you moved to grab your plate. The Papy bitty, poor soul, gave you a sheepish look as he reached for the sheet.

“I’M SORRY, I JUST DIDN’T WANT TO-“ You hold you hand up and the bitty’s jaw clicks shut.

“It’s ok, no worries about it” You give him a smile as you pull open a drawer and fish out a fork. “You’ve had a rough time, right? And I wasn’t fully equipped for bitty guests so I can adjust and adapt, it’s no skin off my back, honest.” You plunge your fork into your pasta… And the Papy narrows his eye sockets at you, looking at you suspiciously.

Did you… maybe say the wrong thing? Maybe he didn’t like the assumption that he had a rough time? Maybe he didn’t like you brushing off his apology? Did something you set just… Didn’t get across right? You squirm under his gaze a bit as he seems to intensely scrutinize you.

You thought you had been doing a great job at making him feel comfortable.

You opened your mouth to apologize-

“WAS THAT A PUN?!?!?!” You gave him a blank look for a moment, jaw hung open.

A pun…? What pun??? You don’t think you said any…

Wait.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.

Skin off your back!

Suddenly the world’s biggest shit eating grin made it’s way onto your face. If this Papy bitty was going to react the way you think he’s about to, you’re going to end up having some fun.

“What? It didn’t tickle your funny bone?”

“….NYEH!” His sockets got comically wide as he threw down the corner of the paper towel down on the counter. ‘HUMAN THAT IS TERRIBLE! THE ABSOLUTE WORST! AND HERE I WAS THINKING YOU WERE DECENT BUT NO! YOU MAKE *PUNS*!”

He said “PUNS” in such a way that it was dripping with distain… Which forced you to place your plate down in a safe place, while bending down roaring in laughter.

“NYEH! STOP THAT! THIS IS SERIOUS ISSUE HUMAN, YOU CANNOT EVEN THINK THAT THIS IS PROPER EDIQUETTE FOR A CONVERATION! LUCKY FOR YOU I HAPPEN TO BE A MASTER LINQU-! WOULD YOU QUIT LAUGHING!”

Between you gasping for breath and the bitty gearing up for what you know will be a full on hilarious lecture, you’re starting to think…

You just might have a chance yet.