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Upon hearing a knock-knock-knocking on the door, there was some small commotion inside the Dreemurr residence, as the large monster inside scrambled to reach it.
“Hello, my children! How was school today?” The cheerful goat lady was met with her two children – her recently adopted human, wearing their trademark unreadable expression that Toriel knew could mean anything at all, and her own flesh and blood, the Prince of the Underworld, sporting a smile from ear to ear.
“Oh, it was lovely, Mummy! We went on a trip, to see a monument with Professor-” Despite his intentions to divulge absolutely everything the pair got up to that day, as usual, the human cut him off abruptly.
“Mummy, can we go to our room, please? I need to change out of my uniform, it’s too warm today.” Toriel looked down on her younger child with concern, as they put on their most uncomfortable looking face.
“Oh, of course, my child! Asriel, help Chara out of it, would you? Tea will be ready soon! Today, it shall be cricket pie! Hopefully Daddy will be home in time to join us!”
As she stood aside for the pair, the human took the monster by the arm and led him wordlessly to their room.
It wasn’t a long walk over to the bedroom, and the human got there in record time. Asriel tried continuing the conversation they were having on their way home, but the human shushed him roughly.
Once they reached the door, Chara all but shoved Asriel inside, and closed the door quietly. Even though the blinds were open, it was dark enough outside that Asriel had to flick the light switch in the room to see anything.
He then crossed the room over to his bed, and began to change out of his uniform. Mummy babied Chara too much, he thought. They learned how to get dressed on their own months ago, but still insisted that their family help them.
Asriel only had time to take off his jacket and tie before the light vanished from the room, causing him to jump. He looked around for the cause of the blackout, and saw two shining rubies just beside the light switch, staring directly at him.
“So, Azzy. Why didn’t you swap with me?” Asriel, already on edge, started shivering slightly. Something about Chara’s tone didn’t sit right with him, not in the least bit. And what did they even mean?
“S-swap what with you?” He tried to be brave, but he couldn’t keep himself in check, all the more so because he had no idea what was wrong. The pair of eyes took a step towards him.
“You don’t remember? How could you!? You promised yesterday at bedtime that you’d swap your candy for my apple at lunchtime!” He felt a blush forming on his face. How could he forget another promise? His memory wasn’t THAT bad, right? Did he really make that promise?
“Chara, are you sure you asked that? Daddy told you yesterday that you’d have an apple today, because you had too much candy yesterday!” As if dumbstruck by his defiance, the human didn’t react, or speak, or move, for some time.
Just as Asriel began to speak again, Chara came ever closer to him.
“A-and that’s why I asked you to swap! I don’t like apples, you know that! And that’s why you promised to swap!” Asriel was now stunned to silence, trying once again to remember exactly what happened last night. The human kept going with their newly regained momentum.
“I tried to remind you at lunchtime, but you were too busy talking to Reggie to notice me!”
Lunchtime was only a few hours ago, so Asriel was sure he’d recall that better. He remembered talking to Reggie and his brother Watta at that time, absent-mindedly eating his packed lunch in the process. Their parents had bought them a lot of new toys just days before, and they wanted to gloat to the goat about them. Some small bricks, a few toy cars, lookalike swords, among others.
Asriel was a bit jealous of all their toys, and the bragging in their voices didn’t help. Regardless, he was still very interested in hearing about one after the other, and he enjoyed chatting with the two for that hour.
The whole hour. His face dropped.
“See? You didn’t even notice me tugging at your arm, or whispering at you, or anything! You’re a bad friend!” The human ended the sentence with some sniffles, and by turning away from Asriel. In response, tears crept out from the monster’s eyes, and his lips quivered. He decided to follow his father’s advice, and opened his arms wide for a hug.
“Chara, I’m s-sorry! I’m really, really sorry about this. Please don’t be angry, I didn’t mean to ignore you, I'm sorry!”
In an instant, the human turned back to him, and stood up straight. The advanced, slowly, but steadily in his direction, causing Asriel to drop his arms, and back up instinctively.
“Sorry? You’re not sorry! You hate me, don’t you, Azzy?” Don’t you?!” Chara said, with a controlled volume. Asriel couldn’t tell, however. His tears grew into streams, and his fur was on fire. He couldn’t think of what to say to calm his friend down, which only made him feel worse.
“P-p-please, C-C-Chara, I-I-I-I di-d-didn’t m-mean-”
Asriel’s desperate stuttering was cut short, as he accidentally walked into their shared chest of toys, and tumbled over. Despite his fur shielding him from the impact, Asriel began to cry even louder, the dams fully burst, the streams becoming waterfalls.
Chara now towered over their adopted sibling, close enough that Asriel could see their face through the tears. Contrary to what their heated argument would imply, their face was dry, and he saw what looked like a little smile on Chara’s face.
The human bent downwards towards him. Asriel regularly complimented Chara on their red eyes, and how cool and awesome they looked, but just for today, he wished they were a less scary colour. And wished they weren’t so focused on him right now.
Suddenly, Chara’s arms were wrapped around Asriel, not too tight or rough, but enough that he could feel it through his clothes and fur. Without thinking, he returned the hug, and let the human help him back onto his feet.
The hug felt like it went on for minutes, hours, forever. All of Asriel’s worries and fears melted away in the warm embrace. His tears slowed, then stopped completely. His sobbing quietened, then silenced. The goat even felt the beginnings of a smile forming on his face. So happy was he, that he didn’t even question the sudden shift in his sibling’s demeanour.
He never did.
Chara finally broke the hug, and stepped away slightly from Asriel’s personal space.
“It’s okay, Asriel, I forgive you. I’m sure you didn’t mean to ignore me like that.” Chara’s words stung Asriel a little, but their voice and barely visible smile soothed the soul.
“No, I, I swear I w-wouldn’t-” Before the monster could revert to his prior nervous routine, his companion clasped a cold, bony hand around his paw, and put their finger on his lips, shushing him gently.
“Don’t worry about it, Azzy. Really, you’re okay. We should get dressed, Mummy will get mad at us if we don’t.” Chara skipped over to the light switch, which finally lifted the darkness of the room, and any remaining darkness in the monster’s soul.
Asriel wanted to keep talking, to ask if Chara was feeling better, but the human ran directly from the light switch to their bed, where their nicely folded home clothes were located, so he gave up and did likewise.
As he changed out of his stuffy uniform, Asriel considered how he might best show Chara how sorry he was for forgetting his promise. His parents both taught him how important they were, after all.
Tomorrow was the last day of school before the weekend. Chara would probably go and meet some friends, like they usually did. Maybe he could bake some yummy cinnamon cupcakes for them. His mum loved baking with her children, so he was sure she would agree to help.
Asriel finished changing into one of his many green and yellow jumpers, and some comfy trousers. Chara was all done too, a matching jumper on their chest, alongside their favourite skirt. Asriel always thought they looked quite cute in it.
“So, Azzy, I was wondering… could you do me a really, really big favour today?” The human was leaning over, almost sitting on, their bed, wearing a casual smile and tone.
“Yes, of course! ...Er, I mean, w-what could I do for you?” The monster regretted their impulse almost immediately. They had a bad feeling about this favour, and Chara wasn’t helping with their rapidly growing grin.
“Well, I’m feeling really, really tired today. Maybe because I didn’t eat any sweets.” They paused, and looked right at Asriel, who turned his head slightly.
“Anyway, maybe something sweet would help wake me up. There’s still some cookies in the jar, right?”
“I think so, but Mummy keeps those for after tea time, we can’t have them now…” Asriel’s voice trailed off. Chara was no longer smiling, no longer leaning on the bed.
“It’ll just be one more each, Azzy. Mummy won’t notice two missing cookies, trust me.” Chara sounded very sure of themselves, very comforting. Still…
“I-I don’t want one…” Asriel tried weakly to derail the plan. His fears about something bad happening were only growing.
“That’s even better! It’ll be much easier to hide one cookies instead of two. Come on, what’re you so afraid of, Azzy?”
“W-what if Mummy catches me? She-she’ll be angry…” Asriel loved his mother dearly, and she doted over him in turn. Sometimes too much. The thought alone of upsetting her caused fresh tears to appear at the corners of his eyes.
“Don’t worry Azzy.” The human put their hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up. The smile returned, bright and lively as their eyes.
“I’ll ask Mummy to come into the living room, so I can tell her all about my day at school. Maybe I’ll tell her about someone bullying me, that’ll get her attention.” Asriel gasped.
“Chara! Why didn’t you tell me you were being bullied?” He balled his hands up, as he wondered who would do this. Was it Jeff? Or Antsa? Oh, it must have been-
“I’m not being bullied, calm down. I’ll just tell Mummy I am, so she doesn’t notice you in the kitchen.”
“But...Chara. Remember what Daddy told us? Lying is bad.” The monster was mortified. Mummy and Daddy would be so angry with both of them, as well as disappointed. He didn't know which was worse. He couldn’t agree to this.
“It’s only a lie if you get caught, hehe!” They winked at him, but he didn’t see it. He was deep in thought, his mind far, far away. He didn’t want to, but he had to say no to Chara.
“Hey, Azzy. Look at me.” He did as he was told, and saw that Chara once again closed the distance between them, and was glaring up at him. Something inside Asriel told him to run, far far away, but he was stuck in place by some unknown force.
“I’m so, so tired, Azzy. Please help me.” Their voice sounded so sad, so pained, but somehow, Asriel couldn’t see that sadness on their face. It only unnerved him further.
“I,I,I can’t, Chara. M-Mummy and Daddy-”
“They won’t find out, I promise.” Asriel stopped. Chara, of all people, knew how important it was never to break a promise. So, maybe…
“And now I need YOU to promise me you’ll do it, Azzy. Promise me you’ll get that cookie.” He opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. That unknown force inside him was still hesitating, trying to stop himself from committing.
“You said, before. You said you’d do me this favour, even before I told you what it was. Don’t lie to me again, Asriel.” He had said that. When he was trying to think of any way to make it up to Chara, he was more than happy to do whatever they asked.
“O-ok. I promise. I p-promise I’ll get that cookie for you.” He almost couldn’t believe what he was saying, so unlike him were these words. But he owed Chara an apology, after all, and if this was how they wanted it, he would comply.
The human smiled, a genuine smile that Asriel loved to see.
“Thanks so much, Azzy. I knew I could count on you. Are you ready?” The human extended out their weird, skinny hand, as they so often did, and was already facing the door before Asriel even realised what was just said.
“R-Ready? You don’t mean we’re doing it now, do you?” He had still been mentally bargaining with himself about this whole ordeal – he’d have some time to prepare, think it over, compose himself, he thought.
“Of course, silly! When else? If Daddy gets home, that’ll make your job so much harder!” He acknowledged the truth of that claim, though he wasn’t happy about it.
“Just… please, promise me you won’t lie to M-Mummy about the bullying.” Asriel didn't like where that could lead.
“Ok, fine, I won’t tell her. Let’s get going already.” Chara hurriedly ended the conversation and grabbed Asriel’s hand, dragging him out of their shared room. The monster still wasn’t sure about doing this, but he figured he had to, now.
Perhaps it won’t be so bad, Asriel tried to convince himself.