Chapter Text
You would think being the adoptive child of an ex-queen of all monster kind (who just so happened to be more than 100 years old) would help with one’s history grade.
The big old ‘F’ in the history column of Frisk’s report card shamed you for the thought.
Although, you muse, eyes darting to the column below it, you suppose your initial thinking wasn’t completely wrong. Being the child of the monster’s past queen would help with history. Just not the human side of it all.
Frisk seemed to have much more interest in learning about the history of Monsterkind oppose to man, how bonds between monsters had formed during their time underground whilst humans were dedicated with tearing each other apart. You can’t really blame them, can you?
Unfortunately, sympathizing with your students wasn’t your job.
“Seems like you do poorly in human history,” you muse lightly, eyes glancing down to Frisk in the chair next to you to gauge their reaction. “Specifically in the reading portions.”
Frisk looks up at you, their fluffy blunt bangs almost entirely covering their eyes. Could they even see you behind them?
“I don’t think I like reading,” they muse, kicking their legs under the wood table of the library.
You hum as your eyes trail along the report card. “Your reading in English seems to be going well enough.”
They plop their face in their palms, elbows resting on the wood. You would think it was out of boredom but the smile on their face said otherwise.
“I like the kinds of books in English class,”They say simply, looking up at you. They stay silent for a couple of seconds, thinking their words over, before speaking again. “English books aren’t as sad as history books.”
You hum again, writing that down as a note. It wasn’t uncommon for kids Frisk’s age to prefer fiction over non-fiction. Although you had to admit, Frisk was admittedly alot more emotionally intelligent than other kids. You’d suppose they’d have to be, saving the whole underground at such a young age.
Maybe that’s why they were more fond of happy books, you muse, maybe they were more sensitive to dark topics because of their empathy and emotional intelligence. You write that down too.
Today was your first tutoring session with Frisk Dreemurr, the adoptive child of Toriel Dreemurr, aka, the previous queen of monsters.
You would be lying if you said you didn’t practically choke on your own saliva when you read the notification that you had received a message from a literal queen.
It has surprised you, that she was interested in hiring you of all the possible tutors in Ebott City. You certainly weren’t the most well-known, nor the most well rated when compared to other professionals. But when asked she had simply replied with the fact that you were one of the few tutors nearby to openly take in monsters students.
You couldn’t say you blamed those other tutors who refused monster students. Not out of any disdain for the species, but more so on the fact that teaching a student whose species had a wildly different education system than yours was…challenging, to say the least.
You look down at the notes you’ve written down throughout the duration of the session. Said session primarily consisting of the two of you discussing everything Frisk struggled with and excelled at, giving you all the information you needed to create an education plan for them.
Their best grades seemed to be English, Art, p.e., and of course, monster history, which they were well above their grade level for. (Again, you’re sure the fact of who their mother is helped in that specific regard)
They did decently enough in Math and Science, telling you themselves that one of their monster friends, who was apparently a professional in those subjects, often helped them with their homework.
Which left geography and human social studies to be their weakest subjects. Which, luckily for you, was something you knew how to teach, unlike the newfound monster subjects.
You glance up at the clock above the nearest book case, which leads you to sigh and push yourself up from your seat. You didn’t nearly get as much material as you initially wished. Instead of talking about grades and work, Frisk was instead much more interested in small talk, asking about your interests, talking about theirs, anything but what you were being payed to do. You only really started to get actual work done near the end when they seemingly ran out of conversation topics.
“Seems like that’s it for today,” you muse, turning to looking down at them as you put all of your personal papers in a neat stack. “Do you think there’s anything else I need to know before we wrap up?”
“Nope!”
…alright then.
Frisk hops off their chair, seemingly mimicking your actions by collecting their own papers (those of which consisted of coloring pages they brought so they wouldn’t be bored out of their mind) and all but shoving them in their backpack. “My mom probably does, though!”
You hum in acknowledgment, grabbing your own bag. “She should be here soon, you want to wait out front?”
You notice Frisk perk up at the mention of going outside. You get the idea that they don’t like to be inside all that much. That’s good. That’s rare for kids these days, isn’t it?
The temperature outside is nice, much less stuffy compared to the library. Unfortunately you didn’t have much of a chance to enjoy the weather as you stop dead in your tracks, spotting an all too familiar figure.
You haven’t seen her in person before of course, but it wasn’t hard to recognize a figure you’ve seen on your TV numerous amount of times.
Suddenly all of your practiced conversations in front of the mirror left your mind and you were left with sweaty and shaky hands.
Frisk rushes ahead of you to jump in their mother’s arms, who then spun them around with the most gentle show of strength you’ve ever seen.
As the two of them greeted eachother, you found whatever courage left in yourself to stand up straighter and start in her direction, although much slower than Frisk.
Once near earshot you clear your throat to try to get the ex-queen’s attention.
“Miss Toriel,” you start, “I was wondering if I could get a second opinion on-!”
You’re quickly interrupted by your own startled yelp as you suddenly feel large and warm arms wrap around you, only slightly relaxing once you realize it was a hug. Toriel was hugging you.
Jesus fucking Christ the queen of monsters was hugging you.
“Uh…” Your arms stay awkwardly lifted in the air, unsure where to put them, surely you weren’t expected to wrap them around her as well in reciprocation. You can’t help but notice how large she is, the weight of her large paws on your back on the border of crushing.
Finally, she pulls back, but her paws still remain on your shoulders. Oddly touchy for someone you just met, you muse.
“Ah, it is wonderful to finally meet you, my dear!” She hums as she tilts her head, long white ears flopping along with the movement.
“Both me and Frisk have been oh so excited for their first session, I must thank you again for accepting to tutor them!”
You blink owlishly up at her. Throughout all of the little rehearsals for this meeting you had in your head, you certainly hadn’t expected her to thank you.
You eventually clear your throat. “Yes— um, thank you for offering me the opportunity.” You inwardly cringe at the unnatural pitch of your voice.
You flip through your stack of papers quickly and pull out the draft of the education plan.
“As I was saying, I would appricate if you could look this over and-“
“Ah! That reminds me! Forgive me, dear, I believe I left something in the car. Please allow me a moment to be able to retrieve it.”
Your awkward smile slips into a confused frown. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say she was the one being unprofessional in this interaction, what, with her interrupting you twice already. You had initially thought it’d be the other way around.
You shake your head to clear the thought and smooth your hair down as you try to muster up a professional expression to replace your wide eyed look. You waited patiently for Toriel to find whatever she was looking for. Probably papers of her own, oh god you should have expected that, she probably wouldn’t trust you to come up with a decent education plan for her child, maybe you could hide your draft of one before she turned back around-
Suddenly there was a pie tin in your face.
Your eyes were wide once again, previously formed expression immediately slipping as your brows furrow. You eyes are trained onto the pie before they glance up at Toriel for a hint of what she’s expecting of you right now. Nothing. Your eyes repeat the process of glancing back up at her and then the pie again before finally decided to stay landed on her. You stare at her for several more minutes before she speaks up.
“It’s butterscotch flavored,” she provides kindly. “I baked it this morning so it would still be warm when you received it! Take it as a token of my appreciation for tutoring Frisk.”
Ah. Alright then. That wasn’t…nearly what you were expecting from your biggest client of all time.
You’re eventually able to force your expression back into a neutral one, even achieving a smile, although you weren’t sure how convincing it looked.
“…Thank you. That’s very,” You hesitate as you grab the tin, having to tuck the notes which were very important and most definitely held more precedence over a pie, under your arm. “…thoughtful of you.”
Her warm smile turns absolutely radiant at your gratitude. “Oh, there’s no need to thank me, my dear! It was the least I could do, truly!”
You only nod in response, clearing your throat once again to make sure your tone wasn’t as annoyed shocked as your inner thoughts were.
“Well— as I was saying, your opinion on the drafted education plan for Frisk would be very much appreci-“ “Oh, my, I seem to have forgotten how much of a tight schedule I’m on! Look at the time! I really must be going now.”
Your smile strains so much it’s starting to hurt.
“Before you go I really do need you to look these over,” you say quickly as you follow behind her as she swings her car door open, rushing it all out to avoid being interrupted yet again. “Do you have any preferences on the methods I use for teaching? Do you know of any method in particular that Frisk learns the best with?”
Toriel, half way in her seat turns to skim over the paper. Far too quickly to actually read any of it.
“That seems perfect! Why, I have full faith in you for choosing what is best for my child. I really do ought to be going now. It truly was wonderful meeting you!”
The car door shut before you could get another word in, leaving your mouth agape at the side of the road as she happily drives off. Your eyes glance down to the paper still held out in your hand, eyes tracing over its main features. Most of it was blank, you had assumed Toriel, as a teacher herself, would have at least some insight on her Child’s learning style.
Your eyes leave the sad pathetic piece of paper to land on the pie, still cradled in your other arm. Not a single one of your employers have given you anything upon you getting hired. And you certainly hadn’t expected your first to be from previous royalty.
You have admittedly heard of the monster community being very tight knit, even within the career side of things. some monsters even stating their boss, coworkers, or employees were practically family.
Your annoyed expression slowly shifts to one of terror as you come upon the horrid realization that was exactly the relation Toriel was aiming for.
———
The pie was good. good enough, even, for you to heat up a slice of it to have as breakfast the morning of Frisk’s second session.
Fork in one hand, pencil in the other, you switched between eating it and finishing what you could do of the learning plan for Frisk. Ever since that first session you weren’t able to get a hold of Toriel for very long, even through messages, leaving you with a half baked schedule.
It was embarrassing, almost humiliating, knowing that for the first time in all of your years of tutoring, the first time you didn’t have a plan ready by the second session was for the retired queen of monsters.
You had listed out the basic subjects you’d be going over and when, how much time each subject would approximately take, things of that nature. But that was about it, no learning or teaching styles having been written down.
Usually, key word; usually, the parents of your students would help fill in the blanks where their kids couldn’t, telling you what category of projects they did best in, what gets them motivated, etc.
When you asked Frisk, they had outright told you that they simply didn’t care. That they’d be okay with anything you wanted to do. They even went as far as to suggest the methods that were easiest for you to teach.
While you appreciated the thought, there was absolutely no way in hell you’d teach the child of a queen through simple and easy methods. So here you were, trying to somehow shove every single teaching style into this god forsaken plan.
You take another bite of the pie, trying to stifle your frustration. The screen of your phone glows with a new message, causing you to lazily drop your pencil down on the counter and reach over for it, swiping up to reveal your messages with Toriel.
It was a reminder sent to you that her schedule was practically packed to the brim with her being accepted as a kindergarten teacher for a nearby school this week, meaning she wouldn’t be able to pick up Frisk after tutoring. She had told you this when you first accepted the job, her telling you that more often than not, family friends would pick up Frisk.
Normally you wouldn’t find this much of an issue at all, but working for Toriel has so far been anything but normal.
She had insisted that you ‘report back’ to these family friends about how the session went, Frisks strengths, weaknesses, what have you. It was nice knowing how much your client cared for her child, wanting to know about the progress they’d be making, but it really was difficult to not be frustrated by the fact that you could directly tell her what she wanted to know via online messages.
You thank her for reminding you (even though you haven’t forgotten) and set your phone back down. Looking down at the mess of an education plan, you can’t help but hope that these family friends she mentioned could give you more to work with than Toriel did.
———
Alphys wasn’t good with conversations.
It wasn’t that much of a bother to you, really, but it did make reporting on Frisks progress so far more difficult than it should’ve been.
While dropping Frisk off for tutoring, Toriel had informed you of who was picking them up, along with a picture so you wouldn’t hand them off to the wrong person. Really, just a short description would’ve done just fine, it wasn’t like there were any other yellow lizard monsters around.
Alphys, similarly to Toriel, was a teacher. Specifically teaching high school science, you weren’t sure exactly what kind. How Alphys of all people dealt with high schoolers was beyond you. Although you do notice she wears a lot of fabric of which she fiddles and plays with, with her large oversized sweater and ankle length skirt (although her ankle-length was more so your calf length), a coping method perhaps?
“They seem to catch onto the basics easily so far,” you say, commenting on Frisks progress with history. “They seem to mainly struggle with the memorization of specific facts such as years or historical figures.”
Alphys only nervously nods, not meeting your gaze as she anxiously picks at her claws.
Theres a pregnant pause between the two of you before you speak up once more.
“Before you go…” you begin, watching as she visibly wilts at the mention of being kept here and having to be social for even longer than what was initially expected.
You pull out the education plan, that frankly, you were starting to hate, out of your stack of notes. “I would appreciate it if I could get your thoughts on this.”
Shaky claws take the sheet of paper out of your steady ones, her eyes lighting up in recognition as her eyes flit over it.
“O-oh! U-uhm…s-sure!”
Your eyes widen at her response, immediately perking up. You stay quiet but you have to bite your lip to refrain from letting a wide grin escape. Frisks education wasn’t doomed after all.
“Er- m-miss?” Alphys stutters out to get back your attention. “T-there aren’t many hands on lessons in here…a-and! W-while I’m sure you k-know what your talking about- I-i just thought that F-Frisk does better with hands on lessons, b-but! Y-your their tutor, y-you have more experience in this field! I-I’m sure that-“
She’s interrupted when you take the paper from her, which unfortunately causes her to ramble on more, apologizing every five seconds for, what? Giving you feed back?
You push her scrambling to the back of your mind as you look around for a flat surface. Deciding that Alphy’s car bumper would do, you bend over the hood and shuffle in your bag for a pen.
She’s still talking rapidly when you turn around.
“A-and n-not to mention r-rude! O-oh gosh I’m so sor-“
“Alphys.”
“Y-yes?”
“Do you have any more suggestions?”
She’s quiet for a moment, eyes wide as she looks you up and down, apparently just now noticing what you were doing. You see her eyes dart down to the paper, particularly to a recently written note in the corner noting Alohys advice.
“Oh.”
Her sudden silence acts as a much needed relief for you after her countless fumbling apologies.
“I-I…uhm..I could think of a f-few, yes…” she glances to the side awkwardly, a small blush forming on her cheeks, clearly embarrassed by her overreaction.
As she listed out anything that came to mind and could potentially be useful, she glanced at you and your notes every so often, looking surprised everytime you actually wrote down her suggestions. As if you wouldn’t. With how little help Toriel gave you, you’d take anything you could get.
You have to smother down a triumphant smile as you finish writing down the additional notes, reminding yourself you were still in front of a client.
“Thank you, Alphys.” You say, standing up straight and restocking you papers before turning to her. “I apologize for keeping you longer than anticipated, but it is very much appreciated.”
You reach your hand out for a respective shake. You have to stop yourself from wincing when you feel her sweating hand clasp yours.
“O-Oh!! There’s no need to thank me! R-really! …but- erm, your welcome!”
She retracts her hand and fiddles with the sleeves of her large sweater, other hand straightening her glasses. There’s a moment or two of pure silence between the two of you, her clearly not knowing how to excuse herself.
Eventually she figures it out though, with her small mutterings of “okayitwasnicetomeetyouIhavetogonowhaveagooddayokaysorrybye!”
You frankly don’t even try to figure out what she said.
After seeing her out of character sports car drive away into the distance, you look around to double check you were alone before allowing a victorious smile to take over your features. You almost go as far as to hop up and down in joy, if it weren’t for your dignity still wanting to stay intact.
You look down at the newly noted education plan, smile still plastered on as you softly muse to yourself. If the other family friends of the Dreemurs were as useful as Alphys, this would be one of your best education plans yet.
———
You stare down in horror at the unillegible sheet of paper that you used to call Frisks learning plan, now with dark and large scribbles that you suspected were supposed to be words.
You slowly look up from the page, barely keeping your expression away from looking absolutely pissed, at the beaming fish lady in front of you.
When you had heard that Alphys wife, a fish like monster named Undyne, would be collecting Frisk today, your hopes had risen. If Undyne was anything like her wife, then Frisks education plan would be finished by noon. At least that’s what you thought.
But after she handed you back your newly ruined plan after you gave it to her to add her own notes per request, you rightfully start to reconsider your previous thinking.
“Ma’am, if you don’t mi-“
“PSSSH- cut it with the ‘Ma’am’ crap! Makes me sound like a nerd!”
“…Undyne, if you don’t mind me asking, what…exactly did you write down?”
Her proud grin slowly shifts into a deadpan, her brows furrowing as her hands that were placed on her hips fall limply to her sides. Leaning down to your level, she yanks the paper back from you. It almost tears from how tightly you’re holding onto it, wanting to save it from whatever torment she wasn’t going to inflect on it next.
She squints down at it and then rotates it until it’s upside down. Her grin returns.
“HA! Ya nerd! You had it upside down! Here!”
Your returned the plan and look down, frown deepening upon the realization you still couldn’t make anything out.
After a minute or two of you silently staring down at the sheet, you hear the woman let out an exasperated huff.
“I wrote down a PHYSICAL education plan! DUH!!”
You tear your eyes away from the scribbles and up at her. You try to come up with a professional response, but the only thing that manages to slip out is a dumbfounded “what?”
“YEAH! I saw you didn’t have any workouts or crap written down! Hey! Your lucky I caught that, eh?”
“…”
“…”
“…ma’am-“
“UNDYNE!!!”
Your eye twitches. “-Undyne, I’m not Frisks teacher, I’m just their tutor.” You speak slowly, trying your hardest to control your tone.
She only scoffs in response. “SO?? Teachers still teach p.e! Why can’t tutors?!”
You stare at her. She stares back.
…oh!
She wasn’t joking.
…oh.
“My job is to aid Frisk in subjects they’re currently suffering in. Their P.E. grade is well above average.” You say, ruffling around in your stack of papers before slipping out your copy of Frisks report card, handing it over to the woman.
She snatches it from you at a rate your surprised it didn’t tear. She brings it up so close to her face you’re shocked she could even read it, squinting down at the words and numbers. Maybe she needs reading glasses, you muse. No, no, she only has one eye. Reading monocle? Contacts? Contact?
You’re snatched away from your thoughts when you hear a scoff.
“You call THIS an above average?? This is CHILDS PLAY!!” She yells, her sharp yellow teeth on full view. You grimace at the sight.
Confused, you lean over her shoulder, although her height made it so you were more so leaning over her arm, peering down at the report card. You were expecting that maybe you had read it wrong, but the bright A+ stared at you, just as confused as you.
“…they have an A plus?”
“YEAH!”
You flinch away from her at the volume of her tone.
“BUT WHEN I WAS IN THEIR GRADE I HAD AN A SUPER PLUS!!!”
“I…really doubt that.” You say tentatively, slowly reaching out to grab back the report card, which is then quickly held high above your reach.
“WHATS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN, NERD??” She yells, arm extended fully into the air to keep the report card away from you. You consider jumping up for it but simply come to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth your dignity.
“It’s supposed to mean that that isn’t an actual grade and that it’s either one you made up, or one your teacher did.”
You both stay in that stare off, long enough for you to start to pity her arm that stubbornly stays risen in the air.
Eventually though her scowl breaks and she mutters out a small; “he fuckin would-“. She lowers the paper, allowing you to tentatively reach out and take it.
Your lips form a soft grimace as you look down at the now wrinkled paper. This is the second one of your papers she’s ruined now.
“FINE!!” You jolt at the sudden volume rise before she continues. “YOU WIN!!!” Before you can even attempt to remedy this whole interaction with a good bye, she swings open the door to her car (you note it’s the same car Alphys drove) and promptly slams it shut after she gets in. You’re already turning away when you hear the wheels screech against the pavement as she drives off.
———
Mr. Font was a plethora of things. Professional, was not one of them.
You’d be lying if you didn’t stare at him with wide eyes upon first seeing him, you doubt you’d be the first, what, with him being a skeleton. A skeleton that seemed oddly similar to the human skeleton.
You decide to not dwell on that thought.
Currently, the skeleton was busy with talking with Frisk about their day. You could appreciate that, how he seemed to be interested in the child’s life. If only he didn’t say a pun every other sentence.
“WOWIE, THE LIBRARY? I’VE BEEN MEANING TO GO FOR AGES NOW! I SUPPOSED YOU COULD CALL MY VISIT— NYEH— OVERDUE!”
He seemed particularly proud of that one. You’re glad Frisk giggled at that, the noise covered your soft groan.
Deciding to finally interrupt their interaction for the sake of your own sanity, you clear your throat. “Mr. Font, I’m sorry to interrupt, but before you go I would appreciate if you could give these a look over…?”
You hold out a copy of Frisks education plan, having learned from your last interaction with Undyne and have made multiple copies just in case.
The Skelton perked up, as if he forgot you were even there and turned towards you. “AH! RIGHT! IM SORRY SMALL BUT TALLER THAN FRISK SIZED HUMAN!” You open your mouth to object to that outlandish nickname but shut it quickly, not even being able to muster up a response.
“YOU CAN CALL ME PAPYRUS! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IF YOU SO WISH! NO LAST NAME NEEDED!” He holds out his hand and you note that it’s covered with a thick red glove, along with that you notice the rest of his outfit matches, looking as if it came out of a spirit Halloween. Deciding to keep that an inside thought, you hand grasps his in a handshake.
The great papyrus? That sounds like a name a kid would make up for themselves on the playground. Another inside thought, you decide.
“…Right. Well, Papyrus, if you would look at Frisks education plan that would be greatly appreciated.” The paper it handed to him again due to the fact he didn’t even seem to notice it before, this time he actually takes it.
He holds the paper right up to his face in a similar manner as Undyne, squinting comically as you watch his eyes move left to right, down a row, left to right, down a row, repeat.
He makes a small noise in his throat to signify he was done, almost sounding like he was clearing his throat. Was that possible for someone who doesn’t have a throat?
“WHY, THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST EDUCATION PLANS IVE EVER READ! IT IS ALSO THE FIRST EDUCATION PLAN IVE EVER READ! IMPRESSIVE!”
Was that sarcasm? You couldn’t tell.
Assuming it was, you clear your own throat, eager to finish the conversation. “Right— well, all I need to know is if you would personally have any advice on improving it. You know Frisk more than I do, is there anything that comes to mind?”
“HMMM….” He rubs his chin as he loudly hums (how can someone hum so loudly?), you also see his foot tapping idly and him looking up as he thinks.
Was he purposefully trying to look like a cartoon character or was he just like that?
You couldn’t tell.
…You’re starting to notice a trend.
“HA!” You jolt up at the random noise he made, looking over to see Papyrus holding his index finger as if he had just came up with a brilliant idea.
“I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOLVED THE PUZZLE!”
“It was more of a question than a puzzle—“
“—FRISK LIKES THE PARK!”
…
“…”
You stare up at the skeleton with wide eyes, no doubt a dumbfounded expression on your face. He seems proud enough of his answer, even going as far as to do a little pose with both his hands on his hips and chin jutted upwards.
When it becomes apparent that he wasn’t going to explain further you force yourself to break the silence. “Right…I was more so thinking of things that would be useful to know for Frisks education.”
He tilts his head in confusion akin to a dog. “BUT FRISK LIKING THE PARK IS CRUCIAL INFORMATION?”
You squint up at him, unsure if he was making fun of you or not. You prepare to retort anyway, assuming he was, but he interrupts you before you can.
“WE TAKE FRISK TO THE PARK WHEN THEY GET BORED OF DOING HOMEWORK!”
You clamp your mouth shut, your retort instantly leaving your mind as you stare up at the tall skeleton, letting him continue.
“IT HELPS MOTIVATE THEM! WE NOTICED THAT FRISK SOMETIMES STRUGGLES WITH DOING SCHOOLWORK FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME, SO EVERY SO OFTEN WE TAKE THEM TO THE NEARBY PARK FOR AN HOUR OR SO! AFTERWARDS THEY’RE BACK IN TIP-TOP SHAPE!”
You notice his hands move animatedly as he talks.
You also notice that…that kind of makes sense. There was a park nearby, if Frisk really did end up struggling with working for long periods of time it wouldn’t be that much of a struggle to bring them to the park. Although you wouldn’t be able to be there for an hour like papyrus has suggested, it could still work.
“Oh.” You state blankly upon the realization that Papyrus wasn’t being sarcastic for this whole interaction like you had previously thought. That he had genuinely called your education plan impressive. That he was just…very blunt in his words.
You ignore the way your cheeks flush a bit too late at the compliment.
“I-…” you hesitated, awkward due to the embarrassment of misinterpreting him this entire conversation, before you clear your throat and smooth your hair down. “Thank you. That…will probably come in handy.”
He laughs, and usually you would assume he was laughing at you. But now knowing you’ve misread almost everything about this man so far, you begin to doubt that first assumption.
“NYEH! OF COURSE MEDIUM SIZED HUMAN!” You grimace at the nickname. “ITS ONLY NATURAL FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO COME UP WITH THE BEST ADVICE!”
There’s another moment of silence between the two of you before you clear your throat. “Right. Well, if that’s all, I think I should be going.”
You go to turn but are stopped when Papyrus’s chest is suddenly in front of your face. How did he get in front of you so fast??
“WAIT! I DIDNT GET TO OFFER YOU THE OPPORTUNITY OF COMING OVER TO DINNER YET!”
You quickly come to the conclusion that you staring up at the skeleton with wide eyes will become a common occurrence. Your brows eventually furrow as you process his words.
“You’re…asking me to come over for dinner?”
“YES! IVE COME TO THE UNDERSTANDING THAT COMING OVER FOR DINNER IS A CRUCIAL PART OF HUMAN FRIENDSHIPS!” He gives you a bright smile. How is that possible with no facial muscles? “MISS TORIEL IS COMING OVER AS WELL AND SHE WILL BE BRINGING FRISK! I FIGURED THAT THIS WAS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO ASK!”
You stay silent, trying to figure out how to respond to that. None of these people you’ve been expected to work with seem professional in the slightest, Alphys only getting by by a hair. And now Papyrus asking you to come over to his place for dinner the first time you two meet, apparently wanting to be friends? It was a nice thought, even you would admit that, really it was. But the thought made your stomach twist.
That’d mean accepting the fact that this job wasn’t your big break. That working for past royalty wasn’t the evidence of your worth like you thought it was. Not if everyone else was treating it like, what? A playdate? Not taking you seriously in the slightest.
Could you do that that? Accept that the job you had been so excited to accept turned out to practically be the opposite of what you wanted?
“THERE WILL BE SPAGHETTI!” Papyrus interrupted your thoughts, apparently taking you silence for hesitance. You did have to admit that the fact spaghetti would be there made the offer much more tempting.
“Thank you for the offer, Papyrus.” You say, meeting his gaze after smoothing down you hair. “But I think I’ll have to refuse this time.” You made sure your tone had a hint of finality with it so he didn’t argue.
Although it seemed pointless as he didn’t attempt any arguing, only seeming slightly disheartened. “HMM, I SEE…” he runs his chin similarly to before, although much less animatedly than before.
It was easy to imagine a lightbulb lighting up above his head due to how visibly he perked up. “THEN ILL JUST HAVE TO GAIN YOUR FRIENDSHIP VIA OTHER METHODS!”
The wide eyes have one again returned.
He quickly ran past you to what seemed to be a red sports car, your hair and the fabric of your clothes rustling at the gust of wind his speed caused. Looking over your shoulder you see Papyrus ushering Frisk (who was previously busy playing in the grass) in the back seats and opening his own door.
Before he shut it he looked over to you and gave you a salute, binding his promise to ‘gain your friendship’.
Hesitantly you give him an acknowledging nod to which he seriously returned, driving off soon after.
You stand there, in the middle of the sidewalk of the front of the Library, the only noise being the cars driving past. Slowly you pull out the education plan from your stack of papers, looking down at it, examining your progress so far.
You had started this job thinking that this specific education plan would be your most successful and well working plan yet. Only to be left with a couple of messily written bulletin points about Frisks learning habits. You still need to add the note about the park.
You hold back a sigh. Tutoring Frisk wasn’t going to be what you had initially hoped it would be, not by a long shot. You were able to admit to that much.
You think back on Papyrus, how your interactions with him have been…friendly enough. As unprofessional as they were. Same goes for Alphys and somewhat Toriel if you ignore her constant interruptions. You weren’t sure how you felt about Undyne yet.
Maybe this won’t be your best job, but you doubt it’d be your worst, considering the so far friendly faces of the people you’d be working with, as well as how bright of a student Frisk seemed to be.
And you’d be meeting another family friend next session, the last of the ragtag family, the second Mr. Font, papyrus’s brother. Sam? Was that his name? Anyway, you’re sure that if he’s anything like his brother, tutoring Frisk might be one of your more pleasant jobs.