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It… felt weird. Being alive, that is. But, also everything else. It's barely been a few weeks since Clover was… adopted (it felt weird to say that) by their new… family (that one felt weirder). They kept tripping all over the place, causing tons of snickering from their older… sibling… self… sibling… It was still very confusing for them. Everything was. They were still trying to get their memories in order, as there were some weird occasional flashes of… Flowey? Maybe? With a weird… TV head? Might be related to when Flowey used them against Frisk. They preferred not to think about it that much.
Lately, Clover had been spending most of their time secluded in their room, trying to learn about what’s changed in the three years since they, uh, died. One day while browsing, they noticed something… rather interesting. Apparently a new movie had recently released for… a video game. What’s more is that the game had previously been given a movie that was… not great (live action, blegh). They wanted to go and see it but that would mean they would have to… ask for permission… The thought of doing that scared Clover, since they could be yelled at… But, in the end, they decided to bite the bullet and try. They left their room to try and find K—... Ceroba.
They found her in the kitchenette they had and mentally prepared themselves for their question. “U-Um… Ceroba?” they asked, trying to hide any potential fear they had.
“Oh, yes, Clover?” she responded sweetly.
“Um… I, I just wanted to ask… um…” they stuttered, struggling to put their question into words. “Can I go to the, um… W-Well you see, there’s this, um, m-movie that released recently, and I… um… w-wanted to… g-go see it? P-Please?” Clover braced themself for what they knew was incoming: some yelling about how selfish they were for wanting to go and do something and how it was totally unacceptable and—
“Oh, of course.” What. “Hmm. Martlet and I will probably be busy all day, but perhaps you could ask your siblings to go with you. Why don’t you go do that?”
“O-Oh… um, y-yeah.” Clover was very confused. Ceroba had just… agreed? No questions asked? Like at the very least the rating should have been asked, but… the part that mostly confused Clover was how… excited? she seemed? Maybe not excited, but… glad? “Um… a-and if, by chance, neither of them can go?”
“Clover, I can tell you’re nervous,” Ceroba reassured, “but you don’t need to worry. I trust you to be able to go by yourself if need be. You wandered through most of your journey in the Underground alone, right? I just thought this might be a nice time to get to know your siblings a bit more. Well, I suppose Kanako mostly, but perhaps it might be interesting to see how you’ve grown by speaking with Kuroba.”
“Um… yeah…” Clover managed to say in their quiet voice. “T-Thanks… Ceroba.” They turned to go and ask their… siblings… if they wanted to join in when they glanced back at Ceroba to give her a slight smile. Instead, they saw her with a slightly saddened look, almost as though she was… disappointed. Clover decided to just… go upstairs to ask Kanako and Kuroba if they wanted to go with them.
Clover stood in front of the door to Kuroba’s room, hearing them play on their guitar.
B… D#-B A#... B A G#...
It was a familiar tune to them both, they remember hearing that when fighting Starlo and Ceroba. It took a surprisingly less amount of courage for Clover to knock on Kuroba’s door versus asking Ceroba for permission.
“Hey, um… Kuroba…?”
G# A#— “Yeah?” Kuroba said through the door.
“U-Um… S-So… there’s this, um, m-movie that I… wanna see… a-and…”
“Oh, yeah of course,” Kuroba replied quickly. “Lemme guess, Ka-san putcha up to askin’ me an’ Kan?”
“Y… Yeah.”
“Ha, ah, thought so. Guess she’s been tryna figure out how to get you to open up more. I’ll put some money together for tickets and snacks, you go ask Kan.”
This… felt weird. Too many things were… going right? There… there had to be some sort of catch. There was something else afoot. There just had to. That other shoe was bound to drop at some point, causing all of them to laugh at how naïve Clover was for believing all of this to be real. It was bound to happen. However, putting that aside for a moment… Kuroba’s involvement in it… wouldn’t make sense… They were… them after all. One and the same. It… it just wouldn’t make sense for them to be an active participant in something that… something that would prey on Clover’s fears. So maybe… it was real after all?
Or maybe Kuroba was being kept ignorant of it…
…
Better to keep their guard up, then.
Clover arrived in front of Kanako’s room, ready to… knock… Oh come on. Why are they so nervous now? It was so much easier for Kuroba’s door. Could it have been the fact that Kuroba would have been more genuine? But in that case, why are they still afraid to talk to them; afraid that they’ll just laugh at Clover’s insecurities… Perhaps, deep down, Clover was afraid that they don’t actually… belong here. There was already an established family dynamic. Two parents and two children, both of whom were in their teens. Adding a new child into the mix now… and one who’s only 12… it felt… like it just wouldn’t work… Maybe they should run away again. Or maybe they could live with Starlo. That would lead to less concern about fitting in. As far as they knew, the Feisty Five were just friends living together. They could semi-easily insert themselves there. Way easier than inserting themselves in a family, anyways. (Here and now, Clover,) they thought to themself. (Just stay in the here and now. And just knock on this damn door already.)
“U-Um… K-Kanako?”
“Yeah, whatsup?” Kanako replied, opening the door.
“Um, well… I-I was wondering… You… you see… um…”
“Just spit it out, Ver.”
(Pushy.) “S-So, there’s a movie I wanna see,” Clover stammered, “and… y-your mo—, er, C-Ceroba, asked me to see if… if you and Kuroba wanted to… come and watch with me. Um, Kuroba’s already decided to come and watch, so… uh… you know…”
“Oh, sure.” (What?) “Just lemme get ready.”
This… no, this is going way too smoothly. There’s GOTTA be some sort of catch. Guess they just have to… wait by the door while Kanako and Kuroba get ready. Everything… there’s just a lot of suspicion in Clover’s mind. They need to stay on their guard the whole time, just so that they can’t be caught unawares and made fun of. They need to be prepared.
And then they fell flat on their face at the first corner of the sidewalk once they started heading out.
(Stupid… new center of gravity… making you fall…)
“Wup, here ya go,” Kuroba said as they extended a hand (er, claw?) to help Clover up. “Yeah, the tail takes a while to get used to, huh? Center of gravity, closing doors on it, it just moving in front of you and tripping you up, real annoying. Took me, like, a month or two to get used to it. But you’ll get there eventually.” The smile and advice Kuroba gave… it seemed to be genuine. But that’s only natural, they were Clover, after all. If anyone were to be friendly and helpful to them, it would be Kuroba. But the way they smiled… it seemed to imply something more than just… being a friend… Like there was no hidden malice behind it, waiting for the perfect moment to strike…
Like Kuroba thought of them as a sibling.
The rest of the walk to the theater was rather uneventful, up until Kuroba asked about seating. “Um… maybe in the back?” Clover suggested. “We, um, all have rather large ears, after all.”
“Nah, that’s not gonna be a problem,” Kuroba replied. “We all got ways to take care of ‘em. You and I can shapeshift into any different appearance we want, and Kan doesn’t actually have any specific form, so they can remove his ears when necessary. Actually, I gotta ask…” Kuroba turned to Kanako, “Why do you have those ears?”
“Ugh, because of stupid younger me,” Kanako replied. “I was scared and, for some reason, decided to copy you, Clo.”
“And how does that make younger you stupid?”
“Because then it felt too natural to revert and it’s embarrassing.”
“What? Because you wanted your big sib to comfort you? Haa, classic teen thinking.”
“Oh, like you’ve never done anything embarrassing.”
“Hmm, have I? It’s not like you’ll ever know. Besides, you were, like, 9 or 10 then it’s only natural you’d want comfort.”
The two kept going for a bit, and the whole time Clover was just standing off to the side. It’s possible that this was why Clover felt so left of everything; they weren’t privy to the intricacies of having siblings, like these sorts of arguments. They were about to keep going to the theater when Kuroba happened to glance at them and see their face.
“Oohhh, so that’s it.” Both Clover and Kanako were confused by this. “That’s why you’re so nervous all the time. Hey, Kan. You wanna hear something embarrassing about Clover?” they said with a slight smirk.
Kanako raised a theoretical eyebrow. “What sort of ‘something?’” she asked.
“Weeeellll. Perhaps, for example,” they said, their smirk growing wider, “how they love to watch a bunch of children’s shows.” (Hey…) “And I don’t just mean cartoons, I mean actual baby-level shows meant to teach about colors and stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got all caught up on what they missed.” (HEY!)
“Oh, like this doesn’t apply to you?!” Clover suddenly said, surprising themself.
“Hm? Whatever do you mean, Clover?” Kuroba said, mockingly.
“We’re the same person! This ‘embarrassing secret’ of mine applies to you, too!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. And that’s where you’re wrong.”
“Wha— How?”
“You’ve missed out on three years due to being dead. I’ve missed out on three years due to living and growing up in the Underground. Your interests are still the same, mine have shifted. I’ve matured.”
“Oh, yeah, sure, it was soooooooooo mature of you to reveal a secret like that, huh, Kuro?” Clover said, an inch from Kuroba’s snout, snarling.
A moment later, Kuroba stepped back and said “Aaaand congratulations!” Both Clover and Kanako were taken aback from the sudden change in attitude. “You’ve just completed your first bout of Sibling Bickering. Welcome to the family, Clove.”
“Wha… what?” Clover managed to say through their confusion.
“Clove, I’ve literally been in your situation before,” Kuroba said. “You’re concerned about ‘fitting in’ with the family, which is preventing you from actually talking to us. Doesn’t help that you’re constantly expecting the worst from everyone considering our experience with our… ‘parents.’ So, I thought I’d give you a little push to help you open up since Kan’s previous method won’t really work if you’ll give the same answers I did. And what better way to help you feel like a part of the family than Sibling Bickering? Hell, you even used a nickname for me by calling me ‘Kuro.’”
“O-Oh… Yeah, I guess I did… Still, you didn’t have to bring that up.”
“Sorry, sorry. Ends certainly don’t justify the means here. I was just trying to get a good reason to get you involved. I’m sure there’s still some things you’re worried about, but for now you don’t have to worry about being an imposter of some kind. Now c’mon, we gotta get to the theater. We still need to figure out our seating.”
“Oh, about that,” Clover said. “Um, how do I shapeshift?”
“Hm? Oh, crap, right. I’ve never taught ya. Here, I’ll help you out as we continue walking. So, to start…”
The rest of the outing went well. Kuroba taught Clover how to shapeshift (even though they all ended up in the back of the theater anyways), Clover lost their fear of calling the others their family, and decided to start calling Martlet and Ceroba how Kuroba does: Ma and Ka-san respectively.
Dinner that night was much more lively, as Clover was an active participant. They were the most excited to tell their parents about how the movie was. “It sounds like you loved the movie,” Ceroba said.
“Yeah, I really did,” Clover responded. “Thanks for letting me go see it, Ka-san.” When they said this, Ceroba’s face showed a bit of surprise before she responded. (Oh. So that’s why she looked sad earlier,) Clover thought, accidentally not hearing what she said. (It was because you called her by name. She must have thought you didn’t see her as your mom. You feel bad about that now. You should apologize later before bed.)
Some time after dinner, Clover went up behind Ceroba. “Hey, Ka-san?” they said.
“Yes, Kuro—” she turned around and saw Clover. “Oh. Sorry about that, Clover.”
“No, it’s fine,” they said. “You’re used to Kuro calling you Ka-san, and the fact that our voices are similar doesn’t help. Anyways, I wanted to say sorry.”
“Oh, for what?” Ceroba inquired.
“About earlier. Right before I went to go ask Kuro and Ko to go to the movies with me, I turned to at least give you a smile and… I saw you looked sad. During dinner I realized… it might’ve been because I called you by name instead of… as my mom.” Clover shifted their glance in shame.
“Oh, sweetie,” she kneeled and cupped Clover’s face. “I’ll admit, I was a bit sad, but I knew where you were coming from.”
“Y-You did?”
“Of course, Kuroba was the same way, after all.”
“Oh… right. Heh, I keep forgetting that. They don’t seem like me at all.”
“Hmhm,” Ceroba chuckled, “I’m sure they’d say the same if they were in your position. I’m glad that you feel comfortable enough to consider us family now.”
“Haha, yeah. Anyways, I’ll go get ready for bed. Love you lots.”
“Love you more. Goodnight, Clover.”
“‘Night, Ka-san.”