Work Text:
The room was mostly silent besides the buzzing of the lights, which the pristine, white walls seemed to somehow make louder and more obnoxious. Kris sat at a small table at the center of the room, not tall enough yet for their feet to reach the tiled flooring, so they swung their legs back and forth.
They weren’t that great at it, of course- they had only turned 7 a few weeks ago back in January- but they took another paintbrush and dabbled it in the pink watercolor paint. Then, they swirled it around in the little cup of water before adding another dot of yellow.
The man who sat across the room watched on as they painted a response to his question and his smile wavered. “What did you do in the forest that night,” he asked just moments prior. And it seemed Kris was drawing a black cat with about eight legs, a long tail of circles with a pointed end, an odd toothy grin, and bright pink and yellow eyes.
He was already watching, but they sheepishly turned the paper around to face him.
“Did you see that in the forest?” Kris just nodded. “Hm.” The therapist wrote something on a clipboard before his eyes flickered up toward a clock. He continued, “oh, it seems it’s time to go in a little bit, Kris. Mind if we let mom in to talk before you go?”
They shook their head and the therapist stood up from his chair before walking over to the door to open it. Kris grabbed another piece of paper and started painting again as Toriel walked in, chatting with the man about something they weren’t paying attention to. They painted the cat again, and then Dess and Kris, and they swirled the brush around again in water before dipping it in the bright red watercolor disc.
A few moments later, Toriel stood up. “Alright, let’s go, Kris.” They look up from their painting, putting the brush down. Toriel asks, “why don’t you say goodbye?” they looked over to their therapist and waved. Their hand was stained with black and red and pink and yellow, and various other colors, but mostly black and red.
“Thank you, Dr. Gaster… Tuesday at 4, right?”
“Mhm. Thank you,” he nods. Curiously, he stands up as well to look at what they’d painted. It’s a bit disturbing for something made by a 7 year old human kid.