Chapter Text
While halfway through your essay for a college assignment, you saw the discord notification popping up in the bottom right corner of your screen.
You sighed, choosing to ignore it. When more notifications appeared again, you still ignored it.
Then again.
Then again-
You finally clicked over to Discord and saw a dozen mentions of your username in the chat. The server was exclusively occupied by your online friends, all of whom happened to be skeleton monsters. Somehow, you managed to stumble your way into their circle after meeting Red on a public server a year ago.
You had yet to show your face to any of them. To be completely honest, you were a bit insecure and weren’t all that comfortable showing your face online. Thankfully, they were entirely cool with it and never tried to pressure you. They also knew you were human, and frequently joke that you were their favorite one (though you had a sneaking suspicion they weren’t actually joking)
Sometimes you would send pictures of one of your hands holding a cup of coffee while working on your projects in a cafe, or pictures of the pretty scenery on your walk to campus. You had even sent a few half body fit checks before, showing off your favorite outfits while completely cropping your head out of the frame.
They always hyped you up in the chat and never pushed you to show more than you were comfortable with.
Monsters had come to the surface a while back, you couldn’t quite remember if it had been two or three years, but what mattered was that they were free.
The city with the most monsters was Ebott City, which was hours away from you. Though a few monsters had moved into your local area already. In fact, one of your neighbors was a sweet old deer monster who regularly baked you sweets; in return, you usually helped her out by picking up their groceries.
Anyways, back to looking at what these losers were sending…
Stretchy: @name
Stretchy: @name
Stretchy: @name ik u see this
Stretchy: @name ooo u wanna get in vc so baddddd
Stretchy: @name
MyChemicalShit: @name
MyChemicalShit: @name spspspspspspspsp
MyChemicalShit: @name
MyChemicalShit: @name
MyChemicalShit: @name cmhere doggy doggy spspspspssp
Wow, the audacity of this bitch.
BonelyGuy: @name
BonelyGuy: @name According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee-
And he pasted the entire bee movie script. Great.
You clicked your tongue. I should have put it on Do Not Disturb mode.
WhySoBlue: @name I MISS YOU 🥺
Aww-
WhySoBlue: @name
WhySoBlue: @name
WhySoBlue: @name
WhySoBlue: @name Do you feel bad yet
WhySoBlue: @name We're so lonely
oh my fucking god these grown ass men.
Glancing at the VC channel, you noticed all of them were already inside except for Edge, Papyrus and Jupiter. You assumed those three were actually busy doing something productive or were working. Not being unemployed, unlike these absolute dumbasses (that you love).
With a sigh, you clicked into the voice channel.
“Eyyy, there they are! Took ya long enough!” Red yelled excitedly. Wow, his mic sounded like pure shit, you couldn’t really blame the guy since he always insisted on using his phone.
“Bro, I literally told ya’ll earlier that I was working on a college essay.” You groaned, dragging out your words.
“A likely story, sweetheart.” Red yawned.
You heard a couple of chuckles and a giggle. You assumed the giggle was from Blue.
“Sorry, hun. But you’re gonna have to take a break and play roblox with us.” Stretch said coolly, “Game nights really aren’t the same without ya.”
Suddenly, your face felt incredibly warm. Were you blushing or was the temperature in your room just rising?
That was.. Actually pretty sweet for Stretch to say.
“We found a brand new game to play!” Blue chirped enthusiastically, “I discovered it through browsing game recommendations!”
“Hm.. I guess I'll join..” You hummed, before quickly adding, “Depending on what kind of game it is though, i am not in the mood for an obby"
“It’s a horror game, right up yer alley.” Red chuckled, “Unless you’re too chicken shit to handle it?”
“Oh please, I can handle horror better than any of you.” You squinted your eyes as you playfully retorted.
“Put your money where your mouth is, kiddo.” Sans chimed in.
“Fine fineeee.. Join the game first, i’ll open roblox right now.” You said, closing your google document and opening up Roblox.
You heard Sans snort over the mic, you could perfectly imagine that permanent grin of his widening. Based on the pictures they had once sent in the server, it genuinely looked like they couldn’t move their jawbones at all.
“Well that was easy.”
The game Blue had stumbled upon after watching a Youtuber play it turned out to be an underrated yet deeply unsettling horror game. You would never forget the volume of screams you let out that night. What was it with these underrated horror games with a low player count always scaring the absolute shit out of you?!
You weren’t the only one losing your mind though.
Sans was desperately trying to play it cool but you could tell he was absolutely losing it based on the amount of terrible puns he was spouting out to cope and kept on hiding his avatar behind yours. Red was actively screaming bloody murder at the monster, trying to act tough while throwing his avatar in front of you as a meat shield in order to ‘protect’ you. Stretch was mostly quiet, but you knew exactly when he got jumpscared because his microphone picked up the loud thud of his knee violently slamming against the under part of his desk.
Blue, oddly enough, just kept letting out little giggles and occasional chuckles. How the hell was he so fearless?!
After the game, you all finally settled on a much more relaxing tycoon game, just chatting about random things until you accidentally let out a massive yawn right into your mic.
You instantly slapped a hand over your mouth. Dammit, you should have muted first.
The call went dead silent for a second before Sans broke it.
“You okay, kiddo?” Sans asked, he sounded concerned.
“Yeah.. I think I need to hop off.” You admitted, yawning again but a bit quieter this time as you rubbed your strained eyes. “I really need to proofread this essay before morning.”
“I don’t wanna offend you or anything, kiddo. But you sound pretty bone tired right now.”
You rolled your eyes at Sans’ pun. “Booooooo…”
“You should really get some sleep! We deeply apologize if we kept you up past your bedtime!” You could feel the apologetic pout in Blue’s voice.
“Oh no no, don’t worry about it, Bluey.” You said, using the silly little nickname you had for him. “I.. really enjoyed playing with you guys. To be honest, it took a lot of stress off. I’ve been working on this essay the whole day, so taking a break to play and laugh around with you guys really cheered me up.”
The call fell completely quiet again. With every passing second of silence, your face progressively burned a brighter shade of red. Why did you have to be sappy?!
“Nyeh heh heh.. Geez, hun..” Stretch murmured, his voice was soft.
“Heh, ya really know how to butter up a bunch of skeletons, don’t ya, sweetheart?” Red teased, though his voice lacked its usual bite and sounded incredibly flustered.
“Okay, shut up!” You hissed.
A chorus of laughter erupted through your headphones from all of them and you couldn’t help but smile through your embarrassment.
“Okay seriously I need to go now!! I’ll talk to you guys later, bye bye!”
“Bye bye, hun. We’ll make sure to annoy you again really soon.” Stretch drawled.
“See ya, sweets. Don’t forget to actually close your eyes after you finish that paper.” Red added, following up with a snicker.
“Goodbye, friend!! Sleep well!!” Blue shouted happily.
“See ya, kiddo. Make sure there’s no monster under your bed.” Sans teased.
You snorted before disconnecting from the call and leaned back in your desk chair, letting out an exhausted yet deeply satisfied breath.
Glancing at the bottom right corner of your monitor, it was 12:39 AM. You rubbed your eyes and cracked open a can of cold coffee you had sitting next to your keyboard. The proofreading was nearly done.
Your phone suddenly buzzed on the desk. You decided to close Discord in your computer to further avoid any distractions, but you forgot to mute notifications in the app. Though, your curiosity got a hold of you and decided to open it.
mars: can we call i need to rant
You blinked in surprise. Mars always settled for some casual chatting due to him being a slow talker. It made sense why he barely joined the voice calls since he couldn’t catch up with the others who were absolute chatterboxes.
The two of you mostly chatted in your private messages with him. Before, you were the one who always initiated the conversations first, but as soon as the two of you had grown really close, he now was the one who initiated conversations first.
You left him voice messages sometimes when you were too lazy to type, he said he didn’t mind at all.
You quickly began typing back.
[name] is typing….
[name]: sure, whats up?
Instead of typing out a response, your phone immediately lit up with an incoming direct voice call from him. You clicked the green accept button and stared at the screen, waiting for him to speak first.
You were greeted only by heavy silence and quiet, raspy breathing.
“Mars? What’s up, buddy?” You called out gently. You stood up from your desk, carrying your phone over to your bed and sitting down.
“I.. fuckin’ hate.. That Red.” He finally grunted out. His voice was dripping in pure venom.
You groaned internally. What did Red do this time?
‘What did he do?” You spoke softly into the phone, eyebrows furrowing with worry.
You were well aware that they all lived together in some massive house due to all of them being family except for Mars and his brother, Jupiter. You recalled Mars mentioning a while back that the two of them had moved into a much smaller house just to get away from the others being constant nuisances.
It took Mars a long time to gather his thoughts, until he finally started rambling..
“He kept on.. pissing me the fuck off today..” Mars growled. “He came over to.. our place.. had to borrow something.. cus’ Sans asked him to… and then he just.. he just kept taunting me about some stupid shit.. kept leanin’ over my shoulder.. laughin'.. that annoying loud laugh of his.. he knows I can't… I can't handle too much noise when I'm trying to.. cook.. i don’t know what the.. fuck is up with that guy..”
You stayed quiet for a while. You could hear him pacing around his room on the other end.
“He kept callin’ me a freak.. and some.. horrorshow.. Said that I shouldn't even bother tryin’ to talk on the server anymore.. he’s always tryin’ to act like he owns the place..” His voice dropped a little.
You swore you could hear your heart breaking into a million pieces right now. A new profound wave of anger rising inside you.
“When did this happen, Mars?” You asked softly.
“This mornin’...” he mumbled.
What the fuck, Red? He had the absolute audacity to text you acting like he did nothing wrong all after tormenting Mars for no reason? You were definitely going to have a serious talk with that guy later.
Mars paused for a second before letting out a shaky exhale that sounded like a low growl.
“I didn’t wanna say anything in front of… the others… but… i wanted to come to you.. Instead.. and… you’re… you’re always so nice to listen to.. Can you.. can you your talk to me.. For a bit? Tell me about.. Your day?.. please…”
Woah, you instantly felt flustered. Okay, don’t take his words the wrong way now, you had to scold yourself internally.
“Or Anything.. I just need to hear.. you more.. so i can calm down..”
Pushing the random thoughts aside, you began telling him about your day. You completely left out the fact that you had played roblox with the others, although you had a feeling he already knew, since the rest of the guys had been spamming your username in the general chat earlier. You also started rambling about the topic of your college essay.
The entire time you spoke, Mars just gave low hums over the line and you could feel that he was finally starting to relax.
“You alright, Mars?” You called out, keeping your tone as gentle as possible.
“... yes. I’m alright now.. Thanks, lamb.” His raspy voice sounded much closer to the microphone this time.
These skeletons and their nicknames, I swear…
“No problem, Mars. I’m glad you’re feeling better now.”
It was quiet for a while before he spoke, “Not.. gonna sleep?”
“Oh! I will soon. I just need to finish proofreading this paper. Do you want to go ahead and sleep now?”
Mars grunted. “I want to.. Stay awake for a while.. Don’t leave.. Call.”
You hummed in agreement, “Don’t worry, I won't. You won’t mind if I continue working while we hang out then?”
“Go.. ahead.”
You went back to your desk and gently placed your phone right beside your keyboard before continuing reviewing your work.
After a while, you finally leaned back in your chair and stretched your aching arms over your head.
“I’m finally done..” You yawned.
“Go sleep.”
“I will, lemme just..” You closed out all your browser tabs and shut down your computer. Once it was completely down, you grabbed your phone and walked over to lay down on your bed.
You looked at the screen, staring at the two icons of your profile pictures together in the call.
“Comfy on.. Bed now?”
You smiled and hugged a pillow close to your chest. “Yep! I’m all settled now, what about you?”
He gave out a low grunt, indicating a yes.
“Sleep.. call?”
Your eyes widened a bit in surprise. Well this skeleton was being a little bold tonight. Then again, how could you possibly say no to that?
“Heh sure. Even when I don't open my camera?” You snickered.
You heard him let out a soft snort on the other end. “Don’t care.”
It didn’t take long for exhaustion to take over and soon you were completely passed out. Your phone was still loosely gripped in your hand with it tilted right up toward you.
As your grip relaxed in your sleep, your thumb slowly drifted down and brushed right against the camera button on the screen.
Mars stared at the dimly lit screen of the phone in his hand and his expression softened at the sound of your breathing. Good, he had made sure you fell asleep first.
He had been holding in his annoyance since this morning, violently tugging at his eye socket in stress whenever he was alone. After he ate, he had stayed completely holed up in his room the entire day, only stepping out when it was absolutely necessary to cook and eat food.
He was glad you were there for him. You were easily one of the nicest people he had ever encountered in his entire life, from his time back in the Underground up to the surface when they all got pulled into Classic’s universe.
He thought you were pretty cute too. Despite never having seen your face.
Your face…
Your..
Face?
What greeted him on his phone screen was the most adorable person he had ever laid eyes on. You were fast asleep, completely snuggled up in a warm blanket and surrounded by pillows.
It was your face.
The single red eyelight in his eyesocket began to glow much brighter. Mars slowly sat up in his bed, his gaze completely locked onto his phone screen.
Holy shit.
HOLY SHIT.