I got a prompt on tumblr for Undyne and Papyrus friendship, based around Pap's quote: "Nobody starts as great friends." Again, this was meant as a one-shot but I'm going to do it in seperate chapters because I wrote A LOT.
Undyne has had her fair share of overzealous admirers throughout her career as captain of the royal guard.
Indeed, even now, she could barely set foot in the general Snowdin area without being accosted by that over-energetic kid, whom had somehow declared themselves her biggest fan. And truthfully, it didn't particularly bother her. Quite the contrary in fact, since it made her feel like the protagonists in her favorite anime shows: A revered hero, respected and esteemed by all!
And yet, still she was taken by surprise. No amount of glorification, no amount of vigorous training or carefully honed discipline, could have possibly prepared her for this.
Undyne liked her sleep. She was an active, headstrong sort of monster, whom rarely stood still longer than the time needed to tie her shoelaces. But to keep up this energetic demeanor, she required a decent rest each night. Preferably somewhere between 6 to 8 hours.
Imagine her irritation at being awoken at 2 AM by a series of loud knocks on her front door.
Being ever so pragmatic when it came to dealing with things that annoyed her, the disgruntled fish monster mumbled some very ill-intentioned words at her pillow, rolled over, and returned to sleep.
Sadly for her, the person at her door was very much a practical mind also, and was undeterred by his unanswered bangs. The knocking continued, with short intervals that were just the right length for Undyne to think her nightly visitor had left, but not long enough to actually fall back asleep.
Eventually she could take no more.
If this maniac wanted her to open her door, open her door she would. And maybe kill whomever was in front of it too.
She ungracefully rolled out of bed, trudged to her door, and ripped it open hard enough to almost tear it straight from its hinges.
The sight that greeted her was... unusual, to say the least. There are an endless variety of monsters in the Underground, and Undyne had at least some familiarity with most of them, but she had never encountered a skeleton before.
And certainly not one who dressed as this one did.
Even in Waterfall's dim lighting, the neon-pink shirt, adorned with various sequins spelling out the words 'Cool Dude' was clearly visible. He was also, for some unfathomable reason, wearing hot-pants.
Indeed, looking back on it, it's safe to say Undyne's first impression of Papyrus was less than favorable.
"Greetings, captain of his majesty's royal guard! I hope I didn't wake you?" The skeleton asked, loud voice echoing of the caverns rather unpleasantly.
Undyne wasn't sure if he was joking or not, so she ended up shaking her head ludicrously. It wasn't meant as an affirmative, but the skeleton took it as one anyway. He looked visibly relieved at that, grin growing impossibly wider.
"Oh, goodie!" he said, clasping his hands together happily. "I did not wish to disturb you, but thought it wise to come at once anyway."
Undyne was pretty sure she had never met anybody who used the word 'goodie' unironically before.
When she failed to react to his statement either way, the monster on her porch continued.
"I, the Great Papyrus, request to join the royal guard!"
She must be less awake than she thought. For a moment, Undyne could swear his ridiculously long scarf blew in a none-existent breeze as he was talking.
But that was probably just her imagination.
Silence reigned for a couple of seconds, while the fish monster blinked at her visitor a few times. Then, deciding she was simply too tired to deal with this kind of shit, she promptly closed the door in his face.
The next morning, he was still there.
Undyne had almost forgotten all about the strange nightly events, chalking it up to be nothing more than a dream. She should really stop drinking so much golden flower tea right before bed.
But when she strolled towards her window, stretching and yawning as she went, and pulled open the curtain to let in the meager Waterfall light, she instead encountered his skeletal face on the other side of the glass.
The sound the usually so composed Captain of the royal guard made then, was quite undignified indeed, and Undyne was glad nobody was there to witness it.
She immediately barged outside, in fact managing to throw her door completely off the hinges this time. It landed on the ground with a heavy thud, and the startled skeleton, Undyne couldn't even recall his name anymore, turned towards her with his ever present smile.
"Oh, good morning! I was wondering wh-" He started, but the angry fish monster barreled right over him.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Her voice was slightly higher than usual, but he didn't seemed bothered by her loudness.
His face scrunched up in confusion for the barest of seconds. "I thought I told you last night? I have come to request a position in the royal guard."
Undyne gaped at him much like a fish out off water, no pun intended. "I- I don't- Have you been here all night?"
"Yes." As if that wasn't a fucking weird thing to do.
She looked him up and down. He didn't look like he was particularly tired or cold, not at all like Undyne would expect a monster to look if they had been really standing outside her front door an entire night.
A tiny sliver of guilt made itself known then. She shouldn't have thrown the door in his face the previous evening. She should have either heard him out, or clearly told him to come back at another time.
She turned back, standing in her open doorway and gesturing impatiently. "Come on then, what are you waiting for now?"
He blinked twice at her, before smiling widely again and bounding over, awkwardly wiping his boots on her doormat before following her in.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Undyne had the nagging feeling she had no idea what she was getting into.
The skeleton didn't sit still.
He bounced on his seat excitingly, head darting around to admire Undyne's assorted weapons collection hung along the walls. Most of them were just boring old monster stuff, but one or two dated back to the time before the war, or were even human relics from ages before that.
They were the captain's pride, and it did give her joy to see somebody as interested in them as she herself was. But she wished he would stop moving around in her peripheral vision while she was making tea. It made her nervous.
"What did you say your name was?" She asked loudly, removing the kettle from the stove and carrying it over to the table.
"The Great Papyrus." He exclaimed, fidgeting around as if he was resisting the urge to jump up into a dramatic pose. Undyne rather had the feeling he actually was. "But you can just call me Papyrus, of course."
Of course. She set the tea down in front of him, watching as he cradled the cup delicately.
The captain sat down across from him, observing the skeleton quietly as he took a sip. His face scrunched up at the bitterness, one eye socket giving an impressive little twitch. Then, with a completely neutral face and even voice. "Thank you. It's very good."
Undyne wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic, or just a very good liar, so she didn't say anything.
"Right... Papyrus..." She began after a little while, when it became apparent the skeleton would be completely content sitting there, staring at her collection with stars in his eyes. "Tell me why you want to be in the royal guard."
He looked at her and blinked, as if it took him a second to register the question. "I don't know."
Out of all possible reasons: I want glory. I want fame. I want to punch stuff. 'I don't know' wasn't the answer Undyne had been expecting.
"You... don't know?"
Papyrus was still grinning and it was getting kind of creepy by now. He nodded as if his lack of motivation was the most normal thing in the world.
Undyne could do nothing but rub one hand across her forehead, barely containing the frustrated sigh threatening to spill out.
"You know we don't just let anyone in the guard, right?" She asked. Something about this guy made her voice almost automatically take on a condescending tone, as if she were talking to a child.
His mild expression showed her Papyrus was used to such treatment, and the thought made her feel queasy for a second.
"I'm from Snowdin." He informed her, and asking what this statement had to do with anything was on the tip of her tongue, when she remembered...
The Canine Unit. Right.
Good fighters, every single one of them, but their public presentation could use some work.
Still, what kind of passive-aggressive bullshit was this? But two can play that game.
"I meant you need to do an entrance exam, you dork." Her grin was full of teeth as she cracked her knuckles menacingly. "Defeat me in one-on-one battle, and you're in."
Her glare was fiery and pumped and the intended effect would be for Papyrus to cower before her. To be intimidated and scurry on over home to do whatever it is skeletons do in their free time.
That would have been the intended effect.
The actual reaction Undyne got was quite different.
He stared at her, cheshire grin still firmly in place, blinked again, then clasped his hands in front of his chest.
"Wowie! That sounds like fun!"
Welp, this is the first time I'm writing in Undyne's POV, so it's certainly something. Also, my characterization of Papyrus before the events of the game is slightly different to the one in the game, so I hope I'm getting this right.