"Really? All for one stupid holiday?" Flowey asks, watching the small missile of a child zoom around the house at the speed of light. "This is just too much. Even you have to admit defeat this time."
Frisk shakes their head insistently at him, though it's slightly undermined by them grappling with a paper chain of hearts. They pant quietly and stretch up to hang it. When they're done, it hangs sloppy and lopsided over the doorway, but Frisk beams at their work all the same.
"The others will be home any minute," drawls Flowey from his perch on the desk. "I can see them coming."
The child turns quickly to look out of the window. There isn't a monster in sight. They scowl. Frisk picks up their notepad and uses an orange crayon to scrawl You're NOT funny, on the pad, and shove it at the smug flower.
The glorified potted plant smirks. "I'm not trying to be funny. You're doing that all on your own."
Raising their crayon high above their head in preparation to make a scathing retort, Frisk is interrupted by a sudden beeping sound from the kitchen, as well as the smell of smoke. The child drops the notepad, and darts to the rescue.
Wrinkling their nose, Frisk opens the oven door, but not before putting on the overly flowery oven mitts that Toriel is very adamant on using. They bite their lip upon seeing the mess. They were too late. These cookies are unsalvageable. The child taps one experimentally against the tray. It clunks loudly; it might as well be a brick. An incredibly tasty brick, but a brick nonetheless.
There's a snickering sound from the other room. "So, uh, how's that determination working out for you?" There's a pause, but the child doesn't answer. "Golly, maybe if you tried resetting, you could get those cookies right..."
The suddenly-sinister flower knows he's crossed the line. He waits. As time drags on without a response, the evil grin slides off his face, replaced with confusion. In the kitchen, he can hear some quick snipping noises, and then the human marches into view. Without a word, they stop in front of the flower, and stretch up, holding something. Flowey's vision is unexpectedly filled with the words SHUT UP scrawled on a pink paper heart card that has been stamped onto his face.
Flowey huffs. "Fine, fine. I get the message."
Thank you, Frisk signs sarcastically at him, rolling their eyes. They pick Flowey up and walk back into the kitchen, setting him on the counter.
This was okay. Maybe this would be alright. After all, the child had seen monsters eat dishes made out of snails, and frozen-solid spaghetti without batting an eye. They probably didn't have any tastebuds anyway. Frisk pulls over a stool to start searching the cabinet for frosting.
"Frisk?"
The named child ignores him.
"Frisk. Aren't you going to take this heart thing off?" Flowey persists. After a moment; "Please?"
The human continues to ignore him, wobbling slightly when they jump off the stool. They start applying frosting liberally to the disaster cookies. They don't have the time to keep talking to Flowey. They have to decorate the cookies, and the house, and make valentines for every monster in the Underground. And they have to do it all before any of the said monsters get home!
Remarkably, Frisk has actually done it. Through the power of sheer determination, the surprise Valentine's Day party was all set to go. As a consequence though, the child was exhausted. Once they had finished, they had dropped down to lie on their stomach on the kitchen floor. They hadn't moved since.
Flowey, the card recently removed from his face, watches them, unimpressed. "You're so dramatic."
In response, Frisk raises one leg high and places a hand on top of their head, striking a dramatic pose without ever peeling their face off of the floor.
"Hmph. Well, if I was you, I would think quickly. Toriel and Sans are coming back from Grillby's."
Frisk gasps silently and leaps up from the ground. They grab their notepad, backpack, and Flowey, taping the card back onto his face to ensure that he wouldn't spoil the surprise. The child sprints out to intercept the skeleton and goat monster that are making their way up the driveway.
"My child, are you alright?" Toriel frowns in concern. She looks down at Frisk, "Why are you in such a rush?"
I really missed you, Mom. Frisk improvises, scribbling it down. The human takes comfort in the fact that at least it isn't a lie.
Toriel melts right on cue, ruffling the child's hair. "You know Sans and I always have lunch at Grillby's on Sundays. You're also welcome to come, if you'd like."
"yeah, kid, " Sans chimes in, "we'd hate for you to get bone-ly around here."
Frisk throws their hands up in the air and waves them around to show the crowd going wild.
Toriel hides her giggles behind a paw. Not to be outdone, she looks down at Flowey, "And what about your frond there? He's all covered up. It seems you're trying to get him to leaf you alone."
"Please, stop." Flowey groans, his voice muffled behind the valentine.
"nice ones, tori," Sans chuckles, staring at the potted plant with his perpetual grin. "though, maybe we should take it easy on him. the poor guy looks like he's having a bad thyme."
"Argh!" The agitated flower twists and turns in the confines of his pot. Frisk takes pity on him and pulls off the valentine finally. Behind it, the flower is wearing a pained grimace.
The human gives Sans and Toriel a thumbs-up with their free hand. Once the monsters had finished laughing, (or, in Flowey's case, struggling) Toriel clears her throat again. "Well, I suppose we should take this party inside. We can all play a game. Or watch Mettaton's show."
"good idea. let's go inside. i'm getting chilled to the bone out here."
As Sans and Toriel start once more towards the house, Frisk skids in front of them, waving their hands frantically. NO! They signed quickly.
"no? i thought that pun was pretty great, tibia honest."
The child rolls their eyes and humors Sans with some quick jazz hands before writing on their pad, No, as in, you shouldn't go in there! They can't risk Sans and Toriel seeing the decorations before it's time.
"Whyever not, my child?" Toriel asks. She's now frowning again.
"Yeah, why not, Frisk?" Flowey eggs the goat monster on unhelpfully. The child glares at him.
The human's mind races. Because… they write, stalling. Inspiration strikes. The house is full of TOXIC GAS! Yeah! Frisk underlines the words with a green crayon and pretends to gag for emphasis. Inside, they feel guilt gnaw at them for the lie.
"toxic gas?" the short skeleton looks skeptical. Flowey is doing the flower equivalent of raising an eyebrow.
Toriel looks concerned. She's already started to look over the human. "Toxic? Are you hurt?"
Frisk shakes their head quickly. It doesn't affect humans, they write.
"If it doesn't affect humans, then how would you know it's toxic?" Flowey mutters, but no one pays attention to him.
"and what about the flower over here? is he okay?" Sans jabs a boney thumb in the monster's direction. The child purses their lips.
Well, flowers don't really breathe, so…
The skeleton shoves his hands back into his pockets. "do you have any idea what caused it?"
I dunno... Ask Alphys! She'll know what to do!
"Uh. I suppose," Toriel still looks dubious, despite the fact that Frisk has come up with an incredibly convincing lie. "Will you come with us, young one?"
Maybe later? The child writes. I wanna play outside first. They draw a little smiley sun next to the word "outside."
"you're really gonna take flowey with you?" Sans looks almost suspicious.
Frisk nods, heart hammering. What if he sees through them? Flowers need fresh air!
And they needed to make sure Flowey didn't destroy the decorations while they were gone.
"I would really rather stay ind-" the potted plant tries to speak up, but the human clamps a hand over his mouth and smiles nervously.
"Are you sure you're alright? You're acting quite strangely, little one."
The human waves dismissively, signing I'm fine, Mom. Go ask Alphys! I'll see you later!
"uh-huh. see ya, kiddo." Sans knows something is up, but he isn't trying to stop it. For now, at least.
"Use your cellphone if you need something!" Toriel says as she and Sans retreat back down the street. Frisk waves and waits until they are out of sight before sagging with relief. The child bites their lip, feeling terrible for lying to their mother and to their friend. They have to remind themself that it's for a good cause before the human can drag themself back into action.
The human slings their backpack down, unzipping it to pop Flowey in the bag. "Don't ever get into poker," the flower advises when he's settled in. "You would be awful at it." Frisk ignores him and pulls out their cell phone. They take the time to wipe off their sweaty palms before sending a text to Toriel.
When you and Uncle Sans get Alphys to come check out the house, you should get Undyne, Papyrus, Mettaton, and Asgore to come too! You never know what it's gonna take to get rid of toxic gas! Thanks, Mom!
-Frisk
That should buy them some time.
Author's Note: This was supposed to be shorter but since I wrote like ten pages, I turned this into a two part. The actual party will happen on actual Valentine's Day.
If anyone wants to know why Flowey's there in a post-pacifist run, let's pretend Frisk took him to the surface with them as a potted plant. Since no one remembers the fight with Asriel, the other monsters just think that he's Frisk's weird friend (And not that his addition was entirely an accident because I needed someone for more dialogue.)
I promise I'll get back onto the second part of The Invisible Monster after this.
But anyway, I hope you liked it and if you did, please leave a kudos or come scream with me in the comments! I'd really appreciate it; thanks for reading!