A/N: Aha. Ahahaha. Ahahahahahaha. I wrote fic. Again.
Uh, this can sort of be taken as a prequel to like you never fought a war but you really don't need to read that. But it fits into the same universe and stuff so yup!
The main inspiration for this story is the Doctor Who novel Shadows of Avalon by Paul Cornell (great book, go read it) in which one of the main characters, Compassion, gets a list of eight things she should do in order to act human. Those eight things make up the first eight parts of this fic. The ninth thing... well, I added that.
(Also, I should probably add that I'm a massive Doctor Who Expanded Universe geek, and that's why there's characters named Chris and Anji, and it's also partly the reason why Terra has such a specific shirt (no one will know that one tbh). So yes.)
Um, I don't own Undertale, Doctor Who, The Hobbit, or anything else mentioned/referenced. The only people I do own are the characters that I quite obviously made up, since they're all two-dimensional and horribly written and blah
1. Live among humans
On your twenty-first birthday, you- Frisk Dreemurr- decide to become independent.
It's not the best decision you've ever made, since it means saying goodbye to your friends and family ("Text me often, my child!" Mom tells you, sweeping you up in a massive goat hug) and enduring tirades from Undyne and Papyrus (angry and tearful, respectively) about how much they'll miss you- and how on earth are you going to continue their cooking lessons now? (What do you mean, no cooking lessons?! Won't you miss the great Papyrus's majestic spaghetti dishes?)
It's not that you don't want to be around your friends, or that you don't love them anymore, or anything like that- it's just that you want to strike out on your own a while. You are, after all, a fully grown adult, and you can do this sort of thing if you want. It's your choice.
So your decision is made, and after a while, your most precious items are packed up into a bag, and your room is cleaned out- although Mom says she'll keep it clear for you, since you'll always have a place in her house.
You wave goodbye to everyone, and catch the morning train to the nearest human city. You've rented an apartment in advance. It looked nice enough when you viewed pictures of it on the internet- small, cozy and functional, and surrounded by quite a few friendly (human) tenants.
As you stare out the slightly grimy window of the train, you realize that you're actually looking forwards to this. It'll be another adventure, just like the one you had in the Underground. You'll be on your own, making your own way in life. And it's not like you're gone forever- you can go back and visit your family whenever you like.
Your phone buzzes, bouncing against your lap, and you slide it out of your pocket after a moment's hesitation.
ALPHYS updated their status.
* omg missing the human already! hope they call us soon :)
Your throat unexpectedly tightens up, and you shove the phone back into your pocket. This isn't helpful in the least.
To distract yourself from the rising sensation that you've done something wrong and irreversible, you pull out your spiral-bound blue-and-purple notebook from your bag, and lean back against the rocking motion of the train, flipping to the first page. You've written a list of things to get done. To make you feel like a human again, instead of a monster- one of the monsters. (Not that there's anything wrong with being a monster.)
Eight things.
You tug a pen from your jacket, and doodle idly in the margins around your list. None of them have been completed yet, but that's fine. There's plenty of time to get things done. You have all the time in the world. You're not worried.
You're really not.
2. Make friends
You move into your flat (32C), and it's every bit as small, cozy, and functional as you hoped it would be. You set your laptop to charge on the kitchenette counter, make the bed up and hang up your clothes in the wardrobe. Then you spend nearly half an hour on the sofa in the living area, debating whether to put up pictures of your monster family or not. On one hand, you really want to have them hanging around the apartment. Somehow, their presence- photographed or otherwise- seems to brighten up any building.
On the other hand, not all humans are exactly okay with the fact that monsters are prowling around on the surface. If anyone else sees them, they might get the wrong impression, although you're not quite sure what that impression might be.
In the end, you decide to fix most of your photos to the bulletin board in your new room, where any potential visitors are unlikely to go. You're pinning the last image- of you and Mettaton posing together at last year's Christmas party- when the doorbell rings.
You pat the board absently, and rush off to the door, quickly throwing it open.
A girl with messy dyed-black hair is standing on the other side, scratching at her neck with one hand, and holding a foil-wrapped plate in the other. She's wearing ripped blue-grey jeans and a faded T-shirt that says 'KEEP THE LEAP' in big, bold letters. She brightens when she sees you- although you probably look like a mess- and holds up the plate for you to take. "Hi! I'm Terra. Heard that we were getting a new neighbour, and I wanted to welcome you to the family." She turns, and points across the hallway. "I'm in number 38, come over any time. I throw the best parties 'round here."
You laugh and nod politely, and lift the foil to peek underneath. There's three slices of some sort of pie, which suddenly makes you feel rather homesick. You nearly raise your hands to start signing a reply, but then you realize that she probably won't know ASL. You swallow, hard, and force a reply out. "I'm Frisk. Um, thanks, I guess. I'm just moving in, so it's a bit messy, but-?" You gesture vaguely over your shoulder into your flat, and she takes that as an invitation to come in.
You shut the door behind you as Terra falls onto your couch, crossing her legs casually, and talking at sixty miles an hour. "There's a bunch of us around here. Nic's just next door to you on the right, and he's a right old laugh sometimes- the resident comedian- and Anji's on the next floor, but she comes over whenever we watch movies and shit. She's, like, the geekiest person ever but she's great, don't judge her on that, you should see her at pub quizzes. And then there's Martha, she's kinda into all that New Age-y crap, but she cooks the best brownies, she made the pumpkin pie for you, also Chris, he's just across-"
You kind of tune her out, and you slide the plate of pie into your fridge, where it joins the freshly bought cheese, milk, and butter that you got at the train station. You close the door with a hiss of cold air, and return to the couch, where Terra's stopped talking and is looking at you sort of expectantly, apparently waiting for you to offer some information in return.
"So?" she asks when you don't say anything. "Why did you come here? Study or work or whatever?"
"I needed to get away," you reply shortly, and the look on your face must have said something, even though you really didn't mean it, because Terra nods and changes the subject.
"We're having a movie marathon tomorrow night," she says, eyes widening. She's got a light layer pale of green eyeshadow on, which really shouldn't look good on her but somehow does. "At nine, my flat. Wanna come?"
You hesitate.
"We're watching The Hobbit," she adds, and you relent.
"Sure," you decide. "I'll be there. Should I bring anything?"
She winks at you, rising to her feet. "If you want. Food sounds good, though." She makes for the door. "See you then!"
You wave, and close the door behind her, a half-grin spreading across your face despite yourself. You've successfully made one friend- sort of. Maybe.
It's a step in the right direction, anyway.
3. Get a job
The next morning, you head off to a cafe on the edge of the city called Il Fiore Solitario (small and quaint with a symbol next to the name in abstract yellow and white) to start working at something non-ambassador related for the first time in your life. You quit your job as an ambassador between monsters and humans shortly before leaving, reasoning that Mom and Asgore could probably manage the job better than you ever could. You feel sort of relieved and sort of sad about that.
During your break, you sit at a table, order a cup of coffee, and check your texts, somewhat reluctantly. There's a whole slew of messages from Mom, mostly worried ones with some hastily-written jokes in-between, just to make it seem like nothing's wrong. Long, rambling messages from Alphys, and a couple of puns and memes from Sans. You reply hurriedly, keeping the messages short and concise. You tell yourself it's to save money for your texting service. You almost convince yourself, really.
To distract yourself, you bring Google Translate up on your phone browser and look up the translation for 'Il Fiore Solitario'.
You nearly start crying in a public area.
4. Eat chips
The party at Terra's flat that evening isn't quite as wild and exciting as she had promised yesterday, but you still get the chance to meet new people and eat some food. You aren't quite used to anything besides monster food, which heals everything and fills you with a warm sort of glow that tingles around your stomach. So when you take a bite of a fresh-out-of-the-oven brownie, and it completely fails to make the scratches and scrapes from getting on and off the train go away, you have to bite your lip to keep from exclaiming in surprise.
"She's cool," you hear Nic say to Chris from the other room, in reference to you, and you feel an uncomfortable squirming feeling rising from deep inside of you. You like Nic, you really do- he kind of reminds you of Sans in that he makes the most terrible puns that still manage to get a laugh out of you- but he insists on referring to you as female despite your quietly muttered protests. Maybe you shouldn't have worn a skirt today.
Anji, who has frizzy brown hair that cascades over her shoulders and skin the color of coffee and sort of reminds you of Alphys when she gets into one of her geeky modes- is kind of thrown backwards over the couch with her legs sticking up in the air. She nudges you to get your attention. "Where did you get the recipe for this pie? It's really good!"
You have to blink and concentrate for a while, and sit on your hands so you don't sign in response (which is something you haven't had to do since primary school) before you can get a reply out. "My mom made it for me all the time back home."
"Cool," Anji grins. "It tastes great- kinda reminds me of monster food, yeah?"
"Monster food?" you ask, eyes widening in surprise, and Anji misunderstands.
"Yeah, you know the monsters that came out of Ebott a while back? My cousin's friends with this hyperactive monster called, uh, Temmie, or something? She brings over stuff sometimes, the Temmie, I mean. I think she's kinda creepy, but sweet at the same time, you know?"
There's a pause- the sort that sweeps over an eternity and fills whole nations with its silence.
"Frisk?" Anji asks, over your internal blankout and sudden panic. "Um, are you okay?"
You smile, hoping it doesn't seem forced, and your left hand reaches out suddenly and jerkily, groping for something to hold onto. "I'm fine, sorry. Just thinking." Your searching fingers finds something, and your arm jerks back to the couch. You shove the chip that it's holding into your mouth, and bite down automatically. It's warm and salty and has an interesting texture that you focus on.
"Hey, Frisky!" Terra cheers, practically falling into the room. She's what Mettaton would probably dub a hot mess at the moment- hair dishevelled and t-shirt hanging sweatily off her back, but somehow looking glamorous and fashionable at the same time. She kind of reminds you of Mettaton, now that you come to think about it. "How about starting that movie marathon?"
Please don't call me that, is the first thing that shoots into your mind, shortly by, she's asking for my approval?
"I guess so," you mutter, not really caring.
Martha, who is wearing a tie-dye shirt (true to form) and has a lovely mellow accent, presses the 'play' button on Terra's high-definition, surround sound TV, and all six of you squirm together on the small couch, trying to find a comfortable position as the opening music plays out and the movie begins. You all eventually meet a compromise wherein you're in the middle, squished between Chris and Anji, Nic's kind of pressed against the side of the armrest, Martha's on the floor, head resting on Chris's legs (you think they're dating, but there's no way to be sure) and Terra's sprawled, cat-like, on the thin ledge that makes up the top edge of the couch. It's a bit awkward, but it works, and you're all more-or-less completely settled by the time that Gandalf meets Bilbo and there are smoke rings and wordplay and Anji's started to point out inconsistencies and flaws in the movie. Judging by the massive amounts of eye-rolling and groaning from the other members of the group, this is a regular and unremarkable occurrence.
You kind of settle into the rhythm of things after a while, and by the time that the Company reaches Rivendell, you're actually smiling and laughing and occasionally joining in with throwing popcorn at the screen. It's nice, almost like being part of a family again.
Just after the second movie has been put into the DVD player and everyone's relaxed and excited, Nic pauses the movie, and goes into the kitchen, bringing back several cans of beer, which everyone eagerly crowds for but you kind of hang back, because you've never really had a reason to drink before and you're not honestly that prepared to start now.
"Loosen up a bit, girl!" Terra laughs carelessly, nudging you with her elbow and slopping some of her beer all over the floor. You smile, but internally you're grimacing and screaming and telling her to stop, just stop...
"No," you say instead, hands twitching slightly. "I'll just have some water, if you don't mind."