A/N: Still crossposting from AO3. Surprising absolutely no one, here's another request for /utg/! The prompt was a very simple "something with Muffet" this time around and while I was originally planning to do something based on the Surface, this was also a very enticing little concept. I feel like Muffet is a cute, but very underutilized character, simply because she didn't have enough screen time.

EVERYBODY CRAWL THE SPIDER!

The door to the MTT Resort opened up, allowing Frisk to slip out.

The mood inside was hard to describe. It was a mixture of excitement, happiness, with perhaps just a little bit of thoughtful worry on top of it all. Everything has changed in an instant, and it would take quite a lot of time before the Underground would settle down again.

After all, the deed was done.

All of the monster souls were released from the clutches of the God of Absolute Hyperdeath, who not only relented in his seemingly unending fury, but offered invaluable help. With the six human SOULS, all of the monsters' and Asriel's own force of will, the barrier had collapsed. Monsters were free to roam the surface once again, no longer confined to whatever the Underground could provide them.

And yet there was still one more thing to do.

Frisk sighed and rubbed their eyes vigorously. They sat down on the red greeting carpet, feeling their legs wobble in unison. All of their adventures up till now had really taken a toll and even a grand dose of youthful energy and DETERMINATION couldn't stave off sleep forever. Even so, they needed to hold on, at least for another few hours. It was a long shot, but a prickling feeling in their SOUL suggested they still had one more thing waiting for them in the Ruins. Frisk had a good idea what to expect, but dared not voice it, fearing the chance would fade like a mirage.

They took a deep breath and stood up again. The Ruins were far away, but if they could only get to at least River Person down beyond Alphys' lab, that would perhaps allow them to keep going long enough.

Another option was the surprisingly huge limo parking in front of them.

Frisk tilted their head, unsure whether the limo just pulled off some Sans-level of wizardry, or they just weren't paying attention until now. They couldn't think about it for long though, as the limo's door opened up. The child peeked in, but all they could see was a surprisingly crawly kind of darkness.

"Ahuhuhu..."

The laughter was eerily familiar, but before Frisk could take a step to confirm, its owner stuck their head out from the dark. The silky black hair, several pairs of limbs and no less than five eyes were a dead giveaway.

"Get in cutie, we're going baking!" she cooed, beckoning the human.

Frisk still vividly remembered their encounter with the young spider lady, though they chose to forget about the less-savory moments of it. They left on quite amicable terms however, so there was little reason to assume any harm. The dull pain in their legs was also a keen reminder how several sets of wheels were infinitely preferable to walking right now. Without much of a pause, they got up and entered the limo. The crawling abyss inside swallowed them whole.

The inside of the limo turned out to be quite comforting, once they got used to the sight of almost every inch of the interior crawling with spiders of all varieties and sizes.

"Don't be shy, have a seat." Muffet said.

She giggled as Frisk extra-carefully stepped over to the seat, even though the spiders were polite enough to move out of the way and provide safe passage wherever they were going. The child hopped down, bouncing a bit on the very cushy material. They couldn't help but take note of the temperature even, as the whole place felt comfortably warm. They sighed with relief, their tired body welcoming the sudden increase in comfort levels.

This relief quickly turned to fear as an also quite familiar rumbling-chomping noise emerged right next to their ear.

"Be nice to the guest, Scones!" Muffet scolded her oddly-shaped Muffin-Spider pet.

Scones let out a noise eerily close to whinnying and stuck its tongue out, giving Frisk's face a tiny lick. The human shivered from top to bottom, their terrified expression showing just how much they had come to regret taking on the spiders' offer.

"Don't worry about him, he's a big old softie." the lead spider giggled and handed Frisk a cup of warm liquid. "I promise there aren't any spiders in this one." she added, winking.

Frisk swallowed and nodded, reaching out for the tea cup. They carefully took a sip and found the taste to be quite hard to pin down. It was sweet, a bit sour and oddly enough even a bit spicy.

"Authentic spider-recipe!" she giggled and sat down on a makeshift little silken swing her friends constructed. "It'll be part of our very own brand of spider-goods, once we get to the Surface."

"Thank you!" Frisk said, reinvigorated from the peculiar beverage.

"Aww, such a polite little biscuit, too." Muffet crossed her legs and two sets of her arms, leaving the last pair to hold onto the swing. "So where would you like me to take you? We're going to the Ruins to get the rest of our friends."

"I'm going there too!" Frisk nodded. They still shivered a bit, but remained relatively calm as some of the spiders crawled across their foot. They didn't seem dangerous or malicious, just curious at best. "I'm meeting a friend..." they added, though there was significantly more hope in their voice, than certainty.

"Well, that's just perfect then!" Muffet clapsed her hands. "Let us give you a ride then, that's the least we can do for our little barrier-breaker."

Frisk blushed a little to the compliments. They didn't think word would get around this fast. "I-it wasn't really me..." they stumbled across the words several times over.

The spider lady started giggling again, her voice full of amusement.

"Don't need to be modest, dearie." she said. Frisk found it hard to decide which of her eyes to focus on, but decided on just the two most like their own. "You've done us a great service."

The child fidgeted a bit, getting more and more flustered by the compliments. They were used to the many different ways monsters here approached them so far, but few have been so openly gushing.

"We would have had enough money wish just your help, but then all of a sudden, soon after Mettaton's show ended, a limo rolled by our home." she said, tilting her head left to right, making the spiders on top her head swing around for fun. "The driver said they got paid to take us wherever we would like to go, and we got this cozy thing all to ourselves!" she spread her lower pair of arms as well, as if trying to hug everything at the same time.

Frisk felt a breath from the side and quickly got on the receiving end of another lick from Scones. They blushed beyond all description, briefly making an attempt to just straight-up sink into the seat.

"In fact, I know just how to repay you, for now at least." Muffet said. All of her eyes seemed to light up at the same time as she hopped out of her swing and approaching Frisk. She extended a single hand towards them. "Care for a dance?"

The human felt their face light up in a blaze of glory. They stumbled over not just words, but mere phonemes, while the spider waited for them with a playful smile. "Don't be shy!" she cooed.

Scones whined again and nudged Frisk to the edge of their seat, just enough so their hand would slip into Muffet's. She grinned and easily pulled them closer with a single motion. Their arms were significantly stronger than the child expected.

Frisk still couldn't extinguish the burning fire in their cheeks and especially not as Muffet grabbed their hands. She nudged her head towards a nondescript group of spiders, who immediately started spinning their web in a strangely precise fashion. It still resembled a wall of webs like any other, but significantly more chaotic in some regards. Frisk briefly pondered about it, only to recognize a certain rhythm. The way these spiders were drawing, cutting, fastening webs, scurrying and sliding along them provided some strange kind of music.

"Eyes on me, cutie." Muffet called, forcing their attention back. She was somewhat taller than Frisk as it turned out, though not worryingly so. "And don't worry, we're on the same level here. After all, we both have only two feet." she giggled, wiggling her six hands..

Frisk smiled at her, only to find themselves flipped around in less than a second. Before they could even register what happened, Muffet once again held their hands. "But I did take some lessons." she added.

There was absolutely no question about which one of them had taken the lead. Frisk followed as best as they could, but more often than not stumbled around a bit, trying to keep up with Muffet's graceful little skips and steps. The spiders around them formed little towers and spires, wobbling to the strange music as it got louder.

The louder it got, the faster Muffet moved as well. A twirl here, a sudden step to the front and side, every bit of movement from her was a dance of its own. Their hands, or at least some of them, were on Frisk the entire time, guiding the young human through the motions, till the embarrassment faded and pure unrestricted fun took over.

Soon, Frisk dared to be braver. They took leading steps, spun the spider around and just generally got into the groove of things. It helped that the music was a catchy, quick beat by now, forcing them to just move by instinct, rather than think about it for too long.

"Ahuhuhu! That's it, you're doing great!" Muffet chuckled loudly, separating from them just long enough to join her spider friends in a synchronized beat, though her movements were much more expressive.

Frisk tried their best to do the same, though their movements were more akin to the general wobbling and chaotic twists Scones seemed to have perfected. The two danced around in unified foolishness, before Frisk reached out, taking the initiative to beckon Muffet to them. The spider lady's grin spread all across her face as she approached them, letting the determined human take the lead for this round. They did an admirable job, to the point where some of the spiders had lined up to score their performance with crude paper scribbles.

The intense dance lasted for quite a long time from Frisk's perspective, right until spin found them losing balance and hopped onto the seat again. Muffet was giggling loudly and danced along with the spiders around them, waiting for them to recover. The human was sweating quite a bit from the exertion and instead of rejoining the crazy spider-samba right away, starting clapping to the rhythm, further intensifying the beat.

They continued until darkness fell over their eyes.

When they came to again, they found a total of five brilliant eyes gazing into their meager two. Several nimble hands were running through their hair, combing the various unruly locks. Frisk blinked a couple of times till they could clearly identify the lavender-skin spider smiling down softly.

"You poor little thing. Why didn't you tell me you were so tired?" she cooed.

Frisk blinked a couple of times and quickly realized they were still in the limo and in the lap of the pretty spider lady who had so graciously given them a lift. The spiders around them pooled together once more and opened the door, letting the outside light flood the slightly darker interior. They groaned and rubbed their eyes, eliciting another giggle from Muffet.

"We're here." she said, scratching his head a little.

The human nodded and with the help of a couple of hands, rose to a sit again. They rubbed their eyes once more, the light sleep and the familiar Ruins before them filling the child with determination.

"Say hi to your friend for me, alright?" she asked, twirling her fingers at them in a parting gesture. "And if you're ever in need of something..." she looked around for a moment and grinned. "Just peek into a darker corner. One of us will be there, you can be sure of that, ahuhuhu!" she winked once more.

Frisk smiled and nodded quite enthusiastically, saying goodbye to all the lovely spiders, Muffet and Scones included. They hopped out of the limo and let it close. The human wasn't sure how long they slept, but the arrival found them in a familiar corner. The old, crumbling walls, slightly dusty air and morose lighting were telltale signs that they were in the right area at least. Whether they would find what the sought, if anything at all, was another matter entirely.

The sound of a car window lowering caught Frisk's ear. They approached the front of the absurdly spacious limo, only to find the driver's seat window lowered. A soothing hum and trill echoed from inside:

"Tra la la. Golden Flowers are pretty bouncy."

A balloon of happiness swelled within Frisk's chest from those words. They mouthed a 'thank you' to the driver, trying to take a peek at their identity. The windows slid back into its place, revealing nothing but the human's reflection.

And their eyes, burning bright with DETERMINATION.