A/N

Hey guys!

So I originally had this published only on the AO3.

I had nothing better to do today, so I've moved it over here.

So here's 12 chapters, about 27k words all at once for you guys.

A little about this fic:

I update once or twice a week.

All of my older A/Ns are on AO3. I may move them over eventually. I'm pretty lazy and editing things is a pain over here, so probably not. Who knows?

There will eventually be romance involved. It's a slow burn fic... kinda? I don't know.

It's complete trash. I'm complete trash. I'm probably way too old for this shit.

I should reaally be studying instead of writing stories about fucking skeletons...

"So, Brianna… Why did you bite Alexis at lunch?"

The little monster girl's eyes were glued to the floor as she squirmed in her chair, clearly uncomfortable.

"Brianna, I'm not here to get you in any trouble. I just want to talk about what happened."

She huffs, "I don't want to talk to you."

You can see that Dr. Kaeden is getting frustrated. You find this unusual. Normally, Dr. Kaeden is as patient as they come. You wonder if maybe something is bothering him.

"Brianna… Please. I'm only here to help you."

The girl relaxes a little and lets out a soft sigh. She looks up at the doctor to answer with literal puppy-dog eyes.

"Alexis is always picking on me… so I guess I just finally snapped today."

Dr. Kaeden looks down at her gently. He really was very good with children. Somehow he could just naturally melt away their defensiveness. Perhaps it was his soft, soothing voice or the gentle wrinkles that encircled his calm green eyes. There was something incredibly disarming about his appearance. You had a great deal of respect for the doctor. You had hoped that by interning with him, you could pick up on his techniques. It had only been two months and you've already learned so much from him.

"How does she pick on you?"

The girl looks down at the floor once again.

"She… She's always telling me that I have no right to play with Justin, since he's a human. He's my best friend though! I go over to his house almost every day after school. We watch movies and play in his yard. His dogs love me." She beams up at the doctor before frowning again. "Alexis is always harassing us. She never leaves us alone! Today, she came over to us during lunch and knocked over Justin's soup. It splashed all over his clothes and the floor...I-I lost control of myself and bit her arm…"

The doctor now has a more concerned look on his face.

"Brianna, if you're being bullied, you need to let a teacher know. We're all here to help you and racism like that will not be tolerated at this school. This is supposed to be a safe place for monsters… However, you biting Alexis was wrong, too. You hurt her pretty badly. She was bleeding and had to go see the nurse. She's there now. I'd like you to go and apologize. We can go with you, if you like."

Brianna looks dejected. You see her eyes growing wet

"I- I'm so sorry… I was just so angry. She- She hurt my friend!"

"I know, sweetie…" Dr. Kaeden gets up to rub the girls back comfortingly. "Now come on, let's go to the nurse's office.

The walk to the nurse's office is a pretty brief one. Ebott Elementary had once been a tiny school. However, when the barrier broke and monsters started coming to the surface, they needed a place for their children to go to school. Morrison was the closest town to Mt. Ebott and most monsters ended up settling in your hometown. The town tripled in size, becoming a fully functioning city – the world's first monster city. Ebott Elementary, being the local elementary school, had to adjust to Morrison's rapidly changing demographics. The school was expanded to more than double its former size. Entire new wings were added to the building. New positions were opening up almost weekly. This, of course, excited you. You had always wanted to be a school psychologist. Maybe the school would eventually need to hire a second psychologist. You were filled with hope.

Morrison was the only city in the world where monsters made up the majority of the population. A lot of the human residents stayed, of course, including yourself. However, the majority of Morrison's residents quickly moved away in disgust. Most people didn't like the monsters, they simply tolerated their presence. It was mostly younger people who were open-minded enough to coexist with and even befriend the monsters. Luckily, Morrison's mayor was extremely liberal and went out of her way to accommodate the monsters. She even encouraged the city government to hire monsters to fill local government positions. Walking into the nurse's office, you are greeted by one of the recent hirees.

A smiling goat woman wearing a nurse's uniform smiles and motions for Brianna to come over to her.

"Hello, my child. I understand that you are here to see your friend, Alexis."

"I- uh…" Brianna stutters for a moment before being interrupted by a voice coming from the back of the room.

"That flea-infested ball of rabies is NOT my friend."

Brianna starts to cry again, choking soft sobs. You can't help but feel terrible for the girl.

"That is not a very nice thing to say, Alexis." interjects Dr. Kaeden

"She is LITERALLY an animal. I can't believe the she bit me! I hope that she's had her shots… I called my daddy and he's furious. He says that he's going have me switch schools to get me away from those things." She shoots a cold glare at Brianna. "He's coming to get me, right now, and I'm not coming back unless these filthy animals go away."

"That is probably for the best." Dr. Kaeden says calmly. "Thank you for patching her up, Toriel. Brianna, why don't you come with me back to my office? _, you can go home for the week if you like." You shrug at him and turn to leave. At least it's Friday.

You come home to an empty house. It's always a strange feeling, having such a large house all to yourself. Unfortunately, this has become a pretty common occurrence. Your dad seems to be around less and less these days. Last week he disappeared for 3 days, without warning, and offered you no explanation for his behavior. Honestly, you didn't really care

You're half asleep on the couch, tucked under your favorite blanket, when you hear your phone buzzing in the kitchen. You grumble and kick the fluffy blanket off of you, while you force yourself to your feet. You swiftly head towards the kitchen and find your phone vibrating against the granite countertop.

"Auggie :D" is calling.

You smile a little and swipe right to answer.

"Hey!" you answer.

"Oh hey, _. You busy tonight?"

"Nah, you want to do something?" This was pretty common for August to do. He was terrible at making plans in advance. He would always call you right before he was heading out somewhere, asking if you would join him. Luckily, it didn't bother you. You kind of enjoyed the spontaneity that he added to your life.

"Yah, if you don't mind. I wanted you to meet someone…"

"Oh? And who would that be?"

"Do you remember me telling you about that date I had a few weeks ago?" You faintly recall August telling you about some girl that he met at school. They were doing a project together or something and he told you that he had asked her on a date.

"Yah! Did it go well for you?"

"Yah. She seems pretty great. She's studying biochemistry. She's soooo smart. Like even smarter than me! And she has a great sense of humor – she actually thinks I'm funny. Amazing, right?! I've seen her 4 times over the past two weeks. I told her all about you and she's been wanting to meet you. She said that she'd bring one of her friends as well, so you wouldn't feel like a third wheel. "

"Well I suppose I could tag along so I can see if she is acceptable for my Auggie…." You tease him. You know he absolutely hates being called that.

"Damnit, _. I swear to god if you call me that around her…."
You bust out laughing at August's frustration. He's so fun to mess with. He groans at your laughter.

"Anyways, where you wanna meet?" you ask.

"How about our favorite coffee shop?"

There was a small café called "Espresso Yourself" that was within walking distance from Ebott Elementary. You and August go there frequently. They have really good coffee and their pastries weren't too bad either.

"Yah that's fine. I can be there in 15 minutes."

"Okay, see you soon."

After hanging up, you stretch your arms. Part of you is a little disappointed in not being able to stay home and relax. You're happy for August though and you want to meet his new girl.

You're wearing an old t-shirt from the amusement park you used to work at. It says "High Roller" and has a picture of a winding coaster on it with the parks logo. You're also wearing some plaid pajama pants. You grumble and quickly change out of them, replacing them with jeans. You decide the shirt is alright.

When you arrive at the café, you see August standing awkwardly near the entrance, getting in people's way as he scans the street. He's clearly the first to arrive. You laugh a little. He's such a dork.

You've always thought that August had attractive features. His (Not natural, he dyes that shit every weekend) black hair contrasts nicely with his pale skin. And his eyes were like tropical blue lagoons that you could soak in for hours. Yah, your bestie was pretty hot, you thought. You guys had tried dating a few years ago, you even had a drunken hook-up one blurry night, but it just didn't feel right. You both eventually agreed that you worked better as just friends. And honestly, he's like a brother to you. But man, if he wasn't nice to look at…

He smiles and visibly relaxes a little when he sees you coming towards him.

"Hey ya dork. Hope you weren't waiting long. I had to change out of my pajamas."

He laughs. "Of course you'd be in your pajamas at 4 in the afternoon…"

"Hey, I had a stressful day at the school. This little shit was bullying one of the monster kids." You sigh, recalling how sad poor Brianna had looked. You silently hoped that she was happily playing with her friend and his dogs right now.

"I'm sorry… I hate that people are teaching their kids to be racist pricks… I mean where else could that be coming from…? Oh, and that reminds me. Just a heads up, Agatha said that her friend that she's bringing is a monster. I guess it's a former professor of hers."

"Agatha, huh? So that's her name?" You smile at August and raise an eyebrow.

"Yah. Heh. Sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you. I'm kinda nervous, in case you can't tell."

"Why are you nervous?" you look at your friend, concerned. He's not meeting your eyes.

"I don't know, really…"

"Just relax, it's going to be fine." He gives you a cautious smile when, suddenly something catches his eye, his face lights up and he grins at you.

"Oh! Hey, they're here!"

Agatha is stunning. She has beautiful strawberry blonde hair that goes down almost to her waist. Her face is flecked with freckles that seem to accentuate her bright blue eyes. And the way August looks at her…. It's too cute. You can see the adoration in his eyes. It's been a long time since you've seen him so happy. He doesn't have the best track record with relationships though… He tends to get too attached to people, too quickly. You really want this to work out for him, and you're a bit worried.

Her friend is a small yellow dinosaur-looking monster. Her name is Alphys, apparently. She seems kind of shy. When Agatha introduced her she simply looked down at the ground and let out a soft "hello."

You all go up to the counter and order drinks. You decide to order a cream cheese Danish as well.
August leads you all to a booth in the corner.

"Do you have any plans for the summer, Agatha?" You ask. In about a month, the Spring semester would be over. You honestly couldn't wait. Summer was the best. You had extra time for the things you loved, video games, books, and spending time with August.

"Yah, actually. I'm going to Puerto Rico with my parents for a few weeks. We'll be staying at this really nice resort. It'll be nice to unwind a bit after how stressful school has been this semester. I'm never taking 18 credits again! Uhg." She strokes her head with her hands, as if trying to soothe a headache. You were about to take a bite of your danish, but you just look at her stunned.

"Oh my god! 18? Wow you're crazy. I could never do that. I'm taking 12 and I'm struggling with that." You look at her in disbelief. She just gives you a stressed smile and takes a sip of her coffee.

"S-So what are you studying, _?" Alphys asks, looking at you nervously.

"Psychology. I want to eventually become a school psychologist. Right now I'm interning with Dr. Kaeden, the psychologist at Ebott Elementary. He acts a little cold towards me sometimes, but he's incredibly talented and I have a lot of respect for the guy."

"P-Psychologist, huh? S-So you like working with k-kids?" Alphys asks, smiling at you.

"Yah! They're all so cute! I love being able to help them work through their problems. Not all of them have the best lives at home…" You pause, frowning for a moment. You decide to change the subject.

"So, how did you meet August?" you ask, looking at Agatha.

"We were both taking a physical chemistry class and we got assigned to do a group project together. The other group members slacked off and the two of us wound up doing all of the work. He ended up staying the night at my place after we finished the project, we stayed up almost all night just talking… Then, the next day, he asked me on a date. The date was incredible… August is such a gentleman. He brought me flowers! Then August took me to dinner and for a romantic walk in the woods. I had a great time and agreed to see him again. We've been out a few times since and, well, here we are, now!" She looks at August smiling sweetly.

You can't help yourself. "So what you're saying…. is that you guys had chemistry?" You laugh way too hard at your own joke. Agatha and Alphys laugh with you and August just glares. He hates stupid jokes with a passion. He's more of a sarcasm and dark humor kinda guy.

"Damnit, _" He grumbles.

"What?" You grin. "I can't help it! I just love seeing your reactions."

He scowls at you while everyone else chuckles at your joke.

"Y-You remind me of one of m-my friends, _." Alphys says, smiling and looking down at your shirt.

"Oh yah, Alphys has the coolest friends!" Agatha interjects. "And her girlfriend, Undyne, is the best! She's teaching me archery! You guys should come meet them all sometime! I'm sure they'd love you!"

"A-Actually, Undyne and I are h-having a p-party next weekend. Y-You can all c-come if you l-like."

You look at August who just shrugs at you.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that, Alphys." You say, smiling at the timid, yellow monster.