This particular one-shot is dedicated to Ben10extreme.
YES, YOU ARE MY FRIEND
It was another beautiful, sunny day of summer in the small town of Ebott, as the gentle rays of the sun were basking the buildings in its yellow light. Monsters and humans were still making amends towards one another, trying to put all the war, grief and despair behind themselves – and they had to admit, had it not been for the Dreemurr family, they would've still hated monsterkind. Yes, it was not going to be that easy, but they had to try – if not for today, they had to try for tomorrow.
They had to try for their future.
A future that some monsters believed it will be kidnapped from them, if and when opportunity comes, but a certain skeleton monster did believe in the future they had now, and did not share the visions that those monsters had. If anything, he thought that his brother didn't even want to give redemption a chance at all, discarded all possibility that even the ones that seem evil might figure that their malevolence is practically useless if it stands in the way of dozens that defend the good side.
The monster was Papyrus, Sans' young brother – despite the fact he was towering over the small skeleton, he was still somewhat innocent and optimistic about everything – who tried his best to follow in Frisk's way, and supported all the actions their returned prince, Asriel Dreemurr, made for the safety of both humans and monsters. Papyrus was busy cooking some spaghetti for himself and his brother, but the latter seemed more preoccupied that his brobones expressed the intention of re-visiting Flowey.
He knew what the flower did, and what it could do.
But even though it was separated from Asriel, he was still quite tensed whenever Papyrus said that his visits to Flowey were important. Time after time, he tried to dissuade his brother from seeing that awful, murderous plant that he battled many, many times for control over the timeline – no, he wasn't going to tell him that – but all of his reasons were simply disproved by the taller skeleton.
After a while, the two were now sitting at the medium-sized table in their kitchen, plates of hot spaghetti in front of them, and Sans thought that the silence was a little too uncomfortable for his taste.
"so, you're still going to that flower, eh?" the small skeleton lazily asked, as he took out one of his secret ketchup bottles and started pouring some of the sauce over his plate of spaghetti.
"SANS, I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU KEEP TELLING ME NOT TO GO. YOU'RE ALWAYS SO STRESSED SOMETHING MIGHT HAPPEN. …ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE NOT HIDING ANYTHING?" the tall skeleton said, after he ate a bit from his plate.
"no, bro," Sans lied through his teeth, "it's just that i don't trust flowey, ok? and besides…"
"SANS—" Papyrus interrupted his brother, as he noticed the rather sad look on Sans' face, and let out a frustrated sigh. "LOOK. FLOWEY'S TRIED TO BECOME MY FRIEND MANY, MANY TIMES NOW. I GET IT, HE'S STILL A LITTLE BAD WHEN IT COMES TO CHOOSING HIS WORDS, BUT HE'S NO LONGER THAT BAD AS HE WAS THE FIRST TIME WE TALKED."
"are you sure he's not lying? for all we know, he could plot turning you to dust any second—" Sans said, as he ate some more of his spaghetti.
"SANS, WILL YOU JUST STOP WORRYING FOR ONCE?" his brother raised his tone a little towards him. "HE'S VERY MUCH TROUBLED – AS TROUBLED AS HE CAN BE, ANYWAY – THAT HE CANNOT BECOME MY FRIEND, AND HE ALWAYS SAYS YOU'RE THREATENING HIM!"
"bro, i have all the reasons why—" Sans tried to defend himself, but Papyrus was having none of it.
"I'M GOING TO SPEND A NICE DAY WITH MY FRIEND FLOWEY. PLEASE, JUST TRY CONSIDERING FOR ONCE GIVING UP THIS DARK OUTLOOK ON HIS PERSONALITY."
Papyrus rose from the table as he let out another frustrated sigh, and walked out their house, leaving a confused and worried Sans behind him. It's true, the small skeleton was worried, but Flowey was always under the influence of the Dreemurrs, so it couldn't be that bad – at least, that's what he tried to tell himself in order to calm down. Sans' bony hands were still a little shaking as he took out his cell phone, and dialed the second number on his contacts list.
"Maybe that kid can keep an eye for me…"
(Meanwhile, at the Dreemurr Residence)
Toriel and Asgore were getting ready for another day at the Surface, relishing one another's presence as they briefly kissed, and made sure their children were also prepared. It was going to be a nice trip for a change, as Frisk was the one that came up the idea and Asriel backed him up, while Chara acted a little indifferent, not really enjoying trips – he had a pretty cruddy time when it came to such things. But with his monster parents, things did really start to look a little less dark than he thought they were and tried his best to act at least somewhat interested in their plans – the same could be said for a flower that lived in their household. That flower was responsible for killing, as much as Chara was, and that helped the latter figure out just how to talk to Flowey – in the sense of actually being on the same page about almost everything.
"Hmph," Flowey snarled a little as he saw Chara, "what do you want?"
"Just making sure you're not acting out," Chara retorted, folding his arms. "It's funny."
"What's so funny?" the flower raised an eyebrow in curiosity, wondering what the child was up to.
"For the first time in forever, Sans relays a message to me, via Frisk." the boy said, laughing. "To me!"
"That's funny to you? Urgh, just shut up. It's not like I care about your redemption or anything," Flowey said as he folded his leaves.
"Still, he told me to keep an eye on you. Don't act all weird around Papyrus, ok?"
"Wait, what? Papyrus comes here?" the flower's eyes widened for a moment as he shifted his face. "I'm not going to act weird, as you say. You still forget I can't feel a damn thing, don't you?"
"You're a big fat liar, Flowey," Chara said, with a snicker. "You like to pretend nothing gets to you, just like me. Yes, you're soulless, but not that soulless anymore."
"Hmph." the flower huffed. "When is he coming around to visit?"
"He should appear by now."
Indeed, not long after Chara uttered that phrase, the doorbell rang throughout the house, and Frisk was the one to answer the door, smiling brightly at the sight of Papyrus. "Hello, Papyrus!" the child greeted the tall skeleton, who seemed to carry a small present for someone in his gloved, bony hands, and Papyrus replied to Frisk with a loud "NYEH-HEH-HEH, HELLO THERE, FRISK!", which made Asriel slightly jump in surprise. It wasn't that he wasn't used to Papyrus' speech, but the small goat monster was busy reading one of his favorite books, "101 tales of the Underground, collected by prof. Gerson". Gerson was already successful with his teaching career, much like the former Queen of the Underground, and that was regarded as yet another positive feat for monsterkind – and then, the small goat prince went out to greet Papyrus as well.
But the skeleton monster did not come for either of them, as he immediately asked about Flowey, the latter was content on just listening to what happened around the house – and folded his leaves as he let out a slight huff. However, Flowey couldn't deny that he was indeed a little happy at the prospect of finally becoming Papyrus' friend, after many, many attempts after they reached the Surface. Well, all those attempts were blocked successfully by Sans – who did everything he could to threaten him - but now, everything was falling into place.
He was going to have a perfect day with his best friend.
It was all that mattered to Flowey.
"Uh, we're going to leave for a trip," Frisk said to Papyrus, "and Flowey's going to be alone in the house. We'd rather leave him in rather capable hands…"
"Indeed we would," Toriel cued in as she entered the living room, "Hello there, Papyrus, nice to see you here."
"LADY TORIEL, WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE!" the tall skeleton beamed as he respectfully bowed to the large, matronly monster. "I WOULD TAKE FLOWEY TO OUR HOME, BUT MY BROTHER—"
Toriel softly raised a paw, interrupting the skeleton, as she searched for her cell phone, and dialed the second number on her list. The ringing went on for a few seconds, before Sans' somewhat lazy voice could be heard at the other end, and Toriel curtly explained that Flowey would be their houseguest until she and her boys return from the long trip. Her expression shifted from a calm, gentle smile to a frown and then to an irritated grind of teeth as she heard the skeleton's explanations, but she was having none of Sans' irrational reasons to deny her offer.
"Sans, please. You do not wish to upset me, do you not?" her voice had a tone of irritation, "Please, do promise me that you WILL take Flowey under your roof. Papyrus already said that he will make sure our flower-boy behaves while we're away."
Sans sighed as the word 'promise' came once more from her, and reluctantly agreed to accept Flowey's presence in their house. "….okay, tori. i don't want to set you on fire, or worse, myself. as long as flowerpot can shut up and say no rude things, i'm fine with him around."
"Thank you, Sans," she said, with a smile, as her voice returned to the normal, tender timbre.
"Oh boy," Flowey thought as he cursed under his breath, "staying with Papyrus will be cool, but his brother? Ugh. Smiley Trashbag…you're lucky I actually feel some fear. Fear of Toriel's fiery, irritated glare when she's extremely angered."
After more discussions and preparations, the Dreemurr family members were ready to leave for their trip, and Papyrus waved them on their way, holding Flowey in his bony hands. The flower was happy to have some moments alone with his best friend – after so long, his plan finally worked.
Finally.
"So, uh, Papyrus," Flowey began to say, "we're finally alone. I can talk freely about some complex…no, forget it, I can't feel anything." the flower added, as he sighed.
"SO, YOU HAVE SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS, EH, FLOWEY?" Papyrus asked, with a smile on his bony face. "WELL, YOU'D BE GLAD TO KNOW THAT MY FEELINGS ARE THAT COMPLEX AS WELL."
"You're not afraid to be friends with a former, uh, murdering flowerboy?" the flower raised an eyebrow in curiosity, as his face shifted into something that seemed similar to Frisk's face. "You're pretty brave to do that, you know?"
"Or maybe a little too naïve for this world," the flower completed, withholding these words in his mind as he looked at the present Papyrus placed in his flower pot.
"YOU ASKED ME ONCE IF I AM YOUR BEST FRIEND, FLOWEY," Papyrus said as he started walking towards his and his brother's home, carefully keeping the flower pot.
"Yeah, I remember I did," the flower huffed. "So, are you?"
"YES, BUT THE QUESTION IS…ARE YOU MY FRIEND?" the skeleton asked, small bullets of sweat dropping on his skull.
"Yes, I am your friend. And you, you are my best friend." Flowey said, with a tone that was neutral of any malice.
For the rest of the journey back home to his and his brother's house, Papyrus enjoyed the silence he shared with Flowey, even if it felt a little unnerving at times. But the flower promised to Toriel – and especially to Chara – that he won't act weird during his entire stay at the skeleton brothers' house, and tried to break through said silence with a few things he heard during Asriel and Chara's shenanigans, making Papyrus laugh.
His laugh was indeed contagious.
As they arrived in front of the skeleton brothers' house, Papyrus asked his best friend what he enjoyed while the Dreemurr boys were home – and to his surprise, Flowey started to get rather fond of anime, but he enjoyed the ones where villains could be really likeable – so the tall skeleton made a mental note to ask the experts in anime about the best shows he could watch alongside his best friend. They did watch anime all night, commenting about how each hero, or villain, acted out and how everything ended happily or dramatically – at the dramatic ones, the tall skeleton remembered that Mettaton would've enjoyed these as well – and eventually fell asleep on the large couch, in front of the tv.
This was just the beginning of a new friendship for The Great Papyrus.