Okay, if this chapter feels a little different from the rest, then you'd be right, because while I was working on the later chapters, I realized that there was a little bit of a plot whole that needed to be fixed, so this was me, fixing said plot hole.

One more reminder that there will small time skips for the first few chapters, it will stop around chapter five-ish? For instance, Frisk is twelve years old and in the next chapter they will be thirteen, you'll see for yourself after that.


Chapter 2 Lessons

Warnings? : Bad Flowey behavior, intentional and accidental violence, mean kids who are also evidently bad at sports, and a little bit of blood (something you will rarely see in this fic, don't worry)

Summary: Flowey attempts to do the right thing for a change, but it ends up back firing at him pretty badly, and a secret is revealed.

Inspiration song: 'You and I' (original and alternate version) by Colony House

'Lately, what's the problem? What's the headline, this time? Somehow, we're okay with all these differences leaving us blind, blind, blind.
I'm not scared of fighting, I'm just a little bit over this conversation, I'm not trying to hide it, I'm just thinking slow-ly.
Maybe you and I could live together if we ever learn to ease the tension.
Maybe the world isn't crazy.
Maybe it's you and I, I, I'

...


...

Flowey was smiling a horrible smile.

Mainly at the fact that he had four equally horrible children completely trapped in a circle of giant spikey vines.

Behind him were buckets and buckets of all of the school's supply of basketballs.

Close in front of him, he dribbled one with an average sized vine, he scanned the four kids slowly, his crooked grin growing wider.

"Okay, now that I've finally gotten you geniuses to shut up, who wants to be first?"

The tallest of the group, a brunet boy spoke up, his face reddening in anger "let us GO YOU FU-AGH!" he was quickly silenced as Flowey viciously threw the basketball at the boy's knee hard, watching smugly as the boy grabbed it in pain.

Flowey grabbed another basketball and held it up threateningly "the next one who wants to add insult to injury gets one to the face!"

One of the girls, a brunette, scruffy and wearing mismatched socks sneered, grabbing the misused basketball off the grass, "what's the point? We can just throw them back at you, you're so stupid,"

Flowey frowned and launched the next basketball as promised, but the girl dodged it and laughed, then without a second thought, launched her basketball at him.

But one of the larger vines shot out and caught it before it could reach him.

He gave the girl a quizzical smile, and then looked up to the basketball he had caught "hmmm, now there's an idea…," he mumbled sneakily to himself.

And then, his expression turned dreadfully sinister, and much to the group's terror, he directed his attention back to them, the wild grin that he wore growing wider and wider "how about we all play… dodgeball? Hee hee hee!"

All four kids began to back into the middle of the circle as they watched the thicket of larger vines begin to pick up and pass the basketballs around one by one and get into aiming position, meanwhile Flowey was giggling at their terrified faces, ah, justice felt great.

Another one of the girls with black hair spoke up "oh my god! You're insane! We can't dodge all of these!"

Flowey stopped laughing, a deep annoyed scowl appearing on his face "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO GET HIT, YOU MORON! THAT'S THE FUN OF IT! If you don't want to get hit, just apologize and I'll stop! It's that easy!"

"APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT? We don't know you!" the fourth kid yelled; a little boy, the shortest and youngest of the bunch.

Without any warning, Flowey threw a basketball at the boy's back hard, knocking him over; Flowey quickly snatched the ball back before speaking again, "you don't know? You really don't know? Guess! It's something all of you have done!"

Flowey grew angry as the four of the other kids only looked confused and he grew even angrier when the black haired girl began wiping tears from her face, either she was scared or she was trying to make him feel bad, it didn't matter, because either way he wasn't going to let her go until she or anyone else here said the magic word.

And it made him mad that these brats had the audacity to cry and play dumb when they knew exactly what they had done!

"That's IT! I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE! WITH YOU HUMANS!" he yelled, and then, all at once without warning, Flowey began throwing the hoard of basketballs, with most of them hitting there mark.

He fumed silently as he watched as the rough basketballs rain down onto the kids mercilessly, following one that ran, continuing to pelt down on the two who huddled onto the ground, and attacking the fourth one who was attempting and failing to scrape between two of the many large vines.

The one that was running, the scruffy brunette, charged at him, flustered and angry, "STOP IT BEFORE I MAKE YOU!" she screamed, flinching as two smacked into her back.

Flowey summoned up a spikier vine to guard him, to which the girl nimbly backed up from before she could run face first into it.

"Apologize first!" Flowey snapped back.

"Apologize for WHAT?" she argued, she too was beginning to look like she was about to cry, mainly out of frustration.

But apparently wasn't as frustrated as much as Flowey was as he lost his patience and slammed a basketball hard into the side of her head, she immediately fell to the grass. . . .

He stopped everything when she didn't get up fast enough; noticing her eyes were closed, he stared carefully, fear twisting inside of him. . .

The fear rose when the others quickly became aware of the scene, he could see the anxiety in their eyes, the hushed whispers between them as they stared at the scene. . .

He was beginning to call it quits as the sickening dread spread through him and worsened, if the others found out that he killed a human or severely hurt one they'd probably lock him back in the Underground or… worse.

All he wanted was to teach these brats a lesson they'd never forget, not kill them. . .

...

...

Then! To his relief, the girl suddenly groaned and rubbed at her head and shot up back to her feet.

"Done napping?" he quipped, quickly brushing the incident off as if it were nothing.

The injured girl looked confused, skipping any sort of tears or hurt, what happened instead was the rage and anger spread across her features, her eyes blazing "you know what? Kill yourself!"

The comment made Flowey's eyes go wide in surprise, a fake grin appearing on his face "oh! Hahahahahaha! Let me guess, is that what you told my friend? To kill themselves?" he joked sarcastically, his voice full of venom, and then like the flip of a coin, he dropped his smile and glared at them darkly "you're pathetic! ALL OF YOU!"

Something clicked in the tallest boy's eyes, "you're talking about that quiet freak, Frisk, aren't you?" he then looked down at the red head, "that weirdo used to carry him around everywhere back in Elementary school, he even had his own desk! Like he was 'normal'!"

Flowey swiftly chucked a basketball hard at the boy's stomach, watching in satisfaction as he doubled over in pain, he would have smiled if he weren't so mad "THE ONLY FREAK I SEE HERE IS YOU! Maybe they'd bother to talk to you if weren't such a disgusting creep!"

The black haired girl spoke up once again; she looked sympathetic "hey! Little flower…face… guy, I don't even know Frisk for real, I was just trying to give 'em…advice, I'm sorry, so…let me go?"

The short red head nodded and stood next to her, "yeah, me too, I don't even remember what I said, I swear I was just playing, I'm like that with everyone, I'm really sorry,"

Flowey scoffed and rolled his eyes, smiling a fake smile "I watched all of you, and I was told everything, so that sad act is not going to work on little old me, so no one is going ANYWHERE UNTIL I BEAT ALL OF YOU INTO A BLOODY PULP!" he threatened in a grisly voice, with an callous expression painted on his flower face.

But before he could start over again, the sharp sound of a whistle rang through the air.

Everyone turned to see the two principles, Ms. Dreemurr of the elementary school, and (human) Mr. Elsorr of the middle and Junior High school and behind them stood twelve year old Frisk who was staring at Flowey with an unreadable expression.

Despite the sick feeling of being caught, Flowey was hesitant to drop his vines, he was still too angry, but as soon as Toriel's fierce eyes stared and locked into his dark ones- he couldn't have gotten rid of them faster.

He felt sicker as the four beat up kids ran away from him and behind the principles, next to Frisk, the irony of it all was not lost on him and it made him feel even worse.

Flowey watched as Toriel whispered to Frisk for the flower pot and the mini shovel, which were promptly handed to her, he hung his head in shame as Toriel walked to him and quietly began to dig him up.

Once he was in the pot, she finally spoke up.

"We need to have a serious talk."

He gulped.

...

Thirty minutes later though, he was back to being angry.

"I'm not sorry for anything," he said staring up at the ceiling; he refused to look at his mother and the other principle who were demanding he apologize to the children.

"I don't think he understands the gravity of the situation Ms. Dreemurr," Mr. Elsorr said to Toriel, his face was contorted in deep thought and frustration.

"I do! Those morons all messed with Frisk! You don't know what they said to them! You have to believe me that they're all horrible! And I didn't mean to hurt them as bad as I did, I just wanted to teach them a lesson! Don't you understand that I'm not the real bully here?" Flowey explained, desperate for his mother to understand and to stop looking at him like that. . .

Some days it really was hard when his parents didn't know who he really was, right now was the hardest.

Toriel looked away from Flowey, she seemed unnerved about something, thinking troubled thoughts, and then finally, she stood up and spoke "perhaps we should talk to Frisk about this,"

He was then picked up and moved out of Mr. Elsorr's office, trading places with Frisk, who only bothered to look at him briefly, their expression still unreadable.

...

A few grueling minutes droned by before Frisk came out of the office, they sat next to Flowey.

"I still can't believe you did that, I thought you were getting better," they said, their voice small and full of shame.

"I am! I was just getting back at them, I wasn't going to for real hurt them or kill them, I told you I wouldn't, I promised, remember?" he said, his voice full of anxiety, desperation clawing at him, he hated that Frisk was treating him like this.

"Yes, I know, but you did hurt them for real, you threw basketballs Flowey! Basketballs! And trapped them! All of them are beat up really bad and Missy has a concussion! You went too far!"

Flowey grit his teeth and wilted down, wincing as the annoying familiar pain radiated through him "I'm…I'm sorry, I just…,"

Then before anything more could be said, the door opened, and Toriel picked him up and took him back into the office.

He looked back at the two principles, their expressions different from earlier, but a lot more stern and collected.

Mr. Elsorr spoke up "Mr. Flowey, due to the circumstances of the situation, I'm afraid that we cannot let you attend this school any longer, I'm sorry. Your guardian will explain the rest and take over from here,"

Flowey looked to Toriel, the fear he felt was back full force.

She looked uncomfortably from the other principle to Flowey, "which means. . . you will now be home schooled by me, which, I think might be a better learning experience than you were having before, no offense Mr. Elsorr,"

"None taken," the principal replied.

"Good, I don't want to be around these jerks anymore anyway, it's just too bad you can't get rid of the actual bad kids who deserved to be kicked out," Flowey grumbled quietly, the fear still there, but he had no control or filter on his mouth, not with his mood being as bad as it was now, and still desperate for them to see it his way.

"Are you finished Mr. Flowey?" Toriel said her tone thick with frustration and a strong hint of sympathy.

He looked up at her with big eyes, suddenly unable to find anything more to say.

Something in her expression changed and she nodded firmly, looking away "right," she then picked up Flowey and turned to Mr. Elsorr, "we are deeply sorry for the trouble, as it were, I think it's past time for me to take leave,"

"I understand, I'll keep you updated if any of the children's parents call,"

Mr. Elsorr then looked to Flowey and smiled weakly, "and you, I understand your need to protect your friend's feelings, but violence is not the answer, violence is never the answer. Have a good rest of the day, to the both of you, and Frisk,"

Flowey nodded grimly.

...

The ride home was excruciating, Flowey knew he was going to get in trouble either way, he accepted that when he had promised Frisk that he would get revenge for them, still, he didn't think they would end up being upset with him like this.

He glumly looked out the car window, then over at Frisk who seemed lost in their own thoughts, when they caught Flowey's stare, they frowned sadly and looked away.

The bubble of anger inside him grew, he did all this for them! Couldn't they be at least a little thankful?

He remembered the week before when they had come home in tears, it hadn't been the first time, but this time it was worse, they had bruises on their arm because they had refused to give up their lunch money, and still, it was taken anyway, and then later that day was relentlessly picked on by other just as mean kids.

The first idea that popped into Flowey's mind was getting revenge and justice, Frisk hadn't been sure at the time, but after some reassuring that he wouldn't do anything too terrible, just… 'talk sense into them', that seemed to get Frisk to agree, but he remembered the hesitant look in their eyes.

He shifted a bit as the annoying ache rolled through him.

No

Maybe he was wrong, he did lie about his plan, and it wasn't like Frisk had even asked him to beat up the kids in the first place… but… still…

Perhaps it was that ashamed look in Frisk's eyes that was really bothering him, or the fact that they didn't even want to look at him.

He didn't want to think about this right now, that ache was really starting to hurt too much to think deeply anyway.

. . .

Once they got home, Toriel took him to the backyard and sat him on the decorated table and began pacing in front of him, she looked deep in thought.

"Frisk has always said a lot of good things about you, before and still after your attack on those children, it is the only reason why I am not taking you back to the Underground…well no, it's not the only reason, I have also grown very fond of you over time," she explained, a deep sad smile on her face.

Flowey's eyes lit up but his mind drew a blank and his ache returning, suddenly very not sure what to say.

Toriel continued on, "Frisk has also said… that you have had a hard past, and that you lost your family… I am sorry to bring that up now, but, if it comforts you, I also lost family too, I understand what it is like,"

And then he internally panicked, did Frisk rat him out to Toriel about his true identity?! They better not have! They promised on it!

He was about to ask Toriel to ease his suspicion, but she began speaking again.

"They also explained that you spent a lot of time alone, and…and…well, you must forgive me Flowey, but I have been thinking about this for a long time, but today confirmed it. Flowey, I have decided that I will start taking you to a therapist,"

Well, that wasn't what he had been expecting, and neither something that he wanted.

"A what?" he remarked.

"It is a professional that will talk and listen to you and help you with your emotional problems and-,"

"I know what a 'therapist' is! And I can assure you Ms. Toriel, I. DON'T. NEED. ONE. Trust me, I get enough personal evaluation from PRACTICALLY everyone around me! Why would I EVER want MORE of that from some professional know-it-all geek?!"

Toriel crossed her arms "because your violent behavior today has proven greatly that we have not been enough help. You will go."

Flowey crossed his vines back and scowled, eyes wild "I will NOT! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

Toriel glowered down at him, and began speaking him to him firmly "I am your legal Guardian, meaning I can, and if I must, I will simply go ahead and officially adopt you just to make sure you get the proper help."

Then, at the cracked open door, he finally noticed Frisk, who seemed to have been listening, their eyes were wide and all knowing, they eagerly looked back and forth between him and Toriel.

He knew exactly what Frisk wanted, and he was having none of their goody toe shoes happy endings ideology today, not now, definitely not now, he ignored them.

"I don't care. 'Adopt' me all you want. You still can't make me do anything, and if I have to… I'll just run away one day and never come back," he then grinned a dark toothy grin up at her, "it would be so easy, and I wouldn't even miss any of you,"

He chose not to acknowledge the deep sad looks in both Frisk and Toriel's eyes.

Then, Toriel rubbed her chin and smiled weakly, "but you have not run away yet, have you? You have had more than enough access to the ground by now, but you still you stay with us, you eat and laugh with us. Tell me, have you not left yet because you do not think you have anywhere else to go, or do you secretly care for us?"

As far as knowledge went about Flowey for Toriel and Asgore, he was just a lonely child-like soulless flower that had gained the will to live after Alphys injected it with Determination as an experiment, nothing more.

That's what him, Frisk and Alphys agreed on anyway, Flowey planned to keep it that way.

His bad mood was getting worse and worse "what are you TALKING ABOUT?! I've told you, I don't HAVE a soul- WHICH MEANS I CAN'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE! This is a stupid pointless conversation! Don't you understand that taking me a therapist isn't going to work?! I bet you're just doing this to make you feel better about yourself!"

Toriel remained calm though, if anything, she seemed almost intrigued "but if you do not have a soul, then why did you want 'revenge' on the other children that bullied Frisk?"

But stubbornly, Flowey was no longer listening, "LALALALALALALALALALA! I'm not talking about this anymore! This whole thing you call a 'conversation' is as stupid and idiotic as you are, you OLD. UGLY. HAG!"

"ASRIEL!" Frisk gasped loudly in disbelief, glaring at him in disgust.

The air between the three of them went suddenly tense, but something was giving.

Flowey went wide eyed, and glared back at Frisk offensively- then quickly at Toriel, to his horror looked like was about to cry, her hands tightly covering her mouth, then rushed to the other child, taking Frisk's arm and brought them close.

"What did you say?" she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes.

Frisk looked to Flowey for a moment, but he looked away and snapped closed his own eyes, scowling, feeling completely betrayed.

They looked back to Toriel, sterner now, Determination filling them, "Asriel, I said Asriel," they paused to smile warmly at Toriel "as in, you don't have to adopt Flowey, because he's already your son,"

Toriel's eyes widened and she looked back to Flowey, several tears dropping down her cheeks as she gazed at the stubborn golden flower boy, now in a new light, and many old lights as well, she brought out a delicate hanky and wiped her tears away, she then looked back to Frisk and hugged them tightly, which was returned.

Before going to Flowey, she took Frisk's hands in hers and smiled, new tears dripping her cheeks "thank you once again Frisk for bringing family back into my life, my sweet child"

Frisk said nothing, they seemed slightly conflicted about something, likely about breaking their promise, but still smiled back, their own eyes becoming wet with tears too, they nodded to Toriel, and once they were let go, they immediately went back inside, leaving the mother and son to speak alone.

Meanwhile, Flowey was trying his hardest to ignore from the badly timed ache that was wracking through his body, and he was also mad, so incredibly mad right now.

He had told Frisk how he felt about keeping his true identity a secret, they knew how important and sacred it was to him, and then they just… just threw it all back into in his face.

He was so caught up in his anger it took him a moment to notice Toriel had sat next to him and was staring at him with emotional eyes; she looked at him with a total loss for words, this wasn't the first time he'd seen her like this, he remembered his earliest of Resets where he'd revealed himself before, she was always rendered speechless, he didn't blame her.

"It may…or may not come as a surprise to you…but, I always felt as if I already known you for a long time, you seemed so familiar and yet. . .," she sniffled and shook her head and smiled weakly at him.

He couldn't seem to bring himself to meet her gaze, "-and yet I'm so different, I know, I know…I'm not the same Asriel you used to know, because, like I've explained so many times, I don't have a soul anymore, so I'll never be… him ever again,"

Toriel was quiet for a moment, sniffling back a few more tears, "you're still my son though, and I…," more tears came, a lot more tears, Toriel took a moment to sob into the sleeve of her sweater.

Flowey was unable to watch, but something caused his eyes to sting and water, perhaps it was the awful pain that was currently getting worse, radiating through him, the idea he had earlier about running away seemed like a really good one right now, and seeing his mother like this was making him increasingly unsettled, and still-

"I'm sorry!" she cracked out.

He looked at her, eyes wide in confusion "wh-what?"

She struggled to speak, but forced her way through for what she wanted to say, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you and Chara, I-…can't imagine what it must have been like, to be all alone after you became what you are…to be unable t-to… and to have me protect-,"

"Protect others from me…," Flowey finished, staring at his mother's shaking paws, both remembering a certain fireball she'd thrown at him to protect Frisk.

A part of him felt as if he should be glad that she had…or else things would have gone in another whole different direction that day.

"Asriel, I am sorry for anything I have done, all that you need to know now, is that I love you, and that will never, ever change," she sobbed out, and finally, not being able to take it any longer, she picked him up close to her to form the best hug she could muster for him, her free hand coming and cupping the back of his flowery head.

Flowey took a sharp breath from the pain that tore at his very core, familiar tears burned from his eyes as he allowed his head rest on his mother's warm shoulder.

…But he wasn't crying the same kind of tears that his mother was.

He was upset that he couldn't feel any compassion for his mother right now, growing even angrier at Frisk for doing this to him, conflicted because…despite everything his mother had just said, while they were meaningful words, Flowey knew deep down that she actually pitied him, she really had no idea of what it was like for him, nothing that she could ever do would ever help him.

It only made him feel lonelier than before.

And now, thanks to Frisk, he was going to be his mother's burden, now forever known as the lost son that she was never ever going to get back, not completely anyway.

And it was only going to get worse once Asgore was told, he just knew it.

He'd gone through all of this before in past resets and now… there was nothing he could do to fix it again, he knew he would never be able to get Frisk to change it.

This was it, this was what his life was going be like…

Soon enough, his mother let go and sat him back down on the table gently, he went back to looking away, downcast as Toriel wiped her eyes.

She quickly noticed his expression and grew concerned, "Asriel…Asriel? A-are you okay? I did not mean to upset you," her tone soft and sympathetic.

"I'm fine," he grumbled.

"Asriel…please, you do not have to hide from me anymore,"

But as she reached in to attempt to comfort him he snapped his gaze up at her, his dark eyes vicious.

"Stop. Calling. Me. That." he demanded in a hushed voice, still his tone was threatening.

Toriel went quiet, thinking deeply for a moment, pulling her hand back and giving him space, then nodded slowly, smiling, "I understand, Flowey it is then, whatever makes you feel comfortable."

Well that almost made him change his mind, but, no, this didn't change anything, maybe one day he could get used to being called 'Asriel' again, it was his name after all, it belonged to no one else but him, it was just… he couldn't handle be called by it, not right now, not for a long time.

Finally, his expression hesitantly softened, his body language becoming passive.

"…Thanks…," he whispered, it didn't feel as forced coming out as he thought it would surprisingly.

She smiled, and then brought out a clean hankie, holding it up to his face, silently asking to wipe away his tears, and doing so when he let out a sigh of defeat and closing his eyes.

As she wiped them, he finally decided to change the subject to something just a little less terrible, but still pretty terrible, awkwardly clearing his throat before he spoke again.

"So, do I still have to go to therapy?" he asked.

Toriel frowned stubbornly, "yes."

"But-,"

"No butts, tushes or rear ends allowed," she joked (genuinely hoping to lighten the mood.)

"Mom I don't even have a butt, that's a contradiction," (which worked.)

The mother and son stared at each other for a long moment, before cracking grins and laughing lightly, Flowey feeling ever so slightly better at finally able to call Toriel mom again, to her. It just seemed like the right thing to do now, despite her pity that he didn't deserve or want.

They talked for not too much longer, changing the subject again, this time about homeschooling, which actually didn't seem like a unpleasant idea, it wouldn't be too different from how he was schooled long ago, back when he wasn't surrounded by gossipy morons that liked to stare for just a little too long, he really was glad to be away from them, the only issue was about the whole thing was who was going to come and stay and keep him company at home ('not babysit') while Toriel and Frisk went off to the school- making a not so surprisingly short list that consisted of:

Asgore (obviously)

Papyrus (when he had the time)

And either Greater dog and Lesser dog (who both were not exactly the best conversationalists but were very fond of Flowey none the less and were prone to spoiling him)

After the conversation, Flowey begrudgingly accepted his punishment for his basketball attack, which was: much harder homework for two years, zero desserts for six months unless it was birthday cake/pie, bedtime moved to 8 PM indefinitely, and three hours of video game play per day for a year… and anything else Toriel could think of.

He tried to take his punishment with all good grace, knowing Toriel and her soft spot for children, there was always a chance she'd eventually ease up.
But obviously, his bad mood too soon came back.

He refused to talk to Frisk for almost two days, it would have been longer, but also unfortunately as usual, Frisk was Determined.

. . . .

"You have to talk to me, you can't ignore me forever. We live together for fudge sake!" They said, talking to his back while he was pretending to being busy playing his zombie game.

"…,"

"Look I'm sorry for outing you to mom, but you know she deserved to know you were alive, dad too, besides, you know they were eventually going to find out anyway, I know you try to hide it, but you still sort of look like yourself, I know that doesn't make any sense but- it's true,"

"…,"

"If you're a grumpy jerkwad who beats up people with basketballs say nothing,"

Finally, Flowey shot around inside his flower pot to look at them so hard he nearly knocked himself over, his face seething with anger, "ME?! YOU THINK I'M THE JERK?! I TOLD YOU I DID IT FOR YOU!"

For a split second, Frisk was surprised, but shook it off, Flowey wasn't the only who was still angry about it, "and I told you that you went too FAR! You ever get hit in the face by a basketball? It hurts!"

"Yes. I know. And those morons clearly deserved it!"

"Those morons didn't deserve bruises Flowey! And they didn't deserve to be trapped like mice either, I know you're trying your best to do better, but this isn't the freaking way to do it! I wish you could see yourself when you're like this sometimes!" Frisk explained, then, snapped their fingers signifying an idea was just had, ran over to their desk, grabbed something then ran back to him, once he realized it was a hand mirror, he grimaced.

"-Like now, I need you to look at yourself," they said, and before they could even raise the mirror, he summoned out a vine threateningly; Frisk noticed but stubbornly took another step.

"I know what I look like! Get that thing out of my face YOU IDIOT!" he yelled, not paying attention to all the sharp red spikes that appeared from his vine.

But Frisk stayed Determined, "no, you don't! You don't see what I see, you're more than a flower, I know you still feel alone and scared, and I understand why you're mad, but if you just look at your face right now and see how your acting-,"

As soon as Frisk flashed the mirror to his face, he blindly lashed out with vine, and as soon as he did, he immediately knew something was disgustingly wrong, dread filling him as he looked and saw the red spikes and the even redder deep cut on olive tan skin.

Frisk dropped the mirror and quickly grabbed at their wrist of their right hand, but he could already see the blood.

The air was tense with shock...but strangely, as soon as he locked eyes with Frisk-something inside him clicked and he panicked, fear for Frisk overtaking him.

He quickly withdrew his vine.

"I didn't mean to!"

Tears welded in Frisk's eyes, surprisingly not so much from the pain, which there was a fair amount of, but from what had just happened, too many emotions running through them, their breath becoming shallow as they opened their other hand to peek at the wound, quickly covering it back as a small stream of blood escaped.

He watched grimly as the blood trickled down their arm, the sight of it giving him a cold flashback of their fight together when he inhabited his Omega Form, but all that seemed like an odd and gruesome hazy fever dream compared to what was going on now.

Now all he could think about was the fear he was experiencing and of Frisk fainting or worse…

"Oooh no…look, please don't be mad at me, it was an accident!"

Frisk looked back him, raising their eyebrows at his response, "it's- it's okay, I'm not mad I just-," they took a heavy breath, slowly closing and opening their eyes "phew, what we need to do is…just… calm down,"

He nodded quickly, gritting his teeth, he tried…
But he couldn't calm down, unable to take his eyes off the blood.
"No! Would you take care of that?! Go to mom before you bleed everywhere and end up…end up… you know…s-sending us back to whenever the heck you last Saved!"

Frisk took another quick glimpse at the cut, their expression shifting as they slowly realized the reality of the situation, beginning to back up for the door.
"You're right, this cut is actually really bad, but, um-" they looked at him with concern "I'm sorry I provoked you, I didn't r-,"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP AND STOP BEING NICE? GO TO MOM, GO YOU IDIOT!" he screeched.

Frisk jumped, common sense returning back to them as the shock wore off, but before turning and running off, they gave him a surprisingly sincere smile, it bothered him.

It reminded him again of the 'Omega fight', or after it actually, after the souls had escaped, leaving him alone and defenseless to face Frisk , he had hurt them so, so, badly, and yet… they smiled at him, and even let him live.

He was still so confused, like now, Frisk had been shocked… but they didn't seem like they felt betrayed, they even said they weren't mad, how?

Sure he said it was an accident, and it was, he had only meant to smack the mirror away. . .he didn't mean to hurt them like that, he had just been so angry.

Dread filled him as he listened and waited for a reaction...

. . .

….

Finally, he heard the sound of Toriel muffled panicked cries, and then she arrived at the door.

"Flowey! …FLOWEY! FRISK HAD AN ACCIDENT; WE ARE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL!"

An 'accident'? Did Frisk just lie to cover for him? Why?

He just… really, really couldn't get past Frisk's vast selflessness.

Flowey acted surprised as Toriel quickly picked him up tucked him away into her oversized purse, "what happened?"

Toriel sighed wearily through her teeth "they've accidentally cut their wrist,"

Frisk was walking quickly ahead of them now; he noticed how they held up their right arm up, seeing the large first aid gauze wrapped around their wrist, covering the injury completely, he attempted to swallow the anxious lump in his throat.

"Is it that bad?" he genuinely asked, hoping it wasn't as awful as it had looked.

Toriel didn't say anymore, but simply nod; she then walked further, gently wrapping their arm halfway around Frisk's back, rubbing at it comfortingly.

The annoying ache that Flowey had been currently ignoring suddenly became unavoidable, making him cringe hard, but there really wasn't any point making his mom or Frisk have another thing to worry about right now.

He held his breath.

Five hours later after what had seemed like a fuzzy nervous anxiety filled blur, Flowey found himself staring at the dark stitches on Frisk's wrist; they were in the middle of putting on another new bandage after accidentally getting the last one damp.

He couldn't stop staring, it was so . . . awful

…Hadn't someone said it was probably going to leave a nasty scar? He snapped his eyes shut, of course he was going to be forced to look at the scar he had made forever, just great.

He still just couldn't understand why they continued to be so lenient with him, especially after everything he had told them about his past and what he was like before he met them, and how he never regretted a thing when he killed before, he had told them nearly everything, and still, time after time… they continued to forgive and trust him, he was sure that they weren't even scared of him, or had been even scared of him at all in the beginning despite his best efforts.

He wasn't sure if they were brave, cared for him, or was actually genuinely crazy and stupid.

He jumped when they suddenly began speaking, forgetting that he had closed his eyes.
"I'm really am sorry that I told mom about your true identity, seriously this time. It was an accident at first; I just couldn't believe you called her an ugly hag- but then I… I decided that she should just know…but I see now that I shouldn't have done that, I should have asked you first,"

He looked back at them in surprise, noticing in relief at the new bandage now safely covering the wound… were they being this apologetic because they were afraid he would scratch them again?

He frowned at his thoughts, maybe he was wrong.

"…Why are you so sorry now?" he asked.

Frisk shrugged lightly, "I guess… because I realized that as much and as hard as I've tried, I can't ever really completely understand what it's like to be you, like being soulless and also. . . y'know, being a plant- unable to really go where you want on your own all the time, I also feel super guilty that I tried to force that mirror in your face, especially after you said no, I knew you were going to hit me, but I pushed on 'cause I thought I was doing the right thing…but… I should have listened to you,"

But then they shifted away awkwardly, tensing up.
"BUT…I'm still mad at what you did to those kids though; I was hoping you would just… I don't know… hack their grades or something, pull some scary pranks, not…physically hurt them, I guess I should have been more direct with you about the plan,"

He didn't know what to say, he begrudgingly didn't want to admit it, but…Frisk was right, he could see that clearer now; he had gone too far with trying to protect the only person who understood him best and had blown everything out of proportion.

His morals had been in the wrong for far too long and he realized now that he needed to get out of his old bad habits if he wanted things to stay the same between him and Frisk... he didn't want to risk another fight like the one they had.

As well, the more he thought about getting help as Toriel suggested, the more it seemed to make sense, as awful at it sounded, he had a screwed up history and had gained a just as screwed up mind because of it.

He didn't want anybody else to end up with scars just because he couldn't control himself, he didn't want to be like this anymore.

He wanted to be better.

He just had to be.

So the next part was hard for him to get out, but he eventually spoke, his voice low and tinted with shame, "…you're… right,"

Frisk blinked, quiet for a moment, taking in his words, then, they smiled a small warm smile.
"Does that mean you're really sorry about hurting the other kids?"

He gave a long sigh "…yeah,"

They nodded and walked a little closer until they were next to him, leaning against the desk that he sat on; they held their hands together thoughtfully, absentmindedly fidgeting slightly with the tape against their skin.

"Thank you... and, I'm sorry too, about mom."
They then looked to him curiously "so, do you want to… umm," they looked around the room, "play Shards of Swords?" the asked, motioning to the game console not too far away.

He narrowed his eyebrows at them, "that's it? You're just changing the subject like that? You don't want to give me some kind of boring pep talk or even brag?"

Frisk grimaced and shook their head firmly, "no, I'm really happy that you're apologizing, I'm happy that I'm apologizing too, but it's been a really long week, and I'm super tired and so sick of arguing and talking about this, and…um, besides I… Saved yesterday- so that means the past is officially in the past, no going back if we wanted to, so, let's just relax for right now,"

He perked up "wait, wait, wait, wait… are you insinuating… that you would go back and change what you said to mom or…?" he asked.

Frisk dropped the frown, switching to something more shy and contemplative.
"…Would you want me to? If I could?"

Flowey thought about this for a moment, a weak smile appearing on his face that he wasn't aware of.

"…No," he said softly, for some reason, he found himself content with the way things were, except of course for Frisk's scratch, but he felt there was a lesson to be learned there somewhere.

Frisk couldn't help but smile too, walking over closer to pick him up "c'mon, let's relax for now and finish our game,"

His eyes flashed toward their wrist as it grew close, then up at Frisk, "wait, about the scratch…I was wondering, how come you decided to cover up the accident for me?"

The smile dropped momentarily as they took him over to their usual spots in front of the TV.

"I was worried the others wouldn't understand, especially after the last incident, I knew it wouldn't look good," they winced, and looked down, "I was scared that they would send you back to the Underground,"

The familiar ache twisted painfully inside him for a brief moment "Wh- Mmph…what did you tell her?"

Frisk didn't notice his expression as they switched games in the console and handed him a controller and took their own.

"Y'know that nail that sticks out on the side of my bed? I told her I was trying to reach for something, and well, yeah, she seemed like she believed me, but…I'm not completely sure, she kept asking what we were arguing about,"

"Yikes,"

"Definitely yikes, exactly why we shouldn't fight like that anymore,"

"…Frisk…?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to tell you that… I'm really, really, really . . . sorry about hurting your wrist, I meant it when I said it was an accident, I actually just wanted to knock the mirror out of your hand,"

"I know,"

"Just…just don't tell me that it's 'okay', because it's not, I screwed up really badly,"

"I know, we've both been acting really stupid, I shouldn't have told mom about you or been so pushy, and you should learn to control your anger and those spikes better,"

"Trust me when I say that I definitely will,"

They shared a quiet look of agreement before going back to playing their game.

Soon Flowey spoke up again, reluctantly "uuuuh…another thing,"

"Yeah?"

"I'll… ugh, apologize to the morons, but I won't like it,"

"Thank you Flowey,"

"And… I didn't mean what I said about mom…y'know, being a …uh… ugly hag…,"

"You better not, because you should know by now that you look just like her, it was kind of like calling yourself ugly, which you aren't, you're like, super pretty and super handsome, you're pandsome! heheheh,"

Frisk looked over at their best friend when he didn't say anything after a strange moment of quiet.

Usually he'd groan or something, instead they found him staring hard at the game, focusing deeply on the screen, uncomfortably so, they wondered if they had gone a little too far with that last bit.

"I'm sorry,"

He looked back at them curiously, his face still etched with tension, "for what?"

Frisk shook their head; they could tell that Flowey was clearly Done with all the stress too.
"Nothing, never mind,"

And yes, while he was Done, he was also trying to focus on not yelling or crying because the ache and pain had come back full force, really, sometimes he felt as if he should do something about it, but at the same time, he just didn't care, and neither did he want the attention.

After the game, he swallowed his pride and decided to tell Toriel about his change of mind about the therapist, better to get it over with now than later.

His only exceptions was that he HAD to have a monster therapist, if there were none available, he wouldn't do it, Toriel happily agreed, promising she make something work.

Time past by too quickly, he found himself helping Toriel replace the nail on the side Frisk's bed that had done nothing wrong, being careful to avoid seeming suspicious, finding it strangely difficult to look his mother in the eyes.

..

With the help of Frisk and Toriel, Asgore was soon told about Flowey's identity, there were more tears and emotions from his father that he also had trouble dealing with, at least the hot cup of tea made it bearable.

..

Later on he apologized to the bullies that he had bullied back, he hated every solitary single second of it, fighting hard to remind himself that it made Frisk and Toriel proud of him, and that somehow, this was the right thing to do.

..

These all being incredibly difficult feats, but for some reason, he had a feeling that the therapy visit was going to be one of the hardest things he was going to do for a long time.

. . .

And too soon, it was time for his first appointment, he made sure to stall for every little thing, making sure to brush EVERY SINGLE TOOTH, wash his face- several times, eat his lunch veerrrrryyy slowly, getting in the car and suddenly whine about being thirsty and make his mom go back in to bring him a drink, hoping to be late, but Toriel wasn't having any of it, especially more so now that she knew who he was.

Her leverage was Asgore, who was coming along as moral support for their son; to his surprise Flowey had to admit that it… did actually help to a degree, something about seeing his parents interact always gave him a strange sense of nostalgia, even though they still had trouble working things out.

When he was brought in to the small office, he was met with a familiar face, or mainly, a familiar eye monster, Loox.

"You're my therapist? Mr. 'Reformed Bully'? That's ironic,"

Loox gave a polite smile to the flower boy, "sorry Mr. Flowey, you asked for a monster therapist, and there are only a few on the field at the moment,"

Flowey gave a long sigh, "yeah, I figured, well, let's get it over with,"

It of course had practically taken forever for him to even start talking about himself, as Flowey decided to begin by again wasting time by having Loox about talk himself first, asking him specific questions, ones that Flowey thought a therapist would ask, making a game out of it, attempting to prolong the inevitable.

But finally, once Flowey started finally talking about himself, he couldn't seem to be able to stop…

Actually, he hadn't even had time to talk about his lack of a soul, which was fine, but what was not fine was talking about his early life, having to explain he was the dead son of Toriel and Asgore, whom was brought back to life as a freaking flower.

Inconveniently, his annoying ache had started up during half the time he was there and even worsening when he began talking about Chara, making the situation even more difficult than it already was.

Loox seemed to noticed the pained look on Flowey's face, "you don't have to talk about it if it's too hard, these kind of things take time,"

Flowey considered it for moment, but what was the point, isn't this what he was here for? "n- no, I'm on a roll, it's fine… I think…,"

Something about talking about it like this was strangely cathartic, he hadn't been sure what he expected, but it hadn't been the relief he felt from just… simply talking about it, even if it was also painful, he even began crying a few times.

He was just about to get to his time he spent Resetting over and over when Loox was forced to stop him, ironically time was up for the session.

As he left the building, he found himself spent, falling asleep as soon as he was buckled up in to the car…

When he woke up, he didn't feel much different, he was still Flowey the soulless flower, but…at the same time, he felt as if there was small weight lifted from him, and the future looked a little less bleak as he realized he had new goal to reach.

In the beginning, after leaving Mt. Ebott, there had been a half-baked goal to show the others that he could be trusted again and relearn how to be a tolerable roommate and citizen, but after recent events- he couldn't say he even fully reached that goal, or had tried hard enough, but with his new goal he was going to do that and so much more.

He was going to become a good monster again, somehow.

Well, he knew he'd never be as good as he once was a long time ago, but he had Determination, so he knew that he could do it and turn over a new leaf…

Again, somehow.

...


...

'Lost with a cause, someone wrote down on a paper, that defines all the lines that we draw.
But we don't understand what's unstable.
Maybe we're all lonely and afraid

Maybe we're all trying to find the words to say
Maybe we just need love, love, love, love'

I probably should have taken longer to check for errors but was too excited, this story might not be getting a lot of attention at the moment but I'm still very happy and pumped to be sharing this thing anyway.