As Frisk was reading in the break room, she felt a presence creep up on her. Looking up over the top of the book, she watched as G slid languidly into a chair across the table from her. The monster's skull was tilted slightly, eye narrowing in on Frisk and grin disturbingly knowledgeable. Frisk resisted the urge to pull the book up higher so she wouldn't have to look at G or acknowledge how close she was. There was a long silence between them, and Frisk was starting to lose control of her breathing. Something about G just made her nervous. Frisk couldn't help but feel like she was shrinking whenever G was around, like the man made her feel small.

"So," G finally broke the quiet, "when are you gonna tell him?"

"Huh?" It was Frisk's turn to narrow her eyes.

"I admire your ability to deceive. I bet with practice you'd make a wonderful liar."

"What are you talking about?" More like why are you bothering me, Frisk thought. She couldn't even begin to express how badly she wanted to be left alone, especially after Asriel had just tried setting up a date between her and the coworker across from her.

"Let's face it: you didn't actually call that Chara prick," G whispered, leaning on his elbows.

Was that all? Frisk sighed and looked back at his book. "I would never actually do that. His unnatural obsession with Asriel really did almost get me killed."

"I'd like to hear that story sometime."

"Look," Frisk closed the book and set it down, knowing she wasn't going to be able to read anymore. Staring levelly at G, she leaned in and said, "I did that to get Asriel off my back. Teach him a lesson. Got it? Now I'm just gonna let him sweat it out for a while, then I'll tell him."

There was something dangerous in G's gaze, and Frisk resisted the urge to slide back and away from the other as G leaned in and said, "I bet you're really good at teaching people a lesson."

"Does everything you say have to sound like a suggestion?" Frisk asked.

G burst out laughing, teeth flashing. When he finally calmed down enough to speak again, he let out a long sigh and said, "You seem fun, kid. I like your wit." Then his gaze became intense and Frisk felt her hair stand on end. "Perhaps we can forget about the exploration stuff and simply have a battle of wits."

"How would you go about a battle of wits?"

G snorted. "Simple. You try to outwit me, I try to outwit you. An ongoing competition."

"So," Frisk thought aloud, "we'd basically be trying to one-up each other indefinitely?"

"Perhaps," G said.

Frisk couldn't believe she was considering this. An hour ago, G unnerved him. Well, he still did. But now, suddenly she was about to engage in a competition with him. "Are we talking a series of puzzles or a full-on prank war?"

"Both." G lowered his head, gaze turning predatory. "Loser has to step outside naked. What do you say?"

That sounded like a challenge. "All this because you liked the way I tricked Asriel."

G sighed. "No. I'm bored to death and I need something to kill time with. And you presented the opportunity without meaning to. You see," he folded his head behind his head and leaned back, "I miss good old-fashioned tests of intelligence."

"You should take up chess, then." And not bother trying to freak me out, Frisk thought.

"Nah. I'm not a strategist."

"Strategy's pretty important in a battle."

"Prove that to me, then," G said.

If it wasn't an outright challenge before, G was certainly challenging her now. Before Frisk knew what she was agreeing to, she said, "Accepted."

G's facial expression was blindingly brilliant, and it genuinely terrified Frisk to look upon it. "Excellent!" Standing up and leaving Frisk to her book, G turned to her and said, "One way or another, kid, I'm gonna get you naked outside."

Frisk's eyes widened and her face flushed. What exactly did she just agree to?