A/N: Here's another rather low-key chapter. The party's gonna start after this chapter, but for now, enjoy the cute fluff with Frisk, Asriel, Papyrus, and the Alphyne family.

The traffic wasn't too bad as the trio went downtown. Of course, Frisk and Asriel stayed close to Papyrus, who would signal whenever he was about to turn or stop. The last thing either of them wanted was for a disaster to happen on the best day of their lives, after all.

"We must be getting close..." Frisk muttered. They had sort of memorized the streets around town, and Papyrus was also using a GPS, so there was no way they could have been lost.

And indeed, they weren't lost; soon, they came across a building that had a colorful exterior. The sign above the entrance of this building advertised pizza, ice cream, and arcade games.

"It looks like we are here!" Papyrus pulled into a parking spot, as did the kids. Frisk and Asriel had just taken off their helmets and hanged them up when they heard an excited young voice.

"Heeeeyyy!"

They got onto the sidewalk in time to greet the young lizard-like boy running up to them. His sneakers lit up in different colors every time his feet hit the ground, and he was also wearing a black-and-blue striped shirt and a red pair of shorts. In his green-scaled hand, he clutched a piece of paper.

"Hikaru! Hi!" Frisk gave the child a hug, and Asriel and Papyrus each gave him a hug afterwards.

Behind him, Undyne ran up to them. "Hey there, punks! Glad you all could make it!"

Hikaru looked up at Frisk and Asriel, grinning a sharp-toothed grin. "I drew this for you! Look!"

He gave the picture to the two. It was a very simple drawing of Frisk and Asriel looking happy; between them was a table with a cake on it. At the bottom of the paper, he had written the words "HAPY BIRDAY!"

"Wow! Thanks, Hikaru!" Frisk kept looking over the picture. "We'll take really good care of it!"

Papyrus looked at the drawing. "Yes, we should take care of this drawing! In fact, I would like to put this in the car so it's safe while we have our birthday lunch!"

Frisk gave the drawing to Papyrus so he could do just that. Meanwhile, Asriel noticed that Alphys was talking to Kaoru a little farther away. Kaoru seemed a bit worried about something, and Alphys looked like she was trying to reassure him.

Asriel looked at Undyne. "Is everything all right?"

The look on Undyne's face became a bit more concerned. "You see...Kaoru also made you two a drawing. However, before we came here, he told us he couldn't find it. We looked all over our place, but we still can't find it. And, well..." Undyne leaned in closer to Asriel. "He thinks you're gonna be mad at him if he tells the truth."

"Huh? We're not gonna be mad at him..." Asriel looked almost shocked that anyone would even want to be mad at him for an honest mistake.

"That's what we've been trying to tell him. He probably needs to hear it from your mouth." With that, Undyne started walking over to Alphys and Kaoru, with the other three following. "Hey, Kaoru! Don't you wanna wish your cousins a happy birthday?"

Kaoru looked over at them, nervousness stamped all over his face. He looked just like his brother, except he was wearing a white-and-yellow striped shirt and a pair of blue shorts; he had a similar pair of shoes.

"Happy birthday..." His eyes, slightly red from crying, kept sneaking quick glances at the ground.

Frisk walked up to him. "Hi, Kaoru." They crouched down to make eye contact with him. "We heard about your problem, and-"

"I'm sorry! Please don't be mad!" Kaoru flinched and averted his gaze, trembling slightly.

Asriel came up next to Frisk and also crouched down. "Hey, we're not mad. Everybody loses things sometimes; it doesn't mean something's wrong with you."

Frisk nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure you'll find the picture. And even if you don't, you can always make another."

By now, Kaoru was looking at them again, but he still looked rather sad. "But I can't give you a present right now..."

Papyrus had heard the last part of the conversation as he walked back from the car; remembering what he'd read about the pizza arcade, he decided to put his two cents in. "Kaoru! If it makes you feel better, I have heard that this arcade has games where you can win prizes!"

Kaoru's expression brightened considerably. "Wow! Really?"

"I heard that too," Alphys said. "And even if you don't, we can always go to the store and find something they'd like."

At this point, Kaoru had totally forgotten about being sad. "Thanks, Mama!"

"Well, now that that's settled..." Undyne grinned at the others. "You guys ready to go?"

The twins started cheering, Alphys nodded, Frisk and Asriel grinned, and Papyrus was already about to hold open the door for everyone.

"Then let's go!"

Inside the arcade, it was a bit futuristic in appearance. The walls were dark, in contrast to the colorful tables and chairs. Beeps, blips, and all sorts of sounds filled the air, as did the distinct scent of pizza.

When the team of seven went up to the front desk, a friendly young woman greeted them. "Welcome! What can I get for you today?"

Alphys approached her. "Could we get a table for seven, along with two booster seats?"

"Sure! Wait here a second." She walked into another room and came back out with the booster seats and some menus. "Right this way!"

They all followed her to a table that had enough seats for the seven of them. She installed the booster seats, and everyone took a seat at the table as she handed out the menus.

"Before I go, would you like anything to drink?" she asked.

After everyone told her what they wanted to drink, she left, and they all started looking over their menus. The twins were getting more and more antsy by the minute; Hikaru normally had trouble sitting still, and Kaoru was determined to win presents for Frisk and Asriel (who themselves were excited as well, though being in their late teens, they showed considerably more restraint).

Finally, their server returned to the table with the drinks. "Have you all decided on what you want?"

They all placed their orders, and when they were done, the server took their menus and walked away.

Undyne looked at the twins. "So, you guys wanna play some games while we wait for the pizza to get here?"

"Yeah!" Hikaru was already trying to squirm out of his seat as Alphys went to help him out.

"Me too!" Kaoru clapped his hands as Undyne got out of her seat to help Kaoru out of his.

Once the twins were on the ground, Hikaru, as expected, took off like a rocket, and Alphys kept an eye on him as she talked with Undyne and Kaoru.

"Frisk is gonna text me when the pizza's here," Alphys said. "And if we're not close by, I'll send you a text too."

"Great!" Undyne looked at Kaoru. "Ready to go?"

Kaoru nodded. "Uh-huh!"

Just then, Alphys caught sight of something, and ran off. "Uh, Hikaru, chairs are for sitting, not suplexing!"

Undyne smirked. Hikaru was definitely her kid. (But Alphys did have a point; it would be safer for him to stick with his toys for now.) She and Kaoru started walking around the arcade; neither of them were really sure of where to start.

Just then, Kaoru saw a machine with a big glass box containing lots of plush toys. He pointed to it. "Mom, what's that?"

Undyne saw what he was looking at. "Oh, that? That's a crane game. You move a crane around and try to pick up a toy, and if something lands in the bin, it's yours!"

"Ooh! Can I try?" Kaoru thought of getting a prize for his cousins.

"Sure you can!"

They went up to the machine, and Undyne inserted a quarter. "Now, move this joystick up here, and press the button on top when you're ready."

Kaoru gently maneuvered the crane, and pressed the button when he felt ready. The crane descended into the pile of toys, and just barely missed catching anything. Kaoru let out a disappointed moan as the crane returned to its starting position.

"Aw..." Undyne shared her son's disappointment. "Wanna try again?"

So Kaoru tried again; this time, he did manage to grab something, but it fell down before the crane made it to the bin.

Undyne looked around. "Let's give it just one more try, okay? These machines are really hard; and besides, there are games where you can win tickets and trade them in for prizes, so maybe we can do that instead."

As his mom put the quarter in, Kaoru had a glint in his eye. He moved the crane to what looked like a good place, and pressed the button.

The crane went down...

...and came back up, securely holding two toys.

"Wha-?" Kaoru's jaw dropped; he could only watch as the crane carried the toys to the bin and dropped them both inside. "Did I-"

"Awesome! You did it!" Undyne reached into the bin and grabbed the toys; one was a penguin, and the other a dolphin.

"I got two?" Kaoru looked at her, confused. "Is that allowed?"

Grinning, Undyne handed the toys to Kaoru. "Of course it is! Everything that lands in the bin is yours, remember?"

Kaoru started grinning widely enough to match his mother. "Okay..." He didn't quite understand, but what was important was that he now had presents for his cousins.

And so, he clutched the toys for dear life as he and Undyne continued through the arcade. Now that he'd found what he was looking for, he really wasn't sure of where to start. But he was so excited and filled with joy that he just wanted to burst into song.

"Hey, kid!"

He looked around.

"Yeah, you! With the plushies!"

Kaoru saw who was calling him: a teenage boy with a shark hoodie and a cocky smirk.

"You must think you're the coolest guy around, do you?" the teen asked.

"Uh-huh! I just wanna run and sing and dance!"

"Dance? Ha!" The teen walked over to the nearby Dance Dance Revolution machine. "There's no way you're cooler than me at this game!"

Undyne watched the scene unfold, taking deep breaths to try to calm herself. Although she had mellowed out quite a bit over the years, she was not a pleasant person when pushed the wrong way.

Who does this guy think he is...?

Kaoru looked up at her. "Mom, can I try this game?"

"Go ahead." Undyne took the toys from him, and leaned in close. "And don't listen to anything he says; you're always cool!"

Kaoru took his position on one of the dance pads, and the teen selected a song for them to dance to. Undyne watched them, and when she saw what song he picked, she gasped.

That's one of the hardest songs on there! I swear to God, if he laughs at my son...

When the song started, Kaoru was alarmed as he saw the arrows come up on the screen. He tried, really tried, to keep up the pace, but his little legs couldn't quite reach a lot of the arrows in time, especially the down arrows.

Eventually, the song ended, and Kaoru looked dismayed as the scores came up, showing that his were much lower than the teen's.

The teen folded his arms and laughed again. "Bet you're not so cool now, are you?"

Kaoru trembled. "But...but I..."

Undyne's eye narrowed. It was officially on.

"Oh yeah?" She marched up to them and handed the toys to Kaoru before glaring at the teen. "Why don't you make fun of someone your own size?"

The teen scoffed. "Go away! This doesn't concern you!"

Undyne rolled her eye. "You know, maybe you're right. After all, it's not like I'm his mom or anything - oh, wait a minute! Yeah, I am!"

"Wait, what?" The flabbergasted teen looked back and forth between the two.

"What, you thought I just so happened to be walking with a four-year-old?" Undyne got up on the dance pad as Kaoru stepped off. "Anyway, put some quarters in, and I'll show you how it's done!"

The teen's facade began to break. "Uh, this is a bit too much..."

Undyne laughed. "What, you're not up to the challenge? You only like to play against people you think are easy targets? And Kaoru's supposed to be the one who's not cool?"

"All right! You're on!" The teen picked out another tough song. If she's anything like her son, this'll be a walk in the park.

The song started up, and the teen began dancing as the arrows came up. He glanced over to Undyne's side of the screen, and felt disbelief as he saw that she was doing just as well as he was.

Maybe even better...? He shook his head. Don't let her psyche you out!

The two kept dancing as if their lives depended on it; the teen was dancing for his own honor, Undyne for her son's honor, and neither was willing to give either an inch.

After the song ended, the scores came up on screen. The teen got a high score...

...but Undyne's was higher.

The teen gasped. "What?"

"Ha! I got the high score!" Undyne got a more serious look on her face as she glared at the teen. "Now, are you going to apologize to my son, or what?"

Apologizing was the last thing on the teen's mind as he gaped at them. "I don't believe it! Beaten by a little kid's mom? I'm outta here!"

He turned tail and ran away.

Undyne's palm met her forehead. "Ngah...freaking coward..."

Kaoru looked confused. "Why didn't he say sorry?"

Undyne sighed. "Some people are just like that...but what's done is done. Wanna check out some of the other games?"

"Okay."

"Woohoo! High score!" Hikaru entered his name (or at least the first three letters of it, with Alphys' help) in the high score table of the game he just played.

"Congratulations!" Alphys said from near the arcade cabinet.

Hikaru got up off the stool and looked around, seeing which games he might want to play next. "Ooh! What's that?"

Alphys saw that he was pointing at a Pac-Man machine. "That one's a classic game. I'll show you how to play it."

They started walking over to the machine, but were stopped when a teenage boy in a shark hoodie ran up to them. He was about ready to go into a tirade, but as soon as he saw Hikaru, he faltered. He could only muster a "Yeah?" before walking over to a Street Fighter II machine, where a teenage girl seemed to be waiting for him.

Hikaru looked at Alphys. "That was weird."

Alphys nodded. "I'm not even going to ask. Anyway, let me show you how to play Pac-Man."

When they got there, Alphys put a quarter into the machine and started the game, explaining the mechanics as she played. "You see, you have to go around the level and collect all the little dots. Don't let any of the ghosts touch you, or you lose a life. But if you get one of the big dots, they turn dark blue and you can eat them." When the cherries appeared onscreen, she continued, "And you can get these for bonus points."

Hikaru watched with rapt attention as Alphys played through and eventually finished the first level. As the maze blinked, she looked at him. "Ready to give it a try?"

"Yeah!" Hikaru hopped up onto the stool and started the second level. He went around collecting as many pellets as he could; however, at one point, the power pellet boost wore off just as he was about to eat the red ghost, and he lost a life. He cringed as he watched Pac-Man shrivel up and disappear. "That's kinda scary..."

As the level restarted, Alphys smiled. "Don't worry, he's fine now. See?"

The two continued playing for a little while until they lost all their lives. Just then, Alphys' phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out and saw that Frisk had texted her, as agreed.

"Frisk says the pizza's here," she said to Hikaru.

"Aw, but I wanna play more!"

Alphys chuckled as she texted Undyne. "Don't worry, the games will still be here when we're done eating. And maybe your cousins and Uncle Papyrus will want to play, too."

Hikaru grinned. "Cool!"

Undyne, Alphys, and the twins soon made it back to the table, where Frisk, Asriel, and Papyrus were waiting with a bunch of pizza.

Papyrus waved at them. "Hello again! Did you all have fun?"

Hikaru vigorously nodded. "Mama showed me how to play Pac-Man!"

"And I got these from a crane game!" Kaoru walked over to Frisk and Asriel and held up the plushies. "These are for you. Happy birthday!"

Asriel smiled. "Thank you, Kaoru! Frisk and I will take really good care of these."

Frisk nodded. "And you can play with them anytime you come over." They handed the penguin to Asriel. "Heh, remember how I won a penguin at that carnival when we were ten? Now you can have your own penguin!"

Asriel noticed the dolphin Frisk was holding. "And you wanted to ride on a dolphin on the merry-go-round."

Frisk laughed at the memory. "Sometimes I still feel kind of bad about how we acted, though...we didn't even think about what everyone else was doing."

"Hey, everyone has bad days sometimes," Undyne said as she strapped Kaoru into his booster seat. "And besides, you didn't know any better." Of course, she and Alphys had been out of town at the time; they had only heard about it when the kids told them about it.

For a little while afterwards, everyone ate pizza and talked about what they had been doing. It was a bright, happy atmosphere for the seven of them.

Some time into the meal, though, they heard a voice.

"Excuse me."

The voice belonged to a teenage girl. Kaoru and Undyne saw a very familiar-looking boy next to her.

"Hey, you're the guy who made fun of Kaoru!" Undyne said. "What do you want?"

Frisk and Asriel were alarmed, Papyrus was confused, and Alphys felt something click.

So that's what was up with him...

"He has something he would like to say to you." The girl gave the boy a rather cross look. "Well?"

The boy trudged up to them. "Which one of you's Kaoru?"

"Me..." Kaoru raised his hand, really not wanting to deal with this.

The boy walked up to Kaoru, took a deep breath, and loudly exhaled. "I'm sorry I made fun of you, okay? You were just minding your own business, and I could've just left you alone. And when your mom beat me at DDR, I didn't want to admit the whole thing was my fault."

"Are you sure you're-?" Undyne started, but Alphys looked at her, and she sighed. "All right, we forgive you. Just don't do it again, okay?"

Kaoru remembered what he'd been taught about forgiveness, and smiled. "It's okay! I forgive you!"

"And another thing..." The boy leaned down. "I saw you carrying those plushies. Did you win those both at the crane game?"

"Mm-hmm! I won them both in one quarter!"

Undyne grinned when she saw everyone else's astonished looks. "It's true; I saw him do it. He even asked me if it was allowed."

The boy smiled at Kaoru; this time, it wasn't an arrogant smirk, but a genuine smile. "That is cool...I could never even win one prize from that game!"

Kaoru smiled back. "You can do it! Just keep trying!"

"I'll have to remember that...in fact, I could give it a shot right now!" The boy walked away towards the crane game. "See ya!"

"Bye!" Kaoru said, waving.

"I told him they'd feel better if he apologized..." the girl said with a smile as she watched him, and then she looked at the others. "Sorry about my boyfriend...he's a pretty neat guy when you get to know him, but sometimes his ego gets out of control."

She heard his voice calling. "Chrissy, are you coming?"

"Just a second, Andrew!" She looked at Undyne and Kaoru. "Thanks for at least giving him a chance, despite what he did to you."

Undyne leaned back in her chair. "Yeah, if I didn't give anyone a chance even after they were nice to me, I don't think we'd be here right now..." She remembered what had almost happened to her in Hotland all those years ago.

"But you are here, and that's what's important." Chrissy smiled. "I have to go now. Bye!"

Everyone said goodbye to her, and then they went back to eating pizza.

Eventually, they had all eaten as much pizza as they wanted to eat for that moment.

"It sounds like you two had fun playing all those games," Frisk said as they sipped their soda, "and I think I'm ready to play some, too."

"I think we all are." Asriel stood up. "Right?"

Hikaru and Kaoru clapped their hands. "Yay! More games!"

Papyrus set the "back whenever" sign the server had given them upright on the table, so she'd know not to take the rest of their food, and they all went off to play some more games.

"Hey, check it out!" Frisk said as they ran up to a skee-ball machine, and Asriel followed. "Think you can get more tickets than me?"

Asriel smirked, looking at the machine next to Frisk's. "We'll see about that..."

When the balls came rolling down the side ramps, the two rolled them up the big ramps, trying to get them into the holes with the most points. Once the game was over, Asriel got six tickets, while Frisk only got four.

"Looks like you did, huh?" Frisk soon grinned. "Best two out of three?"

The two continued playing skee-ball for a little while, until they each had a decent supply of tickets.

Asriel folded up his tickets to make them easier to carry. "Why don't we go see what Papyrus is doing?"

"Yeah."

When they found Papyrus, he was intently watching Hikaru play at a pinball machine. Hikaru's score was not bad at all for a four-year-old.

"You know what this means, right?" Frisk asked, snickering.

"What?" Asriel was a bit confused.

With a grin, Frisk sang: "Alphys and Undyne's kid sure plays a mean pinball!"

Asriel laughed. "Oh yeah! That!"

When Hikaru was done, Asriel led him and Papyrus over to the Guitar Hero cabinet; Papyrus actually did a better job at it than Asriel, despite the latter having actually played guitar. Hikaru was more than a little confused at this, and Asriel explained to him that real guitars and Guitar Hero guitars were really different.

Meanwhile, Frisk met up with Undyne, Alphys, and Kaoru, who were walking away from the air hockey game.

"Where'd you get those skills, Alphys?" Undyne put an arm around her.

Kaoru giggled. "She went to air hockey school!"

The four walked over to the cyclone game, where Frisk and Kaoru took turns trying to win tickets. None of them could make the light land on the jackpot, but they still got a good supply. Then it was off to the basketball game so they could all shoot some hoops.

Everyone got to play all the games they wanted to play, and by the time they were done, they had gotten quite the haul of tickets, which they spent on different prizes. Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus had pooled all of their tickets together to get a toy robot for each of the twins (they were already going to give presents to Frisk and Asriel later that night). Frisk got a Magic 8-Ball, Asriel got a Newton's Cradle, and the twins each got a kazoo, on which they happily played a fanfare as they marched back to the table with the others.

As everyone finished their pizza, the server came back. "Can I interest any of you in dessert?"

Hikaru raised his hand. "I want a chocolate ice cream cone!"

Kaoru looked up. "Can I have a vanilla one? Please and thank you?"

"Yeah! Please and thank you!" Hikaru said, remembering what Madjick had taught him about magic words on his TV show.

Everyone else also got an ice cream cone, except for Undyne, who instead got a sno-cone. The adults all wanted to save room for the cake that Muffet and Nathan would be making for the party later that night. Frisk and Asriel smiled at each other; if today was already wonderful, then the party would be beyond words.

The twins played another fanfare on their kazoos as everyone left the building, with their prizes in tow. Papyrus put the ones for Frisk and Asriel into the trunk of his car, and Undyne and Alphys set the twins' new toys into the baskets of their bicycles.

Frisk gave Hikaru a hug, and Hikaru looked up at them. "Have lots and lots and lots of fun tonight, okay?"

Kaoru, who was hugging Asriel, looked over. "Yeah! Don't forget to run and sing and dance!"

"We will!" Frisk grinned at Asriel; singing and dancing were definitely on the list for the party, and maybe they could work running in there somehow.

They all said goodbye to each other, and Frisk and Asriel rode back to their house, with Papyrus coming along.

Toriel laughed as the credits rolled on the TV screen. "Goodness, that was a funny show..."

"Yeah, I thought you'd like it," Sans said as he leaned back in Toriel's lap. (Sir Pouncival had jumped down earlier, and was now batting a toy around beneath Chairiel, Toriel's small chair.)

It wasn't long before they heard vehicles stopping and voices talking outside, followed by a car driving away and the door opening.

Asriel was the first to walk inside, carrying the penguin and the Newton's Cradle. "We're back!"

Frisk followed him; they were carrying the drawing, the dolphin, and the Magic 8-Ball. "Hi, Mom and Dad! Papyrus says hi, too. He's going to check on Mettaton and the party."

Toriel saw all the things they were carrying. "It looks like you two had fun."

Asriel set his things down and took off his helmet. "We sure did! You wanna hear about it?"

Sans put his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I'm game."

And so, Asriel and Frisk told them all about what they did at the pizza arcade. It was a really good time for all involved.

Of course, they all knew that, today being what it was, the good times were just getting started.

A/N: And that was Chapter 2. As I mentioned before, the party's in the next chapter. And speaking of that...

Dear Reader:

If you are reading this, then congratulations! Mettaton, in collaboration with his benefactors Sunfreckle and No Sleep Until Vacation, would like to cordially invite you to celebrate the lives of Frisk and Asriel Dreemurr, who are turning eighteen years old on this day!

Come wearing nice clothing, but not too nice, as there will be a lot of dancing later in the evening.

Presents are not required, but they are appreciated. For those of you who would like to give presents, please describe what you're giving by October 5th, so that we have time to incorporate your gifts into the planned event.

The planned schedule:

4:30: Gift-giving

5:15: Dinner

5:45: Speeches for the birthday duo

6:30: Cake

8:00: A special performance from Frisk, Asriel, and their friends Manny, Tice, and Jim

After this, there will be singing and dancing until around midnight, when Mettaton will conclude the night with a special surprise.

Hope to see you there!