DISCLAIMER: I do not own two scenes in this chapter, one being where Papyrus and Frisk are playing and the other being where Frisk and Sans are talking about the science fair. Instead, these two scenes are from comics and all credit goes to the respective artists Mckenzie H (qtarts dot tumblr dot com) and Stewart (quicksilver26 dot tumblr dot com).
In Sans' humble opinion, Keurigs were totally overrated. At first, the whole idea of the instant coffee seemed like a godsend. All the skeleton had to do was pop a K-cup into the machine and hit brew and a few moments later the steaming drink flooded into his cup, ready to be consumed. It wasn't like he exactly missed the odd grinding noises his old coffee machine used to make in the Underground. This one was virtually silent most of the time which meant he could sleep longer on the couch without the making of Toriel's using morning cup (a dash of creamer with two scoops of sugar) waking him up.
His coffee drinking life was perfect until the Keurig's true colors began to show.
Depending on the type of water they used, whether tap or bottle, scaling build up and other debris could clog the line which meant extra work to clean out. When he hit the brew button after selecting his cup size, the machine would suddenly switch his preference and coffee would cascade from the machine, overtaking the cup and turn the contraption into a java-spewing waterfall (then he had to wipe up the spill which meant more work). Air bubbles often snuck into the pipes on the machine which meant extra work to clean out. Sometimes there wasn't enough warm up time and the coffee would come out cold (which was the literal worst, the last thing Sans wanted was ice cold coffee racing down his throat while he was still groggy) and he would have to scrub the pipes which meant extra work to clean out. If the machine received the slightest touch or bump, the pieces in Keurig had to be resealed and recalibrate. Sans hated doing calibrations after just waking up it was almost as bad as the cold coffee. And calibrations meant even more extra work.
He wasn't some damn connoisseur of the coffee making art but god forbid he enjoy a cup without something going wrong. Call him a lazybones, but Sans hated every moment he had to spend with the coffee machine from hell.
Sans scowled at said Keurig and continued his saunter into his small living room. He plopped down onto his sofa and grabbed the newspaper he had been browsing earlier. The clock read 3:45. What was taking Papyrus so long?
The skeleton shrugged. Maybe he had stopped at Undyne's with Frisk on their way home.
Before he could decide not to give it a second thought the door slammed open, the hinges screaming in protest. Sans paid no attention and slumped further into the couch to do his reading.
"YOURS SAYS 'YOU'RE SUPER SPIFFY!' I HAVE TO AGREE WITH THE WRAPPER, HUMAN, YOU ARE RATHER FASHIONABLE! OF COURSE, NOT AS IN TUNE WITH STYLE AS I AM, BUT STILL QUITE SPIFFY!"
Ah. So the delay had been nice cream related.
There was a brief silence that Sans guessed was caused by Frisk signing their response. Papyrus cackled.
"MINE SAYS 'IS THIS AS SWEET AS YOU?' NEARLY! NYEH HEH HEH!"
The drumming of excited feet.
"I DISAGREE. YOU TOO ARE MUCH SWEETER THAN NICE CREAM! WHAT? NO, NO, NO! YOU ARE TOO SILLY!"
Frisk tittered as they fought to surprise their snickers.
"I'M ACTUALLY NOT SURE WHAT A SKELETON'S FAVORITE INSTRUMENT IS. I BELIEVE IT DIFFERS FOR EVERY SKELETON. WH—NO! NOT YOU TOO!" Papyrus let out a distressed screech. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME I JUST TOOK YOU OUT FOR NICE CREAM!"
Frisk let out an unrestrained belly laugh. They snorted so loudly that Papyrus couldn't help but chortle along.
"ALRIGHT, I SUPPOSE. DO YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS A FAVORITE INSTRUMENT FOR SKELETONS? A TROM-BONE!"
Frisk gave something akin to a squee.
"AH NO! TINY HANDS! MY ONLY WEAKNESS!"
Papyrus came running into the living room with Frisk clinging to his head and their hands thrown over his eye sockets. Frisk was pecking his skull over and over with their lips, making noisy kissing sounds and kicking their socked feet in the air.
"SANS! THE HUMAN IS ATTEMPTING TO SUBDUE ME WITH KISSES!"
Sans flipped to the next page in his newspaper and smirked. "kiss 'em back, bro."
Frisk had their arms bound around Papyrus's neck and were dangling off of his back. The skeleton fell onto all floors with a desperate, "THEY'RE…TOO…STRONG…" and flopped down onto his ribcage. The child giggled now that they were sitting on top of the taller skeleton brother and kneaded his scarf.
"savage," Sans insisted, not looking up from his paper. He could hear the mischievous smile in their giggles.
Papyrus flipped around and grabbed Frisk. He hoisted the laughing child into the air and cried, "THE GREAT PAPYRUS RETALIATES! NYEH HEH HEH!"
Frisk squirmed out of Papyrus's grasp and shot into the kitchen. Papyrus soon ran after them, yelling something about needing the human's help to prepare his world famous spaghetti.
Things were certainly never boring in the skeleton household. Sans drew his newspaper closer, reclined further into the couch, and settled in for his third nap of the day.
"p-papyrus?"
Fear laced through his bones as he sunk a trembling hand into the pile of dust before him. Gingerly, he tugged out a red scarf from the gray heap and held it close.
"no," he mumbled. His tears threatened to spill over. "no!"
A high, demented cackle cut through his ribs. His head inclined and he gasped. A pair of crimson eyes flashed along with the glint of a toothy grin.
There was a dull, sickening thunk as the curl of a pinky finger met his torso.
Sans' breath staggered. He flinched at someone's touch and he fought to steady the magic racing through his bones.
Frisk was standing before the skeleton. Their brows were raised in concern, hand raised as if they had just jerked it away in fear.
"S-Sans?"
With shaking limbs Sans took a gulp and tuned the magic racing from his eye socket back into his SOUL.
"h-hey, frisk. sorry, kiddo, did i scare you? wait, what happened to your face?"
There was a light bruise growing over the bridge of the child's nose. His jaw tightened at the sight.
"they aren't pickin' on you at school, are they?"
'I fell off the swing. Pap says dinner is ready,' Frisk signed with a noncommittal shrug. They weren't looking at him. 'Mom called. She's working late tonight.'
Hmm. He would have to ask Toriel about it later.
Sans stepped over his newspaper as he got off the couch. He ruffled Frisk's hair. Hopefully that was enough to assure them he was alright, that he believed them (for the time being) and it was only just a dream.
"why don't we go get some grub then?"
Frisk lead the way to the table, the child obviously shook up about startling Sans (but it seemed like Frisk was more perturbed about the situation than the skeleton was now that he was awake). Sans watched as the small human climbed up into their spot next to where Papyrus usually sat and gave Sans a minute smile before resuming their normal, passive expression. Papyrus, who wasn't one to keep others waiting, rushed over with three plates of spaghetti and set them out on the table. He tossed his towel and Kiss the Cook apron so they landed on the towel rack and sat down besides the human.
"bone-appétit," Sans said with a wink.
Papyrus grimaced and his body shook. Frisk—who had been pressing a firm hand to their ear—brightened and dug into their spaghetti enthusiastically. Papyrus eagerly went off on a tangent about something that was happening at Frisk's school, dramatic hand motions to boot, but Sans had trouble paying attention; that wasn't a rare occurrence, though, Sans had difficulty maintaining focus when he was drowsy. The skeleton's thoughts drifted instead to center in on the kid before him who was beaming at Papyrus as if the skeleton was their whole world.
It was very unlike Frisk to lie. What bothered Sans most was that it was even more unlike the kid to lie to him. Frisk was always an open book. They told any of their monster family what they were thinking or feeling, especially when it came to getting anxious (the human usually had at least three telltale signs: they would cover one or both of their ears, their hands would clench and unclench, or every muscle in their body would tighten). It was hard to get over the fact that the human was keeping something from him when it felt like the two of them had been through hell and back.
"so you finally made it," sans uttered. The human had stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of him. "the end of your journey is at hand. in a few moments, you will meet the king. together…you will determine the future of this world. that's then. now. you will be judged. you will be judged for every action. you will be judged for every EXP you've earned."
He could feel Frisk shaking as he explained the true meaning behind the acronyms EXP and LV. Light was void from the skeleton's eye sockets.
"the more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. the more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others." sans finally met the child's gaze as his eyes flicked back to normal. "but you…you never gained any LOVE. 'course, that doesn't mean you're completely innocent or naive. just that you kept a certain tenderness in your heart. no matter the struggles or hardships you faced…you strived to do the right thing. you refused to hurt anyone. even when you ran away, you did it with a smile. you never gained LOVE, but you gained love. does that make sense?"
Frisk smiled. Sans sighed.
"maybe not. now. you're about to face the greatest challenge of your entire journey. your actions here…will determine the fate of the entire world. if you refuse to fight…asgore will take your SOUL and destroy humanity. but if you kill asgore and go home, monsters will remained trapped underground. what will you do?"Sans closed his eyes. "well, if i were you, i would have thrown in the towel by now."
Sans blinked and gave Frisk his signature grin."but you didn't get this far by giving up, did you? that's right. you have something called 'determination.' as long as you hold on…so as long as you do what's in your heart…i believe you can do the right thing. alright. we're all counting on you, kid."
Frisk and Sans stared at one another for a long minute. Then, all of a sudden, Frisk sniffed. Sans felt his grin fade as the human burst into tears.
"kid…"
Frisk became very curious in the state of their shoes. They were completely overwhelmed as they twiddled their thumbs and snuffled.
Without thinking Sans opened his arms in offering. Frisk immediately ran into his arms and the skeleton scooped the child up to his ribs in an embrace. A foreign feeling raced through Sans' bones that caused his SOUL to stutter when Frisk began to hiccup and sob into his coat.
"hey, kiddo, it's…it's…" Sans couldn't finish. What was he supposed to say? That everything was going to be alright? That they would be okay?
When Papyrus was little he liked his skull pet and back rubbed. Sans ran his free hand through Frisk's hair, mimicking the motions he used to do when he took care of his brother. Eventually Frisk calmed down and wriggled out of the hug. They gave Sans a sad, hesitant smile and wiped the remainder of their tears on the sleeve of their sweater.
It was in that moment that Sans finally saw Frisk for what they really were—a small, scared child who was unfortunate enough to tumble down into the Underground. Sans' SOUL felt as if it was trapped in a vice grip. What kind of monster would he be if he let the kid go all alone? He had done is best to keep an eye socket out for the small human (it was as if Sans had some type of internal Frisk radar—Frisk-dar?) and treated them the best he could without causing too much suspicion.
Sans hated making promises. Nevertheless, against his better judgement, he did it anyway. He had promised to keep the kid safe and it was a promise that he was going to fulfill.
"S-S-S'rry," Frisk stammered.
"ah, don't worry 'bout it. i'd take asgore on myself but i don't have the guts."
Frisk's nose crinkled.
"yeah, sorry that one was a little heartless." The joke earned him a dimpled cheek. Sans winked. "good luck."
'—spaghetti cake.'
As Sans drifted back to reality, he caught the tail end of Frisk's sentence.
"LASAGNA?" Papyrus's eyes appeared as if they were going to fall out of their sockets they were so bugged out. "I…I HAVE TO ALERT UNDYNE."
In a true, Papyrus fashion, the taller skeleton raced out of his chair and threw himself out the nearest window. Thankfully, Sans remembered to open it today so his exit was not preceded by the shattering of glass.
The following silence was broken by Frisk scooting their chair away from the table and holding up a finger. They strode out of the kitchen to the entry way and there was the sound of rummaging as they rifled through their backpack. The child pitter-pattered back to the table, filled with a newfound exhilaration when they thrust a crumpled flier into Sans' face.
The lazy skeleton skimmed over the leaflet as he shoveled a fork full of spaghetti into his mouth. It was an advertisement for the elementary science fair that 1st through 6th graders would be competing in. Awards for the best project would be handed out by grade during the competition that was to take place in two weeks.
"science fair huh? what about it?"
A flurry of hands.
"you want my help, huh?" Sans asked. Frisk nodded. "why not ask alphys?"
Frisk rapidly described how Alphys would be busy all next week and wouldn't have much time for herself, let alone to help out.
Sans heaved a sigh. "alright. i suppose it wouldn't hurt. but…no models of the solar system."
Frisk nodded proudly and began to sign something else but Sans interrupted them.
"or potato batteries."
The child gave Sans a bemused look. Sans grinned.
"or baking soda volcanoes! trust me, frisk, nothing is worse than a science fair of nothing but baking soda volcanoes. it really blows if you ask me. nah, we'll think of a better idea, kiddo."
There was a loud crash as a fish monster soared through the window and somersaulted into the cabinet holding Toriel's pots and pans. There was another flash of red that matched the color of Undyne's hair as a skeleton barrel rolled in after and stuck the landing with a loud "TA-DAH!"
"Spaghetti cake?!" Undyne demanded, hoisting Frisk into the air by the back of their shirt and shaking her fist. "What ELSE have you been holding back from us, PUNK!"
"A-According to my c-calculations, lasagna has been around m-much longer than Frisk has!" Alphys announced. Thankfully, she had entered through the front door like normal monsters did.
Frisk's shoulders bobbed indifferently, their expression unmoved. The child was used to being thrown around by Undyne.
"Listen here, you—"
Frisk squealed loudly and their legs flailed as Undyne began to noogie them. Summoning their determination the child they escaped and took off into the next room.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Undyne shouted. She pursued with a spear materializing in one hand and a plate of spaghetti balanced in the clutches of the other.
The whole house erupted into chaos. Papyrus had chased the other monster and the child, proclaiming that he had just vacuumed and wanted nothing broken. Alphys became a stammering mess, making haste to where her girlfriend had sprinted off to. Sans decided that he would let his awesome brother handle the situation and hunkered down at the table to catch some z's. His jacket pooled up around him and he began to snooze at the table.
Toriel could not have picked a better time to walk into her house. Frisk was hanging from their ankles and a green shield in the shape of a heart floating around them. Undyne was moving her hand around the shield whenever she could to tickle Frisk in the ribs. Both of them had spaghetti sauce on their faces and noodles in their hair. Alphys was clinging to Undyne's leg with her eyes closed and pleading not to hurt the human. Papyrus was howling about a broken vase, running around with his hands on his head, and somehow managed to get himself covered in spaghetti sauce as well. Sans—who was supposed to be acting as the responsible one (but he never did much to Toriel's chagrin)—as usual, was sleeping.
"What on Earth are you doing to my child?"
Every monster in the kitchen froze.
Undyne dropped Frisk and they fell to the floor on their back. They stuck their tongue out at the other monsters and skipped into Toriel's waiting hug. The child snuggled up to their mother and Toriel smoothed their tomato paste covered hair back to reveal their smudged face.
'Hi, Momma!' Frisk signed. 'Pap made dinner!'
"I can see that." Toriel, who had been gazing at the human as if they could do no wrong, gave the rest of the room an icy glare.
"Y-Y-Your majesty!" Undyne faltered.
"We'll…We'll h-help and clean up!" Alphys broke in. "S-S-Sorry for the m-mess!"
Papyrus, however, was still crying.
"OUR VASE! I JUST DUSTED! HOW COULD THEY BREAK OUR VASE?! MACARONI EVERYWHERE—"
Sans chose that second to wake up.
"welp, it's probably time for your bath, squirt," Sans said, checking the clock. "c'mon, kiddo."
Toriel seized the hood of Sans's jacket. "I don't think so. Papyrus, could you please give Frisk their bath tonight?"
Damn. Looked like he wouldn't be shirking work. Sans suppressed a groan.
Frisk's hands moved in reassurance, letting Papyrus know that he could come into school tomorrow and make another vase with them. The two of them went up the stairs to the bathroom, Papyrus continuing to complain how no one ever appreciated his cleanliness.
Sans shrugged off his jacket and let it fall into his chair. He followed suit when Undyne and Alphys plodded in abashment over to the sink. Sans' bones felt heavy and he broke out in a sweat. By the look on Toriel's face, Sans knew that he would be getting a skull full after everyone left.
Frisk yawned from where they were leaning heavily against Papyrus, their cheek squished into the skeleton's collar bone. The child had initially insisted that they weren't tired, that they could stay up and watch another movie with him, their mom, and Sans, but eventually they had been unable to stop themselves from snoozing in Sans's lap. At the sight of them Toriel had Papyrus carry them up to bed.
Papyrus helped Frisk into his car shaped bed, holding back the covers while the child stretched and flopped down into their pillow. Although Toriel wasn't fond of Frisk sleeping with someone she believed might accidentally crush the little human she believed too delicate to be resting besides their rather tall and bony friend, there wasn't an extra bed in the house for Frisk to claim as their own.
"WE WILL HAVE MUCH FUN TOMORROW, HUMAN," Papyrus whisper-yelled encouragingly. He crouched down next to where Frisk laying. "IF YOU WILL HAVE ME, I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO TAKE YOU UP ON THAT OFFER TO REMAKE OUR PASTA VASE."
Frisk gave their friend a sleepy smile. They raised hand and said, 'I love you.'
Papyrus's expression shifted a bit as he read Frisk's gesture carefully. The skeleton unwrapped his scarf from around his neck and draped it over the child. He then stooped down and lightly nudged Frisk's forehead with his. Frisk tilted their head up so they could plant a kiss between Papyrus's eye sockets.
"WOWIE, YOU ARE ALWAYS GOOD AT THOSE," Papyrus murmured affectionately. "GOODNIGHT, HUMAN."
The door closed behind him with a soft click. Frisk pulled the scarf up under their cheek and closed their eyes. It had been a great evening full of laughter and smiles. As the human's breathing slowed, they hoped for a night that wasn't plagued by red eyes and unforgiving laughter.
I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I just wanted to give you all a glimpse into Frisk's everyday life at home and what kind of trouble far too often when Toriel isn't home.
Thank you all so much for the reviews, faves, follows, and views! It makes me so happy knowing that other people are enjoying my work :) I'm going to try to get an update in at least once a week if homework and exams don't pile on too much, so I hope you all stick around.
Until next time!
-Sav
