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Chapter 7 Stay Happy
Warnings?: A specific conversation that becomes very uncomfortable, the warning is here depending how you want to perceive it, you'll see what I mean.
Also, apologies to any one named Philbert.
OH, and thank you so much for the reviews! I wasn't and I'm still not sure what kind of feedback I was going to get with this story, but I seriously mean it when I say that it always brightens my day a little more when I get one! Thank you guys!
Summary: After Flowey tells everyone his big surprise and things start to settle back down, he's awoken one late night after Frisk has a nightmare and goes to him to talk it out.
Inspiration Song: 'Smiley Faces' by Gnarls Barkley
'Cause I notice when you're smilin', out in the sun having fun and you're feelin' free, and I can tell you know how hard this life can be, but you keep on smilin' for me'
...
...
Toriel was the second person that Flowey told about his soul (after a lot of persistent gentle prodding for almost four weeks, he finally gave up) her reaction had been very similar to Frisk's, angry that it caused him pain, but was over joyed for him to the point of tears, and then made him his very own pie (that was not for sharing).
Two days later he told Asgore, who was also completely thrilled for his son, he seemed to understand why he would keep the pain a secret, giving him a big hug, and then offered him his favorite tea.
Then, then next day, he did something extremely impulsive, he sent everyone a wordless text message, only a lone selfie of himself with his soul, he made sure to keep his face out it as much as he could, but just enough for people to be able to tell it was him.
And boy and boy, that had been a really bad idea, because his poor phone was over flooded with an overwhelming amount of response, finally after seeing the '67 text messages' and '38 missed calls' he decided to turn off his phone for a while and just let Frisk handle it for him (much to their dismay).
And then, not too long after a therapy visit, he found out (on accident) that Frisk was also going to start seeing a therapist.
…At first, he was, for lack of a better word, utterly confused...
But then he remembered back when he first entered school with them, how they sometimes had to leave him alone in class so they could go visit the school counselor, it had been Toriel's idea, and honestly at the time, he had to admit he hadn't been concerned enough to ask why since they rarely brought the subject up.
Apparently they had never stopped visiting the counselor since then, and now that he was thinking about the Talk that they had, and about what they said about remembering their real parents and how upset they got and the way they changed the subject. . .
Come to think of it, there had been a lot of small hints that he had missed that made him realize that maybe Frisk had a lot more going on inside their head than they usually let on.
He thought it over for awhile, realizing it all made sense, he was sure not being completely able to remember where you came from would definitely cause someone major emotional issues, but from what Frisk had also explained to him before, was that they had also become very content with their living situation, happy to have Toriel and Asgore as their foster parents, they certainly showed that happiness all the time, but he didn't need Frisk to tell him that it was still a huge mystery that they still ached to solve, but why they held that ache a secret he'd never know… at least Frisk's therapist soon would.
After finding out… time to time, he slowly began to worry if he could have been part of the problem of why they needed a professional in the first place; the large guiltier part of him didn't doubt this, even still after the times when Frisk had forgiven him and showed him Mercy, he still struggled to see what they saw in him.
Especially when he found out that he still gave them nightmares.
. . .
He was woken up to the sound of Frisk crying softly, all the way from the other room.
He listened for a minute or two longer, until his compassion twisted at his insides, fully waking him up, rubbing at his eyes with one vine, and bringing out his phone with another, he checked the time.
3:57 AM, of course it was.
He winced when Frisk started crying even louder. Ok, ok, okay, enough of this.
He texted them.
'What's with all the noise? What happened?'-
It wasn't long until he heard them quiet down and respond.
-'sorry. had a nightmare. can I come in and talk?'
'fine'-
With that, he switched on his lamp and waited patiently, it wasn't like he was the one who had to wake up early for school anyway.
...
Once they arrived, he ached at the sight of Frisk's puffy, tear stained face, he hoped he could fix this as soon as possible, this was just ridiculous.
Frisk stiffly sat on the guest bed, sniffling, wiping their eyes and face with a few tissues they had brought along, not saying a word, their silence already telling him a lot.
"… Wow, that bad huh?" He asked, he knew quite a bit about nightmares himself, more than he cared to admit.
They nodded, "I don't know if I should tell you, I don't want to upset you."
"Let me guess, I was in it?" he sighed, they nodded again, "was I doing something really bad?", they nodded once more, and he groaned in response, of course he was doing something 'really bad', that was one the very things he'd accomplished on his agenda that he'd created back when he was soulless.
1. Become a GOD! (check.)
2. Get the Souls, no matter what the cost! (check.)
3. Scare them so bad they'll have nightmares FOR THE REST OF THEIR AFTERLIFE! (…check.)
(Stuff like that, etc, etc .)
"We've talked about this, you know I'm never going turn 'dark' again, so go ahead, tell me," he said finally.
They rubbed their eyes, shaking their head, "I know, you're better now… but.. it was so real."
He rolled his eyes "I hate the vivid ones too, just tell me, I won't get upset, I'm too tired to get upset,"
They looked sheepish for a moment, sorry they woke him up, but not sorry that they had a friend like him to talk about things like this.
"Well…okay… um, everything was fine at first, it started off normal, everyone was there… but then, something really terrible happened that made your soul hurt too much- I think it was because… Toriel and Papyrus had both ended up dying at the same time, but I can't remember what from…,"
He watched Frisk sit there as they stared at nothing, their expression darkening slightly; they were most likely remembering the dream from the looks of it, he could feel his soul reflexively start to ache at the very thought of losing his mom and Papyrus, he tried not to think about it too much, tuning out his imagination and focused on Frisk as they started talking again.
"-And you…just… snapped… I think your soul couldn't handle it and it…literally 'broke', but instead of dying, you went on this huge rampage and… killed everyone, it was terrifying,"
Another pause from Frisk, he finally noticed that they were looking at him now, gazing at him with concern, waiting for some kind of response to see if he was OK, he merely sighed and nodded for them to continue.
"And then you killed Sans… and then…me, but I think… Sans had gone evil? And then it got crazy, you started growing taller like a sunflower and your vines and spikes were huger than ever, and- then…,"
Frisk trailed off, thinking about something, their teary eyes drifting off again as they remembered the dream, before snapping back to reality and focusing back to him "you didn't kill me at first, uh, it's gets a little fuzzy around that part and…um… I don't really remember much… so, yeah, um…you killed me in the end,"
But then their expression tightened, "I woke up crying because I believed for a… second that I had… actually died for real and ended up going to my last Save, of course I was relieved when I realized it was just a nightmare…but then, I started crying more when I thought maybe… there could be a terrible possibility that it could somehow for real happen,"
He blinked, in near disbelief of his best friend's new fear, it seemed like that this nightmare really was bad if it had someone stable like Frisk this anxious, he couldn't get over the miserable look on his best friend's face, the ache inside of him pushing him to do something, maybe it was time he played Therapist for a turn.
"Okay… so, first of all, calm down because everything is completely FINE- I am two thousand percent SURE that your dream would NEVER happen, because, as I told you, I learned my lesson, no more killing. Ever. Ego promisit."
"But you snapped,"
"Listen you big baby, anyone can lose their mind, I'll admit that, but I've told you, and I'll tell you again, I made a promise, and I'm keeping it… even if ever do… some how 'snap', I've learned lessons that have been seared into my brain to know by now that killing is pointless and disgusting, you can trust me on this one Frisk, insane or not, I'm never abandoning my morals again,"
Frisk stared at him with understanding eyes, giving him a proud smile before sighing heavily to themselves "yeah, I know, I should have remembered that, it was a stupid… crazy dream, and your soul can't just… literally break from too much emotion, can it?"
Fear from the very idea began creeping in, but he shook it off like it was something repulsive.
"No, of course not, Alphys said it was tougher than it looked, you wouldn't expect anything less from me would you?" he bragged.
Frisk cracked a smile, finally, "no, I know you're tough," but then the smile disappeared "it was just that…this one was a lot. . .scarier than the Omega form nightmares,"
Grim curiosity about this nightmare peaked, he leaned forward and gave them an intrigued and suspicious look "scarier than the Omega form huh? You remember more about this nightmare than you're letting on, aren't you?"
The frown deepened and they sighed again "I'm trying to forget it. You don't want to know the worse parts, trust me, it'll gross you out."
Gross? He did something gross? To Frisk? What category of gross was it? This could mean literally anything, he was conflicted.
"Sooo… I did something 'gross' to you, and then killed you? Meaning the gross part wasn't killing you?" he asked, growing increasingly perplexed.
Frisk shook their head, looking particularly anxious now, rubbing at their bangs, further messing up their already messy bedhead "no, it was a different kind of gross than what you can think of,"
Flowey winced, ok, perhaps he should stop while he's ahead, he had a sinking feeling that he really, really, didn't need to know about this.
"I see, well, sorry…for whatever dream-me did?" he attempted gently.
They smiled at him, "don't be, I know you'd never do anything like what you did,"
He raised an eyebrow at the statement, as ridiculous as it sounded, it was difficult to think of something that he wouldn't do, he'd done almost everything he could think of back during his Reset days…but judging by the look Frisk had on their face and what they said, it was probably for the best to not test his imagination.
They started talking again before he could respond, "and Sans had turned evil, can you believe? Yeah, it really would never happen, my brain is so weird,"
Flowey smiled sleepily "it really is; but are you happy now?"
Frisk smiled back, nodding slowly, they seemed just as sleepy almost.
Pain jolted at him seemingly at the sight of the smile, waking him back him up, he dismissed it "good… now can you go back to bed?"
"Yeah, right away Mr. Boss Plant sir," they joked, getting to their feet, then walking over him, "thanks for talking to me Asriel,"
He managed a shrugging motion without shoulders, "not like I could back to sleep when you were crying like that," he mumbled.
Frisk looked embarrassed, "it was a rough day."
"Stephanie again?"
"No, Philbert,"
Flowey started laughing, "'Philbert'?! What human names their kid Philbert?! Even better, what the heck kind of name is Bert?!" and continued laughing.
Frisk could help but start laughing too, but in vain held a finger up to their mouth, "Sh-shhhhh! You'll wake up Toriel," hushing their voice quieter than it needed be.
He had a hard time trying to stop, when Frisk held their finger up to his mouth- he just laughed harder.
"At least his name isn't a mash up of his parent's names," Frisk prodded.
Flowey stopped laughing instantly, staring at them with a raised eyebrow, "it's not? Then what the heck are his parent's names? No- wait, why are you teasing me for? I thought you were pissed at…," he struggled to keep a straight face "…'Philbert',"
"I am, I was just trying to get you to stop laughing, you don't want to eat soap again do you?" Frisk reasoned.
He broke eye contact, "no, I don't… but at least I'd be eating soap knowing my name is better,"
Frisk raised an eyebrow "which one?"
A slow illustrious toothy grin appeared on Flowey's face "all of them,"
Frisk simply smiled "I agree, all of them are pretty rad, but yeah… I think I'm going back to bed now… you want me to bring you a super late night snack before I go? I don't mind making you quick sandwich,"
Flowey subtly winced as a spasm of pain ran through him, why were they so needlessly kind like this? Sometimes he felt Frisk almost rivaled Toriel and Asgore in niceness, perhaps they've just been learning from the best.
He wondered momentarily if he could ever go back to being as nice as he used to be if it didn't hurt so much…
He was trying though, "thanks, but no. Just go back to sleep Frisk,"
Frisk's smile sweetened, they then stepped in closer, leaning in before hesitating for a moment and- oh…no, they were going in for a kiss, ugh, too much mush!
TOO MUCH MUSH!
He scrunched up his face, leaning away as Frisk playfully leaned in faster and delicately kissed his forehead, a feather light touch.
Still, at the contact, a terrible wave pain radiated roughly from his soul taking him by complete surprise, he closed his mouth shut to muffle out what would have been a loud groan, noticing instantly that it hurt much more than usual from the other times of being kissed, ever.
As Frisk caught sight of his reaction, their smile dropped in horror, realizing the huge mistake they made and the gravity of it, they looked him over anxiously "sorry, sorry, sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I completely forgot, oh my god, I can't believe I forgot! I really am an idiot!"
"I forgot too," he managed out breathlessly, arching down, the pain didn't seem to want to settle down; this… was getting pretty embarrassing.
Frisk looked at him carefully and closely, he leaned away shyly on instinct, not wanting to make eye contact, it seemed to hurt more when he did.
"I really am sorry, are you going to-,"
He cut them off, instantly straightening back up, voice clear "yeah, just go to bed, nerd,"
Frisk smiled weakly at him, a hint of worry still in their eyes, not entirely convinced by his act, but they could take a hint, so they began moving for the door "it's okay, I get it. You want your space. Good night Asriel,"
"'Night," he said, holding his breath, watching them until they left, he didn't move until he heard them settle down in the next room.
He finally collapsed into his flower pot, hissing in pain through his teeth, he rested his head on the dirt, staring up at the ceiling, this really was embarrassing, normally Frisk kisses didn't hurt this bad, neither did any other kiss from anyone else did either.
He knew why they hurt, very platonically he loved all the people he received kisses from (which was a not surprisingly small list) so of course it was going to hurt, kisses were an act of compassion and love, when he was a kid he use to 'hate' receiving kisses, these days he had mixed opinions and often over reacted because getting kisses was over all just…well… embarrassing and too 'sickly sweet', deep down though he actually didn't mind it too much, and if it didn't hurt, he would mind even less.
But this one…
WHY did it hurt this much? He was still aching, thinking about how soft Frisk's lips had been-
-It was good to at least know that their weird pricey honey based chapstick they always wore actually worked!
…He was honestly glad that Frisk was okay now.
He thought about the warm look in their eyes as they spoke his real name before leaving, he closed his own eyes as the pain began to kick up again, it pulsed all over like a heartbeat.
No, think about something else, think about something else, think about something else-
He hated that he did something so horrible to Frisk in their own dream, enough to make them cry even, it wasn't the first time, but… it felt worse now, knowing he did something so bad that even Frisk didn't want to tell him, something so bad that he would never think to do in real life.
Pain from the guilt joined in and he fidgeted around in his flower pot uncomfortably.
He needed to take his mind off this, he threw out a vine, and fished around for his phone, fumbling a bit before he finally hooked a line and brought it up, thankfully he'd remembered to keep the head phones in.
He listened to music, trying to focus on the words and melodies until he finally fell asleep, it took nearly two frustrating hours, but thankfully… he found some rest.
But what followed suit was a night full of guilt dreams, and also for some reason, a strange dream where sets of flying giant disembodied harmless pink lips attached to white feathery wings that fluttered and followed him around teasingly.
The next day. . .
Flowey was in the middle of a break from Homeschooling, sitting on the couch in front the TV in the living room, deep into a compelling sci-fi mystery show.
So deep he barely noticed when Frisk sat next to him, but the art diary they held in their hands is what caught his attention, that and the thoughtful expression they were wearing.
"Hi, I know you don't like to be bugged on your break, but can we have a chitty-chat?" they asked.
He pretended to be annoyed, putting his show on mute, he turned to them, "what do you want?"
A smile appeared on their lips "since last night, I've been feeling really guilty about hurting you, and I started brainstorming on how to make life better for you so you don't have to be in pain anymore-,"
He began to wince, oh no, of course they were still thinking about his reaction to the kiss, this was the very reason why he'd always mask the pain and lie, and he would have done so last night but it had stunned him and caught him by surprise, and there was no reason to lie anymore now that Frisk knew how he was affected.
But the funny thing was, when he chose to confide in them about his soul and all the symptoms, he knew they'd be upset, but he had made the mistake of not considering the part of how he was going to deal with them being upset.
And if there was one thing that made him miserable, it was when Frisk was upset and overly worried over him, and right now it looked like they were edging into pity territory.
"My life is fine the way it is, so thanks but no thanks Frisk, I can handle it," he interrupted.
Frisk nodded sternly "I knew you'd say something like that, but I couldn't help but at least try,"
"And I knew you'd say something like that, you never stop trying," he muttered.
They let out a shy laugh at that, looking down to the booklet on their lap, they fidgeted with the pages, "well, I guess you'd be happy then, because I found out that… well…there's… no kind of 'magic spell' or 'science experiment' we could try, I'm not a super genius like Alphys, and I know you don't want anyone to give you special treatment or treat you differently than before…you've made that clear, but…I just thought, maybe now that we know what's hurting you, then maybe you can help me figure out how to avoid doing that,"
He stared at them hard, and this was the exact reason why he hadn't wanted to tell everyone about his soul, because they were right, he didn't want the special treatment, and neither did he want others to stress out about it, especially like Frisk was doing now.
Without a second thought, he brought out a vine and rested it calmly on their arm, snapping them out of their heavy thoughts, they looked back over at him in surprise.
"Listen, no matter what anyone does, it's really never going to stop hurting, the only thing I think could help is if I suddenly started…I don't know, not caring about anything again? Which I'm pretty sure that's impossible at this point- NOT that I want you to try to help with that kind of thing, you know that the last I want is to get rid of my soul or be alienated, so please, do me a favor and don't do anything different, I meant it when I said I can handle it, okay? Stop worrying so much," he said gently, firmly.
They looked conflicted "are you sure? Even when I accidentally get too sweet? I know you won't mind if I hold back on that, but it's just… so easy to forget when we get wrapped up in our shenanigans,"
He couldn't help but laugh quietly "yes you big idiot, I'm absolutely sure, I don't want you to change or behave any different….and I realize… that finding out that I have a soul and what it does to me changes things a lot… but that doesn't mean it needs to change anything between us… does that make any sense?"
At that, Frisk's gaze softened, and they smiled sweetly, "yeah, it makes a lot of sense,"
They shared a silence of understanding, until Flowey begun to feel awkward, dropping his gaze to the diary, he poked it with his vine, "so, did you have something to show me?"
Frisk perked up at the comment, "yeah, while I was brainstorming, I had an idea," they said and opened the book up, flipping through until they settled on something new.
Flowey leaned forward as they sat the art diary in front of him, and what he saw perplexed him.
It was several sketches of Frisk themself, featuring them aggressively blowing a gust of…souls…? No, wait, hearts from their lips in every picture, at the top, they had cheerfully written- 'My Magic Attack!'
At first, Flowey merely stared at the drawings in pure confusion, 'magic attack'? Humans didn't have magic attacks, and what was this heart business? What were they even doing?
Instead of asking these questions, he only shifted his stare up at Frisk, waiting for them to explain.
Unable to hold back at a snicker, Frisk scratched the back of their head "I know, it looks really silly, but after the kiss, I was trying to figure out how I can make affection a positive thing instead of a bad thing for you, which turned into a totally different line of thought… what if I had magic? Sorry, I got distracted,"
Flowey pinched his face up, grimacing in disgrace "…your magic attack is…kissing…?"
Totally oblivious to his annoyance at the moment, Frisk begun to giddily clarify.
"Not necessarily?" they pointed to one of the sketches "see, I'm blowing kisses, so there's unfortunately not any lip contact- and when the hearts come out they float like bubbles but move much faster than that, and when the opponent runs into them- they forget all their problems and pain and become filled with ultimate happiness and bliss for twenty second tops, and they don't even deal any damage! The only downside is that depending how many they're hit with- they become loopy and really silly,"
The longer they spoke, the more disgraced Flowey looked, to him this was probably one of the worst ideas they had ever come up with.
"Are you kidding me right now?! No DAMAGE?!" he blurted out the instant they finished.
Frisk, who was well trained in taking Flowey's brand of criticism, jumped in surprise at his sudden change in noise level, but could only laugh, they had only drawn the picture for fun and had a feeling he wouldn't like it too much, so they had been prepared for this.
"Yeah, of course, you know I don't want to hurt anyone," they explained.
"But it's a magic attack! You're supposed to ATTACK!"
"That's what the loopy part is for, it's to distract them, so, I guess it's more of a magic defense?"
"More like magic DRUGS, once everyone knows what you can do and become HOOKED, they're neeeevvvveeerrr going to want to stop battling you! Next thing you know you'll be on the run, hiding in some stranger's cellar in secret from all the happy addicts you've created!" he exclaimed in anger.
Barely unable to hold it together anymore, Frisk clasped a hand over their mouth, snorted out a laugh and started into a fit of giggles "I'm S-sorRY! I didn't- I didn't think that far into it!"
Flowey scoffed and pointed a vine at them "you really didn't, all of this is completely terrible, the only good thing about it is the art, oh and seriously? Hearts?! Isn't that kind of messed up? Hearts look exactly likely human souls, it's like you're blowing human souls at people!- and… you're not even listening to me anymore, are you?"
He stared at his BFF next to him, who was currently holding onto their stomach, doubled over in squeaky laughter, unable to answer him.
And as he watched them, he found himself unable to stay annoyed, his disgusted frown slowly lifting at the edges, barely noticing the pain that begun to roll inside of him.
He couldn't help but chuckle too as he came to the conclusion that Frisk didn't necessarily need magic to make people happy anyway.
...
...
Yaayy, a happy ending! For now...
Whatever the horrible thing Nightmare Flowey did in Frisk's dream is 100% up to you, but I will say one thing, it may not actually be as bad as Frisk is making it out to be, maybe they're too embarrassed?
Also, on a different note, there will always be many reasons to say Flowey is bad for Frisk, but the thing is… people can change and can be properly redeemed if you give them the chance and guidance, I mean, that unfortunately can't be said for everyone, but for Flowey here…I think it can be, and while the past may haunt him, I think he can also learn from it as well.
This is why Frisk allows themselves to be close to Flowey in the first place, they believe in him, they've seen the good in him and still see it.
