Frisk sat silently in Steven's hospital room, watching him slowly breath in and out. They were trying their best to not think about how Steven is in this state because of them, and Chara was being unusually quiet as well. Connie to their side seemed as if she might be dozing off, or carefully thinking something over, eyes closed and head propped up with one arm. Pearl sat on the other side of the bed, silently brushing Steven's hair with some ornate comb that she had on hand, not having once looked over at them, much less say anything to them.
They remained this way for a couple minutes until Mr. Universe and Mr. Maheswaran came back in, making Connie sit back upright in her chair. Mr. Universe frowned as he looked over to see Pearl. "Oh uh hey Pearl. Where's Ruby and Amethyst?"
She brushed another time before stopping for a few moments simply saying, "Out for a walk. Ruby was upset."
"Well I suppose she would be wouldn't she?" He asked himself with a sigh and sat down in the one free chair left besides Pearl, Mr. Maheswaran standing beside him. "Just to ask you guys, you all wouldn't know what was going on in the parking lot would you? Bunch of cars got ruined by something."
Frisk's hand clenched on their pant's leg, trying to think of what to say, but before they had to say anything Connie replied, "No, I don't see how we'd know while up here. What happened to the cars?"
Mr. Maheswaran shook his head. "Somebody rammed their car, or something along those lines, into other people's cars. Set the alarms off on several and ruined three others." He crossed his arms with a frown. "People these days."
Frisk remained silent as the two adults started talking about what could have happened to the cars outside, along with Mr. Maheswaran asking Pearl a few things about herself. Connie went back to her thinking or napping and settled her head back on her hand. The small talk managed to go on for a decent amount of time until a groan from the bed halted everyone in whatever they were doing. Everyone watched Steven to see if what they heard was right, Pearl already standing beside the bed with a hopeful smile.
When Steven opened his eyes everyone, minus Mr. Maheswaran and Frisk, rushed over to his bedside with a chorus of, "Steven!"
Frisk stood behind them, nervously fiddling their fingers, unsure whether they should join or not. They were the reason Steven got hurt after all, and these are his friends and family, so it's probably best to just let them do what they do.
Steven looked at the three of them crowding around him with a half-smile, which quickly turned into a grimace when he tried moving. Pearl gently laid her hand on his shoulder, keeping him from moving again and hurting himself again. "Hey."
Pearl gave him a big smile. "How are you doing Steven?" Connie gave him her own smile from the edge, Mr. Universe looking over Pearl's shoulder.
He forced a smile. "I'm good." He blinked and looked around the room before seeing them. "Hey you're okay." Pearl followed his gaze with a slight frown but didn't say anything.
Being noticed their hand gripped the other nervously before they nodded in response. Here they are without a scratch, while Steven hurts to even move.
Steven frowned at them, his movements stopped before they begun by Pearl. "Are you?"
"Fine as a daisy." They supplied, putting on a smile, trying to get him to not worry about them.
He frowned and narrowed his eyes before looking to Pearl. "Can you help me sit up?" She nodded vigorously and looked over the bed before locating a button and pressing it, it setting his bed upright and him into a sitting position.
"Should we be moving him?" Mr. Universe asked.
Mr. Maheswaran shrugged. "I'm not sure. But I'll go get a nurse, I know that much." He said turning to the door and leaving the room. Connie looked at the door then back at Steven.
"I need to go make sure he doesn't get lost and he gets somebody." Steven smiled at her as his okay without moving all that much. She dashed out after her father leaving just four people in the room.
Mr. Universe shook his head with a sigh then turned to Steven. "So what hurts Steven?"
"Just aches a bit. Hurts when I move too." He looked over at them and smiled again. "I don't regret it though." … what? Seeing their confusion, he continued "I'd do it again for a friend anytime."
"But you're hurt." They protested, a bit of a whine entering their voice.
Mr. Universe frowned and looked between them. While Steven kept that same smile. "I'm okay with that. I'm as tough as a rock." The pun brought a small smile to their lips and caused Steven to chuckle, though both were quickly stopped when the laugh turned into a groan.
Frisk stared down at their shoes in contemplation, fists clenched at their sides as they worked up the courage to ask "Don't hate me?"
"Of course not." He said with a frown. "Why would I?"
"I hurt you." Frisk quietly replied.
"I got myself hurt." He disagreed.
"Because of me."
"Because I chose to."
"You wouldn't have if we didn't make that deal." Frisk replied, getting frustrated.
"What deal?" Steven asked, Mr. Universe creasing his brow in thought.
The question took the wind out their sails, and after a few moments they nervously responded "They leave the Monsters alone, I don't LOAD."
Steven frowned in silence for a few moments before saying, "I could have chosen not to do it you know. Like you made that deal to protect others I did this to help you."
"But- but, I'm…. me." They trailed off, knowing the argument was terrible but it felt like that distinction made all the difference in the world.
"Who has friends to help them with things like this." He said a hand halfway going up to express something but quickly dropped back down with another grimace.
"They shouldn't get hurt for me." They quietly protested, getting another thoughtful look from the other two in the room.
"And you should?" They couldn't answer that, all they could do was stare down at their shoes. "So don't worry about me."
They were quiet for a moments, before asking again, having to be sure "Sure you don't hate me?"
"I already said no Frisk." He said with a gentle smile.
"Oh." Was their response, having no idea how to respond to this. They got use to being hated, when people learned about resets, or when they hurt them. Steven not hating them, that never happened before.
Before anybody could add anything, both Pearl and Mr. Universe seeming confused, the door opened again with Mr. Maheswaran holding it open and several nurses coming in. Lead by Dr. Maheswaran who made a beeline straight for Steven. "We're glad to see you awake Steven, how do you feel?"
"It hurts to move a bit." He said through gritted teeth.
She nodded and stood next to him, craning over him. "At least you're awake…" She trailed off thinking of something. Then she turned to them. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask everyone but Mr. Universe to leave, we have a few tests to run on Steven to see how he's doing."
Pearl looked back at Steven with a frown and kissed him on the forehead before standing up. "Y-you're going to get better Steven, I know you will." He gave a weak thumbs up, that seeming to be within his ability to do. She smiled at that and left the room.
Connie brushed beside them, coming up to Steven's bedside. "Get better okay Steven?"
"Okay." He replied. She gave him a gentle hug and left, Mr. Maheswaran just nodding to Steven before leaving too. Leaving them as the last person to go.
Nervously they walked up beside him and quietly whispered, making sure none of the adults heard "I could LOAD, undo this."
He frowned at them and whispered back, "I told you I'm not going to have anything like that happen to you again."
They stared at their feet embarrassed, and mumbled "Sorry."
"It's okay. Don't worry I'll be fine in a bit." He said reassuringly.
They nodded, and with a little wave left the room following Connie.
After a long car-ride back to the Maheswaran residence they all entered the house again, Mr. Maheswaran frowning in thought. In fact the entire ride home he had been frowning in thought, constantly glancing at Connie as though he had wanted to say something. Taking off his coat again he asked, "Connie, have you been on any adventures with Steven?"
Connie frowned and looked up at her father. "Like what?"
"Well…" He trailed off thinking on it further. "Ones where you were attacked by these Gem things?"
She winced a bit at that. "Well uh twice by accident. If you're going to warn me about things like this, Mom's already talked to me about it."
A brow raised at that. "She already knows and didn't tell me?"
Connie shrugged. "I thought she already told you, she spent a while lecturing me about the dangers."
Mr. Maheswaran sighed. "No she didn't… I'll need to talk to her later about that. I'm going to make some lunch for us," He headed to the kitchen before pausing and looking at them. "Do you want anything Frisk?"
Seeing attention has shifted back to them, they put on a smile and nodded. It's important to keep fed when they can. He nodded and went into the kitchen to make something for them to eat, leaving Connie with them. She opened her mouth to say something when her father called out from the kitchen. "Why is there a pile of coins in here?"
Connie looked at them then back at the kitchen door and scratched the back of her head, going to the door entrance. "Err…" She muttered apparently not knowing what to say.
Following her to the door they saw Mr Maheswaran holding one of the G, inspecting it. They happily answered him "Payment."
He looked at them questioningly. "Payment for what?"
Connie looked between them. "Um Frisk is used to paying people for staying at their house. Like hotels and stuff." She answered.
He only frowned at that, looking at the G again and flipping it around in his knuckles. "Why would you need to pay everyone for staying in their house?"
Frisk thought for a moment, there was a term for it but what was it? Chara came to the rescue, and helpfully supplied "Room and board."
He looked at them again then back at the G. "Except you don't have to pay to stay here, we're happy to have you here. What is this though, I don't recognize the currency." He asked holding the G up to the light.
Connie chuckled. "Uh… it's gold."
"Monster money, G." Frisk happily added on.
Mr. Maheswaran blinked. "Gold? A whole pile of gold, right here?" He asked with a nod to the pile. Connie nodded. "Why would our guest have this much gold?"
Connie shrugged and looked to them. "Monsters gave it to me." They replied simply.
He put the G back down. "Monsters gave you gold…" He sighed and shook his head. "Steven attracts some interesting people. Go ahead and grab your… gold again. It's free to stay here."
Frisk shook their head in denial. "Payment."
He blinked, obviously surprised at them insisting they paid. Connie rolled her eyes. "We were arguing about them not having to pay earlier and Frisk wouldn't accept the idea of not paying."
Frowning he picked up a G again. "And why do you want to pay so much?"
"Not that much." They shrugged in response. They didn't even spend any G this time round, so they had plenty.
"Not what I meant, but to that point this is too much. What I was asking is why are you set on paying us?" He asked crossing his arms.
"You helped me." They don't understand why they are having a hard time understanding this. It's not christmas or their birthday or something, so why should something be free?
He took a deep breath. "Alright so a good comparison here is that I'm a hotel manager and I get to decide the price, correct?" He asked rhetorically.
"Yeah?" They responded slowly, wondering where he's going with this.
"So I can say if the price is all this gold here," He gestured to the pile. "Or I can say the price is the same here." He gestured to a counter free of items.
"But there's nothing there." They said confused.
"Exactly. The price is nothing. I'm not going to take your gold." He stated.
"How can you charge nothing?" They asked, though their thoughts went back to that bird that carried them across the gap, free of charge despite how strange the thought was.
"Because I make my money as a night-guard. Not a hotel manager. If a friend of my daughter needs a place to stay, I'm not going to charge them." He said looking at the G's with a frown.
"Oh...kay?" They responded, still not really understanding it but accepting the idea none the less. They walked over to the pile of coins, and pulled out their phone.
He looked down at them and asked with a raised brow. "How exactly have you been carrying around all this gold anyways?"
"Like this." They replied, having pressed a few buttons they began to scoop the coins into their phone, the coins disappearing when they got close.
He opened his mouth to say something then closed it, having thought over what he was going to say and thinking better of it. Leaving their side he went over to the fridge. "Are you fine with a sandwich?" They nodded in acceptance as he started making one for each of them, before putting each one on a plate and handing it off to each of them when he finished.
"May I take Frisk up to my room?" Connie asked as she got hers, to which Mr. Maheswaran nodded. As soon as they got theirs she turned to them. "Well you want to see my room?"
Frisk nodded while nibbling on their sandwich, thinking fondly back to the 'dates' they had with Papyrus. They hope this will go as well as those did.
Waving them on after her she walked over to the stairs and went up them, pausing for them to follow before resuming her pace. They reached the top and followed her to the first door on their right, Connie opening it up to reveal her room. The walls were the same pale brown as the rest of the house, a light yellow rug set in the half of the room opposite her bed, set underneath a desk, bookcase full of books, a violin case and duffel bag. A set of folding doors for what was probably her closet opposite her bed, covered in a yellow blanket and pillows. "So this is my room." Connie said as she shut the door behind them.
Feeling like being silly, Frisk let out an appreciative whistle. "Fan-cy."
She giggled at that. "Not really, compared to my last house it's nothing. Glad you like it though." She set her plate down on her desk before clapping her hands together. "So uh do you like reading?" She asked nodding to the bookcase full of novels.
Frisk, feeling mischievous, replied. "Not particularly, but Chara does."
'Wait, what?' Without answering the question, Frisk shoved control over the body over to Chara, giggling. Obviously not expecting it, their body stumbled before Chara caught them and questioned "Frisk!?" Glancing at Connie, who seemed surprised, Chara turned around and frantically whispered "I'm not good with people, you are!"
'You will do fine, just don't try to be rude.' Frisk consoled them.
"Friiisk!" Chara whined in response, really not liking her odds of not just making Connie hate them.
'Please try.'
"Grrr, fine." Turning back to Connie, Chara rubbed her left arm with her right and muttered. "Hi."
Connie looked at them for a few seconds before shaking her head and waving at them with a smile. "Uh hey Chara. You uh, like reading?"
Blushing a little, she embarrassedly muttered "A little." Frisk had to suppress a giggle at her understatement.
"Well what type of books do you like? I have a good selection of books to choose from." She said with a hopeful tone again looking towards her bookcase.
Ignoring her question, Chara wandered over to the indicated bookshelf to see what was there. One book in particular caught her eye, and she pulled it out to look at the cover of a blond girl in a snow suit, with an eagle behind her. "What's this one about?"
Connie clapped again and came up next to them with a massive grin plastered on her face. "Oh this is my favorite series, it's called Unfamiliar Familiar! It's about a young witch girl named Lisa who doesn't know she's a witch, alongside her familiar Archimicarus, on a quest to find her missing father. It's a great book in my opinion."
"Can I read it?" She asked, trying to sound calm but a note of eagerness slipped into her voice.
Connie nodded with that grin still on her face. "I can read it for you too if you want, I always love re-reading it again and coming back to it."
"Sure." Chara replied, a small smile on her face. Frisk was also rather interested, they never had anyone besides Toriel read them a story before.
Connie reached out for the book and Chara handed it over, then jumped onto her bed and patting the spot beside her. "Come on then." Chara sat herself down beside Connie, making sure to seat herself a respectable distance away, but still close enough to see the words on the book. Connie opened up the book and cleared her throat, before reading off, ""Lisa awoke with a start, the echoes of her dreams still dancing in her mind, the low rumble of thunder murmured through the quiet house. The house was deathly still, the only sound Lisa could hear was her own heartbeat pounding in her ears."
As Connie read, Chara slowly scootched closer for a better look at the words, and Frisk decided to to not mention Chara not minding being in close proximity with another person, instead just happy about their friend slowly coming to trust Connie. After a couple dozen pages Connie stopped for a moment and lifted her head up to take a few experimental sniffs of the air. They looked up at her curiously as she eventually turned to them with another sniff then wrinkled her nose slightly. "Say uh… when was the last time you took a shower?"
They both blinked at that, the question coming out of nowhere. Trying to think of when the last time was, all Frisk could say for certain was that it was before the Underground. Chara answered for them "Two days? Why?"
"You uh… smell a bit." Connie said haltingly.
Their face became red as they realized what she was talking about, and Chara defensively spat, "Well, the Underground doesn't have any bathrooms, and Hotlands comes AFTER Waterfall so there's nowhere to wash off."
Connie held her hands up in her own defense and said, "You can use my shower if you want, I can't imagine going two days without a shower."
"Well fine then, I will take a shower." At Frisk's prompting, Chara added on "Thank you."
Nodding Connie slid off her bed and lead them back out into the hallway to another door, opening it up to reveal the bathroom. A small one but still somehow spacious with bathtub slash shower at the farthest end. "Well there's soap and shampoo in the shower, towels on the back of the door and turn the knob to the right for hot water, left for cold."
"Alright." Chara replied, waiting for Connie to leave so they can get started. A simple nod and she backed out of the bathroom and shut the door behind her. They let out a sigh, and took off their sweater, and then began unwrapping the bandages from their arms. Frisk winced occasionally in their head as the old bandages were a bit stuck, but they powered through, wouldn't be good to get them wet and have to wait for them to dry and get their sweater bloody.
Once fully undressed, they fiddled with the shower controls till they figured it out, and began to relax in their first hot shower in what seems like forever. 'You seem to not mind Connie.' Frisk poked.
'Yeah, well, she's trying. That automatically makes her better than most Humans.'
Frisk just hummed noncommittally, they have argued on this before, it's better to not challenge her on it.
Once they were done, they stepped out and dried themselves off with a towel. Then, they began to reapply their bandages, shifting them around to try to get the non-dirty parts against the cuts. The bandages were still kinda gooey from before, which was gross, but they ignored it. Next, they simply put back on their clothes and are good to go.
They walked out of the bathroom and returned to Connie's room. As they entered Connie looked up from her book and frowned at them. "Do you not have clothes in that phone thing of yours?"
Chara began to list off "We have a Cowboy Hat, Fadded Ribbon, Manly Bandana, Old Tutu, some Cloudy Glasses, and a Stained Apron, but those are more Armor than clothes. Why?"
"Because there's no point of taking a shower if you're going to put on the same clothes." Connie stated before looking over towards her closet. "If you want, you could borrow some of mine?"
"I guess if you have some old clothes that'd fit us." They were smaller than Connie after all.
Connie bobbed her head back and forth as she went towards her closet. "I think I have some older clothes that might fit you. Maybe." She said opening it up and looking through it. She ran her fingers over some of them as she spent a minute looking through it before grabbing one near the back. "Maybe this would fit." Said item in question being a small greenish dress with short sleeves.
It was a rather pretty dress, and seemed to be their size, only one problem. The short sleeves. Chara rejected "Nu-uh. Gotta have long sleeves."
Connie blinked and looked at the dress then back to them. "Are you cold or something?" She asked putting it back up in the closet. "I could ask my dad to turn up the heat."
"No, just need long sleeves."
Connie raised an eyebrow before shrugging. "Okay then." A few seconds before she pulled out a long-sleeved blue shirt before pausing and then pulling out a lighter blue skirt. "How're these?"
Stepping closer Chara grabbed them and inspected them personally. "Look like they will fit. Guess I will go try them on."
"If you want I could pick some other stuff out for you just in case it doesn't fit?" Connie offered.
"Sure." Chara left the room and went into the bathroom to change. The clothes fit them rather well, surprisingly. A bit big, but they have had worse.
Returning to Connie's room once more they saw a small assortment of clothes laid out on her bed, all long-sleeved like Chara had asked. When they closed the door she turned around to look at them and smiled. "It looks nice on you."
Chara blushed at the unexpected compliment and looked to the side, muttering out a "Thank you."
Smiling at them still she looked to her bed. "Well there's some other clothes if you need some or until you go back home. I'll just put them beside the bed if you want them later."
Chara nodded in response, and their eyes wandered back to the book, which was also on the bed. "Can we continue reading?" Chara asked hopefully.
Connie nodded and after moving some of the clothes out of the way and to the side hopped back onto her bed, opening the book once more with Chara hopping back onto the bed beside her as Connie begun to read again.