Flowey looked on in disgust as he gazed about the ruined home belonging to Papyrus. Apparently no one had had much time to stop and fix up the place before heading to the Underground to rescue the skeleton. Then again, when he really thought about it, it made sense that they would have been more eager to rescue their friend rather than sit and tidy up the remains of his home and belongings.
That brought another consideration to the forefront of his mind. His friends—the ones whom Papyrus had claimed wanted nothing to do with him—had all appeared quite desperate to retrieve said skeleton. Now, Flowey knew from the beginning that he didn't have the entire story with Papyrus and his friends. He had been wondering about the true state of affairs for a good long while before the group had even shown up. Many timelines of experience told the flower that Papyrus was not the best when it came to understanding people and situations revolving around them. The skeleton could claim to be good at reading people as much as he wanted (though Flowey had to begrudgingly admit that Papyrus was too perceptive for his own good at times), but there was a very good chance that he had been misreading the situation with his family and friends all along.
Then again, there was also the chance that his "friend" had read the situation accurately, and everyone really had been distancing themselves from him. Who was to say that the skeleton's sudden kidnapping hadn't just knocked some sense back into them all? Once again, Flowey didn't have the entire story, and he hadn't been around everyone nearly long enough to see things from their angle. Not that he really wanted to be around any of Papyrus' idiot friends anyways. He was fully content with never figuring out what had truly happened between them all if it meant as little contact with them as possible.
Papyrus, meanwhile, stared solemnly at the wreckage of his once cozy home. The skeleton hadn't said a word since the group had arrived at his house, likely having fallen into one of those depressive fits of his. Undyne stood beside the two monsters, and arm around the skeleton's shoulder as he continued to take everything in. Alphys and Mettaton had already left to somewhere else, the vain robot having been desperate to recharge so that he could return to his touring or whatever it was he had been complaining about.
The trash bag was still around too, much to Flowey's displeasure. Apparently Frisk and Toriel (with the offered help of Asgore) had begun to take care of some of the wreckage in the house, even though it appeared as though nothing had been accomplished. The stout skeleton had already teleported himself upstairs to check on the two. The group had seen the former king outside when they first arrived, the large goat monster having been working on repairing the ruined front door. Flowey had said nothing as they passed the former king, hiding himself slightly in Papyrus' scarf as obligatory greetings had been exchanged between the skeleton and large goat.
He had to admit, from what little he had already seen of the Surface, things had changed drastically. Since he only vaguely remembered slivers of past timelines where the Barrier had been broken, everything felt quite new to him, and he wasn't too sure how to feel about all of it. When he had first arrived on the Surface back before losing his soul and becoming a flower, there had been nothing but nature everywhere. The only amount of civilization he had seen had been Chara's hometown—a small, rundown village in the middle of a large flower field. Now, many centuries later, there were massive buildings littered all about, forming cities overpopulated by many humans.
The monsters, meanwhile, appeared to have integrated themselves into human society as well as they possibly could. Flowey knew that there would be plenty prejudice against them, it was only a given, but the monsters looked to be much better off than he had ever imagined. Even Asgore, a monster who had so much guilt and regret piled onto him, looked so at ease. After everything, he still greeted everyone jovially, having gently wrapped Papyrus up in a large hug after they had exchanged their hellos. If the former king had been able to put his guilt behind him and move on, then surely Toriel would be in a similar situation.
Sure enough, as the former queen descended the stairs with her husband and adopted child, a serene smile graced her face. There was worry there for the skeleton that held Flowey in his arms, but it was masked by clear relief. She finished descending the remaining stairs and walked over to Papyrus, wrapping her arms around him in a hug similar to the one given by Asgore mere moments before. Flowey swore to himself, certain that one of these times the former royals were going to screw up and smoosh the flower to death in their arms.
Frisk wasted no time joining in on the hug, a small noise of excitement escaping their throat. The child was not one who talked very often, though Flowey supposed that events like this called for some amount of vocal relief. Gazing up at Papyrus to the best of his ability, Flowey noticed the tears that Papyrus was trying so hard to hold back. Interesting, considering that no tears had been present whatsoever back during the skeleton's reunion with his older brother.
Speaking of that smiling pile of trash, the stout skeleton was standing off to the side with Undyne, who had moved away after seeing Toriel and Frisk making their way over to hug the skeleton besides her. The older skeleton brother's face was unreadable, though Flowey could tell that his darkened gaze had settled directly on the flower. He had to have been waiting for Flowey to make his move and hurt his family. It was the perfect opportunity to do such a thing as well, considering the flower was stuck between every one of the trash bag's family members in their group hug. He smirked to himself, knowing that even though he had silently promised Papyrus that he would be good during his time on the Surface, he could still make the older skeleton squirm with worry.
Neither Toriel nor Frisk had noticed the flower yet, as was apparent once they pulled away from their hug with Papyrus. The shock filled both of their faces instantly once they saw the bright yellow flower in the skeleton's arms, though Frisk's face quickly morphed into something akin to absolute joy.
"Flowey?" they asked quietly, astonished.
"Yeah? What do you want?" he spat, feigning annoyance. He cursed himself for having such a soft spot for them. It was only because of their resemblance to Chara and the fact that his late sibling's soul resided alongside theirs, but still.
Frisk stepped closer, reaching up to pat the flower's head, much to his irritation and embarrassment. Papyrus wasn't helping matters, eagerly lowering his flowerpot so that Frisk could reach easier. Before he knew it, the human had taken the flowerpot from Papyrus' arms, silently giggling at the annoyed groan Flowey let loose. He didn't even need to look at either Frisk or Papyrus to know that they were both grinning from ear to ear at him.
He saw both Toriel and her new, garbage husband cringe as the flowerpot was transferred from the younger skeleton to their adopted child. Of course they would be reluctant to put their child in danger, even though there truly wasn't much Flowey could do to hurt them besides a few small "friendliness pellets". The two youngest members of the family were ecstatic about their flower friend though, oblivious to the tension arising from his presence.
"You came to the Surface," Frisk murmured, smile still planted on their face.
"Yeah, against my will," Flowey muttered in response. "Your best friend here didn't give me a chance."
Papyrus huffed, giving him a childishly disapproving look. "You said you would come back with me!" he nearly whined. "I tried to let you go back that one time in Waterfall and you said no!"
Flowey tossed Papyrus an exasperated look, as once again the skeleton was not helping matters. Frisk only giggled more at their friend's admission, their joy refusing to dissipate even slightly. They paused as an idea must have passed through their head, and they began tugging on the sleeve of Papyrus' sweater, leading him towards the stairs. It must have been an indication that they wanted to show the skeleton the work they and Toriel had done since arriving. Unfortunately for them, they were stopped by their mother, who gently put a large paw on their shoulder.
"Frisk, dear, I think we should talk a bit before you go running off with Papyrus and his…" she gave a tentative glance down at Flowey, "his new friend."
"I don't think you have to worry much about the weed," Undyne muttered. "He hasn't done anything too terrible. Yet." She gave the flower a warning look as she finished, crossing her arms in front of her.
"Yes, well, I would like to make sure Papyrus is okay, at least," Toriel responded to the former Royal Guard captain. She brought her gaze back to the skeleton in question, giving him a faint smile. "You are fine, I hope."
"Yeah, of course!" he grinned. "It takes more than just some silly humans to bring the Great Papyrus down!"
Flowey gave the skeleton a skeptical look, trying to figure out if his newfound excitement and confidence was genuine or just a very well placed façade. While Papyrus was not known for his ability to lie well, he could still occasionally trick those around him into believing that he was better off than he let on. His front back between the Core and New Home had been pitiable, but he wouldn't put it past him to have gotten his act together and come up with something more convincing for his older brother's family.
Toriel gave Papyrus a saddened look, and Flowey knew instantly that she was just as skeptical of the skeleton's statement as he was.
"Well, dear, I won't pressure you, but if you would ever like to talk with someone about it, I'm here for you." She gave a quick glance over to her husband. "Or you could talk to Sans as well."
Papyrus' grin faltered ever so slightly, though no one outwardly reacted. Flowey knew that Frisk had for sure noticed it, but when he observed the other people in the room, all he noticed were the same concerned looks the group had been wearing since arriving back on the Surface. If he was being honest with himself, it was getting a bit too mushy for his tastes, and he would prefer it if Toriel would just hurry up and let Frisk show Papyrus around upstairs. The quicker he could get away from all of this nonsense the better.
"Yeah, I know!" Papyrus responded, his grin cemented back in place. "Trust me, I'm fine! I had Flowey here to help me out and everything!" He gestured over towards the plant still in Frisk's arms.
Frisk, meanwhile, began pulling on their mother's sleeve, giving her an almost pleading look. While it was obvious that Toriel was reluctant to let Papyrus go just yet, she yielded under her adopted child's impatient pout.
"Yes, my child, you can go show Papyrus what we've done upstairs now," she sighed.
With Toriel's permission, Frisk cheered, turning back to the skeleton in question and pulling on his sleeve instead. Papyrus gave no resistance to the human's tugging, allowing himself to be dragged upstairs. As they went by, Flowey could see the amused grin on Undyne's face, and he resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her. After all, he couldn't help it if he was bitter about how she had reacted back in the Underground towards him.
As they made it to the top of the stairs, Frisk dragged them into what Flowey assumed must have been Papyrus' room. It looked completely normal compared to the disaster that was downstairs, the room in order and as tidy as the skeleton's bedroom had been back in the Underground. All he noticed was a decent sized dent over in the wall near the bed, some boards and paint sitting beside it.
"Wowie!" Papyrus exclaimed as they entered the room, Frisk beaming up at him. "It looks like nothing even happened in here!"
Frisk looked all too proud of themself, setting Flowey over on the desk in front of the window. The sun had originally been up once they had all reached the Surface, though it had quickly set as they drove back to Papyrus' house. Staring out the window at the skeleton's backyard filled Flowey with no short amount of disappointment. Being a plant, actually feeling the sun from the Surface rather than from the opening of Mt. Ebott felt amazing. From what little of his magic he had lost during his and Papyrus' little journey, just the few rays of sun that had hit him earlier replenished everything almost instantly.
A short quip of excitement drew his attention from the night sky back to the skeleton and human in the room. He was instantly confused upon seeing Papyrus gushing over his bookshelf, though some comment about how "I've been looking for this one for ages!" gave him more than enough information to deduce that Toriel and Frisk must have bought him new books. Then again, it seemed that there had been no need for him to have figured it out, as the skeleton was running over to show his new books off to his flower friend.
Flowey tried his best to hold back a groan as Papyrus went on, showing him a new puzzle book that Frisk had apparently found some time ago. He gave the human in question a pointed look, though all he received in response was a quiet giggle from them. The three of them hung around in the skeleton's bedroom for who knew how long, Papyrus and Frisk talking about the work that had been done to fix his room before moving on to working on puzzles together. They even had the gall to drag their flower friend into the mix, though Flowey adamantly refused to do anything as stupid as some word search or maze.
Undyne showed up after some time, telling Papyrus that she was heading out.
"It's getting late," she stated, "and ole' Fluffybuns wants to go out early tomorrow and buy some more supplies for this place. We're going to work our ass—" she immediately stopped herself, giving a nondescript glance at Frisk. "We're going to work our butts off getting this place fixed tomorrow, alright?" she beamed.
"Yeah, sounds great!" Papyrus responded, standing up.
Before he had even fully got to his feet, Undyne walked over and crushed him with one of her hugs. Papyrus responded just as eagerly, the hug beginning to look more like the two were attempting to suffocate each other, though Flowey wisely chose to keep his mouth shut about this. He had made it this far without getting himself killed, and he wasn't about to ruin things by pissing off the fish warrior. That could be left for a later time, when he was more certain about what he could and couldn't get away with on the Surface.
Not even moments after Undyne and Asgore took off, Toriel came up, announcing dinner, not that it was very eventful. The five of them all sat in awkward silence, eating the meal that Toriel had cooked. The former queen occasionally attempted to start some sort of conversation, though Papyrus and Sans would both brush it off, while Frisk and Flowey remained silent. While initially Flowey had been questioning whether or not there had ever actually been any distance between Papyrus and the rest of his family, the more he saw the strain between the three adults, the more he was certain the younger skeleton hadn't been exaggerating.
Dinner ended just as uneventfully as it had started, Papyrus and Toriel doing the dishes with Frisk doing their best to help out. Sans remained seated, giving Flowey dark, unreadable looks whenever the flower glanced in his direction. Unlike with Undyne, Flowey made no attempt to hide his dislike of the stocky skeleton, glaring at him every chance he got. Perhaps it would be better if the brothers remained distant, since it would mean seeing less of the one monster who he despised as much as he possibly could.
Dishes were done, goodbyes were said, all while Toriel asked numerous times if Papyrus was certain that they didn't need to stay over with him. Papyrus of course insisted every time that he would be fine on his own and that they could all leave. No one truly seemed all that happy to be leaving, giving reluctant looks Papyrus' way (and in Toriel's and Sans' case, Flowey's way). Still, the younger skeleton told them that he would see them again later and that they needn't worry about him.
By the time the family had finally left, Papyrus collapsed on the still damaged couch, gently holding Flowey to himself. He sighed, finally dropping the act. Flowey chose to remain silent, knowing that he could mention how everyone likely saw right through the skeleton's façade, but figuring he'd give the guy a break for just this moment.
After some time, Papyrus gazed down at the flower, silently pondering something. Flowey gave him a look of mild irritation, figuring that if the skeleton was going to try starting up some sob conversation, they mine as well get it over with. Much to his chagrin, Papyrus glanced aside, in the direction of the television, which was miraculously untouched by the humans' rampage. The flower scowled at the skeleton, frustrated with him already.
"What, you don't have anything to say?" he grumbled, begrudgingly starting the conversation.
Papyrus brought his gaze back to his friend, giving him a sheepish smile. "Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking, you know."
Frown deepening, Flowey pushed further. "Thinking about what?"
The skeleton was quiet, probably considering if he actually wanted to talk about the issue or not. Eventually he sighed, continuing their discussion. "Well, you didn't really talk to Frisk much while they were here. I thought you guys were friends."
The statement brought Flowey pause. "You're worrying about that? I thought you'd know by now that I don't want to be 'friends' with any of you idiots."
Papyrus merely sighed, tiredness lacing his voice. "I know that's what you say, but I know you like Frisk, even if it's only a little bit. They really like you, too! You saw that earlier. They were so happy to see you!"
Flowey scoffed. Papyrus had other problems that he needed to be worrying about, and he chose to focus on Flowey making friends? It was so ridiculous and selfless and exactly something he should expect from the skeleton by now.
"You and I are friends, so why can't you also be friends with Frisk?" the skeleton pressed on lightly, as though he were beginning to nod off.
Flowey neglected to answer, knowing that whatever he had to say on the matter would only come out sounding either whiny or petty. Either way, the skeleton was going to pass out soon, that much Flowey could clearly see.
Considering Papyrus' apparent tired state, Flowey had to wonder if this conversation was going to be brought up again the next day, or if Papyrus would even remember having it in the first place. Of course, he had seen enough to know now that Papyrus was a bit brighter than he initially believed, and if he was truly passionate about Flowey being friends with Frisk, he'd do his best to make it happen. The very prospect of his efforts did not thrill Flowey in the slightest, and he was beginning to dread the upcoming days.
This didn't necessarily take one important detail into account, though. That side of the family was supposed to be ignoring Papyrus, weren't they? Sure, they were going to show up to help fix the place for the next few days, but what would happen after that? Flowey genuinely didn't know what to think about Papyrus' situation with everyone. They all showed concern and guilt over his kidnapping and appeared eager to try and amend the trauma that Papyrus went through; it was the opposite of what Flowey had been hearing from Papyrus himself about how the others had been treating him. Thinking back on it though, that dinner—as short as it was—had been tense and awkward. Was that due to Flowey's presence there, or had it been because everything Papyrus had told him was true?
It wasn't too much to say that it took Papyrus' kidnapping to bring everyone to their senses. They all felt horrible about the situation, he knew, and perhaps they were even feeling guilty about ignoring him so much the past couple of years? It remained to be seen what the actual state of affairs was (or had been) between everyone. If they had been neglecting Papyrus, would they try to amend that now? Would they go back to their old ways?
Flowey shook his head, glancing back at the skeleton in question. As suspected, he was passed out where he lay on the couch, Flowey held precariously in his arms. This brought mild concern to him, seeing as he really didn't feel like being knocked onto the floor and left to lay there uselessly the whole night. Then again, he had seen that despite everything, Papyrus was a weirdly heavy sleeper, and trying to wake him up to put Flowey somewhere safer was useless.
He grumbled to himself over this, but there was nothing he could do without putting too much effort into it. At the moment, it was best that he try to get some sleep himself, hopefully not finding himself knocked onto the floor in the process. The other monsters and their problems could be taken care of some other day. Why he was even bothering with understanding the situation was beyond him. He wasn't supposed to care about Papyrus, right? Admittedly, the skeleton had grown on him since they had reunited, but would he actually call him a friend?
Shaking his head, he snapped himself out of his thoughts. It was pointless mulling over everything. He was tired, and his broken emotions were doing strange things to him. Things would work themselves out sooner or later. Heck, maybe Frisk or Chara would decide to do a true reset soon. All of his problems would be solved.
That brought a frown to his face. The thought of a true reset…well, that made him feel a bit uncomfortable. He glanced at the slumbering Papyrus one last time, uncertainty filling his consciousness. Turning back, he closed his eyes, trying to tune his overactive thoughts out. Sleep would be enough to fix his troubles for the night. There was no reason to worry about these things. Just go to bed and deal with everything later.
Though it took some time, Flowey eventually found himself drifting off to sleep, too.
A/N: Hey guys. I'm really bad about finishing things, and I'm sorry about that. The thing is, this is the closest that I've ever come to almost finishing a story, and due to that, I'm really hoping I can work up the motivation to actually finish this thing. Thank you all for leaving such nice reviews, and again, I'm sorry for making you wait so long for this chapter.