Wow, I did not expect this chapter to turn out so long. :D Let's just say the story demanded it.
I'm alsosinking the Sans+Toriel ship. Sorry, it just didn't sit right in my brain. But at least things get more and more interesting between Asriel and Frisk... And you don't even know what I have prepared for them, mwahaha!
CHAPTER IX: Anything Else
It wasn't like Sans and Toriel were going out – after all, there was almost a 30 year difference between them, and neither of them felt the need to get romantically involved with anybody. Sometimes Frisk thought, however, they would have made a great couple in an alternative universe. Sans was a jester who taught her mum to enjoy herself more, pulling her up from her world of constant worrying and caring about others; whereas Toriel was making the skeleton a little more responsible, reasonable and perhaps even sensitive. Long story short, they perfectly balanced each other out, providing for what the other one's soul lacked. So there was no wonder why the two of them were such great friends.
Because of that, nobody raised eyebrows above the fact that Sans invited Toriel to join him on Friday evening. There was a comedy show in the near city – all that Frisk knew was that it was supposedly a famous puppeteer ventriloquist or whatever – and the skeleton convinced her mum to have a night off. This had happened a few times before, and Toriel had always been getting terrible headaches the next day.
Knowing she might not be back until Saturday noon and being worried about her "poor little child" (sic), Toriel thought it would be best to let Asgore take care after Frisk for the night. She only argued with mum for a little while because she felt she needed to protect her dignity; but one: she was actually looking forward to it, and two: she knew Toriel will not change her mind. They had a silent agreement that once Frisk turns eighteen, her mum will admit she's old enough to handle herself on her own, but until then, Toriel's word was law.
"Are you sure you've got everything with you?" she asked for a hundredth time as she and Frisk were approaching the house where Asgore and his son lived. Frisk rolled her eyes and adjusted the small sport back on her shoulder a little bit.
"My cell phone, charger, pyjamas, spare underwear, spare shirt, my keys, hair brush, toothbrush, toothpaste, and an overly attached mother. Seems like I've got pretty much everything."
Toriel knew Frisk's sharp tongue was just a play, so she ignored the insult. "How about your make-up?" she asked instead.
"I told you, mum – I won't be needing it tomorrow. It's only about a fifteen minute walk home, and Asriel has seen my face a few times, so he'll live through another morning, right?" The truth was that in the rush with which Toriel was pulling her out the door back home, Frisk had simply forgotten, but she wasn't going to admit that. What she said was half true; of course she wanted to look pretty – especially when Asriel was around – but putting on the usual make-up in the morning just to walk the short distance back home did not seem worth the effort.
Toriel opened the front door and let Frisk come through first. She had spare keys to Asgore's apartment, just in case something happened. Even though she had never completely forgiven him for what he did back in the underground and showed no interest in reinstalling her old feelings, Toriel and her ex-husband were on moderately friendly terms. They weren't seeing each other if there wasn't need for it, but they were able to speak a few words without any awkward feelings getting in the way.
"Remember, be a good child, Frisk, and take care of yourself," the goat mum said as they ascended up the stairs.
"Right, 'cause I never take care of myself unless you tell me to."
"I know, I know... I'm sorry." Toriel realised she's being too concerned. "Just you wait, when you have kids, you'll understand." They reached for Asgore's door, and she knocked.
"Oh no, I'm feeling bad for them already," Frisk said with a grin. They heard a muffled "On my way!" from the other side, and then a few seconds of large feet stomping on a wooden floor.
The door opened with Asgore's bushy face smiling from behind them. "Good afternoon, ladies! Come in!"
"Hello, Asgore," said Toriel in response as she and her daughter proceeded forward; Frisk gave him a short hug. "I'm afraid I have to leave immediately, I'm supposed to meet Sans in a few minutes."
"Oh." Asgore seemed a bit disappointed. "Okay... I'm not going to offer you tea, then." He turned to Frisk. "Tea?"
"Thank you," she said, but she was already looking behind his back where she saw Asriel walking down the stairs, looking at the trio in the hall. She has never been in the apartment before, so it came to her as a surprise that it had a second floor above. She guessed that's probably where the bedrooms were.
Toriel noticed where Frisk was looking and turned her head in that direction. "Hello, Asriel," she greeted her son as she took a few steps and clenched him in her arms; he reluctantly hugged her back. "Hi, mum... Hi, Frisk," was all that he said.
"How are you doing? I haven't heard from you the entire month... again," Toriel told him accusingly as she let go of him.
"I'm fine, I guess... Nothing has changed," Asriel told her. Frisk noticed he briefly glanced at her as he spoke, but his eyes quickly turned back at his mother. "I'd have let you know if something would, you know that."
"Well, no news is good news, I guess," she said, and then she turned back to her daughter and Asgore who were waiting patiently. Toriel always had an unwitting aura of the most authoritative person in the room, wherever she was. "I'm really sorry to leave so soon, but I can't let Sans wait too long."
Toriel then approached Frisk and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Be good, alright?"
"I will," she nodded as she ostentatiously rubbed the cheek with the back of her hand. "Tell Sans I said hi, will you?"
"Of course," said Toriel. Then she looked around the room for the last time. "Have a nice day, you all!"
"See you!" said Asriel, while Asgore replied with "Have fun, Tori!"
As the door shut behind her, Frisk felt a hand softly tap on her shoulder. Well, maybe it was supposed to be a tap, but it turned into a brief caress all the way to her elbow. She turned and smiled right into Asriel's face.
"Can I take your bag?" he asked.
"It's okay, thanks," she said. "I still don't know where I'll sleep anyway... Maybe on that big couch right there?" Frisk pointed at the huge black sofa which she only just noticed. It looked so fluffy and comfy that it almost made her instantly feel pleasantly sleepy.
"Oh, I don't want to let you sleep on the couch," said Asgore who seemed to have been lost in his thought for the last few seconds. "You'll just sleep in my bed upstairs, and I'll take the couch, alright?"
"Come on, Asgore, you don't have to-" Frisk was about to politely disagree with him, but her sentence was interrupted halfway through as they heard another knock on the door.
"Hm? Could Tori have forgotten something?" Asgore wondered, and he opened. The three of them found Sans standing in the hallway with his hands deep in his pockets with a lazy, disconcerned smile. Papyrus was standing behind him; even though he was a lot taller, he somehow managed to appear hidden behind his brother.
"heya, asgore," said Sans. "i heard you're babysittin' tonight?"
"Well..." he stuttered, "yes, but..."
"oh, that's right, i forgot to tell you beforehand... my bad," Sans winked at him. "thing is, i don't wanna let papyrus stay alone over night. would you mind if he stayed with you guys? he doesn't take up much space."
Frisk had to hold herself back from giggling. This was so much like Sans, to pop in unannounced and ruin the day. Judging from how Asriel turned away and began scratching the back of his head, covering his face with his elbow during the process, it looked like he was pretty amused as well.
"Um..." said Asgore, slowly pulling himself together again "Sure, Sans, if it helps..."
"OH-HO, YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY!" Papyrus stepped forward. "I HAVE THE SKILLS TO ENTERTAIN YOU FOR THE WHOLE EVENING, AND I WILL NOT SNORE AT NIGHT!"
"Okay... I'm not saying we're displeased, but..." Asgore frowned only a little bit. "Next time let me know before you show up, Sans."
"sure, asgore, thanks a lot," the skeleton winked one more time. "welp, i'd better get going. guys," he added, addressing Frisk and Asriel, "take care of the adults, will you?"
"We will," she said, and Sans simply turned around and wondered away, leaving Papyrus eagerly awaiting Asgore's orders – after all, he was his boss. The goat father sighed and closed the door behind Sans; right before it shut, a blue flash could be seen from the corridor, but noone except Frisk seemed to have noticed.
Asgore laughed nervously. "Well then... Looks like my home's become a hostel." He probably meant to make it sound like a joke, but his straight face gave it away. Frisk opened her mouth to comfort him, but Asriel was faster.
"Come on, dad, it's going to be fine," he said. "Don't you always say: more people, more fun?"
"That's true, but I like to know what's going to happen beforehand," Asgore replied. He then turned towards the skeleton. "I'm sorry, Pap, you two just caught me off guard, that's all."
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT SANS FORGOT TO LET YOU KNOW... EVEN THOUGH I TOLD HIM IT'S RUDE," Papyrus declared, evidently displeased with his brother's laziness. "BUT STILL, SINCE YOU'RE KIND ENOUGH TO LET ME STAY, I WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN AS YOUR GUEST!"
"Thank you, I know you won't," said Asgore and smiled wearily. Then he turned around and took off for the kitchen while still talking. "I think this settles it, then... Frisk, you will stay in my room, I will take the couch, and Papyrus will have to stay with Asriel... Is everyone ok with that?"
Frisk only felt a little disappointed that she, by the looks of it, won't be able to sleep in Asriel's room. If Papyrus wasn't here, she could have somehow managed to end up there, but now it was almost out of question – obviously she didn't want to say it out loud, not wanting to complicate things even more for Asgore, and furthermore, it would have seemed a bit too suspicious. She thought there was a reason why he didn't suggest it in the first place – he probably wasn't fond of the idea of Asriel sharing his bedroom with a girl. The fact that Frisk was technically his step-sister didn't seem to make any difference (that he knew of).
Still, it wasn't like she was planning anything for tonight. She wouldn't reject it were something to happen, but she knew all too well that it would be silly to expect it, especially from Asriel who she was sure wouldn't do any funny business with a girl that he's not dating – he was too old-fashioned and polite for something like that.
So Frisk knew she had to wait patiently until Asriel has officialy agreed that the two of them are a couple. That is, were it ever to happen at all.
"Gosh darnit," she heard Asgore's voice and snapped back into reality. All the three guys were in the kitchen now; Asriel was standing behind his dad who was apparently looking for something in one of the counters. Meanwhile, Papyrus was just putting a box of spaghetti on the table.
"What's wrong, Asgore? Can I help?" she said as she approached the trio.
"Oh, I was just hoping we'll have a bottle of... something stronger, so to speak," he replied. "But it appears we're all out." He then turned and walked past Frisk, into the living room. "If you're willing to help, ask Papyrus if he needs a hand with the dinner."
"Sweet of you to cook, Pap," Frisk said as she reached the skeleton.
"BUT OF COURSE, IT'S THE LEAST I CAN DO TO RETURN THE FAVOR OF LETTING ME BE HERE!" Papyrus replied with an empty pot in his hand, and added: "ASRIEL, WHERE DO YOU STORE YOUR VEGETABLES?"
"Coming right up, master chef!" Asriel emerged right in front of Frisk who automatically smiled. He opened the fridge next to the door and pretended to search for tomatoes, only so he could quietly tell Frisk: "You know, dad is probably looking for the bottle that me and the guys drank last month." She couldn't help but chuckle.
"You're such an As," she told him. Asriel bared his teeth at her as he grabbed a handful of tomatoes and closed the fridge again. Through the door, Frisk saw his dad standing above an open and hopelessly empty cabinet scratching his head.
Not long after that, the four of them sat around the table in the dining room, each with a plate of the fabled Pap-sta in front of them. The dinner was actually pretty good; it wasn't out of question that was because Frisk and Asriel contributed.
"Well," said Asgore after he finished his plate, "I'm now absolutely convinced it's good to have you here, everyone. Don't worry about the dishes, I'll do them later."
"Thanks, dad, that's very... well, fair, I guess," Asriel smiled at him.
"I only regret we don't have at least a bottle of wine. It would go well with the spaghetti." He looked at Papyrus, then at the younglings. "Pap, would you be kind enough to acompany me for a short walk outside? That is, if you kids are fine with it."
"Of course, we can handle it here," said Asriel. "Where are you going?"
"I said I would like some wine, didn't I? I really feel like it now." Asgore stood up and began to collect everyone's plates. "What do you say, friend?"
"WOWIE, WHAT AN OCCASION!" Papyrus exclaimed. "WORRY NOT, ASGORE, I WILL ACOMPANY YOU ON THIS QUEST!"
"Perfect, thank you, Papyrus," said his boss as he carried the plates back to the kitchen. "Don't worry, guys, we'll just have a glass and we'll be right back."
"Or you could go into the store and bring a whole bottle home? You're leaving us out, you know," Frisk noted.
"Oh, Frisk, even if I wanted to pour you alcohol, you can bet your soul that Toriel will find out and kill me," Asgore shouted from the kitchen. Again, his attempt to sound like he's joking failed horribly.
"We're not little kids, Asgore," she shouted back playfully. "I know mum doesn't see that, but at least you could back us up!"
"I'm sorry, I really don't want to go behind Tori's back," said Asgore upon reappearing back in front of everyone. "I promise I won't oppress you any longer than her."
"Are you inviting me for a drink when I'm an adult?"
He laughed. "Maybe..."
Soon, Asgore and Papyrus disappeared behind the door. Frisk suddenly realised she's all alone in the apartment with her love, and her heartbeat accelerated.
"So, there's that..." Asriel said behind her back, and she turned to him. "What do you wanna do now?"
"I don't know... We could watch a movie or something," she proposed. It was the first thing that came into her mind, and while it wasn't the most original thing to suggest, she didn't want to stay silent and think about it for too long.
"Sounds good to me," he said. "I've actually just recently downloaded one that Polo suggested I should definitely watch, but I didn't have the time yet, so... if you'd like to join me, I'll at least have it over with," he added with a grin.
"And what is it?"
"I dunno, it's called Wall Flowers or something, and it's supposed to be really funny and really clever at the same time..." Asriel didn't sound that convinced. "You know I'm not a movie person, but I promised I'll watch it. Plus, I might enjoy it more if I had you beside me."
Frisk felt blood rushing into her face and rather looked at the floor. "Ok, bring it here," she said to send him away, not wanting him to see her embarrassment.
As Asriel rushed up the stairs, she took a few deep breaths. It's going to be fine, she told herself. You've hang out with him a thousand times, it's no big deal.
Muffet was right: Frisk could only have handled the last month during which she and Asriel were basically together all the time when she stopped worrying about little things. Maybe it was about to start to overwhelm her. It's been almost five weeks now, and they haven't moved anywhere. But even though they just couldn't find the opportunity to talk about what it actually was that they had, thus leaving her room for doubts and anxiety, she knew it wouldn't be easy for her to back off now. She was way too deep in this now.
Frisk sighed and promised herself she will find the strength to let Asriel know what she feels as soon as she can. It simply can't go like this forever.
Asriel returned with a burnt dvd in his hand. A couple of minutes later, they found themselves sitting in front of the TV on that comfy sofa and watched as the story of Wall Flowers was about to unfold. At first, Frisk thought she won't be able to concentrate on the movie at all, but it actually sucked her in pretty quickly. It was a great distraction from Asriel up to about an hour through. Then, the main character and the girl of his dreams were sharing a sweet moment, and just like that, her brain immediately reminded her of who's sitting right by her side. Frisk glimpsed at him by a corner of her eye; she didn't realise before how close he was to her. Asriel was looking at the scene, not moving a single muscle – he even appeared to have stopped breathing, like it was somehow making him uncomfortable. Could he be thinking the same thing as her?
They both got through the whole without saying a word. Frisk wanted to say something, but couldn't think of any conversation topics. This wasn't like them, they usually couldn't stop talking when they were together.
Finally, when the closing credits rolled, it felt like they woke up. They looked at each other like on clue.
"Yeah," said Asriel after a while, and they both laughed – the sudden sound of his voice breaking the silence that was between them for the past two hours felt almost inappropriate. "I liked it, how about you?"
"It was great," she replied. "I was not ready for the squirrels, I'll tell you that much."
"Oh man, the squirrels!" he chuckled again. "I hope they won an Oscar for that scene."
"Maybe," said Frisk, and yawned. "I'm a bit tired now... Wow, is it ten thirty already?" she added in surprise as she looked at the clock above the TV. "How long are Asgore and Papyrus gone?"
"Yeah, it's about two hours now..." Asriel's voice was a little worried. "Oh well, perhaps they have a lot to talk about... Do you wanna wait for them, or go to bed now?"
"Well it's still too early to go to bed..." she said, laid her head on Asriel's shoulder and closed her eyes. "But I kind of don't wanna do anything right now."
He strethed his arm that had been resting at the back of the sofa, behind Frisk's back, and put it around her shoulders; he placed his own head softly at Frisk's. They just sat like that for a while as the Wall Flowers credits ended and the screen turned black.
"Do you maybe wanna watch something else now?" Asriel asked her quietly. His mouth was so close to her ear it only made it sound more intimate.
"I don't know, maybe..." she replied. In reality, she didn't want him to leave her side, and he probably sensed it.
"Or we could just sit here and watch the black screen until they come back, it's your choice."
She giggled. "That sounds good, too."
They stayed right where they were. Frisk felt Asriel's chest rise and fall as he breathed; it was the only movement there. The time stopped, there was nothing but his presence, right there, right now, and for all she cared, this moment could last until she starves to death in Asriel's embrace.
His arm drew back a little bit; Frisk opened her eyes and looked at the clock. It was now about five minutes later.
"I'm sorry, Frisk, but you really look like you're gonna fall asleep soon," said Asriel; she looked up and saw him looking at her. "You should really go to bed."
"Can't I just sleep here?" she asked. "I don't want to go anywhere."
"I guess, but..." He paused mid-sentence and just stared into her eyes for a moment. "You should still get changed, you know. And if you're staying down here, I should at least bring you a blanket."
She smiled. "You're so sweet..."
They kept looking at each other, not moving.
Suddenly, she realised what's going on. She blinked. Asriel was there, smiling, staring, and it all felt so surreal. She watched as he blinked too and his head slowly began to lean towards her face which only now she noticed was moving as well...
BANG! Someone hit the front door with force. Frisk almost screamed from shock that mercilessly brought her back to this world. Both her and Asriel instinctively looked at the door. They could hear muffled voices from the corridor. It looked like the adults were finally back.
"Golly, what's this?" Asriel shouted as he stood up and went to open the door. It only took one look to see that they indeed had a glass of wine – many times. While Asgore was more or less able to stand on his feet, even though he had to lean on the doorframe, poor Papyrus was now sitting in the middle of the corridor mumbling and waving all over the place.
"Dad!" Asriel exclaimed loud enough to make it sound angry, but still in a low voice so that he didn't shout at the whole building. Frisk got up as well and walked towards the guys while Asriel rushed to Papyrus and tried to pull him up. The skeleton was protesting.
"I-I don't get it..." Asgore mumbled. Frisk grabbed his hand and pulled him in; he stumbled towards the sofa where he fell on his behind heavily. "I really... I meant... We-we didn't have..."
"What the hell, dad!" Asriel had just brought Papyrus inside and shut the door behind them. "You work with Papyrus for seven years, and you don't even know he doesn't drink?"
"He should have... said... iss not my fault," said Asgore. He probably felt guilty a little bit, but he wasn't in the state of expressing it well. Frisk looked over at Asriel and realised she has never seen him this upset. From the look on his face, she could tell that he's worried sick about poor Papyrus, too innocent and childish to ever touch any kind of alcohol in his life. It was probably his politeness and the fact that Asgore made it look so natural got him to agree with this, and his lack of experience to drink way more than he could handle.
"You know what, dad, just go to bed, we'll have to handle this. Gosh, Sans is gonna kill us," said Asriel. "Frisk, will you please help him get upstairs? Oh, and bring down some blanket while you're at it."
Asgore looked like he meant to help as well, but after a few failed attempts to get up, he probably admitted he won't be of any use to the situation. Frisk pulled him up and helped him climb up the stairs. There, Asgore automatically staggered towards his room where he fell on his bed and laid without moving. She came in after him and looked around; she spotted a folded blanket by the corner of the bed, so she snatched it and left, carefully closing the door behind her.
When she came back down the stairs, Asriel was just laying Papyrus down at the sofa. "He'll have to stay here for the night," he told her when he spotted her. "I'll stay here and calm him down if he tries to get back up. In case he throws up, the bathroom is right there-" he pointed at a door next to the kitchen- "...so I could bring him there faster than if he slept upstairs."
"Here's the blanket," said Frisk in response. Asriel took it and while comforting the skeleton who was still a bit uneasy, he spread it across his body.
"That settles it, you'll have to stay in my room," he told her. "You can go to sleep if you want, I've got Pap if he needs me. I'll be there once he's definitely asleep."
Frisk kind of wanted to stay with him and help too, but something in his voice convinced her she didn't want to argue with him. "Okay, then," she said. She would have been happy that she did, after all, get the chance to share the room with Asriel, but the sudden drama made her forget about that. She needed a while to process what just happened. "If you're sure you can handle this..."
"I am," he replied. "We had to save someone in the gang like this a couple of times."
"Fine, then... I'm going upstairs," said Frisk. She then approached Asriel who was patiently sitting by Papyrus' skull and gave him a brief kiss on the cheek as an unvoiced message that he didn't need to worry. "But please, do bother me if you need anything else."