Graham once again checked the oven. "Yep, it's preheating. So, how is the recipe? What else do we need besides the snails?" All of them had gathered a few ingredients already, the most basic ones, but Graham had waited for Asriel to give them a few more specifications regarding ingredients. Who else better than him to know what went well with snails?

"I think we have everything we need but I'd like to try some new stuff" Asriel prodded the container of snails "I also think Mom added lots of sugar and a few leaves of something to the mix?"

"Um, question" Patta eyed the snails inside; wary of them "Do you mix them just like they are right now, shells and all?"

Anybody who was looking at the scene from the outside, seen Asriel's facial expression and hadn't heard Patta's question may have thought they had asked Asriel if he liked to decorate his home with the skin of his brethren, or something as brutal as that. After a moment he frantically shook his head, laughing awkwardly. "Golly, no! The meat is what counts, not the shell"

"Makes sense to me" Frisk opened the container and took one, examining it carefully.

"We need to take every snail and extract all the meat!" Asriel's tone had acquired a certainty that showed how much he knew about the matter. It seemed this was something he had done several times before, and imparting that knowledge to other people was very fulfilling "Emptying the shell can be difficult, but if you have the right tools it shouldn't be much of a problem"

Graham gave everybody a teaspoon, apologizing for not having anything smaller. "I suppose toothpicks can work of this is not good enough" he said, taking his own spoon and turning a snail around. His hands hesitated, not sure how this was supposed to go.

Asriel, noticing nobody besides him knew how to even start extracting the meat, took his teaspoon and decidedly inserted it between the shell and the tissue. "It's done like this! It's okay if the snail crumbles, that is fine"

"Okay. Let me try something..." Frisk took the snail and started to hit the shell against the edge of the table, as if they were trying to crack open an egg. That was effective enough in the sense it at least did break the shell. Unfortunately this also meant the snail spilled all over the edge of the table and the floor, most of it unusable. "Oh"

Thankfully there weren't more problems. Everybody took a handful of snails and started working on them, leaving the right content on a separate bowl. "I know almost eighty different snail facts" Asriel said with great pride, scraping the inside of a shell with a claw "Did you know snails have a chainsaw-like tongue called a radula?"

"Do they?" Graham smiled, indulgent, while Patta subtly tried to make a snail open its mouth to check "I didn't know that"

"Yeah! I read it in one of Mom's favorite books. She and Dad spend a lot of time teaching me anything they can, it is fun, butt would be nicer if I had somebody to learn everything with"

"Homeschooled and without siblings, eh?"

"...yes" he said, a bit downcast. Asriel liked his home, his parents and his life, but he longed for somebody to share his time with. There were so many little things in his life that could be more fun and enjoyable if he had a close friend or a sibling he could help, or teach, or play with. And while he did have friends back at home, friends he liked and greatly esteemed, sometimes he felt there was something lacking in his life.

Patta understood that feeling pretty well, even if Asriel hadn't expressed it aloud. Asriel's eyes said without words all that was going through his mind. In an effort to distract Asriel from delving too deep into what he felt his life was missing Patta took the bowl with the snail meat. "I think we have enough already. What do you think, Asriel?"

"We do!" Asriel took the bowl and added the rest of the ingredients they had all gathered for the pie. In a sudden wish to experiment, Asriel and Frisk had convinced Graham to give them some chocolate and nuts to try to create a new recipe with the snails. Graham's awkward smile showed he wasn't feeling very sure of how well the goopy mix would work, but he at least was willing to give Asriel and Frisk's new recipe a try.

While Frisk tried to whisk the goop Asriel got the pie crust ready to receive the mixture, all under Patta's supervision. "Do you know how to cook, Patta?" Graham asked while Patta was indicating Asriel how to make the crust fit the pan.

"Kinda. It's one of those things you have to learn when there's no one else to do it for you" Judging by Patta's carefully neutral expression it seemed they were extremely reticent to even thinking about themselves. Graham decided it would be better to avoid touching that topic again.

An hour and half later, the pie was ready and cooled down already. Knowing it was mainly made with snails made Patta be greatly wary of it. Nobody shared his apprehension, though. Graham patiently touched it with a fork to test its consistence again, Asriel was staring at the pie as if it was the most wonderful thing he had seen in his life and Frisk shared his excitement. "Can we try it now?" Frisk asked, already holding a plate in anticipation.

"We can" Graham declared, taking the knife. The pie was cut, the three of them taking a slice "Are you sure you don't want a slice, Patta?"

"I still think humans weren't made to eat snails" Patta declared but they didn't make any effort to leave the table. Graham interpreted that as they wanting to actually join them in the tasting, but he wasn't going to force them.

"This looks great!" Asriel almost immediately took a bite of the pie, savoring it with enviable enjoyment. "It tastes so good! Frisk, you have to try it. It's the best pie I have ever eaten in my life!"

"Really?" Frisk took a bite too and somehow managed to keep their usual inexpressive face while tasting it. Asriel waited, holding his breath with thrill, until Frisk swallowed and was ready to give their judgment. "It's very good. I like it!"

"Yes!" Knowing Frisk approved the pie and the recipe they had created with Asriel was all Asriel needed to hear. Beaming with joy Asriel kept cramming the pie in his jaw.

Graham felt encouraged to give it a try once and for all. He took his spoon and put a piece of snail pie in his mouth. He chewed and smiled awkwardly in a way Patta knew meant 'I just made a terrible decision and I regret it'. Graham put the spoon aside, swallowed and as diplomatically as he could he took his slice of pie. "Asriel, you're in a growing phase so you need to eat well. Please, accept this second slice"

Asriel didn't protest, not even noticing Graham wasn't exactly waxing poetry about the deliciousness of the pie. Frisk noticed, though. "Didn't you like it?"

"I did, Frisk, it's just I'm full from this morning's breakfast. Please, excuse me" Graham stood up, going to wash the cooking implements used to make the pie. Patta, with an insufferably smug smirk, approached him once he was near the sink and far enough for the kids to not to hear them.

"Was it really that bad? It's the snails, isn't it?" Seriously, snails with chocolate sounded like a revolting combination. They had no idea how Frisk could stomach the pie. Graham shrugged in a noncommittal way.

"There's nothing wrong with the pie. It tastes like very sweet veal, with chocolate and all that. The problem is that I hate veal"

"Oh" So Graham hadn't rejected the pie because it was inherently bad, it was more due to his personal tastes. Patta glanced at the kids, still at the table and rhapsodizing about how good the pie was. Three different people had given it a try and said it wasn't as bad as it could be, so...maybe they could actually give it a try?

Taking a deep breath to prepare themselves and try to leave aside their disgust at the concept of eating snails, Patta sat back at the table. "Alright, I'll take a slice" they announced, hoping they wouldn't greatly regret it. The look of surprise in Asriel's face and Frisk's skeptical raised eyebrows made them have second thoughts but they pressed forward, wanting to get done with this as soon as possible.

One bite should be enough to determine if it was going to be good. They could do it! Asriel, once the surprise of Patta's statement was gone, smiled and put a slice of pie on Patta's plate. He didn't continue eating his portions, though, instead staring at Patta and waiting to see their reaction.

A bit nervous from being watched, Patta took a piece, held his breath and finally ate the bite. They were surprised to notice Graham had been right. Snails didn't taste weird or even exotic, it was certainly close to beef or veal, and while the chocolate Asriel and Frisk had added didn't mesh very well at least the nuts were nice. Patta nodded and took another bite. "This is much better than I thought it would be!" they informed.

And so Patta, Asriel and Frisk bonded by sharing a snail pie until there was nothing left.

-ooooo-

Being asleep for only a couple hours isn't the sort of thing that helps one to be perfectly awake during the day. Not too long after the three of them finished the snail pie, Patta had to excuse themselves to go take a nap or something. Graham, Asriel and Frisk had stayed in the kitchen, as Graham had offered to cook for them his specialty.

"How can you two still be hungry?" Patta had asked in disbelief. A big breakfast and a pie later and the kids felt like eating more stuff? It was amazing. Saying they needed to go sleep, Patta left the kitchen...but now that Graham and Asriel were going to be alone Patta felt Graham would take the chance to ask Asriel about meeting Ciruel. Wanting to hear what Asriel would say Patta instead brought a chair to the entrance of the kitchen, managing to stay out of sight, and sat there to wait to hear it.

Sitting and trying to fight the sleep that tried to overcome him wasn't easy at all, but Patta tried to hold on. Their efforts went unrewarded for quite a while, though.

"...pie was monster food, so now we'll prepare a sample of what I consider the best human food you'll ever find" Graham had said.

"Monster food is made of magic" Asriel had informed, and Patta couldn't avoid a snort. Of course magic would be involved. They didn't know much about monsters, but they had noticed a lot of things in the Underground revolved around magic. Asriel used that word several times when he talked about his world and life.

"Magic food? How does that work?" that sounded like Frisk's voice.

"How do I explain it...it's just food! You eat it and receive its effects almost instantly. Monster food is said to heal almost anything, especially when it's related to the SOUL"

"Do you think we could make this food partially magic or something?" Graham asked. Patta couldn't see but surely the perspective of creating food with magic properties had Graham almost beside himself. Asriel conceded it was worth a try.

Patta dozed off intermittently, feeling the strain on their back. At this rate they'd be knocked out and when those three were done with whatever they were preparing they'd find Patta on the floor, snoring away. In his bouts of consciousness they heard Graham telling Asriel it wouldn't be a good idea for him to knead the dough because he could shed fur onto it, Frisk offering to do it, and Graham announcing the Apple Bombs would be ready soon.

After a particularly short moment of respite Patta woke up and heard a more serious conversation. "...been so good with us, Graham. Thank you" It seemed like Asriel was thanking Graham for everything he had done for them. This was the moment, surely by now the innkeeper was going to ask Asriel if he'd be willing to meet Ciruel.

The question didn't come, though. Instead Graham chuckled. "You're welcome, Asriel. I'm glad you and Patta stayed around. Besides this is the right thing to do"

There was a pause. "I...I don't know if it's right of me to say this but...Patta doesn't trust you" Oh. Asriel had revealed to Graham that. It wasn't anything Graham didn't know by now, but it made Patta be completely awake. This could lead to Graham telling Asriel Patta had attacked him, and that was something Patta wanted to tell by themselves.

"They told me that already" Graham replied. Patta let out a sigh of relief, it seemed Graham was going to let it at that "It's fine. I won't stop treating you or them like you deserve to be treated: with kindness"

"Graham is a nice person" Frisk said "He even offered Celia and me a home, but..." Frisk didn't really understand all the problems Graham encountered when he attempted to give Celia a home.

"I tried my best but there are some people who don't want anybody protecting Celia. I don't know much, but it seems those people are relatives of her. That makes it even worse. It's despicable, if you ask me" The anger in Graham's voice was obvious. So that was the reason why Celia was still living in that abandoned house, there were relatives of her obstructing any attempt to give Celia a home. Why were they doing that? How could they even do that? It was unnecessarily cruel. Asriel agreed with indignation that was a heartless thing to do, but Graham said there was nothing they could do.

"Since their son Umi disappeared they changed for the worse, and they were already bad before that" Graham continued "And their daughter is too loyal to them to dare to contradict them. It's an ugly matter" there was a bang coming from the kitchen. Graham had abruptly left something like a pot on the counter. He sighed and declared in a way that showcased how much resentment and bitterness he felt:

"Humans are the worst beings to ever exist"

That was one severe opinion! But after hearing a sample of how cruel humans could be it was understandable why he thought that, besides, it was no secret for anybody over the surface there were a lot of cruel humans. Patta knew that but held onto their belief about humans being generally good.

Asriel muttered something that sounded like 'Not all humans are bad...', which Frisk agreed with, although with some hesitation.

"Maybe someday that will be true. That is why I try my best to treat people nicely, because maybe if I do there will be humans who will change their ways. I try to teach children to be nice, too, but I don't think many people realize what's truly needed to be good:

To be kind you need to trust.

If you trust, you can look at other people and see them as peers. Trust is the base of everything, in my opinion. But it's not easy to trust, especially in a world like this one. Asriel, Frisk, never lost that tenderness in your hearts that let you believe people can be good. Once you lose it you can't ever recover it-"

Patta couldn't bear to hear anything else. The guilt had once again returned, so in an attempt to run away from that they went upstairs to the room. As soon as they arrived they tried to think of anything else, but now they understood why Graham hadn't been angry with them after the attack, just merely disappointed.

It was likely Graham had already expected the worst from Patta from the moment he had met them, and surely by now he thought he had done well on expecting that! In an effort to stop thinking that, Patta laid on their bed. Thankfully they were so tired sleeping was an option, so at least they could stop hearing Graham's words over and over in their mind.

They were awoken by a knock on the door. Patta, sighing in exhaustion at being once again awoken, Patta went to open it. Asriel was on the other side, holding something in his hands. It seemed to be some sort of baked good. "Hi, Patta! I hope I didn't wake you up"

Patta groaned and rubbed their eyes, but didn't shoo Asriel away. "It's fine. In fact, now that you are here, I have something to tell you" Patta opened the door wider, inviting Asriel to enter. The monster child sat on the bed, waiting for Patta to start talking.

The sooner they got done with this the better. They were afraid of thinking excuses to not to talk, so instead they started right there and now. "Asriel, I have to confess something that happened a couple hours ago. I'm not proud of what I'll tell you, but if I'm going to be responsible of you while you're up here the least I can do is trust you"

At the start it was difficult to look at Asriel to the eyes but they resisted for a while. As soon as they said they had grabbed the meat tenderizer they couldn't resist it anymore, they looked away to the wall, not wanting to see Asriel's possibly betrayed or scared expression, the feeling of knowing the person in front of you could be dangerous. Patta made sure to mention the reason why they had thought Graham was doing something wrong, but clarified Graham hadn't tried to betray them in any way.

"I have no excuses for what I did. I was stupid and left myself be led away by feelings I shouldn't have let take over me, and although Graham has forgiven me it doesn't mean I can pretend it never happened.

That's why I'm telling you, because...I want to leave it behind, and because I want to trust you, to feel...like I can...like I can find peace, even if it is for a moment. I-I'm sorry for that" they closed their eyes, wincing, and slowly turned their head so, when they opened their eyes, they would see Asriel.

Taking a deep breath, they finally opened their eyes. Asriel was still there, he hadn't run away, but he was staring at the baked sphere in his hands. The two of them stayed in silence for a moment, until the goat kid finally talked. "...Graham doesn't seem angry. He's saying a lot of nice things about you"

That made Patta smile. "Yeah, he's nice like that"

"If he isn't angry with you I don't see why I should. I didn't think you would be so angry as to attack somebody..." Asriel raised his head. There it was, that certainly was disappointment. Patta tried their best to not to recoil, that gaze brought back memories of a moment where their life turned towards the worse, one moment they had grown to consider the greatest regret they had. They waited for the gaze to turn from disappointment into rage, like it had happened many years ago.

Fortunately what Patta expected didn't happen. Instead, Asriel closed his eyes and smiled. "But it's okay. I haven't known you for long but I do know you aren't a bad person, and that's what counts. Don't let this bring you down. I'm not very good at cheering people up, but I want you to know you can count on me to support you. I won't be scared of you or anything like that.

We're friends, aren't we?"

The feeling of relief Patta felt when Asriel reassured them was almost indescribable. They felt like a vice griping their chest had just vanished, and they could finally breathe with ease. They were so happy their eyes watered.

They felt kind of embarrassed, too, looking so vulnerable towards Asriel. Asriel wasn't an idiot, though; he could see his reassurance had brought some conflicting emotions in Patta. It didn't take him long to connect the dots. Patta's refusal to look at him, the cringing, the obvious reticence, there was one conclusion he could reach from that. "Were you scared of what I'd think?"

"I was more scared of what you would do" they blurted before they could realize it. Somehow, seeing Asriel hadn't done what Patta had expected them to do, it made Patta want to talk. Better to take advantage of the chance to let go some of the feelings they had kept bottled in their heart. "There was this one time where I was in a different situation, when I was still living with my parents. I was seventeen years old, and I had decided I wanted to study biology. That didn't, um, make my parents very happy, for some reason...but I didn't accept their demands I studied something else. They...didn't like that and...well, I had to leave the house to go live alone and study. They declared there would be no support from them at all, from now on, I'd be all by myself. All they did was leave me a house in the town and went away"

"How did the studies go?"

"Eh, those went well...until I ran out of money. I had to quit and my family refused to help me any further" There, the vice was back again, pressing onto their chest.

"I see..." Asriel wasn't sure what to say, he felt this was something Patta needed to deal with, let off some steam via talking. Patta wasn't willing to go into further explanation as to what exactly had happened, in fact they had talked in very simplified terms, leaving most of the details out.

"I have to be honest with you, Asriel, you have been pretty much the only person I have spent time with for quite some time. I have kept everyone, neighbors, coworkers, people I meet, like, at an arm's distance, but due to your situation I had to get used to your presence. You have been a great support to me during these two days, and I think I didn't want to let it be ruined because of a mistake I did. I was scared it was all going to be ruined because of my actions "

To be frank, Patta felt they were being immature, like they should have let it go several years ago, but it was difficult when that kind of moments were what had led to their present gloomy outlook of the world and the future. Many times they had wished to change their past.

But now there was a possible future! Patta felt they had the courage to continue fighting. After Asriel returned home, Patta would try their hardest to create a new future, one that didn't have them just withering away in their house, away of everyone. They could do it! They. They?

...

...he?

...

...no, they. A person is defined by all the experiences they have lived through in the past and all the possible moments they will live in the future. Patta had accepted the possibility of a future, but as long as they didn't accept the past and leave it behind they couldn't accept themselves as a person with a real identity. That's what they thought.

I can't let the past go. That is the big problem I have, the one thing I couldn't overcome. I don't know if I ever will.

But at least now they knew they trusted Asriel unconditionally.

"You're a good kid, Asriel. You have a way to influence people and make them feel like they are valuable, like there's a reason to continue living on" Patta stood up. Their back was straighter, and their voice had acquired a cheerful note they hadn't used in quite some time "You'll be a great king one day!"

"Aw, shucks! Thank you, Patta" Asriel handed them the baked food he had brought for them "This is an Apple Bomb, we just made it. It even has some magical properties!"

"Really?" The Apple Bomb didn't seem different to normal food. It seemed to be a shell made of some crunchy food, encompassing a core of cream and apple. This definitely wasn't what some would think magic food was like "Thank you!"

"By the way, Graham asked if I could meet a friend of his. Do you mind that?"

"I'll leave it up to you. If you feel like it's the right thing to do then I'm willing to stand aside and let it happen"

"I want to meet Ciruel" Asriel nodded with resoluteness.

"Then that's what will happen" Patta smiled and suppressed a yawn "I feel sleepy so I'd like to continue my nap. Thank you for this bit of food"

"It's nothing. I'll be downstairs. See you later, Patta!" And with that, Asriel left the room, closing the room behind him. Patta sat back on the bed, eyeing the shell of the Apple Bomb, and gave it a bite.

It tasted like glory.

Tags were modified due to the recent events: Neutral Gender Protagonist OC - Formerly Neutral Gender Protagonist OC