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Chapter 13 Slipping up
Warnings: Monster fighting!
Summary: It's study time, but Flowey finds himself hopelessly missing his best friend, so instead of studying, he ends up making a couple embarrassing phone calls, it's no wonder why he's so frustrated with his life right now.
Notes: There's a new minor character, I guess you could call her a Temmie OC? I'm fully aware the Temmies are based off a real person, I just wanted to add another monster character that had their own story, if she ends up annoying you, don't worry, she's only here for this chapter only.
Inspiration Song: 'Closer' by Lemaitre
'I feel the shadows hanging over
They're waiting to come closer
To come and take me away
And I can feel my heart skip
Every time that I slip
I wanna run away
I, I've been working the morning
Don't get off till the night
I can't find no time to clear my mind
Oh, I dream of the lazy days
Or for one of the careless ways for me to be a'living'
...
...
The next day was an odd one, for some reason, Flowey expected some kind of great change once he told someone (other than Loox) about his feelings.
Guess it had to do with the fact that he told his dad to keep it a secret, and also lied about who exactly he had feelings for.
He thought about Sans, it still pissed him off that the Trashbag had him so well figured out, or not, depending how well he had believed Flowey when he had denied the accusation.
Perhaps he should feel lucky that Sans wasn't spreading his 'suspicion' around, he didn't seem like the type to do that, which was probably why Flowey wasn't all that worried… or, maybe he should have been? Whatever, he didn't really much have the energy to care these days.
Flowey did, however feel ever so slightly relieved about telling someone his problem, someone whose opinion actually mattered to him. (Not Sans's or Loox's, well, his opinion mattered to a degree, but it just wasn't the same)
A very crazy idea entered his head, what if he told Frisk? But changing things around like he had with his dad- annnd no, no, no, no… Frisk would get too curious, they'd want to meet 'Magnola' and everything.
Asgore walked over to him, sitting down a lunch box for his son to eat later "your mother called, she wants to know if you are reading your book for your Literature test?"
Flowey looked down at his phone that sat next to him, in it was a long list of books that Toriel had uploaded for him to read for his homeschooling, half of them still unread, he looked back up at his dad sheepishly.
"Yes?"
Asgore nodded, a thoughtful smile on his face, "and I will just tell her just that, well, I'm off, when I get back we are training, be prepared!"
Flowey grinned an excited wide toothy grin, "I'm always prepared!"
Asgore puffed up with pride, "that's my Kid!" he leaned over and ruffled up Flowey's top petals as if it were hair, Flowey inwardly cringed.
The goat monster began to walk off, but then turned around for a moment, "you do know where your remote is this time, right?"
Flowey rolled his eyes, "yes dad."
"Okay, love you son! See you in three hours! Eat your food! Read your book!" he called.
"Thanks dad, bye!" Flowey called, sighing after he heard the door close, resting his head against a vine, "eat your book, read your food," Flowey mocked jokingly in his father's voice to himself, snickering.
Thirty minutes later…
"Howdy Frisk, I was just wondering…but… is 'curiouser' really a word?" Flowey asked over the phone, talking before his best friend could answer.
It took them a moment to respond, "…what?" they sounded groggy.
"Mom has me reading Alice in Wonderland, and I'm pretty sure this isn't a real word,"
"Why don't you just look it up?"
"Didn't feel like it,"
"You sound bored and lonely,"
"You sound like you need sleep,"
"I was sleeping, I'm sick,"
"OH. . .," Great he woke them up! Apologize! Say somet-
"It's fine, how are you? I would ask how trainings been buuut…,"
"I had a… talk with dad yesterday, and I have a good feeling about things, I think,"
He heard Frisk shuffle around, when they spoke they sounded a lot more awake, "really? You think you'll be coming back any time soon?"
He felt a twinge of pain, still, he smiled, it felt good to be missed by them "I don't know? Maybe? We haven't even made any real progress yet dumb, dumb,"
"Well get to it! I'm starting to think you don't want to come back!"
Frisk couldn't have been further from the truth on that one, because heck, one of the reasons for his meltdown last night was because how much he missed Frisk and Toriel.
"I AM! Do you have any idea how hard it is to train your magic when your body isn't even made of magic?"
They laughed softly, it was like…music almost, and hearing it up close made him feel weak, familiar butterflies fluttering around, he winced as they turned back into bees.
"I know you can do it Asriel Flowey Dreemurr," they said, their voice warm.
"Auuughhhh, don't get sappy on me!"
"I am going to get so incredibly sappy, because I care about you,"
"Frisk."
"You're my best friend, and I miss you,"
"Frisk, stop,"
"Also, I bought you a really rad galaxy poster, I already put it in your room so you have something extra to look forward to,"
"Seriously?"
"What? You love star stuff and astronomy,"
"I do, but, it's just… you're being way too nice, it'sss… gross."
"Niceness and grossness aside, you deserve it,"
Flowey had to re-compose himself for a moment, taking a breath, trying to ignore the pain that was trying to sock it to him in the face, "thanks,"
Frisk sighed, groaning to themselves "I should have just surprised you, I don't know what I'm thinking. Ugh, I feel so baaaaaad,"
"Go back to bed,"
"Read your book,"
"I don't feel like it,"
"Alice in Wonderland is a good book. Keep. Reading. It."
"Ugh,"
"You want to keep talking don't you?"
"Ugh," he did, but he really wasn't going to admit it.
On the other end of the line he heard Toriel say something in a stern voice, causing Frisk abruptly start talking again "oh-! Never mind, queen of the house wants me to go back to bed too, like mother, like son… well, love you, talk to you later,"
"Love you too,"
There was sharp pause over the phone. . .
"Whoooa! Never thought I'd ever get to hear you say that! Very nice! Very beautiful!" they then laughed magical soft sleepy laughter "ah- oops, my bad, I gotta go literally now, moms' giving me The Look, you know the one, ta-ta for now Sunshine,"
Flowey didn't hear the faint beep of Frisk hanging up, he was too embarrassed and shocked at himself for slipping up so easily, just like that dumb nickname- it had just felt right to say.
He couldn't even remember the last time he had even said the 'L' word to anyone, he rubbed at his eyes, face quickly becoming completely orange, gritting his teeth and tensing up as waves of pain washed over him…
"Uggghhh, they're not the dumb one, you are," he grumbled to himself.
He needed to distract himself, so, he switched from his phone to the remote, and flipped the TV on, flipping channels, nearly skipping past Mettaton's TV show, but something told him to go back.
Mettaton was sitting next to his very recently introduced co-host, Temilynn (who was once your average Temmie, until they went to acting school, dyed their hair bleach blonde and came out an overnight sensation, quickly working their way up to becoming a popular monster celebrity and teaming up with Mettaton)
"-and todays we will be talking matturs of teh heart!" Temilynn said, gesturing to the sparkly pink heart on their white blouse.
"Oh yes dear, and I am ever excited for this one, because we will be also taking callers! You can tell us your juiciest of romantic problems, ask us questions, or just send out your sweetie a message on the air! Everyone adores hearing their name be called! Don't you agree…," Mettaton looked over at Temilynn, looking quite confused, "…what was your name again dear?"
Temilynn grinned a glamorous smile, giggling, unfazed "you're a doll Tonyton!" she then waved a paw below her where the show's number suddenly popped up, "now audiences, monsturs, ladiez and gentmenz and non-binary palz, call us here and we will talks to you LIVE!"
Mettaton gave a cheeky naughty grin, "now remember everyone, especially my fellow monsters, that the subject is 'love', not 'LOVE',"
Flowey stared down darts at his cellphone, and then, following his impulse, he picked it up and started dialing, so much for distracting himself…
…
He was about to hang up when finally, they answered.
"Hello our lovely sixth caller! You're on live!"
"Hi Temilynn, Mettaton, I have a question that I desperately need answered," Flowey spoke, making sure his voice was good and unrecognizable (something he clearly needed to do when practically everyone he knew watched the robot's show.)
"Oooh, desperate?" the pair said flirtatiously in unison- then laughed brazenly to each other, fortunately though, the comment flew right over Flowey's head.
"Er- yes?"
"Just how desperate are you dear?" Mettaton questioned while a grin played on his face.
"Aren't I supposed to be the one asking the questions?" Flowey sassed, clearly annoyed.
"Ohohohoho, I like dis one Tony," Temilynn giggled.
"Me too Lynn," Mettaton whispered loudly, then looked back at the camera, "so, dear, what ails you so?"
"I'm…," he groaned a weary sigh, oh god, he was so anxious "…in.. love with my best friend, but I'm pretty sure they won't feel the same way back, I don't want to ruin our friendship, and I'm… having a really tough time here Mettaton, I'm not sure what to do anymore,"
The robot lit up, smiling big, "well, that definitely does sound like a desperate situation. What do you think Lynn?"
The smaller monster was practically bouncing in their seat, "Temilynn thinks you should tells thems how you feels! Nothings better than a romantic relationship built on best friendships!"
"I agree! My two biggest fans, Bratty and Catty use to be the biggest besties, now look at them!"
"But Tonyton, aren't they still just BFF's?"
"Yes, exactly my point, they dated briefly, but are still BFF's,"
"You think our caller can still maintains a good friendships with their BFF even if dating doesn't work?"
Mettaton flipped his hair dramatically as if to emphasize his point, "yes, exactly Lynn," then looked back at the camera, "also, you said you were sure they wouldn't feel the same way, what makes you think this? Are you… by chance, ugly?"
"Uh, no? Maybe?"
"So you must be… pretty normal looking,"
"Temilynn thinks teh caller sounds cute, but that's just Temilynn's honest opinions,"
Flowey shook his head, what was he thinking, this was pointless, "thanks…?"
"Well, caller, if you aren't ugly, may I ask, are you and your BFF different species? As in, a monster and a human? I know it's a controversial subject these days, which is exactly why I bring it up,"
"No worries, dis is a safe place, all anonymous," Temilynn cut in, winking.
A long sighed was heard from Flowey, "…yeah, we… we're different species, very different,"
Mettaton and Temilynn looked to each other, sharing overly tender yet sympathetic smiles and clasping a hand over their chests, 'aweing' in unison, Flowey nearly hung up.
"I for one think you should go for it, I honestly don't think things will go as bad as you think," Mettaton said, his tone a little more serious now.
"How do you know?" Flowey skeptically.
"I don't dear! I just think it's a better option than wasting both you and your BFF's precious time trying to figure out the Ifs, Ands, and Buts of it all,"
"Or the Shoulda, Coulda and Wouldas, Temilynn hates those," the little monster cut in again.
"You…actually… have a point there," Flowey mumbled.
"I know we do darling, me and Temilynn here have been called Romance Masters many, many times! Oh! Speaking of time, it's time for our Breakfast at Noon segment! Sorry to cut our conversation short! Please do call back once you stop beating around the bush and finally make your choice, lovely caller!"
"Ya! It's been a beautiful lovie talk! Boi!" Temilynn called out, blowing a glamorous kiss at the camera.
Flowey hung up, and stared hard at his phone, suddenly again frustrated, his thoughts and feelings about the whole thing even more mixed than they were last night.
…Maybe he had been wrong, maybe Frisk wouldn't actually reject him or outright stop talking to him together, they would never be that horrible.
What if there was one in a million chance that he had a chance with Frisk?
Then, suddenly the lights on the screen of his phone blinked off, forcing him to look at his reflection in the black glass, he looked as confused and tired as he felt.
He also…looked like a flower.
He put his phone away and flipped the channel, what an embarrassing waste of time.
What was the point in having hope when fate had never been in his favor in the first place?
…
A few minutes later the cellphone dinged, signifying a text message, he almost ignored it until he noticed Mettaton's contact picture, causing Flowey's plant stomach to drop.
No, no, no, no, no…there was no way…
He nervously picked it up and opened the text.
-'That was a good talk we had Azzie dear, let me guess, it's Frisk right?'
Flowey's already sunken plant stomach went cold as he stared at the message in horror, nearly dropping the cellphone several times once he finally figured how he wanted to respond, he was so nervous.
'what are you talking about?'-
-'The call, I knew it was you the whole time! I have a voice decoder sweetheart!'
'it must be glitched, I have no idea what you're talking about' -
-'Don't be shy! I know this must very hard, but it's not that bad, I promise I won't tell anyone'
Flowey debated over what to do for a solid two minutes, he could just not ever respond back, ever. Or keep playing dumb, ugh, but what was the point when it was Mettaton he was talking to?
'It's not Frisk, it's someone I met online' -
- 'Oooooh, so we're playing that kind of game, going undercover hm? I like'
'It really is someone else, their name is Magnola' -
-'Awe, Azzie sweetie, are you in love with a tree? A magnolia tree?'
'No Mettaton, they're human,' -
- 'smh! More lying. C'mon darling, you can do better than a tree, how about a nice Vegetoid?'
'How about a NO?' -
- 'I'm sorry, sorry. I'll play your game, okay? I just want to help'
'you promise you won't tell anyone?'-
-'yes, of course I promise sweetheart, I'm bad but I'm not THAT bad, what good celebrity would I be if I tormented the King and sweet Queen Toriel's flower boy? I would never!'
'good, because I have this under control, so thanks, but no thanks, I don't want any more help, bye.'-
-'You didn't sound like you 'had it under control''
He stopped responding there, and then deleted the messages.
Sans, Asgore and now freaking Mettaton, they all knew now, or at least all had an idea of what was going on, all he could do now was continue lying and hope they could keep a secret.
What if… he told Frisk about 'Magnola'? It would definitely keep them off his tracks. But… how would they even react? Knowing Frisk, they probably wouldn't be 'judgmental', maybe slightly disgusted? Confused? Happy for him? Supportive?
It didn't matter, because it wouldn't work for that long anyway, they'd want to meet them, before he'd know it he'd be stem deep in more lies, trapped and nowhere to go but forced to face a very confused Frisk who will only have more questions that he can't answer.
Finally, he let out a loud, ventilating, high pitched angry, frustrated scream, tossing his phone to the floor, doing a double take to make sure it wasn't busted- he didn't want another Asgore talk.
A couple hours later in the backyard, he was getting, yet, indeed another Asgore talk, this time Flowey was a lot less patient than before due to Asgore changing up the training routine, purposely making things much more arduous.
The giant monster tossed a fire ball back and forth between his paws as if it were a ball, "I know I've told you about this before, but focus, remember we express ourselves through our magic,"
"I AM FOUR PERCENT MAGIC AND ONE HUNDRED AND TEN PERCENT ALL EXPRESSIVE DAD! THIS IS ALL I'VE GOT!" Flowey yelled, his giant spiked vines raised high into the air, face disgustingly contorted by ugly anger and frustration.
Asgore was patient though, he shook his head slowly, "and you do spectacular for someone who claims not to be a real monster, but you're not focusing, try your pellets, remember what you are training for."
'Fine, you want pellets, I'll give you pellets,' Flowey thought to himself, summoning them out, twirling them in the air, aiming at his father, shooting them one at time.
Each pellet just barely missing, all crashing to the grass behind Asgore.
The big monster look confused for a moment, "why do you always hold back and- OH!" Asgore was then bombarded by hoards and hoards of friendliness pellets, thousands of them as a temper tantrum took over Flowey, Asgore dodged most of them, accidentally getting hit by a few, but it didn't seem to faze either of the two.
Dodge after dodge, Asgore stepped and spun around, having a bit of hard time as Flowey's aim became more and more disorganizing and brutal.
"YOU JUST DON'T GET IT OLD MAN! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD THIS IS! I'M NOT LIKE YOU!" Flowey yelled as he slowed down, preparing himself for another round, he felt like a machine gun.
"I know! And it's okay!" he huffed and puffed, allowing Mercy, but Flowey denied him.
"No you don't 'know'!It's never going to be okay! I'm NEVER GOING TO GET THROUGH THIS AND THEY'RE NEVER GOING TO LOVE ME!"
Asgore smiled sadly, "you don't know that!" a sparkle of Determination flashed in his eyes, preparing himself as Flowey again began aiming thousands of pellets in his father's direction.
"And you don't know anything," Flowey snarled, his voice low and gravelly, and again, began attacking again, his aiming growing increasingly better and better again.
At some point, Asgore began using his trident as a bat to evade the oncoming pellets, his HP becoming lower than he would have liked.
He studied his son's angry, orangey red teary face, Flowey was too far into his tantrum to realize or care what he was doing anymore.
"As- Agh! Asriel! Stop! BE CALM!"
"WHY SHOULD I?! WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO YOU, WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO ANY OF YOU?!"
"Because it's going to be okay, just tr-," in an attempt to doge a pellet, he accidentally ran into another, his HP lowered harshly, causing him to fall over, landing on the grass with a heavy 'thump!', he raised a shaky paw at Flowey, his eyes were full of emotion.
"-Just trust me! Please be calm!"
Flowey went wide eyed, gasping hard, any leftover pellets in the air immediately missing Asgore on purpose.
"I'm…I'm sorry," he whispered, pain from the guilt twisting painfully inside of him, slamming a vine onto Mercy, ending the battle.
Asgore took deeps breaths and sat up, reaching into his pocket to pull out a monster snack, quickly scarfing it down.
To Flowey's surprise, his dad looked up at him and… smiled warmly "as I said, it is okay."
Tears flooded from Flowey's eyes, his voice cracking amidst the crying, pain twisting inside of him "no it's not! I really could have killed you, maybe permanently this time, I was being completely stupid!"
Asgore stood up and walked over to his son, smiling proudly.
"But you didn't, and that is the important part, you held back at the last moment, for all the right reasons," he then held up a quizzical hand to his bearded chin, looking around at the backyard behind him, then back down at Flowey
"And I think… you've progressed, it is hard to make sure at the moment, but I do know something has changed about you."
What Flowey felt was tired, just really tired, so much more tired than he felt in a very long time, but he sighed, giving his dad a weak smile, "you really think so?"
"I know so,"
...
...
This chapter was waaay shorter than I thought it was, I'm sorry! Forgive me.
Also, I hope the text messaging format isn't too confusing to read, I can only space things out so much before the Editor on this thing automatically fixes it to how it likes it.
And... I'll admit that I'm not the... best(?) when it comes to fight scenes and that I had to use little bit of artistic liberty with how monster encounters work compared to the Game, but I made it as close as I could, and yeah, writing this story without fight scenes would have made things easier, but that also would have been boring, so nah.
I'm very happy you guys have been enjoying the story so far, here's hoping you'll enjoy it even more!