Muffet's Bakery
"Now carefully stir until everything is mixed," Toriel instructed.
"How carefully?" Papyrus asked.
"Very carefully," Toriel said with emphasis.
Toriel and Papyrus were cooking together. Asriel and Frisk were helping and Sans was slumped in one of the kitchen chairs, listening to the cooking lesson and dozing off at times.
"These are done," Frisk said, slicing the last tomato.
"Thank you Frisk," Toriel said. "Asriel, would you like to try and light the fire?"
"Yes!" Asriel exclaimed.
Toriel lifted him up so he could see onto the top of the stove with ease. He stretched out his paw and made a fist. When he unclenched it a small burst of flames shot forth and lit the fire under the cooking pot.
"Very good!" Toriel praised and she put her son down again, scratching him between his ears.
Asriel beamed and Frisk gave him a thumbs up.
Sans' phone, which was lying on the kitchen table, made a beeping noise. Lazily Sans stretched out his hand but he couldn't reach it.
"Can someone get that for me?" he asked.
"If you sit up you can reach it," Toriel laughed.
"Nah," Sans mumbled.
"Then use your magic," Papyrus said irritably.
"Nah," Sans repeated.
Frisk rolled their eyes and fetched the phone.
"It's from Grillby," they said, handing it to Sans.
Sans read the text and sat up.
"Grillby says Muffet has opened a bakery," he said.
"Really?" Toriel said. "What a good idea."
"How exciting!" Papyrus said. "Can we go visit?"
"I think that's what Grillbs had in mind," Sans grinned.
"We can go tomorrow," Toriel suggested. "I don't think we have anything planned that afternoon?"
"Can I have a spider donut?" Frisk pleaded.
"What's a spider donut?" Asriel asked.
"They are delicious," Frisk said. "And bouncy!"
"We will have to buy lots of things," Papyrus said excitedly. "To show our support!"
"Of course we will buy something," Toriel smiled. "And if there are spider donuts you can have one Frisk. Mind you I said one."
"I wonder if she changed her recipes," Sans chuckled. "Considering the human customers perhaps she has to."
"No!" Frisk protested. "I like them the way they were in the underground."
"Well, we shall find out tomorrow," Toriel said. "You think we should call ahead or let it be a surprise?"
"Surprises are always better," Papyrus declared.
"Yeah and besides," Sans said. "It's a shop, I don't think making an appointment is necessary. After all we'll be helping her raise some dough."
There was a round of muffled laughs and a groan from Papyrus, who quickly returned to his cooking to hide his involuntary grin.
…
The next day they all piled into the car and went to visit Muffet's new bakery. It was a sweet little shop sandwiched between a grocery store and a health food centre.
"It looks lovely," Toriel praised.
The shop windows were gleaming in the sunlight and over the entrance hung a beautifully painted sign with purple letters that said:
The Parlour
Authentic arachnid patisserie
"Oh, look," Asriel said, pressing his snout against the glass.
Behind the shop window a big pie and some other baked goods were displayed on a satin cloth decorated with cobwebs.
"It all looks so fancy," Papyrus said admiringly and he pushed open the door to go inside.
The little bell above the bakery door tinkled and as they came in one after the other, Muffet appeared behind the counter. She looked like a proper little baker. Her blouse was covered by a frilly apron and she had big poofy chef's hat on top of her head. Her pigtails with their red bows just peaked out from underneath.
"Welcome!" she said with a happy smile that showed her fangs. "What a nice surprise!"
Papyrus gave Toriel a triumphant look and they all greeted Muffet warmly.
"What do you think of my shop?" Muffet said proudly. "Isn't it darling?"
They looked around. Every surface seemed to shine like it had been polished by millions of tiny paws with millions of tiny cloths. In fact they probably had been. The counter, the tile floor, the glass panes behind which the food was displayed, everything gleamed.
The walls were painted a creamy white and all the woodwork was painted a soft lavender.
The wall behind the counter, straight across from the door, had a slogan painted on it in curly letters:
'Will you walk into my parlour?' said the Spider to the Fly…
On the shiny counter stood two little handwritten signs that said:
All proceeds go to spider housing and welfare.
And:
Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders.
"It looks great, Muffet," Sans grinned.
"Absolutely!" Papyrus agreed.
"I've never seen a cuter bakery in my life," Toriel assured her.
Muffet looked very pleased.
"I can see you two are thinking of more important matters," she said, looking at Frisk and Asriel who were gaping at the pastries on display. "What would you like? I have spider donuts, arachnid croissants, cobweb cannoli, tarantula tarts and meshweaver macarons."
"Donuts!" Frisk cheered.
"I think we will have one of everything so we can all have a taste," Toriel smiled. "And two extra donuts for the children."
"Then the donuts are on the house," Muffet declared.
She took two pastry tongs and quickly selected the chosen pastries with two of her hands, while the others wrapped them in paper and handed them to Toriel.
While Toriel was paying and the others were still admiring the shop, some humans came in, looking both nervous and excited.
"Welcome to my parlour," Muffet said brightly. "Do feel free to look around."
"Good afternoon," the woman who had entered first said with a polite nod.
She turned to her friends and said in a low voice:
"See all the monster clientele? It's really traditional monster food, so exciting!"
The door to the shop opened again and Grillby came in.
"Hey, Grillbs," Sans grinned, greeting him.
"Hello everyone," Grillby said, looking around. "Good to see you all."
The words were rather hard to understand. His voice sounded like the crackling of a fire and the actual syllables of the words were almost lost in the sound of flames, but the others were used to his voice and were able to understand him just fine.
"Grillby has been such a dear," Muffet said, smiling. "He's helped me with a lot of things."
Grillby made a dismissive gesture with his hand, trailing some smoke behind him. The human customers were trying not to stare at him.
The little shop was pretty crowded now and Muffet said:
"Why don't you give our friends a little tour of the bakery, Grillby? Then I can attend to these lovely customers here."
"Of course," Grillby nodded.
Behind the counter was a wooden door with old fashioned carvings that led to the office and the bakery behind the shop. Grillby lead the others through it and showed them the tiny office space.
"The bakery is through here," he said, going into a narrow corridor.
He opened the door to the baking room, but instead of going in he stepped aside so the others could see through the doorway. He could not very easily have gone inside without incinerating some spiders.
They were absolutely everywhere. Crawling up and down the walls and across the floor. Carrying cooking utensils and ingredients between them. Walking carelessly through the mixing bowls and over the batches of pastries that were waiting to be baked.
In the back of the room loomed the shape of a giant oven.
"Cool!" Frisk and Asriel yelled and they darted across the bakery floor to inspect it.
"Careful!" Toriel warned, but the kids were skipping left and right without stepping on even a single spider.
"What a professional looking place," Papyrus nodded, impressed.
"It's so great to see monsters starting businesses and being accepted into the community," Toriel said with a happy sigh.
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome," Sans agreed. "Your new diner was a big hit as soon as it opened, wasn't it?" he said to Grillby.
"Business has been good," Grillby said with an extra warm crackle in his voice.
"The oven is big enough for us both to sit in!" Asriel yelled from the other end of the bakery.
"You keep your hands to yourself, children," Toriel warned.
"Papyrus, can you give me a boost?" Frisk begged.
"Of course I can," Papyrus said and he walked over to them, spiders scurrying away in front of his boots.
He lifted up Frisk and then Asriel, so they could look at the top of the large oven.
"Have you seen enough?" Toriel said with a smile. "Bring them back over here, Papyrus."
Before they could protest, Papyrus picked up Frisk with one arm and Asriel with the other.
"You shall be carried and delivered to your rightful owner," he said. "That is to say, your mother. Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh."
They went back to the shop, where Muffet had just waved goodbye to her customers. They had all bought a rather big batch of cannoli's and macarons.
"And what did you think of my bake house?" she asked, blinking her five eyes.
"Very impressive," Papyrus said, putting Asriel and Frisk back on their feet.
"Your oven is awesome!" Frisk said.
"Thank you, dearie," Muffet laughed.
They all admired the pretty shop again, told Muffet they'd certainly be back soon and then they left, leaving Grillby behind.
On the way back Frisk and Asriel ate their spider donuts in the car.
"We should tell Alphys and Undyne," Asriel said in between bites.
"Yeah, maybe Muffet can bake their wedding cake!" Frisk agreed, with their mouth full of donut.
"Don't speak with your mouth full, children," Toriel admonished gently.
"What a good idea," Papyrus said. "As best man I shall inform Undyne directly."
"Can I have a macaron?" Frisk asked, still with their mouth full.
"Me too!" Asriel joined in, spraying crumbs all over the back seat.
"Children," Toriel scolded and they shut their mouths.
"You really must get rid of that habit," she said, starting to smile. "After all, if you talk like that I donut understand you."
"Oh, Tori," Sans grinned. "Your puns really take the cake."
"Well they are certainly better than yours," Papyrus muttered, typing on his phone. "That one was hardly a pun at all."
Toriel defended Sans warmly and Sans laughed out loud at his brother's annoyance, but Asriel and Frisk didn't say a word. Their mouths were still full of donut and they had decided to be extra sweet, because they were both really hoping they could get their hands on another pastry before their mother would start talking about spoiling your appetite by eating before dinner.
Barbacar sent me a request to write about Muffet's bakery and I liked it so much I decided to put the bakery in this story as well! So I hereby introduce to you: Muffet and Grillby, they'll probably show up again. At the very least at the wedding...