Sans awoke to the sound of singing.
"They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!
"What did you say?"
"The hobbits-The hobbits-The hobbits-The hobbits-To Isengard!-To Isengard! The hobbits-The hobbits-The hobbits-The hobbits-To Isengard!-To Isengard!"
The human girls were the ones responsible for the repetitive verse, grinning like fools as they danced around the kitchen making breakfast. Papyrus was seated at the table, hands pressed tightly to the side of his skull as he plead for them to stop.
"YOU HAVE BEEN PLAYING THE SONG FOR NEARLY FIFTEEN MINUTES AND SUNG IT TWICE! I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY TIMES MORE I CAN LISTEN TO IT! IT IS TOO REPETITIVE!"
The stockier skeleton pushed himself off the couch, already beginning to sympathize with his brother as the same words repeated over and over. However, neither Tabatha nor Mia let up until they had finished echoing the last word of the song several times. When they finally stopped singing and turned off the music, the brunette came over to the table and pulled down Papyrus' hands.
"Alright Paps, we're done," she promised. "No more Isengard."
"THANK THE STARS," he sighed. "DEAR TABATHA, I KNOW THERE ARE THINGS THAT YOU ENJOY THAT I DO NOT BUT THAT WAS...EXCRUTIATING."
"When the song of my people is played, I must answer," the young woman replied, suppressing a giggle. "But you're right: that song is an...acquired taste. I'm sorry dude."
"looks like you all went and got the party started without me," Sans commented as he came to stand by his brother. "didn't have the heart to wake me bro?"
"HOW IS YOU CAN BE AWAKE FOR LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES AND STILL BE CAPABLE OF THAT INCESSANT PUNNING?!" the guardsman trainee asked with no small amount of exasperation.
"it's a gift, bro. goes right down to my bones."
"AH!" Papyrus jumped to his feet. "BESET ON ALL SIDES! I CANNOT FACE THESE ODDS!"
The lanky skeleton sprinted as fast as his long legs could carry him towards the outward-facing window of the main room. Pulling it open, he retreated several steps before leaping out. With a cry, Mia rushed to the window, her face stricken.
"Did he stick the landing?" Tabatha asked excitedly as she too came to the window.
"He does this...often?" the olive-skinned human asked, her words slow and a little confused.
"with varying levels of success," Sans shrugged. "he had the decency to not break your window at least; we've gone through quite a few at home."
"The window is his preferred escape route when doors just aren't fast enough," the brunette chuckled. "But I'm a little worried he's gonna get himself lost. Sans, you think you can go find him and turn him around? We're gonna finish up breakfast and it'll be best if it's hot."
There was something in her tone that made the skeleton pause. She wanted him gone for some reason, he mused. Wanted to be alone with Mia then? For what? Girl talk? Or was it something more serious?
"you got it, Tabby Cat," the monster judge agreed, giving a lazy thumbs up before slipping into one of his shortcuts.
Tracing his brother's magic through the void was simple enough and when he stepped back into reality, he found Papyrus pacing around the bench at a bus stop. In the last three minutes, he'd managed to sprint what had to be about five blocks from Mia's apartment complex and be was clearly still running high on an energy burst.
"hi there bro," he said casually. "what's up with the sudden exit? you scared our host half to death."
"WHILE I DID NOT INTEND TO STARTLE MIA, I DO NOT THINK I COULD HAVE STOOD BEING IN THAT LITTLE APARTMENT FOR MUCH LONGER," the younger monster replied, not flinching at Sans' arrival. "AS GREAT AS MY SELF-CONTROL IS, IT WOULD NOT HAVE LASTED FOR MUCH LONGER."
"whatcha mean Pap?"
Papyrus' cheekbones began to flush bright with orange magic. He stopped his pacing and began to twiddle his fingers.
"...SEEING TABATHA SO HAPPY—EVEN IF IT WAS CAUSED BY THAT...ODD SONG—MAKES MY SOUL DO STRANGE THINGS. IT MAKES ME WANT TO DO THINGS, THINGS THAT WOULD BE BEYOND THE FRIEND-ZONE."
"what kind of things?" Sans' grin was positively sinful and his taller sibling swatted him on the shoulder.
"NONE OF YOUR NONSENSE!" he declared. "I JUST WANT TO SMOTHER HER SOFT FACE IN SMOOCHES IS ALL! BUT UNTIL THE KINDLY HUMAN IS READY FOR SUCH FORWARD AFFECTION, I MUST RESIST. SHE SIMPLY MAKES IT A TOUCH HARDER IS ALL."
The shorter skeleton's smirk softened, but didn't fade.
"you're the coolest, bro," he remarked. "you ready to walk back or do ya still need some time to cool your jets?"
"THAT DEPENDS...ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE ANYMORE PUNS?"
"So, let me see if I've got all of this down," Mia was saying as she helped extract a waffle off the iron. "You have a crazy stepmom."
"Mmhm," was Tabatha's reply, setting the jams and syrup on the table.
"You also have PTSD and are on the run because you haven't been able to get a restraining order."
"Yup."
"Then stuff went down in the Underground and as a result, you and Papyrus are still not together."
That drew the brunette up short, almost making her knock over the butter.
"Seriously? That's what you're getting out of this, Mia?" Tabatha asked incredulously.
"Well it's true, isn't it?" the other woman maintained. "You've been dancing around each other for months if what I'm hearing from Sans is any indication."
"Does all he talk about is what Papyrus is getting up to on any given day?" Shaking her head, Tabatha continued. "Anyway, while Lyssa is a big part of the...whole 'not together' thing, it goes deeper than that."
"Really?" The olive-skinned woman's tone contained nothing but surprise as she brought over a full plate of the waffles. "Then please, enlighten me."
"It's a long story...and I don't know when the guys'll be back..."
"C'mon, please? If they show up, we can table it for later."
Mia sat down at the table and looked at her friend expectantly. Tabatha bit her lip as she considered the proposal. After a minute, she nodded and sat as well.
"So...yeah, Lyssa is the main big thing in the way right now," she admitted. "But even if she wasn't, I'd still have told Papyrus that I don't want a more intimate relationship...even if I do wish that I could be his girlfriend or whatever the monster equivalent is."
"But that's just silly!" Mia exclaimed. "He wants a romantic relationship, you want a romantic relationship—really, you should just make it official and save yourselves the drama and potential heartache."
"Hence the problem comes into play: I want it as much as he does...but is that for the best?"
"Don't tell me that you're doubting your capability to be a good girlfriend," her friend interrupted, her disbelief evident.
"Back when Pap first told me about his feelings, that's exactly what I was thinking: that I'd be a bad partner for him. I'll admit that I wasn't in the right place emotionally, but even now I stand by my decision to wait on starting anything serious with him." The brunette traced her finger in a circle across the wooden surface of the table, staring down at her hands. "See, I need to make sure that if I were to be...involved with Papyrus that I take my time and make sure its something that I really do want. That I'm not, I don't know, just clinging to him for stability since my current life has next to none. Or that it isn't a reaction to the trauma of my Soul getting invaded. It's just...Papyrus really deserves to be with someone who genuinely loves him and I'm not certain that I am at this point in my life. Maybe after we get everything with Lyssa resolved, but definitely not right now."
Mia looked like she wanted to say more, but a knock came at the door of the apartment and it swung open to let the skeleton brothers back in.
"Hey boys!" she called out instead. "We were about to start breakfast without you! Plus, we gotta make some plans for today. How do you feel about making a quick rpg today with me Papyrus?"
"THAT'S A THING WE CAN DO TODAY?!" the lanky monster exclaimed excitedly, joining the two young women at the table.
"Sure! We can leave it up to Tabatha to keep Sans entertained for a little while I'm sure."
"I'll do my best," the brunette said with an overdramatic sigh. "I might have a thing or two he'll be interested in."
"Then we can do that once we finish cleaning up," Mia declared. "Now get some waffles before I take that plate for myself."
When everyone was sufficiently fed and the dishes were clear, Mia took the younger of the brothers into her office area where her desktop was. She left the door ajar, so while Tabatha rummaged in her bags to get something for Sans to do the conversations the two had were very clearly heard by the rest present.
"So see here? These are our assets. They're basically the interactive game characters and environments, but their just the images of them without any code telling them what to do. We have a few to pick from, so I'll let you just..."
"Here you go." Sans startled a little when the human suddenly outstretched her hand, holding a small handheld gaming device—her 3DS. "Just got a new game I thought you might like. Logic puzzles and mystery-solving, all taking place under legal proceedings."
"well if you're gonna put such judgement on me, then i'm gonna makes sure it all rises to my expectation," the skeleton teased, turning on the system. After the tutorial and starting the first case, he happily became absorbed. The human at his side took out her phone and began to read, catching up on the novel she'd recently found online.
"hey, Tabby Cat." The brunette looked up at the sound of her nickname. "sounds like Paps is totally gettin' into the whole programming thing over there."
Glancing over her shoulder, she was able to catch a glimpse of the aforementioned monster leaning in close to the screen.
"SO HOW DO WE MAKE ALL THE 'X' TILES BECOME 'O' TILES?" he was saying.
"Well, you have to input a command on those assets so that when the character sprite crosses over them, the image on the screen changes," was the reply. "Here, I'll show you real quick."
"he's remaking his first ever puzzle," Sans chuckled. "as far as i know, it's still there in the woods by Snowdin. he was so proud when he built that thing all by himself—kept it a secret until it was ready to so he could surprise me. one of the happiest days of his life."
"I'm so glad we found Mia and got him into this," Tabatha said with a smile. "She's great."
"heh, that she is."
That made a mischievous smile cross the young woman's lips. Her friend groaned.
"If you think so highly of her, you should spend some more quality time one-on-one with her," she teased.
"i already do; where'd you think i go when I'm on break?" the skeleton shot back. When her smile widened, he realized the confession had been a mistake. And then her expression suddenly changed, becoming reflective before the devilishness faded entirely from her expression.
"Sans, do you really not want to get into a relationship with Mia, or is there something else going on."
That made the monster Judge blink in surprise. Closing the 3DS, he considered the question.
"well, there's no denying she's awesome," he conceded. "and maybe if things were different, i'd consider it...i just got a lot to sort through—both with me and with your whole deal. plus there's Paps to consider and my work. 'sides, i've never really been one for social stuff anyway. having a partner...that involves a lot of promises and i'm no good at keepin' those. and it's a lot of work too; lazy guy like me, i gotta be sure the effort won't be wasted."
Tabatha nodded in understanding as she settled back into the couch. After a moment, she spoke up again.
"For the record, I think Mia likes you a lot too. She's a great woman and even if she's just a friend, you should treat her right. I still think you two should be a couple, but I get where you're coming from. Just...whatever makes you happy, Sans."
Silence swept over the pair. They just looked at one another, no communication or anything in their gazes, but a mutual understanding. Then the spell was broken and Sans opened the game again.
"man, i don't know whether these visions of the deceased are more helpful or hurtful to the case," he commented, cycling through the series of images on the screen a few times.
"Want some help?" Tabatha offered. "There's some tricks to it."
"by all means." Sans gestured to the cushion next to him and the human immediately scooted over.
"Tell me what you've figured so far," the brunette requested. "We'll work our way from there."
*pokes head in* Oh! Hello there! Sorry for the absence and all that, but you know...three jobs...*embarrassed laugh* Welp, have the result of a month of breaks where I wrote a sentence or two at a time. This was supposed to go up Monday, but I had a car accident that day which resulted in a burned hand that meant I couldn't type properly for two days. (I'm fine, by the way, except for my car getting trashed and the aforementioned burn).
Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! Each one of you made my day with your comments!
Silversun XD: Awe...thank you too!
MagicInTheStars: Well, it wasn't soon (sorry), but here's the update!
TabbyCat: You gave me the starter for this chapter. Was it everything you hoped for? (Also, excellent pun usage!)
GoldGuardian2418: Here's more! This time it's everyone talking to each other and working out their misunderstandings. Bit slower, but I hope you liked either way.
Guest (7/29/17) [Michiru]: *wipes off sweat* Phew! I'm glad I'm communicating the right ideas here at any rate! I'm glad you decided to share your thoughts: I welcome any kind of feedback and consistency in reviews means I'm doing something right! (Or at least consistently)
SansSational: Here's the update! With SHIPS!
Skater1ooo: Okay, so you've read everything, now you get to have it in chunks! I know it's a long fic, but I am impressed you did it all in one sitting! Hope you didn't strain your eyes or anything in your quest to finish it. And I'm glad you appreciated the effort I made with differing character voices! As for your suggestion, thank you so much for bringing it up! I already have a plan in motion here, but I do see your point. I'll probably mention it in the next chapter why I'm not intending to have the solution be a sting, but you've actually inspired me to refine my original plan into a better form. Anyway tl:dr, you've been quite helpful. Oh and the swears don't bother me per se: there are times when things come across better with cursing, it's just I have a standard of non-vulgar language. The only time it really bothers me is when people use the words excessively in the wrong context.
Until next time y'all!