Nedd's POV, just to make it interesting...

AN: So, basically Nedd was a character that I created for the sole purpose of writing Miranda's work place but I have to admit he has grown on me so I decided to expand on his character by writing this chapter. Hope you like him too since I already have plans for him. he did help out Undyne and Alphys with their wedding prank on our favorite couple after all :)

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-insert words- Is for written text
insert words Is for Miranda's mind talk and thoughts in general
insert words Is for Rajani's mind talk
insert words Is for sign language
_*insert words Is for battle commands
"InsertName" & INSERT STATS & *insert soul script Is for checking Soul Stats
+insert name and timeframe+ & +insert text+ Is for texting.
~insert lyrics~ Is for songs
=insert words= Is for Mirbot speaking
=insert words= Is for Rajbot speaking
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Is for scenes that you might want to avoid reading.
-insert text- Is for a PTSD induced full blown flashback
# insert text # Is for Chara speaking

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Chapter 54: I Don't Usually Play Support, But When I Do…

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-Nedd's POV-

Man, they weren't kidding when they said they would be busy with a capital B. Like 48 hours of busy followed by several more hours recovering the missed sleep hours, it seemed.

He was halfway through his work day when the newlyweds finally contacted him, hoping for new developments where Miranda and Sans were concerned. Nedd wasn't surprised that Undyne was the one doing the call. Nor was he surprised that Alphys was still asleep from all of the exertion.

"Should I expect a baby shower anytime soon?" He asked instead of replying to the fish monster's question, wanting to prolong the teasing atmosphere a bit longer.

Thankfully Undyne never took it bad. She had grown used to his way of acting some time ago and actually bantered back if she was in the mood. This day she apparently wasn't in the mood for for that.

"Erm… we're not really sure. Not until the soul magic settles, at least." She said surprisingly honest.

Nedd was good at reading cues. Far greater at it than anyone else gave him credit for. By her reply he could immediately deduce two things: It was time for more mature conversation instead of banter; and the chance that that first soul mingling might result in babies was incredibly high.

"She wants them too." He stated instead of asking. It had been clear to him from the start of their friendship that Undyne was pretty invested on having kids. He kept the gentle mannerisms that everyone had gotten used to but cut back on the boundless energy as this moment did not call for it.

"Yeah… Or at least she's given it great consideration, according to her. She was still doubtful, but that was because she still doesn't think too highly of herself…" Undyne admitted listlessly.

That must mean she was away from the bedroom. Undyne never talked about how hard it was on her to see her girlfriend's (now turned wife) self-doubts and self-hatred. She had toughed it out before, apparently. At best she only admitted how hard it was for her to Asgore or her 'adoptive father', apparently a turtle monster named Gerson.

To be honest, Nedd had never anticipated for her to trust him with such sensitive information but she said that, despite not having Sans' powers of reading auras, she was a great judge of character and knew she could trust him. He had never suspected that telling her about his wife leaving him so many years ago could have elicited such a sense of trust.

He, unknowingly, became another of her emotional supports. She dealt with her wife's' problems mostly by herself, slowly building her up from whatever had happened in the underground that had left her in shambles. Now it wasn't as hard as it used to be. Alphys had gone through some major changes on her outlook on life and on her feelings of self-worth. It was still an ongoing battle. Anxiety and depression aren't things that went away that easily, after all. Still, according to Undyne, the changes were big.

That didn't mean that Undyne wouldn't feel tired at times from being there for her wife. Nedd knew she wouldn't trade it for anything. She certainly would never resent Alphys for any setbacks she had with her conditions and tried to be patient as possible. But that didn't mean it wasn't hard on her.

Undyne… wasn't what someone would describe as a patient woman. The mere fact that she was still so patient with Alphys was proof of how strong her love for the drake woman was. That being said, it meant that she still needed some support herself and she was unwilling to show her 'pupil', Papyrus, any of her vulnerabilities.

She wanted to still look strong in front of the tall skeleton since she had been his teacher for so long and he had always looked up to her. She wouldn't count on Asgore anymore, saying that he had enough things to worry about for her to bother him with even further. She had never actually met Toriel before the day the barrier broke, so she didn't feel comfortable going to her. She hardly knew Sans and, admittedly, he didn't seem too reliable at a first glance. And she wouldn't ask for support from the kids.

As for Miranda, the newest person in the household… Undyne told him that, though she knew that his coworker was more than capable of giving sound advice and listening to her, she didn't want to burden her any further if she could avoid it. Something had apparently happened during Miranda's extra days off. She didn't offer more information and he didn't ask.

Nedd having shown her his own vulnerabilities had opened her up, though, which was weird. Something about him having already gotten over his pain? Either way it really didn't matter to him why she relied so quickly on him. Well… it mattered but not in a way that was essential for him to keep on being there for her.

Which lead to the current situation.

"How soon will you be able to tell?" He asked.

"A few days, probably a week and a half, for the magic of the bond to settle down enough for us to know for sure. Usually an already bonded monster wouldn't need this long to know but since we just soulbounded… To be honest I wasn't expecting her to already be this ready for a child. She always sounded so reluctant when we talked about adopting MK."

"And how are you feeling about all of this?" He asked, shifting the attention back to the fish woman. She was already spending way too much time worrying about her wife. Now she needed some time for herself.

"Mostly confused. I feel so excited just to know it's possible but at the same time so nervous. I hadn't expected for my Alphy to be this open to the idea. It's going so fast… But I think I'm mostly happy." She admitted. "But enough of that conversation, punk! What are the details on the Sansiranda! Don't leave out any of them!"

He wasn't surprised at the change of subject. As much as she needed support for the more sensitive side of her personality, she also preferred not dwelling on it too long.

"There's not really that much to tell. As you know the first day of work Miranda took the day off and had me do double the work to make up for it. After being told what we did Greg decided that was a fitting punishment. Rajani showed up, though. She seemed in a bad mood?"

"That makes sense. She doesn't like Sans very much." Undyne explained. "Did she tell you anything?"

"Nothing much, really. At one point she did freeze up, though. I think she disconnected from the body for a moment since the heart symbol on her chest and the eye lights turned off." He continued. "When she logged back on she told me that apparently Miranda had told off a, and I quote, 'stupid bitch'. There might be deep feelings involved on that, though. Jani did say that 'the bitch' made some very rude comments about Sans."

"HECK YEAH! That girl better be defending her sweetheart with all her might!"

"That's what I thought too." He admitted, though he hadn't been quite so outwardly excited as Undyne was being. "Next day she showed up like normal and there didn't seem to be anything amiss at first glance."

"Awww!" Undyne grumbled in disappointment.

"On a second and far deeper look, though…" Nedd continued.

"Ah! How could you! Making me believe nothing had happened!" Undyne protested.

"Pfft! Yeah, yeah. Sorry." He laughed. "As I was saying, she really acted like normal. I almost thought nothing had changed there. This woman sure has a firm poker face!" He admitted. Then again, that fact wasn't that surprising, all things considered. "But when it started getting closer to the time for us to clock out is when she started acting oddly. At times she seemed to be mentally arguing with Rajani about something. It was actually amusing. I would see her facial expression change as she kept staring at the Rajbot. When she wasn't doing that she would seem to get absorbed in complicated thoughts.

"Those are reasonably good signs, but nothing really conclusive." Undyne protested.

"True. But I'm pretty sure I saw her blush for a moment when Helen told her Sans was waiting for her while she was neck deep in thoughts. She covered it up quick enough but I'm pretty sure it was there." And when he was sure of something then there really was no other way around it. He was far too good at observing people to be deceived by a trick of light.

"Now THAT'S what I'm talking about, punk!" Undyne cheered.

"Unfortunately, they still don't seem to be getting much quality time together."

"Sans still working overtime, huh?"

"Yep. He only comes to collect her way after dinner time. Reading time has taken a toll on her as well, apparently. I heard that she somehow managed to finish reading Harry Potter last night to the kiddos. Today morning she looked like a zombie and at times almost fell asleep standing. I'm willing to bet Sans probably isn't doing much better. I'm also willing to bet that tonight they'll probably go home and straight to sleep."

"Yeah… I'm not going to take that bet." Undyne affirmed.

"It is a pretty easy win for me, true." Nedd admitted.

"Where's the punk, by the way?" She asked.

"I'm right here!" he said just to mess with her.

"I meant the other punk!"

"Your carelessness wounds me." He shot back pretending to actually be hurt before dropping all pretenses. "But anyway, the girly is out for lunch right now. Probably at Grillby's. She did say that she hasn't been going there that regularly anymore. With that she actually means that she missed one day in a whole week worst case scenario."

"She has a weird definition of not going to places regularly." Undyne commented.

He heard greetings from Jessie and Eddy who were in the cafeteria with him and a familiar voice replying back.

"Speaking of the girly. She just returned. Want me to transmit a message to her?" Nedd asked as he watched Miranda pass by the cafeteria's entrance towards the elevator.

"Nah! I'll talk with the punk later! I want to see her reaction for myself when I ask her how she dealt with spending 24 hours tied to the lazybones." Undyne replied.

"Ok, fine by me." He agreed. "Bye for now, then!" He added cheerily.

"Bye, punk!"

He turned the cellphone off and got up. There was work to be done after all. And he had to keep a close eye on Miranda as well. He decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. There was always something eerie about using an elevator.

"Hey, girly!" he greeted Miranda cheerily.

She turned around, Rajani on her shoulder, and stared suspiciously at him. He couldn't really blame her for her reticence, after all that he and the newlyweds had done to her. Well… he wouldn't put it that way. He would say 'what they had done for her'. She just doesn't know what's best for her yet.

"Hei, Nedd." She finally replied, still a bit cautious.

"How was the flame daddy?" He asked with a wicked grin.

"…erm… Ok, never use that term in front of me again." She said with a blush in her cheeks and the definition of uncomfortableness on her face.

"Why not, though? He is a flame and he also is a dad. I'm not lying or anything."

"Yeah, but the way you say it one would think you have other things in mind. Do you have other things in mind? Do you want to make him your 'daddy'?" Miranda asked her face changing to exasperated.

"You have a surprisingly dirty mind." Nedd commented.

"Aha! I didn't say anything dirty. In fact, it was you who brought up that particular subject!" She pointed a finger at him vindictively.

"… wow. You actually got me with that one." He admitted, and then laughed.

Miranda smirked and carefully high fived Rajani so as not to push her tiny, flying robot body away.

Work hours went by as usual with little highlights. The Christmas special was practically done and they only needed to finish another two episodes, one of them was already half done, for a TV show before Christmas.

Nedd wasn't surprised when Miranda stayed overtime again and, once more, he offered Greg to stay and look after her while he got home early. Greg handed over the keys to the studio. Nedd was the only person who managed to arrive even earlier than him, after all.

With Greg gone and leaving the two alone, they chatted with each other as they waited for Sans to arrive. He, as always, inserted his fair share of innuendos and teasing while Miranda inserted her fair share of denial and glaring as they both took the chance to work some more on the special.

Sans was late. Even for 'Sans' standards. Miranda had definitely noticed too, considering how much she was fidgeting. Even Rajani had been very visibly concerned, before she simply absconded somewhere. He saved his progress and turned to the disconcerted woman.

"Hei, should we call him or something?" He asked.

"I already tried but… he isn't really the kind to pick up a phone call. He is more of a texting guy." She said, though she didn't sound very convinced.

"Well, has he texted you yet?"

Her whole face fell.

"No." And before he could comment any further she continued. "It's my fault. It has to be. It's probably that bratty bitch! She probably got pissed off at me for calling her out on her racism! She probably has powerful friends. Oh god! What did I do?! What if she got someone to attack him on his way here? All because I mouthed off to her! Why am I so messed up?! Why can't I ever think before I act?!"

Ok, of all the things he wasn't expecting her to start panicking so badly. Was she really that afraid that her words caused a woman that was clearly already a monster hater to attack Sans? She would have regardless, if that was the case. That was usually the case with monster haters. If they were dead set on attacking they would regardless of what one said to them. Sure, they might use it as an excuse later on, claiming the person egged them on, but that's not really why they did it. Heck, sometimes words were enough to get haters to reconsider. And if they weren't planning on outright attacking monsters before, Nedd doubted the words of someone defending monsters would convince them to go ahead and do it out of spite. Those sorts of people only moved on to attacking when other people with the same mentality supported their opinions and incentivized them into going physical.

"Hey. Girly? Get over here, come on." He motioned her closer and she complied far too easily. "The skelepun will be fine, don't worry. He's probably just late. Want us to go get him from work instead?"

It seemed like she was about o nod yes when a faraway look overcame her facial expression. She gradually stopped trembling the longer she remained with those glazed eyes. After a moment her face became a deep red and she snapped out of it.

"R-Raj went to McD's to check in with Sans. He… fell asleep in the bathroom before he could change clothes. He's so deep in his slumbering that he wouldn't wake up no matter what she did. She… started changing his clothes because of McD's uniform policy."

"Is that why you blushed?" He asked.

"She s-started without warning me before hand." She explained becoming red again.

"So, what you gonna do now?" Nedd asked.

"I'll go there and get him. Hopefully there are still buses for my stop. I don't think he would be in any condition of teleporting even if he woke up."

"Hmm." Nedd pondered on the subject. A woman walking around at that time of night was already bad news, let alone a woman who was also carrying a skeleton monster. "Change of plans. I'll give you both a ride."

"What?" She yelped in surprise. "O-oh! There no need, really. I can handle it easy peasy. Skeletons aren't that heavy, you know?"

"No, I didn't know but there's no way I'm letting you both go on the bus like this. Go grab your things and meet me downstairs.

"But..."

"Nope! I'm not listening. I'll be waiting downstairs all night if need be!"

"Fiiiiine."

Nedd was glad to see that Miranda wasn't trying to avoid his help. From what he gathered, Miranda had the tendency of wanting to be independent to an unhealthy level.

The drive wasn't long and Nedd decided to wait in the car in front of the restaurant for Miranda to return. She rushed inside, exchanged some quick words with one of the managers and disappeared through a side door. After some time of waiting and nodding along to the music on the radio, something old but classic, Miranda finally exited the side door carrying a very much unconscious skeleton, bride style, with a robot floating at her side.

Nedd immediately snapped a photo of it, added a small description and sent it to Undyne. Her response was immediate but he didn't get to read it because Miranda was opening the back door and propping Sans up, buckling him into place.

Nedd observed her from the front mirror. She looked downright clinical as she made sure he was properly buckled into place but then, with that job done, she looked back at his face and her expression softened. She was even smiling a bit. Her gaze was so tender it was almost as if she was caressing his cheek with her eyes.

How could she still deny this? It made no sense. She was clearly enamored with him, if not even in love. Why keep on pretending she didn't feel a thing? And the way she acted when he asked that one time before Undyne's and Alphys' wedding? She acted so… terrified? He hadn't even realized it until Rajani put a stop to it. Sure, he knew she was getting irritated with their meddling but it wasn't until Rajani defended her and he finally took a closer look at her that he realized she was pretty close to having a panic attack.

Why did the thought of her being in a relationship terrify her so much? He had some guesses that were merely based on what things he had observed so far as well as some things that Undyne and Alphys had told him but there must be something deeper.

He wasn't exactly in the best position to help her right now. He had never been. Not in the… how much time had really gone by since he officially met her? He had joined this studio a couple of weeks after she did, he remembered that much. It wasn't important anyway. He could always check it on his calendar later.

He waited until she sat on the front seat as Rajani grudgingly sat on the back to watch over the slumbering skeleton.

"Thanks for helping us." Miranda said as soon as she entered, proceeding to buckle up too.

"Nah, don't mention it. You are my friend too after all, aren't you, girly?" He said, partially as friendly banter, but secretly also partially serious.

Even though his tone had been playful, Miranda stopped to consider his words carefully. She always took these matters seriously which is also what would make her a great friend. She was always so caring towards others if she let herself get close to them. He hadn't noticed it on her before. Not his fault, or at least not completely. She never went out of her way to socialize with anyone and dodged most of everyone's attempts at it. Nedd couldn't help but wonder if she would even have gotten as friendly with the monsters as she had if she hadn't been forced to stay at the would have happened had the guys that attacked her not gone after her at all?

Well for starters they would be free to do as they liked on the streets, though as far as he heard they weren't anywhere near as committed to monster hating as the other three. They mainly went along with their 'leaders'. They were just hired muscle. Word was that they had gained a fair amount of respect for Miranda, actually, which wasn't something that kind of 'hired help' gave out easily.

But as far as Miranda was concerned… would she have gotten that close to the others? One had to wonder…

"Yes." She said, snapping him out of his line of thought. "Yes, we're friends."

That… was surprising. Was she finally opening up to him? How did that happen? Not that was going to complain about it, though.

"See? No reason to thank me for it." He recovered quickly. "So, how's your skelebae, over there."

"Not my skelebae and he seems to have passed out from overexertion. He really needs to catch some Zs. I'm going to have to tell the others to let him sleep in the mornings."

"That's very caring of you."

"I'm not sure he is going to sleep that well, though." The sentence was uttered more to herself than to him.

There was a slight frown on her face, as she seemed to ponder on something.

"Why's that?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Oh?" She noticed she had talked too loudly. "I'm not sure I-"

=The Cueball has nightmares. He might wake up several times at night, that being the reason why he is so extra tired.=

"Raj, you aren't supposed to reveal that sort of information about other people! That's private!"

=Yeah, yeah. Sorry and all that.= Rajani didn't seem sorry at all. =But it's not as if Nedd wouldn't learn all that from Undyne and Alphys if he asked, you know?=

"True." Both Nedd and Miranda admitted at the same time, him with glee and her with reluctant acceptance.

The trip was filled with light banter as Nedd tried to think up how to get her to talk about her feelings. She wasn't likely to do it with Sans in the car, even with him passed out. When he had gotten along with Undyne's plan he hadn't expected that she'd react to strongly and adversely to the situation. He had thought that, since Undyne knew her better, that her strategy was fool proof. Now he could see that she needed some tactfully applied nudging into her feelings, not a strong shove.

How had Undyne missed that, anyway?

For now, he was limited to testing her limits in a workplace environment before he could actually start the nudging.

A distressed sound from the backseat silenced the both of them and Nedd slowed the car down.

"What's wrong?" He asked just as Miranda unbuckled her seat belt and started trying to slink into the back seat without disturbing his driving.

=Nightmare. The one we told you about.= Rajani explained.

Miranda finally managed to squeeze her way towards Sans and took hold of him, hugging him and singing a lullaby of sorts. Ever so slowly, the sweaty, distressed frown Sans was sporting began to ease up and his arms somehow wound up pulling Miranda to him. With a cocked brow he looked up at Rajani.

=He's very clingy in his sleep.= She explained.

"Whatever you say, Jani."

"Physical comfort seems to make it better. I don't mind… for now." Miranda admitted with a slight blush tinging her cheeks.

"So, he has gotten clingy before, has he?" He teased.

Miranda could only blush at his statement and pretend she hadn't heard him. That face couldn't lie, though.

"I don't see why you are so opposed to starting a relationship with him, girly." He started. "You are good both 'for' and 'to' him. He's good to and for you too. I would kill to have that sort of chemistry with my ex-wife and I can't help but be surprised at how you repudiate it so easily." He admitted.

He expected some backlash from her for it. Usually Miranda detested when he spoke of his 'shipping' of them two. Instead she remained silent and he couldn't help but take a peek through the front mirror to see if she was even awake at all.

She was. She was watching him with such intensity that he couldn't help but be surprised. He had never seen Miranda exhibit that kind of intensity before. He knew then that she was reading him. Or at least trying to. He was far too good at faking it until making it to be so easily read, after all. She might sense somethings out of him, but not all of it. And it was better that way.

He decided it was best to remain quiet. He didn't know why he kept bringing up his ex-wife. It was the past and there was nothing to do to change it. In fact, he was better off without her. He still didn't understand why their relationship had failed so hard… maybe that was why. It hadn't logical. He was great at logical reasoning so he should know. It was why he was so confounded that Miranda kept skirting away from a relationship with Sans the way she was doing.

"There…" Miranda started and then hesitated, as if unsure she should say anything at all. "There are things more important than chemistry between two people. My life as is right now… doesn't make for a healthy basis for a relationship. It's why I'm not interested in starting one. As for your ex-wife… I can't begin to tell you what went wrong. I wasn't there, after all. But every couple is different so you shouldn't base your expectations on other couples. Perhaps it was a lack of chemistry, but perhaps it was something else." She said slowly as if afraid he was going to take her advice the wrong way. "I also don't understand why you are so invested in trying to get me and Sans into a relationship. I've been in relationships before. I've been in one that was based only on other people wanting me and a guy together. I was hated by his friends when I realized it was harming both of us more than it did us any good and broke things off. I've also been in a relationship where I loved a guy and worked my hardest to make it work but… it was a one-sided effort. Still, I believed him when he told me he loved me. I believed him when he said he wanted that relationship and he used that to bring me down mentally. I guess it's not a secret between friends that I almost died because of it. Being so invested in shipping me with someone, it was only a matter of time before Undyne and Alphys told you that, anyway. I don't know if any of these situations could be applied to you too but they are all I have. Both of them already made me reluctant enough on participating in the whole romance shtick back then and my live was sort of normal at the time. As things are right now… I really can't afford a relationship."

Nedd had never suspected any of those things. His sources of information hadn't told him any of that. He also doubted Undyne and Alphys would have told him about her insinuated suicide attempt, even if he had asked, but perhaps her trust in their discretion had diminished with their latest 'prank'.

Still, those were some pretty heavy things for her to reveal. It still didn't fully explain why she was so repulsed by the idea of forming a relationship with Sans, but it explained some. Perhaps… it had something to do with… yeah, that was probably it. How could he be so blind? She'd been homeless, after all. Still, she was holding back unnecessarily. He could understand why, but… She wouldn't live forever. Neither would Sans. Why not just enjoy life to the fullest while she could?

"Are you afraid that Sans would do something like that to you?" He pressed a bit, even more determined on getting her a happy ending. She deserved one, after all. Now more than ever.

"What!? No!?" She said, her expression looking like she had just witnessed him kicking a three-limbed puppy mercilessly. "Why would you even think that!?"

"I'm just trying to understand. If you aren't afraid that Sans will do something like that then what gives!?"

"Nedd! I just said-"

"That you couldn't afford to right now." He finished. "But honestly, that's plain bullshit in my opinion. I'll stop being the 'shipper guy' for a moment just to reason with you, if that makes you feel better. You already have a great relationship with the guy and it's undeniable that there is some chemistry. You are also single and don't seem to have feelings for anyone other than Sans when it comes to romance."

"I don't have romantic feelings for Sans!" Miranda interrupted.

"I would say bullshit to that but if it makes you feel better let's make this a hypothetical scenario. Imagine that you do have them. Even with your past romantic failures I don't see any reason not to go through with it. Those are in the past and they should stay that way. Sure, you can take some wisdom from them but you don't have to let every single aspect of them color any new relationship you might hypothetically start with Sans. As for how things are right now: I'm not exactly sure why you think there's anything barring you from having a relationship. I'm not that close to you. But Sans is and, so far, he is sticking around you."

"Sans doesn't have feelings for me, though." She interrupted again.

"Has he told you so?" Nedd stopped in his tracks to confirm it.

"Well… no."

"Then don't speak for him what his feelings are. Only he knows what they are and he might even be in as much denial as I suspect you are. Unless he actually told you what he is feeling then it isn't cannon!"

"But then why isn't what I told you cannon?" She insisted.

Smart girl. Not smart enough, though.

"Because every single thing you claim seems to be centered around you not being able to afford a relationship right now and, if that's the sort of mentality you have, then of course you won't even consider the chance of having a relationship, let alone how you are actually feeling! Tell me something believable on why you won't consider having a relationship with Sans that isn't based on current circumstances or on your perception of his feelings or anything outside of you and then I might give you the benefit of the doubt. I won't believe you because I've seen how you act around him, but at least I'll actually take it into account." Nedd quickly changed back to the topic at hand. "But back to my original point. If you hypothetically have feelings for him and let's keep Sans' feelings as an unknown variable just for the sake of realism, even with your past relationships being the way they were, even with whatever state of living that you currently are in -but that probably has to do with why you were homeless before you were taken into the compound for safe keeping in the first place- I don't see why you can't have a relationship with him. Girly, like it or not, life is short. You won't live forever. Neither will he. You never know when disaster will take one of you. So, I ask you, would you be ok if you died with things the way they are. Would you be ok if he was the one doing the dying? Are you sure you wouldn't have had any regrets like actually confessing your feelings to him? And imagining he did like you! What if he took all the things you said as a rejection and decided to move on just because you were too afraid? Would you really be ok with him starting a new relationship with someone else?"

"Nedd…" She sighed in resignation and he knew she was still not taking him seriously. "Those are a lot of hypotheticals. Too many 'what ifs'. And it's all based solely on me actually having feelings for him. Now, I won't deny that I'm his friend and that I trust him a lot. I also won't deny that I'm attracted to him. But that doesn't mean I'm in love with him either. And I understand it can be frustrating seeing to people who 'have it all' to have a good, stable relationship and them being just friends. I mean, if they can't have a stable, healthy relationship then what chance do you have, right? I've had a lot of people saying that about me and Daniel before. They put so much stock and hope on our relationship working despite everything, but they had no idea how much strain I was under just to keep it afloat. Appearances aren't everything, Nedd. Just because we appear to be 'tailor made to each other' like you seem to think we are it doesn't mean that it's the truth. I appreciate your concern. I really do. But it really isn't like that at all." She said.

What a load of bullshit. She hadn't even given anything of what he said any real thought. She had merely waited until he was done talking and went right back to the same litany.

Many would consider this a failure. Not Nedd, though. With her little speech he managed to uncover more of her personality and state of being. He now understood why Undyne and Alphys kept failing. Miranda would stone wall anyone who tried the directly approach with her. She constantly had her defenses up when it came to that topic. Nedd would have to sneak the knowledge of her true feelings past her defenses somehow. He just didn't know how to do it yet.

One thing was for sure: his shipping would become almost non-existent. Keeping up with it after this serious conversation would just make her shut him out and she had just opened up to him. She was basically giving him a chance of proving himself trustworthy when it came to her self-perceived feelings. She might not even realize that she was doing it, but she was. And Nedd would honor it for what is was.

"I still don't believe you completely, but I will stop bugging you so much about it. I'm still going to tease you, though, just because you get so flustered about it. Don't even tell me to stop it. Undyne tells me you do it to Sans because you think it's adorable so, unless you plan on stopping that too, you'd be a hypocrite if you demanded me to do it." Nedd finished.

She grumbled a bit at him having cornered her like that.

"Fiiiiine." She said at last.

"Good. See you tomorrow, girly!" He said and she looked around surprised. Had she really not noticed they had arrived at the compound during the conversation?

"Good night, Nedd." She said, unbuckling Sans and clumsily exiting the car with him still firmly attached to her.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I can take it from here."

"Ok. Good night!"

"Good night!" She said.

=Bye, Neddynerd!= Rajani added.

She had been mostly absent of the conversation but it seemed that, even if Miranda had put no stock on it, she greatly disliked his insinuations, given her sudden nickname. Some might even consider it slightly offensive. Not Nedd, though. He would have to have a serious conversation with Rajani some time. He needed to see where she stood on this.

For now, he would just go home. He deserved some rest after all of this.

.

EN:

so... do you like him or do you like him?
Nedd's such a great guy.