You're really bad at this.

"Nngh, don't remind me," Frisk groaned, dropping their face on the table. They didn't even care that they were talking to Chara out loud. Mom had said she had to do something downstairs, so she wouldn't hear.

Frisk still wasn't sure what was down there. Unless Chara was right. But then why would Mom go there and not let them…?

She's not going to leave you. She loves you more than anything. Now stop worrying and start multiplying these two-digit numbers.

"If you're so good at math, why don't you do it?" They grumbled.

It would be a disrespect of monster culture to give away the answers to puzzles.

"It's not a puzzle. It's just math." Frisk had always hated math. Remembering all the steps was just too hard. They should've told Mom the truth, that couldn't do it. But they didn't want her to think they were stupid, or lazy, or—

Frisk.

They took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to drown out their sudden panic.

"Yeah?"

Mom will go over it again if you ask. But… if you don't want to bother her… I guess I could help.

Frisk blinked. A couple tears dripped onto the parchment, blurring one of Mom's neatly hand-written problems.

"Really?"

Yeah, whatever. I don't want to sit here doing math any more than you do. Do you remember what Mom said the first step is?

"Something about the right column?" They couldn't remember if they were supposed to add, or subtract, or multiply the two digits. It wouldn't make sense to multiply them, would it? They were multiplying the whole two-digit numbers, and if you put all those together the answer would be too big, right?

Wrong.

Frisk's shoulders slumped. Of course they were too stupid to do it.

That's not what I said. Why do you keep wanting to give up? Where's that determination you're so famous for?

Math did not fill them with determination. It was boring, and dumb, and a reminder of everything they'd left behind on the surface.

Oh.

"Stop eavesdropping on my thoughts," Frisk said. "It's rude."

They knew they risked driving Chara off again, but it was hard to care. Those memories… Frisk didn't want them. Chara didn't need them. Toriel was their mom, and Chara was right, she wouldn't think they were stupid, not like Mae and Patrick would.

You eavesdrop on my thoughts all the time, Chara scoffed. Mae and Patrick. Were those your parents? I mean—Mom is our mom. This doesn't change anything. Those two were the stupid ones. Forget about them.

Frisk bit their lip hard. Chara was rambling, and their not-voice felt too loud, but they were just trying to help. Always trying to help.

"Let's just do the stupid math," they said, brushing eraser shavings off of the paper. "What was the first step again?"

Chara was more patient in their explanation than Frisk expected. Did they want to be a teacher like Mom did? That would probably be pretty hard if Frisk was the only one who could hear them.

"Why am I the only one who can hear you?" They asked in between problems. They usually didn't press Chara, but they couldn't help wondering. And since Chara seemed to be in a good mood, it was as good a chance as ever.

I don't know.

Huh. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Chara didn't know everything.

You give me too much credit. I didn't even know…

"Know what?" Frisk waited with their pencil gripped firmly in their hand. Even the things Chara did know, they were often reluctant to share. How much would they say about what they didn't know?

What happened with Toriel and Asgore. I never thought they would...

"You knew them pretty well," Frisk guessed.

Chara chuckled. You could say that.

"Hey… Chara?"

Why does that voice sound like you're going to ask me to do something?

"I'm not! Actually, I—I want to help you." They wished they could look into Chara's eyes while they talked, but as far as they knew, Chara didn't have eyes. Or a body. "You've helped me so much, and Asgore sounds really important to you, so… we could, um… try to open that locked room? While Mom's gone? Maybe we can find some clues."

You'd… snoop around for me?

"It's not snooping. It's just… looking. Quietly."

Like I said. Snooping.

"Okay, but just this once!" Frisk looked over their shoulder, as if Mom would come back and hear them any minute. Maybe she would. They had no idea how long she would be gone.

Better knock out this homework, then. Wouldn't want our problems to multiply on you.

Frisk blinked. "That joke was terrible."

Hey, you would've laughed if Mom said it!

Frisk giggled this time. They would have; Mom was always so cute when she told a pun. She'd get such a ridiculous grin on her face that they couldn't help laughing.

It was too bad they couldn't see Chara's face.

Ugh. Just hurry up and finish the math so we can go snoop. I bet I can guess where Mom hid the key.

It would've gone faster if Chara would just give them the answers, but Frisk didn't complain. They'd given them enough help.

And besides, they'd rather not have to lie to Mom any more than they already were.