Frisk, wake up.
There was no answer.
Frisk ! Wake up ! Chara insisted, a bit louder this time.
The human moved a bit on their bed, letting out a small noise to show that they had heard, but they still weren't waking up.
FRISK ! WAKE UP ! Chara screamed at them, knowing no one else could actually hear them so they could yell as much as they wanted.
This finally was enough to force Frisk out of bed, they turned on the lights and had to close their eyes for a bit to get used to the brightness. They wanted to complain about what Chara just did but they couldn't since they were the one who told Chara to do that in the first place yesterday.
Today was Asgore's birthday, and as such they had decided to surprise him by baking a butterscotch -cinnamon pie for breakfast, Toriel's recipe. In order to do that before he woke up they needed to get up early, but if they set an alarm it might have woken up Asgore too and ruined everything. Thus Chara had agreed to serve as Frisk's alarm clock since no one else but Frisk could hear them.
Frisk did suspect that Chara had taken a bit too much fun in waking them up by screaming though…
Okay, i admit it. Chara thoulked back to them.
Thoulking was a verb that Chara completely made up. In reality it was just a poor mixture of 'thought' and 'talking' and Frisk knew it, but they would never dare to bring it up in Chara's face.
Chara and them had this weird ability to talk to each other in their mind and to see each other's thoughts or emotions if they tried, unless they purposely chose to block the other from doing it that is. Most of the time it was Chara using that ability on them and not the other way around.
And so, in an incredible display of imagination, Chara decided to name the action of talking to each other via thoughts "thoulking". Asgore would have been proud of his adoptive child's naming skills. They were just as great as his own it seemed.
Frisk quickly and quietly prepared before making their way to the kitchen. They had told Toriel in advance about what they had planned so she had given them the recipe and made sure to have the ingredients needed for when the day came.
How were they going to do this though ? They had all the steps listed out so that should be doable. They didn't really have much experience in cooking aside from Undyne's lesson which was… An experience to say the least.
They wanted to make Asgore a great birthday pie, and that filled them with determination.
FILE SAVED
Having a SAVE here would also allow them to fix their mistakes if they made any, so that might come in handy. Although it would be easier if only they just had some help.
Hey, wait a minute… What if...
No. Chara answered as soon as they felt Frisk's thoughts.
"Oh come on, im sure it'll be fun, and im not the best at baking so i need all the help i can get !" They thoulked to Chara.
Do you even realise what you are saying ? You want ME to help for cooking ? Do you remember what happened the last time i tried to make food for Asgore ? Im really the last person you should be asking this to. Chara really didn't look enthusiastic at that idea.
"...Please ?"
Its not a good idea Frisk.
"We're not gonna mess anything up, we have the steps right there." they said pointing at the recipe.
They were also instructions that one time, yet the 'cups of butter – buttercups' confusion still happened.
"That was because you didn't follow exactly what the instructions said. It said 'cups of butter' right ? If we just stick to exactly what it says there won't be any problems"
I still don't think its a good plan. Not to mention its supposed to be a birthday present from you, not anyone else.
"He won't know, and even if he somehow did he'd be really happy to know you helped"
You're not going to stop arguing until i give in aren't you ?
Frisk nodded as an answer and Chara smiled a bit. They couldn't fight back against Frisk's determination so might as well let that one slip.
Fine, but don't expect much from me.
That would be enough to satisfy them, Frisk already felt a bit more confident knowing they had some help, even from someone like Chara who wasn't famous for their cooking skills.
"Alright so lets look at the ingredients first" Frisk thoulked as they unfolded the recipe.
So they would need 2 tablespoons of flour and cornstarch, half a teaspoon of salt, two cups of milk, one cup of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and of vanilla extract, 4 table spoons of butter and some eggs.
First step was to prebake the pie crust. Should be easy enough.
Frisk rolled out the unprepared pie crust and proceeded to give it the proper shape. The next step was to cut another pie crust into strips and braid it to put around the first pie crust afterwards.
Was braiding it really necessary ? Sounded like a lot of tricky work for just aesthetic, Frisk thought.
Just skip it.
They decided to follow Chara's advice. That step didn't matter much for the actual taste of the pie so they wouldn't make it harder for themself.
After preheating the oven, next they needed to make the actual butterscotch.
"So do i just put all of this stuff in a mixing bowl ?"
Yes.
Frisk did as instructed and put the egg yolks along with the cinnamon, cornstarch and brown sugar in a bowl before starting to stir.
You're doing it too slowly.
Frisk tried stirring harder.
Harder !
They attempted to go even faster but struggled to do so.
Pffff, i'll show you how its done !
With that, Chara took control of their body and started stirring much harder than they were.
On one hand, they were grateful for the help, on the other hand, they did not like it when Chara seized control of their body like that without asking first. They had always been able to do that since they first fell underground, it was a consequence of body sharing they assumed. As much as they were okay to let Chara move with a physical body on their own once in a while, it was still pretty rude to knock someone out of their own body without permission.
Once Chara was done, everything was properly mixed, Frisk took that chance to bring it up after gaining back control.
"Chara what did i say about taking control of me without asking first ?"
Chara rolled their eyes. Not to do it.
"Then stop doing it !"
Sorry, but that was going to take forever if you did it yourself.
"You could have just warned me before doing it at least"
You would have said no.
"I would have said yes !"
Liar.
The next step was browning butter.
"I can do that on my own" they thoulked to Chara to make sure they wouldn't attempt anything funny. Chara made no comment on that.
You need to mix the cream and the milk on medium high in a different pot afterwards Chara read out the next step while Frisk was turning off the heat for the butter, having finished the previous step.
Frisk did as instructed before wondering : "And when do i turn this one off ?"
Once it steams. Next you have to mix the brown sugar and water.
"How hot ?"
115C°
"WHAT ?" They realised a bit too late that they had been too loud. Hopefully no one had heard.
"That's really hot..." They added.
Scared of getting burned ? You were already burned alive by Flowey a couple times, come on its really not that bad compared to what you've already seen.
Chara was right technically, but they still didn't like that idea. Well if its in the recipe…
Frisk turned up the heat.
"What now ?"
You might have to mix it manually, i don't think just the heat will suffice.
"I need to stir it when its that hot ?"
Welcome to cooking. Wait, didn't you literally burn down Undyne's house once ? I bet that was much hotter than this is.
Why did Chara have to be right all the time ?
Because im the best. They replied as a joke, having heard what Frisk just thought.
Frisk stared at it for a while.
What ? Aren't you gonna do it ?
"..."
Chara was about to do it for them before remembering what they said a few minutes ago.
After purposely making a very loud sigh to let Frisk know how annoyed they were to have to say this, they asked.
If you're not doing it, Can i use your body to do that for you ?
After a quick nod from their partner, Chara took control and dealt with the problem.
"Alright let me continue now" Frisk told Chara before taking back control just after they set the heat back to low.
Frisk read the next step to find they now had to add the milk mixture and the brown butter. That was easy. As they were about to do it a question formed on their mind.
That's a good question, im actually not sure.
They had just wondered if they could put it all at once or if they had to do it slowly.
"Well if its all at once it won't change anything if we do it slowly but if its the other way around it might mess it up if we put everything at once so i say lets do it slowly just in case"
Sounds good.
(I bet you wouldn't even be able to do it all at once) Chara taunted them.
"I threw everything in at once when Undyne made me cook, including the box. So you're wrong" Frisk thoulked back while they were mixing it slowly, also stirring at the same time.
Alright we're close to being done, now you have to mix what you've just obtained with the first thing you mixed.
"You mean the one you mixed for me"
Are you still on about that ?
"You never apologised and even called me a liar afterwards"
Okay fine, im sorry, can we continue now ?
"Gladly" Frisk smiled.
Once they were done, the result was actually starting to look like the filling of Toriel's pies, looks like they were doing at least decently.
Frisk check the recipe again to find that now they just had to increase the temperature a bit again and do some more stirring.
"Why does every single step in this recipe involve stirring ?" They wondered.
Don't complain, you haven't seen the recipe for her snail pie.
"have you ?"
No, but its obvious it involves finding snails, killing them and whatever else needs to be done to snails to turn them into pie filling so... Imagine for yourself.
Frisk tried imagining it.
No ! Nevermind ! Don't imagine it ! Chara quickly regretted their decision.
"its starting to get gooey..." Frisk commented on they kept stirring the mixture of increasing temperature.
I think its supposed to do that.
"How do we know when its done ?"
Im not sure, does the recipe say it ?
"No it doesn't… Maybe its done when it reaches a stable temperature ?"
That makes sense, you're probably right.
"Alright so now comes the satisfying part, putting it all on the pie crust !"
They both smiled as Frisk poured the result of their work on it, although they quickly saw it wasn't evenly spread out.
"I'll fix it" Frisk used a kitchen knife to try and even it out and it worked… Mostly.
After this they took a few steps back to look at their creation.
I think you did pretty good.
"Its wasn't all me, you also helped" Chara once again made no comment on that and changed the subject.
It has to bake for about half in hour now and then cool down for about as long.
"Good thing you woke me up this early then, else Asgore might be up by the time its ready"
So what now ?
"Hmm, i don't know..."
Actually, i have an idea.
"What is it ?"
You want to surprise him by making him something he loves to eat for breakfast right ?
Frisk nodded in response.
So how about this, to go along with it, make something he loves to drink too while we wait for the pie !
Frisk's eyes widened.
"That's a really good idea ! Lets make golden flower tea !"
Frisk felt Chara getting tense as they said that. Oh, right. It probably wasn't bringing in the best memories to talk about Dreemurrs and golden flowers to Chara...
"...Sorry, i didn't mean to make you-"
Its okay.
They could feel it wasn't entirely okay, but they didn't push it since they could feel Chara didn't want them to.
"Is that tea as hard to make as the pie ?"
No, that's actually super easy. Just get the golden flower tea box, boil some water, and that's literally all you need. He keeps it up there, look.
Chara pointed to where Asgore kept it, Frisk was barely tall enough to reach it.
"Do i make it right now ? If i do it might be cold by the time the pie is done."
Good point, maybe wait a little bit.
The king of all monsters woke up to find out that he was alone in the room, he might have overslept a bit, he didn't hear any noise at all but the sun was shining through the semi opened window. It was a beautiful day outside, birds were singing, flowers were blooming, perfect weather for a game of catch.
Today was a special day for another reason though, it was his birthday. Despite already being centuries old Asgore still enjoyed his birthdays, wether it was just residents of the underground congratulating him back then or fellow citizens here on the surface now that he was just a constitutional monarch without real powers.
It always brought a good mood, like a ray of sunshine. Who wouldn't love birthdays ?
Asgore was lost in his thoughts as he opened the door, as soon as he did some quick exited footsteps resonated from the other side of the house.
Before he had the time to react he was greeted by the sight of Frisk running to him with a breakfast tray. How thoughful of them !
"Happy birthday !" They told him in a cute cheering voice, Toriel came in shortly behind Frisk and wished him the same.
Frisk then hurried him over to the table and Asgore calmly obliged before sitting down.
They then put in front of him their breakfast tray and Asgore got to look at it properly. It was butterscotch-cinnamon pie and golden flower tea ! His favorite ! Did they…
"Frisk ? Did you make those by yourself ?" Asgore was honestly surprised, he probably shouldn't be as this same child had gone through much harder challenges than baking but the idea that they could have done all this for him made him really happy.
"Well yes, but i had a little bit of help" Frisk winked as they answered.
Asgore turned his eyes to Toriel, who he could only assume Frisk was refering to as she must have provided them with the recipe. Toriel herself also believed Frisk was talking exclusively about her. But this time Frisk had also gotten some help from a little someone else. they would never know of course.
"Its really good." Asgore announced after taking a bite of the pie. "You can be proud of yourself, however i think you might have made too much pie for just me, how about you two start helping me with it ?"
Everyone sat down and took a slice of pie as well. Frisk however didn't start eating theirs yet as they were busy thoulking to someone.
"Come on, im letting you do it ! You helped me make it so you deserve it."
I can taste what you taste anyways Frisk, just eat your pie.
"No, you take one bite by yourself, i insist."
Chara wanted to respond again but eventually decided that talking their way out of eating pie against Frisk was not worth the effort, and they didn't get to actually eat stuff on their own very often. The only other times were when Frisk bribed them so that they would let them do something in exchange for letting them use their body to eat chocolate. It was their weakness.
They hadn't gotten to eat one of these pies directly since they died, they only got to feel the taste when Frisk ate them. It wasn't really one of Toriel's pie but it was the same recipe, close enough.
Chara took control of Frisk's body after some hesitation and took a bite of pie. It wasn't as good as Toriel's of course but it was good for beginners, Asgore was right, they did a great job with this. Chara almost took a second bite before Frisk forced them back.
"Hey" They thoulked. "I didn't say more than one bite"
You shouldn't have tempted me.
"So i take it you love it then, see i told you it would be worth it to help me with this"
I guess you were right, it wasn't a bad idea after all.
"Couldn't have done it without you !"
Annnnnd you've ruined it, now you're sounding cheesy.
"Am i wrong though ?"
Toriel watched silently as Frisk held the pie in front of their mouth and started trembling for just a second before taking one bite. As they were about to take a second bite they suddenly pulled the pie away and held their head back, then they started twitching a bit again.
After a few seconds they stopped acting weirdly and finished eating the pie normally.
She found it strange that Frisk acted like that sometimes but that was just how they were it seemed. She assumed it was some sort of weird habit of theirs or a tic or something like this. She didn't dare to question it much.
Today they made Asgore really happy, and that's what matters.