"hey uh, bro? whatcha chewing on there buddy?"

"*Nom nom* Dunno Snas, but it tastes like string."

"It looks like he stole one of the king's shoe laces," said Flowey looking bored. Normally he would have jumped at the chance to call out the baby bones on how gross he was, but today he was feeling depressed. While the brothers slept at Asgore's, HE had hid back in the air vent to await the phone call he knew Gaster would get. Flowey waited in there for hours, getting excited each time the phone rang, and disappointed when it turned out to be just another monster complaining about the lack of power in the Underground. Eventually the call DID come, but it wasn't at all what Flowey was hoping for. Instead of lecturing the scientist on proper child care and/or firing him, the king decided to take pity on the snobby nerd and have a new crib made for Papyrus; stating that he knew how hard things currently were in the Underground and that Gaster was incredibly kind for at least TRYING to take care of his children all by himself though it was true he couldn't give them much.

"Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting..."

"yeah it WOULD be disgusting...if asgore wore shoes."

"Huh?"

"asgore doesn't wear shoes, so it can't be a giant shoe lace. maybe it's a weird scarf or something."

It took Flowey a moment to piece together what Sans was talking about, but when he understood, all it did was make him angrier. "You idiot, of course Asgore wears shoes! Or he used to anyway, before they got old. He and the queen are the only boss monsters in the Underground, so their shoe size isn't exactly in high demand. The stores don't carry it."

"so? can't he order someone to make a pair for him?"

"Why Smiley? What the hell for? He spends all day in his stupid castle being stupid, he doesn't need shoes."

"*Nom nom* So dat means BABY can eats da' laces!"

"nooo, you CAN'T eat the laces. shoe laces aren't food pap," said Sans taking the gross object from his brother's mouth.

"I eats sgetti dough..."

"spaghetti isn't ma-"

"He knows Smiley, he's just trolling you."

"Is you mad cause' da' sgetti be stale," the baby bones narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Or does you just want my noodle for yourself?"

"all i want," began Sans, heading toward the nearest trashcan. "is to throw this thing away. it's gross bro, it's probably full of dirt and germs from places we've never even HEARD of-"

"NYEH!"

The comedian stopped short as the infant grabbed the shoe lace, adding extra weight to it...not that it was enough to stop him mind you, Sans wasn't THAT out of shape. He easily dragged his baby brother along the carpet, causing Flowey to wince and turn away.

Idiot skeleton.

He didn't feel bad for Papyrus or anything, but the sight brought back painful memories of when Chara first came to live with his family. They hadn't really been easy to live with despite how often his mother praised them. If they weren't moping around, looking either depressed or bored, they were playing tricks on him and his parents.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!"

"OH!" Toriel jumped and dropped the spoon she was washing into the sink. "Oh my goodness gracious child, you startled me, ha ha!"

"Come on Chara, stop sneaking up on mom like that, she's getting old."

"I beg your pardon?!"

"I said you're getting old."

"HMPH!" The queen turned to Asgore. "Fuzzy Bear, are you really going to let him talk to me that way?"

"Respect your mother Asriel," said the king wrapping up their leftover food. "You're not only a prince, but also an older brother now. You must practice restraint so you can be a good example for Chara and the people you'll one day have to look after. Even if you're right-"

"Which he isn't."

"You must still put others first. That means keeping your personal opinions to yourself sometimes and even lying when necessary."

Asriel turned around in his chair. "I'm sorry mother. You're still super young and definitely not fat."

"...Go to your room."

"Heh heh heh, your lying needs works my son, but I'm still proud of you for trying."

"Both of you go to your room."

"No wait!" cried Chara. "I have to give you all your Christmas presents!" The child handed Asriel a green box tied in a red ribbon and Asgore took the other one. Their smile creeped the tiny boss monster out, but his parents either didn't notice the suspicious change in Chara's attitude or they just simply didn't care. One of the few things that bothered him about his family more than anything.

Everyone in the family knew by now that there was something...off, about Chara. Something that didn't feel right. They were quiet. Their sense of humor was dark, they enjoyed breaking into places they weren't supposed to be in, and they pocketed random things regardless of whether or not those things were in someone's house. Asgore and Toriel often chalked their strange behavior up to cultural differences, but Asriel knew they bought it about as much as he did. Whenever someone tried to talk to Chara it felt as if the child were barely listening and their dialog often didn't match their expression, they did however, always seem to say the right thing even if their face was wrong. It was...well, creepy. Too creepy to ignore. Chara's behavior was creepy and his parents not only knew, but worse, didn't care. Instead of trying to fix what they saw wrong, they embraced their human child's false moments of normality in hopes that if they encouraged them to wear the fake mask they sometimes put on for everyone, it would somehow eventually fuse to their face...and the problems Chara had would just disappear.

Or maybe they just didn't want to be reminded of them.

The hell if Asriel knew.

What he DID know, was that things were getting worse. Dangerous. Chara was getting angrier, he could sense it, feel it, SEE it. His mother's doing he was sure as she was FAR more aggressive than Asgore.

Stop cursing and stop making such horrible jokes, they aren't funny.

Stop breaking into places.

Stop collecting things that don't belong to you.

Stop collecting random garbage you find on the ground.

Stop collecting knives, why are you collecting knives?!

Play with your toys! Say hi when someone greets you, don't just nod!

Play with your brother, be a good sibling!

Smile in pictures, be a good example.

Why can't you be more polite?

Why can't you be more thoughtful?

Why can't you be kind?

Just be honest!

Just be normal!

JUST. BE. GOOD!

Why are you crying my child?

You know I love you...right?

I only want what's best for you...

These were the things Asriel heard on a regular basis. He wasn't an expert at parenting or anything, but he doubted an onslaught of orders was going to do anything but make Chara feel like trash. When they attempted to kill off his father with buttercups he finally stepped up to his mother and tried to get her to understand how serious things had gotten, but she stubbornly clung to her denial and continued to make things worse.

My mom's an idiot. How the hell would we confuse butter with flowers? THEY PUT THOSE IN WHEN I WASN'T LOOKING YOU STUPID COW!

You can't just order someone to change their personality or ignore their bad behavior and expect it to go away...they have to want to change on their own. You have to accept who they are and hope they like you enough to leave some of their bad habits behind so you'll like THEM just as much...

He wished he could say that.

He WANTED to say it, but he just...

"What the hell is Christmas?" asked the goat-child eyeing the box warily. This was definitely a prank, but he had no idea how deadly it was. He had THOUGHT that the reason Chara had targeted his father was so Asriel would become king after his death and finally have the power to tell their mother to shut it without suffering any consequences...but now that Asriel had exposed himself as what Papyrus called a "snitch-bitch" it was possible that Chara no longer believed he was on their side.

Are they trying to kill me too?

If they do, they'll be the only one left for the throne...

"Christmas is a human holiday similar to Present Day, also watch your language," said Asgore undoing the ribbon. Asriel flinched, expecting an explosion of epic proportions to take out he and his entire family, but instead the king pulled the ugliest sweater he'd ever seen out of the box. "Oh...it's a sweater. Thank you Chara, how very...thoughtful."

Asriel opened his box to find a sweater of his own, though this one was striped.

"Well, isn't this nice Asriel? You've been needing something striped, otherwise no one will know you're a child!"

"Well I don't know about that, he still looks like a kid to me, hee hee hee!"

"Tori, please-"

"...I'm not wearing this."

"Hm? Why not child?" asked Toriel picking up the wrapping paper. "Chara worked hard on this."

"Oh I don't know mom, maybe it's because we have friggen' FUR? It'll be too hot and the static electricity...we can't even have carpet in our house and you want us to wear a sweater?!"

"*Sniff*"

"Shut up Chara, you're not sad. Mom we can't wear this and they KNOW it-"

"Nonsense! I know where you're going with this and it's utter nonsense! Chara's a good child, isn't that right little one? You should do things like this more often, look how happy everyone is!"

"..."

"Are you blind? I'M NOT HAPPY WITH THIS. THIS IS A-"

"Pun-ishment?"

"Are you friggen' SERIOUS? YOU'RE SUCH A-"

"ASRIEL! You will NOT take that tone with your mother, she's trying to cheer you up! Don't you see that?"

"BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT!"

"ASRIEL!"

"ROOM. NOW," ordered Asgore pointing down the hall. "I don't want to see you again for the rest of the night, and when I do see you again, you'd better be wearing that sweater."

"WHAT-EVER!" Asriel got out of his chair and headed to his room.

"Hey..."

"SHUT UP CHARA!"

"Um, I wasn't talking to you, crybaby. I was talking to father. I don't mean to be rude, but that sweater is actually for her. I didn't think you'd be comfortable wearing such a thing seeing as you're a king and I couldn't find anything dignified enough-"

"Ho ho ho! Such a fine child! We're so lucky to have you, isn't that right Tori?"

"Yeah okay, go ahead and interrupt me, it's not like I was talking or anything-"

"If this is for me, why does it say 'Men's' on the tag?" asked Tori inspecting the sweater.

"...It's the only size that would fit you."

"..."

"..."

"*Cough* Well I think these were both wonderful gifts! Thank you so much Chara."

"Yes...in fact I wonder how you knew our sizes to begin with."

"Ah. Well I wanted it to be a surprise, so I took both your measurements while you were asleep."

"...Oh."

A long uncomfortable silence filled the kitchen and didn't lift until Chara turned around and headed to their room, expressionless.

"...H-honey?"

"I'll get a new lock."

"*PFFT!* HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Huh? A-ASRIEL I TOLD YOU TO GET TO YOUR ROOM!"

"Hee hee hee..."

"Nyeh? What chu laughing bout' Dirt-butt?" asked the baby bones curiously.

"Hm? Nothing. Mind your business brat, go eat your spaghetti."

"FINE!" Papyrus crawled away from Flowey. "Suck-ass flower...nyeh..."

"aww! it's okay bro, just ignore him, he'll go away eventually."

"Kay'."

"..."