Muffet's was absolutely nothing like Grillby's. To begin with, it wasn't even a bar. It was a café. And like everything else in this universe, it seemed to be all bright and happy. As they entered, a bunch of people greeted Papyrus, and a few people greeted Blue as well.

"Oh, hello Papyrus! Hello Sans!"

Red looked up to see a spider woman approaching them. Without even thinking, he prepared himself for if she decided to attack, taking a small step backward.

"And who's this? One of those other-universe monsters?" Muffet asked.

"Hi Muffet! Yup, he's me from another universe! He showed up this morning!" Blue answered.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you," Muffet turned to him with a smile.

She reached a hand toward his shoulder, but he stepped back again, just out of her reach. He saw her smile falter and realized that her actions apparently hadn't been ill-intentioned.

"Uh, yeah, it's… nice to meet you too?" he spoke in an attempt to make the situation less awkward.

Red stood there while Papyrus chatted with Muffet. He wasn't sure what to make of the monster. She wasn't very much like Grillby, it seemed, but if she followed the pattern of this world, she probably wouldn't be very much like the Muffet from his world, either. He wouldn't really know, though.

Eventually, Papyrus was done talking and they went to sit at one of the tables. Papyrus had apparently ordered for them while Red was spacing out again, so before long, Muffet returned with a plate of eclairs.

Red hadn't ever seen an eclair, let alone eaten one. Most people he knew, including himself, weren't very fond of desserts, and besides, the resources used to make them were better used for actual food. Sure, they could still increase HP, but sweet ingredients were hard to come by. The eclairs were vaguely hot-cat-shaped, though they were smaller and obviously made out of some kind of baked dough. There was a dark-colored glaze and some colorful little candy-like things sprinkled on top. Looking back at the two other skeletons, he saw that Papyrus had started eating and Blue was looking at him expectantly again. For a fraction of a second, the question of poison popped back up, but he shoved it back into the corner of his mind.

Red bit into the eclair and immediately made a surprised sound. The inside was hollow and filled with a creamy substance that was exploding with sugar. Despite not disliking the taste, he quickly swallowed the bite to keep himself from choking on any more surprises.

"Never had an eclair before?" Papyrus questioned.

"What's inside of this thing?" Red asked instead of answering the question.

"Pastry cream."

"Pastry cream?"

What in the fresh Hell was pastry cream?

The strange Papyrus chuckled.

"Yup, I guess ya haven't had it before, but it's good, right?"

Red stared at him.

"Uh… yeah," he responded before grumbling quietly. "Scared the livin' shit outta me…"

Apparently, both skeletons heard him, because Papyrus laughed yet again while Blue huffily puffed his cheeks in mild annoyance. Red returned to eating the eclair, and now that he knew what to expect, he found that he actually kind of enjoyed it.

XXX

By the end of the day, Papyrus and Sans had shown Red around a large chunk of the Underground, though most of that chunk was around Snowdin. They decided to hold off on going to meet Alphys for the time being and went back home to eat more tacos and go to bed. Red, though Blue had offered him his own bed, opted to sleep on the couch. Blue probably would have insisted Red sleep in his bed if Red hadn't shifted back into a fearful manner at the time. Well, at least it was a comfy couch.

Blue tended to go to bed pretty early, but by the time Papyrus was done reading him his bedtime story, Red had passed out on the couch already. Shrugging, the taller skeleton pulled the blanket over Red's smaller form and went up to his own room to sleep.

When he was suddenly jolted awake, Papyrus knew that it wasn't even close to morning. At first, he wasn't sure what woke him up, but then he heard a scream sound out from downstairs. Startled and having no idea what was going on, Papyrus shot out of bed so fast that even Blue would have been surprised. Then, he teleported downstairs, appearing in the middle of the living room.

Red was apparently having a nightmare.

He was thrashing around and whimpering, letting out a harsh shout every so often. That, however, was far less concerning than the myriad of red bone attacks moving erratically around the room. Papyrus had to dodge a row of bones coming at him, and one managed to graze his leg, though not enough to bleed.

[-1 HP]

Papyrus was thankful that Red's attacks, though plentiful and uncontrolled, were weak. He did, however, silently pray that Sans would stay asleep, or at least stay in his bedroom, since, like Red, Blue only had 1 HP.

Papyrus carefully approached the figure sleeping fitfully on the couch, continuing to dodge whatever attacks he could, and once he was close enough, he took a gentle hold of Red's shoulder and began to shake him awake. Almost as soon as he touched him, Red's eyes shot wide open with a Red glow and Papyrus found himself face-to-face with a Gaster blaster.

"Ah, shit!" Papyrus cursed, ducking beneath the beam that shot from its mouth.

When the attack ended, Papyrus looked back to Red. The smaller skeleton was staring at him with wide eye sockets, the eye lights shrunken into pinpricks with terror.

"I-I-I-I'm s-sorry, Boss!" Red stuttered out, curling himself into a defensive position. "I-I-It-It was an a-a-accident-t! I-!"

Papyrus opened his mouth to assure the skeleton that he was, first of all, not 'his' Papyrus, and secondly, that he was fine, but Red's breathing had started picking up, and Papyrus realized he was starting to have another panic attack.

"Hey, it's alright, buddy," he tried to speak soothingly. "You're safe, okay? Whatever happened in your nightmare was just a nightmare. It's okay. Try to breathe with me, okay buddy?"

He saw Red's eye lights focus on him, so he figured that Red heard him. Papyrus began to breathe in and out deeply, trying to get Red to follow along and hopefully avoid another full-blown panic attack. Luckily, Red had managed to get a hold on his breathing before it could progress too far, and the panic attack didn't last as long as the one he had when he first arrived.

"See? You're not in any danger."

Just as Red began to calm down, the door to Blue's bedroom squeaked open.

"Paps? Is everything okay? I heard a lot of commotion down there," Blue spoke, being much more quiet than usual.

"Yeah, bro, Red just had a nightmare," Papyrus replied.

Hearing this, Blue made his own way down the stairs, coming to stand in front of Red.

"Are you okay, Red?" he asked, concerned.

Red's eyes shifted from Papyrus over to Blue. He was still trembling, but otherwise appeared to be okay.

"Y-Yeah, I-I-I'm j-just f-fine…"

Blue settled down on the couch next to Red.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. "Sometimes that helps me feel better when I'm having a nightmare."

"Uh, n-no…," replied Red, looking down into his lap.

"Oh, well, that's okay, then!" Blue said with a reassuring smile. " You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But I'll be here if you change your mind!"

Red didn't respond, and Papyrus joined the two of them on the couch. They sat there silently for a while, with Red picking at his own fingertips. Eventually, Blue got up, announcing that he was going to make some hot chocolate, seeing as he could only remain quiet and still for so long. A few minutes after Blue trotted into the kitchen, Papyrus decided to speak up.

"Why do you call your brother 'Boss'?"

Red jumped before the picking increased in speed.

"'Cuz he told me to," he answered with a shrug. "A-And, well, he's the Head of the Royal Guard, s-so he is my boss…"

Just then, Blue returned to the room with a tray of mugs. Of course, since the kitchen was right there, he had heard the short bit of conversation.

"Wait, your Papyrus is the Head of the Royal Guard?!" Sans exclaimed. "But what about Alphys- or, I guess it would be Undyne?"

Papyrus saw Red tense up even further somehow. The bone picking became aggressive enough that Papyrus was worried that Red was going to chip his own bones, so he carefully placed a comforting hand over Red's fidgeting ones. Red seemed to be taken aback, but he didn't growl or anything, so Papyrus kept his hand there.

It was silent again for a while, and they eventually concluded that Red wasn't going to answer. As Blue set the tray of mugs down on the coffee table, however, they heard Red's voice, so quiet is was practically a whisper.

"Undyne is dead."

Red was directing a dark stare down into his lap, resolutely avoiding all eye contact with the other two skeletons.

Papyrus hadn't been expecting that.

XXX

So, this chapter's a bit lighter? Still has a good dollop of angst, though.

... I'm pretty sure all of the chapters have a good dollop of angst...