Alexi had a set routine for every morning, that way they did just sleep in and let the day passby. Each morning they would get up, stretch, and then a shower before eating a small breakfast while their tea steeped. At that point they would put in 2 tablespoons of honey and filled the rest of the cup with milk before heading over to their front window where they would enjoy their tea, afterwards they either did some work or if it was Friday go to see their therapist and afterwards they would pick up supplies for work. The one task Alexi couldn't leave to others to do.
They would watch the neighborhood, even if it was always quiet around this time in the morning. Well,that is until the skeletons moved next door, ever since then they would see the taller of the pair out every morning for a jog. After awhile it just became apart of Alexis routine to watch him run by, always at the same time. He must have his own routine.
That is until last Saturday, where they definitely embarrassed themselves when they had tripped over their own feet heading over to the window. They had grabbed a hold of the curtains to keep themselves up and saw the skeleton look right over at them, eye to eye contact. The first reaction of being caught was to hide so they ended up on the floor, tea covering their shirt with a bright red face.
Why did he look over, did he notice they had been watching them? Oh god they must look like a creeper. What were they suppose to say! hello neighbor! I've been watching you every morning. Like that wouldn't be stupid. They had hoped that would be the end of it, the tall skeleton would be weirded out by them and just start ignoring them and it would just go back to normal.
Except it didn't every morning the skeleton waved at them and they hid. Way too embarrassed at being spotted being weird and just trying to avoid any more unnecessary embarrassing scenes.
That's all they ever did actually, avoiding things and situations that made them nervous. Ever since they had moved to this neighbourhood they had been coming up with more reasons not to leave the house. Their job was one they did at home, no friends so no reason to leave the house, and groceries could be delivered. It all happened slowly, it wasn't until one day that they needed to collect the mail earlier than normal, a task normally done at night, where the neighbors saw them out and about. They were like vultures, coming over circling them asking questions. It hurt to breathe, and basically they ran straight back into the house. At that point they had realized how much they went out of their way to avoid people and realized they should most likely need to see a therapist.
They didn't start to go right away, it took awhile to find one and at first they thought it was just social anxiety. The second session is when the therapist brought up the word Agoraphobia and explained exactly what it was.
Agoraphobia, Fear of places and situations that might cause panic, helplessness, or embarrassment. It fit, almost too well.
When friday came they spoke to their therapist about the taller skeleton and what had been going on for the last week.
"I see, it's not because he is a monster correct?" Monsters really never bothered them, even if they didn't really interact with them a lot. They knew a lot of humans didn't particularly like the monsters but they weren't one of them.
"I embarrassed myself in front of them, maybe they knew the whole time i had been watching them. How creepy is that? I don't want them to hate me." It was easier to avoid a situation then to deal with an angry person.
"It seems to me, Alexi, if he is waving at you then it's unlikely that he is angry. Most likely he wants to befriend you, sadly it doesn't help your case if you hide away everytime. From an outsider perception they would see it more as you not liking them. I believe a friend would help you a lot with your fears. You don't have to interact with him right away but maybe next time wave back?"
They had never really thought what their hiding would seem like to the skeleton but he still kept trying. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to wave back. They were going to do it, tomorrow they were going to wave back to the skeleton.
Now with the day in hand, at the window, tea in hand they saw the skeleton. Except he was carrying a bag, and why is he walking up to their door? Plan was aborted, they only wanted to wave this was too much. They heard the doorbell ring and something being placed on the handle. They watched thru the peephole as the skeleton left the door, and watched as he looked over at the window. He seemed sad when he saw they weren't there, was that what he looked like every time they ducked away. He was always gone by the time they went back the window.
They felt guilty, but what did he leave on their door? They carefully opened the door and pulled the bag in bringing it into the kitchen. Inside it was a note and a tupperware container containing spaghetti. Alexi set the container aside and read the note.
"Hello Neighbor!
My name is Papyrus, every morning I wave at you. If I'm bothering I would like to apologise but if you hide because you are shy then don't worry. I would very much like to become friends with you and as I have learned from the internet the best way to win someone is thru food. So I have made you some of my famous friendship spaghetti. I have learned since coming to the surface that spaghetti is not really a breakfast food so below I have left heating instructions."
His signature was below with a drawing of what appeared to be his face and below that was indeed heating instructions. They heated it and ate it for lunch later in the day. How long has it been since they had a home cooked meal that wasn't made by themselves, too long. It was nice of him to still want to be friend even if they had accidently been really rude to him.
A return gift was normal right? It wouldn't be strange to give something back as thanks. They had the stuff for chocolate cookies, it wouldn't be a big thing but it would still be showing they were thinking of the skeleton.
After the cookies were made, a note written, and the tubberware cleaned they put them all in a bag and after about 9 pm when they finally worked up the courage they headed over to the skeletons house and left the bag on the door handle.
All that night as they laid on their bed trying to sleep they worried about what he would think of the cookies. Would they eat them? Can skeletons even eat? He made spaghetti so most likely they would. What if someone else saw the bag and took it first?
The next day they started their day like normal and headed over to the window, he must have seen the bag because he was late starting his jog. They waited for a little while til after a couple minutes Papyrus came into view. He waved at them and for the first time since he started waving Alexi waved back. The smile on the skeletons face as he jogged by calmed their nerves and they felt happy.
Maybe this friendship could work.