Chapter 7: Truly Home
Fuku giggled quietly as she guided Frisk to behind the bar. "Okay, we'll surprise Dad while Uncle Sans distracts him," the green fire elemental said.
Frisk giggled, clapping her hands to her mouth to try and keep quiet. "We'll really surprise him," she said.
Sans teleported inside the restaurant and smiled at seeing Grillby wiping down another table. "A good lunch crowd, Grillbz?" He asked.
"Yes," the orange fire elemental said with a smile. "A good one to celebrate our being on the Surface for one year."
"Yeah," the skeleton said. "It sure went by quick."
"Yes," Grillby said before looking around. "I wonder where Fuku is? School is already out, isn't it?"
"Yeah, which reminds me, I didn't see Frisk anywhere. Maybe they went to the playground."
Fuku and Frisk managed to stifle their giggles as they stayed hidden behind the bar. Fuku then took a quick peek over the edge to see her father coming over and she ducked down. "Get ready," she whispered.
The brown-haired girl nodded and they got ready before springing up just as Grillby was about to come behind the bar. "Surprise!" They both cried out.
Grillby let out a startled cry before seeing the two girls coming at him and feeling them glomp him. Instinctively, he caught the giggling girls while staggering and he managed to catch his balance after a moment, letting out a sigh of relief before chuckling as he looked down at his giggling daughter and niece.
Sans, who had been surprised by the girls and Grillby's startled cry, had jumped about a mile himself, falling off his stool and snapping his fingers to summon a Gaster Blaster, which caught him seconds later, making him sigh in relief before he chuckled and let out a sigh of relief. "What are you two trying to do? Scare my soul of of me?" He said teasingly, to which the girls giggled.
"I think two young girls have earned themselves a tickle torture," Grillby said, holding both of them in his arms while his hands tickled their stomachs, making them laugh and squirm to get away, but he had them trapped.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHADDY!" Fuku laughed out.
"UNCLE GRIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHILLBY!" Frisk laughed out.
The orange fire elemental chuckled as he let them up, feeling Frisk turn and hug him, nuzzling her face into his shoulder and Fuku nuzzled her face into her father's side as she hugged him. He hugged them both back with a smile. "That was a good prank you two," he said.
"We wanted to surprise you, Dad," Fuku said.
Sans chuckled as he got back up on his stool. "By the way, I hear that someone passed her science test and another passed her math test," he said.
"Yeah!" Frisk said, pulling a paper out of her backpack that showed her math test and the high score she had gotten on it.
"An A," Grillby said with a smile. "Well done, Frisk."
He turned to Fuku, who smiled as she showed him her science test. "And you got an A too," he said. "I'm proud of you, my little solar flare."
She smiled, hugging her father again before they heard the door open and saw Chara and Asriel come in, the red-eyed girl holding up her phone and giggling as her brother laughed too. "Oh, man, that was great!" The young goat kid said.
Sans turned to look at them. "Were you two filming this whole time?" He asked.
Chara quickly hid her phone. "No," she denied quickly.
The skeleton cocked a browbone at her. "Oh, I think you were," he said, making a Gaster Blaster appear behind the red-eyed girl and pick her up, making her yelp and giggle as it brought her over to Sans, who smirked and picked her up, tickling her sides. "Come on, kiddo. Admit it."
Chara squealed with giggles from the tickles before reaching back to tickle Sans' ribs, making him yelp in surprise as they nearly fell off the stool, but the Gaster Blaster caught them both before that happened and Chara giggled. "Okay, yeah, we were filming it," she said, pulling out her phone. "We wanted to make a video to mark the one-year anniversary of us being on the surface and of Uncle Grillby having his new restaurant on the Surface for one year."
"It is quite a celebration," Grillby said. "The lunch crowd was a large one and I'm hoping the dinner crowd will be just as large."
Fuku smiled as she sat down at the bar, pulling out her science book and then pausing a moment, tracing the lettering on it as she thought back on the year.
It hadn't been easy, but when the monsters had first come to the Surface, they were surprised to find policeman there along with the townspeople, who had been stunned to learn that the legend of Mt. Ebbot had actually been true and when the police saw Frisk, they were stunned because her foster family had told them the child had died in a terrible accident.
The truth was, Frisk's foster family had been cruel to her and had taken her up the mountain one day and thrown her into the hole in the mountain, knowing it was a deep hole and counting on that to hopefully have the child's life end there. When Toriel heard that, she grew furious and called them the true monsters for trying to harm an innocent child. The town, horrified to hear that there had been an attempted murder, had turned on the foster family, who was now serving time in prison. The mayor had been stunned to learn about the monsters and had the police interview Frisk, who had stood by the monsters and when the police chief noted that Frisk looked healthier and well cared for, he compared that to her file which showed her to be thinner and not well cared for. The mayor agreed with the police chief and welcomed the monsters to their town.
Toriel, who had wanted to be a teacher, was allowed to take classes and get her teaching certificate and open her own school, which the town needed as it was a small town and the nearest school was thirty miles away. When it was opened, she welcomed all the students, both human and monster, to be in her school, hiring some other teachers to help her.
Gaster and Alphys had built a lab, which provided more jobs for the town, and Undyne joined the police force. Papyrus found a job as a shelf stocker and clerk at the local grocery store while Muffet opened up her own bakery and Sans had his hot dog stand. Grillby moved his restaurant business to the surface and everyone sung praises about his food, which drew people from all around to the small town. There had been a few haters, but the police had quickly taken care of those people and the townspeople that were supportive of the monsters rallied around the monsters to keep them safe, something the monsters appreciated.
Asgore had become the monster ambassador and was pleased to see that all went well. He even worked with the mayor to make improvements to roads, buildings, and even helped to raise money for a new firehouse as the old one was falling apart. Overall, it had been a productive year and they were all prospering. Even the town seemed to be flourishing and the first Christmas for the monsters had been a lovely one.
Fuku smiled as she came back to the present, looking up to see her father was watching her and he smiled. "You looked like you were deep in thought, sweetie," he said.
"I was thinking back over the year, Dad," she said. "It's been quite a year."
"That it has," he agreed before placing a large banana split in front of her. "I think you earned this for that A on your science test."
Fuku smiled and hugged her father. "Thanks, Daddy," she said before digging into the sweet treat. Chara, Asriel, and Frisk were also digging into banana splits as Sans and Grillby watched, both smiling.
"To think a human child helped me to become a father," the orange fire elemental said.
"Yeah," Sans said. "Frisk became the angel we needed. If we hadn't met her, we wouldn't be here today."
"Can't argue that," Undyne said, having come in and caught what the two said. A new badge was pinned to her uniform and she was beaming.
"You made detective?" Sans asked.
She nodded, grinning. "Not only that, my captain has me train new recruits in how to take down criminals with non-lethal force," she said. "And get this? The police commissioner himself came to the awards ceremony today and pinned our new badges on us."
"Quite an honor," Grillby said.
"Yeah," she said. "He's one we all look up to a lot."
Sans smiled and nodded just as Papyrus came in and the tall skeleton was beaming. "What's up, bro?" He asked his brother.
"The best thing just happened, besides us coming to the surface," Papyrus said, his grin growing. "I got promoted to an assistant manager, third key."
"Wow!" Frisk said in amazement. "Uncle Papyrus, that's great!"
"So you're one of the store managers?" Fuku asked, grinning. "That's so cool!"
"Yay!" Chara and Asriel cheered, happy for their uncle.
"Well, there's a lot of celebrations today," Grillby said with a chuckle.
Toriel and Asgore both came in, smiling. "So we hear," the goat woman said. "And just in time for our one-year anniversary on the Surface."
"Truly amazing," the male goat monster said with a smile.
Later that night, after the celebrations, Grillby was tucking Fuku into bed. "Did you have fun tonight, sweetie?" He asked.
She nodded and smiled. "You know, if I had never met Frisk, I wouldn't have gained an amazing friend or a father," she said.
"And I wouldn't have gained a daughter or a niece," he said with a smile.
Fuku looked up at her father. "Dad, do you regret...adopting me?" She asked.
"No," he said instantly and firmly, hugging her as she hugged him. "I don't regret it, Fuku. I never could regret it, my little solar flare."
"Good," she said with a smile, giving him a daughterly kiss on the cheek. "Cause I don't regret asking you to be my dad."
Grillby smiled, kissing his daughter's head in affection. "Alright, bedtime, little one," he said, tucking her back in bed.
Fuku yawned, settling down. "Love you, Daddy," she said.
He kissed her forehead. "I love you too, sweetie. Sweet dreams."
He watched his daughter fall asleep before silently slipping out, finding the other monsters getting ready to head out as Asgore picked up a sleeping Chara while Toriel picked up a sleepy Asriel. Papyrus scooped up his brother and Frisk, both who were sound asleep. "Thank you for a wonderful party, Grillby," Toriel said with a smile.
"You're welcome," he said warmly as he saw them out, receiving text messages a moment later that they had arrived safely home. He smiled as he thought back on the time in the Underground and meeting Frisk, who had not only saved the monster race, but had given him a chance to be a father by helping him meet Fuku and convincing her to let Grillby adopt her.
"It's been a good year," he said to himself, having a feeling more would follow as he retired for the night, the moon shining her light down upon the wonderful town the monsters and townspeople called home.
And that concludes "Even Fire Needs A Home". I had a lot of fun with this story. :)
Please leave a review, but no flames!
GoldGuardian2418