It wasn't so bad, really. On the way over, Undyne actually managed not to get into any fender benders this time. She was getting better. Still, Alphys insisted they wait to eat until after they made it to the new house. Which was fair. After all, safety first.

The neighborhood they had picked out together was one based off of images they'd seen on calendars in the dump back in the Underground. Long rows of houses, lush green lawns, and white picket fences. Of course, more research went into it than just looks. Alphys had seen to that. It was a mostly human neighborhood, but more and more monsters were starting to move in. For some reason, the more monsters moved in, the more humans moved out. Those two things were probably unrelated—well, that's what Undyne tried to tell herself, anyway.

It was just a cul-de-sac, really. But it was a nice one. As Undyne backed the moving truck into the driveway, there were neighbors already coming out to look. Again, mostly humans. Children playing in the yard stopped what they were doing as Undyne and Alphys climbed out of the truck. That was a lot of curious eyes, even if it was only about two or three pairs. Undyne wondered if Alphys would notice.

When she opened up the back of the truck, the first thing she saw was Alphys's bed, in its very boxlike form. They'd both decided it might be a good idea to bring both of their beds, just in case. They'd shared a bed several times before, but you never know when someone's boundaries were extra-reinforced. There was a lot to do, but Alphys insisted they do it together, citing that if they were going to live together, Undyne needed to start sharing the load, even if she didn't need to. A fair sentiment, and one Undyne was all too willing to oblige. Alphys would carry all of the lighter stuff, and some of the heavier stuff, and Undyne carried the much heavier stuff.

They managed to carry in Alphys's television and a loveseat set up. It didn't take long, but after moving a bunch of the boxes in, they decided it was time to sit down and eat breakfast. Alphys had put on a new anime she'd been following and had been begging Undyne to sit down and watch with her.

Undyne had finished her breakfast sandwich early, and had gone to move more boxes in while Alphys finished hers. She came in, holding two thirds of the remaining boxes—the heaviest ones, for sure. Alphys was absolutely drooling over this new anime, clearly not even noticing Undyne's absence. The box containing Alphys's computer was set delicately to the side, and Undyne watched Alphys for a moment.

She was just so... Beautiful. Crumbs from the sandwich were stuck all over her face, and she was on the edge of her seat watching the show. In the heat of the summer, Alphys had a lot more energy and really thrived. The tip of her tail thumped slowly against the side of the couch, and she had almost forgotten that she still had half of the sandwich left to eat.

Undyne scoffed, a smile fully visible on her face. She left to go get more boxes. It wasn't worth interrupting Alphys's anime time. She could rejoin her on the couch after all the boxes were out of the truck.

All of the boxes were inside the house by the time Alphys noticed anything—all except one. Undyne had saved it for one of the more special moments for this day. When the film was done and Alphys finally noticed that almost every box was now inside the house, she was almost cross with Undyne. "I th-thought we were gonna do this together!"

"I didn't want to stop you while you were enjoying yourself." Undyne had her arm slung over Alphys's shoulders, "And I didn't get everything. Just all of the heavy stuff. I was saving the last for both of us."

It was a smaller box, far towards the back of the truck. Undyne smiled at Alphys, "Think you can get that for me?" She waved over at it. Alphys looked up at her, a little confused at the question. Sure, it would be no problem for Undyne to hop in and get it herself, but… "Please?"

Alphys nodded, and scrambled up onto the cargo bed. She brought the box over to the front and handed it over to Undyne, "Uh, h-here you go?" Undyne tucked the box under her arm, and with the other she lifted Alphys off of the truck bed. Stunned but unafraid, Alphys started to giggle nervously. "H-hey!"

"This is the last box, 'Phy," Undyne said, "Let's bring it in together!"

"Oh. Like, c-crossing the threshold?"

"Sure! That sounds like fun!" She handed Alphys the box, and walked over to the front door. She paused just in front of it, looking down at the doorframe. She hugged Alphys close to body, pressed a kiss to her cheek, and silently took one step in and closed the door behind them. The next final step. Undyne felt her heart flutter. Alphys set the box onto one of the stacks and wiggled in Undyne's arms so they could face other.

"All that's l-left to do is unpack." Alphys nervously toyed with the collar of Undyne's shirt. "Should we g-get started?"

Undyne grinned, and gave Alphys a big, tight squeeze before setting her down. "Hell yeah! Let's do this thing!"

The house had four rooms: a living room conjoined with a kitchen, separated only by a long counter lined by barstools fixed into the hardwood floor; three empty bedrooms, one of which would be Alphys's office and the other two their bedrooms. All of these rooms were located down a hallway just a few feet from the front door. The garage would be Undyne's workout area, since neither of them owned a car.

It was difficult to not convey that Undyne was a little disappointed that they wouldn't for sure be sharing a bed now that they would live together. She loved Alphys, and wanted to be as close to her as physically possible. It was that same burning love, however, that made Undyne want to give Alphys as much space as she could during their first months of living together. If Alphys wanted to share a bed sometimes, then that would be her choice.

Alphys was a little bit uncomfortable with taking the third empty room for herself. "Wh-what about your armor? Or y-your weapon collection…" It was difficult still for Alphys to see herself as equally valuable or even an equal in their relationship—maybe Undyne should have waited to let Alphys help with the other boxes—but Undyne was doing her best to help her see that.

"My armor can go in the garage with my exercise stuff. It's no big deal." Undyne was already helping to move Alphys's computer into the room. "This can be your office; your space. I have my own."

Alphys forced a smile, and looked at the room, now full of boxes with her work stuff. A mahogany shelf had been pushed against one of the walls, and beside that a decorative shelf was screwed into it. "Thanks, Undyne." She opened up one of the boxes and began to take out some of her manga.

Always had her priorities straight. Undyne chuckled and went into her bedroom to unpack her own stuff. For now her bed was just a stack of mattresses on the floor. The bedframe was leaned against the wall in a pile of several pieces. Undyne would let Alphys put that together later; apparently she had already stripped three of the more important bolts and they needed to get new ones.

There wasn't a whole lot to Undyne's room. Just a bed, a nightstand, a lamp, a few swords, a mounted spear, nunchucks, throwing knives, several javelins, another mounted spear, a battle axe, an anime figurine Alphys had given her… Just the essentials. It didn't take long to set everything up. For the better part of an hour, Undyne was busy organizing her own set of manga that Alphys had given her. Unlike Alphys's collection, Undyne's were well worn. The spines were faded and bent, with some of the cover torn just a bit. Still, Undyne wanted it all where it needed to be.

While Undyne was finishing up with the mounted spears, she thought about where she was going to put the piano. The seaweed machine was going to take up a fair bit of space, and they didn't even know where they were going to end up putting it yet. Maybe they could put it in the living room, just by the kitchen? That's where they were going to set up the dining table.

As she thought, she realized the time. Almost noon already. Had they really been at this for that long? Maybe she should go check on how Alphys was doing.

"Hey, Alphy. I got my room basically done! You need me to help you with anything…?" Undyne trailed off as she opened the door and heard tiny, pitiful sniffles. When the door opened fully, she saw that barely anything had been done, and Alphys was curled around a box with her computer tower set out beside her, crying. "Alphys?"

"Undyne!" Alphys blanched and tried to turn away, "I—I'm sorry! I d-d-didn't—I wasn't—I didn't get anything done…"

Slowly, Undyne stepped into the room, but stopped just in front of the doorway. She waited for Alphys to say something, but when she didn't she had to ask, "Are you okay?"

"I just—I-I know I'm supposed to b-be happy, but…" Alphys covered her face with both of her hands, trying so hard to compose herself. "I c-can't help but feel like this is j-just a dream. And any moment, I'll w-wake up, b-back in the lab with the—wi-with the…"

Undyne came closer and knelt down beside Alphys, just letting her talk. She wanted badly to touch Alphys, to bring her some kind of comfort, give the poor thing a goddamn hug, but she was afraid to. Sometimes, touching Alphys while she was in a state like this wasn't much of a good idea.

"I-it's so hard for me to b-believe this is real. A-and even when I can, I feel like I d-don't deserve it…" Alphys sniffled and rubbed the tears from her eyes.

Undyne sat down fully, legs crossed together, "Alphys, you do deserve it; we both do. We worked so hard do buy this house so we could officially start our lives together." Slowly, she reached for Alphys, and slid her arm across Alphys's shoulders. When she didn't flinch back, Undyne hugged her close, "You've been working extra hard! You've been running with Papyrus every other day! That's freaking awesome!"

"Is… Is it?" Alphys asked, looking down at the ground. The tone of her voice suggested she didn't find her efforts as great as Undyne did.

"Hell yeah!", Undyne roared, and wrapped her other arm around Alphys. "Tell ya what. Let's take a short break for now and go do something fun. Our beds are here. We don't really have to finish unpacking today."

It was a Friday, and Toriel had given them both the day off to get things done. They still had all of Saturday and Sunday to do everything. Undyne wanted to take some of that time to prove to Alphys that she, in fact, deserved every good thing that was happening to them right now. Even if it took them all night.

"Undyne, c-can I open my eyes now…?" Alphys had one hand over her eyes and one gently grasping Undyne's arm as they slowly made their way down the hall.

"Not yet! C'mon, I worked really hard on this. Don't ruin it so early!"

Alphys sighed. As much as loved surprises, there was a time and place for them. Right now, she really wasn't in the mood for it. Her heart told her that whatever Undyne had done for her was too much; she didn't deserve whatever that surprise was; it was too good for the likes of her. But Undyne was persistent, and if there was one thing Alphys was confident about, it was in her inability to resist that goddess of a fish.

It was a little difficult. There were a bunch of boxes still in the hallway that needed to be dealt with, and bless Undyne's heart, she tried to guide Alphys through it without running into everything. By the time they stopped, Alphys had stubbed three toes and bumped her knee twice. In the end, Undyne decided to just pick her up and carry her into the living room.

"Okay! Open your eyes!"

Just before she did, a welcoming, brothy aroma tickled the inside of her nose. As her eyes opened, she let out a small gasp. During the time when Undyne had decided to give her some space, she'd gone and unpacked the living room and arranged it in a more fun way than they'd originally planned. The cushions meant for the couch were laid out on the floor like a couple of mattresses, and Undyne had used the dining room chairs to hang a blanket over them like a tent. Several more blankets were laid out inside. Alphys's laptop was set up in front of it all, as well as two steamy bowls of what could only be ramen—but it smelled different. Like Undyne had used different ingredients. Was it homemade…?

"Surprise!" Undyne gave Alphys a big squeeze and set her down on the floor, "We're gonna spend the rest of the day totally vegging out!"

Her voice had caught in her throat. This was all so kind, so thoughtful, and just so... Undyne. Tears began to swell up and threatened instantly to spill over. Upon closer inspection she realized the ramen was homemade—even down to the noodles. "Oh, Undyne…" This was a simple gesture, but a very meaningful one. Undyne had spent a little over an hour setting this up—or at least that's how long Alphys had spent by herself. She felt her throat tighten as she tried not to cry.

A hand smoothed across her shoulders before Undyne's arms wrapped around to hug her again, "Sometimes…" There was something about Undyne's voice, a strained falter before she trailed off completely. Undyne cleared her throat and tried again, "Sometimes, I feel like I'm the one who doesn't deserve this."

"Undyne…"

"You're so— just so awesome." Undyne continued despite Alphys's interruption. "You're so smart, and you can do all these really cool things! Just…" She laid her cheek on top of Alphys's head, "I think you're really neat. And I love you so much."

"Undyne, I…" Alphys grabbed a handful of Undyne's shirt as she tried to think of what to say. "I love you too. So d-damn much…"

A soft chuckle buzzed in Undyne's throat. The feeling of Undyne's hand rubbing against her back soothed the sorrowful pit in Alphys's chest. "Let's go lie down in the fort! Our ramen bowls are gonna get cold."

Much to Alphys's horror, the Undyne's choice was as ill-advised as ever. When they sat down together and Alphys took a bite of her ramen, she nearly choked and spat it out at the sight of what was on the screen.

Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2. One of six different copies. No. Oh no.

"Ha! I totally surprised you. I know you've never seen this movie, so I bought it for you six times!"

This woman…

Alphys was almost shaking with rage. Not at Undyne— there was absolutely no way she could blame Undyne for trying to be thoughtful. It was nearly impossible, however, to not become absolutely enraged just as the sight of this DVD. Still, she tried to keep face for Undyne's sake. Except she couldn't. She couldn't even try. It just wasn't possible.

It was an explosion of aggressive opinions that was too difficult to contain for even a moment. A volcanic eruption of emotional baggage Alphys had been keeping under wraps since she'd first seen the movie. A torrential blast of criticisms that had more to do with the writers and animators than anything about the film itself— all condensed into roughly thirty seconds of nonstop shouting.

By the time she was done, her bowl of ramen was upside down, with its contents spilled out, thankfully onto the hardwood floor instead of the blankets and couch cushions. Alphys panted from the physical exertion it took just to speak about this movie in the only way it deserved to be spoken of: with malice and disgust.

Only with malice and disgust.

For once it seemed Undyne was stunned into silence. She stared at Alphys, visibly surprised by the outburst, with her mouth hanging open. Alphys's mind began to backpedal and think at a mile-a-second at how to apologize for her rude and awkward behavior and that she really was thankful for the gesture, honest! Before she could open her mouth, however, Undyne beat her to the punch.

"Woah!", she cried, a huge smile splitting her face in two, "That was awesome! I didn't know you were so passionate about this one too! Now we HAVE to watch it!"

Alphys blanched, "Uh, a-actually…?"

"C'mon, Alphy! I want to, y'know, share this with you." Undyne grinned, her face showing just the tiniest hints of a blush. "I wanna see your reasoning! In real time!" Her eye glinted with a fire Alphys knew couldn't be extinguished. This was her doom, she just knew it. Undyne grabbed her shoulders with both hands, squeezing tight. "Show me, Alphys! Show me frame by frame every single thing you have to say about this movie."

Undyne's intensity and passion was actually surprisingly encouraging. Not only was she absolutely not upset by Alphys's very sudden outburst, but she seemed willing to learn why that outburst was so necessary— and it was absolutely necessary…

"Oh, well. O-okay! We can definitely watch it, then!"

Before they started, Undyne insisted on cleaning up the mess. She even offered her own bowl of ramen to Alphys, but eventually they decided to just share that one bowl at Alphys's suggestion. Undyne even made them hot chocolate which, to no one's surprise, tasted like tragedy thanks to the seasoning in the ramen broth.

The entire time spent watching the film was filled with Alphys pausing it every few minutes to explain why that moment was wrong. It ended up taking three hours longer than the movie's original runtime, but it was worth it by the end. The sun was setting by the time they were finished, and Undyne seemed to be intensely grateful be 'bestowed' with such knowledge.

"That was awesome, Alphys." Undyne had snuggled down into the fort blanket, one arm hooked around Alphys's shoulders. "We should do that again sometime. With a different anime that you hate!"

Alphys giggled shyly, "Well, there's a good amount of, um, th-those."

"Is there anything else we can watch tonight?" Undyne asked excitedly. The giddiness in her voice warmed Alphys's heart.

"Well, um, s-sure! Did you unpack the other DVDs?"

"Heck yeah!" Undyne pulled back the blanket wall and pointed at a mountable bookcase that hadn't been mounted when they first got here earlier this morning. It was a tall one with many shelves, filled to the brim with Alphys's DVDs and VHSs, all in alphabetical order. "Which do you wanna watch?"

Alphys felt tears brimming her eyes again. This woman. Wiping her eyes, she hugged Undyne before wiggling herself out of the fort. In all honesty, doing things like this with Undyne was nothing different, but every time Undyne did things like this for her it was always with truckloads of love and purpose behind it.

And now, Undyne didn't need to go back home and leave Alphys by herself anymore. They had each other now, for as long as they lived.