[[ Brit here! I think I'm gonna start working on a posting schedule... But it'll have to be pretty lenient, considering I tend to stress myself out with 'deadlines'. I wish I could spend all of my time writing, honestly, but with two kids under the age of three that I stay home to raise, that's just not an option. Sadly. (Though, believe me, they just LOVE to try and "help" mommy write.)]]
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Morning comes far more quickly than expected, and Lena finds herself wandering around the house lazily, killing time until it was time for her to leave. She'd happened to let it slip that she'd been invited back over for dinner, and...she found herself slightly wishing she hadn't.
"So she asked you to come over for dinner, huh? She single?"
"Brit! Please!" A series of cackling laughs was all that she got in response, and she huffed, sinking further into the couch and crossing her arms over her chest. A separate pair of arms draped across her shoulders from behind the couch, and Brit knelt down to rest her chin against the top of the pouting woman's head.
"Okay okay, sorry. I know you're nervous. But I mean, she wouldn't have asked you back if she didn't want you there. Just be yourself- hey hey hey! Put that back!" The attention was drawn from the conversation at hand to a small boy, grinning impishly as they clutched their mother's cell phone in their hands, turning and running down the hallway. Brit threw herself after him, reaching for the phone and failing, falling just short. The bedroom door slammed closed then, and more endless giggling came from inside. She huffed a sigh, and Lena snorted slightly, turning to smile apologetically.
"I wonder where he gets that attitude from-"
"Don't even say it," came Brit's deadpan voice, and Lena bit back a laugh. "Alright, alright, so, do you need to take anything?" At Lena's blank expression, she pressed on, raising a brow. "Uh... Y'know, to the dinner. Like, dessert, a salad, drinks?" The brunette watched as her friend's expression changed from confused to horrified, and he sighed. "You didn't ask, did you?"
"Oh god, what am I supposed to bring?! I guess I could bring wine, but... Do monsters drink wine? And what about for Frisk? Oh, oh my god, I didn't think of that at all!" Lena tugged on her auburn hair, pulled into low pigtails, and sighed.
"Well, you could always go over early. Offer to help out?"
"You're a genius!"
"Pfft, genius-"
"Not now, Brit!" She got up and bustled into her bedroom, stepping over her friend carefully and dodging the grab for her ankle the other made. Her eyes flicked over to the small digital clock set by her bedside. '2:47... Still early. But that'll give me enough time to get myself ready, and maybe I can help cook.' Nodding to her own inner statement, she rushed to her dresser and pulled out a clean pair of dark blue jeans, a white tank top, and a grey and black striped cardigan. The clothes were quickly thrown on (and she moaned in despair as she realized that her jeans fit a bit more tightly than she last remembered, reminding herself to go to the gym more often) and she made her way into the bathroom, closing the door quickly to avoid her friend's children getting in.
As soon as she managed to lock the door, there were ten little fingers reaching underneath the door, a small but powerful voice calling her name. She couldn't help but grin, giggling to herself as she pulled her shoulder length red hair out of their low messy pigtails and running a brush through it. She huffed when the hair 'floofed' in response, and she quickly grew frustrated as she tried to get it in order. 'It has a mind of its own, I swear to God!' Giving up, she pulled it back into a low ponytail and hurried out the door, slipping on her shoes as she opened the front door.
"Purse!" Lena turned as the word was shouted and just managed to catch her bag before it hit the ground, Brit giving her a thumbs up and a smile as she struggled to wrestle her two children into their clothes. "Good luck! Give the Queen my best!" Nodding and giving a quick goodbye, Lena hurried out into the cold toward her car. Destination: Taobh.
The atmosphere in the little home was quaint, for the most part. Toriel stood in the kitchen, filling a pot with water and setting it on the stove to boil. Something about a nice cup of tea always helped to settle her nerves, and today, she felt like she needed it. She'd impulsively invited a human over for dinner and, though she'd seemed confident the night prior, her friends' concerns were starting to rub off on her. 'She had rescued Frisk, though, so surely she is a good human... She even wants to teach at my school, for heaven's sake!' She felt bad, being so paranoid, especially after the human had seemed so kind. Still, her worry for her child trumped that.
As if the thought had summoned them, she felt hands tugging on her apron impatiently and, when she glanced down, Frisk was there, signing at her furiously. She laughed, "Slow down, my child! I cannot understand you when you are so frantic!" Frisk puffed out their cheeks in a bit of a pout (which Toriel adored), and slowed their hands' movements. "Yes, dear one, she will be coming tonight. I did invite her, afterall! Oh, though I didn't tell her what time..." Frowning, she raised a paw to her cheek, sighing. "I also did not give her my cell phone number... Oh, goodness. It appears I am not very good at hosting."
"Hey, c'mon, Tori. Don't cell yourself short." She jumped slightly at the sudden voice, turning to see Sans grinning lazily up at her, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't worry about it. It'll be a great reception. You're doing that human a service by inviting them over." From the front doorway, Papyrus screamed, covering where his ears would've been, if he'd had them, with his gloved hands.
"SANS! No. More. PUNS." The smaller skeleton chuckled, jerking his thumb in the direction of the hallway.
"Hey, Paps, how's about you take Frisk and go play? Show 'em that new puzzle book you found," he drawled, snickering as he watched his brother's eyesockets widen almost comically, and the grin spread across his face so far it looked as though it'd surely split his skull. Frisk detatched from their mother's skirt and bounded over to Papyrus, signing frantically, practically bouncing with excitement.
"YES, DEAR BROTHER, WHAT AN EXCELLENT IDEA! COME, HUMAN FRISK, ALLOW ME TO SCHOOL YOU IN THE MATTER OF PUZZLES!" With that boisterous announcement, he scooped Frisk up with one arm as easily as he would a pillow and carried him back to their room, already diving into in-depth descriptions of puzzles. Sans shook his head and huffed a laugh, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking up at Toriel.
"So you're really doin' this?" he asked, but a quick look from the queen made him hold his hands up defensively, shrugging his shoulders. "Just askin'. What's on the menu?" Toriel tapped a clawed finger to her chin, brows furrowing slightly as she tried to think of an answer. Humans certainly ate different things than most monsters... Oh, what if the human didn't like snails? It had been a little while since she had properly gone to the grocery store.
"Ahh, goodness... I haven't the slightest idea! Perhaps some spaghetti will have to do. I know your brother should be awfully fond of that plan," she said, smiling at the mention of the taller skeleton, and Sans gained an affectionate-looking grin, nodding. "It seems like something a human would like well enough. Frisk does, anyhow... Oh, I should have thought to ask her yesterday."
A knocking sound coming from the front door pulled Toriel from her thoughts and she wiped her paws on her apron, bustling toward the door. "Just a moment!" she called, and Sans made his way to sit on the couch, putting his feet up on the cushions with his hands behind his head. The front door opened and revealed the human woman, and Toriel found herself smiling widely. "Ah, Lena!I'm so glad you could make it!" Lena nodded and stepped in once the Queen moved aside for her to, closing the door behind her.
"I wasn't sure what time to show up.. Sorry if I'm here too early," she said quietly, giving a bit of a sheepish grin, to which Toriel responded by patting her shoulder with a heavy paw.
"Shush now, you're just fine. I haven't even started on dinner yet, though."
"Oh, well, is there anything I can help with?" Toriel frowned slightly, glancing between her and the skeleton so lazily strewn across her sofa, and a smile tugged at her lips.
"Yes! Sans was just about to go run to the store for me." At his mention the skeleton sat up, raising a browbone in confusion, but she ignored him. "Could you go with him, Lena? He's such a lazybones, I'd hate for him to accidentally forget anything..." The human spared a glance his way, brows furrowing slightly for a fraction of a second, and Toriel laid her paws on her shoulders. "Would you please? I'm afraid I don't have all the ingredients I need..." Lena paused for just a second, eyes flickering over to Sans, before she smiled and nodded.
"S-sure, no problem! I'm happy to do whatever I can to help." Sans narrowed his eyesockets at her, but a stern glance from Toriel had him pushing himself to his feet and shuffling towards the door.
"Welp. Let's get goin' then. If Paps doesn't get his spaghetti soon then he'll throw a fit," he said, shrugging his shoulders as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his fur-lined parka. He eyed Lena for a moment before he pulled the door open and strode out, not bothering to wait for the human to follow. Toriel gave her an apologetic smile and shooed her out of the house, closing the door behind them. Now left standing outside alone, Lena tugged awkwardly at one of her pigtails, glancing around the small front yard, her eyes occasionally flickering over to the skeleton. It wasn't that monsters scared her or made her nervous, usually... But this one in particular seemed to have something against her. "Hey." The voice suddenly startled her and she flinched slightly, meeting his gaze, which seemed to darken slightly as he noticed her reaction. "We goin' or what?"
"Huh? ... Ah! Right!" Fumbling a bit with her keys, she hit the small button on the handheld remote to unlock the doors, walking quickly around to the driver's side and climbing in. He seemed to eye the vehicle suspiciously for a second before he finally got in, closing the door with a little more force than was really necessary. The air was tense and uncomfortable inside the cab of the SUV, and Lena cleared her throat as she started the car. She was suddenly thankful that she'd been around Taobh before, because the thought of asking the skeleton for directions suddenly seemed daunting. The drive was short, with Sans keeping his eyes straight ahead or out the passenger side window, and there was no conversation. When they finally arrived, the doors opening seemed like it'd just broken the seal on a vacuum, and the sounds of bustling shoppers and passing vehicles sounded far louder than they would've usually.
It was a typical supermarket, not much different from any other one you'd find across the country. The only difference was that most of the employees were monsters, and there were significantly more monster-friendly products. Lena felt a small thrill of excitement at the thought of finally being able to go into one. When both doors to her vehicle were closed she stood awkwardly near the front bumper, only for a moment, waiting for Sans to take the lead. He did, with a small sigh, little more than a hiss of air between his teeth, and he started shuffling across the parking lot and towards the store. 'Does he just not like me or something...?' She frowned slightly as she followed after him, noticing easily how he kept glancing around him and over his shoulder, almost as if he were paranoid. 'Not all humans are as nice to monsters... Maybe he's just had a bad experience with humans.'
"Hey, kid." His voice was gruff and suddenly much closer than she remembered it being, and her attention snapped back into focus. He was staring at her, a brow bone raised questioningly as he motioned toward the store with one hand. "Y' scared of a lil' grocery store?" His words hid a separate question, asking if she was afraid of going in because of the monsters... At least, that was how she interpreted it. Frowning, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and slung her purse's strap across her shoulder, striding past him and into the store. Sans merely chuckled halfheartedly and followed.
The inside was the same, but completely different. As she looked around, eyes widened slightly, she felt something bump into her leg, nearly making her lose her balance. "Oof! Hey!" When she looked down, she saw a small yellow monster with spikes going all down its back and tail, laying face down on the ground. It was struggling to get up, since it apparently had no arms. Its little striped turtleneck sweater didn't even have sleeves. "O-oh, here, let me-" She quickly and gently helped the small monster up, smiling down at him as he looked up at her with widened eyes. "Sorry about that! I need to look where I'm going." Shaking out of its shock, the little monster child gave her a sharp-toothed grin and nodded its head.
"Yo, it's alright, I guess. Thanks for, uh,..well, thanks!" With that, he turned and ran back out of the store, only to fall flat on his face again a little ways away. Lena made a move to go help him again, but he hopped back up easily, shouting a small "I'm okay!" and kept going. She shook her head and sighed, a smile still pulling up at her lips, and turned back to move further into the store. Sans was staring right at her. "...Yes?" He looked surprised for a second, eyesockets widening, and he quickly shrugged. If she didn't know better, though, it seemed like he was smiling a bit more easily. "Okay, what did Toriel send us for...?" It only just occured to her that the queen hadn't sent them with a list.
"Spaghetti's what she said. Y'know how to make that?" he drawled, glancing up at her slightly, browbones raising only slightly when she nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah, my friend Brit's a total whore for pasta..." Frowning slightly, she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, fighting back a smile. "You could say she's a total 'pastatute'." Sans snorted in spite of himself, quickly pulling a hand from the pocket of his parka and covering his mouth, eyesockets widened. Feeling pleased with herself, Lena allowed herself a smile as she picked up a small shopping basket and headed down the first aisle. Sans watched after her for a moment, trying his hardest to fend off the grin that was threatening to split his skull, but failing. Sighing heavily, he shook it off and returned his hand to his pocket, following after her. "Alrighty, what first, what first..." Lena mumbled to herself as she glanced at the shelves. The products were familiar, but none of the brands were what she recognized, save for a few. Still, it should be similar enough, right? She pulled a few boxes of angel hair pasta from the shelves, preparing to drop them into the basket, but paused. "Hey... Does Toriel usually prefer to make her noodles herself?" she asked the skeleton, who raised a browbone at her.
"Nah, those'll be fine." He watched as she nodded and turned back to the shelf, only for her face to light up, a small laugh escaping her.
"Hey, look! Think Papyrus will like these?" She took a different box off of the shelf and held it out, and Sans saw that they were bone-shaped noodles. 'What's she care if Papy likes 'em..?' He shrugged, and, deeming that as affirmation enough, she returned all but one box of the angel hair and put two boxes of the bone-shaped pasta into the basket, looking pleased with her decision. "They're so cute! I'm sure Frisk will like them, too. Okay, now for the sauce..." She glanced around, standing on her tip-toes to try and look at the signs hanging from the ceiling just barely visible over the top of the shelves. Spying the 'fresh produce' sign, she eagerly walked down the aisle, turning the corner sharply, only to bump into someone's cart. It was enough of a jarring motion that she stumbled backwards, losing her grip on her basket. The person pushing the cart turned to glare at her, lip curled up into a sneer.
"Hey, watch where you're goin!" the human barked, and Lena quickly knelt to pick up her basket, carefully placing the boxes back inside as she mumbled apologies. Not apparently appeased by this, the human shoved their cart aside, crossing their arms and looking down at her witheringly, hands tightening into fists. "If you're gonna be in this store, you better watch where you're fuckin' going!" Their loud voice began to draw attention, and another person, a rabbit monster woman, from the looks at it, stepped forward.
"What're you raisin' such a ruckus for? There'll be none of that in my store!" The human growled at her, sucking their teeth angrily.
"This fatass bumped into me!" Lena flinched inwardly, hands trembling as she placed the last box back into her basket, and the rabbit woman gave her an apologetic look. Sans, standing by, observed the entire ordeal, eyelights flickering back and forth between the three now involved.
"She didn't mean no harm! Now go on, get goin'! I'll have no more shoutin' in my store," the monster said sternly, and the angry human scowled deeply, giving one final good glare before storming off, pushing his cart in the opposite direction. Lena watched him go, feeling a bit of relief, when she was suddenly offered a paw. Looking up, the rabbit woman was smiling at her, brows furrowed slightly in a troubled expression. "You alright darlin'? I'm awful sorry about all that."
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's-" She cut herself off, letting the rest of the sentence die on her tongue. 'It's nothing new.' Putting on a smile, she took the extended paw and got herself to her feet again, holding the basket tightly in her free hand. The rabbit lady pat her kindly on the shoulder before walking away, probably to return to her work. The aisle was pretty silent, a few people staring at her, and Lena quickly continued in the way she'd been going. Sans frowned, eyes glaring in the direction the hostile human had vanished, and followed a small distance behind her.
"Tomatoes!" she announced, green eyes skimming over the different sized and shaped fruits, lips tilting down into a small, thoughtful frown. "I wonder which ones would be best for making tomato sauce..." Sidling up next to her, Sans glanced across the selection and, snorting softly, picked up a ripe roma tomato, holding it up in front of her.
"You can't 'roma' off the wrong path with this one." Lena felt herself smiling as she reached out to take the tomato from between his bony fingertips, inspecting it. "All real spaghetti masters know that."
"Oh?" she mused, raising a thick auburn brow at him. "I didn't know that." Sans shrugged his shoulders, returning his hands to his pockets.
"Guess that makes you an 'impasta' then." It was so ridiculous, and she didn't even like puns that much, but the stress from the previous situation made her laugh in spite of herself. A small snorting laugh that she fought hard to bite back, raising a hand to cover her mouth, embarrassed. Sans couldn't help the genuine smile that spread from cheekbone to cheekbone.
'Someone who really laughs at bad jokes has the kind of integrity you just can't say 'no' to.'
How long ago had it been since he'd said that, he wondered. In realistic times, it was probably only three years or so. But it felt like, in the time he had to live and relive, that it was at least a decade ago, if not more. It had been so long since he found an audience so willing to laugh for him. Not just a pity laugh, but an honest, genuine laugh. The kind of laugh that he could see little glowing peaks of her soul from. The faintest whisps of light, transparent, no color, because he wasn't close enough to see them yet.
After that, the tension seemed to break a bit. They gathered up all the rest of the ingredients needed to make a decent spaghetti bolognese, and Sans cracked as many puns as he saw eager opportunity for. Sometimes she groaned and told him to stop, which was entertaining; and other times she laughed, whether because she thought it was funny or it had been unexpected, and those were the times that made him want to crack another, and another. But something was still on his mind heavily, bothering him with its curiosity. So as Lena finished paying for their groceries and they both hauled bags to the car, he cocked a browbone.
"So what's the deal with what that guy said before?" he asked flatly, fighting the urge to roll his eyelights when she just stared at him, confused. "Y'know, fatass?" The word had been said casually, but he didn't miss the way her jaw clenched subtly, or the way her brows furrowed the slightest bit. "I mean, so what if you're bigger than other humans?" She sighed, pulling her hair over her shoulder and combing her fingers through it as she thought over her answer, choosing her words carefully.
"It's... Well, it's an insult, when they say it like that. People don't... It's rude, to make fun of someone's weight. Or their height, or their race," she explained simply, with the easiness as though she were speaking to a child. Her eyes flickered over to his for a moment as she clipped on her seatbelt. "You know, like how it doesn't feel good when people say bad things about you being a monster. Not exactly the same, but it's similar..." Sans understood immediately, though he didn't understand why it was an insult to begin with. There was much that was foreign to them Aboveground. Their standards for things were far different and, in their opinion, made much less sense. He nodded subtly, clipping his own seatbelt and shoving his left hand back into his pocket, the other resting on the door and tapping rhythmically against the plastic.
"'S stupid," he muttered, and she made a noise of questioning, as if asking him to repeat himself or elaborate, but he didn't. She turned on the radio, and the drive back home was silent. It was far less tense than before, though, and that felt like an accomplishment. Though of what, neither of them knew.