[[ Ahhh, yeah... I have the best inspirational bud-bud in the world who whines and flails at my face for chapters. Anyone who likes reading this should thank him. 3 Love you Jammers! ]]
As soon as the apartment came into view, Lena climbed out of her SUV and started heading toward the trunk, opening it and extracting as many bags as she could fit onto her arms...which happened to be all of them. Her arms shook slightly under the weight, and she gave a small grunt as she hauled them up from the floor of her trunk and headed toward the front door.
"Ya need any help there, kid?" came Sans' drawling voice. He was watching her with an expression of almost amusement on his face, a brow bone raised as he watched her struggle the slightest bit and shake her head.
"Nope! I've got it. Thanks, though," she said cheerfully, though her voice was strained slightly. He simply shrugged his shoulders and chuckled, hands in his pockets as he followed after her. Once they actually reached the front door, she stood, mind working furiously as she tried to figure out how she was exactly going to get it open with her hands full. She tried shifting the bags on one arm to her other, but the weight proved to be too much. Then she tried reaching for the doorknob by moving the bag handles to her wrist, but the bags got in the way. She glanced back at Sans, who was watching her, smirking, and she huffed. "Sans." He hummed slightly, a question, and she frowned the slightest bit, almost like a pout. "Please?" she asked, and she swore, if his smirk got any wider, his skull would split in two. He stepped around her slowly, slippers shuffling against the sidewalk, and casually opened the door.
"M'lady," he said smoothly, tipping an invisible fedora and giving a small snort when she rolled her eyes at him.
"Oh, my child, you have returned! Please, allow me!" Toriel bustled over to the overburdened human, easily taking the bags from her and moving back to set them all on the kitchen counter. "I should have sent a gentleman with you to help you carry all of these heavy things," she said, shooting Sans a look, to which he simply shrugged, closing the front door and walking to flop onto the couch.
"It's alright, I don't mind. I can take care of myself!" Lena said proudly, holding her arms up and flexing her muscles, causing Toriel to giggle.
"Yes, yes, of course! I never doubted your strength, young one."
"So..." the human began, digging through the bags. "I got everything for spaghetti bolognese, and garlic bread. I hope that this is all okay... I hope I didn't forget anything." The queen started sorting through the bags, humming to herself and nodding, as if checking off a mental checklist. When she came across the bone-shaped pasta, she laughed, holding it up to inspect it more closely. "Oh, those. I thought Papyrus and Frisk might enjoy that. They're such cute little bone shapes!"
"I am certain they will love them! They are absolutely adorable!" The two women talked back and forth eagerly, about cooking, about Frisk, about lots of things. It was surprising how well they really got along. Sans watched idly from the couch, one eye cracked open just barely enough to keep an eye on them. The exchange between the two women seemed civil enough...but a part of him just didn't feel at ease, having a human that wasn't Frisk in the apartment. "Oh, would you mind starting on the sauce for me? I was just about to finish making a butterscotch cinnamon pie that we could have for dessert." Lena's eyes widened at that, her stomach growling subtly at the thought, and she smiled.
"Sure! That sounds delicious! Do you bake often, Toriel?" The queen nodded, flushing prettily, a faint shade of pink gracing her cheeks. Lena pulled out all of the tomatoes and, after a second of looking around, grabbed a sharp chef's knife, cutting out the stems and dicing the plump fruits. She picked out the seeds the best she could and put them into a saucepan Toriel had already sat out for her. She turned the flames on underneath the burner, adjusting them until it was just a low flicker, letting the tomatoes stew for a moment as she prepared the other ingredients. "You wouldn't happen to have any ketchup, would you?" she asked, and Sans quirked a brow at this, watching as Toriel went to the fridge and pulled out the glass bottle of Heinz. "Thanks!" The human searched through the drawers for a moment until she found a spoon, then carefully measured out six spoonfuls of the red condiment, dumping it into the saucepan. Then, with only a slight hesitation, she filled up the spoon once more and promptly put it into her mouth.
'The kid likes ketchup, huh... Guess she can't be all that bad.' Sans frowned at the thought, tucking his hands behind his skull and laying back on the couch, closing his eyes.
"You and Sans both have the strangest taste. I don't believe I've ever seen another person eat ketchup all by itself!" Lena gave a sheepish grin, rinsing off the used spoon and setting it into the sink.
"Yeah, I know. I just really like ketchup. I didn't used to think it was so great, but my friend Brit loves the stuff, and so do her kids, and-"
"Your friend has children?" Toriel interrupted, her eyes practically shining as she paused in her pie-preparations, turning toward the human. "Are they monster or human?"
"They're human. But they have the same feelings about monsters as I do. Ah, here, I think I have a recent enough picture of them..." Fumbling in her back pocket for her phone, Lena quickly unlocked it and started flipping through her pictures, pausing on one that had herself, Brit, and her two children in it. Toriel cooed, obviously enamored by the small children. "That's my friend Brit. She's a stay-at-home mom, y'know, to raise her kids. They're real handfuls, too! Oh, maybe you could meet them one day!" At this the queen paused, smiling somewhat sadly.
"I would not want to frighten them..." she mumbled softly, and Lena shook her head.
"Nonsense! Her children aren't afraid of monsters. They've seen plenty of them. They even have playdates with a few monster families! Brit loves babysitting for them, too..." Lena trailed off slightly as she noticed the struck expression on Toriel's face. "Ah, sorry... I just. I really respect her, for how much she's managed to get those families to open up and trust her, y'know? I know that trusting humans is hard..." She chuckled somewhat darkly, shrugging her shoulders as she rolled and chopped some parsley. "Heck, even we have trouble trusting our own species sometimes. It's just the way things are... So, um, you wouldn't have to worry about scaring them." She gave the queen a patient smile then, and Toriel felt herself smiling as well, a bit of fondness in her expression.
"I see... Thank you, young one. It means quite a lot to hear that from one such as yourself." Lena glanced at her, confused by what she meant by her words, but was interrupted before she could even begin to speak by a loud voice booming from the hallway.
"YOU HAVE STARTED THE DINNER PREPARATIONS WITHOUT ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS?" Papyrus stood there with his hands on his bony hips, browbones furrowed and his voice actually sounding somewhat hurt. Toriel turned to him and smiled nervously, glancing between the stove and Papyrus.
"Ahhh, well, yes. I was hoping that you might be willing to keep an eye on Frisk for me while we cook." When he didn't seem pleased by this, she pressed onward. "I-I believe that Lena and I can handle dinner..."
"NONSENSE! MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE DINNER MAKING! WHAT IF THE HUMAN DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO PROPERLY MAKE SPAGHETTI? IT WOULD BE A TRAGEDY IF SHE WERE TO MAKE A MISTAKE! SHE WOULD SURELY BE EMBARRASSED!" Lena felt her brow twitch (it was hard not to take those words as a bit of an insult) but turned to Toriel, laying a hand on her arm.
"Don't worry, I can uh...keep them occupied," she said quietly, giving the queen a small wink and crossing the living room. "Hey, Papyrus, do you want to play a game?" She could feel Sans' eyes on her as she walked closer to his brother, but she ignored it, smiling up at the towering skeleton. Papyrus' eyes widened slightly, a look of intrigue passing over his face. 'How do skeletons even make facial expressions?'
"A GAME? WHAT SORT OF GAME ARE YOU WANTING TO PLAY?"
"Well, it's sort of a puzzle game-"
"A PUZZLE GAME?! WHAT IS IT? WHAT ARE THE RULES? WE MUST PLAY AT ONCE!" he asked, voice eager like a child's and Lena couldn't help but laugh goodnaturedly at his excitement.
"I have a lot of different games, actually. Hang on, I'll go get them. They're in my car-"
"I SHALL HELP YOU, HUMAN!" He stormed past her and threw the front door open, disappearing outside, and Lena giggled, following after him. When she got outside, she fought back a snort as Papyrus was pressing his face to the glass of the windows, peering inside her vehicle. "WHERE ARE THEY? I DO NOT SEE THEM." She pulled out her keys and hit the button to unlock and open the trunk, which Papyrus immediately lunged for, eyesockets widening as he spied all of the different colorful board game boxes. He scooped them all up in his big arms and walked proudly back into the house, and Lena barely had time to close the trunk and return inside before he dumped the boxes onto the coffee table, startling Sans who had, apparently dozed off. "WHICH SHALL WE PLAY FIRST?"
Sans eyed the boxes suspiciously for a moment, expression fading to one of mild curiosity when he saw they were harmless. Lena looked over the different boxes and, smiling, picked up the one with "Mouse Trap" written on the side. "How about this one?" she asked, carefully stacking the other boxes on the floor next to the coffee table and setting the chosen box on top, opening it. Papyrus stared, completely fascinated as she set up the board game.
"'MOUSE TRAP'... WHY WOULD THEY MAKE A GAME ABOUT TRAPPING MICE? WHY NOT 'HUMAN TRAP'?" Lena raised a brow, pausing to think over his question, then shrugged.
"Well, on the surface, mice are often troublesome for humans, since they sneak into houses and chew up electrical wires, tear up furniature... That's why people invented mouse traps."
"AH. SO THAT THE MOUSE COULD BE TOLD NOT TO BE VOILENT AND THEN SET FREE?" The question was so innocent, and Lena could feel Sans' eyes on her again, so she smiled and nodded easily.
"That's right." She just didn't have the heart to tell him that mouse traps actually killed the mice... Not when he smiled so brightly at her words. "So, do you want to go get Frisk and ask if they want to play?" Papyrus nodded quickly and jumped up, the action shaking the floor a bit, and he bounded down the hallway, calling for Frisk.
"Hey." Sans' voice spoke up finally and suddenly, and Lena glanced up from where she was setting up the game board and made a small hum of question. "Thanks for, y'know, not tellin' Paps about mouse traps. He'd have been upset if he found out." It was a surprise that he actually thanked her, and she looked surprised for a moment. "Might be good to let that fact squeak by." Lena rolled her eyes, huffing slightly and returning to reading over the game instructions.
"That joke was pretty cheesy," she countered easily, and she didn't miss the small snort of amusement the skeleton gave. Her lips spread into a smile as she set out all of the playing pieces, wanting to wait until the others chose theirs first.
"I dunno, I thought it was a mouseterpiece." She groaned and looked over at him, a wordless glance that practically said "are you done", and he snickered to himself. Papyrus was suddenly storming back into the room, a giggling Frisk on his shoulders. He set the child down carefully on the couch next to Sans, who immediately reached out to ruffle their hair.
"ALRIGHT, WE ARE HERE. SO WHAT ARE THE RULES TO THIS GAME, HUMAN?" he asked, eyesockets focused intently on the board set up on the coffee table.
"Well, the object of the game is to collect the most cheese by moving across the board. We play as the mice in this game," she said, holding up one of the little mouse-shaped player pieces. "Here, why don't you go ahead and pick your piece? You can pick whichever color you want." Papyrus and Frisk leaned over the table, both of their faces screwing up into a look of intense concentration that Lena couldn't help but smile brightly at. After a moment, Papyrus very carefully picked up the red mouse, bringing it up to eye-level to look at it more closely.
"THIS ONE MATCHES THE COLOR OF MY CAPE, SO I SHALL HAVE THIS ONE. WHICH ONE DO YOU WANT, HUMAN FRISK?" The child looked at the pieces, frowning slightly, then their eyes widened in realization, glancing between Sans and Lena, who raised a brow at him in confusion. They quickly picked up the remaining three pieces and shoved the green one into Lena's hands, and the blue one in Sans' hand. They nodded as if proud of themselves, smiling widely and signing something to Sans, who raised his browbones at him.
"Yeah, kid? If you say so..." he drawled on, glancing at Lena, then shrugging his shoulders, sitting up a bit. "Guess I'm playin'."
"Ah, if you don't want to, you don't have to..." she said carefully, glancing between him and Frisk. Sans shook his head, grinning.
"Nah. If the kid wants me to play, who am I to disabrie?" Papyrus groaned loudly and pointed a finger accusingly at his brother.
"SANS! NONE OF THAT!"
"Aw, c'mon bro, I thought that joke was pretty grate." Frisk giggled and held out a fist toward the shorter skeleton, who quickly initiated a gentle fistbump, much to Papyrus' displeasure. "Alright alright, sorry bro. I'll stop with the puns..." Papyrus sighed in relief. "...y'know, just in queso the human doesn't like 'em."
"SANS!"
The game of mouse trap had gone fairly smoothly, considering none of them really knew how to play. Lena had to read and re-read (and re-read, and re-read) the rules, and Sans had been waiting for her to lose her patience with his brother pretty quickly. But she didn't, and when Papyrus had started losing and getting upset, she'd even thrown the game. Messing up on purpose so that she would get trapped, and letting Papyrus win. Now, Sans wasn't one to trust humans easily...but someone who cared that much for his brother couldn't be all bad, right?
The other games went in a similar fashion. Operation, Candy Land, Connect Four, and Sorry were all played, and there were lots of laughs. Sans found himself even having fun...just a little bit. He kept watching his brother's expression light up, and he'd smile fondly when Frisk excitedly bounced next to him. This was all he ever wanted. To see the people he loved enjoying themselves.
"I, MASTER DETECTIVE PAPYRUS, SHALL BE THE ONE TO CATCH THE DASTARDLY HUMAN WHO MURDERED COLONEL MUSTARD!" Papyrus cried out proudly, slapping a gloved hand to his armor-covered chest as he pointed a finger at the group now settled around the table. Sans shrugged, closing his eyes, then barely peeking one open to glance at his brother.
"Better hurry bro, otherwise they'll get away, and if they do-"
"DO NOT-"
"-then it'll be hard for you to ketchup."
"AUGH! THAT'S IT. IT HAS TO BE YOU. YOU ARE THE ONE. SANS IN THE STUDY WITH THE AWFUL JOKES. YOU KILLED POOR COLONEL MUSTARD. ADMIT IT!"
Lena laughed at their playful banter, her cheeks sore from smiling so much.
"Hey, c'mon, bro, if I told you who did it, then you couldn't relish in your victory." Papyrus dragged a hand down his skull and face, a loud, muffled groan escaping him, and Sans snickered at his expense. "Hey, you're smilin'."
"I AM. AND I HATE IT!"
"I hate to interrupt your fun," Toriel said brightly, smiling from her spot in the kitchen, drawing their attention, "but dinner is ready! Frisk, please go wash your hands, Lena, could you help me set the table?" Frisk nodded and hopped down from the couch, avoiding Sans' hand as he attempted to muss his hair again and disappearing down the hall into the bathroom.
"Sure!" Lena called, glancing at the board, then the kitchen. "Um, could you handle getting this put away for me, Papyrus?" she asked, eyes flicking up toward Sans for half a second, but was distracted by a large hand turning her and gently pushing her toward the kitchen.
"FEAR NOT, HUMAN. I SHALL EXPERTLY PUT THIS PUZZLE GAME AWAY!" She chuckled and nodded her head, hurrying off toward the kitchen. She spied the plates and silverware that Toriel had set out on the counter and began setting the places at the table, lining up the silverware perfectly next to the beautiful china. Once she was done, she went to the stove, leaning over to smell the delicious aromas coming from the pots set on it. A small laugh escaped her when she saw the bone-shaped pasta, set aside in their own bowl.
"Could you put these dishes on the table for me? And serving spoons are in the drawer next to the sink over there," Toriel said, slipping on a pair of oven mitts over her large paws, and Lena nodded. She took the bowls of plain pasta (one bone-shaped, and one of regular angel hair) and set them in the center of the table, grabbing a serving spoon for the shaped ones and a pasta-server for the other. Toriel nudged past her gently and set a large plate stacked high with garlic bread down as well, slipping off her oven mitts and putting her hands on her hips, looking over the food triumphantly. The two women shared a smile. "Dinner is served~"