Everything Stays

The creek's motions had lulled you in a deeper sleep than you thought possible. What helped were the trees gentle whooshing to block out all the noise from the outside world. Beneath you, soft moss had provided a natural bed that beckoned you to rest your cheek against once more for more sleep. Letting out a monstrous yawn, you turn from your side to your back and look over at Asriel's sleeping form beside you. He looks peaceful here. You've gotta remember to bring him camping more often. Maybe that'll relieve stress from him, too.

"Look, it's the gay brothers!"

"Brothers? That's a girl!"

"No way, that's a boy!"

"It's a thing!"

You bolt upright at the voices. The insults weren't foreign to you, but you expected to be left alone here. It was your safe place...

"Oh, it heard you!"

Your head snaps to the left and you see two tall boys around your age jeering towards you, both holding fishing poles. You want them to leave, but they approach you instead and you quickly get to your feet.

"What do you want?"

"Whoa, did you like...come out here alone to be with your brother? Are you a faggot?"

"Incestuous, more like it."

Your fists ball up beside you, but being in uniform, you have to stay...yeech...political...

"You two are pretty rude."

The statement threw them completely off guard. For some reason, they expected no resistance, or even a confrontation to their manners. You smile and try to brush it off, but you feel heat rising up from your collar and you want to escape.

"Asriel, let's go-" just as you turn to wake him, you notice that he's already awake and seething.

"Ohhh..! Goat boy's getting pissed off!"

You know the danger in Asriel's eyes when you see it. All your anger dissipates and you instantly haul him to his feet. It wasn't worth the fight. It wasn't worth losing face over while representing the entire monster race.

"Let's go, we've gotta get going-"

"Oooh, how cute! Come now, Asriel! Shouldn't hurt the humans!"

Asriel's eyes dart over to you, and he can see the hurt in your eyes, but also the strong desire to leave. He doesn't quite want to walk away from the situation, but he knows you've no choice. So he takes your hand and begins to lead you out of the forest forcefully. You barely keep up, but you don't complain. He's got a hotter head than Undyne when he's mad. The problem with that was he could slip into a Flowey-sort of thinking and then...

You shake your head.

"You need to slow down."

"They were hurting your feelings. What's it matter to them what gender you are? And ew? You're my sibling? What the hell was that? They-"
You yank your arm back, forcing him to stop, and you stare straight at him with determined eyes. He wasn't going to ramble on.

"So yeah, today was a awful day. But let's not be upset about it, okay?"

It was not okay, but you had to pretend. Otherwise he'd talk himself in circles until the sun came up. You dealt with people like them all the time, just because Asriel had a bad (and you did, too) doesn't mean he was allowed to take it out on anyone. Especially humans, after everything that's happened.

"They-"

"Were being ignorant. Come on, don't let them get to you for my sake. You're better than that, I know it. I have to follow your example, more often than not, you know..."

At that comment, Asriel's face broke in two and tears threatened to spill. He often forgot just how much you believed in him; how much you admired him and tried to be as graceful as he was. At least during political movements. You did better with people on an individual level.

Reaching for a hug, you bury your chin in his shoulder and squeeze him tight. He doesn't cry, but that doesn't mean he's not on the verge. You rub his back in small circles and smile. He's the one that has to pull away and force a thin smile on his face.

"Let's go get some food. I'm starving."

"You have your phone? I forgot mine."

Asriel goes to pat his pockets and then begins yanking up his robe. You would have been horror-stricken if this wasn't the first time he'd done it; but underneath it all, he's wearing jeans that allows him to actually have pockets. His hand digs in the left side and he pulls out his thin smart-phone and grins broadly, letting his robe fall down again.

"Never leave home without it. Oh...mom texted. Dad too...Papyrus did three times..."

Asriel spends a couple of minutes just standing there and replying to each one as you look around the park trail. In the distance, you can still hear the boys talking in loud voices about the 'queer boys' and 'shemale' but you brush it aside for Asriel's sake. He's already upset about them on top of the fundraiser announcement being a complete flop.

"There. Sans is already at Grillby'z with the others, and Papyrus is going to bring us a change of clothes. You ready?"

Placing his arms akimbo, obviously finished with texting everyone, you nod and nudge him gently with your elbow. An eyebrow raises in question and you shrug.

"You started looking too stern. Lighten up or I'm gonna tell Sans you learned to play the triangle in school."

"Don't be a square, Frisk."

"That was a bad one, and you should be ashamed."

You shoot back with a grin. Having heard almost all the puns in the world possible, you've grown to have a certain...standard...for puns. Or so you liked to claim.

"Nope."

"Well you should."

You look up in the sky, shrugging again. He's happier now, at least. You hate sulking Asriel. It reminds you too much of how you left him in the ruins when you were a child. That was the deepest wound you could never hope to repair.

You need to walk for about forty five minutes before you reach Grillby'z. The fresh autumn wind smells waft off your clothes into the blinding heat of the bar. There, Papyrus is already talking Sans' ear off and Undyne is playing scales on the piano in the corner. The Dogs of Snowdin were speaking in Bark to each other, wet dog food half eaten in front of them. They're all dressed in warm sweaters after having relinquished their normal armor.

"oh. look. they came by." Sans put down his trombone, a polishing cloth in one hand, and seemed to smile more heartily than before. Asriel wastes no time in skipping over to Papyrus and wrapping his arms around the tall skeleton.

"HELLO! YOU HAD US ALL WORRIED! WHERE WERE YOU?"

Papyrus twirled Asriel in a circle a few times before setting him down with a firm pat on his head. Laughing a bit, you watch as Asriel quickly gives Sans a hug as well and tests out a nearby guitar. He's more than at home at Grillby'z. Everyone's at home at Grillby'z. And Grillby himself is already cooking up your and Asriel's favorite: a triple cheese burger with onion rings and barbecue sauce and a side of nachos with all the toppings with root beer floats.

Undyne stops playing and she bounds over to you with a NYGAAAAHHH and it's her turn to bring you in a tight embrace. You laugh and hug her back. She didn't used to be so touchy-feely until she realized exactly what you did to save her. Then you REALLY became her BFF.

"Those PUNKS RUINED. YOUR. SPEECH."

She squeezes you tighter with every word and you can feel your insides begin to squish. With a choked laugh, she releases you and takes hold of your shoulders.

"Me 'n Papyrus taught those punks a lesson. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY TO THINK ABOUT, THOUGH. RAAAGH-"

Grillby peers over his glasses from behind the counter, challenging her to break another chair. She doesn't.

"Thanks, Undyne. We'll try another time."

"YOU TWO LOOKED GREAT TOGETHER, THOUGH. VERY STUNNING." Papyrus gives you and Asriel two thumbs up and winks. "I AM PROUD OF YOU."

That brings a smile to your face.

"Thanks, Paps. Did you bring our clothes? These are a little..."

"OF COURSE I DID! HERE YOU GO!"

Papyrus reaches over to the pile of instruments and pulls out a duffel bag of clothes and hands it to Asriel. He immediately digs out his set and then passes you the bag.

"Okay, gonna go change."

You head to the employee's lounge and change into your large purple sweater, light blue jeans, and white sneakers. During the process, you accidentally brush the small braid out of your hair and you feel a little saddened from it. Maybe that braid could be part of your every day sort of ritual. You liked it.

"You done?"

"Yeah."

Asriel pushes the door open and a grin breaks out across his face.

"What?"

"You look like you out of uniform. Not so stiff, anymore."

You grin and rub the back of your head awkwardly. This was pretty much your home away from home. You loved it here. Everyone was either a close friend or your family and you had no reason to shy away from who you are.

"Nope."

"Okay, out, my turn."

He shoves you out of the room and closes the door behind you. Stretching, you make your way to the bar stool and see your plate of food already set out.

"Thanks."

Grillby gives you an approving nod and you can see his spirits brighten (his flames literally get a little brighter). He's been proud of his newfound arts of preparing human foods after attending cooking seminars every night during the construction of Grillbyz.

In display of your ever-growing appreciation, you dig in right away; famished. You didn't even eat that morning, and it was already getting pretty late in the day, so this was ten times tastier than it had any right to be.

"This is so good...mmm..."

You close your eyes as you chew on a peppered fry, letting your shoulders sag. Nothing was better than good food, friends, and having a good time with friends. Like Sans always told you.

"Calm down, it's just a fry."

"It's soooo goooood."

Asriel noogies you as you lean back in you seat and grin, mouth filled with mashed fries, and earn a disgusted look from your brother. He doesn't pull away though, and instead decides to mess up your hair even more until it resembles something like a mop on your head.

"Gross. Oh, hey, Sans! Frisk can sing, did you know that?"

"Asriel, no..."

His hands fall on your shoulders and gives them a couple squeezes. Of course he's trying to push you out of your comfort zone, that's what brothers do. You just wish he didn't do it now. Groaning, you lean over and bury your head in between your arms and try to make yourself as small as possible. It's hard work, and it doesn't pay off, because Undyne is wrangling you away from your beautifully created root beer float and drags you on stage. Asriel is laughing as he takes his seat on the bar stool and begins sipping at your drink. This meant war. No one takes your root beer float and gets away with it.

For very long...

Gulping in a large amount of air, you stare at Undyne adjusting the mic in front of you.

"Whadda'you gonna sing, Frisk?"

Undyne is trying to be helpful in her own playful way. She loves music, and if you can sing? Oh, baby, music lessons for life. Actually, that doesn't sound too bad.

"Uh...dunno."

"Sing that song from the shower!"

Asriel shouts from his seat. Papyrus, leaning over the stage, is beaming. A quick look over at Sans and you see him absolutely enthralled at your upcoming preformance. And you know what? Why the heck not.

So, with all eyes on you, and your wits absolutely gone but who the heck cares, you're surrounded by family, you begin your song. It's your own rendition of "Everything Stays". It wasn't as upbeat as the others might have hoped it would be, but you liked it and it was the one that Asriel heard...so...why not, right?

It's only when Undyne's wide-eyed stare caught your attention did you taper off and shyly pushed her shoulder a bit. She was more than pleased. And just like that, the bar erupted in applause and Papyrus, dear ol' Papyrus, cheered the loudest and jumped up on stage with you. His loud cheering continued right beside your ear as he hugged you as tightly as possible. Undyne being Undyne, stuck a sort of sumo pose with her legs apart and arms held up beside her, and howled a cheer before picking you and Papyrus up in a large group hug and hauling you high in the air.

"MUSIC LESSONS!"

The rest of the afternoon dissolved into practice songs, lots of chatter, good food, and you and Asriel blowing off steam about how poorly your speech went. Grillby kept the food and drinks rolling out, and was more than happy to have all your company there. Other monsters came and went, and even the few stray humans who actually didn't mind the over-zealous monsters, and joined in the good fun right into the evening hours. Smiling, you look over at Asriel and see that his mood had brightened considerably since the incident in the forest. Maybe it'd be better if you came out with your gender to everyone so they'd stop making such a fuss...

"you daydreamin' there, bud?"

"Sure am."

You grin down at Sans and place your hand on his head. You miss the times when he was able to do that to you, but this was much more fun.

"I can be part of your band now, right?"

"no way. we'd have to go through the renaming process all over again. do you know how much of a hassle that was in the first place?"

Giggling, you shrug and give him a smile.

"You're smart. You'll think of a new one."

"nah. just go solo. we'd only hold you back."

"No way."

He's teasing you now. Not about your ability to sing, but your ability to go solo. You love people. There's no way you want to ever have to face doing something alone when there's a lot more fun to be had with others.

"So do you want to know if I'm a boy or a girl?"

You ask Sans suddenly. Everyone else is out of earshot, and Undyne's piano is loud enough to drown out your lowered voices. Sans, always there to lend you an ear, actually shrugs.

"where's this comin' from?"

"Was just thinking."

He knows it's more than that, and leans back into his booth and laces his hands behind his head.

"why, you think you need a gender to identify yourself? you're you, frisk."

Beaming as brightly as ever, you peel yourself off from leaning against the booth table and can't help but let out a small giggle.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

Your family didn't care, really. As long as you were you, and you were healthy? That's all that mattered. And honestly? You knew it. It's just relieving from time to time to hear it from someone else that truly mattered.

"but for what it's worth, kid? i already know."

What a laughable response. Of course he knew. He's Sans. Pretty much the response you expected.

"Thanks, Sans."

"anytime, bucko."


AN: Long time to update, but I was out enjoying my beau for the holidays. On that note, Happy Holidays! Enjoy this chapter! BTW yeah, this is Everything Stays by Rebecca Sugar from Adventure Time. I've recently become introduced to the series and it's addictive.