((A/N: Thank you to Aperture Survivor, JasherTheDarkend, PureAngel and Faystay for your reviews!))
The entire walk to the Skeleton brother's house, Sans didn't take his eye sockets off Frisk. Frisk could understand, but it made her too nervous to leave Papyrus' side once she arrived at 'her new home'. She could only imagine what this must have looked like to Sans, but until she could find some way to prove to him that she wasn't the one who killed Papyrus in the previous timelines, she knew Sans wouldn't believe her story and might even attack her pre-emptively to rid the possibility of her from hurting Papyrus. So until she could think of something, she stuck to Papyrus like glue.
Papyrus was ecstatic from the attention, almost making Frisk feel less guilty for using him as a human/skeleton shield. Papyrus showed her the kitchen and the living room, doing his best to make her feel welcome, then eventually moved onto his bedroom.
"I DO NOT USUALLY ALLOW PEOPLE INTO MY ROOM, BUT CONSIDERING THAT WE DO NOT HAVE A ROOM FOR YOU YET, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SHARE MY ROOM WITH YOU FOR THE TIME BEING." Papyrus offered with a wide grin, beaming with the excitement of having his new friend/new sibling stay with them. Papyrus had really been pushing that Frisk was being adopted into their family, and Sans was struggling to find reasons to deny it.
Sans narrowed his eye sockets at Papyrus, "papyrus, i don't think that's a good idea." Frisk found herself nodding in agreement, as much as she was afraid of being alone around Sans, she knew she would really be pushing her luck by accepting Papyrus' offer, knowing that there was no way Sans would be happy with her being alone with him without Sans' supervision.
"I-I could a'ways shleep on the couch." She said hurriedly.
"NONSENSE! I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SHARE MY BED WITH YOU, IT WOULD BE JUST LIKE SLEEPOVER… WHICH I HAVE MOST CERTAINLY HAVE EXPERIENCED BEFORE." Sans began to sweat, Frisk knew that Sans couldn't deny Papyrus now when everyone here knew that Papyrus hasn't had one before.
"Then, maybe Sans can shleepover too?" Frisk suggested, and Sans looked up at her in surprise, Papyrus' grin grew wider (if that was possible).
"THAT IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA FRISK!" Papyrus looked expectantly at Sans.
"doesn't sound bed to me, bro," Sans commented smoothly. Frisk chuckled at the pun and Papyrus fumed, yet somehow, some of the tension in the air lifted.
It was then that Frisk's non-existent stomach growled, and she realised that she hadn't eaten yet in this timeline at all. Papyrus declared that it was time for lunch and was about to rush to the kitchen to prepare some spaghetti to eat. Frisk, however, grabbed his arm to stop him.
Papyrus looked down at her, confused, while Frisk saw in the corner of her eye-socket Sans eye flare bright blue. She explained herself quickly in a quiet voice.
"You, you don't need to, mishes Toriel gave me these sanwiches to eat, and-and I thought I could share." Frisk presented her basket full of sandwiches, purposely mentioning Toriel so Sans would notice and hopefully figure out that she was still alive this timeline.
Frisk inwardly smiled at how she had gotten a hang of at talking without a tongue now, and hopefully soon, she would stop making mistakes altogether.
Frisk could tell Sans either caught the message or had just relaxed because Frisk wasn't actually attacking Papyrus because his eye sockets had returned to normal. Papyrus looked disappointed that he didn't get to prepare his spaghetti for his new sibling, but thanked Frisk for being so thoughtful.
The three sat down in the living room and each took a sandwich. Frisk peeped at them first and saw that they were filled with a homemade apricot jam. She grinned and went to take a bite before hesitating.
How was she supposed to eat? How did skeletons eat? They didn't have lips, or a tongue. She didn't know how many times she had eaten with the skeleton brothers in the past, but she had never figured it out before. She looked to the brothers, and noticed that they didn't chew on the food, but rather just took a bite and waited for a few moments before biting again.
Sans was watching her, but instead of it being the all-seeing-make-sure-you-don't-do-a-violence stare, it was an amused grin. He knew. He knew she hadn't figured it out yet. And he was internally mocking her, she felt it.
She decided to just take a bite and see what happens. Worst comes to worse, she could just pretend to be sick, right? No, she realised that would only make Papyrus worry, but she would think of something.
She took a bite out of the sandwich and waited a moment. She couldn't hide her surprise when she felt the food dissolving in her mouth, melting like chocolate but into nothing. She could still taste the jam too, which was deliciously sweet.
"Mmmm," She hummed in delight, she hadn't tasted Toriel's jam since her first run. She looked at Sans and saw that once she had taken a bite he had changed his focus to his food. Frisk could tell that he was glad to be eating the sandwiches, but she couldn't tell if it was because he remembered having them before, or rather because he was glad to avoid eating Papyrus' spaghetti.
Papyrus spoke up to get rid of the odd silence that had filled the room, "THESE SANDWICHES ARE WONDERFULL, YOU MUST TELL THIS 'MISHES TORIEL' THAT I AM THANKFUL TO HER FOR MAKING THEM!" Frisk looked down, not knowing how to tell Papyrus that she would never see Toriel again. She forced a smile and nodded, deciding it was best not to upset Papyrus.
Papyrus continued speaking, "I CANNOT WAIT TO INTRODUCE YOU TO UNDYNE." Frisk was glad she couldn't choke as a skeleton, or Papyrus might have noticed how scared she was at the mention of Undyne.
Undyne had always been a little scary to Frisk, even on the first timeline. She was pretty violent and loud, and Chara's genocide runs only made her more terrifying. While it was true that Frisk wasn't even in control of her body at the time, the image of Undyne's righteous fury and melting form would always be burnt into the inside of her skull.
Well at least she thought Papyrus wouldn't notice, but the innocent skeleton proved to be more perceptive than Frisk thought.
"WHAT IS WRONG FRISK?" Papyrus asked concerned, shocking Frisk out of her bad memories, despite this, however, still, she didn't know how to explain her fear to Papyrus before Sans responded.
"she's probably just intimidated at the thought of meeting the captain of the royal guard, after all, undyne's pretty tough, and frisk doesn't have any muscle on her." Papyrus groaned at Sans' pun but brightened up when he came up with an idea.
"I KNOW, I'LL GIVE FRISK SOME TRAINING, THAT OUGHT TO BOOST HER CONFIDENCE!" Papyrus stood up, picking up Frisk and immediately headed outside to start the training right away.
Sans hurried to catch up, "paps, i'm not sure that's a great idea…"
"DO NOT WORRY BROTHER, I'LL BE CAREFUL NOT TO HURT FRISK, I HAVE TRAINED WITH YOU IN THE PAST, SO YOU KNOW I AM AN EXPERT IN CONTROL" Papyrus completely missed Sans' true concerns, placing Frisk on the snow and walking back a few feet to get some distance between the two of them.
Frisk looked nervously at Sans, not sure what to do. Sans looked like he was going to have some kind of panic attack, judging by the sweat coming down his face. However, Frisk couldn't keep her focus on that for long, as Papyrus started to instruct her.
"NOW FRISK, I WILL TEACH YOU FROM THE VERY BASICS. FIRST RULE OF THE UNDERGROUND IN COMBAT IS TO CHECK YOUR OPPONENT ON YOUR FIRST TURN, LIKE SO." Papyrus checked Frisk, and suddenly Frisk's stats appeared for the three of them to see.
FRISK – ATK 1 DEF 1
Only has 1 HP
Both Papyrus and Sans stared shocked at Frisk's stats. Papyrus seemed concerned and Sans looked, odd… Calculating. Papyrus was the first to speak.
"I, I THOUGHT SANS WAS THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE STATS THIS LOW…" There was an uncomfortable silence.
Sans looked at Frisk with an unreadable expression. "kid… you and I need to talk."
