(a/n: im gonna start posting every other day instead of every day, that way i can edit chapters better and add more to them! :* )
The apartment smelt the way your old childhood house had before mom died. It smelt like something baking, something warm and fresh and tasty.
From just the smell alone, you were quite delighted about your pumpkin casserole. While you weren't the best cook you knew – not by a long shot, it wasn't easy to screw up something as easy as a casserole. Besides, mom's recipes were thorough. She knew how bad your family was at cooking. She always knew exactly what to do.
Days like these were the days you missed her the most. Although it had been a good few years since she passed, it still stung deeply. She had been the one person there for you since, well, birth. You guessed that everyone would leave you somehow or another.
You found yourself contemplating if you should even go to this potluck. You hardly knew Undyne and Alphys, much less anything about their friends. The only thing you really remembered was that they had a friend named Papyrus who really loved spaghetti and had trained with Undyne in the Underground. And you were more than certain there would be more than just him.
It wasn't easy, being this antisocial. It was hard enough coming out of your comfortable, safe, little bubble to talk to anyone in the store. You shuddered to think about how tonight would go.
...Maybe it'd go awful. Your casserole could turn out to be a fiasco, someone could be allergic, everyone would hate you and realize how much of a total mess of a person you were. Some days it was hard enough to even breathe for you. Normal people didn't ever feel like that.
You felt like you were defective. An item that needed to be recalled, something that needed to be fixed...
Or destroyed.
Not helping your mood, you remembered Sans last night and groaned. You probably embarrassed yourself silly. No sane person really laughed that much. He probably just kept talking to you because you followed him around the store for hours (did he follow you? ...It doesn't matter). You liked talking to him. It was easy to let your guard down around him, even if the way you broke the ice was spilling a bottle of goddamn ketchup everywhere.
You wanted to talk to him again, but you felt a sense of unease immediately following that thought. What if that was a fluke? What if you two met again and he absolutely despised you and your personality?
Sans seemed different. He seemed, well, really extraordinary.
You could never compare to someone like that – not being as simple and boring as you felt you were.
You really knew you should stop thinking like this. It wasn't going to do you any good, it never did. But like always, once it started it wasn't like you had much control of it anymore.
The casserole smells reminded you of autumn. It was that time of year too. Not late enough for pumpkin carvings, or really even anything that you enjoyed about this time of year. Too warm for hot cocoa, and too cold for t-shirts.
This time of year kind of sucked.
You decided to take a shower to stop thinking for a while. It was then, and only then, you realized that you had quite a bit of ketchup caked to your hair. You wondered if it looked like blood.
Even though you were meeting a whole group of people, you still didn't find yourself caring enough to wear something extremely fancy. You threw on a black, baggy, oversized sweater (A signature look for you. Mainly a sign of your laziness.) that had the wordsI LIKE CATS printed on it. You threw on a pair of light skinny jeans and put a pair of old combat boots by the door to put on later.
And as usual, you threw your wet hair into a bun. You never really cared much about hair products and styles – the only thing you really needed was hairbands.
While the casserole continued cooking, you noticed the time was getting close to five. You hurriedly texted Undyne, asking for her address.
She answered you quicker than you expected, telling you her address and calling you a punk. You sent her a quick thanks.
You took out the casserole and placed it into a portable, heat-retaining container. You were lucky dad was so bad at buying gifts, or else your casserole might be a lukewarm mess by the time you got to Undyne's.
It wasn't too far away, but still far enough that you had to take the subway. They lived in a nice neighborhood, one of the few places in the city that monsters could live without worry. You heard the landlords were nice enough and cared more about the money than the people living inside the houses – monsters or not. You actually were relived reading Undyne's address, you were glad that they were able to find a nice home here.
Not all humans were bad... Just the... The loud majority.
Your heart felt heavy, and you felt the dread for the potluck creep up on you again. You wished desperately in your heart that they might like you, but... Knowing yourself, you were bound to make a mistake.
You laced up your old boots, grabbed the casserole, and headed out the door; locking it up as you left.
Xxx
Despite everything, nothing could've prepared you for the moment of truth. You stood outside Undyne's suspected door (you prayed that it was her door) and began to think of all the possibilities that could go wrong.
You tried to avoid thinking about it the minute you left your house. Even though you were an anxiety-ridden fool, you at least knew some smart moves. You had plugged your headphones on full blast and tried to think of something else besides the damned potluck. It ended up being... More depressive, even somewhat sinister things.
Unneeded to be said, you didn't really make yourself feel any better.
At this point though, you wondered if it would be rude if you didn't eat much. A potluck did require eating other people's foods. Maybe you could be okay with just eating a small portion of everyone's without seconds, stay for a little while, and leave before you messed everything up.
The time was a little after six, and you felt embarrassed you were a bit late.
You took a deep, anxious breath and knocked on the door hesitantly.
Undyne swung it open, a wide smile on her face.
"Heya, boss!" She grinned widely, stepping aside so you could enter, "Glad you could make it!"
You vaguely felt your hands shaking a bit, getting sweatier as you clutched on the casserole's container for dear life, "H-hey, Undyne."
She closed the door behind both of you, "Almost everyone's here, we're just waiting on the damned skeletons."
You didn't say anything, but you couldn't help but think of Sans.
Instead you smiled and followed Undyne to the living room where a table with many dishes was located. There was a goat-type monster with long, floppy ears and a human child with a cute striped sweatshirt sitting down.
"Hey, Tori! Frisky!" Undyne pointed at you when you guys walked in the room, "This is _. My boss."
You felt a bit embarrassed about being called her boss, but you assumed it was true. You smiled, albeit awkwardly, "H-Hello."
You placed your casserole nervously on the table, almost slamming it as your hands were shaking so bad.
Don't freak out here. Not now. Please. Please. Don't freak out. Act normal for once in your goddamn life!
The goat monster looked at you with a motherly, warm smile, "Hello, _. My name is Toriel and this is my child, Frisk."
Frisk smiled at you and began to sign, which caught you a bit off guard.
Toriel seemed to understand that you didn't know sign language and began interpreting what she was saying, "Frisk says that it's nice to meet you. They say that Undyne and Alphys have been talking about you a lot."
Your face flushed, and you stuttered awkwardly, "It's nice, um, to m-meet you guys too!"
Frisk began to laugh, an adorable child's laugh which made you want to hug them instantly. That would be weird though, so you refrained yourself.
You guys heard the door knock, a harsh and unrestrained almost punch to the door. It made you jump a bit when you first heard it, although Toriel and Frisk just smiled a little.
Undyne went to go get the door, leaving you with the goat mom and child.
You smiled nervously.
"So, _, I heard you work at a bookstore," Toriel inquired, "Is it the one down on Crest Street?"
You nodded, "Yeah... It's been in my family for a few years now."
"That is very cool to hear!" Toriel seemed to be trying to act a bit younger, and you stiffled a small laugh – although Frisk giggled with glee in their tone, "Bookstores are such a joy, don't you think, my child? We should go visit it someday."
Frisk nodded excitedly, their hair going up and down along with them.
You wondered if Frisk was mute, or just selectively so. It was a bit rude to ask someone that type of question, especially during a first meeting, so you just kept quiet.
You heard the door swung open and wondered if Undyne had a habit of doing that. You hadn't really noticed if she'd done that with the door at the store, but you hardly noticed anything significant. Dad did called you a duntz sometimes.
"UNDYNE," A loud, but ultimately harmless sounding voice bellowed, "I HAVE BROUGHT TO YOU A GIFT OF POTLUCK SPAGHETTI."
Undyne snorted, "Thanks, Pap! I'm sure your spaghetti skills are getting better with each time you make it."
Toriel and Frisk snickered, and you assumed that they all must've known each other at some point or another. You felt like an intruder, almost. So much so that you kind of felt like running out of their house and never coming back.
You sat down and wiped your sweaty palms on your jeans.
"don't encourage him," you heard a familiar voice speak, "we'll have spaghetti four times a day instead of three."
Remembering last night with an alarming shock, you felt your blood freeze.
Undyne came in with two skeletons – a tall one (almost taller than the living room's doorway) with a red scarf, a crop top that exclaimed the words COOL DUDE, an almost speedo looking type pants(?), and red boots. And another one that looked comfortingly familiar in a blue jacket and pink slippers.
"Papyrus, Sans," Undyne pointed at you for the second time tonight, but this time you felt less anxious and more dreadful, "This is my friend/boss, _."
You felt your voice go hoarse, "H-hi."
"HELLO FELLOW HUMAN," Papryus put a hand on his hip flamboyantly, "I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS. YOU ARE WELCOMED TO MEET MY ACQUAINTANCE."
Sans, however, looked and you and gave a huge, shit eating grin, "i guess it's time for us to ketchup again, right, _?"