"Is this all that humanity can offer? You're supposed to be so much stronger than me! One more, Aofil!"
The steel bar rests heavy and uncomfortable on Aofil's chest, pressing down on their rib cage. They adjust their grip and collect their air.
With a determined grunt they press with whatever is left of their energy, but the bar doesn't move.
"I know you can do more!" Undyne leans over the bar, "Hit me in the face with it!"
"U-Undyne," Aofil stammers in between their heavy breaths, "I c-can't!"
"I didn't catch that last word, whelp! Nor will I ever catch it! Ngah! Push!"
Aofil tries, but the bar still doesn't move. It's so heavy, their strength is sapped. Gone like the exasperated air Aofil's forcing in and out of themselves.
"You think punks are worthy of my cooking, human? No!" Undyne grabs hold of the bar and pushes it down. Aofil has to summon every ounce left of their stamina to keep it from crushing their ribs," Punks don't get to taste the fish, punks don't get anything. You are paying for your meal, Aofil, in sweat! And I demand at least an entire ocean of it!" Undyne releases the bar, "Now bench this into outer space! Ngaah!"
The bar moves! It moves slowly, but it's moving. It's shaking like an earthquake, but it's moving! Closer and closer to the resting rack. Ever so closer.
"More, Papyrus!"
What? The bar feels heavier! It's coming down! No, Aofil's so close. Just a little bit more.
"More!"
It's heavier again, but if they drop it now they'll seriously hurt themselves. The bar is scraping against the rack, just need that last push!
"Last one, Papyrus!"
No! Push it! Give it your all! Don't give in!
With a soft clank the bar nestles itself into the resting rack. Aofil's arm falls down on either side, exhausted. They greedily gasp for air to fight off the dizziness closing in around their vision. Undyne helps them sit upright so that Aofil can get more air in, "Gotta work on that stamina, Aofil," she remarks with a snark, but Aofil can't find any pause in their breathing to talk back to her, "Good sets though, I'm proud of you!"
If Aofil had any strength left in their body they would return her smile.
Carefully Undyne leans Aofil onto the conquered bar with their arms over it as she returns to her own bench to pick up some dumbbells. Aofil is heaving their chest up and down to inhale all that precious oxygen, every fresh intake is like sweet nectar. Their arms are still shaking a bit, but they're recovering. Worst of all, it feels good. They're exhausted, but it feels nice and warm. Like they've just survived the worst that could happen in the world, and that they're still alive to tell about it. They've worked hard, and they're gonna be stronger because of it. No pain, no gain. They've had their pain, so all that is left is gain.
"Damn it," Aofil curses loudly the brief moment they feel they can talk without fainting, "Now I want to do it again!"
"Ha!" Undyne clanks her dumbbells together in a show of respect, "Told ya you'd love it, Aofil!"
"Love is," Aofil pauses for some much needed oxygen, "the wrong word to use here, Undyne."
"That's your wrong opinion, human. I'll make it right though, trust me on that."
"Great!" Aofil sighs quickly as to not exhale too much air.
"I'm impressed you managed to hold out against Papyrus' magic as well as the plates," Undyne curls both her arms and smile, "I myself consider it cheating, but you're a human."
"Papyrus'" Aofil breathes in both through their nose and mouth, "magic?"
"I MADE THE BAR BLUE!" Papyrus slows down his jumping rope so that he can talk and hear through the whipping sound of the rope moving around him incredibly fast.
"Blue?" Aofil asks while flopping their head to the side.
"CORRECT, HUMAN! UNDYNE ASKED ME TO, SO I MADE THE BAR IT BLUE!"
"What's blue?"
"A COLOR, HUMAN!"
"He made your bar heavier," Undyne chips in.
"Oh," Aofil tenses up a bit once they realize. It stops their breathing for just a moment though, and almost instantly afterwards their body screams for air, so they clumsily gulp down some more air. Some enter the wrong throat, and they have to quell a burp.
"It gives him a work out as well," Undyne explains while laying down on her own bench. She switches the dumbbells for a heavier pair, much heavier pair, and presses them up over her chest, "and that's the cheating part!"
Seeing Undyne focused on her set Papyrus steps in, "IT'S BETTER TO FIND YOUR OWN LIMIT THAN TO HAVE SOMEONE ELSE SET IT FOR YOU, AOFIL! FOR AS MUCH AS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, LOVE TO ALWAYS HELP MY FRIENDS, YOUR LIMIT WON'T BE THE SAME AS MINE!"
Undyne prepares for another chest press, "Too little and it won't be effective, too much and it's dangerous."
"But," Aofil feels like they've regained enough strength to sit up on their own. They reach for their water bottle, "having a steel bar over my chest with no energy left to hold it up sounds a bit dangerous to me."
"IT'S NOT OVER YOUR CHEST NOW!"
"Yes, but what if I dropped it?"
"You had me spotting you," Undyne reassures, "and Papyrus holding the bar with his magic. I'd never put you in danger."
Aofil raises an eyebrow, barely.
"Not when it comes to working out," Undyne adds with a smile.
"And what about finding my own limit? Didn't you set it for me?"
Undyne puts down her weights and sits up to rest for a bit, "You set it yourself, I just encouraged you to set it higher," she drinks some water, "And next time it'll be higher!"
Aofil sighs through their lips, "Of course it will."
Undyne lies back down and prepares another set. She grabs her weight with an eager grin, "With you being a human you should have no problem keeping up, right? Like this!" and thrusts them above her, "Ngah! Even Papyrus..."
The weights fall down from Undyne's hands, and lodge themselves deep into the grass under her. Her eye twitches, and she sits up slowly, "Papyrus?" she growls through gritted teeth.
He turns around, making another bald patch in the grass with his jumping rope. The white fence behind him is stained by grass and dirt, "YES, UNDYNE?" he asks, digging himself further down into the ground.
Without taking her eye off Papyrus she grabs a hold of his jumping rope mid spin and wraps him up with it, all while grinding her teeth together. She leaves Papyrus with his torso tightly bound with his own jumping rope, "Five hundred laps, Papyrus!"
"AROUND WHAT?" he asks, not making an attempt to free himself.
"The world! To bring me the finest seeds to replant my lawn!" Undyne summons a sharp spear that she lunges between Papyrus' feet, "Now move it!"
The rope around Papyrus arm budges slightly as he tries to salute, but it stays wrapped, "ON MY WAY!" he takes off running over the fence, kicking up a lump of dirt that lands on Undyne's shirt.
"If you throw a spear and hit him he won't be able to get your seeds," Aofil reminds as Undyne's wrist twitches and flexes violently. She spins the freshly conjured spear in her hand, eager to throw it.
"I know!" she replies while still keeping her murderous gaze locked on Papyrus skipping over backyard after backyard, "And I hate that you're right, Aofil!"
"You know what might make you feel better? Some food perhaps?"
Undyne bounces her spear in her hand impatiently, but ultimately settles on just sighing deeply and letting it fade away. She returns to her bench, and picks up her weights, "Let me just work this energy off."
Aofil drinks some water in the meantime, "Sure."
They lose count after fifty or so repetitions, but it doesn't take many minutes before she lets the weight fall back into the dirt, again settling into the same holes they did before. She sits up glistening with sweat and rolls her shoulder, "And that's how you keep your mind intact with Papyrus around!"
"Do you want me to bring the equipment to the shed?" Aofil offers.
"Nah," Undyne looks up with her hand above her eyes for shadow, "Doesn't seem like it's gonna rain anytime soon. I'll get it a bit later, might do another session," she turns to Aofil with a bright smile, "You up?"
"Can't really answer it on an empty stomach, I'm afraid. Perhaps if I had some lunch in me?" Aofil proposes innocently.
Undyne crosses her arms, "Is that so? Well then, let's eat!"
Finally!
"After we've showered!"
That's fair.
Undyne rushes in first, almost gliding across the tile floor with the amount of sweat dropping from her. She makes sure to check the sauce and fish before continuing to the bathroom. Aofil decides to enjoy the weather a bit more while they wait for her to finish. They have themselves some more water from their anime decorated bottle in the meantime.
She pops her towel wrapped head out the kitchen window a couple of minutes later, "All done! Your turn. I'll set the table while you're showering."
An intense smell hits Aofil like a heavy wave when they enter the bathroom. Their nose, mouth, sinuses, and lungs are filled with an overwhelming pink smell. They cough, but it barely helps. It stings their eyes, better hurry into the shower while they can still see.
To Aofil's delight the falling water helps cover and repel the invasion of whatever that smell is. Taking a glance through the bottles on the shower shelf they hazard a guess that it is one of the many pink colored shower gels on display. Some for scales, some for hair, but none for skin. Figures, neither Undyne or Alphys have any.
They don't need to use a toilet though, yet still they have one. Aofil reminds themselves to ask about it during lunch.
For now they pick the bottle that looks the least pink. It still smells like a hurricane of pink, but at least it's not as intense as a tornado. It feels a bit off using it though. The gel is not as soft as they're used too. To be honest, it's quite rough. To be able to clean scales? Sounds plausible enough. It certainly cleans Aofil's skin very well, but they're probably gonna be red afterwards from the friction.
The shampoo seems human though, and smells very human too. That is to say, somewhat reserved. Still pink, but not eye burning pink. Should they clean their arm too with it? Alphys can wrap it up tight again if Aofil removes it, but that might risk Undyne seeing it. Aofil rubs down their gauze with the shampoo. Some should leak down into their fur.
It's a good thing Undyne bought their excuse. Hearing that Alphys is practicing her human medicine on a real human had Undyne convinced. Heck, even excited about it.
"Frisk never let's her try!" Aofil recalls her saying. It's not until they give it some thought that it starts sounding a bit weird. Why doesn't Frisk allow Alphys? They afraid she might find out about their sudo curse as well? Perhaps make the connection to Chara?
Or maybe Frisk knows that once they offer but a finger to these people, they'll eventually ask for the entire body. Only a matter of time now that Undyne will nudge Aofil in the side and propose that Alphys tries to cure their cough or something. Perhaps allow Alphys to saw their leg off and put it back?
Maybe not that extreme. Although 'maybe' implies a small chance. A small chance that will probably keep Undyne up at night thinking about how she can convince Aofil.
After rinsing their gauze for a minute or so directly under the shower head to be absolutely sure that the shampoo is washed away from under their fur Aofil turns off the shower and grabs a towel.
"Towel temperature under specified threshold!" informs the towel rack loudly, "Be wary of unpleasant drying!"
Aofil jerks back from the robotic voice, they reach for the towel again, but the rack stays quiet this time. The towel is only mildly warm, but it's warmer than what they usually use. Aofil narrows their eyes on the dial next to the rack, and their eyes shoot wide open when they see the chosen temperature. The fabric of the towel can almost catch fire at that temperature! Aofil dries themselves off with a sigh, "I'll never understand these monsters."
Mettaton kept his word, to Aofil's surprise. He actually washed their clothing. He did it thoroughly as well, Aofil's never felt this clean before. Their phone has some scrapes on it thought. Scrapes that weren't there before.
Doesn't seem like Mettaton managed to access it though, or at least, didn't change anything. For what reason Mettaton would poke around in their phone Aofil can only guess. Whatever reason, Aofil's gonna be on their toes next time they meet him.
Could also be that Aofil's playing it up too much in their head. Possibly, but with what happened earlier today, and how it came straight out of the blue, or pink, in this case, Aofil's already on their toes.
The pink smell fades the closer Aofil gets to the kitchen, and the vague acidic smell of Undyne's sauce replaces it. A good trade in Aofil's book.
"You l-look a bit red, Aofil," notices Alphys from her chair at the dinner table, she carefully beckons for them so that Undyne doesn't notice, "Is it b-because of t-the tests?" she whispers.
"No," Aofil whispers back, "It's your body wash. My skin is smoother than your scales, and your body wash is a bit more rougher than what I'm used to."
"Alr-right, remember to t-tell me if s-something happens, c-could be import-tant."
Aofil nods, "Sure. How're the test going?"
"H-haven't been able t-to g-get any results yet. It t-takes a while, it's n-not like the m-movies, even with my magic."
"Right. Again, thank you for doing this, Alphys."
A hand slams down on Aofil's shoulder, "Doing what?" Undyne asks while leaning over Aofil's other shoulder, completely locking them in place until she gets an answer.
"Just some human medicine Alphys was wondering about."
"Yeah, you told me that, but what exactly?"
"I let her take some blood from me."
Technically Aofil's not lying.
Undyne raises an eyebrow while challenging Aofil's eyes. A smile breaks through her facade and she squeezes Aofil's shoulder, "Big mistake! You're giving up your human secrets willingly! What a fool!"
Undyne returns to her sauce. She makes a final test for taste before clapping her hands, "Perfection!" and brings it to the table. Sh retrieves the fish from the oven and the pasta as well, placing them next to the sauce. She lifts off the lids and throws them like frisbees into the sink where they crash loudly, "And that's the lunch bell! Enjoy!"
Alphys serves Aofil some noodles, fish, and sauce. They happily take it and wait for her and Undyne to serve themselves before sampling a taste. Undyne's been busy these past years, she's improved a lot.
"Well," Undyne asks whiel leaning not too subtly onto Aofil, "how is it?"
"It's good."
She shakes her head.
"It's very good," Aofil adds.
Still shaking.
"It's almost perfect."
Undyne points her fork at Aofil, "Now you're just teasing!"
Aofil spins their own fork in the pasta, "I know," and help themselves to another mouthful.
Undyne returns to her own plate while silently scoffing to herself.
It's nice. It's really nice. Aofil's missed this. The loud bombastic events giving way to a quiet and somber meal with friends. If only they could return to this, if only they could move back. Alphys has to find something to help them get rid of this damn curse.
"Swallowed a bone?" Undyne wonders after seeing Aofil's gritted expression, "Need to use the toilet?"
"Hm? What?" Aofil looks to Undyne before realizing what she said, "Oh, no, it's fine. Although, come to think of it."
Alphys and Undyne share a short glance with each other, "I thought it was kinda taboo to talk about toilets and stuff during lunch," says Alphys with her head tilted towards Aofil.
"Dinner too! Frisk never answers us," Undyne adds with a twirl of her fork, "We installed it and everything despite not needing it!"
"I mean," Aofil puts down their fork, "that was what I wanted to ask. Why do you have one?"
"Mostly for Frisk when they're over. Toriel and Asgore insisted since Frisk and Asriel train with me," Undyne explains.
Now this is interesting,"Train for what, exactly?"
"Eh," Undyne shrugs, "Just some ceremonial stuff, you know. They're the royal siblings after all, so they need to be in shape and be proficient in magic usage. At least, Asriel has to, Frisk usually just watches."
"I'd imagine being a Boss Monster that Asriel has quite the impressive magic, right?"
Undyne taps her fork impatiently on her plate, "Can you keep a secret?"
She has no idea. Aofil nods.
"His magic," Undyne sighs through her teeth, "I've almost seen snails with stronger magic than him. He tries, even more so than I've ever seen Papyrus try, and that's saying a lot."
"I can imagine..."
"He's not too happy about it. Poor kid, "Undyne stares out the window, "I don't think he's told his parents about it. Don't think that Frisk has either. He's fantastic at everything physical, but I think he's a bit ashamed over how weak his magic is. Mind you, I'd never berate him for it," Undyne makes perfectly clear. Not that Aofil would ever doubt her, "he comes here and gives it his all, and then some more! Heck, he's almost beaten me! Almost though! Not that I'd ever let him! I can't train him further if he beats me, right?"
"Student becoming the master?" Aofil teases with a raised eyebrow.
"Over my dust! It gives me motivation to become stronger myself! That whelp will eventually beat me, and when that day comes I will be as happy as a teacher can be! It's like a kid becoming smarter than you, Aofil!"
"I mean, it's kinda the goal."
Undyne snaps her finger, "Exactly! I'll not make it easy for him though! And I'll make it even worse for Frisk! And worst of all," Undyne summons a spear and points it to Aofil, "is awaiting for you! Finish your meal, human! We're doing some more after you've digested your food. It's a weakness of you humans, and I'm gonna bask in it."
Aofil sighs and their shoulder sink, "But I just showered..."
"Yes, for your first training session!"
"And what gives you the impression that it will be a second training session for me?"
Undyne taps Aofil's arm with her spear, "Because you need it! We can't the youngsters get the best of us! We have to be the examples they look up to!"
"And besides," Undyne fizzles away her spear, "Muffet loves muscles. She'll be all over you with her many spider arms, and more importantly, her doughnuts!"
"Making a lot of assumptions here, Undyne."
"Eh," she swallows the last piece of fish from her plate, "you're making the assumption that you have any say in the matter," she winks playfully, "human."
Three knocks on the kitchen windows catches the attention of all three inside, "Undyne? Me and Frisk got off earlier from school and..."
Asriel and Aofil's eyes meet.
Undyne notices the tension building between the two, "Oh yes," she rubs her hands together, "this is gonna be great!"