Undyne invited you inside to take a break and have something to eat. You gladly accepted and followed her into a very spacious living room. She tells you she got a job at the local precinct, when the cops saw her physical strength and that she had previous experience as head of the royal guard it wasn't hard to become an officer. Today was her day off, which she used to train with Papyrus and have an anime marathon when Alphys got home from her own work. The word anime is alien to you, but you can tell that Undyne's a big fan of it, whatever it is.
"Alphys lives here too?" You ask out of curiosity.
"Yeah, she's the cutest girlfriend anyone could ever ask for!" Undyne's grin spreads across her face and you smile. So that's why she was so mad at Sans saying he'd tell Alphys she wasn't tough.
She goes to the kitchen and you and the skeleton brothers sit around the available seats.
"HUMAN, THAT WAS AMAZING! WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO MOVE LIKE THAT?" Papyrus seems eager for your answer but you just look down at the floor, a pang of sadness and revolt pooling in your soul. You had to learn to survive, if you weren't fast on your feet he'd punish you on top of the hits he'd land because you weren't fast or nimble enough.
Sensing the shift in your mood Sans chimes in. "Yeah, you did good out there, could use some improvements though." You raise an eyebrow at him.
"SANS! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? SHE WAS GREAT! NOT AS GREAT AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
Undyne comes back with snacks and refreshments (and a bottle of ketchup) in her hands, which she sets on a coffee table in front you. "Nah, the numbskull's right. You need to put more strength into your attacks! Crush your enemies with your fists!" She pumps her own fist into the air as way of demonstration and you chuckle.
"And you should learn to channel your magic more efficiently too, the way you're doing it is draining you fast." Sans says picking up the ketchup and downing a swig.
"MAGIC?" Papyrus and Undyne shout at the same time, staring at you wide-eyed. Oh right… They didn't know…
"I saw your eyes glow red, but I thought it was my imagination." Undyne says thinking back to your fight outside. "And my magic wasn't working then either."
"WOWIE! A HUMAN WHO CAN USE MAGIC! NOW THAT'S SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERYDAY! I KNEW YOU WERE SPECIAL THE FIRST TIME I SAW YOU!" You look away from their curious eyes.
There's a rustling at the front door and you see Alphys waddle inside. Undyne quickly runs up to her and scoops the little monster up in her strong arms and pulls her into a smooch dead on the lips. Your face burns scarlet as you immediately turn away from the scene. You've seen people kiss before, of course, but never so passionately, and you feel like you're intruding by looking at them.
"O-oh hi there. I-I wasn't expecting t-to see you again so s-soon." You simply wave at Alphys who waves shyly back at you, her own face a bright shade of red.
Undyne suggests you stay over tonight, you can go train some more, have dinner, and then join them for the anime marathon. And in the morning you can train again before Undyne has to leave for the precinct. You bite down on your bottom lip but before you can say anything Sans has already agreed on your behalf.
So with that settled, the tall blue monster guides you back outside as Papyrus states he'll get started on dinner very excitedly.
"Okay, hit me." You just stare at her quizzically. "Come on, punk, hit me! I have to see what you're doing wrong so that I can teach you how to do it right!"
You suppose that makes sense so you throw a punch at her. Just like before she grabs your balled fist as if it's nothing. "First of all, your stance is all wrong." You can't say you've ever had proper fighting training so to speak, so that sounds about right. "Your feet need to be farther apart." You do as she says. "A little more. That's it! And have one slightly more advanced, and try to distribute your weight evenly through both of them." Once again you try to position yourself the way she's instructing as best as you can. "Now raise your arms more like this." She demonstrates and you mirror her movements. She nudges one of them higher. "That's good! Hit me again!" You do and the result seems to be the same, you frown and she laughs at your face. "Yeah, okay, that's still pretty weak but it's better!"
"You got to put some backbone into it." Sans grins behind you. You see him walking from the house and sitting down on a step.
"I'm going up against a tall muscular monster. Have you looked at me? I'm barely taller than you and I'm not exactly at my peak physical strength…" Undyne smirks at you.
"You flatter me, nerd. But even the smallest opponent can take a giant to their knees if they just have the will to keep fighting!" She punches her own hand for emphasis. "You just gotta find their weakness!" You can't help but smile at her enthusiasm. "Okay then, have you tried using your magic to increase your attack strength?"
"Um, yeah, I guess? Whenever I use it, it's kind of out of instinct, I'm not really thinking about what I'm doing." Your father was never one to instruct as much as he was for pushing you to your limit until you did something right.
"Then do it now!" She motions for you to come at her and you take a deep breath, tapping into the magic in your soul and feeling it spread through your body.
You assume the position Undyne taught you and advance, throwing all your body weight behind your fist as you go for her. She braces herself for impact and catches your hand just like before, but you see her feet slide backwards on the ground from the sheer force. "Awesome! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!"
You jump in joy and turn to Sans. "Did you see that?" He grins at you and makes two thumbs-up with his hands. You've never really stopped to marvel in the way magic feels when you use it and now that you're doing it because you want to, and not just to try and survive, you're finally getting to enjoy it, rather than loathe what's been done to you.
Not long after, you're starting to get a pretty good handle on yourself. Undyne's more careful when you attack, and when you do land a hit you can see her struggle a bit even though you're making sure you're not going overboard.
By the time Alphys shows up by the door, saying that Papyrus has finished dinner you're bent over with your hands on your knees, gasping for breath. You can tell that Undyne's tired too but she's trying to hide it, probably to impress the tiny yellow monster.
You welcome the food that's set in front of you and devour it like it's your last meal, which over the years you never knew if it was going to be. There's some idle chat during dinner. Alphys seems to be working on the nature of human souls, in a continuation of her work back in the Underground and things seem to be going smoothly. Papyrus is doing well in his job but he's not sure if it's what he wants to do, although for now he'll do what's necessary to get by. He's thinking of working on getting himself a driver's license, he says that there's this shiny red sport's car near where he works that's caught his eye. Undyne's quick to tell him that's a great idea but Sans doesn't seem very eager to have his brother speeding through the highway.
Everyone sits around in the living room for the anime marathon. Undyne and Alphys snuggle together and Papyrus sits next to them. There's only one other seat left, a bean bag next to the three seater couch.
"You can sit, I'm comfortable on the floor." You tell Sans.
"Or you could sit on his lap!" Undyne offers while laughing and you blush at the thought shaking your head vigorously.
"I'm good thanks." You mutter quickly.
Halfway through the first episode of whatever they chose to watch, you're not sure this is your cup of tea. You pull your legs to your chest thinking about your father, roaming around freely, possibly hurting people and monsters without a second thought just because he can. And you're sitting here with everyone, looking at a TV with some animated wide-eyed teen girls with superpowers that speak in strange screechy dialects. You start feeling completely and utterly useless, like an idiot sitting idly by as others suffer because you're not doing anything to stop it. It starts being too much and you get up to your feet.
"I need some air, excuse me." You say making your way towards the backyard. No one seems to give you a second glance and you're grateful for it.
You sit down on the same step Sans had watched you train from and look up to the sky, stars already shining brightly. You think about the park, your safe haven, now ruined by him, just like everything he ever touches. You need to do something about it, about your father. But you don't know what you can really do.
You hear someone sit next to you and you glance over to see the smaller of the two skeletons. "What's up?" Sans asks.
"The sky." He chuckles slightly.
"Good one. But you know what I mean, why are you here skulking?" He nudges you on the side and you sigh.
"I'm just thinking. About how I'm here, and he's out there doing god knows what. And if I tried to stop him I'd probably fail. But I'm not even trying so what does that say about me…"
"It says that you're not ready to jump blindly to your death, and that's fine." You look him in the eyes and you feel guilty.
"But why do I deserve to live while other people suffer?" Your voice is nothing but a murmur.
"How would your death help anyone?" He asks in return and you hide your face behind your knees. It probably would only make things worse.
Sans stands up and offers you his hand. "Here I'll show you some ways to use your magic." You take it and he pulls you into his arms, making your face heat up at the sudden closeness. If he noticed he doesn't make it apparent as he just turns you around and keeps your back to his ribs. "I remember you saying you could push people away, so I figure the nature of your magic may be similar to mine." Gently grabbing your arm, he lifts it and points it to the other end of the yard, the other skeletal hand on your waist. "You see that bucket over there?" You simply nod. "Focus on it and try to lift it off the ground." You lift your hand but it doesn't budge and your shoulders drop in disappointment.
"It's not working." You scowl and he laughs.
"Okay, just take a deep breath and feel the magic stir inside you." His face is close to yours, his breath tickling your ear as he speaks softly, in a whisper, into it. You feel your heart rate quicken. "Push it out of you as if it's an extension of yourself, imagine invisible hands grabbing the bucket if it helps." You look at Sans before averting your eyes back to the lone bucket. A red aura surrounds it and it starts floating as you lift your hand and move it to the right, the object following it obediently. Your mouth hangs open and you feel his smile on your cheek.
"I've never done that before…"
"You have, you just never stopped to notice." An excited expression takes over your face and you move the bucket back and forth, side to side, you even do a loop with it before dropping it on the ground, the noise being much louder than you expected and making you flinch. "Guess you have to work on those landings." You twist around to look at the skeleton and find that his face is merely inches from yours, nearly bumping him on the head.
"Oh, sorry." The red blush creeps back up to your cheeks. Sans is staring right into your eyes and you're staring right into his, his left hand resting at the small of your back while his right one is still holding your arm. In your chest your heart is going wild and your breath catches in your throat. You're almost certain he can feel your alarmingly rapid heartbeat as you see that cobalt shade dusting his features. That unfamiliar feeling pools in your stomach and you find yourself unable to move. Or is it that you don't want to? Your teeth tug at your bottom lip and you feel lightheaded. Sans' pupils move down just enough for you perceive it. Is he looking at your…
Before you can finish that thought, Papyrus bursts through the door and you and Sans step away from each other looking anywhere but at each other.
"WE HEARD SOMETHING CRASH! IS EVERYTHING OKAY?"
"Yeah, I was just teaching Star here how to move stuff around." Sans says staring at his slippers like they're the best invention of the century.
You rub the back of your neck, the loud thumping of your heart ringing in your ears. You're breathing heavier than you should be and your whole body is tingling. Papyrus's gaze goes from you to Sans and he narrows his eyes.
"WELL ALRIGHT THEN…" He saunters back inside leaving you two alone once again. It's silent for you don't know how long and each time Sans catches you looking at him you're quick to turn your head the other direction, blushing brightly.
"Heh. Usually nothing gets under my skin. But you're doing a pretty good job…"
You risk a glance at the skeleton only to feel your whole face burn hotter, if that was even possible. You want to say something, anything, but your words get caught in your throat. You're not sure why you feel so flustered. He shuffles over to you.
"I, uh, could teach you some other things… If you want…" You nod meekly, still unable to speak. His left eye starts flaming an intense blue colour and he points his hand towards an apple on a tree. It glows the same blue that's in his eye and it immediately drops to the ground as if gravity increased on it tenfold. Your eyes widen in silent astonishment.
"Wow…"
"It's about the same principle as moving things, but instead you hold them down. Makes it harder to move if you use it on someone." A small smile grows on your lips and you decide to give it a try. When another apple falls forcefully to the ground you're filled with awe.
"Neat." You mumble after doing it a few more times. He chuckles and agrees.
"You're getting better at this. Do you feel tired?"
"A little."
"That's normal, you had a long day. Let's head back in." He takes your hand and there's another jolt of electricity when you touch. You swallow nervously wondering what it means.
In the living room you're met with everyone fast asleep in their seats, Alphys cuddled against Undyne who's holding her tight to her chest and Papyrus huddled in a bony ball at his corner of the couch. Sans quietly picks up the remote and turns off the TV.
"What now?" Without answering you, Sans glows his eye, magic gently enveloping his friends and he guides them to their respective bedrooms (it seems they have a guest room where Papyrus usually stays).
"It's not the first time." He says shrugging when he notices your amused expression. Suddenly silence fills the room again.
Sans walks over to the couch and plops down on a seat, stretching out his legs. He pats down the seat next to him and you timidly tiptoe your way to it. You cross your legs and twiddle with your thumbs.
"Let's get some rest." Sans says closing his eyes and you look at him for a minute until he opens one up to spy you. You hurriedly stare in the opposite way. "I know bones can't be that comfortable but you can lean on me if you want. I recall you calling me cuddly once." He winks at you and you flush a bright crimson, thankful for the darkness in the room. You give in though, and laying your head on his shoulder, the fluff of his jacket tickling your nose. His arm finds its way over you and he pulls you closer to him. You close your eyes, feeling warm and safe.
NOTE: FLUFF! Hehe, couldn't resist having Papyrus ruin the moment, sorry not sorry :P
Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, feel free to leave any feedback as always :)