Warnings- mentions of depression and suicidal thoughts

"Hmm… I think I should get a haircut soon." You said, messing with the ends of your hair, which were starting to get a little long. You thought about who would be able to help, because you couldn't trim it yourself without messing up. Maybe Muffet? You shuddered a little of the thought of the spider near your head with scissors.

"Hair… cut…?" Papyrus asked skeptically.

"Yeah? You have to trim it when it grows out." You said as if explaining that rain falls from the sky. Both Sans and Papyrus stared at you with wide, horrified eyes.

"It grows?" Sans asked, aghast. You couldn't help but snort at his expression.

"What did you think? That I was born with my hair like this?" You asked, amused.

"Well…" Sans started, sounding defensive.

"I guess skeletons wouldn't know about human workings…" You mused to yourself. "Is there… anything else you want to know about humans?" You asked, wondering just how much you were going to have to explain to them.

"Oh! I have a question!" Papyrus jumped to his feet and rushed over to you. You nodded at him, waiting for his question. "How are human babies made?!"

You felt your face flush and Sans just chuckled.

"And that's how babies are made, sans some of the more gruesome details." You said, winking at the shorter skeleton. You had explained conception, how the zygote grows, how the hands are made, how the baby is born. It took you hours and you didn't even tell thim everything.

Sans surprisingly not only stayed awake, but seemed even more interested in the science behind it than Papyrus.

"That sounds… quite painful!" Papyrus said after a moment of consideration. You laughed and agreed.

"Yeah, it's one of the most painful thing a female human can go through." You said with a slight smirk. Papyrus sat back with an awed expression.

"Wowie…" He said, eyes practically sparkling. "Humans are so strong!" He explained, jumping to his feet. He said something about telling Undyne, but he said it so fast he was practically out the door before it registered what he said.

"Do you have any questions?" You asked Sans in a joking tone. He nodded, his face completely serious, and you were a little surprised he didn't have a notebook and pencil in hand.

You could already tell this was going to be a long day.

"Alright, so if the sodium and the chloride by themselves are so volatile, how are the edible together?" Sans asked, using one hand to scratch his head and the other to gesture wildly with confusion. You giggled at his enthusiasm.

Ever since you proved to have at least a high school understanding of chemistry and biology, Sans had been hounding you nonstop about the finer points of just about everything. Papyrus, on the other hand, was more interested in Human culture, like holidays and day-to-day rituals.

"I don't actually remember exactly why." You said with an apologetic smile. "I just know that something about the combination of the elements turns them into salt."

"Wow…" He said breathlessly. You just laughed again. He was silent for a few seconds, and you were actually starting to enjoy the silence. "Okay, now…."

You prepare yourself for the next onslaught.

"Paps, could I have something to eat?" You asked trying to be polite. Your stomach growled again, making your patience thin a little. Papyrus tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"You ate just yesterday, did you not?" He asked, moving to the fridge to see if there was anything to make. You fought the urge to smack your forehead with the palm of your hand.

"Humans have to eat several times a day to survive. If we go too long without food we die." You explain.

"How often?" He asked, feeling a little guilty that he hadn't been feeding you like a good host would.

"Three times a day, sometimes more with snacks and stuff." You said, eyeing the leftovers from Grillby's. You had only eaten maybe four meals since staying with the skeleton brothers. You had been keeping yourself from starving from getting buns from the shop and fries from Grillby's every once in a while. You felt bad, making Papyrus cook for you all the time.

Papyrus somehow developed eyes in that moment, just so they could bug out in shock and horror.

"HUMAN! You have not been eating? That is bad! You are going to die!" He started crying, and you tried consoling him with gentle pats to the head and arm. Sans came in at the end of his brother's rant, confused.

"You dying kiddo? That's a bummer." He said with his usual grin. You narrow your eyes at him in a friendly manner as he kicked off his sneakers and jumped on the couch.

"I'm not actually dying. I just told Papyrus how often humans have to eat and he started over reacting." You gave the taller skeleton another gentle pap on the skull.

"Well, us monsters only really have to eat to restore our HP and magic. We can go weeks without needing to eat." Sans shrugged and used his magic to make the remote float up and over to him.

"Here you go human!" Papyrus said as he handed you the plate of hot leftovers. "And the Great Papyrus will make sure you do not die from lack of proper nutrition!" He exclaimed loudly.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to teach them about humans….

"Human!" Papyrus bounced to your side. "Tell me more about human things!"

"Like what? I feel like I've already told you everything." You said with a fond smile. He pouted for a split second before perking back up again.

"Tell me more about those ride parks!" He said, practically vibrating with curiosity. He reminded you intensely of Temmie. You were confused for a second before you realized he meant theme parks.

"Well, there are usually long lines to get to the rides, but in the end it's totally worth it! Some go upside down and some go over a hundred miles per hour. Almost everything is wildly overpriced, but somehow kids still manage to convince their parents to buy them things." You told him about the last time you went to an amusement park.

You remembered your friends fondly, how they screamed on the coasters and insisted on eating a funnel cake right after. Papyrus seemed enthralled with your story.

"Wowie! Humans are… amazing! I hope to see one of these parks when we make it to the surface!" He said with complete sincerity. You felt a pang in your chest, because despite your best efforts, it seemed like breaking the barrier was impossible.

"Hehe yeah Paps… I'll take you to my favorite park as soon as we're free." You said with a guilty smile and a hard heart. Papyrus scooped you up in a hug, spinning you around joyfully. You were suddenly even more determined to save these monsters.

You mused silently that you always thought being a teacher could be fun. You always loved playing teacher as a child, grading imaginary tests and teaching your stuffed animals how to do basic addition and such.

As you sat on the couch, rubbing your temple in an attempt to calm a roaring headache, you started to rethink your ideas of teaching.

"Tell me about the stars again!"

"How does human genetics work?"

"I want to learn about clothing from around the world!"

"Why do certain chemicals affect the brain?"

"How many kinds of dogs are there?"

"How to human wounds heal?"

You couldn't take it anymore. It was like they only cared about what you could tell them about the Aboverground. They never spent any time with you anymore. Your movie nights were replaced with question and answer sessions. Meal time discussions were similar.

Even the other monsters were getting in on it. They had heard Papyrus flaunting his new found knowledge of humans, and came rushing to you with their own questions.

Long story short, you were exhausted and very short tempered.

"Would you guys just SHUT UP?" You didn't mean to yell, but your head was pounding and you could hear the blood rushing through your ears. Sans and Papyrus fell into a shocked silence, both staring at you with wide eye sockets, like a child that was scolded for nothing.

You immediately felt guilty for yelling, but it was too late. You hugged yourself and stood, moving around their shocked forms.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm tired…. I'll just go to bed." You said quietly, already beating yourself for snapping at them. Neither skeleton made a move to stop you, which just fueled your self-hatred. You went upstairs to the spare bedroom they set up for you.

With a heavy heart, you locked the door behind you for the first time and cried.

You were in such a rut. It had been two days since you snapped at the brothers. You came out of your room twice - both times only when you knew they were both out. You used the bathroom and got some water, but you couldn't bring yourself to shower or eat.

You felt dead, like how you felt before you threw yourself – no, you fell. At least, that's what you told everyone anyway.

A tear worked its way from your eyes as you buried your face in the pillow. You heard someone come home, but you couldn't tell who. The footsteps grew closer, and you really hoped they were going to just pass by your door.

Unfortunately, you didn't have the best luck. The footsteps stopped right in front of the door, and you could see something pink with fur sticking through the crack under the door.

"Knock knock." A voice said. So it was Sans, you thought numbly. You didn't respond. Sans opened the door, the lock standing no chance against a magical skeleton. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Um, you're supposed to say 'who's there'." He said, changing his voice in a mock impression of you.

You just turn around, facing away from him. You heard him sigh. Your bed dipped down as he sat on the mattress with you.

"Look kid, if you're still beating yourself up about what happened the other day, you shouldn't. It was our fault for pushing you so far. A person can only take so many questions before they snap." He said with a chuckle. His chuckle sounded forced.

You didn't turn around. Sans sighed again.

"Hey kid. How about I repay you some. Ask me anything." He said, pushing your shoulder so you were laying on your back. Your head lolled to the side to you were looking at him. It took a second to get the energy together.

"…Why…?" You asked, your voice raspy. Sans just looked at you for a second before seemingly deflating in on himself.

"Because we can't help how our brains work. Despite knowing all this technical junk, we don't know nothing about why." He started stroking your hair gently. "I'm so sorry kid… No one should ever feel this."

"I didn't fall." You said, just as quietly as before. Sans didn't seem to understand. "I didn't fall, like I said. I didn't trip and fall to the Undergound." You said again, with more emotion. Sans jerked his hand back as he stared to connect the dots.

"W-what are ya sayin kid?" He asked shakily. You sighed softly.

"I jumped. I wanted to die so badly I threw myself down the hole." You said. You gave a dry chuckle that chilled Sans down to his bones. "Imagine how I felt when I woke up, after everything I did to make sure I didn't…"

Before you knew it, Sans had scooped you up his arms, holding you close to his chest. He didn't say anything, just held you and rocked a little. You could feel him muttering against your hair, but you couldn't make out what his was saying.

This burst your dam. You found yourself crying into his chest, mumbling nonsense as you got your emotions out. You felt a pang of guilt when you realized you were getting snot all over his jacket. It didn't seem that he minded though.

"Hehe, looks like humans and monsters aren't so different after all." He said huskily with a choked sounding chuckle.

"I'm sorry Sans…" You said, your voice muffled by his jacket.

"Shhh, it's alright kiddo. Just let it all out." He rubbed your back comfortingly. "We've missed you. Papyrus has been making three meals a day, hoping you'd come down and forgive him."

"Forgive him?" You asked, not sure what there was to forgive. Sans chuckled deeply again.

"He feels awful about hounding you all the time with his questions." He shifted so you were sitting next to him. "We both are."

"I'm sorry for snapping…" You whispered, feeling guiltier than ever.

"Stop apologizing… I can understand why you did. And I can relate..." His voice dropped in volume and energy.

You didn't move.

"I guess it's a little different for humans though. For monsters, it happens because our magic gets contaminated with negativity. It's tough to fix, cuz you have to cleanse the soul, then cleanse the mind. Most monsters don't like to talk about it, so they don't get help."

"That's kinda what it's like for humans too." You said with a little more life in your tone. You explained briefly about decreased dopamine levels and such.

"That sounds pretty scary kid." He said, letting you stand.

"Yeah, I guess." You mumble, feeling a little better after talking to the skeleton. "Thanks, I guess. For putting up with me…"

"I'd do it a thousand more times. Everyone needs someone to listen to them." He offered you a soft smile and stood himself. "Let's go get some of that food Paps made. He'll be super happy to see we've been chowing down."

As you followed him down the stairs, you had a thought.

Maybe humans and monsters weren't so different after all.

I'm really sorry for this. I have so many suggestions for legit problems, but I keep writing shit about mild depression and stuff. If you don't follow the tumblr, I've been feeling kinda bad lately. As soon as my spring break started, I couldn't really get out of bed or eat. The fact I was able to get this written is already a type of miracle. I have evenings free all next week as well, so I should hopefully make up for the lack of updates eventually. Please forgive my not-so-up to standards writing the last few chapters. I know a few have been a little disappointed with the subjects I've chosen, and I really do hope to make it up to you soon!

Thank you everyone for being so supportive. I know I say it every time, but I really do mean it. I feel like Markiplier at his milestone videos… it's just so overwhelming that so many people are not only willing to read what I write, but also draw art and send such amazing messages… I never thought I would come this far, and it's all thanks to you.

Hopefully after this I'll start with some actual quality plot, but no promises. Everything I promise, I ironically end up breaking that promise.

Until next time!

~Starlight