You woke to the shrilling of your phone. A vaguely familiar voice cursed in the background as you forced your eyes open to look for the annoying device. Before you had the chance though, you realized you didn't recognize your surroundings at all. You were laying on a green couch, wrapped up in a blue fleece.
The offending noise came from a coffee table a few feet away. You rolled onto the floor, reaching for it as you tried to remember how you got here. Helping a skeleton. Falling asleep. Healing magic? Your hand blindly searched the surface for your phone, but someone beat you to it.
A mustard-colored lizard stood above you glaring at the now quiet object. Right behind them was The Magnificent Sans. How much sleep did you get? "A brown blanket would work better for this couch." You informed him dully before dropping your head back to the floor. "Was that the seven o'clock alarm or seven-thirty?"
A gravelly -yet distinctly female- voice answered you. "Seven-thirty." The lizard was a girl then.
Seven-thirty. Thursday? Thursday. Then it occurred to you. "Crap!" You swore, flinging yourself to your feet and twisting around to search for your bag. Vaguely, you registered how the lizard-woman shoved The Magnificent Sans back as you panicked, glaring at your outburst.
You stumbled as you spotted the familiar object near Papyrus, trying to get your legs to work and take you to it. Nope. You tripped and faceplanted. Hard. It didn't matter. Pain would have to register later. You had class in thirty minutes and you definitely were not in your dorm. You scrambled back into forward motion, crawling toward your bag as the three monsters in the room watched you, guarded.
"Phone!" You shouted, still panicking as you yanked on the shoes your hosts had so kindly removed for you. It came skidding across the floor to you and you shoved it in your bag before screeching and yanking it back out to check your gps.
Not too far away then. Maybe even close enough to make it on time if you ran. "Sorry for imposing, thanks for the couch, I have class, bye!" You shouted at them in a jumble, ignoring their confounded expressions as you tripped out of their door and dashed down the street.
You managed to slip into the lecture hall with not even a minute to spare. You tried to calm your frantic breathing and heartbeat as you made your way to a seat in the back, hoping not to bother anyone. Resting your head on the table, you didn't even flinch when Fuku sat next to you.
"Cut that a bit close, huh?" the green fire elemental teased. "Did you sleep through your second alarm again?"
She completely ignored the half-hearted glare you gave her, causing your lips to turn up into a wry smile. "No actually. I helped a hurt person last night after work and woke up on their couch. My legs are burning. My lungs are burning." You let your head slam back into the table.
Fuku's fiery lips pulled down into a worried frown. "Really? That's dangerous. You got off at, what? Closing, right? Four? Who was it?"
"I couldn't just leave someone hurt in an alley Fuku. Uh, a skeleton named The Magnificent Sans. Some walnut literally tore his arm off, so I reattached it. Then his brother showed up, and I truly don't want to talk about it. What is that look for?" Fuku was staring at you like you'd grown a second head.
"Did you heal him? I thought you were more careful than that with your…" She trailed off, flaming eyes growing wide before she squeaked. "Sans? Papyrus?"
Slightly perturbed, and at this point completely ignoring the lecture, you answered, "Yeah. And I am careful. Nobody but The Magnificent Sans was there when I healed him. I'm not dumb. I asked him not to tell anyone about it. I dunno if he listened though."
Your best friend opened her mouth to respond, but the professor coughed to gain your attention and the conversation had to be abandoned. It was beyond difficult to stay awake for the whole lecture, but with Fuku's help you managed. Two hours was not enough sleep.
"We're going to talk about this later." She warned you as the professor dismissed the class. "Are you okay? Using magic may be a cinch for you, but reattaching a limb is serious business. You must have used a lot. Are you going to be okay in class? Tell me you don't work today."
"I'll be fine. I only have one more class and then I can nap until my shift." You assured her as you walked across campus. She was so cute when she was being a worrywart.
With a sigh, she shoved a cinnabunny in your hands. "It'll help get your magic back up. Be more careful, please."
"I'm always careful. I promise I'll give you a full rundown later. At least as much of it as I remember. Good luck in class." You parted ways.
You did not, in fact, get to take that nap later. Around eleven your phone began to buzz, just as you were nodding off. You didn't recognize the number.
"Hello?" you questioned into the receiver groggily.
"is this _?"
That voice was still vaguely familiar. Where had you heard it? Suddenly it dawned on you. "Papyrus?"
"i'm surprised you remember that." He informed you simply.
"I wasn't sure I did. How's The Magnificent Sans?" you inquired sleepily. A snort of laughter came through the phone and you were aptly baffled. Fuku had recognized the name, so there was no way you got it wrong, right?
Sudden yelling made you yank the phone away from your ear. "I AM WELL HUMAN, THANKS TO YOU!" So, Papyrus had put you on speakerphone? "ARE YOU WELL? YOU LEFT IN QUITE A RUSH THIS MORNING."
"M'good, The Magnificent Sans. I had classes this morning. Now I'm just trying to get in some shut-eye before my shift."
The female voice from this morning piped up, also clearly amused. "Just call him Sans." That was a bit rude, wasn't it? You should address him the way he'd introduced himself. At least until he decided to ask you himself to change.
When you didn't respond, Papyrus spoke up again. "can we treat you to lunch? as a thank you?" his voice sounded oddly strained to you as he asked, as if it were the last thing he actually wanted to say.
Hesitating a bit, knowing Papyrus didn't actually want to treat you at all, you answered. "Sure, I guess. Where at? When?"
"Muffet's. Now." The lizard responded before you heard a click.
Well then. If you were going to be up until after your shift tonight, then you might as well be functional. Tapping into your soul, you grabbed a thin sliver of your magic and got yourself back to moderate awareness.
Though you didn't heal monsters often, you were very used to this particular usage of your power. It was the only way your magic worked on yourself, after all.
Fuku was going to be pissed that you weren't sleeping. Especially since she was probably eating at Muffet's right now before her afternoon class. Your mind brushed the thought aside as you pulled on some jeans and shoved a bra and shirt on.
Your eyes quickly skimmed your too-empty dorm room searching for your keys, which you'd tossed haphazardly after locking your door. You'd never bothered unpacking all of your clothes, figuring it made packing simple when you had the chance to fly home to visit family. Your bed was covered with dorm-provided linens, and the only real indication that you lived there rather than visiting were the toiletries in the bathroom.
Your keys had landed, luckily enough, right next to your bag. You swiped them up before ducking in the small bathroom you shared with the two girls next door to you. Splashing some water on your face woke you up a bit more naturally.
Your shift started at three today, so there was no point in coming back to the dorms after lunch. You could just go chill at the park, assuming the skeletons don't decide to talk to you for hours on end. Perhaps this would be a good time to figure out if The Magnificent Sans had spilled your secret to anyone.
You yanked on your work shoes and grabbed your bag, locking your dorm behind you as you left, running your fingers through your hair to tame it as the wind picked up.
You weren't entirely aware, even as you wandered up to the cute café and stared. Should you go in? A very pissy green fire elemental snapped you back to reality as she stormed out at you. While it was probably a very normal volume to most humans, you cringed a bit as she shrieked at you, scolding you for not sleeping like you'd said you were going to.
"But I got invited to lunch…" Came your oh-so-witty reply. Before she managed to start herself up on another rant, you hugged her, snuggling into her warm sweater. You trusted absolutely that she wouldn't burn you. Even though you couldn't see it, you knew her face was probably burning bright blue in embarrassment.
Approaching voices made Fuku struggle in your grip just a bit, so you tightened your hold to let her know you weren't done showing your affection for her. "are we interrupting something?" Papyrus asked from somewhere behind you.
You could practically feel the embarrassment coming off of Fuku, who wasn't particularly good around strangers of any sort, so naturally you responded with a simple, "Yes," before going back to cuddling your best friend, hoping he would take the hint. She stuttered a bit as she took in the skeleton and whoever else was with him.
He did, opting not to say anything else until you released her and she hissed in your ear that you were definitely going to talk later. You couldn't help but chuckle as she stormed off in mock fury. She was so cute!
Four monsters were standing there giving you an odd look as you turned toward them. Papyrus, The Magnificent Sans, the lizard from before and-.
Hello, second wind. "Oh my gosh!" you exclaimed darting forward to seize the hands of the blue-scaled, red-haired divine being before you. "You are absolutely beautiful! I need you to know that!" You informed her as a purple hue spread across her scales. You actually squealed as she became even cuter, and told her so. Lizard-lady swatted your hands away possessively. Internally you sighed a bit before turning to her. "I'm not trying to steal your girlfriend." You informed her.
Both of them blushed and looked away from you. It was true. As much as you might like that, you certainly didn't know her well enough for a relationship. Not to mention, anyone in a relationship was someone you wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole romantically. Platonically, yes. Romantically, no.
"I…I-I'm really no-not…" The divine aquatic woman stuttered, probably in response to your over-exuberant compliments.
You couldn't let that stand. "Yes. Yes, indeed you are. You are totally the most beautiful person I've ever seen. Don't you dare say otherwise." You told her forcefully.
She let out a squeak and hid her face in her hands, but she didn't argue again.
Lizard-lady cut in, perhaps to save her significant other from overheating. "I don't think we've been introduced, Punk. I'm Alphys. This is Undyne."
"_. You're cute together." You waved at the possessive way Alphys had wrapped a muscular arm around Undyne's waist.
Papyrus cleared his non-existent throat behind you, interrupting your overbearing greeting and introduction. You caught the exasperated looks of the humans on the sidewalk around you as you turned to face him and The Magnificent Sans, who was wearing a grin a mile wide.
Undyne wasn't quite sure what to make of you. That morning had been chaos once you'd woken up. She wasn't even sure if you'd known she had been present at the time. Your sleep had been so peaceful up until that shrill alarm had gone off. It was even quiet for a moment after you woke up.
Then you seemed to suddenly realize something, and you had become a terrifying flurry of activity that your body didn't seem to appreciate. Even now, at noon, your nose still looked a bit red from that faceplant as you snuggled into what seemed quite obviously to be a monster.
Was this oddness consensual? The fire elemental seemed a bit uncomfortable, but Undyne supposed she could easily remedy the situation were you truly bothering her.
Papyrus tried to interrupt you, startling the elemental into turning colors from embarrassment, but you ignored him, tightening your grip. After a moment, the monster pulled away, and you let her. She leaned forward to hiss something in your ear before stalking off, you watching her go almost adoringly.
In the next moment, Undyne was convinced that you hadn't seen her this morning. You turned to view their group, eyes landing on all of them individually, recognition lighting behind them until you got to her. Something very different lit up behind your bright orbs in that moment and it took your compliments to inform her as to what it was.
Attraction. You were…a-attracted to her. Alphys swatted your hands away protectively, and that light vanished as you realized. You assured her that you had no intention of interfering in the relationship, and for a split second, all of them could see the cobalt of your soul shining through.
Integrity.