Recently, Chara became enamoured with another genre of games that Alphys had introduced them to: visual novels. Now, in addition to the horror games, Frisk would come home to seeing Chara on a mature dating simulator, engaged in virtual activities that were perhaps just a little bit inappropriate for their age (sometimes, it was not entirely clear what they were even dating).
"Alphys," Frisk typed in a chat with her on the UnderNet, "Where are you getting all these games for Chara?"
"...THEY ASKED FOR IT," Alphys replied very quickly.
"Really?" Frisk typed.
"come on, frisk. you know chara isn't going to receive bad influence from these games"
"they're a bad enough kid already LOL"
";D"
Towards the end of the tenth month, Chara became increasingly reclusive after school. They went straight into their room once they came home, and only went out to eat dinner or to use the bathroom. Toriel started to become concerned. She requested, on a few occasions, to see what Chara was doing in their room for so long. Then, to Frisk's surprise, Chara spent the entire time doing their homework when Toriel was watching.
As soon as Toriel was gone, Chara went back to gaming.
On one day, when Frisk came home after school, they were surprised to find Chara waiting for them at the door to their room. There was a devilish grin on Chara's face, and Chara laughed nervously as they began to speak.
"Hey, Frisk," Chara said. "Have you thought of a costume to wear to the celebration yet?"
"No," Frisk replied, shaking their head. "I'm probably going to the costume store tomorrow to find one."
"Never mind that," Chara said, placing a firm hand on Frisk's shoulder. "I've thought up of a really fun thing for us to do together. You won't need to buy a costume!"
"Uh, Chara?"
"Come in!"
Frisk walked into the room and was stunned by what they saw. A massive pile of frilly clothing was strewn across the bed. Before they could ask what was going on, Chara closed the door behind them and took Frisk by the hand, leading them beside the bed.
"What are you doing?" Frisk asked.
"I just thought of a fun game to play," Chara said, grinning again. "It's called 'Dress up Frisk'."
"What?!"
"It'll be fun!" Chara exclaimed. "And, don't worry – you don't have to do anything. You just sit down, and let me choose the clothes that I want to put on you. Trust me, when I'm done, you're going to have the perfect costume!"
Frisk glanced at all the clothes that lay on the bed beside them.
"Where did you get this idea from?"
"I thought up of it myself," Chara answered. "Why?"
"...Huh."
Frisk sat down on the bed. It was probably easier to comply with Chara than to ask them any further questions. They weren't unwilling to play this game – but they were afraid that, by the end of it all, they were going to look completely ridiculous. And, if Toriel walked into the room, how could they explain to her that they had willingly allowed Chara to do this to them?
"Okay, let's start with your hair," Chara said.
They searched through the clothes pile, flinging everything onto the floor, until they found a big pink ribbon. Frisk lowered their head grudgingly as they allowed Chara to tie the ribbon onto their head.
"Your hair is so soft," Chara commented, gently patting them on the head. "Remember that little ribbon you found in the ruins?"
"Yeah. I think I heard a voice telling me that the monsters wouldn't hit me so hard if I was cuter, so I put in on."
Chara giggled. "Wow. Wasn't I a quirky little disembodied spirit?"
Frisk raised their eyes questioningly. "You were aware?"
"I know how I came back," Chara said, dimming their voice to a whisper. They lowered themselves and place their hands on top of Frisk's shoulders. "Thank you, Frisk. I mean that honestly. Without you, I'd still be lying below the soil."
"Chara, it's fine."
"No, I really mean it," Chara said in a more serious tone. "I'm not just happy to be alive again. I..."
Their voice grew even softer.
"I really like having met you, too."
Frisk put on an expression that was like a half-smile. Every time Chara said something kind, Frisk felt a warmth in their heart. It wasn't just from the fact that they shared a soul, which made it so that their feelings were connected. Hearing a nice compliment from Chara really did stir up a feeling of joy from inside.
"All done," Chara said, when they had finished tying the ribbon.
"Can I see how it looks?"
"No, no, not yet!" Chara replied. They turned their attention towards the pile of clothing again. "I'm not even done with your hair yet, Frisk. You can only look when I'm finishing dressing you up!"
Frisk made a quiet groan. "Are you serious?"
"The name of the game is 'Dress up Frisk', after all."
"How long is this going to take?"
"Perfection requires patience!"
Next, Chara decorated Frisk's hair with various hair clips, and even a flower pin. A golden flower, to be exact. This seemed to catch Asriel's attention, who was watching them from the balcony.
"Hey, Chara! What are you doing to Frisk?" Came Asriel's voice.
"Oh, I completely forgot!" Chara exclaimed, before rushing out to grab the flower pot and bringing it into the room. Chara put the pot down on the desk beside their computer, allowing Asriel a full view of 'Dress up Frisk'.
"What's going on?" Asriel said, a grin slowly spreading across his face. "Chara, are you...?"
"How ridiculous do I look right now?" Frisk asked before Chara could say anything.
Asriel looked like he was on the verge of laughter. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Chara stopped him.
"No! Let me finish first," Chara demanded, putting on an angry face.
"If you insist," Asriel replied, giggling.
Frisk folded their arms.
"Look, I'm almost done," Chara said. "Oh, you're worried about Tor-mother coming in, and seeing you like this, aren't you?"
That caught Frisk by surprise. They turned to look at Chara, who smiled back.
Chara pinched Frisk's cheeks.
"She's just going to come up to you and give you the biggest, most crushing goat mom hug when she sees how cute you are," Chara said. "Now, you know what will make you even cuter?"
Chara picked up a big, flowing white dress.
"Do I really?" Frisk shouted. "That looks like a wedding dress, Chara. Please tell me you didn't blow off all of mom's money on these clothes!"
"I didn't!" Chara replied. "Alphys got all of these for m-uh, oops!"
"So, it was Alphys' idea?"
Asriel burst out laughing.
"Ah, okay, you got me," Chara said. "But, since you didn't have a costume yet, I thought it was a really good idea!"
"...Fine. But, seriously, a wedding dress?"
"Why not?"
Frisk narrowed their eyes and put on their almost expressionless face. It was supposed to be expressionless, but, in this current context, they looked much more unimpressed than anything else.
"Come on," Chara said, leaning close towards Frisk. "Afraid that people will ask if you're getting married?"
"No! And who would they think a kid like me would even want to get married to?"
Chara rolled their eyes in an absent-minded way. "Ummm...me, maybe?"
Frisk's stare became stronger.
"Okay, fine!" Chara said, throwing the dress back into the pile. "Yeah, you're right. The dress wasn't even that cute anyways."
They stared at the pile for a few seconds, before turning to face Asriel.
"Hey, Asriel. What costume do you think would look really cute on Frisk?"
Asriel scanned over the pile of clothes that was scattered all over the floor. A moment later, they raised one of their flower leaves to point at a piece of clothing, and then broke out into an uncontrollable fit of giggling.
"Of course!" Chara exclaimed as they picked this piece of clothing up. "How could I forget? This would look perfect on you, Frisk!"
"..."
"Come on, stand up," Chara said. "You're going to look the cutest."
A moment later, when Frisk had finished putting on the costume that Asriel had chosen for them, they were finally allowed to look into the mirror. There was a large floor mirror beside Chara's desk, which had been just out of view when Frisk was sitting on the bed. They stood in front of it.
They were dressed in a big white sailor suit, with a little red bow tie right above their chest. An enormous pink ribbon adorned their head, along with a yellow flower pin above their left ear. Hair clips kept their normally long hair pinned above their eyes.
"You don't look too impressed," Chara said, walking up beside Frisk. "Don't you think you're cute?"
"Actually...yes," Frisk responded with a slight laugh. They tilted their head and brushed a hand through their hair. "I do think I look quite cute. Thank you, Chara."
"You like it?!"
"Yeah. Now, I was thinking...Chara, where's your costume?"
"Oh, I have one," Chara replied defensively. "You don't need to dress me up."
Frisk seemed disappointed. "Really? Where is it?"
"I'll show you...after dinner," Chara answered, putting on their creepy face.
Chara had finished dinner early, no doubt to put on their new costume. Throughout dinner, Toriel couldn't keep her eyes off Frisk.
"Did Chara spend the afternoon dressing you up like this?" Toriel asked.
"Yes," Frisk answered, expressionless.
"Well – oh, my child," Toriel said, nearly blushing. "Chara does know how to make you quite...adorable."
"I know, mom."
"Tell Chara that I like it, all right?"
Frisk nodded. Then, upon finishing their dinner, they went upstairs and walked to their room.
They screamed.
Chara lay still on the floor. Dozens of yellow flowers covered their face and their mouth. Blood caked their lips and flowed down from their eyes, forming a dark red puddle on the floor. Petals surrounded their body.
Frisk dashed to their side when they saw Chara's hand and leg twitch.
Chara sat up, spat out the flowers, and laughed.
"See! I told you I had the perfect costume!"
"..."
Frisk didn't know what to say. They simply turned their head up to look at Asriel, who was also staring at Chara with a rather...offended look on his face.
"This was in the worst taste possible," Frisk said. "Chara, I can't believe you'd do this, especially with...Asriel here."
Chara looked hurt. "Hey, you know I wouldn't really kill myself again!"
Asriel's face disappeared from the flower.
"Hey! Oh, Asriel, I'm sorry!" Chara shouted, getting up and rushing at the flower. "Asriel, I'm sorry! I really didn't mean it! I just wanted to prank Frisk!"
A single eye opened on the flower's face, before disappearing again.
"Asriel!"
Frisk sat down on the bed and folded their arms. "You better clean up the floor. It's all covered in petals and...blood...or whatever that red goo is you're using."
Sulking, Chara started to do it.